Martha’s Country Bakery

George Stertsios's parents took over a German bakery in Hell's Kitchen in 1969 and renamed it for his mother, Martha, before the business built a wholesale trade out of a second location on Astoria's 31st Avenue supplying other restaurants' desserts. The Ditmars Boulevard shop, decorated by George's wife Athena, keeps to the family's original recipes: Linzer tarts, black-and-white cookies and chocolate layer cakes alongside more than a dozen cupcake flavors. Cheesecake, raspberry tarts and tiramisu round out a case that's baked by hand rather than shipped in. A few sidewalk tables out front handle overflow on busy afternoons.