Bakery Cuisines
Wylie Dufresne Does Donuts at Du
Wylie Dufresne has taken a page from his high concept peers — think, especially, Daniel Humm — by dialing things back a tad, and opening an establishment geared towards common folk. His everyman eatery? Du’s Donuts in the William Vale hotel; a casual café and bakery with a major pedigree…
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A Look at Doughnut Project’s Inspired, Deep-Fried Creations
The once innocuous doughnut has proved an innovation generator throughout NYC nowadays, from Doughnut Plant’s Ripple (a doughnut within a doughnut within a doughnut), to Dough’s Lemon Meringue Pie (double dessert hybrid) to Dominique Ansel’s oft imitated Cronut. And the West Village’s Doughnut Project has raised the stakes still further, with their clever collaborative chef series…
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The Best Jewish Desserts for the High Holidays
One of the most pervasive customs associated with the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah is to consume treats like apples dipped in honey — thought to ensure a sweet new year. Which means if you’re observant (or just constantly in search of a sugar rush), you’re practically obligated to eat dessert! From the pistachio and fig-laced halvah at Seed + Mill, to the babka-blessed ice cream at Mekelburg’s…
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New York’s Most Indulgent Chocolate Desserts
While we’re generally equal opportunists regarding dessert, when it comes Valentine’s Day, only Chocolate will do. And we’re not talking about heart-shaped boxes of corn syrupy candy, but instead, cocoa-focused confections from the city’s best restaurants & bakeries, from Dominique Ansel’s awe-insiring Chocolate “Mooses” to the over-the-top, highly Instagrammed milkshakes from Black Tap Burgers and Beer…
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Q & A with High Street on Hudson’s Baker, Alex Bois
Philly has frequently been heralded as one of America’s hot, upcoming dining hubs. And a great deal of the credit goes to Alex Bois, the James Beard award nominated baker behind High Street on Market.
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Holiday Cookie-Palooza
Got a sweet tooth? You’ll want to get in on this killer (that’s right, I said killer!) Cookie Festival, hosted by Momofuku Milk Bar’s pastry guru, Christina Tosi. Just imagine fifteen of the top Pastry Chefs baking up their most prized cookie recipes all under one roof…
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Inside Dominique Ansel Kitchen
Ever since opening his very first bakery, Dominique Ansel has been a food news fixture. After all, it’s of utmost importance to stay abreast of the latest flavor of Cronut — or even more noteworthy — the pastry master’s newest, groundbreaking creations, from Magic Soufflés to Frozen S’mores to Milk and Cookie Shots. But the sugar wizard’s latest venture is his most exciting yet; a second, West Village outpost, called Dominique Ansel Kitchen…
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New York’s Best Donuts…Are in a Car Wash
One place we’d never expect to find destination-worthy donuts in New York? How about a car wash — and we’re not talking day-old, self-serve Tim Hortons, lined up on dingy racks. Believe it or not, Scott Levine, a former Chanterelle and Il Laboratorio del Gelato alum, has set up shop inside his father-in-law’s car wash (to be specific, in a formerly unused passageway, just opposite the car wash tunnel) located just steps away from the Intrepid Air and Space Museum, along the West Side Highway.
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Q & A with Il Buco Alimentari’s Head Baker Kamel Saci
If pastry chefs tend to get less widespread attention than savory chefs, artisan bread bakers generally receive even less. But why should they? After all, bread is one of humanity’s oldest foods (having been around since the dawn of agriculture), and was famously referred to in the Bible as “the staff of life.” So if you stop to think about it, it’s a noble pursuit to devote your career to churning out the tastiest loaves imaginable, and Kamel Saci, the Head Bread Baker at Il Buco Alimentari in the East Village, makes some of the very best…
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Gosselin
What can I say? Croissants just taste better in Paris. I think it’s the superiority of the butter they have, which is divinely rich and smooth. There are so many gloriously flaky specimens to sample all over the city, but for my money, the best of the bunch is at Philippe Gosselin. Their croissant is a textural marvel with a supremely crispy exterior and uber buttery interior. Gosselin also has a mean baguette, which ranks among the top in Paris. In fact, Gosselin’s actually won the Grand Prix for Paris’s best traditional baguette, so consider grabbing a baguette sandwich to eat for lunch later. Or just savor this squishy, slight sweet loaf on its own. And grab one of their powder sugar-dusted almond croissant, too. This spacious boulangerie and patisserie is located in the 7th, just a short...
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La Boulangerie Beaumarchais
The reason you don’t read more about this boulangerie is because no one really knows the actual name of this underrated bakery. Some people call it Boulangerie 28 (which refers to its street number), while others refer to it as Boulangerie Beaumarchais (it’s on Boulevard Beaumarchais), or even Boulangerie-Patisserie Beaumarchais because that’s what it says on the sign above the door. You’d think they owners would be concerned with branding themselves a bakery to reckon with, but the older woman who seems to own it seems pretty indifferent to everything except counting out your change. Why should she worry when there’s a line so often trailing out the door? I happily waited my turn many a time for a taste of their Olive Baguettine, which is quite simply to-die-for. I’ve never had a plusher baguette in my life, a...
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Carette
Maybe I’m biased because I lived just a few floors above this cafe, but Carette is a great pit stop when you find yourself in the Marais. Would I go out of my way to eat here or dub it a destination? No, not by any means, but I certainly didn’t mind eating my lunch or breakfast here on a regular basis, and as a hard care foodie, that says a lot. Besides, the Marais is a destination worth visiting for many reasons; the exquisite Place Des Vosges, the Jewish Quarter, the Victor Hugo museum, the shops and much more. While you’re in the neighborhood, grab a croissant at Carette or a hazelnut and raisin flute. The French have a way with eggs and so does Carette, turning out rich and creamy scrambled eggs, served with a house-baked baguette....
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Q & A with Momofuku Milk Bar’s Christina Tosi
It takes more to become a James Beard award winner (and one of the nation’s best known pastry chefs), than just pedestrian red velvet cupcakes and ho-hum chocolate chips. In fact, well before Dominique Ansel’s Cronut had taken New York by storm, Momofuku Milk Bar’s Christina Tosi had already introduced her own series of game-changing sweets to the culinary canon, like Cereal Milk, Compost Cookies and Crack Pie…
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Caramel Apple Donuts
We’re not going to lie. Making donuts from scratch (especially donuts as fabulous as these) takes a decent amount of effort. But we promise that it’s so entirely worth it! Especially since a batch of our decadent, salted caramel-filled sweets will last you for all eight days of Hanukkah… although if you have a sweet tooth as powerful as ours, you might just find yourself doubling up on the recipe.
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Eight Essential New York Donuts
Except for a few, potato latke-loving eateries (see our recent roundup), you won’t consistently find potato pancakes on New York menus for more than eight days of the year. But that’s not so for donuts, another highly traditional and awesome Hanukkah food. Beloved by both Jews and Gentiles alike, the sugary circles of deep-fried dough are sold fresh and warm all over the city 24/7, which can be dangerous at 2 in the morning a few cocktails deep. There are classic glazed donuts at old-school bakeries, like Peter Pan in Brooklyn, seasonal, Concord Grape-filled squares at Doughnut Plant on the Lower East Side, and even elegant restaurant versions, like…
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Dish Spotting: Dominique Ansel’s Gingerbread Pinecone
Meet Dominique Ansel, the Daniel alum behind the SoHo phenomenon, Dominique Ansel Bakery. He was recently nominated for a James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef, on the strength of a slew of treats that have taken the city by storm. His first masterstroke was the Cronut, a cream-filled croissant/donut hybrid that has drawn worldwide attention, countless blog posts, three hour-long lines (actress Emma Roberts was infamously turned away by security after trying to cut in), and despite being trademarked, has inspired scores of imitators, from the Dough’Ssants at ChikaLicious to the Cro-Do’s at Stew Leonards shops upstate.
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Momofuku Milk Bar
Any bakery that can make magic with Thanksgiving leftovers (ie: Momofuku’s turkey and cranberry-stuffed croissant), is bound to have a few tricks up their sleeve come Christmas. We can’t wait to try chef Christina Tosi’s festive twist on her popular Cornflake Cookies (she added peppermint), her traditional Stollen, or ingenious Cinnamon Bun Pie – a thick, cinnamon-scented crust filled with a viscous brown butter vanilla frosting and topped with honeyed oats. Snag a slice for yourself at Momofuku Milk Bar locations all over town, or at their stand at the Union Square Holiday...
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Pasticceria Rocco
Don’t let your preconceived notions of fruitcake prevent you from trying Rocco’s delectable Panettone, an oversized, cylindrical sweet bread studded with candied orange, citron, lemon zest and raisins. You needn’t worry about finishing it off in one sitting – the hearty bread makes a great vehicle for day-after-Christmas pudding, or sinfully rich French toast. Just one warning, you’ll probably find it hard to leave Rocco’s without filling a pastry box with a variety of other holiday specialties, like Biscotti, Regina and Quaresimali cookies, sticky-sweet Marzipan candies, and...
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Hot Bread Kitchen
What’s not to love about Hot Bread Kitchen? They sell baked goods to finance programs supporting low-income individuals, and everything they make happens to be fantastic. It doesn’t hurt that the guy manning the ovens is former Per Se baker Ben Hershberger, who’s debuting a rum-soaked, fruit-stuffed, almond-filled Stollen this season. That means we’ll probably end up eating our weight in cake, but it’s a bit of holiday overindulgence we can really feel good...
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