Meet the French Duo Making Their Grandma’s Recipes in NYC
The Deli is an ode to the artisanal food makers of New York. Two weeks ago, we introduced Pastiche Foods by Romi Hefetz. This week, we spoke to Ilana Wharshavksy who co-founded Crème Caramelle with Elisa Tordjmann in the midst of the pandemic. The duo, who met five years ago at a dinner party in New York, are both French--Wharshavsky grew up in Israel, and Tordjmann is from Paris--and share a love for making their family recipes truly accessible.
The Product: Simple, high-quality fruit tarts, cookies, challah breads, and cakes inspired by grandma’s recipes.
The Deli Pick: Raspberry tart
How To Buy: Order online at least a day in advance. Delivery available in Manhattan and some of Brooklyn. Pickup available from 57 Prince St., 4R.
Price: $7-$40.
I was doing a food blog for a long time, Chez Ilana, because I wanted to share my recipes and show people how to make things. And then, when things started closing down [because of COVID], people began to ask where they could buy my food, so I started cooking for people. I thought it could be cool and I started making a logo for myself, but I didn’t really have a concept yet.
In September 2020, Elisa, my co-founder, was [living in Paris, and helped her boyfriend move to New York City]. A lot of bakeries were closing. She had this idea to create something that differentiates us as a brand because so many girls were selling baked goods on Instagram. What we wanted to do is a whole package where you have high quality baked goods, but you also have that beautiful packaging, and it's something that you want to give to someone. A week after, Crème Caramelle was born and Elisa never went back to Paris.
With Crème Caramelle, everything goes back to our roots. I'm French, my mother's French. Elisa grew up in France, too, so we were like, why don't we use all our recipes from our childhood, our families, our grandmas? We realized those are the best. The ingredients are simple, and it's just the process that's time [intensive]. But that's what I want for my bakery. I just want simple ingredients, and grandma recipes. They have those secrets where they can make anything out of a few ingredients.
People think of French patisserie as a very luxurious, intricate thing, and we want it to be more of an everyday treat. We really want to modernize the industry of challah breads, too. I think challah breads are very traditional, and we want it to be a daily thing, just like our tarts.
We're in the process of raising funds to be able to scale our business. The step in between where we are and where we want to be is having that space of our own where we can produce as much as possible. Starting this business during COVID taught us that we don't necessarily need a brick-and-mortar store or cafe. Our dream is to have these luxury food trucks around the city where you would just pick up your little tart.
Greatest hit: Challah breads! When we picked out our favorite items from our grandmother's cookbook, the challah bread was the first thing we added on our menu. We both grew up eating challah breads on Friday nights, and it's something I bake every single day of the week. We do so many different flavors but Olive Rosemary and Chocolate are the most popular.
Most underrated product: I wish people would buy the apple tart on the daily because it's a go-to for me. The almond cookies just melt in your mouth. They have that combination of almond extract and orange zest and are dairy and gluten free. It's something that a lot of people don’t expect.
Tips to best enjoy your products: If you have time, wrap the challah in tin foil and warm it in the oven for ten minutes. It really makes a big difference. A lot of people like the combination of the flourless chocolate cake and the raspberry tart and just kind of mix it around on their plate.
Favorite places to eat in NY: Recently I had a really amazing pizza at this place called Vic's in SoHo. For a nice, easy panini lunch I go to a very low-key cafe called Via Quadronno in the Upper East Side that reminds me of Europe.
Food makers to follow: I love Brins Jams’ story. Similarly to us, she started small out of her home kitchen but recently sold her company.
