To pass the time, I talked to a group of friends waiting behind me. Eavesdropping, I had heard them discussing plans for the next day to go to Elbow Bread, a bakery on the Lower East Side that sells, for instance, a candied kumquat black sesame buttermilk sourdough cake doughnut. I interrupted to ask: Did a plain croissant still appeal to them?
Scott Stewart said he was looking for “the best” in pastry making, something comparable to the pastries that he and his friends, Daniel Chang, 32, and Jasmine Lee, 31, had eaten when they were in Copenhagen last summer. “Everything else is kind of like, eh,” said Mr. Stewart, a 31-year-old who works in retail. “Like, I can get that at a supermarket.”
Forty minutes later, I abandoned them and left with my box of pastries and a cup of drip coffee. First, I tried the brightly dusted bun, initially skeptical because I did not see any mango. But when I bit into the pastry, subtle fruity notes played on my tongue, complementing the grassy matcha flavor. The glossy pink rhubarb at the center of the croissant I tried next was surprisingly tart, but balanced the sweetness of the custard beneath.
Between bites I sipped the coffee, which was delightfully mediocre.
I skipped lunch in anticipation of my elaborate meal, which I had shopped for the night before after solidifying my scientifically designed, flavormaxxed menu: a “sweet heat” beet salad, a favorite of Mr. Palank’s; salmon glazed with miso and gochujang, instead of yuzu (which I could not find at the nearest Whole Foods); and brownies with a miso-caramel drizzle.
At home in my kitchen, I whirled around feeling slightly manic. I took some creative liberties: I plated my beets with a swirl of labne, instead of goat cheese, adding sumac and lemon in addition to the requisite drizzle of hot honey. To my miso-gochujang marinade, I added a dash of sesame oil. I asked my boyfriend, David, to mix a classic Paloma but to add coconut water, a New York Times recipe we had discussed making before. I was going off script by discarding the drink suggestions of the Beck flavor scientists — but in a sense, I was merely embodying the principle of “rule rebellion,” which Beck Flavors had said was a top food and beverage trend this year.
I added, too, jasmine rice with scallions and butter, and roasted broccoli finished with a tahini-lemon-garlic sauce.