Albert T.
Yelp
The bread and pastries at Bakery Nouveau are legitimately great, but they really could use a better way to manage their lines. There's really no reason a line of only ~15 people deep takes 30 minutes to go through. Part of the reason is the inefficiency of having the line go right in front of the multiple counters. First is gelato, then chocolates, then cakes, then sandwiches, then pizza/quiche, and finally pastries, which is right next to the cashier. Because of this, if all you want are pastries, you have to wait all the way until you are near the end of the line before you can even see what the selection is (and the person helping you behind the counter needs to wait with you). You also have to wedge your way between the people trying to pay to see the selections. I think this could be solved with a number dispenser system, like in many delis. Anyways, enough ranting about the line.
We originally came here hoping to snag the Kouign Amann, but according the the worker helping us, the ones they baked that day didn't meet their quality standards. We still got a number of pastries:
Kugelhopf ($5.50) - This felt like a sweeter version of a small brioche-type bread that is baked in a ring pan reminiscent of a Bundt pan. The description indicated that it's soaked in rum butter, but I couldn't really taste any rum in this. There was a generous layer of white sugar applied to the exterior, adding additional sweetness.
Twice Baked Almond Croissant ($6) - The texture wasn't what I was expecting at all on this - I was thinking this would be either extra crispy or maybe more like a hard scone texture, but instead it was somewhat soft and almost soggy on the interior, like it was soaked in sugar syrup. The syrup makes the croissant layers stick together. Not that this was a bad thing! The almond frangipane, which was both on the inside of the sliced croissant, and on top, was on point. It was finished with a bunch of silvered almonds and powdered sugar. The croissant was quite sweet, so if you have a sweet tooth, you'll definitely enjoy this one.
Twice Baked Chocolate Croissant ($6.50) - The texture is exactly the same as the twice baked almond croissant, but filled with lines of homemade chocolate in addition to the frangipane. I liked this one more than the almond croissant - the slight bitterness of the chocolate balances out the extreme sweetness of the rest of the croissant. As a side note, they have bags of cacao beans and the floor has a glass window into their basement where you can see the mill where they grind the beans. Definitely cool!
Blackberry Vanilla Croissant ($5.50) - A very good croissant - perfectly baked flaky and buttery layers surrounding a core of blackberry compote. The vanilla notes were muted in the face of the strong blackberry flavor, but everything was delicious here.
The food at Bakery Nouveau is definitely great, but just be prepared to wait a lot longer than you think to get the goods.