After seven years, Fat + Flour’s Grand Central Market location will close permanently on Sunday, May 24. Pastry chef, author, and James Beard Foundation Award semifinalist Nicole Rucker tells Eater that Fat + Flour’s lease is ending and she chose not to renew it. Though it is a loss for Downtown Los Angeles, Rucker will continue to operate her larger standalone Culver City location.
Starting as a temporary pop-up at Grand Central Market, Rucker made her then-month-old Fat + Flour stall permanent in 2019. That was one year after she opened and closed her celebrated Fairfax cafe, Fiona, in 2018. In the midst of operating a busy bakery that sold a healthy amount of banana cream pies, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and her fan-favorite chocolate chess
pie, Rucker wrote two cookbooks. In 2019, she published Dappled: Baking Recipes for Fruit Lovers: A Cookbook and Fat + Flour: The Art of a Simple Bake: A Cookbook, which was recognized by the New York Times as one of the best cookbooks of 2025. Rucker was also a James Beard Foundation Award semifinalist in 2024 and in 2025 for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker.
When Eater last spoke with Rucker in 2023, she had just opened the Culver City location. Her team operated the Grand Central Market stall out of a compact 125 square feet, and the Westside location provided the opportunity to become a full-service cafe with wood tables, an expanded retail market, and more room to prepare breakfast, savory scones, granola, and salads, similar to those Rucker made during her tenure at Gjelina Take Away.
It’s fairly rare for a stand to become available in Grand Central Market, so the next question may be what replaces Fat + Flour Downtown. Currently, Bastion and Fat + Flour are the only other bakeries in the 109-year-old bazaar. On Instagram, Grand Central Market commented the following under Rucker’s post: “Nicole Rucker, we love you and the entire team at Fat + Flour. Thank you for an incredible seven years.”
The Fat + Flour team provided a statement for Eater: “After almost seven years, it’s time for us to move on from our wonderfully supportive community and first location at Grand Central Market. We are extremely grateful to the Downtown community and the management of the market for letting us grow there.” Her Instagram announcement is below.
Fat + Flour remains open at Grand Central Market until Sunday, May 24.
