You have voted for your favorite bakeries, and now the list of finalists has been selected from among them for Frenchly’s Best Baguette in New York competition! More than 600 readers participated in the selection of candidates.
The final competition will take place on Tuesday, March 19, from 6-8pm, in the heart of Manhattan: at the Market Line, located at 115 Delancey Street on the Lower East Side. You can still get tickets here.
During the final competition, several awards will be given out: the Fan Prize for best baguette, determined by your votes the day of; and the Grand Prix for Best Baguette as well as the Specialty Bread award, determined by a Grand Jury that will blind taste the candidates’ baguettes.
This year’s Grand Jury members are:
– Gabriel Kreuther, chef at the Gabriel Kreuther Restaurant
– Natasha Pickowicz, Author & Pastry chef
– Scott Cioe, Pastry chef at Lafayette 380
– Jonathan Pereira, Executive Pastry Chef at Mandarin Oriental
– Dorie Greenspan, Author of many delicious cookbooks
– Cécilia Jourdan, aka @hellofrenchnyc
These are the 17 bakeries that have received the most votes from readers, and confirmed their presence at the finale (in alphabetical order):
ALF Bakery
A new addition to this list, Amadou Ly’s bakery (ALF Bakery stands for “Amadou Ly Fancy Bakery”) opened last year in the lower level of Chelsea Market, and offers a variety of artisan breads, viennoiseries, and pastries. The founder and head baker, originally from West Africa (Senegal and Togo), has been in the United States for 20 years, and worked in renowned kitchens in New York (Jean-Georges, Mas…) before “falling in love with bread” and training under Roger Gural in boulangerie. Now operating solo, Ly will present his best natural sourdough baguettes on March 19.
Bourke Street Bakery
Paul Allam comes from Australia, and co-founded a renowned artisanal bakery in Sydney (on Bourke Street, where the name originated), before crossing the globe and settling down in New York in 2019. In May of that year, shortly before the pandemic, he opened Bourke Street Bakery in NoMad. Since then, his boutique has multiplied, with locations in Chelsea, the Upper West Side, Grand Central Station, and Jersey City.
Breads Bakery
Winner of the 2022 Best Baguette in New York competition (Grand Prix and Fan Prize) and fan favorite at the 2023 Best Croissant competition (winning the Fan Prize and the award for Best Original Creation), Breads Bakery has returned to the list of finalists this year. The bakery, which is focused around using natural and organic ingredients, has expanded enormously since its creation in 2013. There are currently five locations: the flagship at Union Square, and boutiques in Bryant Park, Lincoln Square, Rockefeller Center, and the Upper East Side.
Bread Story
Artisanal products “as we know them in France” were the goal of Yann Ledoux, or so he told French Morning in 2021, shortly after opening his bakery in the East Village. The French baker set out on his own after a long stint as head baker at Maison Kayser until the company went bankrupt in the U.S. in 2020. In our 2022 Best Baguette competition, Bread Story won second prize and the Specialty Bread award.
Brooklyn French Bakers
This Brooklyn-based chain has grown rapidly since its birth in 2022. Its trio of founders, who came to the bakery-pastry business somewhat by chance and late in life, have just expanded with the opening of a second Brooklyn French Bakers boutique in Park Slope, following their original location in Carroll Gardens. Teddy Collet, Nelly Azambre, and Sabrina Labouré won the Grand Prix at last year’s Best Croissant competition. Their new challenge: to win Best Baguette this year!
Choc⦁O⦁Pain
In the 12 years since the opening of the first Choc⦁O⦁Pain, Clémence Danko has finely honed his “little taste of France,” as he refers to his bakery, in New Jersey. The chain now has five locations in Hoboken and Jersey City, and never ceases to delight regulars with its artisanal breads, viennoiseries, kouign-amann, and other French treats.
Crispy Heaven Bakery
Fel Cassieli quit her job as a model to commit herself to baking, going on to open her own boutique in March 2021 in Soho. Originally from the Czech Republic, the founder of Crispy Heaven Bakery offers a variety of artisanal breads made European-style (baguettes, loaves, sourdough, and multi-grain…), along with sandwiches and salads. On Friday and Saturday evenings, Cassieli transforms her small bakery into a restaurant.
Frenchette Bakery
If you enjoy visiting the art exhibitions at the Whitney Museum, you’ll know Frenchette Bakery well. Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson, owners of the brasserie Frenchette in Tribeca since 2018, and Rock at Rockefeller Center since 2022, opened La Frenchette Bakery at the Whitney in the museum last December, overtaking the space of Danny Meyer’s former restaurant, Untitled. The first Frenchette bakery opened in 2020 on Church Street, in the former location of the beloved bakery Arcade. Since then, they have risen to the same impeccable reputation as their prestigious predecessor.
Heritage Grand Bakery
Heritage Grand Bakery has two locations, located right across from each other on 40th Street, close to Bryant Park. The door on the left opens to the bakery, and the one on the right to a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant. The owners know the world of artisanal baking well: Lou Ramirez, former partner at Maison Kayser and Fig & Olive, and ex-president of Le Pain Quotidian; master baker Luc Boulet; and Alex Garese, founder of Wolkonsky Bakery. The trio offers breads made with artisanal grains, as well as pastries and brick oven pizzas.
La Bicyclette Bakery
“Good artisanal products at affordable prices.” This is still the credo of Florent Andreytchenko, the Brooklyn baker from Champagne known for his $2 organic bread baguettes – a rarity in New York. The artisan, who opened La Bicyclette Bakery in 2020 in Williamsburg, followed with a second location in Fort Green, and then further expanded last year to Carroll Gardens with a third bakery.
La Boulangerie François
Based in Forest Hills in Queens, Breton Francois Danielo is a regular in our competitions. He became a baker in 2011, and is a former engineer who champions artisanal quality. At La Boulangerie François, he offers a wide range of baguettes (traditional, peasant-style, multi-grain…), viennoiseries (kouign-amann, meringues, beignets…), and artisanal pastries (fraisier, opera…).
Le Fournil
This East Village bakery Le Fournil proudly celebrated its 4th anniversary last month. Its founder, Jean-François Hebert, grandson and son of bakers from La Haye-du-Puits (Manche), has overcome many trials since opening his store in December 2019: the COVID-19 pandemic, a broken storefront, and a fire. Supported by local residents, the Norman baker is now a pillar of the neighborhood.
Mille Feuille
Olivier and Natalie Dessyn’s boulangerie-pâtisserie Mille-Feuille has grown considerably since it opened in 2011 near Washington Square. The former computer engineer and the former engineer at Paris City Hall, who chose to devote themselves entirely to their passion for bread when they arrived in New York in 2009, have since opened two other stores, one on the Upper West Side and the other in Brooklyn.
Ole & Steen
The Danish artisan bakery chain, which arrived in Manhattan in January 2019, has won over New Yorkers with its rye breads, sourdough loaves, and its specialty viennoiserie, the Cinnamon Social, a braid filled with vanilla-cinnamon custard. In less than 5 years, Ole & Steen has opened 5 boutiques: in Union Square (their flagship), Tribeca, Midtown East, Bryant Park, and the Upper East Side.
Orwashers
Founded by a family of Hungarian immigrants in 1916, Orwashers is an institution for bread lovers. Launched on the Upper East Side to offer artisanal bread to New York’s European immigrant populations, the company now works with local farmers to produce flour that is “100% made in New York State.” In the bread department, you’ll find traditional products as well as more unusual ones like wine breads. Orwashers is also present on the Upper West Side, in Fort Green (Brooklyn) and sells its products at countless New York farmers markets.
Pistache
Brittany native Yvan Bedouet’s catering business offers traditional French dishes, savory and sweet tarts, and cakes, as well as breads and viennoiserie, from their Brooklyn kitchen. New York’s French community regularly has the opportunity to discover the cuisine of Pistache executive chef Nicolas Buchot, a Maison Kayser alumnus, at receptions held at the consulate.
Richaud NYC
You can read up on the story of Richaud Valls (in French), who made the career shift from actor to baker during the COVID-19 pandemic. Richaud NYC currently sells its goods online, but Valls has opened a GoFundMe where fans can contribute towards the opening of his forthcoming West Village boutique. This is his second time participating in the Best Baguette New York competition.
👉 Get tickets here
The 2024 edition of the New York Best Baguette competition is sponsored by Paris Gourmet and Les Moulins de Soulanges.
This article was originally published in French on French Morning. It has been translated by Catherine Rickman.
