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Sweet Melissa Patisserie (est. 1998) is a French-influenced bakery and caf\u00e9 where all of the baked goods and savory offerings are made from scratch and rolled by hand.\u00a0 The quality of the delicious croissants, danish, pies, cookies, cakes and tarts is evident, as only the finest quality ingredients are used.<\/p>
As a husband and wife team, Owner Christopher Rafano and Executive Chef Melissa Murphy Rafano have lived in Hunterdon County since 2010. \u00a0Since relocating from Brooklyn, they have dreamed of opening their patisserie for the residents of Hunterdon.\u00a0 The new location in Clinton Township, NJ, opened\u00a0May of 2016,\u00a0already has a wonderful and fervent local following.\u00a0 Sweet Melissa Patisserie\u00a0was just awarded \u201cBest Bakery\u201d and \u201cBest Brunch\u201d by Hunterdon Happenings 2017.<\/p>
\u200b<\/span><\/p>Chris and Melissa met in 2004, and Chris instantly fell in love with Sweet Melissa\u2019s.\u00a0 He put his heart and soul into helping Sweet Melissa\u2019s work, and decided to change his career (formal\u00a0owner of a successful cleaning and maintenance business,\u00a0in Brooklyn) and put all of his effort into the patisserie.\u00a0 Chris’s extensive prior business experience has helped to build the brand, reputation, and physical store of Sweet Melissa’s.\u00a0 Today, not only is he the President of the company, but he is the savory chef of the patisserie, and also runs the day to day operations of the business. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
Melissa is a native New Yorker and a graduate of New York\u2019s French Culinary Institute (1995), where she has served on the Advisory Board committee and was the recipient of the \u201cMost Outstanding Alumni\u201d award in 1998. \u00a0Sweet Melissa Patisserie has received the prestigious award from the Zagat Marketplace for \u201cBest Tarts and Pies\u201d in all of NY during the shop\u2019s 15 year tenure in Brooklyn.<\/p>
Prior to Sweet Melissa Patisserie\u2019s inception, Melissa had worked in many fine restaurants throughout New York City and the Hamptons, and has written and been featured in numerous articles for magazines such as The New York Times, Food and Wine, Bride\u2019s Magazine, Fine Cooking, Quick and Simple, \u00a0The New York Times Magazine and Pastry Arts & Design. \u00a0She has received outstanding reviews from the Zagat Marketplace, New York Times, the NY Daily News, the NY Post, Time Out NY, New York Magazine and more.<\/p>
Melissa won a national recipe contest sponsored by the Almond Board of California (\u201cMarzipandimonium!\u201d 2006) and competed on the \u201cTV Food Network Challenge: Edible Ornaments\u201d (December 2007), where she captured the grand prize.\u00a0 She was also featured on \u201cThrowdown with Bobby Flay\u201d (episode Cowboy Quiche-2010), where she teaches Bobby how to make the perfect (winning!) crust, as well as Planet green\u2019s \u201cWasted\u201d ( 2010), where Sweet Melissa\u2019s ( Brooklyn) gets an eco-friendly makeover. \u00a0Melissa recently appeared alongside Mario Batali in webisodes celebrating Hellman\u2019s 100th Anniversary, revamping their famous chocolate cake. \u00a0<\/p>
Her first cookbook, The Sweet Melissa Baking Book (Viking Studio) was released in March of 2008, to numerous accolades and outstanding reviews (available through the website,\u00a0here<\/a>).\u00a0 It was named as National Public Radio\u2019s “Top 10 Cookbooks of 2008.”<\/p>Currently, Melissa and Chris live\u00a0on their farm in Readington Township with their 4 year old son CJ. \u00a0They breed and raise horses, a passion they share, and Melissa trains and shows these horses for hunter\/jumper competitions. \u00a0CJ is just learning to ride and enjoys running barefoot on their farm, fishing in their river, and feeding the goats and chickens almost as much as he loves baking alongside his momma at their beautiful shop.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","listing-category":[114],"list-tags":[],"location":[97],"class_list":["post-1025","listing","type-listing","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","listing-category-bakery","features-curbside-pickup","features-outsidedining","features-take-out","location-lebanon"],"cubewp_post_meta":[],"taxonomies":["Bakery","Curbside pickup","Outside Dining","Take-Out","Lebanon"],"yoast_head":"\n
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