Follow the smell of bread...
Where there is a good croissant that all the cronuts in the world are removed. And in New York, those buttery delicacies are in short supply. Not to mention the bread: finding a crusty baguette in the city is almost a miracle . That's why when New Yorkers find it, they adore it, they become its most faithful parishioners, believers in the good crumb and the crispy crust. Devotees of its freshly baked flavor. That is why, despite being hidden, never having advertised, having unnatural hours in this city (it is only open from Monday to Friday, between 8 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon), ** Arcade Bakery is a religion **. The religion of the best patisserie and bakery in the city.
Just a little plaque on the 220 Church Street announces it. And a fine nose for buns and fresh bread. Arcade Bakery, as its name hints, it is located at the end of the arcade gallery , in the lobby of a building almost 100 years old in which the **Workstead studio ** (also responsible for part of the Wythe Hotel) made only the necessary arrangements so as not to alter the environment and make it comfortable for the clients of the bakery.
What the lobby hides
On both sides of the corridor there are benches and folding tables attached to the wall, on which you will find bottles of water and paper tablecloths. Because Arcade Bakery, in addition to a pastry shop and bakery, serves a brief but delicious lunch of freshly baked pizzas , with San Marzano tomato and good mozzarella, as the Neapolitans command; and, in addition, sandwiches with their daily breads whose filling changes periodically.
The Arcade Bakery: New York's Bakery Secret
The creator of all this is Roger Gural , a former television producer who had always had a soft spot for good bread. And he realized that doing it himself was the only way to eat it rich in New York . He signed up for a bread course at the old French Culinary Institute , and when he finished he decided to abandon television for the ovens. He went through the Bouley Bakery, Amy's Bread and even France, where he learned the arts of the best baguette kneading and baking about 800 a day. Upon his return to the United States after a stint in Napa, he decided the time had come to open his own bakery in New York. But one without pretensions, without the pomp of the city. One that was the opposite of Dominique Ansel and her cronuts. A neighborhood bakery.
That's why, Gural chose this place at the end of the lobby of an office building of which practically only he knew the possibilities of it. His family, real estate tycoons, own the entire estate and he himself had lived years ago in one of his flats. He opened it in May of last year without any publicity or contact with the press. Only the quality of his croissants and brioches spoke for him and they ended up spreading the secret that the best pastry shop in New York was hidden in a gallery.
For devotees of the freshly baked
Now there is a queue to try their almond croissant or normal , or the pain au chocolat, either pear and chocolate cake . Their vanilla-scented bread is a must. Like their walnut and whiskey babkas. Classic buns with a little modern twist. But nothing as presumptuous as a hybrid; On the contrary, Gural remains attached to the tradition of good dough and the freshness of what has just been made. They bake all day, but when it's over, it's over. And 30 minutes before they close, there might not be a queue, but you'll probably find their windows empty.
A milk bread stuffed with ham and cheese
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