Fulfill All Your Childhood Toaster Pastry Fantasies at This Sweet Pop-Up Cafe

It's a magical, sweet, sugary world, and—like all fantasy worlds—it will only exist for a short time (until Sunday, to be exact). It's the Pop-Tarts Cafe pop-up, which opened today in New York City's Times Square.

The place is a food mashup-lover's dream; your favorite junk foods, like nachos, pizza, and tacos, are all remade with various Pop-Tart flavors, plus all the frosting, candies, and sweet sauces it takes to emulate the real thing. Then there are the desserts (because the previous items clearly aren't desserts): takes on cheesecake, tiramisu, cake balls, and over-the-top shakes. Purists can order one or more Pop-Tarts by the piece in 18 different flavors, such as Frosted Confetti Cupcake and Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (though a true purist might order the Frosted Strawberry). You can see the full menu here.

"It's a little crazy," admitted Sandra Di Capua, a partner in Kellogg's NYC cafe, which is what's usually in the pop-up location (you read that right—it's a permanent restaurant devoted entirely to cereal). She developed all the Pop-Tart cafe recipes, and though the pizza might be her favorite item on the menu, "they all have their own personality," she said.

Personality? That might be putting it mildly. It's all very cute and clever, like that personal pizza—which comes in its own mini cardboard box—featuring a Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts crust, strawberry sauce, a drizzle of "cheese" frosting, slices of fruit leather pepperoni, and a sprinkle of chopped fresh mint.

The chili fries are made with cut-up strips of Chocolate Chip Pop-Tarts, garnished with crumbled Cookies & Creme Pop-Tarts to resemble ground beef, along with an orange frosting cheese and bits of green sour candy scallions.

Pop-Tart "burritos" are made to order right in front of you; they're fresh crepes filled with chopped Pop-Tarts and other finishes, like sliced fresh strawberries and bananas, chocolate chips, torched marshmallows, and salted caramel sauce, served with sides of kiwi salsa, strawberry salsa, and white frosting (that's your guac, tomato salsa, and sour cream, of course).

And the tacos? A corn tortilla dusted with cinnamon sugar holds a bounty of delights: crumbled Cookies & Creme Pop-Tarts for the ground beef, bits of green coconut "lettuce," and red jelly bean "tomatoes," complete with a strawberry sriracha salsa and a squiggle of frosting "sour cream." 

Sadly, there's no sushi on the menu this time around; a previous incarnation of the Pop-Tart Cafe, which closed in 2011 after four and a half months, featured both Pop-Tart sushi and a build-your-own variety box option.