8. There’s a bakery hidden in an office building
Originally opened in 2014 by Roger Gural in a hidden space inside an office building on Church Street, Arcade Bakery developed a cult following for its delicious baguettes and other hand-crafted breads and pastries. So when Gural announced he was planning to retire and shut the bakery down in 2019, chefs Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson of the nearby restaurant Frenchette offered to take it over. And though the pandemic delayed their takeover, they officially opened the space as Frenchette Bakery in October 2020.
“We loved Arcade, and we have long been fans of Roger and his bread,” Nasr told Eater. “When Arcade become available, we knew we wanted to keep the notion of the neighborhood bakery going.” They kept the space much the same as it was and still make the baguettes Arcade was known for. On the menu you’ll also find a city loaf with rye, wheat, and malted oat, fougasse with olive, thyme, and red pepper, and pastries such as croissants, kouign-amman, pain au chocolat, Sicilian pistachio croissants, and chocolate chip cookies.
