Dominique Ansel Is Opening a New Kind of Bakery

Over a decade ago, the inventor of the Cronut, French baker Dominique Ansel achieved worldwide fame for a pastry that’s achieved immortality of sorts — well before the age of virality. Today, the chef has more reasons to celebrate, as he’s been working on his newest project, Papa d’Amour, a French and Asian bakery inspired by his wife and their two young children, ages four and (almost) two.

Named after what his kids call him, Papa d’Amour will open the first quarter of 2025 at 64 University Place at East 10th Street, near Union Square and the East Village. The 2,000-square-foot bakery is a tribute to his kids’ dual heritage and the things they love to eat, such as fluffy steamed buns, shokupans, milk breads, egg tarts, and more.

“It’s a display of Asian bread culture,” he says, “with a French point of view.” Since his kids are half Taiwanese, half French, he feels the bakery is a way for his kids to connect with their heritage. “Knowing roots is important.”

Evan Sung

A French baker by training, Ansel started his exploration into Chinese cooking and baking when he met Amy Ma — now his wife — 20 years ago; she is Taiwanese. “I felt like a child,” he says of how little he knew of the range of Chinese food as well as the excitement he felt in exploring a cuisine that was new to him. His wife and his mother-in-law have been his teachers, he says; his mother-in-law (based in Taiwan) was particularly tough. He knew, years later, that he was starting to become more fluent when he’d cook for her, and she’d say, “It’s not bad,” with a smile. Increasingly, he’d bake at home, experimenting with items like egg tarts studded with pretzel salt with a creamy custard center, which will be on the menu at the new place (though much of the menu is a work in progress).

In addition to the new bakery, Ansel’s family is celebrating the flagship bakery’s anniversary of having opened at 189 Spring Street, between Sullivan and Thompson streets, 13 years ago today. In honor of its birthday, the bakery is rolling out a new menu with items like a coffee cake, an apple dessert with brown sugar, and other autumn pastries.

Ansel also has the Dominique Ansel Workshop (17 E. 27th Street, near Madison Avenue), the Flatiron retail spot within his commercial kitchen that opened in 2021. He has a new location in Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Just last month, his third cookbook came out, called Life’s Sweetest Moments. His Los Angeles location shuttered during the pandemic.

Ansel grew up north of Paris, baking first at legacy bakery Pâtisserie Peltier as well as Fauchon. He moved to the U.S. in 2006 and started his stateside career as head pastry chef at Daniel by Daniel Boulud, before opening his bakery in 2011.

Evan Sung