Dominique Ansel Bakery and a Park Dedicated to Sir Winston Churchill!

After Brooklyn, my mother and I visited a very trendy bakery located on SoHo's Spring Street called, The Dominique Ansel Bakery. The pastry chef in charge, Dominique Ansel, has quite an impressive resume!

"Dominique Ansel rose to fame in New York City, where he served as the Executive Pastry Chef for Restaurant Daniel under celebrity chef Daniel Boulud. During his six year tenure at Daniel, the restaurant won its first 3-star Michelin rating, a 4-star New York Times review, and James Beard’s Outstanding Restaurant of the Year Award in 2010. In 2013, Chef Ansel received his own James Beard Award nomination as a finalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef at his eponymous bakery.


It’s a long way from home for the chef, who grew up near the north of Paris as the youngest of four children. It was his father, Dominique Ansel (Senior), who first sparked his interest in cooking. At 16 years old, Dominique (Junior) began his formal culinary training, taking a break for compulsory military training and later returning to joining the ranks of the legendary French pastry institution, Fauchon. At Fauchon, Dominique spent 7 years traveling the world to open shops in places ranging from Egypt to Russia to Kuwait.


Today, Dominique has been named one of the “Top 10 Pastry Chefs in the United States” by Dessert Professional Magazine in 2009. In 2010, Dominique was chosen by Time Out New York as one of the city’s “Top Ten Pastry Chefs You Need to Know”. He also received the award for the Best Dessert Menu in the US by Pastryscoop.com in 2007. An active part of New York’s dining scene, Dominique’s work is featured in multiple cookbooks and magazines." - I have completely stolen this from the bakery's website.

My mother had read about the bakery in the New York Times recently, specifically about their special Easter chick pastries, and since we were seeing friends this weekend, she wanted to buy some of these Easter delectables. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, they were all sold out! Oh dear...still....there was a lot of look at! 

Impressive selection

Very very cute!

Yum!!!!!

The store

Angry Birds truffle for $42?! You have to be kidding me...

Although we were unable to purchase the Easter chick pastry things, we did not leave empty handed. Rather ironically, or maybe not since my father is Jewish, we ended up buying dark chocolate covered matzoh garnished with crushed pistachio nuts and bits of sea salt. DELICIOUS! (I say that this is ironic since we went from attempting to by Easter food, but ended up buying Passover food instead...) As my mother said on her first bite, "who said matzoh had to be boring?" How right she is. 

After leaving the bakery, mom and I walked back to my apartment. On our way home, I was delighted to stumble upon something I did NOT expect to find: WINSTON CHURCHILL SQUARE! That's right! It's kind of random, but in the West Village, this park exists! It is very modest and it built just off "Downing Street" (haha....but seriously, it IS built next to a street in the West Village called Downing St). As a Winston Churchill devotee, I was ecstatic to discover this gem!