Dominique Ansel
Apple and Crème Fraiche Cronut
Magic Souffle
Gingerbread Pinecone – Nutmeg Cake, Feulletine-speckled spiced mousse and ginger cream
Sweet Potato Mont Blanc – Deep Roasted Sweet Potato Mousse, Confit Kumquat, Whipped Cream
Butterscotch Mascarpone Religeuse – Classic Cream Puff with Butterscotch Mascarpone Cream
Clearly coming a long way from my first visit in February 2012 both in terms of creativity and popularity it was admittedly with a bit of reluctance that I lined up with nearly one hundred others at 6:40 in the morning to revisit Dominique Ansel, a pastry chef whose work I’d already experienced thrice but whose ‘cronut’ has undoubtedly been THE food story of 2013. An interesting crowd both in terms of demographics and reasons for visiting, those around me including a fellow from Calgary with extensive knowledge of the Manhattan dining scene and one from Delaware who’d simply heard about the craze via the internet, much of my time in line was spent enjoying the pseudo-social experiment of it all and once the line started moving things progressed smoothly, my eventual order including a pair of cronuts and four of the chef’s seasonal specialties. With Chef Ansel present and working fervently alongside his team as the line pressed on, selling out of cronuts that day just after 9:30, it can only be said that much like many highly praised foods the cronut was indeed quite good as the soft layers gave way to soft apple compote with crème fraiche adding a light sour note and while I personally prefer some of the more crispy copycat versions I’ve experienced it was nice to have experienced the original. Faring far better than the cronut, each of the other items selected including the made-to-order magic soufflé with a Gran Marnier exterior and molten chocolate core were innovative, subtle, and delicious – the pinecone itself worthy of an hour-long wait and the Religeuse amongst the best I’ve ever had.
