Laminated croissants, seasonal coffees, decadent cakes and elegant pastries. Boules and baguettes.
These are just a few of the offerings at a new downtown Ann Arbor bakery from a familiar owner.
For Sava Farah, owner of several acclaimed restaurants under her Pulpo Group umbrella, opening a bakery wasn’t part of the plan. That is until Farah met pastry chef Jin Capobianco Gorian, executive pastry chef at the group’s Dixboro Project.
Now they are co-owners of Orijin Bakery at 617 E. Liberty in downtown Ann Arbor. Orijin will welcome customers starting at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 19, and stay open until sold out.
“Orijin is an extension of the culinary tradition Gorian has built in Dixboro Village, bringing her incredible craft to a larger audience,”
according to a news release.
Gorian brings to Orijin Bakery her specialty − classic viennoiserie (pastries and baked goods from yeast-leavened doughs, often including rich ingredients like butter and eggs), croissants, custom cakes and breads.
“Orijin is the embodiment of everything I love most about the art of pastry: the ability to bring a small moment of joy to someone’s day through something made by hand and with intention,” Gorian said in a news release.
On the menu is a mix of sweet and savory, from classic croissants to the everything-scallion cream cheese twist. Expect a variety of pastries, including a puff pastry tart with vanilla pastry cream that gets a Basque-like dark caramel finish.
There are cookies, including the gluten-free Dixb-oreo. Available whole or by the slice are seasonal tarts and quiche, plus a selection of vegan croissants and pastries. Orijin will have a full line of bread, baguettes and focaccia items. Gorian’s Palla Romana is a Roman-style pizza bread. The bread will feature seasonal ingredients and is on the menu topped with a fresh tomato sauce, seasonal zucchini and citrusy lemon ricotta.
A spacious basement outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment of the new bakery is where all of Gorian and staff’s creating, baking and final touches happen. There’s even a separate room just for croissant making. Orijin’s baking equipment can do high volume, baking up 200 items at a time, Gorian said.
Inside, the bakery is long and narrow and will seat about 20. Its design has cool and warm tones with rustic, antique-ish features, including some of its benches, tables and chairs. Its beverage side will serve Arbor Teas, and its coffee-based drinks are from RoosRoast Coffee, along with rotating specialty seasonal beverages.
“Every facet of Orijin is designed to reflect our intention to encourage guests to slow down and stay awhile,” said Farah in a news release. “We're excited to welcome in friends new and old and create an experience for all where thoughtful design, craftsmanship and genuine hospitality come together every day.”
Orijin Bakery, Farah said, will have a no-laptop policy.
“We want people to come into the space and enjoy the company they are with and the food products,” she said.
Orijian Bakery opens in the space formerly occupied by Molly’s Cupcake’s, which shuttered in April.
“We need more local businesses,” Farah said. “(Downtown) lost a lot of its character.”
But Farah added that parking is a challenge to sustain Ann Arbor businesses.
The bakery is just around the corner from Farah’s Sava’s restaurant, a downtown Ann Arbor mainstay since 2007. On South State Street, Sava’s offers breakfast, lunch and dinner every day as well as catering.
Gorian, 36, said she always wanted to be a chef. She was born in Seoul, lived in Michigan for a time before the family moved to Buffalo, New York, where she grew up.
Gorian trained in the baking and pastry program at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. From there, she took her classically trained techniques to five-star hotel restaurants in Vail, Colorado, as well as New York eateries including the recently shuttered Lambs Club. Gorian even worked for chef, restaurateur, and Food Network star Geoffrey Zakarian.
With artisan baking on the rise after COVID, Gorian said she left New York for Austin and then for Chicago.
It was 2023, while working in Chicago, that Gorian saw that Farah’s acclaimed Dixboro Project was seeking an executive pastry chef.
Since joining the Dixboro Project, Gorian has made a mark in the Ann Arbor area for her love of the craft and high-in-demand pastries also offered at the Boro bakery on the Dixboro property. At Orijin, Gorian will still make the desserts and baked goods for Sava's and the Dixboro Project.
Farah’s Dixboro Project property is a multi-concept restaurant setting that spans more than 20 acres with a farm on the property in Dixboro Village, a few miles northeast of downtown Ann Arbor. The Dixboro Project landed at No. 3 on the Detroit Free Press 2022 10 Best New Restaurants list.
Now, with the bakery under the Pulpo Group umbrella, Farah said that across the restaurants, they employ about 400 people.
Orijin Bakery is at 617 E. Liberty St., in Ann Arbor. It's open 8 a.m.-7 p.m. daily or until the bakery sells out.
Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @SusanMariecooks. Subscribe to the Eat Drink Freep newsletter for insider scoops on food and dining in metro Detroit.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: New Ann Arbor bakery has a special room just for making croissants
