It has been a long time dream, and a long process to get to where I am today, with my second home – Tatte.
I started in 2007 at my home kitchen not knowing what Americans indulge when they crave their dessert or pastries. I just baked what I knew to bake and hoped for the best…
I worked 20 hours a day, took those 4 hours to sleep so I can keep on going. I baked, I packed, I stood at my farmer’s market stand and then I baked some more. Neighbors came to visit and asked, do you ever stop? No, I never stopped or I wouldn’t be able to keep up. I have not stop since then.
My living room and kitchen were the main baking area, surrounded by stainless steel tables, mixers and ovens. My third floor was filled with refrigerators and freezers to keep all my thousands of nuts fresh and my brioche dough to quietly rise overnight. I can tell you, I was in shape going up and down those stairs all day. My “loading dock” was my garage… early am loading to farmer’s market, end of day unloading and running to make another round of brownies, cookies, biscotti… a never ending the happy cycle that led me to open my first shop in Brookline on February 2008.
Brookline has been a wild ride, finding my way [and heart] in the baking scene, still, not knowing of any other bakeries or baked goods, only doing what I know how to do, baking my own creations. Still, it never felt quiet enough for me, I wanted more, I wanted to make more of what I miss, I wanted the food I miss, I wanted a home in America. ..
In May 2012 Tatte Cambridge opened. It’s been a long year and a half of searching for the right space [any 2000sqf that you can easily exhausts… in the area?], if you are true to yourself, keep only the quality of your products in mind to lead your way and not the money you will keep baking on each premises, always [and that is a subject to a separate post]. I put all my energy in this search until I found that right spot in Cambridge… the lovely space that comes with a book of challenges which most we will only find out when we are already deep into the process… you need to raise the floor for plumbing, no back of the house entrance, not enough ceiling room for all those pipes, cannot exhaust building only through the front, cannot put awnings and signage on building unless you add this and that… and the list goes on and on… but this list came with a very nice and generous landlord who believed in me! and helped me to build it from the ground up!
I am sharing with you today the before and after pictures of Tatte 2. As you can see, we made a few changes in the raw space… It’s been a long ride; 3 months of lease negotiation, 9 weeks of constructions until we opened that heavy antique wood door… on May 8th at 7am, my heart was racing when I opened that door for you, my dear and sweet customers that follows me where ever I go.
To the actual design, how I created and designed the space, the famous chandelier, the people behind that helped me build it, all I will tell you in my next post in a few days [promise]!
Have a beautiful day make sure it’s a sweet one!
Love,
Tzurit
