Supermoon Bakehouse NYC

When you walk inside Supermoon Bakehouse you immediately want to take out your phone and start snapping away. The cheeky interior, designed by co-owner Aron Tzimas, is made for Instagram, with a neon "Bite me NYC" sign, blush pink marble counters and tables and stacks of iridescent take-out boxes emblazoned with "Stay wild, moon child." That's not to mention the inventive croissant and doughnut creations themselves, lined up as a visual menu when you walk in. 

But Supermoon isn't only about the pictures—these pastries actually taste good. Really good.

That's because Tzimas' partner is revered baker Ry Stephen. The pair, who hail from Australia, made a name for themselves when they opened San Francisco's Mr. Holmes Bakehouse to lines out the door (Tzimas is still a co-owner, but Stephen is no longer involved), thanks in large part to Stephen's extremely creative pastries like the cruffin (a sugar-dusted croissant-muffin hybrid with a pastry cream filling).

The cruffin makes an appearance at Supermoon, with a new flavor debuting every two weeks (right now it's Eggnog for the holidays), along with his well-loved brioche doughnuts, currently available in three flavors. Neither are the main event: here, stuffed croissants take center stage. There are eight varieties of croissants, including two savory and one plain. But plain is not why you come to Supermoon Bakehouse. You come for delicious, over-the-top creations that turn tradition on its head.

Case in point: The bi-color croissants that look as beautiful as they taste, with red, brown, or green colored bands. They're filled and topped with rotating flavors: on tap right now are warming Spiced Mulled Wine; Winter Ferrero Rocher, which has spikes of torched meringue; and dual core Chocolate Chip Peppermint.

Already Instagram darlings, the twice-baked stuffed croissants take two days to make—first they're rolled out and baked as regular croissants, then they're filled with multiple delicious layers and baked again, creating a sort of decadent croissant dessert sandwich. The Banana Split Sundae is stuffed with caramelized sous vide bananas, chocolate almond crème, banana caramel sauce and crème patisserie, then topped with dehydrated bananas, caramel milk chocolate fudge and edible gold leaf. (As you may have guessed, it's very photogenic.)The Pecan Pie has brown butter custard, pecan cream, and candied pecans inside.

But the savory croissants should not be ignored. Currently, they include Eggplant Za'atar and the NYC, a salmon-and-cream-cheese-filled everything-spiced croissant. This version isn't like other croissants stuffed with lox (you can find good options at Daily Provisions and Rockaway Beach Bakery); this one mixes delicately baked salmon with cream cheese, dill and capers that is rolled inside the croissant before baking.

In the beginning of February, in honor of collection 5,000 Facebook fans, the Supermoon team announced it would be adding yet another laminated creation to the menu: "croissant toast," in which a croissant is sliced to Texas Toast levels of thickness and topped with a full cast of delicious items. The first flavor involves spiced almond cream, caramelized apples, pie crust crumble and pineapple jelly.

So don't be shy. Order more than one pastry—it's how you'll get one of those oh-so-snappable to-go boxes.

Devorah Lev-Tov is a contributing writer for Tasting Table who travels the globe—and traverses NYC block by block—in search of her next amazing meal. See her latest adventures on her Instagram at @devoltv.

*This article was first published on January 2, 2018 by Devorah Lev-Tov, and was updated with additional information by Abby Reisner on February 20, 2018.