Michel Gras, Chez Michel
In the latest installment of TPW’s monthly column featuring Martha Rabello talking shop with a fellow practitioner of the pastry and baking arts, she visits with the legendary Michel Gras, a transplanted Parisian whose confections have made exclamations of “ooh la la!” common in the Cape May environs.
Jen Carson, LiLLiPiES
In the latest installment of TPW’s monthly column featuring Martha Rabello talking shop with a fellow practitioner of the pastry and baking arts, she visits with Jen Carson, whose destination in Princeton lures and lassos lovers of much more than the little pies that started it all.
Allen Perchonok, Umai
He doesn’t look like your average suburban sushi chef and he doesn’t act like one, either. He’s a former haute couture furrier whose passion for high-style omakase prompted a 180 and shaped the most individualistic and exciting new Japanese restaurant in the Garden State. TPW’s Mike Peters spent a day with Allen Perchonok and made images of how it all happens.
Erica Leahy, Three Daughters Bakery
In the latest installment of TPW’s monthly column featuring Martha Rabello talking shop with a fellow practitioner of the pastry and baking arts, she visits with Erica Leahy, whose just-opened bakery in South Orange is the showcase her extraordinary talents deserve.
Queen of Cacao
Carol Freedman is a purist devout in her use of only single-origin chocolate, a magician who brandishes a well-honed knowledge of her subject in formidable fashion, a technician whose artistry needs no flash to prove its stature. A wonk? So much, much more. A visit to her shop in Somerville is the golden ticket to chocolate paradise.
Luisania Moronta, Pastry Lu
In the latest installment of TPW’s monthly column featuring Martha Rabello talking shop with a fellow practitioner of the pastry and baking arts, she visits with Lu Moronta … who now never fails to mash the bananas when making banana bread at her much-loved Pastry Lu in Metuchen.
Sarah Reggimenti, Macarons on a Mission
In the latest installment of TPW’s monthly column featuring Martha Rabello talking shop with a fellow practitioner of the pastry and baking arts, she visits with Sarah Reggimenti, founder-owner of Macarons on a Mission, whose core team members are teens with special needs.
The New Drew’s
The favorite son of the Bayshore is building out the latest incarnation of the restaurant that exemplifies the soul and the spirit of his hometown. This time, it’s 100 percent his own.
3BR Distillery
Spirits at this Soviet-inspired tasting room in Keyport with a wide-angle view of the soaring space where they are made nudge those who imbibe in a decidedly different direction. It’s not the same-old, same-old any more, thanks to twin brothers with a bent towards completionism.
Barbara Nieuwdorp, To The Moon and Back Cupcakery
In the latest installment of TPW’s monthly column featuring Martha Rabello talking shop with a fellow practitioner of the pastry and baking arts, she visits with Barbara Nieuwdorp. Her To The Moon and Back Cupcakery offers evidence that this licensed home-baker has a serious thing for caramel.
Chelsea Frost, Pie Girl
In the latest installment of TPW’s monthly column featuring Martha Rabello talking shop with a fellow practitioner of the pastry and baking arts, she visits with the baker best known as “Pie Girl,” whose stalls at farmers’ markets and pop-ups about town are almost as well-known for their waiting lines as they are for the talented chef’s way-beyond-humble pies.
A Year of Baking Legally
The cookies have been coming! And so have the coffees and the preserves and other from-the-heart homemade edibles. They’ve been on the right side of the law for the past dozen months, thanks to hard, smart and effective work by the New Jersey Home Bakers Association. One of its leaders reflects.