La Bergamote

I was planning on holding this snapshot until later, when I was ready to release my larger project on bakeries. But sitting at La Bergamote this morning, I looked over the line forming at the front of the small Chelsea boulanger and realized that I had seen the fellow right at the back somewhere. No, he wasn’t an HLSer. And I don’t think I recognized him from my undergrad years – he looked entirely too nattily dressed for that. Then it struck me. It was my first New York semi-celebrity sighting – Ted, the food maven from Bravo’s hit show “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”. Actually, though I enjoy the program, I’ll admit that I don’t like his cooking very much. Sure, I understand he’s trying to give the clueless something they can do in a few minutes, but I still think he can do better. And I will say that he wasn’t looking quite as chipper as on the show, though few of us are on Sunday morning. But it is true that he must have good taste in croissants. Because on that point La Bergamote has no equal in New York, at least so far as I’ve found.

I wouldn’t buy a sandwich from La Bergamote. The bread might be good enough, but the sandwiches are wrapped in plastic rather than stacked freeform like in a normal boulanger. As anyone can tell you, that means rubbery unappetizing bread, rather than the crispy, crackly crust that so characterizes baguette. Which is a shame, because their selection is sandwiches is correct. Not too wide, or too self consciously inventive – just the basics of the French palate – ham, ham and cheese, sauccison beurre, jambon de bayonne, pate de campagne, all with or without pickles. If only they didn’t wrap the things in cling film – but what better a clue that the sandwiches aren’t fresh?

Despite that sin (and it is a great sin, I think), La Bergamote is worth going to. The croissants, and particularly the dark, deeply caramelized almond croissant, are excellent, buttery, flaky – as close to a Parisian boulanger as I’ve ever seen in the US. My one complaint is that the baker seems to habitually overbake the things. I understand that this is an affectation some bakers like, but I think he’s occasionally overdone it, crossed the precarious line into burned. Nonetheless, for just over two dollars each, these are the best examples anywhere in the city, with the one caveat that I have not yet tried the much more expensive Payard Patisserie’s effort. But even if Payard matches La Bergamote in taste, which I doubt, the stuffy dark bastion of quasi-French pretension in the upper East side can’t match La Bergamote for friendly service, or a nice place to have a café au lait. So my recommendation is almost unconflicted for La Bergamote – and its presence makes the rest of my bakery project harder to complete, since I’d rather go back there than try anywhere new.