Armando Lacayo

The Climb

American University, then Wall Street and Silicon Valley through 2014, gave Armando Lacayo a long apprenticeship in precision before he moved into pastry. That path runs through finance, but the useful carryover is operational: discipline, repetition, and the ability to reset. At Arsicault Bakery, Lacayo works in a field where flour, butter, and timing replace markets and metrics, and where consistency has to be earned batch by batch.

Today

Croissants and kouign-amann are the core of the work at Arsicault Bakery, and both depend on control as much as technique. Armando Lacayo describes the pace plainly: “It’s a lot of hurrying and waiting.” In pastry terms, that means knowing when to move and when to hold back. The process is built on managed pauses, folds, and heat, with each step affecting the next. What reaches the case is the result of that measured sequence.

Signature

Kouign-amann, croissants, almond and chocolate croissants, and almond stuffed with Madagascar vanilla cream make up Armando's signature dishes. The line-up shows a baker working across textures and formats: the kouign-amann with its caramelized edge, the croissants built for lift, the almond and chocolate croissants leaning into a familiar profile, and the almond stuffed with Madagascar vanilla cream pushing into a softer finish. Each one sits in the same discipline of dough handling and timing, with the details doing the heavy lifting.

In Their Words “It took 15 years to make a decent croissant.” “It’s a lot of hurrying and waiting.”

Recognition

Armando Lacayo has received Bon Appétit — Best New Bakery in America (2016). Best New Bakery in America is the honor attached to Armando Lacayo, and it tracks a bakery that has earned attention through repetition rather than display. The recognition reflects the work behind the case: long practice, steady refinement, and a focus on pastry built layer by layer. In that frame, Lacayo's move from finance to baking reads less like a leap than a retooling, with the end result judged by the same standard every day.