Tell us about your restaurant?

We have two bakeries in New York City, Dominique Ansel Bakery and Dominique Ansel Workshop. Recently, a years ago, we opened in Las Vegas, Dominique Ansel at Caesers Palace. Excited to be opening soon a new location at the Paris Hotel as well.

Tell me more about the “Perfect Little Egg Sandwich”?

Yeah, the perfect little egg sandwich is the very first egg sandwich I created for the bakery when we first opened. Of course we have a bakery, we need a breakfast sandwich. So I decided to make this fluffy, super light egg. It's actually quite thick. I always describe it as a creamy, custardy egg. It's almost like a chawan mushi type of egg. It's baked with a little bit of salt, shallots and chives, and it's served in a brioche bun that's been toasted and it has a thin layer of gruyere cheese on top. So it's simple and delicious to eat.

What is the secret to creating a viral dish?

I don't think anyone can create something in the intention of going viral when you work with food, at least. You can try. I think it's not you who decides. It's always the guests, the people you interact with, the people that try your food. I think at first, food has to be good. It has to be like, I love it when it's interactive. I love it when it leaves a great memory. It can be with a taste, a flavor.

It can be with the way you interact with the food. It can be as simple as a good egg sandwich. It can be as complex as the cronut or the frozen s'mores.

You create food to please people, you create food because you don't want to please people, you want to connect with them and have a great memory of food. I don't think you can force yourself to make something that goes viral. So when I think of food, of new ideas, I think of how would I want people to see, feel, and taste this food and how do I want them to remember it?

Tell me about your new cookbook!

So the new cookbook is called Life's Sweetest Moments. I always tell people, you know, when you see a pastry or a cake, you think of a dessert. And sometimes when I look at it, I see a celebration. I see an apology. I see a thank you. I see some way that people like manage to actually order or either order food or make food for someone for different reasons. Throughout the years, you know, I find myself like, making cakes and we do little personal messages and sometimes I find myself writing like, you know, I'm sorry. And then I wrote this like little message, I'm sorry. And I handed it to guests and like, can I just ask you what this message is about? And the girl just said, so, know, I got into a fight with my office coworker and I realized that I was wrong. And I wanted to apologize for what I say, what I did. And I wanted to bring something sweet to make peace and come back together because we love each other. So it was like really fascinating on why people bake and why people order food. All this all the time, I wrote this message for another cake and it says, happy birthday, great grandfather. And it stopped me. And when I handed it out to the guests and they told me that there were like five generations behind great-grandfather was turning 90 years old and they were like getting together to celebrate.

When you think about it, know, they're buying my pastry, my cake, to bring to their table to celebrate with their family. So I feel like very, like very touched and very like very special to be a part of this celebration with them. So there's always a reason behind like why people bake and most of the time they're deeper than we think. So this book, you know, has a lot of simple recipes that anyone can make at home. I made a lot of them with my kids at home. And I think that behind each, behind each of the recipe there's a little story that I lived throughout the years of the bakery with a guest or with some of my friends or my family and always tell those little stories that are important to me.

What is the most iconic NYC restaurant in your eyes?

I'm going to be biased, but Daniel, I worked for Daniel (Boulud) for six years. I love everything they do, they represent. I was so proud of working there for so many years. I worked there for nearly six years. I was one of the longest standing pastry chefs. It's the definition of excellence when it comes to French fine dining. Beautiful service, beautiful food, a passionate, dedicated team.

It was more than a job for me, it being part of a big family. Lately, I've been enjoying Andrew Carmelini's restaurant, Café Carmelini. I think it's just outstanding. This is exactly what I would want of restaurant. It feels comfortable, a little sophisticated, but still very comfortable at some time. You feel like home. The food is amazing. It's a mix of French and Italian food. So it's kind of a mix of both of them. And it's just perfect. It's the food you want to eat every day. And I went back five, six times.

Youtube

Johnny Harris produces some of the most insightful deepdives on everything from why the McDonald’s ice cream machines are always broken, to how the Mormons created Utah, but this past week he released “Why Does the US Spend So Much on its Military?” and it was a wild ride, and a must watch! WATCH HERE

MUSIC

One of my all time favorite bands is back with a new album! Coldplay finally released “Moon Music” and its been on a constant loop for a week! First two singles “feelslikeimfallinginlove” and “WE PRAY” are great, but also listen to “ALL MY LOVE” and “iAMM” LISTEN HERE