Birdee
316 Kent Ave., at S. third St., Williamsburg
Pretzels at Birdee, which opened within the former Domino Sugar Manufacturing facility this weekend.
Photograph: Natalie Black
Friday was opening day at Birdee, the newest and arguably most pedigreed of the town’s hype bakeries: Situated on the bottom ground of the constructing formally dubbed the Refinery at Domino, however which everybody calls the Domino Sugar constructing, on the manicured Williamsburg Riviera, Birdee comes from Kent Hospitality Group and pastry chef Renata Ameni (the bakery’s identify is a translation of her childhood nickname). Bracing for a crowd, I made a decision to cease by late within the morning, hoping to optimize my arrival to strive some morning pastries in addition to heartier choices that may come out after a switchover to lunch service. There have been just a few content material creators milling round once I arrived and a small number of pastry. We waited for lunch by ordering one among every remaining baked good: olive-oil cake, buttery chocolate alfajores, and a Rice Krispies deal with speckled with brown butter.
Line or not, Birdee is indisputably hype. It’s one of many final tasks chef James Kent labored on earlier than his loss of life. He entrusted it to Ameni, who labored at Eleven Madison Park earlier than opening Crown Shy alongside Kent. Her Brazilian heritage is the supply of the alfajores and the forthcoming pão de queijo, however early whispers concerning the bakery have — maybe predictably — as a substitute targeted on croissants in promised flavors equivalent to praline and pepperoni pizza.
At midday, a line began to type of a half-dozen folks ready for the sandwiches to drop. First-day hiccups had been apparent, if not sudden. A tuna croissant had been eighty-sixed, and a grain bowl I’d ordered “didn’t work out.” I noticed the influencers take their second spherical of footage whereas I waited virtually an hour for my order. (A darkish and salty banana bread that got here out helped ease the wait). When the meals did present up, my good friend and I had been proud of the appears of the Italian dip with delicately diced giardiniera that got here on a pretzel bun hearty sufficient to resist an intensive dunk in its sidecar of jus. Equally, all the weather of a breaded-chicken–harissa–Caesar sandwich on focaccia had been scrumptious.
I needed to offer Birdee a good shake, so I went again on Sunday morning. Arriving simply earlier than 10 a.m., I used to be early sufficient to nab a ache au chocolat however too late for the churro croissants Birdee had posted on its Instagram Story. There weren’t as many influencers within the crowd, however many of the 45 seats had been full and not less than 5 canines had been within the room at any given time.
I ordered a field of pastries, a garlic-knot pretzel, and a breakfast sandwich that confirmed up earlier than the iced tea, trying correctly majestic on an ethereal, shiny, almost spherical brioche bun crammed with egg and cheese and a beneficiant placement of thick-cut bacon that was barely blackened on the extremities. That sandwich is served with a facet of smoky red-pepper purée that’s price slathering on in its entirety. I used to be a bit of confused by the garlic-knot pretzel, which is topped with a sprinkling of grated cheese and conjures slice nostalgia. However the garlic taste is extra muted, calibrated to go well with the pastry and by no means masking up the candy butter within the twisty pretzel dough. (Maybe that is the suitable depth stage for individuals who would possibly eat one earlier than heading off to a gathering within the constructing’s upstairs workplace area.)
Ameni has a means with exteriors, including additional layers of deliciousness to the surface of her pastries: A Gruyère biscuit is listed as having scorching honey, however the true zing comes from an additional sprinkle of pink pepper and salt crystals across the craggy bread. The streusel crust on a muffin dotted with potent dried blueberries sinks deeper than anticipated, turning into one with your complete muffin prime, emitting only a whisper of cinnamon below your nostril.
The strains had been barely price mentioning, extra what you’d discover at a busy espresso store than at any of the opposite croissant purveyors whose queues stretch up and down the town’s streets. A future ice-cream station on the southern facet of the room will definitely draw crowds as soon as it opens and begins promoting the torched-Creamsicle sundaes Ameni invented at Crown Shy. However for the second, Birdee remains to be considerably subdued. It’s additionally very, very new, and I’ve to agree with the girl sporting head-to-toe black-leather Prada on the desk subsequent to me on Sunday morning: “There’s quite a lot of stuff they’ve to determine.”
Samples!
Photograph: Natalie Black
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