WHERE TO EAT: PINKERTON’S BAKERY, Kingston
PINKERTON’S BAKERY
8 Fair Street, Kingston | Website:facebook/pinkertonsbakery/ | IG: @pinkertonsbakery
Pinkerton's now fills one of Kingston's most distinctive roadside landmarks: a 1920s art deco gas station built from glossy enamel-coated steel panels and glass block. The building pumped gas until the 1970s, sat empty until Bodacious Bagels arrived in 1998, and then spent more than two decades as the neighborhood's beloved Cake Box bakery under CIA-trained baker Walter Swarthout, who retired in 2024 and handed the space to Angela Pinkerton, a James Beard Award-winning pastry chef. Pinkerton, who studied biology at Kent State University before training at L'Academie de Cuisine in Maryland, spent eight years working her way up to executive pastry chef at Eleven Madison Park in New York City. She moved west to San Francisco, consulting for Craftsman & Wolves and helping to found the Che Fico restaurant group, before her own pandemic-born pop-up, Pie Society, became one of Berkeley's most talked-about bakeries.
Taking over the art deco gas station, Pinkerton kept the building's sunny, architectural bones, restored its pale blue-green trim, and added an open kitchen with a central baking table, for the open production of her nostalgic, not-too-sweet pies and pastries using produce from local Dutchess County farms. The bakery sits right at Kingston's notorious "Five Ways to Die" intersection between Midtown and Uptown. With its turquoise color and retro style, it’s hard to miss and easy to love, but its the pastries that keep us coming back.
We like it for: Breakfast or lunch, whether you’re in the mood for sweet pies, house-made pastries or breakfast sandwiches on house-baked English muffins.
Must try: The famed passion fruit meringue pie, a fantastic off-sweet blackcurrant + cream Danish, the beautifully Cheddar-y jalapeño monkey bread, pain au chocolat, croissants, cookies — and, of course, the bread.
The Vibe: Sunny former filling station with soaring glass windows, a bakery counter with an open kitchen, and a warmly retro edge whether you’re taking your treats away in a pink Pinkerton cake box or sitting at one of the tables.
Sound: Casual, upbeat chatter — a busy counter bakery.
Style: Restored 1920s art deco service station turned cozy counter-service bakery and cafe; compact seating for roughly 16 to 20 across mixed tables and bench seats.
Parking: Parking lot onsite.
Nearby: You’re spoilt for choice because Kingston is a food-lover’s Mecca. We know this list isn’t exhaustive, but it’s a few of our faves. Since Kingston is divided into the Rondout near the river, Midtown and Uptown, we’re mentioning a few:
1. Fantyze Bagels 2. Mirador 3. Chleo 4. Brunette Wine Bar 5. Lone Wolf 6. Sorry Charlie 7. Rosie’s General 8. Hotel Kinsley
