COFFEE & CHAMPAGNE X THE BAKERY AT GREYWIND CHOCOLATE & CARDAMOM TUXEDO TWIST
There are moments that feel small when they begin. A conversation, a thought, a flavor you can almost taste before it exists. This particular moment started over a Zoom call with Chef Dan Kluger and his team at The Bakery At Greywind. Really, though, it started way earlier than that. It started back when I was in Cannes, France. Every morning, I’d walk down the block from the hotel where I was staying to this small corner café where I found and fell in love with their cardamom brioche. I quite literally ate one every single day of my visit. One of those quiet rituals that becomes the anchor of a trip. Soft, fragrant, just sweet enough. The kind of thing that quite literally stays with you long after you’ve left.
Coasting on a similar wavelength, Chef Dan had just returned from Copenhagen, where he experienced a similar version of that same cardamom pastry. It was kismet!
Months later, it was still on both of our minds. And, honestly, I wanted it again, like here, in New York.
So, I came up with the idea of a New Yorkified version. A little more classy meets edgy New York. Aesthetically, I liked the idea of adding chocolate to give it an edgy, sexy black line running through its twist and then loading it with lots of cardamom flavor. It’s warm, a little unexpected, the kind of pastry that feels like it belongs next to a morning coffee but lingers like dessert. Chef Dan loved the idea and ran with it! He made it real.
He and his team at The Bakery at Greywind took my spark of an idea and ran with it. Multiple iterations, each one a slightly different interpretation. Layers shifting, sweetness adjusting, structure evolving. The kind of behind-the-scenes magic that you don’t always get to see, but can absolutely taste in that perfectly refined final pastry that you pick at the bakery counter.
One windy afternoon, I went down for a tasting. I know, poor me. Ha! Honestly, it’s one of those quietly surreal moments where you’re sitting next to a chef you admire, breaking apart pastries, talking through texture and balance like it’s the most natural thing in the world. We made notes. Tweaked. Refined. Leaned into what made it special. They made a video about this!
And then, just like that, it wasn’t just an idea anymore. It’s on the menu now! Sitting behind the glass display case in The Bakery At Greywind, waiting to be chosen … by you! Something that started as a “what if” and turned into something you can hold in your hands. It feels magical.
