Dominique Ansel Bakery: a quick review… Without a Cronut

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bakery review, croissant, Cronut, Dominique Ansel Bakery, Dominique Ansel Bakery review, donut, food photography, Manhattan, new york, NYC, photography

Who hasn’t heard of the new, trendy, New York pastry called the Cronut? Raise your hand, please.

The Cronut, a creation of French pastry Chef Dominique Ansel, is the meeting between a French croissant and an American donut. The Cronut. Half French, half American. It is so popular that lines of Cronut-hungry people are forming every day, apparently starting as early as 5.30 in the morning to buy one (there is so much demand that you can only buy two per person). They sell out very quickly everyday.

Of course, this blogger being a French national living in New York, with a blog both in English and in French, I owe it to my readers (that’s you!) to do a review of the Cronut. I am what marketing people call an early adopter, but I usually refuse to wait long hours in line to try a new product. But of course, what I wouldn’t do for you my readers (cough)!

Well, I am sorry to say that I won’t be able to offer a review of the now world-famous Cronut. Unfortunately, it is impossible for me to get to Dominique Ansel’s bakery early enough to have a chance to buy one because, like Westchester Magazine’s website notes, “Metro-North doesn’t even run early enough to get you a decent spot on line.” (Metro-North is my railroad network to NYC)

And since I am leaving New York next week (sniff – more on this tomorrow), I probably won’t have the opportunity to try one in months or years… Or I’ll have to stick to copycats (more on this in a later post).

Nevertheless, there are plenty of other, beautiful and yummy delicacies to try at Dominique Ansel’s bakery in SoHo, and here are just a few we’ve tried.

Let’s start with the Paris-NY:

A twist on the Paris-Brest with a choux dough and a chocolate, caramel and peanut butter filling

In one word? Delicious.

Then there was a dark chocolate éclair (éclairs au chocolat are among my favorites):

Exquisite. Really good éclairs are hard to find (even in France) and this one was really really good.

Finally, we tried the Rhubarb Fromage Blanc Cake.

Delicate and subtle.

The check for these three pastries + one coffee amounted to $21. This is not cheap, since the pastries are small but I think this is worth it since everything was really good.

We also had the occasion to try another of Ansel’s star pastries at the Bastille Day Fair: DKA.

Our signature item, the DKA (short for “Dominique’s Kouign Amann”) is a smaller version of the traditional Breton pastry, which is similar to a caramelized croissant. A crispy, caramelized crust on the outside gives way to a flaky and tender crumb within.

Named the one of the top 10 items in Time Out New York 100 Best List in 2012, and the “best pastry we’ve ever eatened” by Dailycandy.com, the Kouign Amann was sited in 2011 by the New York Times as the next IT-pastry!

Oh-so-yummy! Sweet but not too much. The next best thing to the Cronut, I guess :-)

Dominique Ansel Bakery
189 Spring Street (between Sullivan and Thompson)
New York, NY 10012

Additional Links:
– Dominique Ansel Bakery’s website
– Cronut 101, on Dominique Ansel Bakery’s website
– The Cronut: All Hype or Worth the Wait? at the Hungry Mouse
– 8 New Spring Sweets at Dominique Ansel at Gotham Magazine
– Dominque Ansel Bakery Now Torching Frozen S’mores at NY Serious Eats
– Counting Cronuts: The Dessert Craze Hits Westchester on Westchester Magazine’s website
– 5 choses à savoir sur le cronut, nouvelle viennoiserie préférée des Américains at L’Express