ST LOUIS MAGAZINE

Nathaniel Reid’s Paris-Brest elevates the French pastry to new heights

The beautiful dessert features a crispy feuilletine base, creamy hazelnut mousseline, hazelnut praliné, and a puffy brown sugar croustillant on top.

Nathaniel Reid was worried that people might not be able to find his tiny shop, tucked into a sleepy suburban strip center. His worries disappeared on opening day—along with a case full of buttery French pastries and grab-and-go sandwiches. Named one of the Top 10 Pastry Chefs in America by Dessert Professional magazine, Reid has quickly become the Pied Piper of pastry. Croissants, cookies, quiche, kouign-amanns, a killer croque-monsieur… Consider his riff on the Paris-Brest (the circular choux pastry created to commemorate the Paris–Brest–Paris bicycle race of 1891). Reid’s version, more complex than the original, features a crispy feuilletine base, creamy hazelnut mousseline, hazelnut praliné, and a puffy brown sugar croustillant on top. Reid’s October cake of the month is available in large and individual sizes. Whatever he’s making, every day Reid hears that his pastries are too pretty to eat. “Not that pretty,” he says, “because they keep coming back for more.”