Donna Soloway (pictured above)
Board member and writer, Midtown East
What brings you here?
I’m a Francophile. I’m a fluent French speaker, I read in French constantly, and I read about this event on the website French Morning. I thought, How big could it be? Maybe three, four manufacturers? Well, there were like more than 30 baguette-makers here, and I was surprised because a lot of them were very good.
Do you like living in Midtown East?
It’s not the Upper East Side. Upper East Side girls are different. Midtown girls go to all the places — we go north, south, west. Upper East Side girls don’t go out of their way. And actually, we live in Truman Capote’s old building. We have two towers, and Truman lived in mine.
By the way, I love your hat.
I wear newsboy hats all the time. I have the same model in different styles — a patent-leather one, one in black, one in red. I have a guy who makes them all for me. He goes by the name Kokin.
Nicole Lane Fulmer
Event planner, Greenpoint
Franky Liang
Engineer, Prospect Heights
Jun Yang
Opera singer, Bayside
What was the best thing you ate?
Orwashers’ baguette. We took one bite and were like, “Holy crap, it’s so good.” There was a certain fragrance. Maybe it was the brick oven they used or the wood, but there was a smoky taste in the bread. It had a very good ratio of crunchy outside to soft inside.
Fel Cassieli
Bakery owner, Soho
Congrats on winning Best Baguette!
It was such a surprise. It’s the biggest honor. I opened my bakery, Crispy Heaven, three years ago. I learned to bake bread by myself. Running the bakery was getting a little bit tough for me lately, so winning this is what I needed.
Jessica Cigale
Psychotherapist, Upper West Side
Dominique Lavoie
Luxury-real-estate adviser, Lincoln Square
Alexis Allen
Financial analyst, Upper West Side
Noah Jackson
Strategist, Bushwick
Elaine Huie Chang
Stand-up comedian and yoga teacher, Chelsea
Tell me about your work.
I just started doing stand-up in November. I turned 50 in August, and I was like, “Let’s try new things. Let’s be brave.” So I took a writing class. My other classmates were all nervous because they were trying to perfect their writing. But for me, I just took it as a “fuck it” exercise. I just performed at Gotham Comedy Club, and they keep inviting me back.
Christina Cheung
Crypto lawyer, Financial District
Sianna Peal
Digital director, Jersey City
Laura Bahor
Market researcher, Orlando, Florida
Would you say you’re a bread connoisseur?
Yes, as weird as that sounds. I had my first French baguette at the French Pavilion at Epcot. That was probably the first time I had really good bread and appreciated it. Other than that, there’s no good bread where we live in Florida.
Clement Delisle
Data scientist, Williamsburg
Kenza Adeïda
Art dealer, Chinatown
Gracie Liu
Product designer, Crown Heights
Richard Soloway
Security-technology CEO, Midtown East
Andrew Ulbrich
Law associate, Kips Bay
Was today what you expected?
I envisioned a long banquet table with ten or so different types of baguettes and a section with charcuterie and wine at the end. I didn’t expect it to be so extensive. And in the last 20 minutes, a lot of the bakeries had a bunch of extra bread left over so they started giving it away. That’s how I ended up with seven baguettes in my bag.
Caroline Bahor
Third-grader, Orlando, Florida
Photographs by Frankie Alduino
See All
Source link
