Chapter 13: The Croissant War

The croissant became the central front. This was not planned by either of them, but it had its own logic: the croissant was the item that most clearly separated good pastry work from excellent pastry work, it was on both menus, and the food blogger had specifically compared them and found Meridian's marginally superior in lamination, Flour & Finch's marginally superior in butter flavor. Simone improved her lamination. Ferraro's croissant improved the following week — she could tell from the texture, which had the specific quality of someone responding to competition by returning to fundamentals. She improved her lamination again. This continued for three weeks. It was, she admitted privately, making both their croissants significantly better. Ferraro appeared at her delivery entrance on a Wednesday morning in the fourth week with a paper bag. 'I've been trying to match your butter sourcing,' he said. 'Your flavor is from a specific producer. I can't identify it.' She stared at him. 'You're here to ask me for my butter source,' she said. 'I'm here to share information,' he said. 'I know something about lamination that I think you've been trying to figure out. You know something about butter sourcing that I've been trying to figure out.' He held up the bag. 'I brought what I think is the correct next iteration of the lamination technique. You tell me if the butter I used affects the outcome.' She looked at the bag. She looked at him. 'That's not how feuds work,' she said. 'It is if we decide to make better croissants instead of winning,' he said.