Ryan Butler
Butler Bake Shop | Brooklyn
October 2019
After watching cooking shows on PBS in his Carmel, New York home, 12-year-old Ryan Butler knew he wanted to work in pastry. Butler started working in a local bakery at 16 and then enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America. After graduating in 2000, Butler moved to New York City and worked at Park Avenue Café under acclaimed Chef Richard Leach before stepping into a role at Tocqueville. In 2006, Butler managed pastry operations at the Gramercy Park Hotel and then took the reins as executive pastry chef at The Django. Next, he moved to Madam Geneva where he combined Asian flavors with British favorites, before going pure English with pastry at Mary Queen of Scots.
In 2013, he moved to Piora, where his work as executive pastry chef helped the restaurant earn a Michelin star. In 2016, Butler left fine dining to open bakery-café Butler Bake Shop and Espresso Bar with partners Rod Coligado and Hugo Murray. In 2018, they opened a second location in Dumbo where they host weekly small group baking classes. Butler has given demonstrations at the Institute of Culinary Education and the International Culinary Center, as well as at the New York Chocolate Show. He is a contributing writer for Inside F&B and has cooked at the James Beard House on multiple occasions.
