In the name of all that's holy, don't…
GET CUPCAKES AT MAGNOLIA BAKERY

Ever since its cameo appearance in an episode of Sex and the City, the tiny storefront bakery on the corner of Bleecker and West 11th streets has been overrun by Carrie wannabes and their bored boyfriends, forming lines around the block on weekends and littering the West Village neighborhood with cupcake wrappers. The truth? The cupcakes are floury and bland, with overly sweet icing; the staff is surly; and the founders sold out years ago. Magnolia cupcakes are to New York what Café du Monde beignets are to New Orleans: a cavity-inducing cliché.

Instead…
GET CANNOLIS AT ROCCO'S

For some real New York history, head a few blocks down to 243 Bleecker Street and pick up some excellent, authentic cannolis and an espresso at Rocco's Pastry Shop (243 Bleecker Street, 212-242-6031), one of the few vestiges of when this part of the Village was populated by Italian immigrants. If you've got your heart set on cupcakes, hail a cab to Cupcake Café (545 Ninth Avenue, 212-465-1530), which has been baking them a lot longer than Magnolia and still gets them right—moist, huge, and with real buttercream frosting. The main location on Ninth Avenue, near the Port Authority Bus Terminal, isn't too convenient, but there's an outpost nestled in the charming children's bookstore Books of Wonder (18 W. 18th Street) in Chelsea.—Peter J. Frank

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