Going downtown in New York used to be cool. Before Soho became a glorified shopping mall, it was a haven for starving artists. Before Chelsea became family-friendly, Michael Alig was throwing Blood Feast parties at the Limelight.
The rebel heart of downtown, which attracted generations of avant-garde creatives, is much harder to find today. All of Manhattan has seemingly “gone uptown.” But Loser’s Eating House, a made-to-order bakery operating out of a tiny Soho ghost kitchen, is still serving up a little slice of downtown realness.
Loser’s style is campy and ironic. The cakes rely on exaggeratedly large piping, done in a purposefully messy style
Loser’s was launched in 2021 by baker Lizzy Koury, who was, until very recently, her company’s sole employee. What started in a home chef’s kitchen quickly developed a cult following in the downtown scene.
The typical custom cake from a prestige New York bakery looks (and likely tastes) like the rest of a perfect Manhattan life: exquisitely decorated but a little bland. Think plasticky fondant and surgical piping. Koury describes this, when we meet, as “uptight nerd style” and warns potential clients to look elsewhere if this is the cake they’re after.
Instead, Loser’s delivers a “whimsical sexy grandma style.” “I don’t really want to look at a painting that looks like a photo? And I feel that way about cakes,” Koury says. “I made this with love; I didn’t make it so pretty you don’t want to eat it.”
Loser’s style is campy and ironic in the best way. The cakes rely on exaggeratedly large piping, done in a purposefully messy style. The bright icing comes in heavily saturated colors – dark black, deep pistachio green – or, alternatively, an almighty clash of neons or pastels that you wouldn’t imagine works until you see it pop up on the bakery’s Instagram feed.
In place of dainty ornamentation, Koury uses roughly cut fruit, nuts and chocolates. It’s reminiscent of a Club Kid aesthetic plastered onto a cake. Even the bakery’s name is ironic, a reference to the collection of “random people” Koury would originally host at her apartment: “we’d call them ‘losers’ dinner parties’ as a joke,” she explained.
But it’s the over-the-top personalization, mixed with an acute social media savviness, that has really helped Loser’s take off. “Martha Stewart and I have the same caviar dealer,” Koury says. It was thanks to him that Stewart became aware of Loser’s cakes. “He got our brown sugar toasted coconut cake into her hands.” After a picture of Stewart with the cake went live on Instagram, “that was probably a peak” for the business.
Another, the “tomato cake,” was designed to look like Apollo Bagel’s famous open-faced tomato sandwich. The bright red circular cake features a juicy tomato slice printed on top. “The internet freaked out. That’s still probably my most viewed Instagram post, and I still get a lot of people repeat ordering that cake,” Koury says. She then leveraged this by designing more cakes for a Mother’s Day event at fashion house Loewe, which had just released its own viral tomato-shaped bag.
Loser’s is now a firm favorite with the downtown creative scene. Koury has created custom book-themed cakes for launch parties and piped heart-shaped cakes for Victoria’s Secret shows. Loser’s is even a favorite among professional athletes. “Player development from the Giants reached out: how do I order?” Koury says. “When I appreciate an artist and then he appreciates me, it’s pretty validating,” Koury continues, taking some license with the definition of an artist. “I just really appreciate when people are really good at what they do.”
But cakes are only half the story. The bakery’s comically large cinnamon rolls are aimed at the sort of New Yorker who hates standing in line and loves anything considered “exclusive.” Patrons post photos of themselves picking up their orders from a discreet walk-by window in Soho.
The customer base is primarily made up of downtown Manhattanites. “When people order, I can see their address,” Koury says. “And a lot of them live on Mercer; they live in Soho. They’re my neighbors.”
The bakery’s comically large cinnamon rolls are aimed at the sort of New Yorker who loves anything ‘exclusive’
Koury herself is not your typical Soho girl, let alone a conventional pastry chef. Born and raised in North Carolina, she moved to New York during the pandemic. Her culinary training was in savory cooking and she has a fine arts background; she didn’t expect to wind up a baker.
But she was inspired by the “diner culture” depicted by her favorite artist Wayne Thiebaud, gave up on the world of fine art, and made cakes her new medium. The challenge, she suggests, is maintaining her own artistic integrity alongside the demands made by clients – especially as Loser’s continues to grow in scale. It may soon have its first storefront location.
The great appeal of downtown is that it used to be the Wild West for artists. Uptown is rigid, hierarchical. But downtown, anyone could once break through with enough flair and creativity. It might be harder today, but Koury is giving it her best shot. “Will you always be a downtown girl?” I ask. “It’s either downtown or back to the country,” she says. Let Manhattan eat cake.
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