Every afternoon, when a frantic day ends, the workshop gets ready to welcome eight clients who will sit in eight chairs around a coffee table that comes down from the ceiling to taste eight unique desserts. This unique tasting concept created by Dominique Ansel (so good #2, so good #7) and called U.P. (short for ‘unlimited possibilities’) takes place on the top floor, fitted out as a workshop, of his new bakery called Kitchen, located in New York’s West Village. An experience that serves the famous chef as a way of reuniting with plated desserts, a discipline that he had left behind after working as Executive Pastry Chef at the restaurant, Daniel.
To open the curtain of this unique performance, Dominique Ansel came up with a tasting proposal as original and suggestive as is the concept of U.P. itself. We are talking about ‘First’, and it focuses on first times, the first experience in different spheres of life.
The chef himself explains, ‘It’s been five years since I’ve done a plated dessert. And our goal here was not just to focus on ingredients and flavors, but the emotion behind a dish. That’s where the idea of ‘First’ comes from. Those ‘first moments’ have significance for people, and funnily enough often naturally involve a dessert. Think about birthdays, holidays, and weddings. It’s a perfect pairing.’ First Word, First Kiss, First Time Living On Your Own or First Heartbreak are some of the proposals in this first series. The theme will change every six months, thus renewing the menu completely. The desserts are matched and served with cocktails created by known guest mixologists.
Dominique Ansel is accompanied in this new adventure by Noah Carroll, Corporate Pastry Chef, and Karys Logue, Executive Pastry Chef, leading a team of over 40 people covering the production of both the original Ansel Bakery and the new Kitchen.
Chef Ansel is accompanied in this new adventure by Noah Carroll, Corporate Pastry Chef, and Karys Logue, Executive Pastry Chef, leading a team of over 40 people covering the production of both the original Ansel Bakery and the new Kitchen.
If someone should happen to pass in front of Dominique Ansel’s Kitchen tonight, they will see that upstairs, there is light. And this means that eight lucky guests will be enjoying a unique experience under the guidance of a genius who continues to surprise New Yorkers.
About Dominique Ansel Kitchen
Dominique Ansel Kitchen first opened in April 2015 in New York’s West Village, offering their customers an original bakery concept since over 70 of their products are made, finished or assembled to order, à la minute. For Ansel “a freshly baked madeleine will always taste better than one that has been sitting out for a while. Eating things at the wrong moment is just as bad as over- or under-salting your food”.
Noah Carroll – Corporate Pastry Chef
With a resume that spans restaurant Daniel (where he was sous-chef under Chef Dominique), Café Boulud (where he was executive pastry chef and one of the finalists for Food & Wine’s “People’s Best New Pastry Chef” in 2012), and Brooklyn Fare (executive pastry chef), Chef Noah Carroll joined the team at Dominique Ansel the same year that they took home the James Beard Award for “Outstanding Pastry Chef.”
Karys Logue – Executive Pastry Chef
Having become the Executive Pastry Chef managing a team of over 40 at both Dominique Ansel Kitchen and Bakery at the age of just 26, Karys has been a pivotal part in the creativity and drive behind both projects. Karys had her first job as a cook with Chef Dominique at the age of 19 and has since returned to the team after holding positions as sous-chef at Café Boulud as well as executive pastry chef at Sepia (in Australia) and Tessa (in New York).
You will find three very special creations in so good #15
