Latest news with #DominiqueAnsel
Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Don't Ask For A Cronut At Dominique Ansel's New Pastry Shop
Dominque Ansel at his new bakery, Papa d'Amour in Greenwich Village, where you can't buy a cronut ... More but have plenty of other options. Don't even think about ordering a cronut at pastry chef's Dominique Ansel's new bakery Papa d'Amour located in the heart of Greenwich Village on University Place. It opened on May 22, 2025, after Ansel made quite the name for himself at his eponymous bakery on Spring Street in SoHo that debuted in 2013. There he launched his cronut that merged the croissant with the donut and became quite a media sensation. But at the new bakery, no cronuts for sale. At Papa d'Amour, Ansel is going off in a new direction, and therefore decided he wanted no vestiges of his past creations to intrude. He describes this new concept as 'a fusion between French pastries and Asian bread culture.' Time magazine, for example, called cronuts one of the 25 best inventions of 2013. But he made only 250 of them a day, causing people to line up on the street an hour before it opened, and then selling out. Ansel explains that making only 250 cronuts daily wasn't a marketing ploy, but that his kitchen in the back was tiny and that was all he could produce. Besides his new bakery and the original one, he also oversees the Dominique Ansel Workshop on East 27th Street specializing in French-style bread called viennoisserie and a production facility for the two other bakeries, so it's now 3 bakeries he operates. Hence, he's developed a host of new pastries and sandwiches, combining his classical French training with some Taiwanese flavors, influenced by his wife, who is from Taiwan. In the back, there are a dozen chefs baking. Why so many? Ansel replies that he needs that many chefs for the 'quality and diversity and we need trained chefs to do it. Everything is made by hand.' A New Direction for Ansel It's also an homage to New York City where people of so many diverse cultures co-exist. At home he and his wife and their two children speak French, Chinese and English, and his new bakery connects with all 3 cultures. 'Everything on the menu,' Ansel explains, 'is brand new--no repeats from two other shops.' One of his favorites is its mochi donut, made with a special taro butter that fries up into a super light, lacy shell. No Financial Assistant Required Because Ansel's SoHo location has done so well, he was able to self-capitalize his new bakery, without any financial partners or investors. 'I believe in ownership and keeping things small. It allows us to focus our creativity and the things that matter most,' he asserts. Even Ansel Had His Setbacks But even well-praised Ansel has had his ups and downs. While his Spring Street bakery still thrives, his Seventh Avenue/Charles Street bakery and upstairs workshop in the heart of the West Village closed in July 2020, a victim of Covid. At his new bakery, he's also selling 4 sandwiches including crispy shrimp sandwich made with aoli, egg and tomato (its most popular), and a pork sandwich with cabbage and dressing. The new shop has 20 seats and is open Monday to Sunday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. And it hasn't taken long for it to catch on. When this reporter stopped by unannounced on a Sunday about noon, he encountered a line of about 30 people. A bakery staffer was handing out free cups of espressos to lighten the pain of waiting on line. Why open on University Place? Ansel calls it a quintessential Greenwich Village neighborhood and noted that 'neighbors, residents, other business owners have come by to say hello and welcome us.' It's also located not far from New York University, the New School, Cardozo Law School so it attracts plenty of students. Go Early or Leave Disappointed Asked if people are ordering the sandwiches at dinner time, Ansel admits that most days, despite the dozen bakers, they've been selling out of most things by 3 p.m. 'We're having a hard time keeping up, but we want to focus on quality,' not speed, he says. He expects to start building up production so sandwiches will be available later. Asked if there is a fourth bakery in the works, Ansel laughs, and then says, he's gotten requests from private equity people to expand the number of his bakeries, but so far has resisted. 'It's not about the numbers; it's about the product and controlling what you make,' he asserts. Ansel calls the keys to his new bakery's success as: 1) Creativity of product, 2) Maintaining the quality, 3) Being close to guests and staff, 4) Be attentive to listening. One last thing, Ansel advises that the next time this reporter stops by Papa d'Amour, he try the egg tart and mochi donut, which he says, is flavorful and chewy. ' You'll be heavier on happiness,' he says, if not the scale.
Forbes
19-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
A New Food Creation Hits NYC: The Flattened Pizza/Bagel At Bagizza
New York City's foodies are fascinated by the latest trend including a flattened pizza bagel ... More introduced at Bagizza on Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. Back in May 2013 chef Dominique Ansel in his eponymous SoHo bakery on Spring Street in NYC introduced the cronut, a croissant blended into a doughnut. He produced only about 250 a day, creating long lines around the block, which turned into a media sensation. Clearly Ansel majored in pastries and minored in marketing. And now restaurateur Michael Park, executive chef Steven Cho and master bagel maker Alex Baka at Bagizza, which debuted on May 15, on Madison Avenue and 49th Street, near the Waldorf Astoria, have introduced their own concoction: a flattened pizza bagel. Indeed they originally called it a 'flagel' but were contacted by a lawyer who informed them that this term was copyrighted and if they used it, they'd be sued. So the 'flagel' name vanished and quickly turned into the pizza bagel, which doesn't quite have the same zing. A Google search revealed that Bagel Boss, which owns over a dozen bagel shops on Long Island, Queens and Manhattan, created the flagel. Baka said the 3 of them were brainstorming and said to each other that bagels and pizza are both NYC staples so why don't we combine them together? Flat pizza bagels emerged. Knowing how foodies operate, owner Park created the name Bagizza combining the words bagel and pizza together, to create a new food trend. At least that's the goal. Baka says it blends the bagel with pizza because it's prepared with 'bagel dough then hand-rolled and cold-fermented, then run through a sheeter until flat, then quickly boiled in a kettle with honey and spiced rum.' So it comes out as a bagel and is turned into pizza. It can be topped with high-quality pizza ingredients like San Marzano tomatoes, house-made marinara and premium cheeses such as Grande and Calabro mozzarella. It also offers Hawaiian pizza and broccolini pesto. Though it sounds as if it would be laden with a thousand calories, Baka says the individual pizza bagel, without the toppings, registers at 360 calories. It avoids using sugar, which would increase the calorie count, and relies on malt syrup, which is sweet but lighter on calories. Baka admits that taking photographs of the bagel pizza is a natural for many Gen Xers and millennials on TikTok or Instagram. Admitting that he's more focused on the food than the photography, he adds, 'We're making everything with practical deliciousness in mind, and if it happens to look good on camera, that's also great.' And since Bagizza is open 24/7, it serves all meals 'from breakfast bagels and coffee to lunch, dinner and late-night bites,' Baka adds. He says the guests can order the pizza bagel whenever they want but most people veer toward traditional breakfast items such as its bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches. Baka says Bagizza operates like their 'new favorite diner or 24-hour café.' Hence, people can opt for acai bowls, regular bagels, salads, or dinner items like short ribs. He calls it a diner 'with an elevated edge.' Baka himself is originally from Thailand but was raised in Woodside, Queens and also operates Pattanian, a Thai restaurant in Ridgewood, Queens. How does he handle both? 'I don't sleep much,' he admits. Asked about Bagizza's target audience, Baka says it expects to attract many tourists, but also residents who live nearby and office workers. 'There's nothing quite like it in the vicinity. And prices, for this area, aren't too expensive,' he says. In the future, he expects that flat pizza bagels could be turned into a consumer-packaged goods item, sold in supermarkets, like bagel bites.. And then they'd consider opening another one or more Bagizza's in New York City and might explore other states. Flat pizza bagels could be here to stay.
Time Out
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Dominique Ansel is serving hot dog Danishes and pretzel egg tarts at his new bakery
Ever since we first heard intel about Dominique Ansel's upcoming French-Asian bakery in downtown Manhattan, the anticipation has been high for the sweet new concept—and now we've got a delicious first look. Ansel—king of the Cronut and founder of one of the best bakeries in New York City —will expand his NYC dessert empire with a brand-new bakeshop called Papa d'Amour, debuting at 64 University Place (between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues) next Thursday, May 22. Named for the sweet sobriquet his two young children call him, the bakery pays tribute to his kids' Taiwanese and French heritage with a spotlight on Asian bread culture—think fluffy shokupan and pillowy milkbreads, steamed buns, rich egg tarts, flaky layered pastries, and more. And this being an Ansel property, of course there will be plenty of playful inventiveness on the menu, too. There will be mochi doughnuts inspired by the chef's favorite dim-sum dish, the taro puff: vanilla mochi and strawberry guava jam center surrounded by creamy taro and that flaky crispy lace batter crust that shatters with each and every bite. A Danish gets a savory twist in honor of Ansel's favorite late-night meals, filling flaky laminated brioche with a center of sticky rice (nuo mi fan) seasoned with shallot oil, soy-glazed Kurobuta pork hot dogs, furikake, and nori. And a classic, silky egg tart gets a nostalgic nod to New York with pretzel salt for a bit of saltiness and crunch. Clotted cream to spread on the shop's shokupan loaves—which will also be used for savory sandos and toasts—will be made in a rice cooker, and a steam station will turn out things like a steamed croissant bao (filled with soft scrambled eggs with blistered tomato and vermicelli) and a banana-bread version of a fluffy steamed Malay sponge cake. You can take a gander at some of those tasting-sounding creations below ahead of Papa d'Amour's opening next week:
Time Out
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Dominique Ansel and Kith Treats are debuting a collab Mystery Cronut this weekend
Two NYC heavyweights—one in streetwear, the other in sugar—are teaming up to drop a treat that's as stylish as it is flaky. Pastry king Dominique Ansel and Kith Treats are launching a limited-edition Cronut, and here's the twist: the flavor is a total mystery until the day before launch. Dubbed "The Metropolitan," the collaborative Cronut is inspired by Kith's global tagline, 'New York to the World,' and lands just in time to toast Dominique Ansel Bakery's 14th anniversary and Kith Treats' 10th. It's the first-ever crossover between the two brands, both known for remixing tradition with high-impact creativity—and in this case, butter. The mystery flavor will finally be revealed via @dominiqueansel and @kithtreats on Thursday, May 15. Until then, speculation is fair game—Ube? Baklava? Pizza Rat Praline Swirl? Okay, maybe not that last one. Starting Friday, May 16, through Sunday, May 18, the Cronut will be available exclusively at Dominique Ansel Bakery in SoHo (189 Spring Street). Meanwhile, all U.S. Kith Treats shops, including the newly reopened SoHo flagship (337 Lafayette Street), will serve up a soft-serve swirl infused with the same secret Cronut flavor, because what's a celebration without an ice cream sidekick? Ansel, famously the creator of the Cronut in 2013, has a reputation for keeping New Yorkers on their toes and in lines that wrap around the block. Add Kith's design-savvy fanbase to the mix, and it's safe to say this collab will draw sneakerheads and sweet tooths alike. So whether you're a downtown fashion devotee, a pastry purist, or just in it for the Instagram, mark your calendars. This one's got 'future collector's item' written all over it—if you can get your hands on one.
