📍Radio Bakery, New York City

Call it tradition or call it indulgence, a weekend doesn’t come together for me without a bakery, cafe, or brunch. It’s about doing something for myself. Away from all the obligations and chaos of daily life. I get to read something interesting or share stories with friends.

I’ve visited Radio Bakery a few times for that slow-down moment. They have a seasonal menu. They post new things on their Instagram and it often inspires me to go visit. On the weekend before Christmas, they launched a limited Black Forest Croissant Tart. That was that, I had to go.

Radio Bakery is small. It’s a bakery space with a counter to view and buy baked goods. There’s a table in the center that has milk and sugar for coffee. Along the window, there are 2-3 stools and a ledge to quickly enjoy a pastry. They have a handful of outdoor tables. I’ve used those before but this day it was raining, so it all had to come home with me.

Even though I went for the Black Forest Croissant Tart, I like to start with something savory. The Everything Focaccia with Smoked Salmon, I’ve had 4 or 5 times before, but I got it again. The focaccia itself is crusty on the bottom with such crunch. They slice it after baking to fill it. The top half of the focaccia is light and airy with a little more chew than you might expect with a focaccia. In this case, I think it works because it leans into the chew you might have gotten from a good bagel and classic NY-leaning bread. The top is generously covered with everything spice. When you eat a good everything bagel, you get a type of stickiness where the spices adhere to your fingers. This happens here and I love that.

The filling is cream cheese, smoked salmon, dill, and pickled onion. The cream cheese, for my taste, is strongly represented without feeling like a cream cheese sandwich. My guess is they assemble the sandwiches by the tray before cutting them into sandwiches. This makes the salmon and other components well distributed throughout. The bunches of dill bring a lot of freshness. The pickled onions are particularly sharp and acidic for the pop you need to make this dish work. Given the size and construction, this is a substantial sandwich that improves on what you might get on a bagel.

I picked up the Earl Grey Morning Bun to have the following morning with coffee. This is based on their croissant dough wrapped up and baked in this shape. Each layer of the dough can be pulled apart, much less the curls for the morning bun shape. It’s tender and soft while the exposed parts of the bun have a caramelized crunch to them. It’s not too dissimilar in texture to a Kouign Amann if you’ve had one. The tea is dusted with the sugar crystals outside. It’s a delicate flavor addition to sugar crunch.

The Black Forest Croissant Tart is huge. It’s got heft when you pick it up. I think 4 people could easily split this thing. The croissant dough has chocolate in it. It’s a light chocolate flavor but it’s in there nonetheless. The croissant had a good crunch where some of the exposed pieces would flake off with a bite. I ate it a couple hours after getting it and it held together nicely. I got the textures, it didn’t become soggy.

The layers include a dense chocolate cake on the bottom topped with sour cherry compote, chocolate mousse, and whipped cream. The cake was moist and just a little bitter. I’m guessing the cake is what kept the croissant tart shell from becoming soggy. The layered flavors were classic. The cherries tasted like sweet, fresh bursts hidden amongst the mousse. The structure of the whipped cream was soft but stiff. It rendered a lightly sweet cooling effect to the rest of the pastry. I can’t help but notice the cherries on top make it look like Rudolph just before the holidays. 🎅🏼

📍Radio Bakery
135 India St, Brooklyn, NY 11222

If you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoy sharing them, please consider buying me a coffee. I might just write about it. ☕ Buy me a coffee.