For those who consider rugelach a religion — and we’re not saying it isn’t — behold the grand temple, Petite Shell. This new cafe at 85th Street and Lexington Avenue features mind-boggling variations on the Old World pastry.
Forget everything you think you know about rugelach, including the shape and traditional fillings, like chocolate or poppy seed. Your bubbe is probably rolling over in her grave. Or, if she’s alive, she’s likely hauling herself here to sample the Mexican jalapeño cream cheese or white chocolate Granny Smith apple.
Bring a helmet: These inventive varieties — four savory, four sweet — will make your head spin.
“Some of my fondest memories growing up are of rugelach,” says owner Shmilly Gruenstein of Brooklyn. “Most people aren’t familiar with rugelach, but it’s addictive for anyone who tries it.”
His pastries are $2.50 each and pair nicely with the gourmet coffee the store sells, including the Kenya Thiriku ($5).
Deciding which rugelach is best isn’t easy for Alex, a 9-year-old foodie who asked his grandma, Barbara Arfa, to bring him by after school.
“I was looking for that perfect pastry — something special. Until now, there was no place that was meant just for rugelach,” he vents over one with blue cheese and pear.
Grandma Barbara gets farklempt about the new generation’s love for her beloved childhood treat.
“It’s entirely reinvented,” she says. “There are so many flavors — it was never like this.”
And you don’t have to be a member of the tribe to love them. One of The Post’s tasters declared, “I’m converting to Judaism for these.”
