It's the Battle of the Paris Baguettes!
Plus! Items of Interest!! Operative Cakes!!!
Hello everyone,
Welcome to Issue #161 of CAFÉ ANNE!
So my account of visiting Operative Cakes, the tight-lipped Bronx outfit I stumbled across while reporting last week’s mini feature, spurred a lot of reader speculation.
“Operative Cakes is definitely a money laundering scheme,” declared CK Steefel in Seattle.
“A secret cake delivery service,” suggested Justin D.
“Maybe Operative Cakes is cakes for spies!” said Molly.
“Maybe some clandestine government op!” said Michele.
Other readers did some sleuthing of their own, reporting the company revenue ($6.2 million) and years in business (45), along with Indeed reviews describing it as an incredible place to work—which conflicted with a Google review complaining about the company’s human resource issues related to "the old man who is a very excellent man, but the other one treats him with contempt."
One thing is for sure—people are hungry for more. “I MUST know about the Operative Cakes company,” wrote Toni. “So mysterious and so many nondescript trucks! There is a real story there for sure. Maybe even dangerous.”
I am on the case!
In other news, reader Ruth G. posted an excellent question in the comments: “Can cash be sent to your address?”
I’m pretty sure the answer is yes, Ruth, but we need to test this theory out! Everyone, please send as much cash as possible to CAFÉ ANNE, 100 Remsen Street, Apt 6D, Brooklyn NY, 11201. I will report the results in the next issue.
In other news, huge Bronx mystery shoutouts to new paid subscribers Elisabeth B., Suzanne N., Sarah and James S. That’s enough money to buy 200 nail files, which I will use to break into Operative Cakes!
I am very excited for this week’s issue, of course. We’ve got an exhaustive report on the two Paris Baguette cafés operating around the corner from each other in Times Square. Please enjoy.
Regards!
Anne
DEPT. OF POINTLESS ANALYSIS
Paris Baguette vs Paris Baguette!
I was crazy excited when I got a text earlier this month from my little brother Philly, who seems to spend an inordinate amount of time scanning Google reviews of all things NYC.
"I just noticed there is a Paris Baguette on 41st and Broadway, and another one 200 feet away from it on 40th and 7th," he wrote. "Both have 4.3 stars."
My response: "OH MY GOD."
Let me back up a bit. I'd been looking for a reason to write about Paris Baguette—a pastry café chain with about 20 shops in NYC—ever since I stopped into the Brooklyn Heights location for a croissant. (This was part of my effort to sample every croissant in my neighborhood.) To my surprise, while I had avoided the place for years, I found their croissant wasn’t bad.
Curiosity piqued, I spent a little time researching the company. The second surprise: it's based in South Korea! The chain was launched in the late ‘80s by a big conglomerate, SPC Group, to give Koreans a Parisian bakery experience complete with espresso and rattan bistro chairs. Now it’s popping up all over NYC, giving New Yorkers the opportunity to experience a Parisian bakery as interpreted by the folks in Seoul. Oh brave new world!
But it was my brother's discovery—that there are two Paris Baguettes operating around from the corner from each other in Times Square—that put me over the edge.
"We need to do a story rating both," I replied to his text. "And pick a winner!"
Before we visited the Times Square cafés, I did some advance reconnaissance at the Brooklyn Heights location on Court Street. Now that I understood its Korean roots, the place made a lot more sense.
The baked goods are displayed on shelves rather than behind a counter. Customers are given trays and tongs so they can select their own pastries before they take their order to the register—just like the bakeries in Chinatown.
The selection, meanwhile, is both vast and bonkers. Standards like pan au chocolate are displayed alongside confections embodying that too-cute-for-school Korean vibe like the Milk & Cereal Mochi Donut and the Mr. Bear madeleines. Some of the options are truly deranged.
"I'm at the Paris Baguette in Brooklyn Heights," I texted my brother. "Did you know they have a hot dog croissant?"
Little Brother and I agreed we’d have to sample the chain's featured line of "Bold Buffalo Bites" given that we are Buffalo natives and therefore experts on all things slathered with butter and hot sauce.
We met Tuesday morning in front of the 7th Avenue location in Times Square to plot our strategy. Since every Paris Baguette has the same menu—a vast selection of oversize pastries, cakes, donuts and "savories,”—we decided to ask the cashier at each location to recommend their favorite.
At the 7th Avenue location, the cashier suggested the almond croissant. The confection’s accompanying card said it cost $5.29 and had 470 calories. This had better be good!
We took the pastry back to the register—which had no line, by the way—and ordered two coffees—one hot, one iced. Philly was delighted that his "small" cold brew was 16 ounces. Only in America!
"I love this place so much!" he said, making the cashier laugh.
"We're curious because there's two Paris Baguettes here in Times Square, and they have the exact same star rating on Google," I told the cashier. "We wanted to find out which one is better. So which is better?"
"Us!" she said.
"What makes it better?"
"Because I'm here!" she said.
We gave the service five stars.
There was no seating on the first level, so we took our tray up to the second floor to find a spacious, sunny room with plenty of available tables and mid-tempo R&B playing in the background.
Philly was the first to sample the almond croissant: "Pretty good!"
I took a bite. It had a LOT of gooey, custardy filling rather than the expected almond paste, but the pastry was light and flakey. "Worth the calories!" I said.
We gave it four stars.
And the coffee? Diner quality. Drinkable. Three stars.
As we finished our first breakfast, I told Little Brother what else I'd learned about Paris Baguette. It has 200 US locations and is expanding to 1000 by 2030. It bills itself as "Your neighborhood bakery cafe," which is just the kind of Orwellian doublethink I have to admire for its bold irony.
Another discovery: Paris Baguette is a franchise operation!
"We could buy a franchise and get free coffee and pastry for life!" I proposed.
[This strategy doesn't really math out, by the way. Paris Baguette requires an initial investment of $720,000-$1.8 million for startup costs including site improvements, equipment, signs and the grand opening promotion. For that, we could buy coffee and croissants every morning for several hundred years. Maybe someone will stake us?]
We turned our attention to our fellow patrons. Philly guessed they were all tourists, so I asked the folks at the nearby table if they were from out of town. We were delighted to learn they were from the South of France!
"As a French person, how much is Paris Baguette like a Parisian bakery?" I asked.
"It's more expensive!" said the fellow who seemed to be the dad.
How was the croissant?
"Much too sweet," he said.
And the coffee?
"This coffee isn't coffee," he said. "I'm sorry."
The Paris Baguette at the corner of Broadway and 41st Street had a much different vibe. While the 7th Avenue location felt efficient but chill, this place was a bit of a madhouse and there was just one cashier for the 13 customers in line. She was quick with her pastry recommendation: the King Cream Donut.
We found the confection in the display case ($4.99, 320 calories) and added a second selection to our tray—the Buffalo Chicken & Ranch Pizzetta ($5.79, 390 calories)—which the counter lady warmed up in a little oven.
The place was packed with tourists. All the chairs were taken, so we had to sit on a ledge alongside the window.
First order of business: the Buffalo chicken thing.
"I'm really excited about this!" said Philly, taking a big bite.
"Wow," he said.
"What?"
"It's like 18-year-old me got everything he wanted," he said. "Wow."
I took a bite. Good lord. The bread was wet and gooey; the toppings unevenly heated. The cheese was congealed. The hot sauce was disturbingly sweet.
"An abomination!" I pronounced.
"It's unholy," Little Brother agreed. But he kept eating.
"As a Buffalo native," I said, "how do you feel about this being billed as a Buffalo dish?"
"I mean, they're not wrong!" he said.
We laughed and laughed.
"So guess what," I said. "My coffee is even worse. I don't know how they did it."
My brother took a sip of the watery brew. "That's terrible," he agreed.
The Broadway location was serving the same coffee brand as the 7th Avenue location—Lavazza, which is usually pretty decent. They must have worked overtime to make it this bad. One star.
By this point, I was scared to try the King Cream Donut, so I took a tiny bite. And then a big bite. And then another. I did not want to share!
This confection, we agreed, when my brother managed to snag his half, was a delight. A light, yeasty puff of a donut stuffed with a huge helping of custardy cream (and just a touch of chemical stabilizer!), rolled in powered sugar. Four stars!
But we could get the same donut at the 7th Avenue location, which, aside from having better service, more seats and superior decor (retro tile floors and marble-top tables), had that great upstairs room which, as Philly noted, is perfect for conducting shady business or a clandestine affair—no one who actually lives in New York City would ever spot you!
The 7th Avenue location, we agreed, was the clear winner.
When I got home, I crunched the numbers. Based on CAFÉ ANNE scientific methodology, the 7th Avenue location earned an overall rating of 4.4 stars. Pretty good! The Broadway location, just 1.9 stars.
So why did the hundreds of customers rating these places on Google collectively decide they both merited exactly 4.3 stars?
I took a closer look at the reviews. Folks visiting the 7th Avenue location praised the secret upstairs seating and great service. On point!
But the reviews written by those visiting the Broadway location made no sense. "The ambiance of the bakery is cozy and charming, reminiscent of a quaint Parisian café, making it a perfect spot to relax and enjoy some delicious treats," said one.
Clearly they were high.
As for the company, I was hoping to get a comment but it did not respond until after my deadline.
But there was still one question remaining: I could understand why tourists in Times Square might stop by Paris Baguette for a snack, but many of the chain's locations are in outer borough neighborhoods like Park Slope, Astoria and Rego Park. Who are the New Yorkers passing up their actual neighborhood bakeries for a Frankenstein chain?
The next day, I interviewed patrons at the Paris Baguette on Court Street in Brooklyn, which, I can attest, is within walking distance of many excellent locally-owned bakeries.
Some said they were there for a favorite treat. “The strawberry cream cake!” said Flora, a Medicaid consultant who lives in Downtown Brooklyn.
Jennie and John, a Chinese-American couple from nearby Boerum Hill, said the shop reminded them of bakeries in Chinatown, “only more upscale.” The company advertises a lot on Chinese-American TV shows like Interior Chinatown, Jennie added. “They’re very strategic and smart with the marketing.”
A lawyer named Adam even said he liked the coffee.
But they all had one thing in common: they lived nearby, and Paris Baguette happened to be on their way to someplace else. The couple was taking their pooch to the dog run. The lawyer said that if he was headed in the other direction, he might stop by Le French Tarte, a locally-owned favorite. Flora was on her way to the gym. “They make a good sandwich,” said David, a Brooklyn Heights artist, “and I’m on the way to the hardware store.”
So there you go. New Yorkers are fiercely loyal to their local, mom-and-pop bakery—unless the weird chain is more convenient!
Meanwhile, I will for sure return to Paris Baguette’s upstairs lair in Times Square the next time I need to hire a hitman. I will buy him a King Cream Donut!
ITEMS OF INTEREST
Super Cool Photos of NYC Tire Shops!!!!!
Does That State Flag Have Toes?
Eating Like Teddy Roosevelt For An Entire Day
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"But it was my brother's discovery—that there are two Paris Baguettes operating around from the corner from each other in Times Square—that put me over the edge." Anne, this reminds me of the dueling bagel shops story. Perhaps there's a larger piece here about NYC food duels. Call it Alexander Hamilton, but with more carbs. Because I think there are quite a few dueling food outlets in New York, and I know you're just the reporter to get to the bottom of this.
As a Korean American I was sort of afraid to read this and the comments haha. Do you now about cafe culture in South Korea? It's really bonkers and out of this world. Paris Baguette, which is sort of like Starbucks over there, is one of the oldest chains. One of the reasons why I do like their desserts (and yes, I agree about the deliciousness of that donut - though I prefer Tous Les Jours, another South Korean chain competitor) is because they use less butter and is generally less sweet and more light than French pastries. I guess it's more agreeable or preferable to Asians (butter isn't really used in cooking).