A free morning on the north side this week meant a chance for a bike ride and a new cafe; nothing out of the ordinary. But this time I prepared an itinerary to hit up some of the most highly rated Kouign-Amann in Chicago. First stop, the Good Ambler, then on to Aya Pastry, and then to the Publican bakery; one order of Kouign-Amann at each stop! Then onto Metric coffee for a (good) cortado and a Kouign-Amann taste off:
First of all; these were all good pastries! But none were in the neighbourhood of transcendent. Here’s a little more detail.
Good Ambler: Very crunchy and caramelized on the outside. I noted the inside was “bready”. I guess this is supposed to contrast not only with a cake but also with “buttery”. This was perhaps a complaint one could have made about each of them. I imagine that the relative ratio of both butter and sugar used in these versions is less than in the original. I also wonder about the relative quality of the butter. What’s the best butter one can get in Chicago?
Publican: From my notes: “If I had to, I could definitely eat all of this, but I won’t”. I think that same comment could honestly have been applied to all of them. Now that doesn’t sound very enthusiastic, but for context the amount of food I typically consume before lunch is half a piece of toast (and this was probably before 10:00AM). From the picture below, the interior was certainly in the ballpark of a croissant.
Aya: This was much denser than the other two, although again the closest point of comparison for the inside was a still sweet croissant, and while not a million miles away from the reality is not what I am going for. Both the Aya and the Publican had a deliberate layer of caramelization on the bottom, but in both cases this was very thin and didn’t make that much difference to the overall tast.
To get more of a hint of what I am looking for in my dreams, I think this video hopefully conjures up some idea (19:03 in to the video). It almost makes me want to try (again) to make it myself!
The Kouign-Amann recipe from the New York Times’s Cooking page and the accompanying video is similar to traditional Kouign-Amann and was delicious!
You probably know this but one can get many of these close to Hyde Park too.
Ex-Libris stocks Aya pastries, sometimes including Kouign-Amanns.
Build Coffee stocks Publican.