The couple hail from Mexico City, and their products pay tribute to their heritage, in addition to the cooking styles of South American and European countries.
"We mix it with a lot of European recipes. A lot of the influence is European -- my grandparents are from Russia and Poland, so I have a lot of that in my cooking," Reznick says. "I was raised like that. Mexican influenced the European-style combination and so I keep that. I don't care if it is a little more expensive for my product...I really won't change it."
Since Rustika is a family business, its products are inspired by and named after family members and family memories.
"The breakfast pastries, the strudels, the names are crazy because we name our pastries after things that happened in our family," she says. "It's funny to hear the customers say, 'Can I have a puly? Or a bubu?' because it's our family secret."
The puly (a sweet cream cheese-filled pastry) is named after the couple's dog, and many of the other pastries and baked goods are inspired by family recipes, such as the almond butter cookies Reznick's nanny made.
"I used to sit down with her and see how she made those cookies that we love and my friends loved. We grew up with those and she never used a recipe," Reznick says. "I remember I would sit down with her and say, 'Stop! Weigh it,' and then [I would] write it down so I could get the recipe."
The alfajores are traditional Argentinian cookies that Reznick re-created for Rustika. After coming across the word somewhere and researching what it meant, she discovered that it is a filled sandwich cookie, and she created five different alfajores: white chocolate, chocolate, a combo, Nutella and the traditional dulce de leche.
As for cakes, Reznick loves the white chocolate raspberry cake, while her husband's favorite is the strawberries and cream with tres leches.
"It's funny, because that strawberries and cream came from a bakery in Mexico City. They have been in business for over 80 years and the only cake they sell is that one. No other flavor whatsoever," Leonardo says. "So I grew up with that cake. Every single birthday that I had was the same cake. And it's actually the most popular cake here."
Whatever they make, an adherence to quality, no matter the cost, sets Rustika apart.
