Buttercup Bake Shop to Build on Silver Moon Bakery’s UWS Legacy: WSR Talks With the New Owner

By Tracy Zwick

Hazem Elgohary didn’t set out to become the steward of an Upper West Side neighborhood institution.

He was simply growing his beloved family business, Buttercup Bake Shop – the cheerful, cupcake-forward bakery with outposts in midtown and a central kitchen in Long Island City. But then Silver Moon Bakery announced it was closing. 

The project went from “just another Buttercup location to pretty much a community bakery,” he said of the UWS expansion. “It really shifted because of the feedback and the need. An opportunity arose.”

Elgohary had already signed the lease for the former Broadway Diner space between West 101st and 102nd streets and was midway through construction when Silver Moon shut down. “I saw the reaction and thought: this isn’t just a bakery. This is the heart of something,” he said.

He quickly reworked his plans. The shop’s basement, originally designed as a sleek event space for cupcake parties and parent-child baking classes, was torn up. He hadn’t planned to do much baking on-site — just decorating, with deliveries coming in daily from Buttercup’s central kitchen.

But that changed once the goal shifted from a Buttercup expansion to a revival of a community institution. Now, the downstairs of the new shop is being rebuilt to support full-scale baking on Broadway.

Silver Moon Bakery, the beloved artisan bread and pastry shop that operated for 24 years at West 105th and Broadway, was more than a place to grab a baguette, a coffee, or a challah. It was a haven and a ritual. Its closing hit the neighborhood hard — especially coming on the heels of the sudden shuttering of Absolute Bagels a few blocks north on Broadway. When Silver Moon closed in late March, loyal patrons mourned online, in person, and over almond croissants savored in their final days.

Elgohary watched it all unfold — and quietly sprang into action. He bought Silver Moon’s ovens, mixers, ingredients, and supplies. He hired members of the staff and began expanding his vision to try to preserve what made the place feel so special.

“I didn’t get to experience that with our West 72nd Street location,” he said of a former Buttercup outpost, which closed not long after opening, due to a dispute with the landlord. “But this time, I want to be part of the community in a real way. I want to pick up where Silver Moon left off.”

It hasn’t been a smooth ride. Delays in construction, the high cost of new ventilation systems and gas hookups, and an overhaul of the interior have pushed the timeline and budget far beyond expectations. To bridge the gap, a GoFundMe campaign was launched.

But Elgohary’s resolute: “It’s a commitment, and I’ve taken it. We are fully determined to launch this.” So far, he said, his team has spent $320,000 on equipment alone, and they’ve received the blessing of Silver Moon’s founder, Judith Norell. “We’re reverse-engineering Silver Moon’s recipes. We’re using the same ingredients, the same tools, the same mixers and ovens. We’re trying to recreate the same muscle memory in the kitchen,” he said.

Elgohary exudes energy and optimism. He hopes to open within the next 30 days and make this a “powerhouse bakeshop in the city.” 

Some of the former Silver Moon bakers are back. Jennifer, the longtime store manager, has joined the team of the new bakery. “They’re telling me what works. I’m listening. This isn’t a top-down thing,” Elgohary said. “It’s like buying a house and asking everyone to pick their rooms. I want it to feel like theirs.”

The new bakery — which some have suggested should be called Silver Cup, a portmanteau of Buttercup and Silver Moon and a nod to both identities– will retain familiar flourishes. For now, though, the new name of the operation is No Name Bakery.

Breads will be worked and shelved to the left as customers enter, just like at Silver Moon. Through a large window on Broadway, passersby will see bakers rolling dough and shaping loaves, just like before.

But the erstwhile Broadway Diner space is a significantly larger footprint than Silver Moon, and there’s room for a separate coffee line on the right. That tweak came after Elgohary saw a reader’s comment on West Side Rag noting that at Silver Moon, beverage-only customers had to wait in the same, sometimes slow-moving queue, as food purchasers.

The new bakeshop’s offerings will flow from Silver Moon’s rustic, morning breads and pastries into Buttercup’s celebratory cookies, bars, and cakes. “We haven’t done much breakfast,” Elgohary said of Buttercup’s usual fare. “But here, we’ll be starting the day early.”

That blend — of old and new, memory and possibility — is what excites him most.

“This was never the plan,” he said, smiling, as he stood in the middle of a still-unfinished storefront, directing a half-dozen contractors on Friday. “But I really want to share how grateful I am for the support the neighborhood has shown. This is about continuing something special that meant a lot to so many.”

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