Ayu Bakehouse breaks the mold of traditional European-style bakeries in Bayou Country

Located on the quiet end of New Orleans’ bustling Frenchmen Street in the city’s Marigny neighborhood, Ayu Bakehouse makes itself known with aromas of butter, sourdough and espresso. Ayu (pronounced like ‘bayou’) is helmed by Kelly Jacques and Samantha Weiss, two talented pastry chefs and businesswomen who have quickly found success by bringing together the far-reaching influences of their upbringings – Indonesian + Chinese and New York Jewish, respectively – with the distinctive flavors of New Orleans.

Within its first year of business, Ayu was featured in Southern Living’s “40 Best Restaurants in New Orleans For Every Price Point” and one of New Orleans Magazine’s “25 Must-Try Dishes in New Orleans.” It has since garnered recognition from Bon Appétit as one of “The Most Exciting Bakeries in the US” and was the winner of NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune’s readers’ choice king cake bracket.

Ayu just reached its second anniversary, having opened in June of 2022. Jacques and Weiss have led the bakery to thrive with their shared business acumen and culinary prowess. The two met at New York City’s International Culinary Center (ICC) in 2012. Jacques started her career as a pastry cook at Emeril’s NOLA after graduation from Tulane University. On the side, she launched her first entrepreneurial venture, The Bikery, a bike-delivered baking pop-up. Meanwhile, Weiss got her start studying business administration at Northeastern University in Boston. Working in financial services by day, she quietly pursued a career change by enrolling in night and weekend classes at the ICC.

The two reconnected in 2013 at New York City’s Bread Bakery. Jacques always knew she would return to New Orleans and finally made it back in early 2020, just weeks before the pandemic began. Weiss was not long behind her, and in June 2022, they opened Ayu Bakehouse with a shared goal of channeling their favorite flavors, all through the lens of a baker.

Bake: Tell me about meeting in New York City. How did your time in the city (and at Breads Bakery) influence your baking and business approach now?

Ayu Bakehouse: We met back in pastry school at the International Culinary Center in 2012. Kelly had just moved from New Orleans looking to expand her pastry knowledge after working as a pastry cook and cake decorator since high school, and Samantha was secretly taking pastry classes at night after her day job in financial services, pursuing a lifelong dream of working in the food industry. Along with two other classmates, Anna and Mandy, we formed a friendship and stayed in touch for years after the program ended, becoming lifelines for each other as we navigated the NYC food world. We'd meet up for dinner every month or so and discuss our various (mis)adventures at work, swapping stories, advice and job connections over cocktails and delicious food (usually someplace where one of us could cash in our employee dining discount).

Kelly had been working at Breads Bakery as part of their opening team, starting as a baker and eventually segueing into operations; Samantha joined a few years later to head up the Catering Department. It quickly became clear that we have a similar work style: we're both willing to put in long hours to get the job done right and we prioritize building systems so our teams can do their jobs more easily and consistently. Most importantly, I think we learned we could really trust each other, especially when the going got tough.

Kelly Jacques (left) and Samantha Weiss have led the bakery to thrive with their shared business acumen and culinary prowess. Source: Sam Hanna

When Kelly was a pastry cook in New Orleans, New York City held near-mythical status as a place where only the best could make the cut. “If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere” was a line other cooks would literally say. Our time in New York, and Breads in particular, got us used to a full-throttle pace, make-it-happen culture, and highest quality standards. Coming back to New Orleans, we’re able to strike more of a balance, which is crucial for our own mental health and that of our team. The food world here is not cutthroat competitive, but rather collaborative and supportive, celebrating each other's wins. Our goal is to be able to take the best of what we learned in New York – production efficiency at a high quality, strong systems, an emphasis on consistency – while embracing the slower pace and sustainability that New Orleans allows.

How do you feel that Ayu fits into the New Orleans culture, both in terms of its cuisine and its overall aesthetic?

We started looking for a location in the middle of the pandemic, and when we came across 801 Frenchmen Street, it felt too good to be true. The building was originally constructed in the mid-1800s and housed an Italian grocery store for many decades. It has a wrap-around gallery, high ceilings and big windows that fill the inside with light and make the space feel uniquely New Orleans. We worked with the local architecture firm Farouki Farouki to design the interior. They brought in new elements like the microcement counters to contrast against the almost 200-year-old cypress columns and set the stage for what Ayu's aesthetic would become: a fresh take on the classics.

When we were dreaming up the opening menu for Ayu, our mindset was to take all the skills we learned up until now – baking sourdough bread, laminating doughs, assembling fine pastry and cakes – and use them to showcase the flavors we love from New Orleans and beyond. Thus, the Muffaletta Breadstick and Boudin Boy were born! But ultimately, we’re not trying to be a carbon copy tribute to what has been done before us. Culture is always shifting and growing, and our goal is to pay homage while still flexing our creativity and other flavor influences. Ultimately, New Orleans is what it is because of the people. Neighborhood cafe culture is a big part of daily life here, and we love to see regulars and newcomers alike rubbing elbows at our shared table. It feels almost sacred to be able to create a space where this can happen.

Describe the outside influences in your food, and how they interact with the more traditional local elements.

They interact in countless ways! Take the Boudin Boy: local boudin and soft-boiled egg are enveloped in croissant dough, which is laminated with butter from France. What results is a super crispy exterior and moist, savory interior, which is only enhanced by a side of Lao Gan Ma chili crisp. The final product is the result of many cultures colliding, and yet feels uniquely local.

What are some of your specialties? What is most popular with customers, and what are your personal favorites?

Our top items are definitely the Muffuletta Breadstick, Boudin Boy and Chocolate Babka Knot (our nod to Breads Bakery).

Kelly's favorites run the gamut from the new specials (like our Cro Madame, basically a Croque Madame re-envisioned as a croissant pastry), the staples (like our House Sourdough, a moist, hearty loaf made with locally milled wheat; even her dogs come running when they hear her slicing off a piece) and the somewhat wilder creations (like the Jalapeño Cornbread Cookie, which is exactly how it sounds and packs a satisfying punch!).

“Culture is always shifting and growing, and our goal is to pay homage while still flexing our creativity and other flavor influences,” say Kelly Jacques and Samantha Weiss. Source: Sam Hanna

Samantha loves the basics. She could eat a baguette with French or Irish butter for breakfast, lunch and dinner with Ayu's chocolate chip cookie for dessert every night. However, a Boudin Boy fresh out of the oven with hot peanut chili oil spread on top alongside a soft, creamy kaya bun is her go-to alternate when craving something different.

I’ve read that Ayu’s king cake is a standout. What differentiates it from the myriad others in the area?

Right before we opened, Matt Haines' The Big Book of King Cake came out. It's essentially the bible of king cakes and charts the evolution of them from simple, icing-less bread to all-out, over-the-top indulgences. When trying to come up with a king cake uniquely our own, we quickly realized that pretty much every flavor combination had been done elsewhere, but we had possibly never had a fresh king cake, still warm out of the oven (usually it's the opposite, where the huge quantity requires bakeries to work many days, weeks, even months in advance). Rather than trying to come up with the hot new flavor combination, our North Star became: pare it down to the basics and bake them fresh throughout the day. So, we started with our laminated dough; rolled it up with cinnamon, raw Louisiana cane sugar and a salty-sweet cream cheese filling; and topped it not with icing, but with a little more of that cane sugar colored in the requisite purple, green and gold. The result is something that stays moist, thanks to the lamination and cream cheese filling, and doesn't hit you over the head with sugary sweetness, thanks to the raw cane sugar's deep caramel notes. That it has been received so well is the proverbial icing on the cake for us!

How did the bakery’s appearance in Bon Appetit come about?

Chef Ana Castro, of Lengua Madre and the upcoming Acamaya restaurant, was asked by Bon App to make a round-up of her favorite places for the magazine, and she graciously included us as her go-to place for pastries. So, we did the only thing we knew how and immediately sent a tasting box of our favorites to Bon App (and a dump truck's worth of kaya buns, jalapeño cornbread cookies and muffuletta breadsticks to Lengua Madre's next family meal). Serendipitously, Bon App was working on a piece about the most creative bakeries in the country, and Ayu was on their radar. The recognition blew us away.

Although the bakery opened in 2022, I’m sure there have been quite a few lessons in the last two years. What are some of the biggest things you’ve learned in that time?

There's always next year. Sometimes we have so many ideas and opportunities that we want to say ‘yes’ to, but there is just only so much time in a day. We are trying to build this business for the long haul and to do that, it has to be sustainable, both for us, our team and our space.