ChikaLicious Dessert Bar

ChikaLicious served dessert and only dessert, in three courses: an amuse, which amounted to an appetizer of dessert, then a dessert of your choice, then petit fours¹. It opened in 2003 at 203 E. 10th St., named for Chika Tillman, one of the two chef-owners who worked its open kitchen in front of a room that seated about 20^{1, 2, 3}. In 2004 one writer still found "dessert bar" an unusual pairing of words, and the place was steadily catching on¹.

By 2014 ChikaLicious had a bakery and cafe across the street called the Dessert Club, ChikaLicious, and outlets as far off as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Seoul, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Jakarta and Tokyo⁴. Don Tillman, co-owner with his wife, was calling the next round of openings "the origin of the national rollout of ChikaLicious"⁴.

Chika Tillman said she would retire in the summer of 2024, and that July the dessert bar closed after 21 years of quenelles and cheesecakes^{2, 3, 5}. A month later Pomme de Terre by ChikaLicious opened in the same spot on 10th Street⁶. By May 2025 the Tillmans were working by appointment only on Astor Place, and signage for Matcha House had gone up at 203 E. 10th St.³. Matcha House is open there now^{7, 8}.