Radio Bakery isn’t only aiming to satisfy your sweet tooth. It aspires to something grander: elevating the entire pastry experience with bold flavors. Kelly Mencin and her team bring a savory sensibility to their bakes, with items like the French onion soup croissant, filled with caramelized onions, Gruyère, and thyme, and the pretzel bear claw layered with mustardy bechamel and sharp cheddar. Then there’s the scallion sesame twist, a reinterpretation of Cantonese flavors in pastry form.
“I want to make the perfect croissant—better than in France,” says Mencin. Humility, it seems, is secondary to ambition. She applies a sharp culinary mindset, balancing acidity, salt, and umami to craft baked goods that reflect the nuances of a complete dish.
“Our pastries aren’t just sweet. We season with salt, with vinegar,” she explains. The rhubarb croissant is finished with Maldon sea salt. The peaches and cream croissant gets a splash of sherry. “Our chocolate chip cookie is the best chocolate chip cookie you can have. We’re not trying to be different just to be different. We’re just trying to be the best.”
The sandwiches follow the same principle. “We knew we wanted to do sandwiches, but no fucking made-to-order sandwiches,” Mencin asserts with a wide smile. “They’re a mess and a pain in the ass.” Instead, Radio opts for pre-built sandwiches made throughout the day, topping house-made focaccia with high-quality meats, cheeses, and seasonal vegetables.
A BAKERY WITH A RESTAURANT MINDSET
Before opening Radio Bakery, Mencin built her career in some of the country’s most respected kitchens: first at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon, then at Gramercy Tavern, where she spent two years cooking on the line while staring longingly at the pastry chefs at work. Later, she helped launch Rolo’s in Ridgewood, where she created the bakery program that laid the foundation for Radio.
“We took a day and just dreamed,” Mencin says as she remembers the bakery’s origins. “We called it ‘vision quest.’ We dreamed about what the perfect bakery in New York would be like. The India Street location comes pretty fucking close.”
From the beginning, Radio has been an exercise in refinement, avoiding the mundane. “We didn’t want to be a muffin and scone bakery—you can get that anywhere,” Mencin says. Instead, she built a menu where almost every item is unlike anything you’ve tried before. “We’re relentless. If something can be better, we make it better.”
Since opening its first location in Greenpoint, Radio Bakery has developed a cult following, with lines forming early and selling out fast. The second location, in Prospect Heights, has only expanded its reach. One of the longest lines New York has ever seen—at a bakery, at least—has become a testament to the bakery’s undeniable popularity.
“I AM PROUD OF HOW FAR WE HAVE COME. I WANT TO REFINE IT UNTIL IT GETS BETTER.”
INGREDIENT OBSESSION
Making the best pastries means selecting ingredients with obsessive attention to quality. “Flavor first, but also consistency,” Mencin says.
That means flour from the Hudson Valley, eggs from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and seasonal fruit from farms in the Finger Lakes. The butter is French, for now, but Mencin is hoping she can start sourcing it from a Vermont farm developing a lamination butter block. “If they can make it consistently great, we’ll switch,” she says.
“We’re not using many ingredients,” Mencin adds. “It’s very straightforward. It’s about quality and using the best of the best.”
A SHIFT TOWARD BAKING
Mencin sees the shift toward artisan bakeries as part of a larger movement in the culinary world. “It’s not just happening in New York,” she notes. “Since the pandemic, pastry chefs in restaurants are a dying breed. That’s why I have this job and why I am an owner. Rolo’s couldn’t afford me anymore, and they needed to do something with me.”
Mencin teamed up with the chef-owners of Rolo’s to open Radio, among them Rafiq Salim, who worked his way from line cook to sous chef at Gramercy Tavern before taking his talents to Ridgewood. “We couldn’t afford to pay you what you deserved,” chimes in Salim. “It’s a tough time in restaurants.”
The team at Radio believes New York’s established kitchens will continue to develop the city’s baking scene. “I think you’ll see more bakeries like Radio, like Laurel, like Otway,” Mencin says. “I think you’ll see more restaurants open bakeries.”
If Mencin has her wish, more industry professionals will follow her path. “Be unrelenting,” she counsels the next generation of bakers. “What makes people the best is the constant pursuit of something. Constant, constant, constant until it is perfect.”
RADIO BAKERY
135 India St
Brooklyn, NY 11222
186 Underhill Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11238