The kouign-amann has been Sugar & Sage Bakery’s calling card since the mother-daughter team of Alison and Ashley Weinstein opened on Lovers Lane in 2023. Now it is doing double duty as a sandwich.
The Cristo Amann is the bakery’s take on a Monte Cristo, and it started the way good ideas in a kitchen usually do, with everyone bringing something to the table. Executive chef Jill Bates, who led pastry at Fearing’s at the Ritz-Carlton before joining the Weinsteins, says it came out of a collaboration party where the whole team pitched ideas. “We made sandwiches, brought sammies and ideas,” she said. From there she kept working on it and sampling it for guests until it was ready.
The build takes some care. A kouign-amann is sliced in half, dipped in egg batter and seared in butter. Bates’ standard for that sear is pure kitchen shorthand: “The KA should be GBD.” Translation for anyone who has never worked a line: the kouign-amann should come out golden brown and delicious, and if it isn’t both, it isn’t done. Warm ham goes in with Gruyère, the whole thing gets a finish of sea salt, and it comes to the table with fig chili preserves for dipping.
The bakery starts selling them at 11 a.m. “We’re at 15 a day this week, and we’ll keep going up,” Bates said. For now, when they are gone, they are gone.
Ask her what makes her kouign-amann different from anyone else’s in town, and the answer is short. “Lots of love, butter and sugar.”
While you are there, Bates has three can’t-miss picks from the fall case. The pumpkin cinnamon roll is the one to grab if you only get one. The cookie butter pear Danish and the cardamom bun filled with vanilla cream round out the list, and all three are the kind of thing you will want to order two of, one for the car and one for later.
The Cristo Amann is part of a new lunch lineup that includes an Everything Chicken Salad Croissant, a Ham & Cheddar Croissant, a Chicken Caesar Wrap, an Artisanal Caprese and a Prosciutto & Gruyère Panini.
Sugar & Sage Bakery is at 4314 Lovers Lane, across from Highland Park High School, and is open daily from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Call 469-759-6697.
More Crave about the kouign-amann.
