Willing to Travel for Colson: Yonatan

When I saw Yonatan sitting on the bench outside Colson Patisserie, the fabulous french bakery he owns on the corner of 9th St. and 6th Ave. in Park Slope, I had to stop.

"You know, there are a ton of cafes closer to my house but yet my children will have none other than Colson croissants on the weekend, and make us walk the extra blocks, otherwise there is big trouble," I told him, mimicking some of their complaints of other cafes' attempts, "not flakey enough...too doughey."

He smiled a big sweet dimpled smile. "They obviously have great taste..." he said, then, "No, really, that makes my day, thank you."

Well, his croissants make my kids' weekend days, his espresso and baked oatmeal or an oatmeal cookie (if I'm feeling very bad) very often make mine before I head to the Y across the way.

And that is why I gave Yonatan Israel a gold star!

It is amazing, actually, how many cafes have cropped up in Park Slope, how much competition there is. And, yet, so many seem to survive, seem to draw a particular kind of person or to be placed in exactly the location so that lazy New Yorkers need not even cross the street on the way to the Subway.

In this city, we get very used to things being convenient, to being able to find the best of everything right within our reach. Sometimes, as with my kids' love of Colson croissant, we are compelled to travel a bit for what we want but we are ever hopeful when that storefront comes open across the street or a single block away that it will be something that we absolutely love and need and that it will prevent us from having to go further afield.

I often say most New Yorkers' "neighborhood" is no bigger than a five-block radius. Colson just makes it as part of my hood. Lucky me! Turns out, though, even if I should ever move, I'd have to travel there anyway. It is worth it, I must say!