Serving up treats at Coffee Commissary

Naomi Shim’s fascination with food started with something small: a sweet tooth. At a young age, she found herself eating spoonfuls of butter.

She had seven cavities by 4 years old, a memory she still laughs about. As Shim grew older, so did her talents in the kitchen, from cooking meals for her family to learning in a professional setting after graduating from UC San Diego.

At 22, she snagged an apprenticeship under the late Claude Segal, a revered Los Angeles chef. Shim started out with simple tasks, chopping onions on the prep line, but soon found herself wandering to where the pastries were made. Now 15 years later, Shim has evolved into a pastry chef with ideas of her own.

This month marked a year since Shim became partner with Coffee Commissary, where she’s the head pastry chef. Shim oversees the prep and baking of the chain’s dozens of goods from a small kitchen at its Burbank location.

But there’s more to Shim than the artistry of her ever-changing pastry menu, from quiches to morning buns. It’s about what goes into her baking, something she learned under the tutelage of chef Gino Angelini at Angelini Osteria and La Terza.

“I learned about the spirit of a chef,” Shim said. “It’s generosity — cooking to bring pleasure instead of to impress.”

Cooking was an innate part of Shim’s life going back to when she was cooking meatloaf as a 7-year-old. She also stepped out of her comfort zone of fine dining instruction to study “viennoiserie,” or baked goods, learning what pairs well with coffee. Her style of baking, from a love of rustic French/Italian pastries, trickles into her kitchen. Her small crew starts baking dozens of pastries daily with “laminating” layers of dough and butter.

“Some people thought it was a step back,” Shim said about moving her talents from fine dining to pastry. Her artistry landed her at the butcher/restaurant Salt’s Cure in 2009. Her penchant for putting a spin on pastries caught Tyler King’s attention. The Salt’s Cure patron was in the early stages of expanding Coffee Commissary, which he owns.

King aimed to be more than just an establishment part of the third-wave coffee movement, but yearned for something fresh. He found it in Shim. Her spin on a morning bun and a German chocolate cookie, a play on the cake, had him on day one.

“You can’t explain what she puts into her work that is literally art. We have people who come in every day for the cookie,” he said. “Naomi is an artist.”

Her creations, from sweet buns to quiches, earned praise from the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board. The nonprofit organization listed her German chocolate cookie as one of the best in the county. Shim, and her crew give every cookie crisp edges, fused with coconut strands, TCHO chocolate and pecans.

“We try to make everything from scratch,” she said, noting the ricotta in the “Heirloom Peach Ricotta” is made in house.

King said the effort put into his brand’s coffee, from sampling and working with a handful of roasters, is what he sought in pastries. Seasonal ideas and finding inspiration from local farmers’ markets. That’s what Shim does and offers. Some patrons buy Shim’s German chocolate cookie with every cup of coffee. The treat sells out regularly.

“People recognize it as a simple offering, done really well and consistently,” King said. “Naomi is an artist.”

And the praise isn’t something Shim seeks. Despite her accolades and experience, she cringes at the thought of calling herself a “pastry chef,” and says the learning of her craft will never end.

“I’m grateful for a calling that God has given me, this talent to serve other people and for me,” Shim said. “I get so much joy out of serving other people, and that’s true freedom to me.”

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What: Pastries at the Coffee Commissary

Where: 3121 W. Olive Ave., Burbank

Hours: Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

More info: (818) 556-6055, coffeecommissary.com