How the Kolache Kings of NYC Sold Confused New Yorkers on the Czech-Tex Treat – Texas Monthly

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Autumn Stanford takes over Kolache after Kolache in New York City. Born in Austria, she and her husband Dennis Mendoza opened Brooklyn Kolache in 2012 to introduce Bed Stuy residents to the “Czech-Tex” experience and at the same time to attract displaced Texans from all over the city. They come for excellent versions of classic flavors like poppy seeds, cherry sweet cheese, and jalapeño sausage cheddar, while the smoked sausage – both Texas beef and garlic pork – comes from Meyer’s in Elgin. But there’s also allspice, spinach and feta, peanut butter and chocolate ganache and, because it’s New York City, bacon, eggs and cheese.

Stanford and Mendoza also have two bars in Brooklyn, Swell Dive (which serves breakfast tacos with a Filipino twist) and Tailfeather (a wine bar). a new partner, Ben Siegel from Dallas, opened a second Brooklyn Kolache – this time in Manhattan. “Hey West Village, have you ever tried a Kolache?” The store asked on Instagram. After Brooklyn Kolache was officially launched as a New York mini-chain, Stanford shares its story with writer Jason Cohen.

I’m from Austin, born and raised. My grandparents lived in Houston. At least every other weekend one of us made the trip in both directions, and we always stopped at Weikel in La Grange. We went to the bathroom and got Kolaches.

And then I didn’t think much about Kolaches. I moved to New York and lived in Colorado for a while. I worked at Seamless from 2004 until the end of 2011. Then I knew my job was moving to Salt Lake City, so I asked myself, “What do I want to do?” Some of my favorite jobs were bakery and coffee shop jobs during high school and college, including Texas French Bread [in Austin]. And so I thought: “Why don’t we open a café?”

My brother-in-law was the person who asked, “Why do you never talk about Kolaches?” And that was really the first time in many years that I realized: I haven’t eaten Kolaches. And there are no Kolaches here! I decided to see if I could bake them.

Brooklyn Kolache as seen from Bleecker Street.

Courtesy Brooklyn Kolache

The founder of Brooklyn Kolache, Autumn Stanford.

Joel Marsh garland

I actually started making Texas Monthly recipes. There were three recipes in one article. I’ve tried each of these and from then on I thought, well, I want it to get a little yeasty. Or I like this one but let me play around with it. I did that for six or seven months. And when I was happy with the recipe I said let’s look for a place.

Just before it opened, I knew I wouldn’t travel for a while. So I took my daughter and mother on a Kolache road trip. We went to Weikel and I almost got a panic attack because it smelled so good. I got a sweet cheese that was still hot from the oven and it was so amazing that I thought, “How can I even compare? What do I do to reconstruct someone’s childhood memory? “

I would say our Kolaches were good in the beginning, but we’ve gotten so much better over the years. Now I think we can compare.

There was a really long time people would come in and ask for a muffin. Or a croissant. So I just started giving kolaches to people. “Okay, we don’t have that. We do this. But let me just give you one. ”And they’d be a little reluctant…“ Oh, okay. ”But then often people would come back and say,“ I don’t know what you gave me. But I want more. “

On the weekdays there were people in the [Brooklyn] neighborhood [of Bedford-Stuyvesant]. Coffee really drove our sales for a while. And then we got a lot of press and we got to the right people from Texas. The TexpatsNYC Meetup Group. I partnered with the Texas Exes on a few fundraisers. When the Texans found out, the weekends went crazy and still are to this day. We had lines at the door and everyone was wearing their UT or A&M gear.

We do everything the old fashioned way. We do not use powdered milk. We crack real eggs – lots of cracking real eggs. King Arthur flour. Cabot butter. Even if someone has never had a Kolache, it is reminiscent of something self-made from their childhood. They’ll say, “Oh, my grandmother used to make cinnamon rolls that tasted like this batter.” It brings back that homemade taste that I think you lose in some of the bigger Kolache eateries.

I grew up on cute Kolaches. I never made hearty. When I was growing up, I never thought of them as Kolache. We always called the hearty pigs or pigs in a blanket. We went to Rudy’s BBQ – there was one very close to my house – and got breakfast tacos and pigs in a blanket.

Every day my son asks me for a chocolate peanut butter kolache. I don’t want him to eat chocolate in the morning before school, so I tell him every day that we’re sold out. He’s six and he’s starting to say, “You really should be doing more of this!”

My daughter likes the sour / sweet ones. So if in doubt, cherry-sweet cheese. But if we have lemon curd or strawberry rhubarb, she’ll go that route. They eat a lot of kolaches. One day my daughter said, “Oh, I hope I get a Kolache today.” I told her, “You probably eat more Kolache than any other kid in New York State!”

There was a Texas Monthly Barbecue a few years ago [event] in the Hill Country basement, and Aaron Franklin had a few leftover briskets. And I thought, “What are you doing with them? I have a Kolache bakery and would like to take it with me. ”I don’t think it worried him – he probably didn’t understand how weird it was in New York City. There was some sort of agreement that I wouldn’t use his brand or name so I just hinted: the most famous brisket is in this pastry.

I never eat the egg kolaches. They are popular, but also the ones I least recommend. I understand you want protein and breakfast. But in my opinion, if you want a real Kolache, you make a sweet or a sausage.

I don’t call them Klobasneks because getting New Yorkers to even know what a Kolache is is a learning curve. If I make it more complicated, people will just say, “I don’t care.” People can call them what they want. You can call them buns. I get people on Twitter who want to tell me about Kolaches. All right, dude. Actually, I’m a Kolache expert. Professional!

We have big plans to expand. We hope to maybe open another one in New York City and then other cities in the Northeast from there. And I’d like to open one in Austin. I know we’d get a lot of s Because I think Austin is one of the few places cooler than Brooklyn, right? So I’m sure we’d get a backlash. But that’s ok. I have a feeling if you make really good Kolaches it wouldn’t matter if your name is Brooklyn Kolache and you are in Austin.

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