How Chef Tyler Florence Got the Idea for His Viral Soft Serve Croissant (Exclusive)
The unique dessert, served at Florence's Miller & Lux Provisions in San Francisco, puts creamy soft serve into a hollowed out croissant
Courtesy of Tyler Florence
Tyler Florence with his croissant soft serve at Miller & Lux Provisions.People travel far and wide to try Tyler Florence's croissant soft serve.
The inventive dessert, which puts creamy ice cream inside a hollowed croissant cone, is available at the chef's San Francisco pâtisserie, Miller & Lux Provisions — but it's being ogled over on social media by fans from all over.
"It's viral, for sure," Florence, 52, told PEOPLE on Friday while filming the upcoming season of Food Network's The Great Food Truck Race (airing this summer) in Miami during the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. "I was there the other day, and this family from Santa Cruz, they saw it on Instagram and they drove to San Francisco, just to come get ice cream."
Courtesy of Tyler Florence
Tyler Florence's croissant soft serve at Miller & Lux Provisions.Florence estimates they sell 300 per day, and plans to "ramp it up" for their first summer in the Union Square location.
He collaborated with Miller & Lux's pastry chef, Karla Marro, on the sweet treat. Marro makes "spectacular pastries" that often take on the shape of a certain ingredient in a hyper-realistic way — like their white chocolate pear.
So when the team decided to get into ice cream, they knew "it couldn't just be in a cone."
"Literally we were testing croissants anyway, and I just looked at it. I'm like, 'That's an ice cream cone,'" Florence says of the ah-ha moment. "I lopped off a third of it, hollowed it out with a wooden dowel, and then we just started pouring soft serve into it until we got it right. And it's just kind of a thing."
Florence also runs San Francisco's Miller & Lux rotisserie ("We've got sweet and savory on both sides," he adds), the flagship Miller & Lux steakhouse, and Wayfare Tavern. He'll have seven restaurants in the city by the end of 2024, he says.
When he's not at the eateries, he's filming on the road for the The Great Food Truck Race, in its 17th season.
Related: Taylor Swift Made Homemade Pop Tarts for the Chiefs, Says Coach Andy Reid
Tyler Florence/Instagram
Tyler Florence with wife Tolan Clark."I've been doing it for over a decade, so we're all great friends," he tells PEOPLE of the production crew. "I clock out from reality, and I go on this epic road trip with my friends, and we shoot a little TV on the way — that's the way we see it. It's just awesome."
Florence shares two teenage kids, Hayden, 16, and Dorothy, 15, with his wife Tolan Clark. He also has an older son, Miles, 27, from a previous marriage.
When he gets home after a long trip the first thing he does is "kiss my wife, for sure," he says.
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.
