i. Biography
Liz Quijada is part-owner of Abraço in Manhattan, United States. The clearest public accolade attached to her work is Saveur’s inclusion of the Cured Olive Cookies among five overlooked New York pastries worth a subway ride, a recognition tied to one precise thing: a pastry from a kitchen known for olive oil cake, olive cookies, espresso, baked goods, and savory small plates.
The Honours
Saveur singled out the Cured Olive Cookies for a New York City audience, placing them among five overlooked pastries worth crossing the city by subway to find. That notice is significant because it is specific: not a general nod to a bakery case, but attention paid to one savory-leaning cookie with olives at its center. The recurring olive oil cake gives the same body of work another fixed point. In a city crowded with pastry opinions, Quijada’s recognition has come through items that are direct, repeatable, and closely associated with the East Village, New York, address.
The Craft
At Abraço, the craft is built around olive oil cake, olive cookies, cakes, espresso, baked goods, and savory small plates. Those categories make the place difficult to reduce to a single lane: it is pastry, coffee, and small savory cooking, held together by a sensibility that treats texture and flavor as linked decisions. Quijada’s own explanation of ingredients is exacting rather than ornamental. “I have a belief that there is a terroir aspect to produce, as there is with wine grapes.” That line helps explain why the work can read as simple without being casual: produce, season, surface, and structure all carry weight. The community around the Manhattan business also grew in an unforced way. Quijada has said it formed organically from neighbors and strangers meeting up, which gives the room part of its identity beyond the counter itself. She has also said, “Abraço is unique because it is a part of us and our family. I think that’s the vibe part of things that people feel.”
The Career
Quijada’s career is tied to Abraço, where she is part-owner in Manhattan. The name itself comes from a Brazilian pop song by Gilberto Gil, and its meaning matched the intimacy of the original location. Her account of the beginning is both practical and instinctive: “Location was part good luck and part gut feeling. Abraço (embrace) was named after a Brazilian pop song by Gilberto Gil, a legendary singer and songwriter. It also was very fitting given the size of our original location.” The explanation gives the business its scale before anything else: small enough that the name felt physically apt, and personal enough that a song could become a public identity. From that base, the work associated with Quijada has remained grounded in specific offerings rather than abstraction. Olive oil cake recurs. Olive cookies earned national food-media attention. Espresso, cakes, baked goods, and savory small plates fill out a compact vocabulary that New York diners have learned to recognize by taste and by habit.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Liz
What awards has Liz Quijada received?
Saveur included Abraço’s Cured Olive Cookies among five overlooked New York pastries worth a subway ride.
What is Liz Quijada's most notable recognition?
Her most notable recognition is Saveur’s selection of the Cured Olive Cookies for that New York pastry list.
What is Liz Quijada known for?
She is known as part-owner of Abraço in Manhattan and for olive oil cake, olive cookies, cakes, espresso, baked goods, and savory small plates.
