On weekends, Camari Mick stands behind the marble bar at Raf’s, taking orders and serving pastries. The all-day café, which opened this spring on Manhattan’s Elizabeth Street, feels like a hybrid of a Sicilian coffee bar and a Parisian boulangerie. It’s the kind of place where there’s always someone reading a newspaper, and no one would dare open up a laptop. One morning, a guest asked Mick if the pastry chef was Italian or French. She responded, “No, I’m Jamaican.” Mick, 29, co-owns Raf’s with executive chef Mary Attea and restaurateurs Jennifer and Nicole Vitagliano, the same team that runs the Musket Room restaurant just down the street. In a moment when the city is bursting with dessert innovations such as croissant cereal and laminated baguettes, Mick has taken the opposite approach. “We’re doing simple recipes that show skill,” she says—while also adding personal touches. —Nina Friend