DessertBuzz continues its coverage of Top Chef: Just Desserts with a look at the judges. Got to the DessertBuzz “Just Desserts” main page here.

As I said in the preview post Bravo picked a really nice selction of judges for “Just Desserts”.  Recently, I’ve been reading up on the newest judge and fellow Greek actually the name is Lebanese, Dannielle Kyrillos from Daily Candy.  It turns out she has excellent taste in Desserts.   In this Daily Candy post from Saturday she recommends an excellent selection of desserts that span from the fancy pants like Jean Georges Chocolate Tasting, to the the off-the-beaten-path: Egg Custard King – egg custard buns.  Impressive.  She also seems to like many DessertBuzz standards such as Spot Dessert Bar and Blue Ribbon Bakery.  There it is.  I like her.

Official Bravo Bios for the judges:

Johnny Iuzzuni – Executive Pastry Chef Jean Georges

Hubert Keller – Owner/Chef Fleur De Lys

Gail Simmons- Food and Wine Magazine

Dannielle Kyrillos – Daily Candy

Here’s a link to all 12 contestants of Top Chef: Just Desserts

Johnny Iuzzini, Top Chef, Top Chef Just Desserts: Season I | 11 Comments »

Cool logo

After the much-loved Payard patisserie and bistro closed last summer Francois Payard told DessertBuzz that he was planning an ambitious return to New York City with a large central kitchen on the Lower West Side and a number of Payard bakeries.  He also said he planned to open a more upscale Upper East Side location as well.  Meanwhile, we have had to make do with the small Francois Chocolate Bar outpost inside the Mauboussin jewerly store.

The best Pan Au Chocolat in NYC is back

Now the wait for stage two of the Payard New York Empire is over as the first “FPB” – Francois Payard Bakery is set to open on September 21 at 116 West Houston Street.   Last night Dessertbuzz was there for a preview party and tried to eat as many of the bakery items as possible.

S'mores macaron on a stick

The customer space is very pleasant with 20 seats.  It leans towards rustic with wooden signage and chairs and an open kitchen. The feel is the polar opposite to the colored plexiglass of Pinkberry or modern formica stylings of Starbucks.  The huge open kitchen is many times the size of the bakery customer area.  A blackboard details the days fresh baked menu.

The Menu - sandwiches, desserts and more

There are plenty of items you would expect to find at a French cafe or bakery like the croque monsieur and some more unusual items like Salmon on pretzel bread and the vegetarian-friendly tofu with tomato and basil.   There are also plenty of nice gifts for the Payard fan.  Such as FPB branded English Breakfast Tea, Pates, gourmet coffee, artisan jams, homemade chocolate spreads, givrettes, pretzels, fondues,biscotti, and pastry-scented candles, and of course lots of chocolate items.

Chocolates and more

The huge open kitchen is many times the size of the restaurant

FPB baked items will include: Croissants, pains au chocolat,brioches, crème brûlée, cinnamon buns, seasonal muffins, orange blossom donuts, éclairs, cookies, large macarons, le gateau roulé,seasonal fruit tarts sold by the inch.

the chocolates

Sandwiches: Breakfast sandwich du jour, croque monsieur, tomato and mozzarella panini, smoked salmon on pretzel bread, ham and brie, prosciutto and fresh ricotta, and vegetarian tofu with tomato and basil, etc.

passionfruit macaron

And don’t forget the macarons.  The S’mores macaron on a stick was my favorite but it is not planned to be a regualr offering.  The Cola flavored macaron however will be available and that seemed to be a crowd pleaser.  Look for more reviews of the pastries from FPB in the coming weeks.

The FPB take-out containers are very cool

Read the interview with Francois Payard Part I and Part II.

DessertBuzz video: Francois Payard speaks to DessertBuzz.com about the Du Japanais Verrine pastry.

DessertBuzz Photo gallery:  Payard Pastries

Francois Payard Bakery is located on 116 West Houston St.

Francois Chocolate Bar, Francois Payard Bakery (FPB), Payard | 10 Comments »

DessertBuzz is very excited about Top Chef: Just Desserts which premieres September 15 at 11:00 p.m. EST.  on Bravo.  Not only will dessert finally get the credit it deserves, but this show will have a decidedly New York feel to it.

New York City is well represented with 27 year old Zac Young from Flex Mussels, 34 year-old Seth Caro, who according to Bravo’s website is not currently affiliated with any restaurant, 38 year old Eric Wolitzky (pictured below) from Baked, which is known to be one of the best bakeries (especially for cookies) in New York.  Honorable mention goes to Heather Chittum who is from Brooklyn but is currently working in D.C. at  the Hook and Tackle Box.  As for the judges, three of the four are NYC-based!

The judges:

Bravo covered all their bases with a very likable group of judges  who seem to touch on major viewer demographics:

Johnny Iuzzini and Hubert Keller bring massive credibility to the judges table with their respective pastry backgrounds.  Gail Simmons provides even-handed and straight shooting feedback that always seems to help the viewer understand what was good and bad about the contestants’s dish.  Fellow Greek, and editor of Daily Candy, Danielle Kyrillos should be able to tell us how the desserts stack up in terms of “what’s hot right now” in world of sweets.

Official Bravo Bios for the judges:

Johnny Iuzzuni – Executive Pastry Chef Jean Georges

Hubert Keller – Owner/Chef Fleur De Lys

Gail Simmons – Food and Wine Magazine

Dannielle Kyrillos – Daily Candy

Here’s a link to all 12 contestants of Top Chef: Just Desserts

Top Chef, Top Chef Just Desserts: Season I | 16 Comments »

And the gold goes to… the French guy

The difference between most chocolate chips and and the chips Jacques Torress uses is like the difference between coffee and cocaine.  The chips are stronger, more addictive and not easily found in supermarkets. Jacques uses his own over-sized in-house dark chocolate discs rather than the puny chips most gourmet cookies contain.

Big chocolate disks used in Jacques Torres cookies

When you order a cookie from his Dumbo, Upper West Side or Soho stores you can choose from crispy and well done to chewy and more raw.  Even the least well-done cookie is cooked more than a Levain and is much smoother in texture.  They even have a giant steel hot plate to keep cookies warm all day.

There are also no granular sugar crystals or shiny pockets of wet butter, hallmarks of the Levain cookie. While fans of Levain will say Jacques cookies have too much chocolate my vote goes for the French guy because I love the copious amounts of dark chocolate he uses and I like my cookies baked until dark brown.

Visit the Jacques Torres website here. He now has stores in DUMBO, SOHO, Chelsea Market and on the Upper West Side.  He also has an outpost in Harrah’s in Las vegas.

Recommended: Chocolate chip cookies (you can request you preferred crispiness), hot chocolate, both frozen and hot.

Best chocolate chip cookie, Best of New York City, Jacques Torres, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »