The (Bitter)Sweetest Thing

I was out with Donna the other night in The Village.  For some reason whenever Donna's here we end up in The Village.  (Donna, why is that?)  I took her to see this really great off-Broadway show that I first saw a few months ago, a show that is all about having something and then losing it, appropriately titled "Gone Missing".  I highly recommend it to everyone.  It deals with the pleasurable pain that comes along with remembering something beloved, but it never gets too heavy-handed.  (Added bonus:  Donna knew some of the cast members when they were grad students at UCSD.  Extra-added bonus: A very famous Tony Award winning director sat directly in front of me, former director of the La Jolla Playhouse and director of- among other things- "RENT".) 

One of my most favorite-st places in the city is right around the corner from the theater and the West 4th cages:  Pasticceria Bruno.  We headed back to the neighborhood on another night when I thought we might be able to catch a show at The Comedy Cellar nearby, but by the time we got there it was already too late for that. 

No matter.  In the battle between comedy and chocolate, I'll probably always pick chocolate.

I once took Emma to Pasticceria Bruno where they serve the most delectable, individual-sized desserts ever.  Run by Biagio Settepani (one of the ten best pastry chefs in America), Pasticceria Bruno is all about flavorful coffee, yummy gelato (though not as good as L'Arte del Gelato), great cannoli, and beautiful desserts at great prices.

So imagine my huge disappointment when Donna and I got there and found that it had closed down!!!  A quick peek at Donna's Iphone revealed that the owners could no longer afford the rising rents in that area and had to close down that location.  Luckily the LaGuardia location is still open (Bruno Bakery), though I've never been to that one.  With large corporations encroaching on every desirable inch of Manhattan it's not surprising to find small businesses going belly-up.  Such sadness!!!!  Places like Bruno's are what make the Village feel so...village-y. 

It's Halloween in New York City.  I spent my first Halloween here by going to the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade.  That was where I had my first "I'm an Angry New Yorker" moment when I laid down the law with a bunch of strangers in a very public and crowded place, and copped such an attitude that all six of them decided to shutup and take their big, drunk asses elsewhere.  They didn't even protest!  That was also the first time I saw a young twenty-something girl pick a fight with a grey-haired old lady.  Like, seriously, this girl wanted to throw down and she didn't care that there were two cops standing in front of her. 

By the look of things, the cops didn't really care either.

After the parade I decided to spare myself the immediate post-parade subway traffic, so I walked around the corner and into Pasticceria Bruno.  I had some hot cocoa and tiramisu, and wondered what I should do next as I watched the freakshow pass by the bakery windows.

That was only two years ago.  I've spent many rainy afternoons since then nursing cups of hot cocoa, pondering my life and what I should do next, while watching the daily freakshow through those bakery windows. 

There's a tiny but delicious, cake-shaped hole in my heart now.  The pleasurable pain of remembering something sweet.

RIP, Pasticceria Bruno.  Now if Sugar Sweet Sunshine closes down I'm going to be pissed.