Farine Baking Company
Michael Mignano’s first love was hip-hop. As a teenager in Astoria in the 1990s, the first-generation Sicilian-American was a devotee of Video Music Box, local cable’s uncensored antidote to MTV, and a prolific spray paint vandal. On Sunday mornings, he’d grab a window seat in the front car of the train, and scan for Saturday night’s fresh graffiti before the MTA scrubbed it away.
But when he was 19, Mignano found a new early-morning passion: baking. He started on the lunch and dinner service at Bouley, after his mother brought home the Zagat Guide and told him he could either work with the best or go back to school. He eventually made his way to executive pastry chef at The Pierre Hotel, where he won the Food Network’s “Iron Chef Rooftop Challenge.”
This March, after two decades on the other side of the East River, Mignano returned to Queens, opening up Farine Bakery on 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights. A second shop in Glen Oaks quickly followed. Like his training, the name is French: farine means flour. But in practice, the patisserie is a unique blend of its owner’s fun-loving personality and the diverse neighborhood that surrounds it. Between traditional croissants and cheesecakes, customers can find chicken pot pie samosas, “Seinfeld”-inspired candy bars you eat with a knife and fork, handmade raspberry Pop Tarts, naan-crust pizzas and a paan (betel nut) ice cream Mignano once made for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Like the Bangladeshi, Tibetan and Nepalese restaurants on the block, everything Farine serves is halal. It doesn’t change any of the flavors, Mignano says, “it’s just an accommodation for my community.”
Mignano and his fellow chef, Danny Ventura, keep Farine’s menus in harmony with the seasons by sourcing local ingredients whenever possible. Rhubarb and lobster made an appearance this spring, while Brussels sprouts and cranberries are a staple for the fall. Of course, if he kept things totally local, the entire pastry case would be “gray— literally” come winter, but “I’ll always have a strawberry cheesecake in January,” he says. “Thank God for California and Chile.”
Thanksgiving is Mignano’s favorite time of year: “It’s the eating holiday,” he says. And his favorite holiday dishes are the ones that remind him of family—any family. He sells cannoli made according to his grandma’s recipe. And while he once made traditional European flan, Farine now sells a Mexican flan introduced by Yessica Herrera, who works in the bakery.
This winter, Mignano is rolling out a new cardamom ginger pecan cheesecake pie, inspired by the flavors of Jackson Heights. He takes fresh cardamom pods and ginger root, extracts the flavors in the form of liqueur, and mixes it with cream to make an airy cheesecake. He then braids the cheesecake with pecan pie batter to create an eye-catching marble effect. Most of Mignano’s pies have a sugar-free crust. It’s not for health, he assures me, but a hint of salt to balance out sweet fillings. This cheesecake fits into a traditional graham cracker crust, with crumbs throughout “like a fault line.” The result is a fevered hybrid of Bengali flavors and Mignano’s irrepressible imagination.
Mignano can still draw his graffiti tag from memory, but these days he’s writing other things. In 2017, he published his first cookbook, a 4.4-pound bestseller titled The Pastry Chef ’s Little Black Book, with co-author Michael Zebrowski. This fall, they released volume two. It offers new recipes with the same kitchen-friendly design, with big text and no-gloss pages for easy annotation. You can’t take Mignano out of Queens, but you can use his recipes wherever you go.
Michael Mignano | @michaelmignano
Farine Baking Company | @farinebakingcompany
The Pastry Chef ’s Little Black Book
Michael Zebrowski | @michaelzebrowski
