ASTORIA — A new coffee shop is looking to satisfy the neighborhood's sweet tooth, offering a rice pudding bar as well as doughnuts cooked up by a celebrity chef.
Gossip Coffee opened its doors Monday at 37-04 30th Ave., where pastries include doughnuts by chef "Scottish" Francis Legge, who became known for making the flavorful fried treats when he starred in season five of the FOX reality cooking show MasterChef.
His doughnuts, on sale for the first time, cost $4.50 each and include flavors such as prosciutto and Guinness, lemon poppy seed, key lime pie and orange creamsicle. Also available are doughnut holes called "Buzz Bits" that are rolled in espresso and chocolate bits, according to a press release.
The shop also has a rice pudding bar with nine different flavors, including rocky road, cheese cake and banana coconut.
Customers can wash their desserts down with a variety of hot and cold coffee and espresso drinks, and can also buy iced tea — served on tap — in 10 different flavors.
Gossip Coffee is owned by James Paloumbis and John Bortolis, the team behind Astoria restaurant MexiBBQ.
The cafe also boasts a backyard with outdoor seating, and is open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
