Dominique Ansel Kitchen

My friend and I came tonight for a snack, we got the garlic bread croissant and yuzu butter tart. The garlic bread had good flavor and was crispy. The yuzu butter tart, however, was disgusting. We were essentially served liquified butter out of a tart shell. At first we were confused and asked twice if the tart was right, but the cashiers/​servers said it was fine and even gave us spoons to *drink* the liquid inside the tart shell. Only later while I was browsing Unilocal photos did I see that the yuzu tart should’ve been a thick custard.
I don’t know why the cashiers thought it right to serve us disgusting, old dessert that wasn’t even cooked. I’d have thought better of Dominique Ansel, who seems to value his customers so much and prides himself on associating his name with quality. Not tonight.

Always a love for me! Love me the giant s’more! And the cinnamon bun is on point! It’s possible to pre-​order them online and then either go and pick up or have your sweets to stay. The place is small and uncomfortable, with the stadium seating, it was hard to feel comfortable eating with someone’s legs and feet behind us.

Amazing. The little treats on display all looked so good but we definitely made a good choice to go with the giant smores and the blueberry laminated brioche. You actually probably couldn’t go wrong with any of the other choices.
The marshmallow was torched to perfect the slightly salted chocolate went very well with the crunchy sweet graham cracker and marshmallow. The brioche was a whole different story. The caramel was so well done, not burnt and the combination of the blueberry and this cream they had topped it off with was just a sweet savory piece of heaven. Words will do the taste no justice. I will make my way back there just for another bite of that brioche.

Modernist chef Wylie Dufresne doesn’t currently have a restaurant, but the chef found time for a collaborative project with pastry wizard Dominique Ansel.
After a bit of teasing from Ansel’s Instagram account, the project was revealed: the wd~Ansel Egg Melt would be served at Dominique Ansel Kitchen for three days only. The sandwich included soft scrambled eggs with a confit egg yolk, melted homemade cheese (by Dufresne), black truffle, maple flakes, bacon, all served on a smoked English muffin with a side of extra crisp truffled hashbrowns. Ansel smoked the flour before it was baked and it appears that there was smoked butter used on the top half as well. If there was any breakfast sandwich that was overindulgent, this would be it, especially with a price tag of $ 20.
I had a chance to try it yesterday, the last day it was being sold. Typical of any new Ansel creation, especially a limited edition one, the place was packed with everyone in sight consuming an egg melt. By the time I got there supply was running low, but thankfully I snagged one.
The sandwich itself was rather marvelous. $ 20 may be an outrageous amount for a breakfast sandwich, but it certainly reflects the amount of truffle that was used. In every bite there were creamy scrambled eggs, a bit of egg yolk, gooey cheese, all highlighted by bits of truffle scattered throughout the egg prism. Eggs cooked to three temperatures meant having the best of all textures: liquid, solid, and somewhere in between. Occasionally the maple flake would shine through with an intense sweetness to balance the savory strip of bacon. Even smokier than the bacon was the smoked muffin with smoked butter — I wouldn’t object if Ansel added a normal breakfast sandwich using it to his regular menu (or any other bread for that matter; the sourdough on his croque monsieur has perfect taste and texture). The hashbrowns stood on their own. One of my favorite versions of potatoes dating back to childhood, there couldn’t be a better treatment of the bourgeois treat than to dress it up with umami sprinkled throughout.
What amazes me still is how Dufresne made the sandwich come together. As a proponent of modernist cuisine, precision is undoubtedly his strength. But considering how the scrambled eggs are tucked into the cuboid of fully cooked egg and the cheese carefully melted over the yolk without seeping past the edge, this was some feat.

**Review for UP**
This dessert tasting idea was super cool when I first heard of it and trust me, nailing down the reservation was also super hard. I checked before coming today and the reservation was already out till Mid-​Feb and we made reservation like months ago.
Dessert tasting was located on the second floor of Dominique Ansel Kitchen and each night, only eight guests would be able to test that out. Luckily, I’m one of those eight tonight and was brought up to the second floor promptly at 7:30.
Today’s theme is all about «first». First job, first kiss, first time living alone, first heart-​breaking moment, first urgent task, first fine dining (yay!), first dance, and lastly, first thing in the future! I guess what impressed me the most would be how Dominique paired the moments of life with the exact feelings. My personal favorite was «first kiss» and «first heart-​break», where you have to «kiss» the bottle in order to sip, and you have to burn the flower in order to melt down the cake.
Very unique experience that would stick in my memory for long, my «first» dessert dinner!

I sound really hipster-​y when talking about Dominique Ansel to my DC friends. «I’ve been frequenting his bakery since long before the cronut,» «I was actually there the week the cronut was introduced, and you could order it without waiting an hour in line.» I can’t help it. He’s one of my favorite chefs, and has been for a long time, so when the boyfriend and I walked past Dominique Ansel Kitchen on a visit to NYC, I made a mental bookmark to go.
My boyfriend wasn’t even that hungry when I suggested dinner, but when I set the XL Croque Monsieur in front of him, he acted accordingly, devouring his half and a little of mine. We savoured the butteriness and tartness of the lemon-​yuzu tart, and took a cannele for the train ride home to DC.
Since I was staying in NYC for a day longer, *of course* I had to go back and try another one of his creations. The West Village chocolate and caramel cake was huge and spectacular, and lasted me three meals’ worth of dessert!
Still on my to-​do list for the next time we visit NYC: the s’more and the egg-​clipse. Very sad that the sticky toffee pudding was no longer on the menu. If they ever bring that back, it’s going on the list as well.

I’m irritated about this place.
The stadium seating is a dumb idea. I’m actually sitting in here as we speak with two pairs of stinky feet dangling 4 inches away from my face. One of them stepped on gum and the other had about 6 tar pebbles stuck between his grooves.
The ultimate s’more is an ultimate piece of crap. It’s one giant marshmallow with whiskey ganache. The whiskey ganache tastes terrible. My taste buds are extremely unhappy with whiskey mixed in with chocolate. For $ 8.50, it’s a huge mess and not very easy to eat.
And yes, the feet are still dangling above my head.

January 2016, for the 3 day holiday Dominque Ansel & Wylie Dufresne created the ultimate breakfast sandwich. A soft scrambled egg sandwich with a confit egg yolk, Wylie Dufresne’s homemade cheese, black truffles, crispy bacon and maple flakes on a smoked English muffin. If that isn’t enough, it came with a side of truffled hash browns.
Whew!
When I read that, I woke my wife up at 6:30am and told her we have to get on line for this sammy. «Didn’t you wait on line for Cronuts last week?»
Woman, lets gooooooo! (How many ladies would do this with me? A few FB ladies said they’d roll over and say go alone)
The wait wasn’t too bad. They open at 9am and we were on line about 8:45. It wasn’t cold and I was able to get us some coffee across the street.
While waiting, we had a hostess just like the Spring St location come out and give us small cups of cider as well as fresh madeleines. Not just any Madeline but a Dominque Ansel Madeline. Mmmmmmmmm
Now I look in the window and see both chefs cheffin’ it up (Man I loved WD 50)
I look around, what type of fakacta place is this? There are bleachers for guests to sit on? And only one large table? People are starting to gather inside quickly. I see an opening at the bleachers after we place our order and sit.
You can’t order Cronuts at this location but I did order a (4) pack of DKAs (Dominique’s Kouign Amman) as well as Croissants.
Our breakfast sandwiches are brought out.
Heavenly
These chefs mash ups in NYC are fun! I’m glad I was able to go early this Saturday morning.
One of my favorite NYC bakeries!

I really, really like Dominique Ansel Kitchen and possibly prefer it to his original bakery. All menu items here are made to order. No, the cronut is not offered here. And I honestly think that’s one of the best things about DA Kitchen. The several times I’ve visited, I haven’t had to wait in line or struggle to find seating as I would at the original bakery.
My favorite menu items: croque monsieur, matcha beignets, and of course the star of this bakery: the DKA (Dominique Ansel’s version of the kouign amann.) The croque monsieur is very hearty and flavorful (crispy toasted bread covered with layers of cheese and ham), and can certainly be shared among 2 people. Seriously, believe me. The croque monsieur portion is huge. The matcha beignets are tasty, but what’s not to like? They come out fried, hot, and covered in matcha powder. Worth trying at least once, but can probably be skipped if you’d like to try some of the other options here.
The DKA truly is the best thing on this menu. Kitchen’s version is a brown sugar kouign amann, and it truly has the perfect texture of crispy on the outside and soft and doughy on the inside. I don’t find the brown sugar flavor to be off-​putting at all, and it’s certainly not too sweet. That being said I didn’t have a chance to try his original DKA at the bakery location.
Stadium style seating that is kind of bizarre. Kind of cool to sit up top and people watch though.

There is no doubt about the food quality when it comes to Dominique Ansel.
The portion sizes are irregular, though.
While I call a Avocado Ricotta Toast my average size of a breakfast, I’ll call it size M, an order of Croque Monsieur is an XXL – 2 oversize pieces of grilled cheese+ham that can’t be messier in your hands. I was quite taken back when I saw such a greasy and sloppy dish, but I took courage in the Chef’s favorite, and gladly it wasn’t as naughty as it looked.

Came in here for two things, their tart and chocolate mousse cake. The tart from Dominique Ansel was dynamite. It has a sweet and tangy zing to it. Almost like a pudding like texture, it’s very silky smooth. The sourness doesn’t overpowers the tart, the flavors are just right. The chocolate mousse cake here is the best I’ve had so far. The rich and soft texture of the mousse goes down very well. The best part of the cake is it’s crust on the bottom. It’s not bland or boring. It has a nice crunch that brings the mousse together in mouth.
This was my first time at Dominique Ansel Kitchen and I was easily impressed by these two desserts. I’ll have to come back again and try some more.

Currently obsession: DKA.
God, that thing was so good!
Visited this location multiple times on a recent trip.
I feel the bakery offerings are actually smaller than the Spring street location but there is more room to move around and places to sit here.
One thing I got that was disappointing was the lardon pig shaped muffin thing with bacon. It just tasted like it was coated in bacon grease and was actually pretty disgusting. I took one bite and threw it away.
I noticed was that this location did not have all the same things as the bakery on Spring. Example: grapefruit pannacotta with olive oil cake I got (and loved) was no where to be seen here.
For anyone looking for the cronut, you can pre order them online but it’s a process. I would refer you to the website for the specifics but definitely something good to know — especially for out of towners.
Definitely bookmark this bakery for your next trip to New York!

Of course after the ever lasting hype of cronuts at Dominique Ansel Bakery, When Kitchen opened, it was a must try on the list.
Décor: Very cute interior with stadium seating. Not your typical or traditional seating.
Food: The pastries were very good and each one had its own unique flavor. Best way to eat is to eat in groups so you can try a variety of things at once :]
The chorizo toast was very good, nice and savory and filling as well.
Their take on avocado toast was delicious. Instead of the traditional toast, they did it in a brioche bun.
Of course the classic DKA which is always rich and buttery.
Their prosciutto croissant was surprisingly tasty as it came on a layer of cream cheese over the fluffy pastry.
The blueberry cream pastry was pretty good, but more of a standard pastry. We got it as a sweet item to top off our savory selections.
Overall, delicious and worth the trip! We went pretty early in the morning so there was also no wait!

The hubs and I stopped by Dominque Ansel Kitchen one morning while in the area. Just note that this bakery does NOT offer Cronuts, as that is only available at its sister location in SoHo! You can see the bakers freshly making the items in the morning, right before the opening of the bakery. Items include Prosciutto & Boursin Croissant, Pain au Chocolat, Brown Sugar DKA, Made-​to-​Order Chocolate Mousse, etc. We ordered a Maple Apple Muffin with Lardo (this was a pig-​shaped ‘muffin’ that was topped with a sliver of bacon — wasn’t really a fan of this, as even though there were mini chunks of the apple within the muffin, the placement of a random fatty part of the bacon on top was a bit odd), the Brown Sugar DKA (Kouign Amann with a deeper flavor from the brown sugar, I prefer the original DKA instead, as this one seemed a bit too brown sugar-​like and not as crispy), a Cinna-​Spun Roll (this was actually pretty good, as it was soft and fluffy, but lacked a bit on the frosting), and an Ultimate S’mores (I was most excited about this, but it was my least favorite — while generous in size, it was more dark chocolate focused, and the marshmallow was hard and cold, and not melty and gooey like a typical S’more would be). Habib was great in taking our orders and was super friendly. There are some seats inside to eat your bites, or you can take it to-​go. I would much rather go to the sister location for the DKA and pick up a Cronut along the way, as the baked goods at this joint just fell flat for me. I’m glad I was still able to try them out, though!
+Cinna-​Spun Roll
+ask for Habib: D

We were exploring Greenwich village and happened to stumble upon DA Kitchen. I was pretty excited to try out this place Bc hello, he created the cronut craze after all. I was a little disappointed that they did not carry the cronut here at this location. Bummer. The store is small with stadium seating. What? That’s the weirdest seating arrangement I have ever seen in a food establishment. The patio outside had plenty of seating.
The pastry case had a lot of items inside which included kouign Amann and croissants. Since it was around 7−8pm, I didn’t get any of those pastries bc I didn’t want to disappoint myself if the pastries ended up being stale Bc it’s been sitting there all day. I did witness another person taking a bite of the kouign Amann and it didn’t not look crispy, crunchy or flakey.
My BIL is a huge tiramisu lover so he ordered that and a Plum frangipane tart Bc it was pretty.
We sat outside on their lovely patio to enjoy the desserts. I’m not a big fan of tiramisu so I only had a tiny taste. It was too rich for me. The plums still had a nice texture after being braised. It was slightly sweet and tart. The description mentioned a star anise glaze of some sort, but I did not taste that hint of anise at all. The base of the tart was a little dense. I love frangipane (almond) so I enjoyed it. It wasn’t anything over the top amazing.
Overall, I think this place should start selling cronuts, pretty please?! I would try this place again during the day if I happen to be in the neighborhood. It is still my mission to visit his bakery and try his infamous cronut. I will definitely need to try his laminated pastries soon.

I’ve been wanting to try one of Dominique Ansel’s famous desserts for awhile now, so when a friend and I happened upon Dominique Ansel Kitchen, I knew we had to go in. Everything looked mouthwatering delicious, such as the brown sugar DKA, lemon butter tart, pumpkin and pecan pies, blueberry brioche, macarons but I knew I had to get Time Out’s Ultimate S’more, because s’mores are one of my all time favorite desserts! And it truly was ultimate.
The S’more consists of speculous cookies with chocolate ganache, milk chocolate with sea salt and honey marshmallow and the whole thing is torched and presented to you on a platter. The marshmallow is HUGE and toasted perfectly, though when I got my S’more, it didn’t feel warm so I had them put it under heat for a few more minutes. It came out the second time, even more melty and wonderful. The cookies were nice and crunchy and tasted like cookie butter, with a slight flavor of cinnamon. The chocolate was a lovely blend of sweet and salty, as well as very rich, creamy wonderful. And the marshmallow was fluffy, sugary, soft, gooey and tasted a bit like alcohol from the torching. It was completely delectable and decadent.
At $ 9 + tax the S’mores is definitely a treat to try once but I thoroughly enjoyed it and would love to come back to sample other treats.
Also, when I was there, Dominique Ansel Kitchen was taking Cash Only, so might want to keep that in mind.

Dominique Ansel Kitchen
NY Manhattan West Village
1pm Wednesday 11^th November 2015
Four Stars
On this overcast Veterans Day, I needed to try DA’s newest creation of the Spun Dessert Roll. They laminate layers of brioche, butter, cinnamon, and sugar and then baked it. The. They dip it a spiced custard and bake it again. Then we when you come in, they heat it up and drizzle it with Applejack Frosting. The dough was thick and moist with butter. It holds together like a sticky bun and tears apart like an accordion of deliciousness. The outside was crispy like a croissant. The inside was soft, chewy, and packed with flavor. The frosting was definitely spiked with liquor and had a unique sour, butter taste to contrast with the layers of sweet. The service was top notch. I really like the seating. They have boxes arranged like a ziggurat so people sit at different heights. I cant wait to come back and try some other pastry abomination.

I just have to +2 for all the amazing things coming out of DAK. Although I wasn’t blown away by my first visit, I’ve come back a few times and every time has been awesome.
Case in point: the limited edition Timeout Ultimate S’mores, a huge s’more the size of a burger slider with a homemade, torched to order honey marshmallow, shards of milk chocolate with Maldon sea salt, dark chocolate ganache spiked with whiskey, and caramelia sandwiched between two speculoos cookies.
Dear god. I’m not sure a $ 9 s’more the size of my face is the weirdest thing I’ve ever bought in NYC, but it’s definitely one of the most delicious.
The only problem was, I took mine to go and then had a moment of brilliance/​stupidity when I brought it home. I decided it would be nice if the chocolate was a little melty like a traditional s’more, and popped it into the microwave for 15 seconds.
…yeah homemade marshmallows don’t microwave well. Instant pile of goo. Delicious, chocolatey, scoop it up with your fingers when no one is looking kind of goo, but a hot mess all the same.
I regret nothing (although next time, I’m taking a bite before I attempt to play god and botch their perfect creations).

Looks like the man had redeemed himself!
During one of my last few days in New York, I decided to give it one more go before I leave for good.
This time, I had more savory items, which included the Egg-​clipse and Edamame Avocado toast. I got a few items to go which was the Brown Sugar DKA, Marcona Lavender Almond Croissant and Garlic Bread Croissant.
Egg-​clipse — Now we’re talking, that runny yolk mixed with mash potatoes was delish on top of the thick squid ink toast. Definitely my favorite savory item on his menu.
Edamame Avocado toast — Avocado toast is pretty overrated in cafes, it’s such a simple dish that almost anyone can make yet people are too lazy to haha. In Dominique’s version, he throws in some edamame and serves it on a brioche to make it more unique. I wish the bread was softer otherwise, it’s not too shabby.
Brown Sugar DKA — Wow, why didn’t he invent this sooner? The brown sugar kind of melts into the DKA in the center and it’s almost warm and gooey. It’s slightly sweeter but in a good way.
Marcona Lavender Almond Croissant — Another favorite to add to the list. The almond flavor reminds me of marzipan, the inside was pretty soft and the croissant was buttery, flaky and soft.
Garlic Bread Croissant — This thing smells a lot better than it tastes haha. The garlic scent was enticing but the moment I took a bite I hardly tasted it. I’d pass on this one.
Just as I was walking away from this place for the last time, I saw he had an ice cream window open. So of course, I couldn’t resist. I ended up washing down my meal with a swirl cone that included Burrata and Gianduja. Both flavors were amazing, it’s hard to really choose on this one. The Burrata was light and silky while the Giaduja had this awesome hazelnut brizzle. My only complaint was that it melted faster than I could eat. My hand was dripped in a dairy mess in a matter of 10 minutes.
Overall, some things can be a hit or mess here.
Choose wisely and you’ll see why Dominique Ansel is a culinary genius.
Choose foolishly and you’ll see why Dominique Ansel is overrated.

This ain’t for the sweet of tooth,
Savory flavors fooled this sleuth,
Creative flavors not from my youth,
Awkard stadium seating — no booths.

Great lemon tart, croque Monsieur, prosciutto croissant