Written by Cameron Cave
Washington Square Park, nestled in Manhattan’s highly trafficked belly button, draws many people in and around itself. This draw sustains an entire network of shops and communities, much like a coral reef can provide refuge to thousands and thousands of fish. But to make rent, shops must typically push hundreds of customers in and out all day or charge exorbitant prices for less-than-exorbitant things.
As you watch walkers stroll back and forth through the wide glass storefront of Pasticceria Rocco, the frenetic city becomes as calm as an aquarium. A steady trickle of New Yorkers and tourists will drift in and out, most knowing exactly what they’d like to order but still taking the time to ooh and ahh at the pastry case that spans most of the shop.
When you first arrive, you’ll notice something odd: a long line of mostly empty tables stretching into the back of the shop. This feature was my original draw, as I’d looked all around Manhattan for a coffee shop I could consistently secure for my writing group. At Pasticceria Rocco, you can almost always find a table to sit at, and they even have a lovely semi-outside seating area in the back that makes you feel like you’re outside.
The ability to snag a table might seem like a red flag to passersby, but I promise that the shop will satisfy you in terms of price and taste. I owe the low traffic to the atmosphere. If you’re a coffee shop opening in New York past 2020, you’ll have already gotten the memo that you either must have a hyper-minimalist aesthetic or more warm golden lighting than the IKEA lamp aisle. But Rocco doesn’t need to keep up with all the aesthetics of all the little pop-up cafés.
In the shop, there are different styled pictures of the storefront throughout the years at varying heights. Plus, Rocco features several motivational Pinterest prints about coffee near the bathroom. The lighting is also perfect as it's white and dim but also golden. It just makes you think, “Oh yeah, this place is an establishment.”
The staff at Pasticceria are extremely nice people. For example, if you point at a mysterious Italian pastry, they’ll say its Italian name; however, if you continue looking at them confused, they’ll very helpfully tell you what it is. Also, this isn’t one of those Italian pastry shops where every beautiful cake behind the counter tastes like it’s been spiked (I’m looking at you, Doris’s Italian Market). The only thing that tastes like it’s been spiked is the baba rum, and that’s because they soak it in rum, and even that is very tastefully done. Overall, Pasticceria Rocco is cool, houses the neighborhood council meeting once every other week, and has portions so big I could ramp a Citi bike off their carrot cake.
Now, onto the food! But, first, it is important to note that their pastries lean to the sugary side, a detail that should delight many. Their strawberry shortcake is light, made with a nice spread of strawberry chunks and jam, and so sugary you’ll hallucinate you’ve found yourself in Candy Land.
Their menu also features cookies, and they are gigantic. I would highly recommend the black and white ones. They also sell boxes of their pastries in cute little bags wrapped in ribbon for gifts or in huge Tupperware if you want to treat yourself for the rest of the week.
For a savory option, they have a ham and cheese croissant for $6.95. So, if you walk to and from Pasticceria Rocco (instead of taking the subway) and order the ham and cheese croissant, you’ve practically gotten a free sandwich.
However, for all the love I have for Pasticceria Rocco, I must temper your expectations about their coffee. Their coffee tastes slightly like green beans to me. Now you might not know what green bean water tastes like from memory, but if you’re sipping some yucky coffee and think about green beans, you’ll be cursed with a green bean meter involuntarily measuring the "beaniness" of your brew. It’s a pretty reliable metric for me. Store-bought cans of cold black coffee almost always taste green-beany. Most other people would call the coffee sour, but I taste green beans. That being said, the espresso at Pasticceria Rocco is excellent, as well as their frozen lattes.
To summarize, I highly encourage you to visit Pasticceria Rocco to try their pastries and espresso. While you're in the area, you could also visit the nearby Fay Da Bakery, which is also great. Half of their pastries are $2! However, you can’t sit for hours in Fay Da and watch the sunset, as they’d kick you out within minutes. Not Pasticceria, though; they’d never kick you out.
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