Peter BlandinoThe Patriot Ledger
QUINCY ‒ If you can't wait another two months for Masons Steak House, Jimmy Liang's latest and grandest project, you can at least preview what the dessert menu might look like.
Liang and pastry chef Robert Gonzalez have opened a second counter at YoCha in North Quincy under the name Niveaux Pâtisserie, offering desserts and breads.
A soft opening will run through August as Liang awaits delivery of a new awning, tables and chairs, as well as a liquor license needed to serve co*cktails alongside a weekend brunch menu. The grand opening is set for Sept. 4.
Quincy's newest star chef leading the way at Niveaux Pâtisserie
On Friday, Gonzalez, who has the chemical compound for chocolate tattooed on his forearm, stood before a tall pan rack laden with black garlic fougasse, flaky croissants and braided challah bread.
Gonzalez, still in his early 30s, has accomplished much since graduating from Miami Culinary Institute. He moved to Boston in 2015 and worked at Bistro du Midi, earning semifinalist honors from Eater magazine's "young guns" talent search in 2016.
He later headed the pastry department at Cultivar at the Ames Hotel in Boston before assuming the role of culinary manager at Concord Market.
In 2022, Gonzalez wrote "Baking: The Ultimate Cookbook." This year, he appeared on the Food Network's "Spring Baking Championship."
One of his signature creations at Niveaux Pâtisserie, the Kalamansi, is shaped and colored like the Southeast Asian citrus from which it takes its name. A bright green exterior envelopes a feathery coconut spongecake and Kalamansi curd.
Gonzalez's "Niveaux," the French word for layers, gives the new bakery its name and hearkens back to a specialty from Gonzalez's Miami days.
It also describes the layers of hazelnut and dark chocolate mousse, ganache, crispy crepes called "feuilletine" and other decadent ingredients all stacked to make the chocolate bars.
If customers still have room, Gonzalez's dark chocolate and cherry cake is topped with a honeycomb design and shimmering mirror glaze. Inside, a rich, not-too-sweet dark chocolate mousse blends with the cherries hidden at the cake's core.
'We're a like a boy band, but with food.' The quintet behind Niveaux Pâtisserie and (soon) Masons Steak House
Speaking of the collaboration behind the new bakery and the soon-to-open steakhouse, Liang alluded to the vocal quintet NSYNC.
"He's Lance Bass," he said, pointing to his partner Kevin Long, former chef at Tosca in Hingham and founder of the Boston Pasta Co.
Long described the bakery's weekend brunch menu, set to launch in early September, as "beautiful" and "delicate," much like Gonzalez' selection of breads and desserts.
Brunch will include what Long calls a "riff on the classic escargot," snails baked in celery butter with puff pastry at its base. Other items will include soufflé pancakes and caviar served atop a Japanese variety of milk bread, Long said.
Liang's team also includes Michael Morway, who worked as head chef at Branch Line in Watertown, Trillium in Boston and Explorateur on the Common. Morway opened Nosh Tavern in Plymouth in 2013.
The fifth member of the quintet is Ming Cao, the head sushi chef for Liang's JP Fuji Group, which has opened six Japanese restaurants in Greater Boston. Fuji Group is also behind B Cafe and Shabu, just across the street from Niveaux Pâtisserie at Hanco*ck Street and Billings Road.
Cao said he's worked with Gonzalez for about a year and a half in preparation for Masons and praised the young pastry chef's inventiveness.
"If he can dream it, he can make it," he said.
With this group around him, Liang, who has owned restaurants for 25 years and worked in the industry even longer, said he feels the excitement of someone setting out, as he eyes a late-September, early-October opening for Masons.
"I think I'm starting now," Liang said. "The last 25 years was building the foundation. Now we're ready to rock 'n' roll."
- Hours: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. or until sold out. YoCha, which shares a space with Niveaux Pâtisserie, is open noon to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and noon to 10 p.m. weekends.
- Location: 406 Hanco*ck St.
- Contact: 617-328-8883
Peter Blandino covers Quincy for The Patriot Ledger. Contact him at pblandino@patriotledger.com.
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