Profile

A sign outside this Chinatown bakery proudly proclaims it makes the city's best hopia—flaky, round pastries filled with lotus seed paste, sweet black beans, or a variety of other fillings. These treats, along with the similar but elaborately embossed moon cakes, are indeed good, even if they don't set this bakery head and shoulders above the others in the neighborhood. Still, the sheer range of goods makes it an appealing stop. For less than a dollar, you can make a meal of the soft, hamburger-sized buns filled with a choice of slightly sweet, chewy roast pork, ham and egg, or red bean. Chinese "crullers"—small, crisp fritters—and sesame cookies are sold by the pound, along with a few American-style sweets like butter cookies and French palmiers and cream horns. The two tables offer a surprisingly tranquil spot to enjoy your pastries along with a cup of coffee, or perhaps a chrysanthemum iced tea from the refrigerator at the back of the shop. — Sarah Breckenridge

Bachelorette party planners take note: This is your source for inexpensive X-rated fortune cookies.