Alissa Levine opened up The Teaspoon Bake Shop at 36-41 Bell Blvd. three years ago. The shop was featured on The Cooking Channel’s “Unique Sweets” for its oatmeal cake with maple glaze, the popular pull-apart croissant muffin and the sweet puff. She said the shop uses fresh ingredients every day and makes everything from scratch. Levine attended Benjamin N. Cardozo High School in Bayside and currently lives nearby in Fresh Meadows.
What do you love about Bayside?
It’s a quiet clean kind of suburban neighborhood. It’s very family-oriented; on the weekends there’s little league games. It has a very small town feel; you can walk down the street and recognize people. It’s very friendly and welcoming.
What’s your favorite memory of the neighborhood?
I spent all of my teenage years here and often hung out in the Bay Terrace Shopping Center. I remember just walking around there. As a small business owner now I’d call it loitering but it was great; it was a safe, clean place to walk around. There are a lot of small businesses you can go into along with Barnes & Noble.
What do you predict for Bayside in about 20 years?
For a while there was a trend to bring big businesses on Bell Boulevard but I think the community wanted something independent. In the next 20 years I think we’ll see people embracing small businesses again. I wouldn’t be surprised if an independent book store popped up or other small cafes.
