Tony’s Pastries’ New Location

Welcome to Tony’s Pastries brand new location at 137 McLaughlin Drive. Opened on July 24th, 2007, this wonderful new patisserie is destined to become a vibrant meeting place for the dessert and coffee crowd of discriminating tastes. Beautifully decorated in a chic European/New York style, its old-world ambience will delight and charm patrons as they enjoy sumptuous, world-class desserts and high-end coffees and teas. In an entirely new concept created by pastry chef/chocolatier Tony Holden, this new enterprise will have the look and feel of an authentic pastry boutique.

Tony Holden is a wizard at creating pastry. Well known in culinary circles as one of the best pastry chefs in Canada, he is also a favourite vendor at the Marché Moncton Market where he has developed a specialized clientele with a taste for fine pastries such as mouth-watering tarts, melt-in-your-mouth cr me brulés, light and airy cheesecakes, tasty meringues, silky mousse cups, and squares in chocolate and fruit flavours. Tony’s new enterprise will afford him more room to create his own special brand of magic and to grow as an independent entrepreneur. This is the latest accomplishment in a stellar career filled with impeccable credentials, merits of excellence, and recognition from the very best in the culinary industry.

Tony Holden has been in the commercial pastry business for 30 years and has worked across Canada at various five-star establishments. He began his career at the tender age of sixteen while still in high school working in the kitchen at the Hotel Newfoundland in St. John’s, Newfoundland, under an Executive Chef from Switzerland. Tony worked part-time while attending Memorial University, eventually completing a three-year program in cooking and bakery at the College of Trades and Technology in St. John’s. He then got a job at the Digby Pines Hotel in Nova Scotia with a team of chefs all from Europe headed by an Executive Chef who studied under celebrity chef Paul Bocuse of France. Tony then returned to the New Hotel Newfoundland in 1982 and on to the Algonquin in 1984. He became the Executive Pastry Chef at the Keltic Lodge in Cape Breton in 1985 where he spent the next ten years. In 1995, he went to the Jasper Park Lodge in Alberta as Executive Pastry Chef before moving to Moncton in 1997 as the Executive Pastry Chef at the Hotel Beausejour. After five years, Tony had the urge to face the challenge of going into business for himself, becoming an independent pastry chef with many business clients to his credit.

Over the years, Tony has worked with some of the best chefs in the business, including Ewald Notter, the champion of blown sugar, and has taken a course from Joel Belouet’s School of Pastry. "I’ve had a great European influence in my work," says Tony. "Working with both Swiss and German chefs I’ve also continued my education through the years, doing courses with the great masters."

Tony is passionate about his craft. Driven and self-taught, he is a perfectionist and a genius with pastry. "Pastry making is an exact science," says Tony. "In other forms of cooking, any errors can be corrected, but pastry requires exact measurements, balance, thought, and lots of practise." The secret to great pastry is all in the ingredients. "I use only the finest quality ingredients," says Tony. "No trans fats, no margarine or shortening – only pure butter, real whipped cream, bourbon vanilla bean, and Valrhona chocolate – the premiere chocolate in the world." The secret to Tony’s success? He can successfully incorporate ideas from several different sources combined into one recipe to make it his own. "I can take the best of all worlds to arrive at a fusion of ideas. My signature chocolate mousse on cheesecake is such a piece and it has met with rave reviews!"

Tony also specializes in custom wedding cakes, working with clients to design a cake that will have that "wow" factor. Using only the best quality ingredients, Tony uses Italian butter créme, gum paste, and rolled fondant techniques to arrive at a cake that is truly memorable. Often working late into the night, Tony enters another realm when creating pastry. It’s an almost spiritual experience. "That’s how I know I’m doing what I’m meant to do," says Tony. Indeed, Tony has the power to transform people through his creations. Savouring his pastry is an experience bordering on the divine – it’s like falling in love. "I get a sense of gratification when I see people enjoying my pastry," says Tony. "That’s the best feeling!"

Tony is a family man with wife June and three children, Christopher, Shauna, and Jordan. For Tony, it’s all about family first! A true renaissance man, he unwinds with another passion in his life – hockey! Open, friendly, and down-to-earth, Tony, as a true Newfoundlander, exudes a Maritime warmth so unusual in a person who has moved in the rarified circles of world class chefs.

Tony has had the privilege of creating pastry for the likes of the late Lady Diana, Prince Charles, Jack Nicholson, Billy Joel and Christine Brinkley, Bill Gates, and Jacques Chirac and his wife who ordered second helpings of pastry. Tony also created pastry for the 52 Heads of State at the Francophone Summit held in Moncton. Yet, Tony’s favourite venue is the Farmers Market where he loves meeting ordinary people. To paraphrase a line from Rudyard Kipling’s poem, "If," Tony can "walk with kings... [and] not lose the common touch." That’s Tony Holden – pastry chef extraordinaire!