Silver Moon Bakery, an UWS spot known for its challah, reopens on Broadway
Some 15 locals were in line by 8 a.m. Friday morning
Hungry customers line up outside the new Silver Moon and Buttercup Bake Shop collaboration at 2664 Broadway. Photo by Jackie Hajdenberg
(New York Jewish Week) — It doesn’t have a name, and it doesn’t have a sign, but a new iteration of Silver Moon Bakery reappeared on 101st Street and Broadway on Friday morning. It was a welcome sight for Upper West Siders after the 24-year-old bakery, famous for its challahs, closed for good on March 23.
Some 15 locals were in line by 8 a.m. Friday morning, with excited customers remarking that the new bakery smelled just the same as the old spot four blocks north.
“I’m so happy. Now I can get a challah,” one woman waiting in line exclaimed.
Silver Moon Bakery announced via Instagram Thursday that the new bakery would be opening Friday, but with a twist: The new location at 2664 Broadway, which still has signage from the previous tenant, Broadway Restaurant, was created in collaboration with Buttercup Bake Shop, a bakery known for its cupcakes.
The lease was signed by Buttercup Bake Shop in October 2024, and was set to be its third location, selling sweets, puddings and cakes. “But we saw what had happened in the middle of our construction,” Buttercup Bake Shop owner Hazem Elgo told the New York Jewish Week about Silver Moon’s closure. “The [Silver Moon] employees came in asking for work, and we heard about what happened.”
In the days following initial reports, in January, that Silver Moon Bakery faced eviction after allegedly overstaying its lease, Upper West Side locals lamented the impending loss — especially after the sudden closure of another neighborhood purveyor of Jewish carbohydrates, Absolute Bagels, due to health violations.
Elgo launched a GoFundMe in April to support the revival of Silver Moon, and as of Friday, has raised $14,000.
“It was really the community that, I don’t want to say, forced this on us, but pushed us in the direction of, something needs to be done about it,” Elgo said. “Because online, it was constant. ‘Who’s gonna jump in? How can we fix this?’ It was just turmoil. And that needed attention, and that’s all we did — kind of just gave it attention and piggybacked on it.”
Silver Moon Bakery founder, Judith Norell, a harpsichordist-turned-baker who is Jewish and lived in Israel for 10 years, is serving as a sort of consultant on the reincarnated bakery, Elgo said, and former Silver Moon staff are working at the new location. Norell told West Side Rag in April that she would not be part of management or baking when the business opens, but that the new owners “have my blessing, they really do.”
“At this moment it is No Name Bakery, and Silver Moon Bakery is still a separate entity,” Norell told the West Side Rag in April, and confirmed again earlier this month.
The bakery is not expecting to keep the “No Name” name. “There’s a preemptive checklist that usually goes on before we open. We skipped all of them, even the sign — we didn’t even care,” Elgo said. “Just open the doors, let people come in.”
In addition to challah (sold only on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays) and all-purpose baked goods and breads, the original Silver Moon sold traditional seasonal Jewish fare, such as hamentaschen for Purim, sufganiyot for Hanukkah, and honey cake for Rosh Hashanah. But it’s also known for off-the-beaten-path Jewish breads and pastries, like traditional Italian-style lacy matzah and teyglach — a knot of sticky, syrupy, boiled dough from the Ashkenazi tradition.
One change with this new location: Challah will be a daily item on rotation, Elgo said.
“We haven’t put in the Buttercup Bake Shop aspect of it yet, because of how much has risen out of the Silver Moon expectation,” Elgo said. “So we’re kind of just letting it play out of Silver Moon right now.”
But there are plans to eventually add Buttercup Bake Shop’s menu items, in addition to salads, sandwiches and soups and bourekas — the it pastry showing up on bakery menus across the city and beyond.
During its first hours of business Friday morning, the bakery drew a steady flow of customers, many with strollers and dogs. Several people ran into friends and acquaintances on the sidewalk outside, as befitting a neighborhood spot.
Michael Harper and Seth Wolfson, friends and fans of Silver Moon, had both dropped off their children at the bus for summer camp early Friday before heading to the new bakery.
“There’s been a whole big gap in good bread and community,” Wolfson said. “And this is really killing it.”
“It was a tough time when they weren’t here, because I didn’t know where to pick up dessert for when I was invited over for dinner,” Harper added. “So — excited to not have to figure that out anymore.”
