While I’m more of a savory guy versus a sweets guy, color me curious when I first heard about Layered Croissanterie coming to West Street in Raleigh. I hadn’t heard much through the foodie grapevine and its quirky location just north of Peace Street had me wondering. Layered Croissanterie officially opened up on June 30 and I’ve been able to stop in several times and sample their pastries. And I can tell you for sure that this savory-loving foodie is super excited to have them in the neighborhood, here’s why!
First things first, if you’re headed over to Layered, it’s located on a quiet section of West Street just north of the popular Cardinal Bar and the future Publix. You can also access West street off of Wade Avenue, right on the exit ramp for Capital Boulevard South which is really easy if you notice it. Layered Croissanterie sits in a newer, renovated building in white brick, just look for the pastel-colored logo and roll-up garage door.
Inside Layered Croissanterie it all feels white, light and airy with plenty of sunlight, casual seating up front. The modern looking space features a viewable baking area and small, counter order area in the back-right. A display of the day’s pastries sits up front on white pedestals so you can commence drooling before ordering! Note that Layered Croissanterie is only accepting cards as payment right now and is open 6 days a week, closed on Monday’s.
The menu at Layered Croissanterie is super simple: a handful of regular croissant pastries, rotating seasonal pastries along with coffee drinks and beverages, easy peasy! I’ve worked my way through a good chunk of the menu and have high praise for the croissants here. They are perfectly baked, buttery and showcase a density of layers for your enjoyment.
While you can’t go wrong with any of them, my favorites include the double-baked bananas foster which is split down the middle and filled with chunky, banana spread and topped with cream. The lemon meringue cruffin (croissant muffin) is also fantastic, crowned with soft and sticky meringue and filled with a bit of lemony cream down the center. Oh and the kouign amann (pronounced Queen Aman) pastries are delicious simplicity. A croissant type pastry layered in a sugary crust, yum! Get your pastries for take-home or enjoy it at Layered with a hearty cup of Counter Culture coffee and you’ll be in sweet and flaky heaven!
I had a chance to chat with Layered Croissanterie’s owners, Mark and Kawsar to learn more about their business and pastries. A very cool and hip couple, Layered Croissanterie is their first food-retail bakery experience and their baking talents were honed over 10 years as a hobby. Head baker Kawsar, was a school-teacher in her prior life and has been baking for friends and family before channeling her skills into Layered Croissanterie.
They are usually up and working on pastries at 3 to 4 am given the 3-day process to make the croissants (make dough, shape dough, proof and bake). Wondering how they get those wonderful layers? Butter is laminated/layered on the dough, folded over three times and then folded several more times resulting in anywhere from 9 to 12 layers of flaky goodness, very time intensive.
And there will be more seasonal/international flavors over time, a savory spinach-bechamel croissiant (the Popeye) is the latest addition to the Layered Croissanterie menu! All I can say is that I’m excited to have this new pastry shop in Raleigh (and so close to home) but I’m pretty sure my waistline will be bearing the brunt of their deliciousness. So welcome to the neighborhood, Layered Croissanterie. Can’t wait to see what comes out of your ovens over the rest of 2019!
Layered Croissanterie
911 N West Street, Suite 107
Raleigh, NC 27603
984.200.1200