The One NYC Bakery I'll Wait In Line For

New York City has something for everyone. It has so much, in fact, that a lot tends to repeat, overlap, or otherwise blend together. I should know; I've been reporting on the five boroughs, and recommending the best places to eat and drink around them, for 18 years. So, when I find a uniquely ideal martini, genre-smashing turkey sandwich, or truly inimitable pastries — like the ones found at Diljān Bakery in Brooklyn Heights — recommend them I must.

I am aware that this extra attention can create, or at least fail to mitigate, the dreaded lines that I disavow with infrequent compromise. Lines that metastasize elsewhere in NYC do not usually betray the excellence one might expect, so even the shortest queue makes me flee to the next place in almost every other case — but there isn't a next place in Diljān Bakery's case. There just isn't a competitor piping saffron cream into gleaming, lacquered crescents and dipping those crescent points into saffron-enhanced white chocolate. Singular excellence is exactly what's inside Diljān Bakery's slip of a space, where rows of folks spill out the door. Should this special destination eventually inspire its own echoes, it's hard to imagine anyone reverberating as deliciously.

Bring a book, your knitting, or a deck of cards; whatever helps you pass the time as you anticipate Diljān Bakery's sweet treats. You can even visit nearby Books are Magic, Woolyn, or The Brooklyn Strategist for a bit of each. The line does move quickly, but you should still go early or on a work day for the best chance at simply popping in. I've seen the largest crowds around late morning and early afternoon on weekends (as expected).

Whether you get in and out like Diljān Bakery is any old shop or you make new friends among the masses at peak times, I implore you to order the saffron shah. The lacquered pastry's saffron-bolstered points alone are some of the best of anything I've had in New York City in quite some time; dynamic textures further abound via the flaky crescent's perfectly brittle exterior, and the airy saffron cream within. If there's one thing I hate as much as lines, it's sharing, but the saffron shah has the quality and size to merit both.

If you don't expect to make it back for a while, the sweet, nutty, cardamom-infused halwa sticky bun is the one to remember Diljān Bakery by. Grab a couple to-go; they freeze and reheat about as good as new in the oven. You have more places to sit at home, too; much like my favorite sausage, egg, and cheese address, there are only a few seats inside Diljān Bakery. Beautiful Brooklyn Bridge Park is also less than half a mile away, should you prefer an impromptu picnic.

Diljān Bakery is located at 330 Hicks Street, Brooklyn, New York 11201.