Years ago I visited New York City for the first time. There was one particular place that I fell in love with, the Sunrise Bakery & Cafe. I have typed a descriptive essay that I hope transports you to New York and allows you to experience the wonders I saw. Enjoy!
8402 Queens Blvd, Elmhurst, NY 11373
New York. A place pictured with bright lights and busy city streets. Located in Queens is a small bakery titled Sunrise Bakery and Cafe. On the outside this place looks like any ordinary family owned business. A small orange sign hangs over the windows with Chinese lettering written above the English print “Sunrise Bakery and Cafe.” The bakery busy with people rushing to get their day started. No one would ever dream of finding such a small family owned business in New York that means more to people than just food.
Queens is a large section of New York. While many of the sidewalks are quiet during the morning, the one placed that is busy with life is the Sunrise Bakery and Cafe. From the outside this place looks like a small hole in the wall place with little to offer. Pass the doors that separate the street to the bakery rushes the smell of coffee, hot tea, fresh baked buns and so much more. In such a large city one could never imagine finding a small family owned business with generally nice people. The line to order backs up to the door that rushes in cold crisp air every time a customer enters, or in the spring months warm air rushes in to meet the cold air conditioning. The bakery is loud with the noise of people ordering their coffee or freshly baked buns fills the air along with side conversations of couples talking about various things.
A unique thing is present in the Sunrise Bakery and Cafe. All things inside the small bakery are labeled in Chinese then translated to English next to them. The labelling is very common in parts of the city where there is a large population of Chinese people. While that is unique, so are the selections offered. The wide array of things to order in this bakery can be overwhelming for customers who are used to “coffee” and “a donut” offered in other bakeries. The selections of hot tea, buns baked with cheese on top, cream filled pastries, buns with fried chicken inside them and so much more make the possibilities of a morning breakfast endless. With such a wide range of selections it seems like customer could order a new combination each day of the month!
Lining the back wall are clear boxes with sliding doors filled with mouth-watering baked goods. A young foreign worker stands to the side ready to hear the order of the customer. Swift with every movement the worker knows where each item is located. The pace never dies down in this small bakery. After each customer orders their food it is quickly and gently placed on a small tray next to the cash register. Before the customer even has time to comprehend what is going on the diligent workers have already rang the food up and asking if the customer would like a beverage. Each customer responds differently, some enjoy a hot cup of coffee while others enjoy a hot cup of tea or some select individuals enjoy a nice cold glass of orange juice. No one beverage is favored over the other it seems.
The prices within the bakery make a morning breakfast or afternoon snack affordable for the majority of people around the city. Following the affordable prices, the quality and quantity a customer receives is very satisfying. Busy with business, the bakery always pays attention to each customer who enters. The face pace of New York city is in the feet of the workers but they slow their pace when it comes to customer satisfaction. The food served in the bakery only adds to the atmosphere created by the friendly employees and bright upbeat people who surround the inside of the bakery. Making the bakery seem almost alive itself, but truly it is just the people who make it seem alive.
Surrounding the perimeter of the inside of the cafe are small tables with chairs. The tables glance out the windows to the bustling sidewalks of queens and the busy traffic traveling into the heart of New York. The view is so upbeat but the calm smell of coffee makes the view much more relaxing. A wide variety of people can be seen traveling to their destinations. People sit and read their newspapers, business people talk on the phone and young teenagers sit and socialize about what is planned for their day. Behind the counters the workers don’t slow their pace as more and more people enter and leave the bakery. Within the cafe fresh baked goods are refilled and distributed to their locations within the clear glass that holds them. No employee lets one type of pastry run out in its designated location.
Each pastry is prepared to look like all the others, so no one pastry is bigger or smaller than the other. Each is cooked with care to where it is visually pleasing to the eyes but taste delicious on the taste buds. The presentation is very uniform and professional as the pastries line up next to one another and some are stacked from the back to the front standing up vertically. The overall appeal is very simple yet elegant. Time is taken to cook and present these pastries to the customers. Something so simple in a large city is very rare to find, considering everything has to be bigger and better in a city. Even the customers realize that time and effort is put into both cooking a presentation. This just adds to the character of the bakery. A place where satisfaction of the eyes and the taste buds is taken into accountability.
Customers fill all the spaces in the small bakery, some ordering their food and others simply eating and enjoying their morning. Around the bakery each customer has ordered something different. Some have simply ordered a cup of coffee to kick start their day while others have ordered food to satisfy their empty stomachs. No matter what laughter fills the air as many customers sit and enjoy the company of their friends or family. Smiles fill people's faces even if they have nothing to smile about. Something beyond the food makes the atmosphere of The Sunrise Bakery and Cafe a place where people can relax and simply enjoy themselves. Despite such a large city with the never ending sounds of car horns, people arguing on the streets, homeless people begging for money, children laughing and running as their parents eagerly watch out for them, this bakery creates a place of safety and tranquility.
From the inside, the bakery creates a new world and atmosphere found nowhere else in the city. Walking through the door creates a new world beyond New York. The pace slows for people almost as if time stands still and for moments reality does not exist. People can escape from their problems that surround their lives. There is something beyond the delicious food served in the bakery. Beyond the fact that it is family owned. This bakery is one of a kind. A place only found in New York, and someone would never dream of it being in New York. A place where people can relax and take a moment to step away from the steady upbeat pace of the never sleeping city.
