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

Location on Google maps

There’s something amazing about a good loaf of bread.  Thick crackly crust, soft leavened insides with just the right amount of pull and chew.  We’ve been blessed in Raleigh with the arrival of first, Yellow Dog Bakery and now, Boulted Bread!  I had seen an article about the three founders of Boulted Bread in IndyWeek and it piqued my curiosity.  Over the course of three visits, color me impressed and carb’ed up…

Boulted Bread sits in a quiet spot off of Boylan Heights on South Street.  The right you’ve got the Men at Work car wash and barber shop.  Across the street the Ice Market and a church.  But there on a corner in the burnished blue storefront and garage roll-up door is Boulted Bread!  It’s a pretty tiny (cozy) space and an interesting mix of hipster and old school Raleigh.  Small display counter up front, check out the chalkboard on the side-wall to get an idea of what’s on the bread menu for the day.  While the shop may open at 8am, the breads were scheduled to come out at 8:30 am and 12:30 pm during my visit.  For my visit, Boulted Bread had Levain (sourdough), rye, ciabatta and baguettes in the oven…

In addition to the breads, you’ll find a lovely display of pastries ranging from croissants to buns and tarts.  I’m making some seafood stew that night so I order up  a loaf of levain ($6.50) and a pull-apart bun made with raspberry jam and Escazu chocolate ($4) .  While prices at Boulted are on the slightly higher side, you do get the comfort of knowing you’re support some baking artisans and the local economy which is always a good thing.  At home I pull the bread out of the loaf and it’s a wonderfully crusty and slightly burnished exterior with a super soft and elastic interior.  There’s a lot of glutinous texture to this Levain loaf and the hit of sour makes it perfect to be paired with my cioppino for the evening.  I didn’t get to the bun that evening but snacked on it the next day and it was solid too.

So thanks for perking up this neighborhood with your wonderful baked goods, Boulted Bread!  While you’ve only been up and running for several months, I think your breads may be on par with my bakery fave, La Farm.  And with Yellow Dog Bread Company on the east side and Boulted Bread right in the center of downtown Raleigh, we are looking good for all manners of baked goods and breads.   I’m already looking forward to my next visit…

Boulted Bread

614 W South Street

Raleigh, NC 27603

919.999.3984

Location on Google maps

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