Breads Bakery Takes Home the 2025 Award for Best Croissant in New York

By Géraldine Bordère
April 7, 2025

The star of the day was gluttonous, golden, a little plump… And no, we’re not talking about Donald. As thousands of New Yorkers gathered on Saturday, April 5th to protest, others came together at 5th&Mad in Manhattan, to bring attention to a different matter – the croissant! Hungry pastry fanatics put politics aside on this rainy morning, instead piling sunshine on their plates! For the third edition of French Morning’s Best Croissant New York competition, nearly 500 gourmands, and a jury of five industry professionals, joined forces to choose the top croissants from 10 bakeries selected by 2000 French Morning readers.

Appetites piqued, taste buds awakened by the flood of buttery pastries, and a Mimosa in hand to cleanse the palate between each bite, these viennoiserie experts had trouble choosing just one – including Gillian and Kristen, big fans of our national pastry. “This one is very light, and very pleasant, I prefer this to a cream-filled croissant, like those you often see around here. But I also love this one, which is more dense. I don’t know how I will decide, honestly,” explained Gillian, pointing to the interior of an ample croissant sliced in half. “I could eat them every day,” sighs her friend.

Gillian and Kristen. © Géraldine Bordère

On the second floor, where the jury had camped out to blind-taste the pastries, everyone appeared absorbed in their task. On their evaluation sheets, four criteria were noted, on a scale of one to five: appearance, aroma, structure, and taste. Leaning over a gutted croissant, knife in hand, Nicolas Botomisy, consultant and international pastry chef, launched into a methodical dissection. Objective: to judge the croissant’s appearance.

“The visual can trick you,” advised the chef. “A gorgeous croissant, perfectly fluffy, can hide technical errors in cooking or the quantity of salt used. The salt inhibits proper fermentation. This can be fatal. Obviously, a croissant should look good, but above all you need to cut into it to get a good idea. The smell, too. A croissant, it’s all about butter, and you can smell it!”

When it came time to make their verdict, the jury was sure of their choice. “The top two croissants were unanimous. Separated by half a point,” confessed Noémie Carrant, a food writer for Resy.

1:30 pm. Emmanuel Saint-Martin, founder and CEO of French Morning and organizer of the competition, in a state of feverish excitement, invited the jury members to rejoin the scene: Laure Larrose, pastry chef at Angelina Paris; Allison Chen, pastry chef and content creator; Alberto Marcolongo, chef at Benoit; Noémie Carrant; and Nicolas Botomisy. Thanks were issued to all teams and the event’s sponsors, and the jury offered a short speech, saying that they were delighted “to reward French savoir-faire and artisanal craftsmanship.”

Drum roll…

First came the Fan Award, which came in, for the first time, at a tie! The winners were Brooklyn French Bakers, who won the 2023 Jury Award, and Julien Boulangerie, which came in second place for the Jury Award in 2023. Afterwards came the Award for Best Original Creation, a distinction that celebrates the best contemporary reinvention of a croissant. For their Franken-croissant, it was newcomer Julien Boulangerie that distinguished itself.

Their “Paris-Brest Croissant,” made of a small pastry dome filled with hazelnut cream, won all the votes. “It’s my favorite dessert. A classic. So the idea came to me quite naturally. I am thrilled to have convinced the jury, and I will quickly organize my teams so we can offer it at all of our locations here in the next two weeks,” Julien Khalaf shared. Great news for New York’s foodies!

The “Paris-Brest croissant,” winner of Best Original Creation. © Géraldine Bordère

Finally, the prestigious Jury Award was given to Breads Bakery. The bakery of Chef Edan Leshnick, which has five locations, has made itself a fixture of the Manhattan bakery world. Having already won the Fan Award and Best Original Creation in 2023, the baker-pastry chef also came in second place in our 2024 Best Baguette competition. A formidable competitor, Leshnick was far from blasé about his accomplishments. “It’s wonderful, I am so proud. This croissant recipe is the fruit of years of work, created from trial and error, using the best ingredients,” he said.

After all this, what makes a good croissant? We’ll leave it to the winner to answer: “Four me, a perfect croissant, is full of butter while remaining light. At the end of the day, we don’t want to feel heavy, but instead to want another.”