update: i have found the TV Tokyo clip — you can see me at around 1 minute in behind the reporter as they enter the store (i’m on my phone).
the problem with being in a city you’ve been to many times before is that you end up doing random stuff. not like that’s necessarily a bad thing, but this morning i really questioned my sanity. shrouded in hype, the cronut seems to be the latest baked goods fad, after cupcakes and macarons, and the source is a place in Soho, Dominique Ansel Bakery. rumor has it they only make 200 each day with a two-per-person limit, so you have to get there early and wait in line. each box of two cronuts is $10. (from my experience today, if you get there two hours before opening, which is 8 on weekdays and 9 on weekends, you’ll definitely have no problem.)
so i decided to wake up early this morning and see what the fuss was all about. i wasn’t sure it was a wise move — i mean, i didn’t even know what a cronut looked like, but what the hey.
thanks to the subway being super-slow (15 minute wait for a 4/5/6 downtown train from Grand Central), i didn’t make it there until about 7, with the bakery opening up at 9. (it’s a couple doors down from where the building starts in the picture below.)
It doesn't open for another 2h but I think at least I'm good for my two. line is not around the block yet. #cronuts pic.twitter.com/TUx94PuUEK
— Jonathan Khoo (@jonk) June 16, 2013
i sat down and got out a blog post and listened to some music while waiting.
Have tunes and hotspot, but no coffee. 🙁 (glad I didn't stop for any, NO TIME! RUSH! RAGE!) pic.twitter.com/ZI4wE6qjOf
— Jonathan Khoo (@jonk) June 16, 2013
after an hour, the line stretched around the block. (when i left the bakery at 9:37, the line was still around the block. don’t know if those people got any or not.) there was a crew from TV Tokyo (i think) there, so if anyone sees me, let me know!
The #cronuts line is way around the corner now (currently ending at person in yellow shirt). 1 more hour. pic.twitter.com/TSzDc5hpCP
— Jonathan Khoo (@jonk) June 16, 2013
finally, at 9 AM on the dot, the doors opened. they let in groups of maybe twenty or thirty people because the bakery is small. i made it in the second group.
the cronuts are already set up in those gold boxes with the handles, two in each. you don’t get to pick a flavor. apparently they were more famous (are still?) for pastries other than the cronut, so several people ordered those as well, but i was on a mission.
i sat outside (there is some seating inside, more outside in the back) and wolfed them down, discovering they were lemon-flavored. (of course i didn’t think to ask when i bought them, but now that i’m looking at their Cronut 101 page, the flavor for june is “lemon maple”.)
Cronuts –> Cronut https://t.co/7b4m408CxW
— Jonathan Khoo (@jonk) June 16, 2013
so, the question of the hour: was it worth the wait? certainly i enjoyed the crispness of the fried croissant and the sugar and the cream filling, but alas, i don’t think it was worth two hours. one hour, i’d do again if i’m craving. two? no. i’m not a big fan of lemon, but i can imagine my opinion wouldn’t change with a different flavor. i think it would have been better if they were fresh and warm from the oven, but they are in those boxes already. eh. to be honest i think i might enjoy starbucks apple fritters slightly more than these cronuts.
that said, i do get a certain thrill out of camping out (which i’ve done for rush tickets for Rent and umm, the iPhone 3G on launch day). a little smugness at passers-by who don’t know what you’re doing (or why), the camaraderie of the early-morning crazies, the anticipation…
na ja, back at the hotel and time to nap before brunch.
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