Top NYC Restaurants Selling Care Packages and Birthday Boxes Right Now

When birthday parties and bar hangs aren’t possible during the novel coronavirus shutdown, care packages can be one way to pass along a bit of joy to loved ones. And with no more dine-in service, many local restaurants, bakeries, and other food businesses are supplementing business by offering new boxed sets or launching make-it-yourself kits at home to boost sales during the downturn.

Whether sending somebody — or yourself — a pick-me-up treat, here are a few boxes and DIY options that may feel more celebratory than a standard grocery order.

For those looking to luxuriate, upscale wholesalers are also doing consumer deliveries, meaning caviar and truffles could also do. See that list here. And if looking to just send some tote bags, t-shirts, or hats from hit NYC restaurants, that list is right here.

Baked: Brooklyn bakery Baked is now delivering cases of its fudgy dark chocolate brownies and blondies. The brownies, which are available in $24 six packs, can be shipped nationally from the bakery’s original location in Brooklyn.

Baz Bagel and Restaurant: For those looking to sneak in an arm workout this week, Baz Bagel and Restaurant of Little Italy is dishing up make-at-home bagel kits ($36). Each kit comes with enough supplies for a baker’s dozens hand-rolled bagels, including flour, malt, yeast, and seedy toppings. All households need is an oven, a baking sheet, and a strong set of hands.

Boca Santa: Bed-Stuy newcomer Boca Santa landed in the neighborhood last year with a menu leaning into the vegetarian-friendly cuisine of San Miguel de Allende. The Mexican restaurant is now offering $50 packages of its housemade tortillas, avocados, salsa, as well as grocery essentials like milk and eggs. Call the restaurant at 551-257-4443 to place an order for pick-up between 2 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. from Wednesday through Saturday. Please note: Boca Santa is temporarily closed until Wednesday, May 20.

Borough Provisions: A collaboration between hit bakery Bien Cuit and NYC coffee chain Joe, Borough Provisions is now offering a selection of gift boxes, including a dessert sampler with chocolate buckwheat cookies, among other selections. There’s also a breakfast kit with eggs, bacon, orange juice, and breakfast pastries. The service delivers to all of Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, but has a four-day wait. Orders have a $60 minimum.

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Bourke Street Bakery: After selling out in its first few weeks of sales, Nomad favorite Bourke Street Bakery is back with grocery boxes of bread for citywide delivery. The bakery’s bread and essentials box comes with a loaf of seedy sourdough, butter for smearing, milk, eggs, and produce. Orange and almond cakes, seasonal fruit danishes, cold brew concentrate, and two-pound bags of flour can also be added a la carte to orders, as well.

Breads Bakery: Breads Bakery, home of a mouth-watering chocolate babka loaf, is delivering big batches of rugelach, flourless brownie cake, and other baked goods. The bakery’s care packages — which also include a babka trio — are available for nationwide shipping, for pickup at Breads Bakery locations in Manhattan, or local delivery through Caviar.

Carissa’s the Bakery: This popular East Hampton bakery is selling its pickled rye bread, made from a 21-year-old rye starter and blended with pickles in brine. Loaves are available for nationwide overnight shipping twice a week through the bakery’s online store.

Clinton Hall: This mini-chain of craft beer bars sells everything someone might need for a late night in. In addition to a lengthy selection of liquors, wines, craft beers, and — yes — even hard seltzers, Clinton Hall has 10 board games on its delivery menu, ranging in price from $15 to $30. Games like Sorry, Cards Against Humanity, Jenga, and Connect 4 are all available for delivery from the bar’s Financial District location with the purchase of food.

Doughnuttery: Chelsea Market’s mini-doughnut purveyor Doughnuttery is delivering DIY doughnut kits that include four sugar blends and a pound of doughnut mix.

Economy Candy: All-encompassing LES candy icon Economy Candy is offering candy care packages for delivery ($35). Options include chocolate, dried fruits and nuts, and a “recess pack,” which comes filled with small toys.

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Fine & Raw: Brooklyn artisanal chocolate maker Fine & Raw has three “chocolate relief kits” priced from $25 to $60. Bars, truffles, and chocolate hazelnut butter are among the feature items. It also has a slew of other chocolate gift sets, and all of them can be shipped globally.

The Fly: Bed-Stuy’s popular rotisserie chicken restaurant the Fly is selling whole ready-to-roast chickens for $28, as well as a six-pack of natural wine bottles for $150. The restaurant’s online store opens on Monday at 12 p.m. for pick-up on the following Wednesday.

Fulton Fish Market: Fresh and frozen seafood packages are available for nationwide delivery from Fulton Fish Market in Hunts Point, in the Bronx. The Hunts Point distributor has fancy seafood packages, including a caviar sampler and a smoked brunch bundle with a few types of salmon and trout. For those looking to stock up on freezer-safe seafood for later, Fulton Fish Market has a care package for that, too.

Jeffrey’s Grocery: West Village restaurant and raw bar Jeffrey’s has several food packages available for pick-up and delivery. There’s a fruit box, a four-serving burger kit, and a Jewish appetizer board, which comes with bagels, salmon, whitefish salad, chive cream cheese, capers, and other garnishes.

Mottley Kitchen: South Bronx bakeshop Mottley Kitchen has two care packages available for delivery: a $75 box of kitchen favorites, including fresh pastries, cookies from the bakery, overnight oats, tea bags, horchata, chai mix, and non-dairy milk; and a $150 grocery box, which includes all of the above, alongside grains, pasta, meat, and fresh produce. Both boxes are available for delivery in the Bronx and upper Manhattan on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Murray’s Cheese: Venerable New York City cheese shop Murray’s Cheese has holiday and just-because cheeseboards available for delivery. Cheese samplers, cured meats, desserts, and dips are all available in care packages under $50, $100, and $200, as is an option to build your own cheeseboard.

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June Wine Bar: For anybody looking to get into the sourdough game, Cobble Hill wine bar June can deliver 30 grams of sourdough starter and hard-to-find packs of flour like King Arthur. Throw in some small bites or bottles from the bar’s impressive selection of natural wine.

Katz’s Delicatessen: Famed Manhattan deli Katz’s has a number of care packages made especially for those sheltering in — and away from — New York City right now. The “Taste of New York” package comes with everything needed to make a pastrami on rye in home at home and is marketed at those who “want to show your pesky neighbor what real pastrami, mustard, and bagels taste like,” the deli says. If a meaty care package is more fitting of the occasion, a birthday box ($120) includes pastrami, corned beef, and all the necessary tools for the deli’s sandwiches — plus black-and-white cookies.

Leo: Williamsburg’s buzzy cafe and bakery Leo is selling what it calls a “friends and family labor of love care package,” including a box of Variety Coffee beans, several bottles of wine, a loaf of housemade sourdough bread, ricotta, and lemon jam. Call the restaurant at (718) 384-6531 to order. The bakery also delivers one pound bags of flour through Caviar.

Leon and Son: Clinton Hill wine shop Leon and Son is delivering bottles of mostly natural wines through a monthly subscription service called Leon Circle. The $75-per-month subscription includes three hand-picked bottles of wine and is also available as a one-time purchase. Nationwide shipping is available, as is in-store pick-up at the Clinton Hill store.

The Meat Hook: The guys behind hip Williamsburg meat shop the Meat Hook have set up an online grocery delivery and takeout service selling everything under the sun. Send someone a care package with the butcher’s popular pork sausages, alongside IPA’s from Gowanus beer maker Three’s Brewing.

Nguyen Coffee Supply: If living with somebody who couldn’t — or wouldn’t — stop talking about dalgona coffee, a care package from Nguyen Coffee Supply might be up their alley. The Brooklyn coffee roaster has five-pound bags of coffee (from $14), a sampler of three coffees ($42), and a Vietnamese coffee-making kit that comes with a stainless steel phin filter ($27). Nguyen Coffee Supply ships nationwide.

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Pat LaFrieda: It’s warming up outside, and legendary New Jersey-based meat purveyor Pat LaFrieda has delivery kits for outdoor — and indoor — barbecuing. The delivery menu includes sausage and burger packages, each of which come with a few varieties each, and a sampler package, which has it all: sweet Italian sausage, burger patties, hot dogs, and steak.

Roberta’s: Bushwick’s freewheeling pizzeria and bakery is delivering make-your-own pasta and pizza kits, with oxtail tagliatelle and margherita pies on deck. Send it alongside some of the wood-fired pizzeria’s ready-to-eat pies.

Russ & Daughters: One New York’s oldest bagel stops is delivering in Manhattan and shipping its baked goods nationwide. Bagels and lox, babka, pantry items, tinned fish, pickled goods, soups, and breads are all available, as are preserved, smoked, and cured fish. For delivery in Brooklyn, order through Caviar.

Samwon Garden: Upscale Korean barbecue spot Samwon Garden is offering a new gift box made almost entirely of meat. The restaurant’s make-at-home barbecue kit comes with beef short rib, pork belly, and an assortment of side dishes for home cooking ($149). Call the restaurant at 212-695-3131 or text 516-225-6122 to order.

Tipsy Scoop: Boozy ice cream shop Tipsy Scoop has two types of DIY Sundae kits on deck: a mango margarita mix and one made from Irish dark coffee, dark chocolate whiskey, and spiked mint chip ice creams.

The Wayland: Boozy, party-in-place birthday packages are now being delivered, thanks to the bartenders over at East Village cocktail bar the Wayland. The bar’s festive make-at-home margarita kits include a 750 milliliter bottle of tequila, salt, garnishes, and a liter of cocktail mix. Deliveries are made on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays; place orders by 5 p.m. the day before.

This post was originally published on Friday, April 3, 2020 and has been updated with more options.

Disclosure: Eater has a video series, Prime Time, hosted by Ben Turley and Brent Young of the Meat Hook.