City Bakery patriarch and, now, New York's highest profile green baker, Maury Rubin, got the Amanda Hesser treatment in yesterday's Times magazine section. She delivered us a virtual tour of Rubin's latest project, Birdbath his green bakery, in the West Village (Birdbath's older sibling famously opened in the East Village last January; we're fairly familiar with the new joint too, of course, previously known as Sparrow). If we are to assume all bakeries will be green somewhere down the line, it's an early and fascinating how-to:
Building Birdbath this way, Rubin said, cost about 15 percent more than if he had used conventional products. Pastries are displayed on a black surface called PaperStone (a surprisingly hard material made from recycled paper and resin), which rests on the shipping crate that held the cubbies. Rubin said this design decision was “penance” for shipping the cubbies all the way from Salt Lake City.The rest, including why Rubin will not extend the green to cutting the size of his gargantuan cookies and a labor suit waiting to happen, is via the click.
· Flower Power [NYT]
