DESSER T S & C O FFEE
Bakery Lorraine
511 E Grayson, (210) 862-5582, bakerylorraine.com
MICHAEL BARAJAS
If you need an excuse to start (or enliven) a relationship that involves an overnight, here’s one: buy the breakfast-friendly pain au chocolate at Bakery Lorraine; one is really too much for a single person. At least you can claim that. Your case would be even further strengthened by said pain topped with hazelnuts, a new creation of BL’s Jeremy Mandrell. While the straight version is airy and lusciously lubricated by dual bands of chocolate, the nutted variant adds a layer of toasty crunch. All of which is not to suggest that the plain, chocolate-free croissant, Platonically perfect with its glazed top and just-openenough crumb — easily the city’s best example of this Parisian classic, is to be shunned. Mandrell and his partner Anne Ng come by their penchant for perfection legitimately: they met while working for task-master Thomas Keller, a man who has been called “America’s preeminent chef,” at Bouchon Bakery in California wine country. The pair moved to San Antonio in 2010 and started Bakery Lorraine in 2011. Its first public appearance was at the Quarry Farmers and Ranchers Market, and it was here we learned to love the fig and frangipani tarts. Now occupying permanent digs in a handsomely restored cottage on Grayson, in the orbit of the Pearl development, BL has expanded its offerings. Ng’s macarons are displayed front and center, and it’s as legitimate to select on the basis of color as taste; all of the ethereal, meringue-based confections I’ve sampled have been sensational, though I admit to being doubly seduced by the hue and taste of pistachio. There are three or four different muffins daily, along with an array of cookies, among which the local pecan with chocolate chip is as preeminent as Keller. The triple-ginger, really more like ginger cubed, is another winner. Oh, and the triple chocolate should also not be tossed out of bed, crumbs notwithstanding. — Ron Bechtol
An Almond Joy Tart and multi-colored macarons from Bakery Lorraine.
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