everything's coming up roses
with frozen bevvys, gallery shows and the hottest in restaurant collabs
This week we’re sharing the coolest public gallery shows on view, featuring the best in food & bev collabs this week, highlighting live music & shopping pop-ups, and introducing you to our cool friend: Morgan Knight of Saint Street Cakes.
Shania’s Max Bet
From some of the same folks that brought a shuffleboard bar to Gowanus when the neighborhood had more coffin factories than high rises comes Shania’s Max Bet - a bar that’s inspired by the casinos of Atlantic City. Everything from the giant disco ball to bottles of midori behind the bar lend to the feeling that you’re in an 80’s limo, something the team actively aimed for when designing the space and its menu which is complete with frozen drinks and throwback cocktails. Check it out at 317 3rd Ave in Brooklyn from 5p-4a every single day.
MA VIE
Tucked into a red brick building along the West Village’s Hudson Street lies MA VIE. This boutique, which opened earlier this Summer, is entirely focused on shopping not for yourself, but for those in your life with gifts ranging from scented wax cameos to beautiful silver trays, all wrapped up in their signature bow. Open every day from 11a-7p for shopping!
Bernie Kaminski on the Bowery
Next time you take a walk downtown, make a detour to peer into the windows of 96 Bowery, between Grand and Hester. Currently, a selection of papier mache works depicting t-shirts from artist Bernie Kaminski are on view in partnership with Long Story Short Gallery. Since it’s not totally clear how long this mini show will be on for, make sure you find time in the next few weeks to take it all in.
Pioneer Works Second Sundays
The next iteration of Pioneer Works’ Second Sundays series is upon us this weekend, on August 9th from 12-6p! This free, monthly open studio series at their Red Hook campus is the last chance to catch their latest trio of exhibitions. There’ll also be artist-in-residence LaJuné McMillian discussing her upcoming ocean exhibition Child/ren of the Bloom, solar gazing, Khajistan’s Saad Khan in conversation, The New York Mycological Society deep-diving the world of fungi, Jemila MacEwan’s living monument Dead Gods in the garden, and more! Get the full breakdown of this weekend’s events here.
Bridges x Barbichette Wines
While you might not want to go out on a Monday night, we have two reasons why you should. 1. Warm weather won’t last forever. 2. Bridges is teaming up with Barbichette Wine for a super fun summer party, “Burning Bridges,” at Bridges’ beautiful Chinatown restaurant. This one-night only event will pack the room for a standing-only event with bbq and wine. Tickets ($110) include two glasses of wine and five dishes with a few additional small plates available for purchase. Secure your spot here for one of the two entry times!
Ferragosto at Balera
If you’re “euro-maxxing” this summer, Balera has THE event for you. On August 15th, the chic Williamsburg pizza restaurant will be hosting a celebration of Ferragosta - the Italian holiday where the country truly comes to a halt. The kitchen will be open until 11p, a DJ set begins at 10p, and the bar will be open all the way until 2am! Celebrate the way Ferragosto is meant to be…on the dancefloor. Oh, and make your reservation here.
Welcome Home at Briscola
Bed Stuy’s Welcome Home Bakery is spending the rest of the summer popping up in Crown Heights at Briscola every Friday-Sunday in August. They’ll be serving up their popular baked goodies from 9a-1p, so stop by early at 798 a Franklin Ave to get your hands on cinny rolls, sourdough, pasties &&& more.
Lutèce at PDF
From Georgetown to Greene Avenue, Place des Fêtes is welcoming DC’s Lutèce to the restaurant this Sunday for the final dinner of their Summer Sustainability Series. Chef Matt Conroy and the Lutèce team will join PDF for a collaborative menu inspired by the height of summer with the season’s most exciting ingredients. As part of the evening, 10% of event sales will support the Billion Oyster Project.
This weekend, Fashionphile is popping up in the heart of SoHo with a 3-day retail takeover of 131 Greene St on August 7th-9th from 11a-8p. You can expect daily drops with new deals each day, insider tips on leather & hardware care, and creator activations with interactive events all weekend. If you’ve been dreaming of something special and hard to find, this is the perfect place to score a classic & timeless piece. Don’t miss out this weekend, and head here to see the full schedule of events!
The theme of this week’s newsletter is putting together all the ways that we think you could make the most of Summer in the city. One of our favorite things to do on a balmy day, is head down to Red Hook, where loads of the city’s most underrated live music happens at Sunny’s Bar. They’ve just released the calendar for all of the (free!) shows happening at the bar this month, and it’s absolutely packed. Don’t forget to bring cash!
With Others Wine Flights
If you’re in Williamsburg and need an escape from the bustle all around you, pop into the tranquil backyard of With Others every Sunday this month to partake in their self-guided wine tasting series. $40 gets you 2.5oz pours of four different wines, complete with tasting notes and the stories behind each bottle, with a new lineup each week!
Poetry Pours at June Wine Bar
For the lovers of both wine AND poetry, Poetry & Pours is hosting an immersive experience that explores the way both wine and poetry can awaken and transform the senses. Next Thursday at June Wine Bar in Cobble Hill, grab a seat for a tasting menu of five seasonal wines from June, paired with poems hand-selected by local poets Sharon Lin and Stephanie Niu to highlight the sensory qualities, mood, and notes of each glass. Attendees with leave with a deeper appreciation for the ways that both wine and poetry can activate the palate.
Meet Morgan, the head chef, owner, and creative powerhouse behind Saint Street Cakes in Fort Greene. Before opening her Brooklyn storefront, Morgan was on a path to becoming a lawyer, even working as a paralegal for the US Attorney’s Office…all while pulling off 5 AM baking and content-editing shifts on the side. What started as an intricate strawberry birthday cake for her college roommate on Saint Botolph Street in Boston quickly spiraled into an Instagram sensation. After running a massive solo operation out of her apartment, Morgan opened her brick and mortar in June 2025, where she continues to merge her love for pastry with her passion for civil rights by donating a portion of monthly proceeds to grassroots organizations like the Marsha P. Johnson Foundation and SisterSong.
How did your career as a baker begin?
Standing on a stepstool and stirring a boxed brownie mix, in my parents’ kitchen! I’ve been a lifelong baker, but began baking “semi-professionally” when I started selling cakes out of my college apartment as a side-hustle in 2021. I learned a lot on the fly, but had also been pretty intensely recipe developing and self-teaching for my entire life. I’ve always just known that I love feeding people and baking.
Tell us about your nostalgic and colorful bakery in Fort Greene, Saint Street Cakes! What is the inspiration behind the design of the store and the type of cakes you create?
I’ve always been inspired by all-things vintage; my cake decorating style definitely comes from looking at my grandmother’s Wilton cookbooks from the 60s and 70s. I love color and fresh flowers, so those are integrated into the style as well. It’s so much fun to eat something that looks so cartoonish, but actually tastes great. As for the bakery, I’ve been building my own imaginary space since I was a kid. Since I started Saint Street (even before a brick and mortar felt remotely within the realm of possibility), my friends and family would spot cute, windowed restaurants and bakeries for lease and say “perfect spot for Morgan’s shop!” I knew I wanted something full of light, that felt like you were hanging out at your cool grandma’s house. All of the furniture is vintage, sourced from random shops/estate sales on road trips, and a lot of the decor inside came directly from my apartment, or is art created by friends of the bakery. While most of the decor has been collected over the past few years, a lot of the interior came together during construction when my parents would visit from LA. My mom is an interior designer and my dad a contractor, so I got really great advice making my dream a reality; we also just had so much fun building it as a family.
What’s your favorite part about the New York sustainable culinary community
Everyone I’ve met is so passionate about what they’re building. We’re a bakery with heart, and in a world full of “[insert mega-chain bakery name here]” dominating a lot of the culinary conversation, it’s so refreshing to meet other chefs bringing care and intentionality into what we do.
How did your beginnings baking in your small NYC kitchen while working a full time legal career inform how you work and create at the bakery today?
I spent the first three months after the bakery opened working 20 hours a day. I loved baking, but was so worried that I jumped ship from a very reliable career in law. I felt so lucky that the bakery was immediately really busy and high in demand, but was exhausted, stressed, and overwhelmed. Now that I’ve grown our team (who I love, and who are the backbone of Saint Street), and learned to go with the flow, I’m able to 1. sleep and 2. step back and appreciate that I get to spend every single day in a kitchen rather than a cubicle. We’re just over a year in, and I still feel this “pinch me” feeling that all of this is real. My career in law also definitely made me (on a practical level) really good at reading contracts and completing paperwork, which can be the less fun side of being a bakery owner. Starting when I did, I had to make a lot of really big decisions earlier than most people do; signing a 5-10 year lease on a bakery at 24 years old was never something I thought was possible. In terms of creation, I’ve developed all of my recipes at home; I want all of my recipes to translate to a realistic, average kitchen so other people can enjoy baking them too. I also feel most creative when baking at home, so it’s where I test out new flavors and concepts before they make it to the shop.
Do you have a favorite item on the bakery menu right now?
The fan fav is our Salted Chocolate Chip Cookie (which I love), but my favorite comes down to a tie. My favorite slice of cake we currently have is the Chocolate Ganache Cake. It’s extremely moist, surprisingly vegan layers chocolate cake, filled with a rich chocolate ganache made with coconut milk, and covered with chocolate buttercream. It’s truly a chocolate lover’s dream. My favorite item from the pastry case is the Lucky Lime Bar (a lime-twist on a traditional lemon bar with a shortbread crust). It’s so tart and refreshing; perfect for summer. All of our cake slices and most of our pastries rotate seasonally, so I have a new favorite every few months!
Follow Along