The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-29
IN AN EAST SIDE BAKERY.
4 shop Of Kind Not Found in New York
Outside az the German Quarter.

The most famous Of German bakers,
known to everybody on the East Side. but
utterly unknown 10 the western world Of
New York, keeps little coffee and cake
restaurant in the rear OF his bakery Just
like his humber rivals. His prioe, too.
for coffee and cakes. the regulation mid
day luxury Of the German quarter, Is not
above that Of his neighbors.
But the privilege Of slipping coffee from
an ironstone cup in that marvel Of neat
ness is a thing that no intelligent and
fastidIous German Of the quarter underesti
mates. After luncheon OF beer and
Frankfurters at some nelghboring place
the German business man likes to drop into
the bakery and have a sweet and coffee.
German housewives returning from market
delight to make their last call at the bakery
where they lay in the Injuries for supper
or for Sunday and gossip with neighbor
over coffee and cakes.
In this home OF pastry and marchpane
there is nothing Of the dinginess and squalor
that take from the charm OF too many
coffee and cake saloons. Through the
thin covering OF fresh sawdust on the floor
you can see the close and newly scrubbed
planks, as clean as a dining table in the
neatest German home.
There are fresh faced young women wait
ing on the customers In the front Of the
shop. specialized young men employed in
like fashion, and even the proprietor's son,
a glittering solitaire on one finger, oonde-
scends to look after customers with an
elegance that seems to confer a special
honor on the person served. The pro-
pretor, with crisp mustaohe and military
shoulders, comes in now and then to busy
himself about light tasks and keep an eye
upon the shop.
There Is never crowd at the three or
four neat tables in the rear OF the shop.
but for several hours about the middle OF
the day there is somebody dropping in for
coffee and cakes, the latter oomprehen-
siye term that includes pie and almost
every imaginable kind Of pastry. Cost
ness Is the note OF the place. The shop
men and women are busy but never too
busy 10 wait with courtesy upon the coffee
drinkers.
There ia always a pleasant aroma OF
fresh coffee in the place, and through an
open door at the rear one catches reas-
surfing glimpse Of the neatest OF kitchens
with it's array OF shining pots and pans.
Nobody is in a hurry, or talks loudly.
Beyond the bewildering array Of sweet
meats in the front Of the shop one looks
through the miraoulously polished windows
out upon the panorama of the busy street.
II one has little Imagination one may
read In the faces and the demands OF the
customers the social history OF the quarter.
What the vein stlbe reveals OF the mascu-
line population the bakery tells OF the better
half Of East Side life. Here is the very heart
of German respeotability.
All who come In are well dressed, and
most are smiling. Everybody seems To
have leisure 10 chat. The wanderer from
other parts Of town realizes that he Is in a
region Of different standards from those
that prevail in his accustomed haunts
Nothing is fash or cheap, all is cosy and
domestic. Men and women are active and
CHEEKY. but few seem TO be living the siren
uous life, and the stranger finds himself
wondering whether the stalwart sons and
daughters of these quiet folk may not in
herit the sound nerves that will make them
the possessors OF the land in the next genera
ton.
The place is so sweet and serene, the coffee
is so good at half the accustomed price
in other parts Of town and the cakes are
40 delicious that the unaccustomed visitor
finds himself rislKing nerves and digestion
by doubling and trebling his order, Per-
haps he catches the shop men exchanging
smiles at his appetite for sweets and coffee,
but the third cup, and It's natural accom-
paniments Of cakes, hot milk and three
Jumps OF sugar, is served with the same
suAvity as the first, and even the rotund
housewives at the next table gossip on in
apparent ignorance OF their neighbours
tamaritY