Dominique Ansel's New Pastry Kitchen Feels 'Like Versailles,' But Is Way More High Tech

Pastry savant Dominique Ansel has promised that most of the desserts at his new Cronut-free shop in the West Village will be made to order (or finished to order, at least). To do that, he needs a bigger kitchen. The team at the original shop works in a 10-by-10 foot space, and by contrast, the new kitchen feels "like Versailles," Ansel tells Food & Wine. There's no Hall of Mirrors, but the kitchen is 2,500-square-feet stretched over three floors and it's tricked out with a macaron repositor (to make perfectly sized macarons), a dough sheeter (for rolling things out) and a giant computerized oven that is allegedly the size of his current kitchen. The shop is slated to open by spring.