Living
TETONSCAPES IN 2011, LE Cordon Bleu– trained Kevin Cohane and his wife, Ali, founded Persephone Bakery—named for the Greek goddess of grain. They never imagined where they’d be a decade later: semi-finalists in the Outstanding Pastry Chef category of the 2020 James Beard Foundation Awards with four restaurants around Jackson Hole. “It has been the most wonderful and affirming surprise that the community responded to our little bakery in the way that it did,” Ali Cohane says. Here’s a look at the Cohanes’ three concepts—Persephone, Picnic, and Coelette. (Two of their four restaurants are Persephone Bakeries. Here we focus on the original one in Jackson; the other Persephone is in Wilson.)
Rising Dreams A decade after its founding, Persephone Bakery has its own storefronts and two sister restaurants. BY DINA MISHEV
COURTESY OF PERSEPHONE
JH
AESTHETIC
In 2013, the Cohanes opened their own storefront for their baked goods, transforming a neglected log cabin just off the Town Square into Persephone Bakery Café. “We had no idea how it’d go,” Ali Cohane says. It was a success from the start and has been included in lists like “Most Beautiful Coffee Shop in Every State in America” (Architectural Digest) and “Best Bakery in Every State” (mashed.com).
M U S T E AT
Scone Skillet—cheddar scallion biscuit with red-eye sausage gravy, fried egg, and pine nut crumble.
COF FE E S I T U AT I O N
Persephone is the first café anywhere to serve Overview Coffee, which uses principles of regenerative organic agriculture and was founded by local pro snowboarder Alex Yoder.
EXTRA CREDIT
The “spoon wall” was originally conceived to be the “rolling pin wall” until the Cohanes realized that was not going to work. “We switched gears and thought wooden spoons would be a lot easier,” says Ali. The pattern that ended up on the wall wasn’t even laid out in advance. “We just glued them up and kept going with it. Now it’s the most-photographed part of Persephone.”
COURTESY OF PERSEPHONE
H I S T O RY
VISIT
22
JACKSON HOLE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021
Wyoming meets French café
145 E. Broadway Ave., Jackson; 307/200-6708, persephonebakery.com
