After nearly two years of planning, the owners of Essen Bakery are ready to open their second shop this Friday in Norris Square near Fishtown.
The Jewish bakery, known for its bagels and chocolate halva babka, will debut Essen North in a 2,800-square-foot storefront at 110 West Berks St. The space is set up to be more of a sit-down cafe than the shop in East Passyunk, which opened in 2016.
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Essen Bakery is led by pastry chef Tova du Plessis, a four-time James Beard Award nominee who formerly worked at Michael Solomonov's Israeli restaurant Zahav and at the Rittenhouse Hotel. Du Plessis is originally from South Africa, where she grew up in an Orthodox Jewish community in Johannesburg. The menu at Essen Bakery is inspired by recipes from her early childhood, including the shop's challah bread, chocolate rugelach and black-and-white cookies.
At Essen North, du Plessis will be joined by her husband, Brad, who said he plans to expand the bakery's wholesale and catering division.
The bakery regularly makes seasonal items for Jewish holidays.
The extended wait to open Essen North was caused partly by Tova's diagnosis with narcolepsy, the chronic sleep disorder that causes daytime drowsiness. In February, she held a salted maple pie sale at the East Passyunk shop to raise money for medical research into the condition.
“It’s been a struggle and a very long couple of years trying to get this business open, but we finally made it, and we are so relieved and excited to be opening,” Tova said in a news release about the opening of Essen North.
In addition to the pastry menu, Tova said the new shop will have a special focus on bagels. The menu also will have a selection of breakfast and lunch sandwiches.
Essen North will be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting Friday.
