Heritage Grand Bakery, Restaurant & Pizza Bar was opened by maverick restaurateur, Lou Ramirez, of Maison Kayser, Fig & Olive, and former president of Le Pain Quotidien. Ramirez’s partners Luc Boulet, a Master Baker and fourth-generation bread artisan from France who opened 80 Maison Kayser bakery-cafés across 14 countries, and Alex Garese, founder of Wolkonsky Bakery, are all experienced veterans in the world of bread, pastry, and restaurants.
Together, they had a vision of opening a bakery and restaurant that reflected their dedication to Ancient Grains and Artisanal Milling Techniques, with menu items that would showcase their unique grains, grown before the introduction of intensive, scientific plant breeding in the mid-1900s.
The 4,500-square-foot space is divided into two distinctive operations, Heritage Grand Bakery which opened in December 2021, and Heritage Grand Restaurant & Pizza Bar, which opened in April 2023. The 1,500-square-foot bakery is where the imported ancient grains from owner Garese’s farm in Europe, comprised of 17 varieties, are combined to create Heritage’s proprietary grain blend called Population Wheat.
Harvesting Practices: To harvest these grains, the restaurant is dedicated to employing regenerative farming practices, most notably, crop rotation. Crop rotation is the method of growing a series of different crops in the same area in sequential growing seasons, improving the nutrients in the crop. It is also a useful method for preventing soil diseases, weed problems, and infestation of insect pests, as well as building healthy soils.
In turn, these Heritage grains contain an accentuated value in lipids and carotenes, which give the bread a cream color and offer a signature aroma, as well as making it optimized for baking and pastry making. Eating these “ancient” varieties offers several benefits, such as high nutritional value, ease of digestibility, and low allergenic potential.
Heritage Grand Bakery Process: To mill these grains, the restaurant uses an Astrié Mill, an innovative piece of milling technology that shaves layers from the grain instead of crushing it under the weight of a running stone. The shaved grain, sans the exterior envelope which is known to irritate the intestinal lining, provides a flour that is easily digestible and nutritious.
Heritage Grand Bakery bakes a variety of fresh breads daily. Executive Head Baker Mark Fiorentino (formerly of Daniel, Café Boulud) and his dedicated team of bakers arrive throughout the middle of the night to mill the wheat grains into flour, mix and roll the dough, and expertly craft the fresh bread each morning. Highlights include their proprietary Population Wheat made of 17 varieties of ancient grains that they import from Europe and mill on site. Heritage’s Hudson Valley Sourdough is made with locally grown wheat practicing similar traditions used for ancient grains from New York’s Hudson Valley. The sourdough pre-fermentation process aids in the digestibility hours before consumption. This process degrades the slow sugars and forces the body the process them differently. Consumption of sourdough bread reduces blood glucose and insulin response after eating. Both, as all the ancient grain breads are lower in glutens than other breads.
Executive Pastry Chef Damien Herrgott (formerly of La Goulue, Bosie Bakery) curates and executes Heritage Bakery’s menu of delicious baked goods, including viennoiseries, cookies, cakes, pastries, and desserts. Highlights include Pistachio Cruffin, muffin-shaped croissant dough filled with pistachio pastry cream; Plie au Chocolat, buttery, flaky croissant dough folded and filled with vanilla pastry cream and dark chocolate chips; Meringue, sweetened egg whites with almonds; Apricot Danish, croissant dough filled with a mixture of pastry cream and apricots.
Heritage Grand Restaurant & Pizza Bar: is the adjacent 3,000-square-foot elegant dining room. The restaurant offers cross-utilization of ancient grains and population wheat in their Mediterranean-inspired dishes and pizzas.
The menu showcases wood-fired entrées and pizzas, made in dual wood-fired ovens, which are the heart of the restaurant; Grilled Octopus with smashed fingerling potato, roasted onion, olives, capers, and parsley; Heritage Meatballs, beef & pork with pomodoro, ancient grain breadcrumbs, and ricotta; Branzino topped with a generous portion of pistachio chermoula, served with a side of haricot vert and charred lemon, Ancient Grains Spaghetti—a vegetarian option—population wheat pasta with roasted mushroom and garlic, sprinkled with rich Parmigiano. Pizzas and flatbreads, Moroccan Spiced Lamb Flatbread, spiced ground lamb, pickled shallots, and a drizzle of citrus labneh on a thin, crisp flatbread made from 100% population wheat; Thin crust Diavola pizza with spicy soppressata, fior di latte, tomato, and drizzled with chili oil.
Grab-and-Go breakfast sandwiches, lunch sandwiches, salads, and sides & dips are also offered.
Dessert highlights are warm Toffee Pudding Cake served with vanilla ice cream; Orange Passionfruit Cheesecake made with cream cheese mousse and orange marmalade atop a graham cracker crust; Orange Olive Oil Cake with aromatic spices, drizzled with golden honey and served with vanilla schlag crème.
A highly dynamized water filtration system has been built into the restaurant and bakery. This system essentially mirrors water’s natural journey through the mountains using motion, magnetism, and natural minerals. This results in energized water with improved taste and texture, as well as better hydration. Heritage Grand uses this special water as the fundamental foundation for making all of their doughs for breads, pizzas, pastas, pastries, and baked goods, as well as their brewed beverages.
The bakery’s impressive Coffee Bar serves their exclusive signature roasted blend and single original beans from across the globe. Hot and Cold Teas are sourced from historic tea-growing regions in direct collaboration with the farmers.
The restaurant also offers a sophisticated beverage menu featuring a well-curated global wine list comprised of red, white, rosé, and sparkling options, along with draft and bottled beers and creative cocktails.
The interior design: of the restaurant and bakery, by Patricia Joseph in collaboration with Silvia Zofio of SZprojects, seamlessly flow into one another, drawing inspiration from ancient Mediterranean ruins unearthed in the heart of NYC. Anchoring the dining room are two large wood-burning ovens named Patience and Fortitude, after the marble lions that watch over the historic New York Public Library and Bryant Park, across the street from the restaurant. The walls are designed with red-gray stone shaved from a mountain to give it a grotto feel, complemented by accents of creamy white Venetian plaster and a soothing glow from soft white light, curated by award-winning lighting designer Herve Descotts L’Observatoire. The dining room is adorned with custom-made banquettes, chairs, and tables designed to evoke the restaurant’s Mediterranean feel. Additionally, the private event space on the mezzanine level is ideal for hosting private gatherings, corporate meetings, celebrations, televised sports events or award shows, rehearsal dinners, baby showers, and more.
Mission statement: Heritage Grand Bakery values quality, health, and tradition. The concept was born from the expression “You are what you eat”. Natural, artisanal foods nourish our minds and bodies, energize our spirit, and connect us all and our planet. We celebrate the simple joy of eating what is truly good. Heritage grains are healthier because we practice time-honored methods of milling flour without chemical additives. This tradition, and technique, using unadulterated ingredients, retains more nutrients, and does not deposit unsafe chemicals into our environment. Ancestral bread-making techniques allow the heart of the grain to develop life under the effects of the sourdough and fermentation, thus allowing the dough and bread to grow like all living organisms. The combination of ancient grains, pure water, and natural salt creates the magic.
Heritage Grand Bakery, Restaurant & Pizza Bar are open for breakfast, weekend brunch, lunch, happy hour, dinner, and late-night, with vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options, providing a delicious meal at any time for the city that never sleeps.
LOCATION: 8 W 40th St. New York, NY 10018
PHONE: (212)-419-9163
INSTAGRAM: @heritagegrandbakery
WEBSITE: heritagegrandbakery.com
HOURS:
Bakery
Monday – Friday: 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday: 8 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Restaurant
Monday – Sunday: 11 a.m. – 12 a.m.
SEATING CAPACITY: Dining Room: 110
Private Dining/Event Space: 40-50
For press inquiries, please contact Regan Carlin at Benvenuti Public Relations, rcarlin@benvenutipr.com or 212-696-9883.
