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Community Corner

Bites Nearby: Gourmet Bake Shop

Full-line neighborhood bakery specializes in customized occasion cakes.

You could stand on a corner and look around until a restaurant sign draws you in. But we've got a better idea. Each week, New Hyde Park Patch picks a great restaurant either in town or nearby that is worth checking out. Here's this week's choice:

Gourmet Bake Shop

Satisfying the sweet tooth cravings of many and brightening celebrations with their customized specialty cakes, the Gourmet Bake Shop has been providing baked goods to residents in and around the New Hyde Park area since 1991.

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Head Baker Joe Gifoli describes the small, family-run retail business that he owns with wife, Judy, as "a full line bakery.”

Running down the list of items that the bake shop prepares and sells daily, there is clearly something for everyone.

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“We make cakes, cookies, breads, occasion cakes, pastries, coffee and iced coffee, donuts, muffins, Danish…we even make dog biscuits,” Gifoli said.

Most of what Gifoli has learned of his craft has been on the job. Working in bakeries since he was just fourteen, he climbed the rungs apprenticing and eventually holding a pastry cook position at the Garden City Hotel before fulfilling his lifelong dream and establishing the Gourmet Bake Shop.

A multicultural showcase of Italian, American and German influences, here you will find a nice assortment of choices that are not limited to any one specific background.

From freshly baked rolls, challah and semolina breads to classic lemon meringue and apple pies, the variety of tempting treats are sure to lure you in from behind the counter. The apple crumb horseshoe, cannoli and cheesecake are a few of customer’s favorites. For summer barbeques and parties, cookies platters created from their wide selection are an especially convenient addition.

Precisely decorated cakes for all occasions are their specialty and they work to recreate any vision. The shop has even made a customized pocket book cake for a fashionable patron.

“We do it all,” Gifoli said, adding, “from five to six tier cakes down to a little two tier. Anything that the customer wants we make it for them.”

Cakes taste just as good as they look with flavors including cannoli, fat free angel food cake, strawberry shortcake, blackout and black forest, carrot, cappuccino mousse, and tiramisu.

Visit the bakery’s website for a 10 percent coupon that you can print out and bring in. Seniors get 10 percent off every Tuesday and Thursday.

Gourmet Bake Shop, 775 Hillside Avenue, New Hyde Park, (516) 354-3930. Closed Monday; Tuesday-Saturday, 6:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.; Sunday, 6:30 a.m.- 5:30 p.m. http://www.gourmetbakeshop.com/.

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