Former Gramercy Tavern Star Pastry Chef Opens a Bakery With PB & J Cakes

No one shows up on time in New York City — particularly on a Saturday morning. But, by 10:04 a.m. past, a crowd was forming at a former Dunkin Donuts at 67 Cooper Square and East Seventh Street (the plump D-shaped handle still on the door). Pastry chefs, enough food writers to fill the James Beard Foundation Awards press room, along with baking legend Rose Levy Berenbaum, had gathered for the friends and family opening of the new Hani’s Bakery and Cafe.

While every week seems to bring a bakery debut to the city, arguably, few have drawn more excitement from dedicated pastry lovers than Hani’s (pronounced Honey’s). The project, which opens this Wednesday, comes from longtime Gramercy Tavern pastry chef Miro Uskokovic (Miro to his superfans) and his wife Shilpa Uskokovic, a senior food editor at Bon Appétit.

With chocolate-chunk cookies, a chocolate-tuxedo cake inspired by the one at Costco, and another that leans into the flavors of PB and J, it’s a decidedly American bakery that reflects a baking style both owners developed a love for after moving to the U.S. — Miro from Serbia, Shilpa from India — and what Miro was known for at Gramercy Tavern, where he had been for a decade. “The vision with Hani’s is to continue that legacy and celebrate the diversity of American baking, [with] nods to who we are,” he says.

Hani’s is the realization of two dreams, one from Yugoslavia and the other from Pinterest. The first belonged to Miro’s mother Vojka Uskokovic (who he called Hani), whose plans to open a bakery and cafe were thwarted by the wars and political upheaval in the Balkans in the 1990s. “When everything kind of politically wrapped up, she got diagnosed with ovarian cancer and unfortunately passed away,” Miro shares. The time he spent with her when she was sick was when he learned to cook and bake, and realized it was his passion.

Mark Weinberg/Hani’s Bakery

Mark Weinberg/Hani’s Bakery

Opening a bakery has also been a dream of Miro and Shilpa since early in their relationship when they were students at the Culinary Institute of America. “Way back in 2011, I pinned an idea to my Pinterest board that said ‘our cookie bar in New York City,’” Shilpa shares.

But, the couple didn’t start writing a business plan until COVID, when they were visiting Shilpa’s family in India and got stuck during the Delta variant. It was a “now or never moment,” Miro says, and they saw the first of over 100 potential spaces in August 2021.

While Hani’s won’t be a cookie bar, there will be the chocolate-chunk cookies (something Miro was known for). The ones at Hani’s are made with oat flour, which gives them a maltiness and a gooier center. They weigh in at 160 grams each, putting them in the same weight class as the Levain Bakery cookies, but more spread out. “We wanted to make it the size of a baby’s head,” Miro jokes.

Once they fully settle in, the duo hopes to serve as many as 30 or 35 items that will vary day to day, but expect perfectly balanced treats like that PB and J-inspired cake with blueberry compote and a peanut-butter butter-cream (sharp-eyed dessert devotees may recognize this from Miro’s time at Untitled), broccoli cheddar sausage scones that seem to have a crush on biscuits, and maple custard tarts with flakey fluted shells and an impossibly smooth filling. And, as an homage to Levy Beranbaum, who gifted the pair her vintage Hobart mixer for the bakery, they will serve “Rose’s lemon loaf cake.”

The duo hopes they will be known for “Hani’s honey cake,” a version of the Russian cake medovik made in parts of the Balkans. When Miro was growing up, his family lived across the street from a state-owned bakery and once a week his mother would dispatch him to buy a slice. It “was her favorite dessert of all time,” he notes. The one at Hani’s was developed by Shilpa and is heavily inspired by Michelle Polzine’s cake at the now-shuttered 20th Century Cafe in San Francisco.

There are other Balkan touchpoints here as well, including rugelach filled with plum butter lekvar, plans for Vojka’s sour cherry cake in the summer, and slices of vanilla custard called kremšnita. Shilpa jokes that the latter is a “delicious little diva, and in accordance with her spirit, shall only make an occasional appearance, staying for an hour or so each time she shows up.”

Meanwhile, sandwich offerings should debut in the coming weeks — a BEC with spicy cilantro sauce and a dilly tuna salad will likely make the cast.

The beverage list leans into tea with brews from In Pursuit of Tea, and a masala chai developed by Shilpa with her parents. “Half of the business is owned by an Indian woman, so we’ve got to have a good masala chai on the menu,” Miro declares. Meanwhile, coffee comes from Brooklyn’s Superlost. With petite wooden booths and a long counter with stools, there’s space to stay for a bit to enjoy your cake and coffee.

The team also hopes to make the most of that seating with special events and pop-ups — perhaps with Chika Tillman from the now-shuttered ChikaLicious or Levy Berenbaum, Miro ponders aloud.

Getting the bakery open already feels like a 24-hour operation, but reaching this point is “a dream come true,” Shilpa notes. Miro adds, “For someone like me to come where I come from, and to be in Manhattan opening a bakery in [my mother’s] name, is quite significant honestly.”

Hani’s is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.