We are in the midst of a bakery renaissance. But what does that even mean? To me, it’s not just about the astounding number of bakeries that have opened in the last five years but also the quality of the baked goods they offer, goods that were once cloistered in the kitchens of very nice restaurants or a handful of lucky cities. And New York is certainly one of the luckiest. Where else could three new bakeries open within weeks, each offering something new and exciting? Only in New York!

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Elbow Bread

The long and short: After years working at restaurants like Sadelle’s, Milk Bar, Simon and the Whale and sold-out pop-ups, the pastry chef Zoe Kanan finally opened her own bakery in late October. Elbow Bread is a collaboration with Court Street Grocers in a tiny but lovely corner spot in Chinatown that she calls a “New York Jewish bakery.”

What to get: The pillowy, potato-y knish accented with dill ($7), cranberry ginger coffee cake ($6, gluten-free!), the challah croissant ($6), the squishy sweet potato pretzel ($7), two dark chocolate rugelach for the road ($5) and the miraculously vegan garlic bread bialy ($6), a January special that belongs on the permanent menu.

What to skip: The other bialy options (plain and everything) because they simply pale in comparison to the vegan version.