LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — This week Eat it Up is in West Little Rock at The Croissanterie, a business that quite literally started from scratch. Now they’re serving up amazing pastries, delicious breakfast, and combinations that will make you scratch your head, but after you eat here, you’ll never think of a croissant the same way again.
Co-owner and Executive Chef Jill McDonald described where the name came from saying, “Well you know we make croissants, and it just had a nice ring to it. Croissanterie in France are supposedly these fast-food places, but we make everything from scratch.”
Co-owner and Executive Pastry Chef Wendy Schay explained that their from-scratch process takes three days to make the perfect croissant.
"On day one we’re making the dough, we let it rest and ferment overnight in the refrigerator so it can develop some flavor. Day 2 we’re adding our butter block. Literally, take four pounds of butter and shape it into our dough. Day 3 we roll it out long and cut it into our shapes. We do butter, chocolate, almond, all the way to our hamburger buns and our French toast with it," she described.
While they have it down to a science now, the start of the Croissanterie was anything but easy.
“We were working full time and then to take that leap to owning our own business. Starting a business during COVID-19 and getting that food truck, the community showed up. Our flaky friends as we call them came out and every time we went somewhere it was great,” said McDonald.
Some of the big hits include breakfast and lunch that is available all day long.
“[We're] very well known for our delta burger. Breakfast is huge, we do big breakfast and a big brunch. Standard breakfast is the number one seller. Everybody just wants two eggs with a croissant. Classic biscuits and gravy. Wendy and they make the sausage gravy from scratch. Just all the classics with our little spin on it,” she added.
The Croissanterie is located at 14710 Cantrell Rd A5 in Little Rock.