![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/07b5df224db28204ee95086a964c24f787-grub-diet-chad-robertson.rvertical.w570.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Altbau<\/a><\/p>\n \n 184 N. 8th St., Williamsburg\n <\/p>\n \n Robertson, who moved to New York this year to open his new bakery. Anyone who knows anything about bread knows Chad Robertson\u2019s name. And anyone who knows Robertson has been praying he\u2019d grace this city with a location of Tartine<\/a>, the California-based bakery he co-founded with his now-ex-wife, Elisabeth Prueitt, since first teasing the idea more than a decade ago. Tartine is of course where Robertson\u2019s reputation as a guru of modern-era sourdough was first established. Since opening in 2002, it\u2019s grown to 13 locations, a Tartine Manufactory<\/a> restaurant, and various cookbooks including Tartine Bread<\/a>, which is a benchmark for home and pro bakers alike.<\/p>\n Robertson has at last come to Brooklyn, although Tartine \u2014 in which he is still involved \u2014 is not. Instead, he is putting the finishing touches on Altbau<\/a>, a 7,500-square-foot space on North 8th Street, just off Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. Robertson says he wasn\u2019t looking for his next bread project \u2014 he was more curious about sourdough pizza, after consulting on F&F Pizzeria\u2019s opening in 2019<\/a> \u2014\u00a0but it was the space that sold him. \u201cIt has windows all the way around and skylights,\u201d he says. \u201cMy New York partners were like, \u2018There just aren\u2019t a lot of buildings like this, it\u2019s very special.\u2019\u201d Fittingly, the name \u201cAltbau\u201d is a German architectural term that refers to prewar turn-of-the-20th-century-era \u201cold buildings,\u201d or as Robertson explains, \u201cvery simple \u2014 it looks like a cartoon drawing of an old building, sort of a homey building.\u201d<\/p>\n Accents within the cathedral-like interior come from maple reclaimed from the historic Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company<\/a> in Long Island City, a ten-story facility that made Sunshine Crackers and Hydrox cookies that was once the world\u2019s largest bakery. Those windows in the new space also drew Robertson in. \u201cAt the original Tartine, the kitchen is open to the street \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s glass. The way the line wraps around the building, everyone is looking directly into the kitchen.\u201d He says his intention is always to build something that guests find appealing, \u201cbut it needs to be nice for me and all the staff that\u2019s working too.\u201d<\/p>\n Altbau will have two enclosed, climate-controlled rooms \u2014 one for pastry (cold), the other for bread baking (warmer) \u2014 and a Bongard four-deck oven. To start, the menu will be simple, evolving as Robertson and his team grow into the space; he\u2019s tapped Pam Yung<\/a> \u2014 a vet of Semilla<\/a> in Brooklyn and Flor<\/a> in London \u2014 to run the place with him. Some of the things they\u2019re working on include a jambon-beurre with local ham, and a BEC made with Japanese tamago instead of the usual griddled egg. There is also a version of the Argentine croissants known as medialunas, real-bran muffins, teacakes marbled with seasonal items like squash blossom and zucchini, focaccia, the occasional pizza, grilled cheese on sprouted rye, and open-faced tartines. Fresh bread will be baked just before lunch, at 11 a.m., and again before dinner around 4 p.m.<\/p>\n An upstairs space will be able to host visiting bakers from around the world \u2014 like Michael Schulze from Brotbruder<\/a> in Freiburg, Germany, for his pretzels; and Bernardo Flores Alan\u00eds<\/a> from BreAd Panaderos<\/a> in Mexico for conchas \u2014 which is another unexpected perk of working in Brooklyn. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to feel lonely in Los Angeles,\u201d Robertson says, joking. \u201cThankfully everyone wants to come to New York.\u201d The second floor features both vintage Tannoy Westminster hi-fi speakers and a 40-inch, medium-size New American Stone Mill<\/a>, which Robertson will use to mill his own flour. When Roberston started baking in the \u201990s, he says the general wisdom was, \u201cYou can\u2019t bake with fresh-milled flour, it\u2019s too volatile, it needs to age \u2014 but that\u2019s not really true.\u201d In fact, a surge of artisan bakers \u2014 among them, Brooklyn Granary & Mill<\/a>, which opened last year<\/a> \u2014 has put a renewed emphasis on regional flours and grains. Robertson will use both in addition to what he gets from Cairnspring Mills<\/a>, a longtime favorite of his in the Pacific Northwest. He\u2019s still getting used to the Northeast\u2019s grain \u2014 our growing season is shorter and our flour is lower in protein than what\u2019s found in California \u2014 but he\u2019s especially excited about one local ingredient: maple syrup. \u201cIt\u2019s expensive on the West Coast,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve got a very good organic source in Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n Illustration: Lauren Tamaki\n <\/p>\n