Four & Twenty Black Birds

Sisters Emily and Melissa Elsen grew up in Hecla, South Dakota, where their grandmother baked pies for the family's Calico Kitchen restaurant. They started taking custom orders out of their Crown Heights apartment in 2009, then opened this Gowanus storefront the following spring. Time Out New York named them Artisans of the Year in 2011, and a 2013 cookbook of their recipes has since sold more than 35,000 copies. The shop pours Variety coffee and sells pie by the slice alongside savory baked goods, with tables enough to linger over both.