Sugary delights await customers' tastebuds.

"I have a big cup," Luangkhot, 36, says. "Like more than 18 ounces."

He will need it.

Luangkhot works six days a week — and often seven — at his French Pastry bakery churning out

30 different kinds of baked goods over the course of each 14- to 16-hour day.

From turnovers to wedding cakes, each of Luangkhot's creations represents another piece of baking art.

His specialty is a combination of bitter chocolate mousse and chocolate cake that Luangkhot forms into "a chocolate pyramid" that sells for $4.50.

Luangkhot sells 60 to 70 pyramids a day, along with hundreds of other pastries.

He has two part-time workers, who mostly do prep work. So the bulk of the baking falls to Luangkhot.

Above, Pornhip Potongsunant and Luangkhot get pastries ready for the Saturday morning rush. Below, customers Roland Cortes, his wife, Jane, and daughter Roxanne place their orders.

At age 18, Luangkhot immigrated with his mother and sister to New York, where he found work at a French restaurant. In the classroom, Luangkhot struggled with English-as-a-second-language lessons.

But he found success in the kitchen.

Now that he runs his own pastry shop — the shop also offers sandwiches, salads and pasta to customers who eat standing up — Luangkhot has gotten used to days filled with hard work.

Most of the time, though, it doesn't feel like work.

"This is about something that you love," Luangkhot says. "When you love what you are doing, you don't feel tired."

Before his day can end, Luangkhot first must prepare the croissants and turnovers that he will bake in the morning.

"I have to," Luangkhot says. "Otherwise I won't have enough time."