About

Clinton St Baking Co. is a classic American restaurant with bakery located on NYC’s Lower East Side. Since 2001, we’ve maintained our mom & pop roots by using the highest quality ingredients from local purveyors we know and trust who stand behind the integrity of their products like sustainable coffee, all natural milk, cage free poultry & eggs, premium ice cream, and heritage farm-raised pork. Our eclectic menu takes inspiration from the American South, coastal New England, Jewish New York, and the Spanish cooks who bring to our kitchen their rich culinary traditions from Mexico and the Southwest.

Nearly everything we serve, from raspberry jam and buttermilk biscuits, to corn tortillas and habanero hot sauce, is made on premises, using classic and traditional techniques. Our breakfast and brunch earn the most acclaim, but dinner is a great time to visit, when lights are low, crowds are calm and the neighborhood regulars claim their well-earned place. And yes—pancakes are served all day and all night!

OUR STORY

When we opened our bakery with a 32-seat café in April 2001, our only mission was to make the best muffins and scones in the city, hand-mixed in small batches. Back in the day, we had only two wholesale accounts, a college student at the register, and a handful of Lower East Siders who lingered over coffee & baked goods, tapping on their laptop keys (before smartphones were born).

Eventually artists and business owners from the neighborhood stumbled in, connections sparked, and a true hangout took shape. Word of mouth about Neil’s cooking spread fast and soon people clustered the block, making a line, with friends and family in tow. When New York Magazine proclaimed them “best pancakes in town,” we knew we had officially arrived. For a decade upon years, our humble bakery hosted hundreds of people a day, thousands per week, all seated shoulder to shoulder at our cozy banquettes. West Coasters mixed with Japanese tourists and globetrotters from Dubai, with British backpackers sandwiched in-between. In 2016, we expanded next door, and our once-tiny cafe was suddenly twice the size and all grown up.

As longtime New Yorkers who love to eat out, we personally favor iconic spots with time-honored history, delicious food and welcoming staff. It was always our goal to have the kind of place where you can’t wait to eat—a spot where we ourselves would wait on line. We are so proud that diners visit us from around the world, and our mission now is to make sure it’s truly “worth the hype.”

Neil Kleinberg

Chef & Co-Owner

Lifelong New Yorker, Brooklyn born and bred, Neil Kleinberg raised himself in a crazy kitchen in Flatbush, among a boisterous clan of siblings and neighboring cousins, uncles and aunts. At 10 years old, he became a one-boy culinary wonder who’d do anything to avoid his mother’s “famous” dish: chicken in a pot. Neil opened his first restaurant, Simon’s in Lincoln Center, at just 22 and in 1997 re-opened the legendary seafood restaurant, Lundy’s, in his native Brooklyn.

Classically trained in the French culinary tradition, Neil has gamely eaten and cooked his way through much of the world, and has never met a slice of pizza or Chinese egg roll he didn’t like. Neil is the co-author of Lundy’s: Reminiscences and Recipes and, of course, The Clinton St. Baking Co. Cookbook. He serves on the Advisory Board of his alma mater, New York City College of Technology.

Dede Lahman

Co-Owner

A co-owner of Clinton St. Baking Co., Dede enjoyed a decade long career as an editor and writer for national magazines before switching to the restaurant life. The Clinton St. Baking Co. Cookbook she wrote with Neil's recipes was named a best of NY Times’ 2010. From 2012 to 2016, Dede proudly served on the Board of Directors of New York Sun Works, a non-profit organization that builds 21st century hydroponic greenhouse science labs in urban schools.

Neil and Dede first met randomly as patrons at A Salt and Battery — a takeout fish&chips shop in Greenwich Village. Ten months later they were married, with restaurant.