Alberni Street atelier will offer a window into the art of fine chocolate and pastry

Vancouver, B.C. – Chocolatier-Pâtissier Thierry Busset is preparing to open his atelier in partnership with the Top Table Group later this year.

Under a bright awning that recalls the storefront pâtisseries of his native France–and simply reading thierry–the 220 square metre space will be dedicated to the creation of classic chocolates, pastries, cakes, and a variety of that Parisian icon: the macaron.

With the lease just signed and plans advancing rapidly for an Autumn 2010 opening, thierry will be located in Vancouver’s downtown core.

“The shop will realize a longtime dream of mine,” Busset says. “Everything will be made on the premises and we will work in the style of the atelier, with our work space open to the retail area.”

Marc Bricault, who has worked with Top Table on projects at CinCin and Araxi, and who designed the wine room at Blue Water Cafe, will be designing the space featuring clean, modern lines, and with both indoor and outdoor seating.

All items will be hand-crafted daily using only premium ingredients: fresh seasonal fruits, artisanal dairy products, maple syrup, and the finest chocolates.

Busset learned his craft at the hands of the masters, including notable chocolatier Bernard Sicard in Auvergne, and later at Pilati Patisserie in the Loire Valley. He was pastry chef at two three Michelin-starred restaurants in London: Le Gavroche (Albert Roux and Michel Roux Jr.) and Marco Pierre White. Recently, his former colleague, chef Gordon Ramsay called Busset ‘one of the finest pastry chefs in the world’.

Upon moving to Vancouver, Busset opened as pastry chef at West, and then headed the pastry program at CinCin, where his breads, desserts and chocolates, according to Vancouver magazine, saw him ‘widely regarded as one of North America’s finest pastry chefs’.

“This is a wonderful progression for Thierry and, I think, for Vancouver,” said Top Table Proprietor, Jack Evrensel. “I’m thrilled that we were able to find such an accessible space, so now we can share his talent with everyone.”

Taking crème brulee to the next level CinCin Ristorante + Bar introduces me to their Amarena Cherry Crème Brulee. Forget about Okanagan cherries, these are cherries from another planet…or country. Imported from Italy CinCin’s pastry chef Thierry Busset uses the Amarena cherry as the gourmet ingredient in his crème brulee. It’s the texture of an olive or rehydrated prune. It’s quite tart and it comes preserved in sugar syrup so it’s very sweet at the same time. It’s the kind of ingredient that stimulates your saliva glands to start reacting immediately. It definitely made the crème brulee an exotic masterpiece. There’s the creamy cool custard, a sudden bite of juicy plump cherry, and then a little crunch from the burnt sugar crust. The crème brulee itself had a jelly like texture and turned creamy as it warmed up in my mouth. They serve it with chocolate gelato and what I could best describe as an almond crusted marzipan fritter stuffed with an Amerena cherry. This fritter actually beat out the crème brulee for me. For $12 this dessert is worth a visit and cheaper than a ticket to Italy.