06-06-2025
Lysee: It's Not An Art Gallery; It's A Pastry Shop
In her NYC café Lysee, Eunji Lee makes desserts with a Parisian and Korean touch.
When you saunter up the stairs to the second-floor take-out section of Lysee, a pastry shop in the Flatiron district on East 21st Street of Manhattan, you are greeted with a series of its desserts in glass displays as if you were at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That's intentional, explains Eunji Lee, the owner and chef at Lysee, who is of Korean heritage but who trained as a pastry chef in Paris for 11 years including under chef Alain Ducasse and his 3-star Michelin-rated Le Meurice for four years.
In 2016 she was named pastry chef at Jungsik, a Korean style eatery in Tribeca, which brought her to New York City. And in June 2022, she opened Lysee. It only accommodates 15 guests on the first-floor and yet she devotes half of her second floor to museum-like displays. But why? Isn't it a profit-making venture, not a museum gallery?
Lee is non-plussed by the question and explains that to her 'pastry is an edible art.' She views her French-style pastries with a Korean touch as works of art, as a painter would view her canvas. To her, she's not giving away square footage, she's just giving her pastries the respect they deserve.
She says, 'I don't want my pastries to be mass produced. I want each of them to be a unique creative pastry.' Moreover its name Lysee refers to Lee, her surname, and musee, French for museum.
When she opened, she involved a business partner that enabled her to open as full partners, without having to seek out other investors.
Another factor comes into play about why she could devote her limited space to activities that don't generate revenue. Lee explains that 70% of its revenue derives from take-out and only 30% from dining-in, perhaps due to its limited seating.
How do guests find out about Lysee? Lee explains that she won several pastry awards at Jungsik, which extended her reputation, and it's mostly word-of-mouth, among local residents and its regulars.
Lee also wanted to keep her dessert eatery intimate, so it could offer specialized hospitality. Had the space been bigger and had more seating, she feared it would lose the personal touch. It's open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekends and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends.
But the tight quarters has also meant a long wait for reservations, in some cases. On Yelp, Lise from NY City said she had to wait a month to book a table for 4 people at Lysee. When dining there, she liked the desserts but found them a bit pricey. But Sarah from Manhattan walked in at lunch time, without a reservation and grabbed one of the 5 tables. She liked the corn pastry, but even she advised a reservation is necessary in the future.
Lee calls Lysee a 'dessert café' because it serves, 'tea to wine with selected beverages, which pair along with the desserts.' From Friday to Sunday, it offers what Lee calls a 'bread menu' including dishes such as spring quiche, along with a brunch prix-fixe menu including a choice of sandwiches such as smoked salmon, granola yogurt with fruits, a welcome drink and a dessert, Lee suggests.
Her signature dessert, the namesake Lysee, costing $18, consists of Korean-toasted brown rice mouse, pecans and caramel, but what stands out is how light and fluffy it tastes. It literally melts in one's mouth and seems airy. Other specialties include its mille feuille for two, spring quiche, babka, and vanilla-caramel brioche.
When this reporter stopped by after lunch, every single person of about 10 people in the first-floor eatery was of Korean heritage. But Lee explains that tourists and locals dine there in equal number to its Korean clientele. It attracts a plethora of Koreans because 'its Korean ingredients and culture are reflected in our menu and space so therefore it attracts a Korean' clientele, she suggests.
It also serves a variety of liquors including champagne, white wine, Korean liquors and wines such as porto and madeira. 'Everything we selected makes a great pairing with our dessert menu,' Lee points out.
Asked about its future, she's expecting to introduce a dessert tasting course, consisting of an appetizer and a dessert. So stay tuned.
