New opening · Williamsburg
Altbau Opens in Williamsburg: Tartine Co-Founder Chad Robertson's First New York Bakery
Tartine co-founder Chad Robertson opened Altbau, his first New York bakery, at 184 N 8th St in Williamsburg on October 29. The 7,500-square-foot space serves his baguettes, sourdough and rye, pastries by Wei Si Phua and Condor coffee, with seating and a stone-mill room upstairs.
By NBT Editors · 2026-10-29
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Chad Robertson, the co-founder of San Francisco's Tartine, opened Altbau in Williamsburg on Thursday, October 29. It is his first New York business, a 7,500-square-foot bakery that New York Magazine's Grub Street calls a "megabakery." The name is German for "old building."
Altbau sits at 184 North 8th Street. The front door is at the end of a long, dedicated alleyway, so the expected line can form off the sidewalk. From the alley you can see into the bread room and prep space, which give way to a glass-and-tile pastry counter and a coffee station pouring beans from Wisconsin's Condor Coffee.
Baguettes, sourdough and rye
The draw is Robertson's baguettes, sourdough and rye, made with West Coast grain varietals as well as einkorn, spelt and rouge de Bordeaux wheat.
Pastries come from chef Wei Si Phua, an alum of Radio Bakery. Expect cinnamon rolls, apple turnovers, buckwheat financiers, a twice-baked chocolate-banana pecan croissant, a cheesecake-stuffed croissant and an "everything" croissant with chive cream cheese. According to Altbau's Instagram, the apple turnover wraps vanilla pastry cream and New York State apples in a buttery rye short pastry.
A stone mill upstairs
To start, flour comes from Brooklyn Granary and longtime Tartine supplier Cairnspring Mills. The plan is to eventually mill grains, einkorn among them, with a stone mill in a glass-encased room on the second floor. "It's very nutrient-dense, but it's also very expensive, so milling our own is really the only way we can use a lot of it," Robertson told Grub Street. Einkorn gives the chocolate-chip cookie a nutty flavor and goes into a light, olive oil-enriched sandwich bread.
Upstairs is the seating area, with no Wi-Fi on purpose: modular stainless-steel furniture by designer Aidan Reinhold, a small staff-curated library of books and magazines, and music from vintage hi-fi speakers. The space holds up to 150 guests and has a pizza oven and a full chef's kitchen, and the team is considering bread, pizza and pasta classes, floral-arranging sessions, kids' workshops and wine tastings under its liquor license. The first pop-up, with Copenhagen's Atelier September, runs November 7 and 8 (sold out).
Before you go
- Address: 184 N 8th Street, Brooklyn (Williamsburg), near the Bedford Av L station - Opened: Thursday, October 29, 2026 - Hours: not yet posted on the official site. Partner Jake Israel says the eventual goal is to stay open until 9 or 10 p.m. on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends - Instagram: @altbaubakery
The team expects a line. NBT plans to visit soon, so look for our own report on the bread and the space.
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