Courtesy Jennifer’s Way Jennifer Esposito baking.

Brooklyn-born actress Jennifer Esposito is no stranger to the East Village: the crime drama she starred in, “Blue Bloods,” has filmed in the neighborhood before. But she’ll become invested in a much bigger way when she opens Jennifer’s Way Bakery on East 10th Street this Friday. Ms. Esposito, who was diagnosed with celiac disease five years ago, plans to serve organic baked goods that are free of gluten, dairy, refined sugar, soy, and peanuts. Aside from offering gluten-free bagels on weekends, she’ll occasionally bring in a doctor to talk about celiac disease — “sort of like a support group for adults and kids,” said Ms. Esposito. “Because there are so many social elements that come along with this disease that having like-minded people come in and talk.”

We met Ms. Esposito at the bakery for a chat.

What made you choose the East Village to open Jennifer Way’s Bakery?

It seems to me the area is very health conscious. As you can see there are a lot of organic places around. I think being around like-minded individuals is important for this, so I thought this was a great area…it’s a great location. I have a lot of friends in the area, and a lot of friends who own restaurants in the area — and have been here for years. And my first apartment was over here on 11th Street, when I was 18 years old, so I really do like this area. 

Courtesy Jennifer’s Way

What are some of your favorite menu items?

Everything. Seriously, I come from Brooklyn, and I am a bagel fanatic. And when I was first told that I had this disease, trying to comprehend that I would never be able to have bagels again was difficult beyond words. So, one of the things was I really wanted to make a bread, but I created a bagel, and it tastes like a bagel; it doesn’t taste like a loaf of dough. And it definitely doesn’t taste like a shoe, which a lot of celiac food does. It doesn’t taste dense or heavy; it just tastes like a bagel and I love it.

Now that you are in the food business, are you looking to venture out more in the future?

I would love to! Although I need to recover from this experience because this is seriously one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. A lot of my friends have restaurants and they all warned me, but you really don’t know until you do something.

Courtesy Jennifer’s Way Gluten-free bread.

Have you now transferred over your passion of acting to your cause and your bakery?

Acting was a passion when I was 19 years old and I always loved it growing up — and I still want to do it, but this is so near to my heart because I know how much I suffer at the hands of food, which is something that is so basic for people and brings so much enjoyment. And what kills me about it is the lack of care in gluten-free food products now is not okay. And everyone wants to get in on the craze, and they are making less than nutritious, to say the least, products out there, and a lot of true celiacs are getting ill because there is some level of gluten in the food. And I just don’t think that’s okay for a community of celiacs who are really suffering.

Do you think you’ll eventually go back to acting once you completed work on your bakery?

Yeah! If there’s a great project, I’m always down to do it. But right now [the bakery] is a huge passion of mine, and I feel a great sense of responsibility because this isn’t something where it’s like, “Oh, I’m going to bake you a cupcake.” I feel a huge sense of responsibility because I know the necessity of bringing a clean product, an organic product, and a nutritious product. Until this place can really run with me feeling okay to step away, then I can’t do anything else.

Will there be a really big opening this Friday?

You know, we had something small because I’ve been filming something for the E! Channel, called “Playing With Fire” and they brought me in as the gluten-free expert for one episode, and it ended up being three, so they wanted to film an opening, and we did that. But one of things I would like to do is Jennifer’s Way Celiac Foundation for Education, and eventually I would like to throw a party for that. But as far as having another opening,  I would just like to open the doors kind of quietly because I’m totally new to this whole business experience of all this. So, we’re going to open the doors around noon on Friday, so we’re gonna start off slow.

Jennifer’s Way Bakery,  263 East 10th Street (between Avenue A and First Avenue)

Correction: Feb. 27, 2013: The original version of this post was revised to reflect an error. The address is 263 East 10th Street, not 261.