Coming to a Courtyard Near You
BACHOUR GETS READY TO DEBUT
Arched Courtyard - Bachour
Mega-developer Armando Codina’s sense of pride in his company’s new 2020 Salzedo building – a true “mixed use” complex of office, residential and retail – is palpable. Inside the office section is a series of elegant organic designs completed by artist Naomi Fisher, daughter of the famed Fairchild botanist. Outside its entrance (the building is two blocks north of Alhambra Circle) is a slab of embedded concrete with the forever-frozen signatures that he and his high school buddies drew in wet cement many decades ago.
But nothing gives Codina more pride than the cavernous space carved out for Bachour, the restaurant dedicated to Antonio Bachour, a culinary master who was voted by his peers last year as the finest pastry chef in the world. Yes, in the world. “People from all over know this guy,” says Codina. “I had to romance him. I was relentless.”
Javier Ramirez and his wife Andreina Matos
The space which Codina allocated for Bachour was then transformed by the chef’s business partner, Javier Ramirez, and his wife Andreina Matos, into a high-ceilinged “minimalist industrial chic” arena for the chef. Seating inside will accommodate 73, while another 60 can sit outside in the building’s huge courtyard. Using the principle of convection, air rising from the courtyard will draw a continuous breeze through the east-west aligned entrance corridor.
Even from there, diners will be able to watch Bachour create his pastries behind a glass wall – a cooking-as-entertainment concept.
“We created a fishbowl in the middle of the space, not only for Antonio to create pastries but to provide a place for cooking lessons,” says Ramirez. Another unique fixture: glass-enclosed pastry shelves that look more like displays for jewelry than food. These will be temperature and humidity controlled for the perfect bite.
The main menu, says Ramirez, will be classic American food “with a modern approach and visually appealing plating.” Both breakfast and lunch will be served, but not dinner; Bachour will close at 7 p.m. in deference to the residents above.
“We are going to offer brunch on Saturday as well as Sunday,” says Ramirez. “This will become the place for brunch, people will come from all over.” It may become the place, period. Opening day is set for February 21.
