Mah-Ze-Dar Bakery
Cinnamon Brioche Braid
Carrot Cake
Bostock
Banana Bread
Chocolate Explosion Cookie
Mah Ze Dar Bar
Brioche Donuts
A partnership between Tom Colicchio and Umber Ahmad, the later Pakistani by descent but raised in Michigan where her youth was influenced by both family and the diverse cultures around her, Mah-Ze-Dahr Bakery on Greenwich Avenue is unlike most of New York’s newer Pastry Shops by design, the ideas rooted in French Technique but the offerings largely American Comfort Food Classics, upgraded.
Playing on the word ‘Mazedar,’ an Urdu term related to taste that is stretched out to sound like “My Desire” when said aloud, it was early Wednesday morning that Mah-Ze-Dahr Bakery was visited, and with two clerks managing the counter while Ahmad and Pastry Chef Shelly Acuña Barbera sat discussing business at a communal table in back the most difficult decisions were what *not* to get as over two-dozen items tempted inside glass cases.
Launched as a Colicchio “Discovery” project, the Celebrity Chef using some of his fame and fortune to shine a light on others, those entering Mah-Ze-Dahr will immediately be struck by the deep blues and polished surfaces lining the space, a few tables to the left of the door with a counter dividing the back room and kitchen from the front, free Wi-Fi with electrical outlets encouraging patrons to stay – something very different from places like Dominique Ansel, Daily Provisions or Manan where it seems almost as if ownership wants people to make a purchase and leave.
Clearly a restaurant frequented by regulars, nearly half of the patrons greeted by name or a hug, it was with seven items plated or boxed that $28 of Pastry was taken to a standing space where cups of water reside, the Cinnamon Brioche Braid a wispy Roll of Butter and Spice topped in Pearl Sugar while the rounded Bostock is perhaps the best version yet seen in the United States, the crustless circle soft with Syrup and Almond Paste with an edge that bakes golden.
Cleverly offering a Mah-Ze-Dahr “Black Card,” the $300 investment allowing fans one pasty per day for a year, it would be hard to pass up such a thing if the Bakery were located down the block, the obvious talents of French Culinary Institute graduate Acuña Babera clearly visible with items including a lightly fried Brioche Donut that unexpectedly yields creamy Vanilla custard to even the slightest pressure, her time in kitchens such as Le Bernardin, L’Atelier de Robuchon and Aldea also paying dividends in the rich and chewy Chocolate “Explosion” Cookie and moist, naturally sweetened Banana Bread.
At one time an online only operation, the duo’s goods eventually building a big enough following to go Brick and Mortar, it seems only appropriate that an idea described as “the culmination of years of traveling the world and experiencing people through their food” would be exemplified in their eponymous Bar consisting of Salted Caramel, Chocolate Chips, Pecans, bold Spices and Butter, the Carrot Cake that was saved for last a moist and elegant wedge with both Raisins and Walnuts plus ribbon-thin layers of Cream Cheese Frosting.
https://www.mahzedahrbakery.com
