Local Greenpointer and chef, Natasha Pickowicz, wrote her first cookbook, calling it More Than Cake: 100 Baking Recipes for Pleasure and Community, and she is kicking off her book tour at one of her favorite local spots, Greenpoint’s Archestratus (160 Huron St.). The beloved local bookstore and restaurant is hosting an event that can only be described as “more than” a book signing.
Archestratus’ multifaceted fête starts at 6 PM tomorrow, April 12. The night will be set up in three parts, kicking off with a conversation with Pickowicz’s friend Farideh Sadeghin in Archestratus’ bookshop. The second part is the actual book signing with Pickowicz in Archestratus’ eatery next door.
The third part of the night will take guests back to the bookshop for a dance party with music by DJ Steven Reker and yummy food from local favorites like Archestratus, She Wolf Bakery, Chez Ma Tante (90 Calyer St.), and El Pingüino (25 Greenpoint Ave.).
The star of the night, Pickowicz, is a Greenpoint–based chef and a three-time James Beard Foundation Award finalist. She currently runs a pastry pop-up called Never Ending Taste, which has been hosted by several New York restaurants, including Williamsburg’s Four Horsemen (295 Grand St.).
Her first cookbook is filled with sweet and savory pastry recipes like a nectarine and miso tarte tatin, pecan and black cardamom sticky buns, and shoyu peanut cookies. While these sound divine, the most saintly thing about Pickowicz is her mission to make a difference. She has worked with nonprofits like Planned Parenthood, putting together a city-wide bake sale that raised more than $150,000 between 2017 and 2019, just one example of how Pickowicz’s work is about “more than cake.”
Buy tickets to tomorrow’s event at Archestratus on the website here, where you can also purchase Pickowicz’s cookbook.