I spent what little time I had in New York last Sunday morning scoping out — and sampling the offerings — at various Big Apple bakeries. Because that’s just what I do.
It’s really not my fault. My husband is still peeved that our family spent most of our time in Lisbon at Casa Pasteis de Belem mooning over its famous custard tarts, so it’s in my DNA. But since it’s a sore subject, let’s move on…
I had a list of possible NYC shop stops and absolutely no sense of direction. Thankfully, the concierge at our hotel, The Algonquin, was a Cronut™ fan, so she was more than happy to map out three possibilities that would get my friend and I back in time for check-out.
A cup o’ joe and coffee cake at Baked in TriBeCa.
First up, was Baked in TriBeCa. The place is just too cool for school. Besides being an old burlesque house where hot pieces named Trixie, Gladys and Midge worked hard for their money, the pole is still there and has been made into a multi-layered cake stand. The big neon orange “B” on the back wall also pays homage to its hoochie mama history.
B for ‘Baked’ not ‘Burlesque.’
As for the Baked goods, I wanted to sample every single thing, but settled for a cup of Stumptown Coffee, a warm, flaky, light biscuit with ham and cheddar and a piece of Baked’s coffee cake just to see if it was an good as mine. Jury’s still out. But, day-um, that was one delicious morning biscuit!
My friend, Mary Helen, whose tastes skew more savory than sweet, opted for the veggie turnover. Very flaky, very tasty.
I brought home a big box of goodies for Steve that included a Brookie (think flat muffin top-shaped brownie with a chocolate chip cookie Baked in the middle); a big pain au chocolat; a large cinnamon scone; a cinnamon bun frosted with a sour cream glaze (whoa) and 75 percent of my coffee cake and biscuit. (I had to pace myself.)
After mooning over Baked for 45 minutes, we grabbed a cab to Magnolia Bakery, the West Village cupcake shop made famous in “Sex and the City.” It was rather disappointing.
The shabby chic atmosphere was tired, a framed photo of Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon sitting outside the shop looked exhausted, and the signature red velvet cupcake I bought was dry and ended up in the trash. But don’t mind me. There were about a dozen pretty cakes all boxed up ready for pick up that looked worth the calories.
Cynthia Nixon and Sarah Jessica Parker film a ‘Sex and the City’ scene at Magnolia Bakery.
Tick, tock, tick, tock…
Our last stop was Dominique Ansel’s Cronut™ emporium that, much to our dismay, was sold out of the French pastry chef’s highly-hyped, laminated confection.
According to a post on the Cronut™ etiquette board – yes, there is such a thing – the bakery can’t boost production because even though Ansel’s staff bakes the croissant/doughnut hybrid and other pastries around the clock, the teeny tiny kitchen can’t handle it. Cronut™ quality would suffer. And Chef can’t let that happen.
The Cronut™ Etiquette Board.
Compared to our other two stops, Ansel’s SoHo posh patisserie was packed with starry-eyed pastry pilgrims as well as put upon locals who just wanted a coffee and croissant to go, dammit.
Oh, if you want a sandwich before noon, forget it, according to another sign. Ditto for the madeleines that are freshly piped and baked to order. While the prospect of out-of-the-oven madeleines — made famous by Proust, not Ansel – got me all warm and fuzzy, it was 11:15 a.m. Did I dare ask? Absolutely not.
So I ordered a croissant and a pain au chocolat. What I received in my bag was a croissant and a “DKA” that stands for Dominique’s Kouign Amann. It’s described as “tender, flaky, croissant-like dough with a caramelized crunchy crust.” I remember the bakers making the Kouign Amanns at Boston’s Flour Bakery + Café during my internship. Very sugary. Very buttery. And like the Cronut™, it must be eaten within 8 hours. My bite of the DKA was after 8 hours, so I missed the choir of angels singing in my head.
Mary Helen, who more than got into the spirit of the trip, bought a little blackberry bombe with chocolate mousse inside. We were on the Bolt Bus for an hour before it called to her from her carry-on. It was a delicate, delicious masterpiece that deserved to be flying the Concorde than slumming it in the rear of the sold-out 1 p.m. bus to Boston.
Dominique Ansel = Pastry Boutique
On the return trip home, I plotted my next NYC bakery hit list: Levain for bread and its famous chocolate chip cookies; Sullivan Street Bakery also for bread; and a second stab at Dominique Ansel.
I have already corralled my cousin, Sandra, who will be with me on my next trip to NYC, into standing in line at 8 a.m. for a Cronut™. When I proposed the pastry plan via text, she answered me back in a flash: “Of course! I will get up anytime!” See? It’s what we do.
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As an over-the-top Anglophile and a bakery groupie, I was thrilled the other night when British director/screenwriter Mat Kirkby gave a shout-out to his local doughnut shop when he copped an Oscar for Best Live Action Short.
James Lucas and Mat Kilerby accept their Oscar for Best Live Action Short.
In fact, it was unclear if “The Phone Call” auteur was more excited by his gold statuette or the prospect of a free pastry!
“I’m particularly happy because this now means I can get a free doughnut at my local bakery, the Pump Street Bakery,” said Kirkby, who accepted the Oscar on stage the other night with his writing partner James Lucas. “They do fantastic doughnuts, but we should stick to the script…”
No matter. Mat, a regular in the Suffolk shop’s café, is going to be on a steady diet of his favorite rhubarb doughnuts, according to owner Joanna Brennan.
“I think the Oscar win deserves more than one free coffee or doughnut,” Brennan told the BBC. “So we’re definitely going to be giving him free doughnuts for good now, as a thank you for the mention.”
Pump Street Bakery in Suffolk, England.
It’s the least they could do. After the impromptu PR on the telly, the bakery’s web site crashed, it’s Twitter and Facebook pages blew up and, oi, the bloody Phone Calls!
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Baked NYC, 279 Church St. between White and Franklin streets, www.bakednyc.com; Magnolia Bakery, 401 Bleecker St. at W. 11th Street, www.magnoliabakery.com; Dominique Ansel, 189 Spring St. between Sullivan and Thompson streets, www.dominiqueansel.com; Pump Street Bakery, 1 Pump Street Orford, Suffolk, IP12 2LZ, 01394 459829, www.pumpstreetbakery.com.
Tags: #bakednyc, #bakeries, #cronut, #dominiqueansel, #foodiethingstodoinnyc, #LauraRaposa, #magnoliabakery, #matkirkby, #newyork, #nycbakeries, #oscar, #pumpstreetbakery, #thealgonquin, #TheFoodsmith, Cake