Essen Bakery’s long-awaited, greatly expanded second shop is finally opening in Kensington

To be a successful baker requires patience.

Just look at Essen Bakery’s second location, opening Friday at Berks and Hope Streets in the Norris Square section of Kensington, near the Berks station of SEPTA’s Market-Frankford line and steps from Gryphon Cafe and Suraya.

The Jewish bakery/cafe from four-time James Beard Award nominee/babka whisperer Tova du Plessis has been in the works for nearly two years. Initially due to open in spring 2023, it has been beset by delays, which du Plessis attributes to contractor issues and permits.

That was only part of the struggle. In early 2023, du Plessis was diagnosed with narcolepsy, the chronic interruption of the sleep cycle, which left her constantly exhausted. She shared her diagnosis on Instagram earlier this year.

Du Plessis credits her doctors, who oversaw months of trial and error, with managing her symptoms. “I still have better days and worse days, but I’m learning that the more I lean into where I am today and the less I push myself to meet my crazy high expectations, the more I am able to accomplish,” she said.

The new bakery‘s delay had at least one welcome side-effect. Du Plessis’ husband, Brad, joined her several months ago as her business partner. A longtime wine sales executive last with KosherWine.com, Brad du Plessis had largely remained apart from Essen, aside from his unofficial role as a delivery driver during the early days of the pandemic. As managing director of both locations, he will oversee catering, wholesale, and e-commerce.

Essen’s new location — with more than 40 seats and a full coffee program from Elixr — is significantly larger than the original, which opened in 2016 on East Passyunk Avenue near Dickinson Street in South Philadelphia. That spot has two tables and small counter.

The menu at Essen North, as they dub this location, will be mostly the same. But with a much larger kitchen, “we’re going to be able to really take on the wholesale side of the business and grow that,” Brad du Plessis said. “We currently have one or two wholesale customers and we get them as much as we possibly can.”

Essen’s signature is the chocolate halva babka, which ships nationwide. Du Plessis also deals in bagels, challah, black-and-white cookies, salted chocolate chip cookies, croissants, seasonal fruit Danishes and pop tarts, Jewish apple cakes, chocolate rugelach, Basque cheesecake, and caramelized onion focaccia.

The couple, natives of South Africa, met at summer camp while in high school. They moved to Israel and then to Texas, with intentions of becoming physicians. But after graduating from the University of Houston, they changed their minds. In 2009, Tova du Plessis enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America’s campus in Napa Valley, while Brad got a job at a Napa winery, where he moved into sales.

When du Plessis interned as a pastry chef at the Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena, Calif., one of the guest chefs for its Twelve Days of Christmas series was Mike Solomonov of Zahav. He offered her a stage in Philadelphia, and the couple moved east in 2012. Solomonov and partner Steve Cook hired her for Citron & Rose, the Main Line kosher restaurant that they briefly consulted for.

When Cook and Solomonov ended their affiliation with Citron & Rose, du Plessis worked at Le Bec Fin in Center City during the end of its run and for its successor, Avance. Her last job was executive pastry chef at the Rittenhouse Hotel, including Lacroix.

When their daughter, Lily, now 9, was born, Brad du Plessis changed jobs to cut down on his travel while Tova sought work that didn’t involve the long grind of hotel kitchens. She heard that Jessie Prawlucki Styer was looking for someone to sublease Belle Cakery, her bakery, and she took it over, launching Essen and receiving James Beard nominations as Outstanding Baker in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.