Impression: Kelly Jacques

Before she was recognized as one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs, Kelly Jacques was known around Tulane for showing up with freshly baked cookies. It was a simple act that helped her feel at home as part of the first class to enroll after Hurricane Katrina.

Years later, that same spirit of creativity and generosity defines her work at Ayu Bakehouse — a spirit she traces back to her time at Tulane. The bakehouse, located on the corner of Frenchmen and Dauphine streets, features bakery classics like croissants and sourdough bread alongside its own local specialties.

Jacques started at Tulane in 2006. Her first-year class wasn’t very big, she said, but “created a really intimate feeling on campus.”

Jacques initially pursued a pre-med track, but she ultimately majored in glassblowing and international development, with a minor in Africana studies. “Baking was the throughline” that carried her through Tulane, no matter what her major, she said.

Jacques said her circuitous academic path at Tulane serves her daily as a business owner and baker.

“Things come back to help me now, even though I didn’t follow any of those career paths,” she said.

She pointed out how her experience with glassblowing prepared her to work in a kitchen. “It’s working with a heat-sensitive material with a team in a timely way,” she said. “That’s what we’re doing basically all day long.”

Jacques credits Tulane with many small lessons that led her to where she is today, from problem-solving skills to design work to science to understanding her place in the world.

“There was so much potential for whatever you wanted to do,” she said of her time at Tulane. “That’s a mindset I tap back into here that’s amazing.”

After graduating, she started The Bikery, a bicycle-delivery bakery service in New Orleans.

“The most memorable part of it all was that people would give me keys to their house to get in and just leave their wallet on the table, like ‘take whatever you need,’” she said. “I still think that’s kind of magical and very New Orleans.”

Jacques leapt at the opportunity to attend pastry school in New York City. She stayed in New York for a few years after the program, but the entire time, New Orleans was calling her back.

She returned in 2019, followed soon by her friend Samantha Weiss, whom she met at the International Culinary Center in New York City. In 2022, the two began a new venture: opening Ayu Bakehouse, named for an Indonesian word for “beauty” or “joy.”

In addition to classic pastries, Ayu Bakehouse serves up unique local offerings including muffaletta breadsticks and boudin boys. And of course, like any self-respecting bakery in New Orleans, it sells its own beloved king cake every Mardi Gras season.

Jacques will be attending this year’s New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University as a speaker.