Pastry has and always will hold a special place in my heart. That is why I am choosing to focus on Nathaniel Reid Bakery, Missouri’s best French pastry shop. Owned by my friend Pastry Chef Nathaniel Reid, the bakery and pastry shop is located in the charming suburb of Kirkwood in St. Louis County.
I first became acquainted with Nathaniel many years ago when he worked for a short time for the University Club as a dishwasher while he attended the University of Missouri. Since those early days, he graduated from the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, France, and has traveled, trained, and honed his skills by working with some of the best pastry chefs in the world. He has also competed for some of the most prestigious awards in the field, winning the title of Pastry Chef of the Year in the US Pastry Competition in 2010. He made the leap and opened his own pastry shop and bakery in 2016, which focuses on both sweet and savory pastries and baked goods.
St. Louis.
Focusing predominantly on takeout, the bakery also features a small seven-seat counter where one can enjoy a light breakfast pastry or savory lunch sandwich along with a good coffee or cappuccino. Chef Nathaniel describes the savory side of his offerings, some of his favorite sandwiches, such as the Prosciutto Sandwich with Gruyère, cornichon, and Dijon aioli served on a buttered baguette. He also serves a Smoked Pork Sandwich made with coleslaw, chipotle aioli, and cilantro, served on Parmesan-red onion focaccia. Like all great French pastry shops, he uses butter croissants for the sandwiches, such as the Breakfast Sandwich, made with smoked bacon, ham, and scrambled egg on a croissant topped with a rich and creamy béchamel sauce. The shop also features quiches and salads.
Nathaniel says sweet and savory tastes should be focused on equally in baking. That is not always the case in many pastry shops that only focus on the sweet side. That being said, his shop is a veritable sweet haven when it comes to the sugary side of baking and pastry.
Using only the finest ingredients such as chocolate, fruits, butter, nuts, and flour, the traditional French offerings include small and large pastries and cakes. Macarons filled with rich chocolate ganache or various house-made jams are some of the shop’s specialties. Other cookies and small pastries include his Cinnamon-Sugar Palmier, Raspberry-Lemon Financier, and Chocolate Chip-Pecan Cookie, for which he uses locally grown pecans from the McGraw Hilltop Pecan Farm, based in St. Peters.
Displayed in the bakery’s showcase is an array of ultra-fancy individual cakes known as petits gâteaux. One of these cakes is called the Amber, which is made with salted caramel mousse, sablé Breton, and pecan caramel, and another is called the Jarmo, which is made with pistachio dacquoise, pistachio mousseline, and fresh raspberries. All these cakes are beautifully crafted in shape, color, shine, and garnishment. The domed Ruby is layered with chocolate-raspberry tea mousse, and raspberry compote on chocolate cake, enrobed in a ruby red mirror glaze. These cakes can also be ordered in larger sizes.
Some of the more unique offerings of the shop are its line of specialty jams all made from fresh fruit that are cooked down to the proper consistency without added preservatives. Some of them are Cranberry-Cherry, Raspberry-Cassis-Violet, and Strawberry-Rhubarb— all of which are delicious on croissants. Another item in the sweet category is its line of Valrhona Chocolate Tablets (chocolate bars, in layman’s terms) made from the finest Valrhona French chocolate. Two of them that catch my fancy are the 40% Milk Chocolate with Caramelized Pecans and the 64% Dark Chocolate with Crispy Pearls.
Hospitality is at the center of what Chef Nathaniel believes to be the shop’s greatest achievement and is something he emphasizes to his staff. This is apparent in his statement, “We strive to treat our guests that come into the shop like they are visiting us at home.” He went on to say that they “are constantly focused on doing all the little things right.”
Chef Nathaniel says, “Celebrate a good moment in life with a little cake alone,” but I would add, perhaps with someone special. Vive les pâtisseries Françaises!
To learn more about the restaurant, visit NRBakery.com. Visit MissouriLife.com/glazed-cakes-nathaniel-reid to find a detailed recipe Chef Nathaniel shared with Missouri Life to make one of his gorgeous cakes with two glaze options.
All photos courtesy of Nathaniel Reid Bakery.
This article was originally published in the January/February 2025 edition of Missouri Life.
