Update: Read about Piquant's new croissant doughnut policy and their lunch menu items in a follow up blog post in addition to the one below.
Hello LilyOnTheLam.com Readers:
Sixteen hours before this blog post was published, our wonderful local food critic Laura Reiley of The Tampa Bay Times announced the news that the croissant doughnut (also known as "cronut" or "doughssant") had come to Tampa. This is a fantastic hybrid of a croissant and a doughnut.
The cronut was invented by Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York City. It stirred up an immediate frenzy and has been setting foodies on fire with lust ever since. So much so that it was recently reported that a "crazed cronut fan" had threatened the Dominique Ansel Bakery staff!
Now as someone who devotes a tremendous amount of her time thinking of food, dreaming of food and consuming food, I wanted to try a piece of this cronut action for myself. But I thought I'd have to go to New York City to do it.
(Side note: Even a flight to NYC does not guarantee you a cronut. My friend Ms. LC flew to New York and went to Dominique Ansel Bakery in SoHo but sadly they were out of cronuts!)
Now Tampa is not exactly the bakery trend setter of the world (although shout outs to Datz Dough, Pane Rustica and Le Mouton Noir Bakehouse for all being the stuff of my carb-filled dreams.) So imagine my salivating lust when I read Laura Reiley's Tampa Bay Times article that Piquant Epicure & Cuisine in Old Hyde Park Village in South Tampa had developed their own version of a croissant doughnut.
On Sundays, Piquant opens at 8 a.m. I was there at 8:20 which for a Sunday is like 4 a.m. to me. I am NOT a morning person, especially on weekends. But I imagined that Laura Reiley's article would spark a firestorm of stomach interest and I wanted to get there before Piquant sold out.
A gentleman walked in ahead of me and waited by the hostess stand. I walked up to the bakery counter, assuming this was proper procedure for ordering something to go. A woman behind the bakery counter looked at me and walked away without saying a word. The hostess went to the gentleman standing at the hostess stand and he said he wanted the last 4 croissant doughnuts in the bakery case. She rang him up and again no one acknowledged me. Had cronut/doughssant frenzy rendered me invisible?
Then the hostess told the gentleman that they also had filled pastries in addition to the sugar ones but they were not finished yet - they were being filled with raspberry preserves in the back and would be out shortly. The gentleman said he would like to buy one. The hostess said that she could not sell him a croissant doughnut unless it was in the case. She could not pre-sell any pastry unless you bought half a dozen or a dozen. The gentleman was quite perturbed about this and just stood there in shock.
Then the woman looked to me. My invisibility cloak must have fallen off. Because the gentleman decided to get a filled pastry, there was one lone sugar-coated one in the case. (Today they had been offering cinnamon-sugar, sugar and raspberry-filled croissant doughnuts.)
I asked for the 1 pastry, but because I was buying them for myself and a friend; I decided to "beat the system" and order half a dozen. This was probably not the best thing to do as I stood right next to the previous customer.
The gentleman was like "What??? Wait, if people behind me all order half a dozen, does my one order get put aside or do I lose out?"
A fair question. The response was in my opinion, not so fair.
The hostess explained that because there were no croissant doughnuts in the case, the man did not have claim to any because he didn't buy the filled pastry. Is this like old time real property law? Is this a doughssant in fee simple? I didn't pay a lot of attention in Property Law class.
This explanation was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. The gentleman then asked if he sat at a table and ordered a filled croissant doughnut off the menu, wouldn't he then stake a claim to said cronut/doughssant? By this time three women stood uncomfortably behind the counter, fidgeting trying to explain what they said was "The Chef's Policy." At this point a long line of people had formed, listening to the outrage.
I felt like I was in Micro Economics class again. (Another class I did not pay enough attention to -- whoops.) What part of supply, demand and Keynesian economics was "you can't pay for the croissant doughnut unless it's in the glass case"? The counter staff also started talking about how the pastry had to be "on the board." They had wood planks as serving trays that sat in the counter. I wanted to ask the counter staff if a pastry was in the glass case but not on the wooden board, would this be a case of voodoo economics and could I use the Gross National Product of Chile to pay for the doughssant? But I was afraid the Counter Staff would ban me from Piquant for life!
I asked the counter staff if any more sugar non-filled pastry were coming out as I wanted my friend and I to try both and God forbid we actually share one. (First world pastry problems!)
The woman behind the counter said "no," which I found hard to believe at 8:35 a.m. that they were already done for the day with sugar croissant doughnuts but who am I to argue? I paid for my 1 sugar pastry and my pre-ordered 6 filled pastry. And after I paid, out came 3 cinnamon sugar and 3 sugar croissant doughnuts. I looked at the counter staff woman with a slack jaw of shock and disappointment. She grimaced sheepishly and said "Oh I didn't know." I wanted to ask her why she hated me. I could hear people in line barking to try to claim the pastry in the case, but I was still in front of the register so I said "One more sugar one then!"
The line of people were all grousing as if it was their God-given, constitutional right to get a cronut-style pastry. The atmosphere building up around the waiting customers was definitely like Game of Croissant Doughnuts - I was waiting for someone to come up and decapitate me in the name of Winterfell. I wonder if they served cronut-style pastries at the Game of Thrones' Red Wedding?
After paying for my pre-ordered croissant doughnuts, I went to sit down and wait for my egg, cheese and bacon baguette and afore-mentioned cronuts. I was quite smug (OK extremely smug) watching the angry line of customers foam at the mouth and shout about the lack of pastry. The remaining 5 croissant doughnuts that had come out from the kitchen were quickly bought up.
The poor counter staff tried to explain how you could only buy a croissant doughnut if it was in the case and now said that they could not give any time estimate when any pastry would be ready.
They apologized that this was only the second day they had this cronut-like pastry and they hadn't anticipated the frenzy. (When Tampa Bay Times Food Critic Laura Reiley talks, everyone listens!) The fact that they could not even estimate a general time window of when cronuts would be available was like throwing a Molatov cocktail on the dried wood branches of the waiting customers. More fury, more bitchy comments to the counter staff. A lot of ugliness for a bakery on a Sunday morning.
I watched two separate customers walk out in a huff. This was a recipe for disaster, bad service and a bad reputation. I surely hoped these croissant doughnuts were worth all the insanity!
To be fair, one of the customers who walked out wearing his huffiest of huffy pants had yelled "YOU SHOULD HAVE MADE FIVE HUNDRED!" Like seriously, sir? How about this-- you pre-order and pay for five hundred and I am sure Piquant would be glad to make them for you. Let's be a little realistic with our zaniness. Please!
As I sat waiting for my pastry, my bacon, egg and cheese baguette came out- a vision of loveliness on a crusty but easy to eat plank of French bread. Delicious - I highly recommend it. The bacon alone is worth the price of the sandwich. Sooo smoky good - a thick slab of heaven.
Then from the back comes two raspberry-filled croissant doughnuts on a board. The woman sells them to the two men who had been waiting ahead of me who were not allowed to pre-buy them. I could have been a colossal douchebag and demanded them because I had already paid, but I really didn't want to die at the hands of a pastry-loving mob.
The two gentlemen each bought a filled croissant doughnut and left but were still disgruntled and making comments on their way out the door.
One of the counter staff comes over to me and asked me my name. I said "Lily" and she jumped back and said her name was Lily too. I was hoping sharing the same name would mean speedy pastry service. BUT NO!
And side note - is this a ploy to make me feel better about the situation? Had I said my name was Beulah, would the Piquant employee be named Beulah too? I may need to test this theory. I need a wig, fake glasses with a nose on them and a mustache ... and three chihuahuas. Don't ask why.
"The Other Lily" told me that she wasn't sure when my six cronuts would be ready and that the cronuts would "probably" be ready before they closed at 3 p.m. but if I gave them my telephone number that they would call me when the croissant doughnut were done. I was shocked and asked "Just how long does it take to fill a pastry with raspberry preserves?"
"The Other Lily" said it would take time to proof the pastry. Now I am not a baker, but even I know that PROOFING a pastry means waiting for the dough to rise. You don't fill a croissant doughnut before it is baked. What happened to the ones they were supposedly filling in the back?
"The Other Lily" said that the recently filled ones were going to the glass case to be sold to customers in line. That pre-orders took second place. WELL HELLO YOU DIDN'T SAY THAT WHEN I WAS IN LINE! Grrrr ... disgruntled I was! I didn't want to be like Mr. Huffy "Make 500 Croissant Doughnuts" Guy, but I was getting close to that level of rudeness. (First world problems, I know, I know.)
I thought I had beat the system by securing a claim to croissant doughnuts by purchasing half a dozen as prescribed ... but no, I had been suckered. I should have brought a tent and just camped out in front of the bakery case. What was it going to take to get a raspberry-filled croissant doughnut?
Before I could set up a tent community of "Occupy Piquant," my look of murderous cronut wanting-induced rage sent "The Other Lily" scurrying back to the kitchen to double-check with the Chefs if there was anything they could do. I was heading out for a beach day and could not be back before 3 p.m. to pick up croissant doughnuts that may or may not be available. Really Piquant? You expect me to sit by the phone and wait for your phone call? Are you my next inconsiderate boyfriend? Are you going to next try to borrow my convertible and ask me to do your laundry?
By some miracle, "The Other Lily" came out with two boxes for me. She looked embarrassed and said "I didn't know they were already done for you." I was so happy to see the boxes that I just let my snarkiness over being jerked around for pastry go. Just call me Deepak Chopra!
Now let me tell you, with the exception of the older staff member who had taken one look at me and walked away without saying a word - the two younger counter staff members were as polite and courteous as they could be while trying hopelessly to explain and enforce a riot-inducing croissant doughnut policy. So I am not going to kill the messenger and honestly neither should any guest. The poor young ladies are just trying to do their job. I thanked them both as I skipped out with bags of pastry and breakfast food from Piquant.
But here's the thing - there was no longer a line when I left. The croissant doughnut policy was making enemies and instilling bad feelings left and right. Not a good public relations move for Piquant.
(Although P.S. Piquant sold out of all their croissant doughnuts at noon according to a Tweet they sent me, so like a bad boy boyfriend who treats us poorly - evidently we just can't stay away from Piquant! So maybe they don't need my pearls of wisdom on how to run their business!)
Next to the inevitable question - was Piquant's raspberry-filled homage to cronut-style pastry worth all the ruckus, commotion and negative energy on a Sunday morning?
Oh yessssssss.
Still warm, crusty sugary outside, flaky layers inside with an amazingly fresh tasting raspberry filling, Piquant's version of a croissant doughnut was well worth the aggravation. And like climbing to the top of Mount Everest, the intensity of the journey made me appreciate the sweet reward of the pastry even more.
Later as I sat at Sand Key beach working on my glorious tan, my friend and I ate sugar coated and raspberry-filled croissant doughnuts. Talk about decadence by the seashore! My friend nodded appreciation- she agreed the madcap adventures were worth the reward of the croissant doughnut and thanked me for retrieving them from Old Hyde Park Village.
If you go to Piquant in search of a croissant doughnut, find your inner happy spot and get zen so you don't go ballistic and postal on the poor young ladies working the counter. Please! Their jobs must be hard enough working around such great food and not devouring it every minute of the work day.
(Side Note: at the time I didn't realize Piquant gave me an assortment of filled croissant doughnuts - I had vanilla custard filled, chocolate filled as well as raspberry filled cronuts in the box above. My favorite? Vanilla custard! With flecks of vanilla bean, luscious custardy mouthfeel against the crunchy, sugary croissant dough - amazingly tasty!)
I will absolutely be back to Piquant not only for their croissant doughnuts but for the rest of their menu as well.
Thank you to the Chefs of Piquant for bringing this New York Trend to Tampa, but please please please for the love of your customers and your counter staff could you come up with a better croissant doughnut purchasing policy? South Tampa and all of Tampa Bay will be happier!
P.S. Piquant tweeted me and thanked me for the constructive criticism and said they have taken it to heart. What more can one ask? (Free croissant doughnut? Hahahhahaha!) Do check out the pastry at Piquant, your belly will be happy you did!
P.P.S. The next day Piquant offered me a free croissant doughnut! LOVE! But because of the high demand, I didn't want to be the selfish croissant doughnut lover bogarting all the top Tampa pastry - so I declined their very generous offer. Thanks Piquant! I'll be back to try your lunch menu!
Piquant Epicure and Cuisine
1633 W Snow Ave, Tampa, FL 33606
http://piquanthydepark.com
Hello LilyOnTheLam.com Readers:
Sixteen hours before this blog post was published, our wonderful local food critic Laura Reiley of The Tampa Bay Times announced the news that the croissant doughnut (also known as "cronut" or "doughssant") had come to Tampa. This is a fantastic hybrid of a croissant and a doughnut.
The cronut was invented by Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York City. It stirred up an immediate frenzy and has been setting foodies on fire with lust ever since. So much so that it was recently reported that a "crazed cronut fan" had threatened the Dominique Ansel Bakery staff!
Now as someone who devotes a tremendous amount of her time thinking of food, dreaming of food and consuming food, I wanted to try a piece of this cronut action for myself. But I thought I'd have to go to New York City to do it.
(Side note: Even a flight to NYC does not guarantee you a cronut. My friend Ms. LC flew to New York and went to Dominique Ansel Bakery in SoHo but sadly they were out of cronuts!)
Now Tampa is not exactly the bakery trend setter of the world (although shout outs to Datz Dough, Pane Rustica and Le Mouton Noir Bakehouse for all being the stuff of my carb-filled dreams.) So imagine my salivating lust when I read Laura Reiley's Tampa Bay Times article that Piquant Epicure & Cuisine in Old Hyde Park Village in South Tampa had developed their own version of a croissant doughnut.
On Sundays, Piquant opens at 8 a.m. I was there at 8:20 which for a Sunday is like 4 a.m. to me. I am NOT a morning person, especially on weekends. But I imagined that Laura Reiley's article would spark a firestorm of stomach interest and I wanted to get there before Piquant sold out.
A gentleman walked in ahead of me and waited by the hostess stand. I walked up to the bakery counter, assuming this was proper procedure for ordering something to go. A woman behind the bakery counter looked at me and walked away without saying a word. The hostess went to the gentleman standing at the hostess stand and he said he wanted the last 4 croissant doughnuts in the bakery case. She rang him up and again no one acknowledged me. Had cronut/doughssant frenzy rendered me invisible?
 |
| The bakery case at Piquant! |
Then the hostess told the gentleman that they also had filled pastries in addition to the sugar ones but they were not finished yet - they were being filled with raspberry preserves in the back and would be out shortly. The gentleman said he would like to buy one. The hostess said that she could not sell him a croissant doughnut unless it was in the case. She could not pre-sell any pastry unless you bought half a dozen or a dozen. The gentleman was quite perturbed about this and just stood there in shock.
Then the woman looked to me. My invisibility cloak must have fallen off. Because the gentleman decided to get a filled pastry, there was one lone sugar-coated one in the case. (Today they had been offering cinnamon-sugar, sugar and raspberry-filled croissant doughnuts.)
I asked for the 1 pastry, but because I was buying them for myself and a friend; I decided to "beat the system" and order half a dozen. This was probably not the best thing to do as I stood right next to the previous customer.
The gentleman was like "What??? Wait, if people behind me all order half a dozen, does my one order get put aside or do I lose out?"
A fair question. The response was in my opinion, not so fair.
The hostess explained that because there were no croissant doughnuts in the case, the man did not have claim to any because he didn't buy the filled pastry. Is this like old time real property law? Is this a doughssant in fee simple? I didn't pay a lot of attention in Property Law class.
This explanation was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. The gentleman then asked if he sat at a table and ordered a filled croissant doughnut off the menu, wouldn't he then stake a claim to said cronut/doughssant? By this time three women stood uncomfortably behind the counter, fidgeting trying to explain what they said was "The Chef's Policy." At this point a long line of people had formed, listening to the outrage.
I felt like I was in Micro Economics class again. (Another class I did not pay enough attention to -- whoops.) What part of supply, demand and Keynesian economics was "you can't pay for the croissant doughnut unless it's in the glass case"? The counter staff also started talking about how the pastry had to be "on the board." They had wood planks as serving trays that sat in the counter. I wanted to ask the counter staff if a pastry was in the glass case but not on the wooden board, would this be a case of voodoo economics and could I use the Gross National Product of Chile to pay for the doughssant? But I was afraid the Counter Staff would ban me from Piquant for life!
I asked the counter staff if any more sugar non-filled pastry were coming out as I wanted my friend and I to try both and God forbid we actually share one. (First world pastry problems!)
The woman behind the counter said "no," which I found hard to believe at 8:35 a.m. that they were already done for the day with sugar croissant doughnuts but who am I to argue? I paid for my 1 sugar pastry and my pre-ordered 6 filled pastry. And after I paid, out came 3 cinnamon sugar and 3 sugar croissant doughnuts. I looked at the counter staff woman with a slack jaw of shock and disappointment. She grimaced sheepishly and said "Oh I didn't know." I wanted to ask her why she hated me. I could hear people in line barking to try to claim the pastry in the case, but I was still in front of the register so I said "One more sugar one then!"
The line of people were all grousing as if it was their God-given, constitutional right to get a cronut-style pastry. The atmosphere building up around the waiting customers was definitely like Game of Croissant Doughnuts - I was waiting for someone to come up and decapitate me in the name of Winterfell. I wonder if they served cronut-style pastries at the Game of Thrones' Red Wedding?
After paying for my pre-ordered croissant doughnuts, I went to sit down and wait for my egg, cheese and bacon baguette and afore-mentioned cronuts. I was quite smug (OK extremely smug) watching the angry line of customers foam at the mouth and shout about the lack of pastry. The remaining 5 croissant doughnuts that had come out from the kitchen were quickly bought up.
The poor counter staff tried to explain how you could only buy a croissant doughnut if it was in the case and now said that they could not give any time estimate when any pastry would be ready.
They apologized that this was only the second day they had this cronut-like pastry and they hadn't anticipated the frenzy. (When Tampa Bay Times Food Critic Laura Reiley talks, everyone listens!) The fact that they could not even estimate a general time window of when cronuts would be available was like throwing a Molatov cocktail on the dried wood branches of the waiting customers. More fury, more bitchy comments to the counter staff. A lot of ugliness for a bakery on a Sunday morning.
I watched two separate customers walk out in a huff. This was a recipe for disaster, bad service and a bad reputation. I surely hoped these croissant doughnuts were worth all the insanity!
To be fair, one of the customers who walked out wearing his huffiest of huffy pants had yelled "YOU SHOULD HAVE MADE FIVE HUNDRED!" Like seriously, sir? How about this-- you pre-order and pay for five hundred and I am sure Piquant would be glad to make them for you. Let's be a little realistic with our zaniness. Please!
As I sat waiting for my pastry, my bacon, egg and cheese baguette came out- a vision of loveliness on a crusty but easy to eat plank of French bread. Delicious - I highly recommend it. The bacon alone is worth the price of the sandwich. Sooo smoky good - a thick slab of heaven.
 |
| Piquant's Bacon, Egg and Cheese Baguette at Sand Key Beach - check out all that BACON! |
Then from the back comes two raspberry-filled croissant doughnuts on a board. The woman sells them to the two men who had been waiting ahead of me who were not allowed to pre-buy them. I could have been a colossal douchebag and demanded them because I had already paid, but I really didn't want to die at the hands of a pastry-loving mob.
The two gentlemen each bought a filled croissant doughnut and left but were still disgruntled and making comments on their way out the door.
One of the counter staff comes over to me and asked me my name. I said "Lily" and she jumped back and said her name was Lily too. I was hoping sharing the same name would mean speedy pastry service. BUT NO!
And side note - is this a ploy to make me feel better about the situation? Had I said my name was Beulah, would the Piquant employee be named Beulah too? I may need to test this theory. I need a wig, fake glasses with a nose on them and a mustache ... and three chihuahuas. Don't ask why.
"The Other Lily" told me that she wasn't sure when my six cronuts would be ready and that the cronuts would "probably" be ready before they closed at 3 p.m. but if I gave them my telephone number that they would call me when the croissant doughnut were done. I was shocked and asked "Just how long does it take to fill a pastry with raspberry preserves?"
"The Other Lily" said it would take time to proof the pastry. Now I am not a baker, but even I know that PROOFING a pastry means waiting for the dough to rise. You don't fill a croissant doughnut before it is baked. What happened to the ones they were supposedly filling in the back?
"The Other Lily" said that the recently filled ones were going to the glass case to be sold to customers in line. That pre-orders took second place. WELL HELLO YOU DIDN'T SAY THAT WHEN I WAS IN LINE! Grrrr ... disgruntled I was! I didn't want to be like Mr. Huffy "Make 500 Croissant Doughnuts" Guy, but I was getting close to that level of rudeness. (First world problems, I know, I know.)
I thought I had beat the system by securing a claim to croissant doughnuts by purchasing half a dozen as prescribed ... but no, I had been suckered. I should have brought a tent and just camped out in front of the bakery case. What was it going to take to get a raspberry-filled croissant doughnut?
Before I could set up a tent community of "Occupy Piquant," my look of murderous cronut wanting-induced rage sent "The Other Lily" scurrying back to the kitchen to double-check with the Chefs if there was anything they could do. I was heading out for a beach day and could not be back before 3 p.m. to pick up croissant doughnuts that may or may not be available. Really Piquant? You expect me to sit by the phone and wait for your phone call? Are you my next inconsiderate boyfriend? Are you going to next try to borrow my convertible and ask me to do your laundry?
By some miracle, "The Other Lily" came out with two boxes for me. She looked embarrassed and said "I didn't know they were already done for you." I was so happy to see the boxes that I just let my snarkiness over being jerked around for pastry go. Just call me Deepak Chopra!
Now let me tell you, with the exception of the older staff member who had taken one look at me and walked away without saying a word - the two younger counter staff members were as polite and courteous as they could be while trying hopelessly to explain and enforce a riot-inducing croissant doughnut policy. So I am not going to kill the messenger and honestly neither should any guest. The poor young ladies are just trying to do their job. I thanked them both as I skipped out with bags of pastry and breakfast food from Piquant.
But here's the thing - there was no longer a line when I left. The croissant doughnut policy was making enemies and instilling bad feelings left and right. Not a good public relations move for Piquant.
(Although P.S. Piquant sold out of all their croissant doughnuts at noon according to a Tweet they sent me, so like a bad boy boyfriend who treats us poorly - evidently we just can't stay away from Piquant! So maybe they don't need my pearls of wisdom on how to run their business!)
 |
| Piquant's cronuts - the most delicious pastry that you MUST try! |
Next to the inevitable question - was Piquant's raspberry-filled homage to cronut-style pastry worth all the ruckus, commotion and negative energy on a Sunday morning?
Oh yessssssss.
Still warm, crusty sugary outside, flaky layers inside with an amazingly fresh tasting raspberry filling, Piquant's version of a croissant doughnut was well worth the aggravation. And like climbing to the top of Mount Everest, the intensity of the journey made me appreciate the sweet reward of the pastry even more.
Later as I sat at Sand Key beach working on my glorious tan, my friend and I ate sugar coated and raspberry-filled croissant doughnuts. Talk about decadence by the seashore! My friend nodded appreciation- she agreed the madcap adventures were worth the reward of the croissant doughnut and thanked me for retrieving them from Old Hyde Park Village.
If you go to Piquant in search of a croissant doughnut, find your inner happy spot and get zen so you don't go ballistic and postal on the poor young ladies working the counter. Please! Their jobs must be hard enough working around such great food and not devouring it every minute of the work day.
(Side Note: at the time I didn't realize Piquant gave me an assortment of filled croissant doughnuts - I had vanilla custard filled, chocolate filled as well as raspberry filled cronuts in the box above. My favorite? Vanilla custard! With flecks of vanilla bean, luscious custardy mouthfeel against the crunchy, sugary croissant dough - amazingly tasty!)
I will absolutely be back to Piquant not only for their croissant doughnuts but for the rest of their menu as well.
Thank you to the Chefs of Piquant for bringing this New York Trend to Tampa, but please please please for the love of your customers and your counter staff could you come up with a better croissant doughnut purchasing policy? South Tampa and all of Tampa Bay will be happier!
 |
| Even Chibby Kitten wants in on the cronut action! |
P.P.S. The next day Piquant offered me a free croissant doughnut! LOVE! But because of the high demand, I didn't want to be the selfish croissant doughnut lover bogarting all the top Tampa pastry - so I declined their very generous offer. Thanks Piquant! I'll be back to try your lunch menu!
Piquant Epicure and Cuisine
1633 W Snow Ave, Tampa, FL 33606
http://piquanthydepark.com
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