When you walk up to the third floor of the Time Warner Center, you notice one thing, besides the view. In the very middle of the floor is a Bouchon Bakery Café, and all the way to the left is Bouchon Bakery. Ever since I discovered this gem in Columbus Circle, Bouchon has become my go-to for coffees, lattes, pastries, and an assortment of sweet treats.
Bouchon Bakery is the culinary masterpiece of critically acclaimed Chef Thomas Keller, who founded Yountville, California’s The French Laundry and Per Se, a chic restaurant on the fourth floor of the Time Warner Cable Center that only the wealthiest of Manhattan’s citizens could ever dream of visiting. Bouchon also has four other locations around the world, including a bakery in Rockefeller Center.
In terms of food, Bouchon has an excellent array of pastries to choose from. They have very tender pain au chocolates, almond croissants, muffins, scones, and practically any other famous pastry you could think of. Their most famous baked good is the eponymous “bouchon”: a dense, chocolate chip-filled, brownie-like cake that’s the size of a thimble. The bouchon is the epitome of a pick-me-upper sweet treat that is sometimes so desperately needed in a twelve-hour day. If you’d prefer something not baked, Bouchon also offers homemade chocolate candies, including their own take on a peanut butter cup and a “Fuggedaboutit,” which is a candy full of puffed rice and caramel.
If a pastry or candy is not the type of sweet you’re craving, Bouchon has a refrigerated glass case filled with all manner of creative and reinvented sweets. The Thomas Keller Oreo, T.K.O for short, is Keller’s take on an American classic, the Oreo cookie. Although I personally am not a fan of the T.K.O., I have friends who swear it’s better than the original. Another fantastic reinvention is Keller’s Ho Ho, a pinwheel of chocolate cake and heavenly vanilla cream, enrobed in dark chocolate, with some tiny decorative chocolate spheres on top. You can really taste the quality of the ingredients, especially compared to the original Ho Hos, which have such complicated components that I can barely pronounce half of them. Other than these two ambitious and nostalgic treats, Bouchon also carries huge chocolate chip cookies, French macarons, and a variety of small tarts. These include a sinfully good dark-chocolate hazelnut tart, topped with an edible gold flake, and a lemon tart with a meringue on top, reminiscent of a key lime pie.
Bouchon also offers a variety of lunch options, such as soups, salads, and small side dishes. Although I have never been able to go there around lunchtime, I’ve heard they are all very good, especially the tomato soup and the grilled cheese sandwich.
The main Bouchon Café is placed in the very middle of the third floor, overlooking Columbus Circle and Central Park South. This is a wonderful place for a relaxing brunch, lunch, or dinner. If you’re ever fortunate enough to have time to sit down and order, I’d highly recommend the chocolate soufflé with the crème anglais; it’s one of the best desserts I have ever had.
Overall, Bouchon Bakery is not a place that you could go to every single day, or every other day for that matter. I have been a college student for a little over a month, and my increasingly sad bank account has shown me this. But if I need a fix of caffeine or a sweet treat, I’d rather pay a couple of extra quarters for a high-quality latte and pastry then get anything subpar. I truly believe that everything you buy at Bouchon Bakery will be worth the money, and a tremendous value for the care that they put into their work. Unlike certain chains that carry tiny wrapped frozen pastries, Bouchon Bakery gives you baked goods that are worth your hard-earned money.
Bouchon Bakery gets my seal of approval, and 4.5 out of 5 stars, with half a star being docked for the pain it causes to a college student’s bank account.
