PHOTOS: Sneak Peek Of Food Network Star's Jackson Heights Bakery

JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS — The smell of butter wafts through the air at Farine Baking Company on Tuesday afternoon, as renowned pastry chef Michael Mignano toasts brioche buns for his new employees' lunch.

The Jackson Heights bakery, at the corner of 37th Avenue and 75th Street, won't open for a few weeks, but its kitchen is buzzing with activity as Mignano and his staff test recipes. One cook scooped chocolate chip cookie dough onto a baking sheet, as another fed ingredients for blueberry scones into an industrial mixer.

"It's all about making things yummy, and it involves fat, I'm sorry," said Mignano, who was cooking cheeseburgers for his staff. "I go through so much butter here it's unbelievable."

The Food Network star, as seen on the shows "Sweet Genius" and "Fat Chef", left his post as executive pastry chef at the Pierre Hotel on the Upper East Side to open Farine. The bakery will offer traditional French pastries like croissants and American desserts like homemade Oreos.

Queens is part of the bakery's DNA. Mignano, who grew up in Astoria, attended Monsignor McClancy Memorial High School in East Elmhurst. All 25 workers live in the area, Mignano said: "Everyone can walk to work."

One of those employees is East Elmhurst native Francesca Mancini.

"This neighborhood definitely needs some place like this," Mancini, 20, said as she whisked the batter for a key lime pie.

She said she's most excited to make Mignano's signature gourmet candy bar, which he dreamed up while he was the Four Seasons' executive pastry chef. The treat has layers of macadamia-cashew caramel, caramelized puffed rice and dark chocolate ganache. The whole thing is covered in dark chocolate and sprinkled with Hawaiian sea salt.

Mignano is also taking inspiration from Jackson Heights' diversity for his recipes. The bakery will have a tandoori oven to make fresh naan dough for pizzas. Farine will also offer chicken pot pie samosas and homemade paan ice cream, inspired by the popular after-dinner treat among some south Asian communities.

"The beauty of Jackson Heights is it's just so diverse," Mignano said. "You can literally taste the world."

For more information visit Farine Baking Company on Instagram.