"What is a virtuoso Italian pastry chef — one who worked for Giorgio Locatelli, Marco Pierre White, Pierre Gagnaire, and Gordon Ramsay — doing at a tiny bakery cafe nestled alongside wellness stores and a co-work space on the outskirts of the budding La Veleta neighborhood? Living in paradise and staying far removed from the stress of Michelin-starred kitchens. Opened in 2018, Fabrizio Italdo’s boutique pasticceria uses 10-year-old and 25-year-old sourdough starters for items like a perfectly crusty concha made with French butter and a divine almond croissant filled with frangipane and crowned with flaked almond. Italdo also molds desserts into lifelike fantasies such as a creme anglaise cacao fruit and an intricately detailed vanilla bean made of vanilla cream frozen, dipped in chocolate, and quickly brushed during the shock of temperatures to create realistic wrinkles. The chef can even give a masterclass on drinking espresso while spooning portions of his mom’s tiramisu fashioned with cacao from Chiapas." - Bill Esparza
