The Food Tease
By Brigitte Hasbron
When you think of sophistication, visions of avant-garde fashion paired with opulent decor easily come to mind. For Fred Naggar, this glam aesthetic served as a stepping-stone to success in a realm that’s every bit as stylish, but infinitely more delicious. Today Fred’s acclaimed for fashioning elegant edible confections as creative director of Delysées Luxury Desserts.
Born in Paris, Fred came to Canada as a youth and later graduated from Toronto’s George Brown College with a culinary arts degree. Then he sidestepped into the world of fashion. He shares that his mother knew someone who could get him into a high-end fashion store called TNT, so that’s where he worked for five years. By the end of that tenure at TNT, he notes, “I was in charge of all operations and followed the stores. Then I moved to Montreal to learn how to sell wholesale. I started selling two clothing brands that nobody had heard of at that time: 7 For All Mankind and Juicy Couture, where the latter was only selling t-shirts. I started my wholesale company for clothes and teamed up with someone in LA to create a jeans line called Rock & Republic, which became one of the highest-selling brands in the world for jeans back in 2003.”
After a successful 10 years in the industry, the economic downturn in the United States prompted Fred to make a change: He decided to move back to Toronto to reunite with his family. This is where he met his wife, Khariz Naggar. Together, they embarked on a new adventure in the world of high-end desserts.
Back then in Toronto, Fred says, nobody was doing high-end desserts compared to what was happening in France. At the time, café gourmand was all the rage on the other side of the Atlantic. Foodies, fashionistas and stylish date-night couples enthused about this tres chic culinary concept: an artistic display of deluxe, bite-size desserts served, with a coffee drink and a flourish, at the end of a meal.
The taste for high-style, high-end desserts was just beginning to catch on over here, so Fred and his wife started leading the way. Despite never imagining himself in the pastry business, he—and she—set out to revolutionize Toronto’s dessert scene and, thanks to dedication and passion, their sweet venture flourished. “It became one of the best things that happened to me in my life,” he shares.
“It is still an artisanal process; everything is done by hand. I want people to understand that each dessert requires a lot of manual work, and that nothing is processed by machines. We use only the freshest ingredients and avoid adding any additives, holding agents or artificial essences. Our approach is entirely natural.” – Fred Naggar, creative director of Delysées Luxury Desserts
There are decadent cakes—a light-as-air pistachio cake called Hugo is one of the best sellers, macarons, eclairs, croissants chouquettes and other divine pastries to satiate sweet-toothed gourmands and elevate special occasions.
In Toronto there are three sites: at the Yorkdale Mall, at 161 Yorkville Avenue and at 131 Ossington Avenue. The latter two are Bar Delysées locations, offering the deluxe desserts paired with cocktails. Since November, there’s been an Ottawa location, too, at 225 Marché Way. Offering unique desserts, delectable pastries, upscale décor and grand ambience, this new Lansdowne destination is one to check out.
There are also plans to expand Delysées Luxury Desserts across Canada and North America. With a commitment to staying at the top of their game and producing the highest quality products, Fred and Khariz Naggar have indeed found the recipe for sweet success.
Bio
Brigitte Hasbron is owner of The Food Tease (www.thefoodtease.ca), a combined culinary and travel blog that highlights the best that food, wine and travel have to offer.
