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Chelsea is about to get a little sweeter.
On January 15, Charlotte Patisserie, the beloved Greenpoint bakery-café that’s been quietly perfecting old-world European desserts for more than a decade, officially opens its first Manhattan location at 78 Seventh Avenue, on the corner of 15th Street. The new outpost brings the same refined pastries, meticulous technique and neighborhood feel that made the original into a destination for Brooklyn dessert devotees.
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Founded by brother-sister duo Michael Lechowicz, the pastry chef, and Magda Stefanske, who oversees the business side, Charlotte Patisserie has built its reputation on classic French confections made entirely in-house.
At 700 square feet, the Chelsea shop is compact but packed with the kinds of elegant desserts that reward close inspection and Instagram posts: glossy cakes with precise layers, jewel-toned fruit tarts and immaculate rows of macarons that look almost too perfect to eat. Almost.
The cake case is the star, rotating through flavors like duet, a rich combination of white chocolate, milk chocolate and hazelnut crunch; black currant lemon, which balances bright acidity with creamy sweetness; and bourbon chocolate pecan, a deeper, more indulgent option that leans into winter comfort, plus a classic opera cake, with its layers of almond sponge soaked in coffee syrup, chocolate ganache and coffee buttercream, alongside seasonal fruit and nut tarts, truffles, crème brûlée and house-made salted caramel.
But the true signature here is pączki, the traditional Polish doughnuts that have become Charlotte’s calling card. Pillowy and generously filled, they come in flavors like rose hip, plum butter, prune, raspberry and vanilla bean custard. The timing of the Manhattan opening couldn't be better, as the bakery gears up for Pączki Day, a Polish-American tradition celebrated on Fat Tuesday, which falls on February 17 this year and typically draws long lines at the Greenpoint shop.
Chelsea customers can also indulge in a classic French dessert ritual that pairs espresso with a curated assortment of mignardises, or bite-sized sweets. It’s designed for indecisive dessert lovers and anyone who wants to sample a little bit of everything without committing to a full slice.
Open daily from 7:30am to 9pm, Charlotte Patisserie feels poised to become a neighborhood staple for morning coffee, afternoon treats and post-dinner indulgence. For more information, click here.