Boogie Bakery & Bistro opens its first US site in Manhattan
A Croatian sourdough concept built around a patented fermenter lands in Washington Heights, backed by the family behind Delmonico's steakhouse.
Boogie Bakery & Bistro opened its first US location in Manhattan's Washington Heights on 15 October, the American debut of a Croatian sourdough concept now backed by the family behind Delmonico's steakhouse.
Delmonico's Hospitality Group, led by owner and executive culinary partner Dennis Turcinovic, brought the brand over; group executive chef Adam Plitt gave the New York menu its culinary direction. The bakery is an all-day bistro, open six days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
A Croatian ferment comes to Manhattan
A Croatian fermenter, a steakhouse family's backing, and a bet that technology can make sourdough boringly consistent.
Boogie's sourdough is built on Boogie Lab, a Croatian company whose patented, AI-assisted “smart fermenter” is already used to sell bread wholesale in European supermarkets. Each loaf uses three ingredients — flour, water and salt, with no commercial yeast or additives — and takes three to four hours to make, a process designed to hold steady despite shifts in temperature, humidity and altitude.
“Real sourdough has always come down to flour, water, salt, and time. Time has always been the hard part,” Turcinovic said.
The menu runs from pastries, sandwiches, sourdough pizza and whole loaves by day to a dinner list with a charcuterie plate, salads, and entrées including sourdough mushroom lasagna, chicken milanaise and steak frites. There is also a bar. Neither prices nor the seat count were disclosed.
A neighbourhood spot with bigger plans
“We built Boogie to be a neighbourhood restaurant first,” Turcinovic said of the Washington Heights location, even as the group plans to grow the concept across the US. Delmonico's has already moved into wholesale and is building a production plant in New Jersey this autumn to bake bread at scale; bread at individual Boogie Bakery sites will still be made on site.
It is the second new European-rooted concept to land in Manhattan this month, after Thomas Straker opened his first restaurant outside London in Soho. Whether an AI-tuned fermenter reads as a gimmick or a genuine fix for inconsistent sourdough is a question the neighbourhood, not the press release, will settle.
