Esmeraldo Bakery at 538 West 181st Street

Esmeraldo Bakery is one of my ‘go-to’ spots when I am up in Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan. This Dominican bakery is very popular in the neighborhood and is in the middle of the busy shopping district between Broadway and Audubon Avenue along the 181st Street corridor. It has the nicest selection of baked goods and hot and cold snacks to choose from. The one nice thing I love about the bakery is that almost everything is a dollar or around that.

The cases are full of delicious doughnuts, turnovers and pastries

I have been the bakery on many occasions and have had a chance to ‘munch’ through a lot of the pastries. The Chocolate and Vanilla topped doughnuts ($1.00) are light, fluffy and have a nice chewy consistency.  Their Sugar Twist doughnuts ($1.00) are fluffy and rolled in lots of cinnamon sugar.

The doughnuts, twists and hot food

I tried one of their apple turnovers ($1.00) which was dredged in a honey topping and loaded with a sweet apple filling. When eating them you will need to wipe your hands a lot but it is worth it.

The apple turnovers at Esmeraldo’s Bakery

The Apple Turnovers were delicious

They also had Pineapple Turnovers in the case and they were just as good. The pineapple filling was tangy and sweet.

The Pineapple Turnover

The Pineapple turnovers are excellent

On the same trip I tried one of their powder sugar topped cream horn ($1.00), which was loaded inside with a sweet cream and with every bite the horn came apart in my mouth.

Just visiting this month, I tried it again and it is still delicious. I also had one of their sugar topped doughnuts, which I could tell were just made. It was so loaded with sugar that each bite had an extra sweetness to it.

The sugar doughnut I had in 2023 was freshly made and loaded with sugar.

The flaky elephant ears

I recently had one of their Cinnamon Raison Pinwheels ($1.50), which has rolled sweet dough studded with raisons and then topped with more cinnamon sugar and then baked.

They also have delicious Elephant Ear cookies that have a combination of caramelized sweet cinnamon and sugar combination and flaky texture.

These buttery delights pull apart with each bite and you can taste the caramelized cinnamon that top the Danish.

There is also a selection of hot snacks as well. Their Cubanitos, which are a meat filled type of pie are excellent ($1.25). They are filled with a spicy ground meat filling that will warm you up on a cold day. Another delicious snack is their Relentos, ($1.25), which are a type of potato croquette that are filled with ground meat and are another snack that warms the body on a cool day.

On a recent trip, I tried one of the Ham and Cheese Rolls ($1.50) that had just come out of the oven and they were delicious. I am not sure what the Spanish name for this roll was but it came with bits of chopped ham and Cheddar Cheese baked into the dough. That was almost a complete meal.

The Ham and Cheese roll is so good!

The inside of the Ham and Cheese roll

There are also a variety of fruit filled turnovers, small pies and cakes, slices of pound cake and an assortment of cookies to choose from.

Be prepared though to speak some broken Spanish if you do not know the language fluently. Most of the ladies working behind the counter’s native tongue is Spanish but they are extremely nice and will guide you along with your selection.

After a trip into Esmeraldo Bakery, take some time to walk around the 181st Street shopping corridor. There are a lot of great shops and some excellent Dominican restaurants in the neighborhood. It was especially beautiful during the Christmas holiday season.