Veniero's

The story

Antonio Veniero opened his East Village address in 1894 not as a bakery but as a pool emporium and caffè, where pastries were almost an afterthought. The man from Sorrento baked well enough that demand overtook everything else, and his cakes eventually won awards in Rome, Bologna, and at the New York World's Fair. The family has never sold the place. In 1984 they added a room with stained-glass panels and original pressed tin. More than a century in, Veniero's still makes the cannoli and cheesecake by hand on East 11th Street.