Fans of Nickol Hayden-Cady's pastry magic will soon have a place to bask in the goodness. The chef, who closed down Foxtail Bakeshop at the end of the pandemic, is currently fundraising for her new space, in a soon-to-be disclosed location in downtown Bend. We caught up with Hayden-Cady to talk about the new venture, her recently released book and empowering yourself to try something new.
Source Weekly: Give us an update about what you've been up to since you closed the Foxtail Bakeshop in the Box Factory.
Nickol Hayden-Cady: I've had a two-year break-ish. I've still been working quite a lot with catering and stuff. And then I finished the cookbook. And then I have a lot of business ideas. I didn't know what direction I wanted to go, and I was in New York, and it was so apparent that I'm ready now. So yeah, tea house, dessert bar and weekly cooking classes.
SW: Why do you think Bend is ready for this type of concept now?
NHC: I feel like people, I think after COVID, are demanding — I'm hoping they're demanding — more of an upscale, local thing, to not make things just at home. Like wow, why am I going out? I don't want to go out to get a grilled cheese. I want to go out to get something special that I can't make it home. And I think this year, they're finally demanding it.
SW: What is making you feel like that?
NHC: Dear Irene. I mean, Bos Taurus and Ariana, were just like, solo for years. And they've always been packed. But I don't feel like there was a demand to have more of those restaurants. And now because they've set a bar, I do feel like people are coming in and wanting more and more. So I feel like with the new chef Brian [Malarkey] place [Hawkeye and Huckleberry Lounge], Rancher Butcher Chef — all that. They're all doing well. So it's showing me that OK, there's a space for me.
I feel like people want dessert, but, you know, maybe aren't getting it at like a steakhouse. So maybe it's a place that like, OK, we're just gonna get small bites or dinner and then we can just finish with the dessert and tea here in a calmer environment.
SW: What will the desserts be like at The Den Teahouse?
NHC: We want to have cake slices and pie slices — so pleasing everyone off the board. If a kid wants to come and have a slice of cake, that's available, right? And then I want to have really fancy plated desserts as well.
SW: You talked about you want it to be chill and casual. So that makes me, of course, think about like your last place, Foxtail Bakeshop, which was not chill.
NHC: I just didn't ever want to be that big — never wanted, like a bunch of locations or anything like that. I just wanted a place to like pop into, have brunch, and then I could do my pop-ups whenever I wanted to. But it kind of became mayhem. Which, I appreciate it, it's just that the line out the door always stressed me out every day. Because I felt, like, oh my god, people aren't getting served fast enough. And we make coffee so intentional, and they want their coffee fast. And that's not what we are. And they want their brunch fast. But literally making everything from scratch — nothing was bought or premade. Every time you got soup, we heated it up fresh.
So, it was just a lot. It was a bigger beast than I think I actually ever thought it would be.
SW: Let's talk about your book, "Treats from the Den."
NHC: The book came out in November; it took two years to write. I had a lot of great help from artists; Cali Clement helped me put the whole book together. And then Benjamin Edwards photographed it.
When I first decided to write the book — when we closed — I was like, Oh, here's like, a love letter to the community. And here's all my top recipes. Here's what were the top sellers of Foxtail, I give them all to you. Goodbye, it's been great, and I love you all. And I appreciate everything. But I'm done. I want to buy some land, and live off some land and share my own butter and milk my cows and process my own meats and then put a cooking school out there. And then it turned into like, oh, wow, this is more. I think also, the book was like, 'empower yourself to make the stuff,' like, yeah, it can't just be me. And then it became, like, 'oh, my god, I can't believe I put my whole story in a book.'
Then it morphed into kind of like this talisman into self-discovery and finding your own power within. So, I do have a lot of symbols in there. I have a lot of empowerment — of like, hey, not just the cookbook, but in life, do something that empowers you. You don't need anyone else.
—Follow Foxtail Bakeshop on Instagram @foxtailbakeshop for updates on the GoFundMe for The Den Teahouse and to find locations to get the book, "Treats from the Den."
