Former Grace pastry chef opening Andersonville bakery, with princess cake 'homage'

Former Grace restaurant executive pastry chef Bobby Schaffer will open Lost Larson, his own bakery in Andersonville, this spring. Schaffer plans to open in the former Goddess and the Grocer space, which folded after 14 months.

“This is my take on a neighborhood bakery,” said Schaffer. Expect exciting pastries, hearth-baked artisan breads, plus coffee and tea in a completely redesigned shop, he added.

Schaffer was the opening pastry chef at Grace under chef Curtis Duffy, before leaving to take the same top position at critically acclaimed Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurant in upstate New York.

“Blue Hill is where I worked a lot on breads and freshly milled flours,” said Schaffer. “So we’re going to be doing that at the bakery, working with a lot of local Midwest grain farmers, utilizing what they’re growing, getting it in as a whole grain, then milling it in the bakery.”

What’s the big deal with milling in house?

“Fresh milled flours are absolutely the most flavorful flours,” he said. “It’s important for me to get the freshest and most flavorful ingredients, and that includes the wheat.”

“We’ll do a couple of staple loaves. One of them is going to be a 100 percent whole wheat loaf. We’ll look at using different varietals of wheats.”

He’s still deciding on the pastries.

“One thing I will do is an homage to the neighborhood with the princess cake,” he said, declining to divulge details except one. “It will have the green marzipan.” (Andersonville’s beloved Swedish Bakery, which closed in 2017 after 88 years, was famous for its princess cake.)

Schaffer will also do chocolate bars and bonbons. His first pastry job was in Spain at Oriol Balaguer, renowned modernist chocolatier.

As for plated desserts? “Yes, we have plans to do a monthly pastry series, of sorts.”

Tribune restaurant critic Phil Vettel wrote in his 2013 review about Schaffer’s desserts: “They're all so delightful, it scarcely matters which ones ultimately appear. You might receive lightly poached cranberries with crumbles of toasted meringue and tiny bubbles of pine ice. A chocolate sphere containing liquid caramelized popcorn might follow, dusted with popcorn powder and surrounded by caramel corn. Rolled cones of poached quince filled with tamarind juice with licorice-y strands of bronze fennel; orange puree and concentrated lemon-balm dots supporting roasted pumpkin and white-chocolate yogurt sorbet. And my favorite, noodles of young coconut flesh and transparent coconut-water gelee, contrasted with vivid basil sorbet, basil-laced financier cake and African blue basil.”

Schaffer hopes to open Lost Larson by May with 20 seats inside and 20 more outside on the dog-friendly back patio.

“I just want it to be a place for the community to come in and relax.”

Lost Larson, 5318 N. Clark St., www.instagram.com/lostlarson

lchu@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @louisachu

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