Our story
Our Story
A neighborhood café built on a name with two meanings, a scratch bakery’s craft, and a promise to put people and the planet first.
The name
A day, kept by its small meals
“Elevenses” is an old, cozy idea — a short mid-morning pause for something warm and something buttery, born in the early 1800s and never really improved upon. It’s also a wink at the storybook second-breakfast whimsy that makes a café feel like a refuge.
We lean into both. A clock on the wall keeps time not by the hour but by the day’s small meals — breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, supper — and the room is dressed with warm woodland whimsy and a salon wall of framed creatures. Cozy, a little magical, and entirely our own.
The baker
Georgia’s café
Georgia Koutsoupakis is Greek-American and a lifelong Astorian — a self-taught baker who left toxic restaurant kitchens to build a kinder one. She signed the lease in 2019 and, after pandemic delays, opened Elevenses in February 2022. She works the café daily.
“I poured my soul into this place.” It shows — in the lamination, in the sourcing, and in a room built to feel like everyone’s welcome.
The craft
Scratch-baked, three traditions
Everything is made in-house, weaving French, Greek & Scandinavian pastry traditions — bougatsa cream in the almond croissant, koulouri, cardamom buns, kouign-amann. The case rotates weekly and seasonally with what the Greenmarket brings, and coffee comes from Til Death in Brooklyn.
People & planet
A café with a conscience
“No fossil fuels whatsoever on our premises.” Zero-waste to the bone — compostable cups and straws, bamboo paper goods, and the Too Good To Go app to rescue surplus. Living wages for staff, Greenmarket-local sourcing, vegetarian and vegan-friendly with no non-dairy upcharge.
Georgia’s vision is a warm, all-ages “third place” — “a café where all different age groups and lifestyles could sit next to each other.” Everyone’s welcome to stay a while.