Bakery Nouveau

[Ling]

I wrote a little piece for Daily Candy recently about William Leaman's (ex-Essential Bakery, medalist at international and national pastry/chocolate competitions) new bakery. Just went in today to try some of the items...I chose one each of the different doughs (brioche, danish, and croissant), a baguette, and a pastry.

Sugar brioche, croissant, and apricot danish in the background

The croissant and danish doughs were rather dense and bready. The croissant dough also contains quite a bit more sugar than the plain croissants I've eaten in the past. The brioche, however, was pretty good.

"Praline Dream"--hazelnut, crispy layer (feuilletine?), chocolate--I enjoyed this the most out of the items I purchased today. Very tasty.

baguette--not much flavour in the crumb, a bit dense, but a nice crispy crust

Edited December 21, 2006 by Ling (log)

[sallysimpleton]

Saturday night, I had dinner at a soon-to-be-opening place in West Seattle that was serving Bakery Nouveau's bread with dinner. The bread was fantastic and a great complement to our antipasti. I had to force myself to stop eating it before the rest of our meal arrived.

Edited December 21, 2006 by sallysimpleton (log)

[kiliki]

So here's my standard question that I always ask when someone talks about a new bakery...

Do they serve mostly pastry/good desserts like the one you pictured, or is it mostly the usual American baked goods (cookies, muffins, etc) with some pastry/dessert items?

[Ling]

This bakery is definitely more pastry than baked goods. I didn't see any muffins or cookies today, but they did have a few "American" desserts like a triple layer chocolate cake and cheesecake.

[kiliki]

MMM, thanks.

[tsquare]

They have peanut butter cookies and chocolate chip cookies. Also saw a chocolate banana muffin (I think?). The scones looked of interest - cinnamon sugar...

Thye have sandwiches and quiche too.

Edited January 4, 2007 by tsquare (log)

[reesek]

this morning they had several candies, most including hazelnut (always a wise choice). they also had 3 types of macaroons - raspberry, pistachio & coffee. savory items included a ham & cheese croissant, 2 mini quiche (chicken broccoli & caramelized onion & bacon) and several sandwiches (mufaletta, apple & brie, croque monsieur and a couple others). Lots of broiche (baby, chocolate, etc), all the items Ling pictured in her first post and several more classic pastry treats.

i am currently enjoying a pan au chocolat. the chocolate is rich, dark and fruity. the croissant itself is fluffy and quite tall...well-proofed, it seems. there's something about it i'm not in love with - maybe beslau (sp?) adds a little more salt to their dough? they are still my gold standard for croissant.

i had a coffee macaroon as well. these are thinner and slightly chewier than le panier's, and the un-sweet, dense, coffee/chocolate ganache was sublime. most importantly, it was applied in the correct proportion to the cookie. they are a little spendy at $1.50 each, but having made them myself, i have to concede they are a pain in the neck to make, and very hard to make well. (ahem)

also picked up a sourdough loaf...i think it's wheat. it tastes like wheat. the crust is fantastic, crumb is dense and very rich tasting. maybe i'm tasting the fat from the germ, but my palate isn't normally so atuned. i think there may be some added fat in there.

i am way happy BN is in my hood. once they start accepting credit/debit cards, i will be even happier. cash & check only for now.

[sugarseattle]

We stopped in yesterday for our third time, and we must say it was booming in there...Chef had more than 10 people working and running about, but then again it was Sunday. It looked like they were training a bunch of newbies to keep up with the demand.

I had a Muffalotta (sp?). It was my first, and I wish I had had one in New Orleans for comparison. Anyway, it was quite good, a nice balance between the tapanad and very good ham and good chease. ALso wolfed down a apricot croissant, of which I was very impressed at how distinct the croissant layers were. It had good apricot flavor, although I'm not a fan of the glaze he uses, I think it doesn't taste natural, but then again, it's just a touch of glaze.

We picked up a loaf of bread on the way out, walnut wheat. It was amazing and just the way I like bread...moist and tender on the inside and crusty on the outside.

We're so glad to have a great bakery in West Seattle. I can't wait to see what he does next.

[lala]

where is this place?

[reesek]

where is this place?

←

near the alaska junction on california ave sw - right across from elliot bay brewery, in the old remo borawhoha space. immediate proximity to mashiko & husky deli.

[lala]

Thanks! We had dinner at a restaurant over there and enjoyed the bread - but they were very casual about where it was from, so we didn't know where to go. We'll check it out this weekend

[Ye-Ye Girl]

LOVE Bakery Nouveau. I visited on their opening day and have been back at least once a week since. While some items stand out more than others, I truly haven't had anything there that I didn't enjoy, from the chocolates to the macaroons to the bread to the pastries and cakes to the pizzas and quiches. I'm not a big chocolate cake person, but their 3 layer chocolate cake is about as perfect a specimen as I've run across. Excellent ganache, moist cake, rich and sweet, but not too rich or too sweet. Last week, I tried their chocolate mint chocolate, expecting a mint extract flavor, but getting the distinctly just-picked, herbal taste of fresh spearmint. Oooh so tasty.

[duckduck]

I was up for vacation this last week visiting Fwed and we stopped in. I got a good number of things and they were all wonderful. The praline dream that Ling has pictured above made me swoon. I think that was one of the most wonderful desserts I've had in a long time. Silky smoothness with a nice soft crunch at the bottom. I think the textures and flavor of that piece are just totally spot on. The macaroons were the best I've ever had. I tried the passionfruit and the orange ginger. Chocolate cake was wonderful. Not too light, not too heavy and great chocolatey flavor. Haven't gotten to the bon-bons still tucked in my suitcase. I'll try them tonight when I get home. Also had the sugar brioche which had the perfect level of sweetness for me. Great in the morning with a cup of tea. The chocolate and raspberry mousse dome was very nice. I'm not a huge fan of raspberry and chocolate together and I think the balance of the two was very well done. The raspberry didn't compete with the chocolate but accentuated it. I'm now a huge fan and wishing I were closer.

[kiliki]

I finally made it here yesterday and was pretty impressed. I enjoyed the chocolate-passionfruit dome, the chocolate croissant, and the praline-chocolate slice (I forget the name). The lemon meringue tart tasted good but I like Dahlia's better-I think Italian meringue is better. But the macarons...eh. The raspberry and passionfruit were okay, but too sweet and chewy. They were actually probably better than most macarons I've had in Seattle, but not as good as anything I've had in Paris (is that fair? Maybe not. My macaron bar is set very high. Also they spelled them wrong-it should only have one o). The mocha flavor was no good-hard and brittle (not fresh?) and it tasted of instant espresso powder. But all in all a very nice place and I'm sorry it's so far from my house. It was slammed, by the way, so it sure looks like it's doing well.

Edited April 15, 2007 by kiliki (log)

[artisanbaker]

Mr. Leaman has a great resume full of enriching experiences so it's no suprise reviews are so good.

[Marky Marc]

Now I'm hungry.

[kiliki]

We're having a party for about 70 people soon and so I've been knocking myself out trying to find the best desserts in town. I can't tell you how many tarts and mousses and slices of things I've eaten this past week. Bakery Nouveau has won on almost all counts-though I still like Dahlia a lot (they definitely have the best lemon meringue tart), I think Bakery Nouveau is, in general, making the best stuff in the city right now. (You could argue that the bar isn't set that high, but I won't go there). They are definitely heads and tails above the rest when it comes to presentation (I couldn't believe how sloppy Le Fournil was in comparison!).

[skyflyer3]

Stopped in for the first time on Sunday - and was so impressed I came back the next day. Actually, that's not true - my son ate my chocolate layer cake that I brought home, and I had to go back and get another slice. Man, is that cake good - while the layers are dark, they are perfectly moist and have a very well-balanced chocolate flavor.

But hands-down, I love the Phoenix dessert. Pear mousse, 70% mousse, hazelnut layer, and chocolate genoise, covered by caramel mousse. Texture is light, yet rich, and the flavors really meld together well. This is an amazing dessert.

Croissants were ok, baguettes were fine. I'll have to come back next week for coffee and macarons.

[kiliki]

I too just had the Phoenix for the first time and was blown away. This is the cake that won a prize at the world pastry championships (2005?). I had to redo my whole party order after trying this-goodbye praline dream, hello phoenix.