Today In Queues:Magnolia Bakery BringsThe Cupcakes To Midtown

Those of you who were thinking, "Hey, what I really would like to do on my lunch hour is spend more time standing in a line" can rejoice.
The recently expanding Magnolia Bakery has just opened its latest branch. In what would seem like the world's most overdue business move, after years of luring tourists down to formerly charming Bleecker Street, the widely beloved cupcake seller has finally decided to bring the cupcakes to the tourists by opening on their home turf: Rockefeller Center.
While the cramped, slightly grotty feeling of the original West Village location has not been replicated, the interior follows the template set by Magnolia's Columbus Avenue branch with its bright, homey décor. Clearly, the bakery's current owners are doing their best to exploit its fame and popularity, and while we normally don't applaud such aggressive banality, in this case, we say Bravo!
Magnolia gets credit for starting the cupcake craze, but it's not like they have a revolutionary or particularly rarefied product. In fact, most of what they offer are basic, old fashioned desserts that any marginally experienced baker could master without too much trouble. This is not to say that they shouldn't sell their cakes and cupcakes, but just that they have been wildly overpraised over the years. If they can still get unsuspecting suckers to line up on the sidewalk for cupcakes (an activity in which we wouldn't in a million years be caught dead participating), then by all means, they should milk it for all it's worth. We sure would.
So far, the sidewalk at the northeast corner of 49^th Street and Sixth Avenue remains reasonably clear, probably because in this roomy location, there's plenty of space to line up inside. Perhaps as more people become aware of the new spot, the line will start to wind around the corner, annoying pedestrians and littering the intersection with discarded cupcake wrappers.
One welcome development: This new branch has eschewed Magnolia's traditional "serve yourself" policy and finally instituted a vastly more appropriate system with the cupcakes behind glass until a staffer serves you one of your choice.
Score one for hygiene.
Magnolia Bakery 1240 Sixth Avenue at 49^th Street, Midtown

Comments

[Ian]

you neglected to say which flavor you DIDN'T get