Check Out the Massive Line for Cronuts® Right Now at The Grove

Today is the day for Cronut®-loving fans across Los Angeles, as Dominique Ansel has officially opened the doors to his downstairs bakery wonderland at The Grove. Lines formed early and kept growing all morning, with likely no end in sight over the next few months.

For those unfamiliar, Ansel is world famous baker known first and foremost as the creator of the Cronut®, a hybrid doughnut and croissant that has been endlessly duplicated the world over (hence the trademark). He and his team now enjoy shops from London to New York City to Tokyo, but this is his first West Coast location, and folks are lining up accordingly.

Seriously, check out the below queue of eager eaters ready to grab some pastries. For now the shop is limiting guests to only two per person, though in the near future a ordering system will allow diners to sign up in advance for an order, and pick it up on a particular date and time.

Dominique Ansel

The decision to bring Dominique Ansel to The Grove was always going to be a logistically tricky one, given the popularity of the Caruso-owned outdoor shopping plaza. The place plays to some 18 million people annually, well more than Disneyland, and the addition of long pastry lines that snake out to the parking garage valet stand should only further muddy the walkways during this busy holiday season. Still everyone — Ansel included, despite running on almost no sleep — seems in a rather joyous mood this morning, happily waiting for the first-ever taste of a true Cronut® from the international pastry star’s case.

Dominique Ansel Bakery opens today at The Grove, with his second-floor dinner destination 189 by Dominique Ansel (the primarily pastry-focused chef’s first foray into a full dinner restaurant experience) opening tomorrow evening.

• Inside Pastry Wizard Dominique Ansel’s New LA Home at The Grove [ELA]