Here’s the UWS Dish: Patis Bakery’s Campfire Croissant

By Abigael T. Sidi

A little over a decade ago, Dominique Ansel famously gave New Yorkers the Cronut, a delicious cross between the French croissant and the American donut. Inspired by the hybrid pastry’s enormous success, other chefs followed, coming up with their own croissant portmanteau creations, such as the Croffin (a.k.a. Cruffin, cross with a muffin), Croffle (baked in a waffle iron), Crookie (stuffed with cookie dough), and NYC Lafayette Bakery’s Suprême, where the glazed croissant is filled with pastry cream. (The Suprême went absolutely viral on TikTok a couple years back.)

But did you know that the New Jersey-based, kosher-certified Patis Bakery, which has several locations in the city, has also recently delved into Franco-American intermarriage?  If not, let me introduce you to their creation, the Campfire Croissant, in which the delicate French pastry is crossed with the American summer icon, the s’more.

Like the Cronut and related hybrids, Patis’s Campfire Croissant has a circular rather than crescent shape. A big, toasted, homemade marshmallow rests on top, and a chocolate ganache filling can be seen oozing from several openings in the pastry’s structure. The pastry passes the visual test, with honors.

I then seize the pastry and, yes, it also passes the hand test: crispy, delicate, light, and adequate butter tracks printed on my fingers. I’m impressed, especially because it’s 3 p.m., a time of day when croissants have typically dried up and lost most, if not all, their sublime.

Moment of truth: the bite. The croissant is flaky and buttery, and the smokey chocolate ganache has real depth and richness without being overwhelmingly sweet. There is even some graham cracker crumble sprinkled in there, for a slight and fun crunch. Lastly, the marshmallow has the classic creamy/charry combo going for it, and blends beautifully with the fluffy/crispy pastry and runny chocolate. Great textures, solid execution, delicious pastry!

Was I surprised by the quality of croissant? No, I had been serendipitously introduced to Patis’s Viennoiseries — French baked goods made from yeast dough or puff pastry — when my aunt brought classic croissants home one morning, claiming she “just picked them up at the hotel.” Flabbergasted that any NYC hotel, let alone an UWS hotel, would ever serve croissants this crafty, I walked my aunt back to investigate. That’s when I realized that a bakery named Patis had a small stand in the lobby of the Art House hotel, where she was staying. (Unfortunately, Patis recently closed its operation there, replaced with another kosher-certified bakery called Le Lis, which I plan on visiting shortly.)

Patis’s croissants, which include the traditional, classic, chocolate, and almond varieties, also come in delicious and beautifully colored, fruit-flavored offerings. Visible in the picture above are the red strawberry (painted with house-made strawberry jam and filled with decadent diplomate cream), yellow mango (with a bright mango mousse filling), and green pistachio (with a nutty pistachio cream filling, reminiscent of Italian pistacchio cornetti, that is to die for.) The croissants run from $5.50 to $7.50, with the Campfire variety clocking in at $7.25.

Not only is Patis Bakery kosher-certified, but at its Amsterdam Avenue and West 93rd Street location, it shares space with the nearby Chabad, which is the lease holder; the Chabad then leases half of it back to the bakery. In turn, the bakery closes for Shabbat on Saturdays, when you’ll see it full of young Jewish men and women praying, a beautifully incongruous sight that is sooo New York – I’m going to miss the city so much when I leave to college next year.

In my research for this piece, I learned that Patis had filed for bankruptcy in June of last year and had closed several of its NYC locations (hence, the Art House Hotel closure mentioned above). But the good news is that company recently was sold, and the new owner is working hard to restructure the company to make it even better. So it looks like the Patis (and those Campfire Croissants) will be around for awhile. The bakery’s UWS hours are are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day but Saturday (4 p.m. on Fridays); you can also order online during operating hours.

The Dish: Campfire Croissant ($7.25)

The Restaurant: Patis, 676 Amsterdam Avenue (corner of West 93rd Street)

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