Israeli soldier puts down weapon, picks up whisk, creates wonder.
Tzurit Or is the founder of Tatte Bakery & Café. Following her compulsory military service and twelve-year career as a film producer, Tzurit came to the United States — with her dog — for reasons related to her personal life. Here in the U.S., her professional life turned back to the baking skills she learned from her mother. She began baking around the clock in her Boston home and selling her creations at Boston farmers’ markets. The enthusiastic reception her baked good received led her to open her first bakery and café in Brookline.
While Tzurit qualifies as a self-trained pastry chef, baking, since childhood, has always been part of her life. But turning to baking as a commercial enterprise in a foreign country was an endeavor filled with challenges few others could have overcome.
“It was far from easy. Being an owner is lonely — no one will spare you the self-doubt. I was on my own. I had no partners, no financial support.” “When I first started, I had no knowledge of what Americans baked — I didn’t know their traditions. I only knew my culture’s approach to baking, so I decided to go with what I knew. I basically applied my life’s travels around the globe, my management, creative thinking, and planning into building Tatte.” “I was busy figuring out how to run a business . . . while trying to make it happen in America without knowing much of the language and with no friends or family to support me. I did not know anyone in Boston or anyone from the restaurant and food scene.” Tzurit was lifted to success by the irresistible pastries and baked goods she created, and the warm reception given to Tatte by the warm (just kidding) people of Boston. To succeed in that town, she had to be — and was — something special.
Starting with carefully-sourced, high-quality ingredients, Tzurit’s passion and culinary artistry — her bold compilations of flavors and textures — allow her to create unique pastries with an artful look and exceptional flavor. The rapid growth of Tatte worries me, but I think that Tzurit has managed — so far — to sustain the extreme care and attention to detail which are still reflected in the pastry you select for yourself when you visit one of Tatte’s shops.
Those shops also reflect Tzurit’s vision and care. Each space is carefully curated, homey, warm, comfortable. You want in and you want to stay. The shop’s visual style — clean, well-lit, subway-tile walls, marble-top tables — reflects Tzurit’s ability to create a space out front to enjoy what she’s producing in back.
A note: If you visit Tatte’s website, you’ll see lots of attractive photographs. But none of the people in those photos has a head. Don’t be concerned. When you go, you’ll see that everyone, on both sides of the counter there, has a head just like the rest of us.
