Carissa's Bakery

Bread and pastry across three counters

The bake is the constant; the format changes with the address. Carissa's works three East End counters, two in East Hampton and one in Sag Harbor, each built out differently around the same bakery.

Pantigo Road runs as bakery, restaurant, beverage and pantry, with dine-in as well as takeout. Newtown Lane is tighter, pairing bakery with sandwiches and pantry goods on a takeout-only model. Sag Harbor pairs the bakery with a kitchen and a coffee programme. The work behind all three earned a James Beard Award semifinalist nod in 2025.

Which counter suits the visit

Choosing the right address does most of the work here. Pantigo Road is the one to sit down at, since it is the only format with restaurant service and a drinks programme attached to the bakery, and it holds a longer visit comfortably.

Newtown Lane is the fast version, organised around bread, sandwiches and shelf goods to carry out. Sag Harbor sits between the two, with prepared food from the kitchen and coffee alongside the case, which makes it the better stop when the plan is a coffee and something cooked rather than a full meal. Pantry retail runs through all three, so jars, staples and take-home goods are part of the trade wherever you land.

The formats are not branding. They change what is actually possible at each address, from whether you can sit down to whether there is coffee at all, so reading them before setting out saves a drive between villages.

Start with the bread, finish on the pantry shelf

Bread is the through line, and it is what the business built its name on before the restaurant, sandwich and kitchen formats grew around it, so a loaf is the honest first purchase. Pastry is the second stop and the part that changes most often between visits.

After that the choice depends on the counter: sandwiches at Newtown Lane, kitchen plates and coffee at Sag Harbor, a sit-down breakfast or lunch at Pantigo Road. Finish on the pantry shelf, which is the most underrated part of the operation and the easiest way to take something home that outlasts the drive back.

Coffee only exists as a stated part of the offer at Sag Harbor, so a morning built around a flat white and something from the case belongs there rather than at either East Hampton counter.