22 NOVEMBER 2 0 1 8
FOOD + DRINK
It wasn't even a conscious decision to
include “comfort” in the name, but it's
vaguely poetic that both of his open
properties have that through-line (his
third business, the Ditmars burger shop
Flattopps, is currently closed).
Queens Comfort regulars will recall
the former location's bright pink Donut
Diva window, where customers could
pick up mouthwatering, melt-in-yourmouth
doughnuts, among other baked
goods. These pastries, which were baked
by D'Alessio Barbieri, quickly picked
up steam — so much so that her brother
decided to launch a bakery showcasing
them.
D'Alessio Barbieri is a former nursery
school teacher who's been making doughnuts
for about seven years.
“It started out with just my husband and I
on Sundays doing a special doughnut, and
it slowly got more popular,” she recalled,
saying that she eventually quit her job and
began baking full-time at Queens Comfort.
And it's easy to see why her products were
in high demand: The baker specializes in
cake doughnuts, which are dense, moist and
often glazed and/or fi lled with delectable
fl avors.
“The cake we love because you can put
the ingredients inside,” she said of her preferred
doughnut style. “It's different. Yeast is
one dough, and then you top it all different
ways. Cake, my husband and I felt like you
can have so much fun with. You can change
the fl avors as well as putting stuff on top,
so you actually get to taste the fl avor of the
cake.”
And her Comfortland doughnut menu
includes fl avors like peanut butter and
Nutella, pumpkin butterscotch (her personal
favorite), and peaches and cream. Not to
mention her famous rainbow cookie crumb
cake, which has three colorful layers and a
crumbly topping. Now that's comfort food.