It may not be Michael Phelps, but Evanston has its own gold medalist.
Patrons of Bennison's Bakery, 1000 Davis St., might know Jory Downer as the master baker at their local bakery, but bakers and pastry lovers worldwide recognize him as something else.
Downer was part of Team USA, a baking team that took top honors in Paris' World Cup of Baking this past spring. The Cup, considered the Olympics of baking by many, is an international artisan bread-baking competition held in Paris every three years. Twelve three-member teams competed from different countries strictly for the honor of winning, since there was no cash prize involved.
"It was about raising the bar for the American baker," said Downer, who spent 19 months preparing for the event. "The competition was really close. Denmark did very well, the Germans did very well, and we proved that the Americans can compete right alongside them."
The last time Team USA received a gold medal was in 1999, when it upset the French team for a surprise win. Team USA took second place in 2002, placing behind the Japanese.
Bennison's employee Jim Brackett has worked at the bakery for about a month and a half. He said he enjoys working there because of camaraderie he feels behind the counter.
"People, customers, have come and dropped off plants and flowers since (Downer) won," Brackett said. "People are always like 'Give Jory my best.'"
According to Brackett, Downer has been working at Bennison's since he was about 10 years old. "His father bought it from the original owner's, the Bennisons," he said. "And now Jory owns the place."
Downer's father still spends time decorating cakes for Bennison's, which also offers a variety of pastries such as cookies, doughnuts, tarts and croissants for over-the-counter take out, Brackett said.
Weinberg junior David Miller, who goes to Bennison's about every two weeks, said he started going for the cookies.
"They had very good cookies," Miller said. "So I moved on to the bread, and they had very good bread. Every so often you just need a really good loaf of bread or some cookies."
Two other bakers -- William Leaman of the Essential Baking Co. in Seattle and Jeffrey Yankellow of the San Francisco Baking Institute -- were on Team USA with Downer.
Downer competed in the Viennoiserie category, using five types of sweet yeasted dough to create 90 different pastries.
"You're really an ambassador for your country," said Gina Piccolino, executive director of the Bread Bakers Guild of America, which sponsored the team. "You're also there to help educate your fellow bakers, and show that U.S. baking exists at a high standard."
Freshness is the key ingredient in quality baked goods, Downer said. He said he makes sure the pastries at Bennison's are fresh whenever possible.
"We never stop baking here," he said. "We bake our croissants at 5:55 am for our 6 o'clock opening."
Reach Cara Walsh c-walsh@northwestern.edu.
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