Banque

Banque occupies the old Farmers National Bank, built in 1927 by the architects who designed the Empire State Building. After a decade as a private residence, the restoration kept what mattered: the teller line, the deposit slip table, thirty-seven-foot coffered ceilings, and the original vault, which now holds wine. Arden Fuchs, trained as a pastry chef in Switzerland and Australia with chocolatier experience, opened the place; Paul Kennedy, whom she met in Australia and has worked with as a mentor for nine years, runs the kitchen.

Mornings bring croissants made with imported French butter and Fuchs's bonbons: intensely colored confections in flavors like coconut-kefir lime and pistachio-praline-lemon ganache that look more like jewelry than candy.