Cucina 98

I was at the restaurant next door to this place and I discovered it while outside smoking. Their are some really well thought out prepared baked goods. All types of yummy. You can see almost to the rear of the kitchen and it was very clean. The counter person Jenna was a energetic young lady with a quick smile and was wiping things down when I entered. She likes working here. There was breads and deserts for whatever you desire. The lemon cake stuff was sweet, just the right tart and a nice crunch in the bottom. I highly recommend it. Jenna knows her stuff. The restaurant next door is nice also. It’s well worth a stop.

Stopped for a quick lunch and ordered a veggie eggplant sandwich. It was absolutely delicious. The eggplant was crispy breaded and tasted very fresh, as did the veggies. The pesto was very flavorful, and the bread was perfect, crispy and chewy. They have a selection of different flavor pellegrino in the can. There were some meat options which I may try another time. I don't have desserts very often but everything looked delicious so I'm probably going to try some of them. All in all a very good experience.

You had me a Pignoli!

I met my daughters and son in law in the area for lunch, I have never been to the area so after lunch we decided to walk around a bit before we went home, as I waled past the store, what caught my eye was a sign hanging in the window written in Italian that translated to "little kitchen" This immediately sparked my curiosity but we kept walking, on our return trip as I passed again, I saw another sign, it said "Pignoli Cookies" and that was it, I had to go in. Inside, the cutest littte bakery and behind that, a beautiful working kitchen. Up front, I immediately noticed a small pastry case filled with artisan desserts, so many to chose from and all store made, by hand. I was overwhelmed! A small voice from behind the counter greeted us, and in return, I announced with excitement "you had me at Pignoli!" She came over and showed me where the Pignoli cookies were located. In addition, there was also a nice selection of gluten free and vegan cookies and muffins which were perfect for our diverse group. I purchased a dozen Pignoli cookies, 2 vegan PB cookies, 2 vegan muffins and 2 gluten free cookies. I will admit, I had a little sticker shock at first but now, in retrospect, I don't believe they charged enough! Let me give you a little back story so you can appreciate this review fully and the 5 stars that I gave it. I am a cook and a baker, my last catering business was in the smallest commercial kitchen you will ever see and I know how hard it is to operate in confined areas, I also know what it takes to make a great cookie, and this, was a great cookie, so much that I polished off 2 before i even made it home. So much that I entertained hiding them when I arrived home so no one else could eat them, so much that I will be scouring the internet later today to see if by some small chance there is a published copy of that recipe that I could have for myself. So much that if I lived local, I would probably apply for a position in that kitchen just to learn their Pignoli secret. And yes, it should be a well kept secret because these are extraordinary! Cooked perfectly, not sticky on the outside at all, the perfect amount of Pignoli on top, the bottoms perfectly browned and not one of them having any evidence of them sticking to the baking paper. Inside, a mound of almond-y goodness, so moist and delicate yet hearty at the same time. In my humble opinion these cookies were shear perfection! If my internet search fails, my next goal will be to see if I can somehow, someway, modify my recipe in hopes to come even close to these near-perfect cookies. Do yourself a favor, and try them and when you do, let me know if you agree!

Natural and authentic pastries. My fav is the vegan chocolate brownie! This place is the real deal. Always fresh and flying off the shelves.

I ordered the most amazing cake from Cucina 98 this weekend. It was the best cake I ever had!! Bailee is a genius!

Went to Cucina Piccolo. The blueberry lemon scones are fantastic, but you have to get there early on Saturday or Sunday.

Great bagels and sandwiches

The owners are always very nice and the food is absolutely delicious.

enjoyed their vegan options!

Great spot. Chicken salad is amazing.

Foodies delight

The Best ✨

Cucina 98 is owned and located right next door to an excellent Italian restaurant Corso 98. All the desserts for Corso 98 are made here. I've had the Sicilian orange cheesecake and the ice box cake and both were EXCELLENT! On Sunday, I stopped inside this bakery before dining at Corso 98 and decided to purchase 4 desserts to have after my meal. I bought a vanilla cupcake, a peanut butter energy bite, a baby burnt muffin, and a expresso walnut brownie. Prior to ordering the cupcakes the girl told me I wouldn’t be able to eat the cupcake until it reaches room temperature since it was refrigerated. The expresso walnut brownie was DELICIOUS! It was moist and fresh, and it tasted like dark chocolate fudge. I Loved it! I’m still dreaming of eating it again! The baby burnt muffin would of been very good, but the cake part was dry from being refrigerated too long. The same goes for the peanut butter energy bite it was all dried out. I decided to wait to eat the cupcake when I went home, and it reached room temperature like she told me. I was very disappointed because the cupcake was all dried out too! I believe that they were not fresh made that day, and have been sitting in the refrigerator for many days as the items I purchased were all dried out except for the expresso walnut brownie. When I purchase cupcakes at Smallcakes which is a cupcake cake shop also located in Montclair all the cupcakes are never refrigerated and made that day. The cupcakes are then nice and moist. I really love Corso 98 so hope they don’t get mad at me for this review, and they are really nice girls that work the bakery. Hopefully, by my review they can make sure this never happens to anyone else. I’m still willing to give the bakery another chance next time I dine at Corso 98. I know one thing for sure is I’ll definitely be ordering the DELICIOUS espresso brownie!