Foodies
in New York in Grip of ‘Cronut’ Craze
Some hungry customers began queueing
outside the pastry shop around 3:30 am. Others managed to keep their taste buds
at bay for a few more hours, arriving at the patisserie around 6:00 am. They
were all united by a desire to sample the food craze that has gripped New York
since its debut a month ago. Half doughnut, half croissant: the ‘cronut’ has
left the Big Apple’s gourmets in a frenzy.
By the time the Dominique Ansel Bakery in the heart of trendy Soho opened its doors to the public at 8:00 am, the slavering customers were at breaking point. Within the hour, every single cronut available has been sold.
The bakery’s owner, Dominique Ansel, says the crowd reflected the typical pattern since the May 18 launch of the the cronut, a food sensation powered by social media. On the first day, 50 were sold. The next day 100 flew off the shelves, within 15 to 20 minutes.
Since then the bemused pastry chef has become accustomed to queues of 150 to 200 people winding down the street before the bakery has opened. Ansel settled upon the idea of the cronut after deciding he wanted to create a hybrid pastry.
His revolutionary confection offers the delicate puff pastry of a traditional croissant shaped into a round doughnut, which is then deep-fried, filled with cream, rolled in maple sugar and coated with a light glaze. It's soft yet crunchy, light and delicious, say the cronut's devotees in the city.
Ansel, regarded as one of the most talented pastry chefs in New York, said settling upon the cronut recipe was a painstaking process. “It took me about two months to perfect the recipe,” Ansel told AFP.
It is so perfect that Jessica Amaral, 30, thought nothing of leaving home at 3:00 am to get in line. The two cronuts she is buying are a treat for her husband to mark the couple's eighth wedding anniversary.
“I am the idiot, I read online that people were arriving at three... The others started to arrive at five. It's my eighth year anniversary, I thought it would be nice for my husband.”
Just behind Amaral in the queue stood Steven Go, a chef who arrived from his home in Staten Island shortly after 5:00 am, at the behest of his wife. Justin Gorder, a 30-year-old salesman, travelled an hour from New Jersey.
By the time the Dominique Ansel Bakery in the heart of trendy Soho opened its doors to the public at 8:00 am, the slavering customers were at breaking point. Within the hour, every single cronut available has been sold.
The bakery’s owner, Dominique Ansel, says the crowd reflected the typical pattern since the May 18 launch of the the cronut, a food sensation powered by social media. On the first day, 50 were sold. The next day 100 flew off the shelves, within 15 to 20 minutes.
Since then the bemused pastry chef has become accustomed to queues of 150 to 200 people winding down the street before the bakery has opened. Ansel settled upon the idea of the cronut after deciding he wanted to create a hybrid pastry.
His revolutionary confection offers the delicate puff pastry of a traditional croissant shaped into a round doughnut, which is then deep-fried, filled with cream, rolled in maple sugar and coated with a light glaze. It's soft yet crunchy, light and delicious, say the cronut's devotees in the city.
Ansel, regarded as one of the most talented pastry chefs in New York, said settling upon the cronut recipe was a painstaking process. “It took me about two months to perfect the recipe,” Ansel told AFP.
It is so perfect that Jessica Amaral, 30, thought nothing of leaving home at 3:00 am to get in line. The two cronuts she is buying are a treat for her husband to mark the couple's eighth wedding anniversary.
“I am the idiot, I read online that people were arriving at three... The others started to arrive at five. It's my eighth year anniversary, I thought it would be nice for my husband.”
Just behind Amaral in the queue stood Steven Go, a chef who arrived from his home in Staten Island shortly after 5:00 am, at the behest of his wife. Justin Gorder, a 30-year-old salesman, travelled an hour from New Jersey.
AFP
NEW YORK ET130617
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