A Brooklyn Bridge Elopement, with Help from De Robertis Pasticceria

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Photo: Lori Greenberg

We have spent much of the past week mourning the closing of the wonderful De Robertis Pasticceria and Caffe, a family business that managed to stay open for 110 years. Not an easy feat in this town.

This reporter has many great memories of the place, and wanted to share a favorite story…

When my husband (local architect and Bowery Boogie contributor David Bergman) and I decided to elope on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1999, I ran right over to De Robertis, and asked them to make a small wedding cake.

I spoke to the grandmother (who, come to think of it, I had always known as “the grandmother”), and excitedly explained our plans. I asked if she could make a simple cake decorated with an illustration that David and I created of the Brooklyn Bridge (with Spiderman and MJ, swinging from the top of it, OF COURSE).

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Photo: EV Grieve

She folded her arms, eyed me very carefully, and in a gloriously thick New York accent, she said, “You’re ELOPING? Your MUTHA doesn’t KNOWWWWW???”

I was a bit speechless (and for those of you who know me, that doesn’t really ever happen).

So, I said, “Well … yes, it’s an elopement, but my folks really love David. And my mother has been begging me to marry him for years. She said that if we ever eloped, we had her blessing.”

A bit of silence from the grandmother, but I could see she was really thinking about it.

I quickly added, “And, we want a second cake later on, with the same illustration, for when we have a party with the family.”

After what seemed like an unbearable amount of time, the grandmother looked me straight in the eye, wagged her finger, and said, “If it’s alright with your mother, I’ll make you the cake.”

(This is my mother’s favorite story, by the way)

They don’t make businesses like that anymore. Or people. I will really miss this place, and this lovely family.