Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, NY is an area brimming with history, art, and culture. This legacy also extends to eating out. If you're looking to satisfy your sweet tooth, Shakoor's Sweet Tooth is the place to be. Located at 555 Throop Avenue in Bed Stuy, there is a gourmet bakery that you can't miss - with its cheery blue and yellow awning and matching checkerboard floor. The thriving gourmet bakery / restuarant owned by baker, Shakoor Watson and his wife, Marissa Watson, started with a $10 hand mixer in their home. Eventually the hand mixer broke down and the couple purchased a professional mixer and moved the flourishing business to Shakoor's mother's kitchen. "For us buying our first $500 mixer was a huge desicion,"recalls Shakoor. "I remember it like yesterday. It was like purchasing a house." The demand for their baked items became so overwhelming that a real store was necessary.

At Shakoor's Sweet Tooth, you'll find a comfort dinner menu that features BBQ and Fried Chicken, Real Macaroni and Cheese, Fresh Collard Greens, Grilled Salmon Steak, delicious Salmon Croquettes, Codfish cakes, and other delights. But it's what's inside the dessert display that takes the cake. Although the Red Velvet, German Chocolate, Carrot Cake, Strawberry Shortcake and pies like Lemon Meringue, Sweet Potato, and Peach Cobbler keep the bakery bustling; it's their signature Sweet Potato Cheesecake that Shakoor's Customers travel for. "I have people coming from New Jersey and Staten Island to buy our cheesecakes," says Shakoor Watson proudly.

"What sets our bakery apart is that we make everything from scratch, the old fashion way just like my mother makes it. You can taste the butter and the richness, because we don't use cake mix, just real ingredients and of course the secret Shakoor touch," he grins knowingly. Marissa adds,"Though it's more expensive to produce, we refuse to compromise our ingredients. A premixed formula would change the taste and richness that we're known for." So Shakoor has kept the same recipe handed down to him by his mother, that brought The Watsons from a $10 mixer to a bustling storefront operation. The bakery goes through about 120 pounds of sweet potatoes a week with the exception of around Thanksgiving and Christmas when it triples. " Most of our customers purchase the sweet potato cheese cake instead of the traditional sweet potato pie, so our orders triple around the same time,"explains Shakoor.

Shakoor's mother, Mrs. Watson, who was his inspiration to become a baker remembers fondly,"When I was coming up in South Carolina, sweet potatoes were all we ate at times. We use to boil sweet potatoes, and then stewed 'em." She beams proudly," I taught all my children how to cook, but Shakoor turned out to be the best baker, so when I started working in a bakery, I got Shakoor involved too." Eventurally Shakoor landed a job at another bakery and often suggested cake ideas. "They would say, this is no good and then two months later, I'd see the item coming down the conveyor belt," he recalls. He and his wife started baking at home and were soon able to open a storefront while he kept his bakery job. They did so well, he quit the bakery and along with his wife established Shakoor's Sweet Tooth. A second space not open to the public holds The Watson's office and bakery."We needed a second location to expand the baking operations," explains Marissa.

Shakoor Watson spent seven years in prison, says Marissa of her husband. "When he was released, he moved back to Brooklyn. Although people said he would never amount to anything, he turned his life completely around and has done something very positive with his life." Shakoor is determined not to compromise the values, ideals, and even ingredients that have changed his life. Because of his experiences, Shakoor uses his talents to inspire other young people in the neighborhood to raise their self-esteem using his story as an inspiration. After all everyone has a sweet tooth.