You are reading

New Café/Bakery Opening on 48th Avenue in Sunnyside Saturday

A new café/bakery called Maison De Gateaux Bakery will open on the corner of 43rd Street and 48th Avenue Saturday (Photo provided by Ahmed Rezk)

Oct. 6, 2022 By Michael Dorgan

Two brothers are opening a new café/bakery in Sunnyside Saturday.

The new establishment, called Maison De Gateaux Bakery, will open on the corner of 43rd Street and 48th Avenue and will offer a wide range of baked goods such as cakes, pastries and muffins.

Maison De Gateaux Bakery is owned by Ahmed Rezk, 44, and his brother Mac, 37, who are originally from Egypt. Ahmed currently lives in Westchester, having previously resided in Astoria, while Mac lives on Steinway Street.

The new eatery will be the pair’s first café—and is an extension of a wholesale baking distribution business called Gotham Bagels and Pastries that they established in Manhattan in 2001.

The duo have taken over two empty storefronts on the corner block and renovated those spaces. One of the spaces was previously home to the John Vincent Daniels Jr. Veterans of Foreign Wars post, or Post 2813. The other was a medical practice.

The brothers have been using the space since December after they moved their entire distribution business to the location. The café marks the next step in their enterprise.

Rezk said that the most popular baked items in their distribution business are strawberry and plain-flavored cheesecakes.

He said the new café will offer those cheesecakes as well as fruit tarts, berry tarts, cake pops, cupcakes and pastries such as eclairs and Berry Napoleon’s — which consist of layers of lemon mousse and pastry stacked together and topped with fresh fruit. There will be a variety of cakes such as chocolate mousse, red velvet, tiramisu and strawberry shortcakes. Some of the baked goods will also include vegan options, Rezk said.

The establishment will also offer large cakes for special occasions like birthdays, as well as coffees and teas.

Some of the cakes that will be on offer at Maison De Gateaux Bakery (Photo: Maison De Gateaux Bakery Instagram page)

The café area inside Maison De Gateaux Bakery (Photo provided by Ahmed Rezk)

The café, which is around 1,500 square feet in size, will seat around 20 people, Rezk said. The owners are looking to have outdoor seating along the establishment’s 43rd Street sidewalk next summer.

Ahmed Rezk said the brothers decided to open in Sunnyside having become familiar with the area on their delivery routes.

“I used to pass this location every day and it was brought to my attention that we could do something good here,” Rezk said. “I also didn’t see many bakeries around here.”

Rezk said there is a growing demand for baked goods which the brothers are looking to capitalize on.

“A lot of people began eating comfort food during the pandemic,” Rezk said. “I feel there is excitement about it in the neighborhood because a lot of people have been stopping by asking, ‘When are we opening?’”

Opening hours will be from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Do you know of a new establishment opening in Queens? Let us know by emailing [email protected] with the details.

Some of the cakes which will be on offer at Maison De Gateaux Bakery (Photo: Maison De Gateaux Bakery Instagram page)

The duo have taken over two empty storefronts on the corner block and renovated those spaces (Photo provided by Ahmed Rezk)

email the author: [email protected]

One Comment

Click for Comments 

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Queens Public Library hosts conversation with Astoria author on borough history

Borough history geeks will want to mark Tuesday, April 4, on their calendars for the Queens Public Library’s Queens Memory Project online talk with Astoria author Rebecca Bratspies. The processor at CUNY Law in Long Island City will discuss her new book, “Naming Gotham: The Villains, Rogues and Heroes Behind New York’s Place Names,” and take a deep dive into the lives of the people for whom many Queens places are named, some of which have become synonymous with congestion, recreation or culture.

“Queens is the most diverse place on the planet. That diversity is our greatest strength. Our patchwork of unique neighborhoods has welcomed successive waves of immigrants, each adding incredible foods and traditions to our vibrant civic life,” Bratspies said. “Yet it is striking how few of the names that grace Queens’ major infrastructure actually reflect that diversity. By tracing the lives of the people whose names have become New York’s urban shorthand for congestion, recreation, and infrastructure, Naming Gotham offers readers an accessible way to understand the complexity of multiracial, multicultural New York City.”

Mayor aims to streamline leadup to city’s public review process to better attack affordable housing crisis

Long before the cement trucks begin lining up on Tom Seaver Way and shovels hit the ground on the ambitious Willets Point project across from Citi Field, touted as a transformational endeavor that will bring a 25,000-seat soccer stadium and 2,500 affordable homes to the Iron Triangle, it must first go through the city’s arduous public review process known as Uniformed Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP).

The largest 100% affordable, new construction housing project in four decades will be scrutinized by the Department of City Planning, local community boards, the borough president and Borough Board and the City Council before it ever lands on the desk of Mayor Eric Adams.

Parks Department launches new maintenance initiative to address cleanliness in public greenspaces in Queens and throughout NYC

With temperatures rising and days growing longer, the NYC Parks Department has launched a new maintenance initiative that will deploy 240 newly hired full-time staff to address cleanliness in city parks during peak days and hours.

The so-called “Second Shift” will collect trash and litter and mitigate graffiti at 100 hot spots in 62 parks across the five boroughs. The additional shift will operate from Thursday to Sunday in the evening hours to create cleaner parks while also fighting the scourge of rats — a frequent target of Mayor Eric Adams, who announced the new program in November as part of his “Get Stuff Done” initiative.

Middle Village school encouraging students to walk to school on National Walking Day

P.S./I.S. 49 in Middle Village school is encouraging its students to walk to school on April 5 in celebration of National Walking Day.

According to the school’s Parent/Teacher Coordinator Christina Chiaramonte, the initiative started when she learned about National Walking Day from a local parent and thought it would be a fun idea for students. Additionally, she said the effort could potentially help to alleviate vehicular traffic around the perimeter of the school, creating a safer environment for students.

Hero cops from Queens’ 105th Precinct perform life-saving CPR on 15-month-old baby

A pair of police officers from the 105th Precinct in Queens Village performed life-saving CPR on a 15-month-old baby in Brookville earlier this month, according to the NYPD.

Police responded to a 911 call regarding an unconscious baby at a residence near 226th Street and 146th Avenue in Brookville just after 2 a.m. on March 8. The baby’s family was present at the time of the incident and made the 911 call, according to a police spokesperson.