Humphry Slocombe's Jake Godby and {cocoa}'s Jewel Zimmer have a new bakery called Press 12, and it can be found in the already crowded parklet outside Four Barrel on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., until the duo procures a permanent space. As with Humphry Slocombe's Secret Breakfast and other uniquely highbrow-lowbrow flavor mash-ups, it's a little wacky but invariably delicious. (Disclosure: Godby is my former boss, but I would tell it to his face if his pumpkin teacakes sucked.)
Get there early enough and you'll find a broad cross-section of sweets: the Duck Fat Chex Mix that occasionally pops up in the ice cream parlor — and which you absolutely must nuke to enjoy properly — along with whimsically named treats like Matcha Doodles (green tea, cinnamon, and olive oil), Squirrel Friends (peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate, walnuts, and Ruffles potato chips), and Elvis Monkey Pie (stout, honey, caramel, and cornmeal). As Zimmer is a native of British Columbia, Press 12 also sells Nanaimo bars, a super-sweet Canadian treat made with whipped custard, chocolate, walnuts, and caramel.
As far as the name, well, Godby likes his references obscure. (For its part, "Humphry Slocombe" combines two characters from Are You Being Served?, and I worked there for about four months before realizing that the menu section "Whipped Cream and Other Delights" referred to a 1965 Herb Alpert record.) Press 12 derives from the (probably) derogatory nickname "Press 12 Girls" that people in the Condé Nast building used for Vogue employees. (The sadly moribund @CondeElevator Twitter account gives a clearer picture.)
In spite of that provenance, Press 12 is destined to thrive. Not even the bitterest New York admin would find something bad to say about those Nanaimo bars.
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