Are Bakeries Making a Comeback?
I think about bakeries and baked goods all the time. Do you? My earliest food memory? The sights, sounds, and, above all, the smells of the Cedarhurst Bake Shop, the small-town Long Island bakery where my family would send me for babka and rugelach every Saturday. But that was the early '60s, when there were local bakeries everywhere, at least in the northeast.
Then, almost without warning, local bakeries disappeared. What happened? They disappeared into a haze of supermarket chains. People bought their cakes, pies, and cookies at the local A&P, Kroger's, or Piggly Wiggly. Now, more than 40 years later, bakeries have made a huge comeback, at least in New York and Los Angeles. Serious eaters want to know why.
I think it's because people crave and need authentic, honest food experiences now more than ever, and bakeries and baked goods are the best authentic, honest food delivery system I know.
In New York, so many neighborhood bakeries are opening up that it's impossible even for a baked good nut like me to keep up. Think about it. There's City Bakery, Soutine, Two Little Red Hens, Sweet Melissa's, Amy's Bread, Sarabeth's, and Silver Moon. That's a lot of bakeries, and I haven't even broken a butter, sugar, and flour-laden sweat yet this morning. I still haven't made it to Trois Pommes Patisserie in Park Slope, Brooklyn. How is it? Sounds pretty heavenly. How bad could a neighborhood bakery be when its proprietor, Emily Isaac, is a former pastry chef at the terrific New York restaurant Union Square Cafe?
In Los Angeles, Maury Rubin's City Bakery provides a place for people to get out of their cars and have a delicious tart, a cup of coffee (or divine hot chocolate), and as much human interaction as they see fit. Eric Kayser, surely one of the best of the new breed of Paris bakers, has opened two Breadbar locations in Southern California. Doughnut shops like Fritelli's and cupcake emporia like Sprinkles are finding a warm welcome in Los Angeles, which is at least a little surprising in a town where fitness is practically an organized religion.
Bakeries make us feel good when we walk into them. They provide a much needed "third place" in our culture, somewhere we can gather, feel like we belong besides work and home, and eat something seriously delicious. We need more of them. Thankfully we seem to be getting them. Got a good bakery in your neighborhood? Do tell. Serious eaters want to know.
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30 Comments:
There are quite a few great bakeries in New York. My pet peeve however is the number of them that only make cakes and cookies. If you don't make bread you're not a bakery in my book. I'm also getting pretty tired of the whole cupcake craze.
bobbob at 9:16AM on 10/11/07
i am from a town outside of harrisburg, pa and we have a noticeable lack of small bakeries. basically you have to choose between 3. It is a (maybe naive) dream of mine to open up my own bakery that specializes in Greek desserts and a la carte items simply because nothing else like this exists despite the large Greek population.
protest at 9:43AM on 10/11/07
I'm a college student with a dream to open her on vegan bakery. I come from a small town without any bakeries at all, and I currently live, eat, and play in Philadelphia-where there is a surprising lack of bakeries. Luckily, I'm a 1 hour train ride away from New York though ; ) A girl's gotta do her research!
StudentStomach at 10:06AM on 10/11/07
Ed: I'll bring you in some Trois Pommes stuff next week. It's right up the street from me.
Adam Kuban at 10:54AM on 10/11/07
I grew up going to Michelle's Bake Shop in Fort Lee, NJ. We went there on a regular basis for cheesecake, black and white cookies, chocolate layer cake, marble cookies and rugelach. In retrospect it wasn't great stuff but at least it wasn't industrially produced. Aside from all of the fabulous bakeries you mentioned in nyc, I go to a local Jersey City bakery for bread. It is called Pecoraro and they have an assortment of stuffed breads (sausage, olive, pepperoni, broccoli etc.) along with a great Sesame twist, foccacie and more traditional Italian loaves. The old shop is a great taste of old Jersey City. Check out the foccacia here: http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3631737825312888067&postID=359861768021537878
izzy's mama at 10:54AM on 10/11/07
My NE Indiana hometown has no bakeries--only the usual Dunkin Donut & Panera. Yes, I think about baked goods all the time & I am truly missing out on these seriously good baked products :( Send a care package...
JEP at 11:46AM on 10/11/07
This post really, really resonates with me. Opening a bakery is my fantasy job! And searching out amazing bakeries on the weekend is one of my passions (along with finding chocolate shops).
Although places like Tartine in San Francisco get all the hype, I have found nirvana at Crixa in Berkeley (Hungarian goods, among other things - not your typical, boring muffin and sconery). Plus the menu changes daily. And Bovine Bakery in the North Bay left me feeling rather like a cow. I wanted everything in the display case, and everything I got was fresh and delicious. They also keep you guessing with the selection. Variety is good. Darn. Now I have a major craving for pastries.
KateC at 12:30PM on 10/11/07
Hi Ed! You may have already heard of Joyce Bakery in Prospect Heights since it's being dubbed as a pioneer upscale establishment in the area (for better or for worse). It's quite good. Perhaps bakeries fall under the whole comfort food craze?
Cathy@noteatingoutinny at 2:25PM on 10/11/07
Hey Ed, why did your family go to the Cedarhurst Bakery when Wall's in Hewlett was so much better?
annien at 3:43PM on 10/11/07
I'm getting ready to open a small neighborhood bakeshop in Central NJ - a place that is sorely lacking in bakeries. Don't get me wrong, every grocery store has a bakery department with the requisite buttercream tubs and spray-on Dora the Explorer designs. Around these parts, people actually consider Sam's Club to be the best place to get a birthday cake. But if you want something that's made from scratch with great ingredients, you make it yourself or you're out of luck.
When I first tried to lease retail space, the landlord turned me down because the franchise coffee shop (a Starbucks wannabe) a few doors down was already selling cookies and the owner got pissed when he found out I was also planning to sell cookies. Since when do prepackaged cookies made in a factory 1,000 miles away trump real bakery cookies?!
While it is my mission to bring fresh high quality baked goods to the masses (at least in my little part of the world) I also plan to bring down franchise coffee shop guy for trying to corner the baked goods market with his crappy food distributor cookies.
punkin712 at 6:27PM on 10/11/07
In Los Angeles, I've yet to make it to Bea's Bakery in Tarzana, which is supposed to have the best corn rye in town. But I will, I will!
I'd also reccomend the Beverlywood Bakery in the pico/robertson area for sweets and in Glendale and Burbank - Porto's Bakery. Family owned and operated for decades, amazing pastries and sandwiches with a cuban twist and dirt cheap for the quality.
I do know in many towns bakeries have come and gone. (I truly miss Hough Bakeries in Cleveland, Ohio and their stellar cookies.) But I am lucky enough that I seem to always live near a good bakery. Or maybe that it's I won't rest until I find one : )
ohiogal at 6:34PM on 10/11/07
Oh, man, izzy's mama, I grew up going to Michelle's in Fort Lee, too! In fact, in high school, my best friend worked there and I worked at the Linwood Cinema which used to be at the north end of that strip mall (I think it's a CVS now, alas).
But now I live just a few blocks from the Silver Moon bakery that Ed mentions, and that does make Michelle's pale in comparion. Their French macaroons are a fair treat, and they do a mushroom quiche that'll bring tears to your eyes...
klg19 at 6:56PM on 10/11/07
annien, Believe it or not, I didn't know about Wall's until years later. Wall's has great rye bread. What else do you love there? It's still around, isn't it, albeit with new owners.
Ed Levine at 7:25PM on 10/11/07
I live in the Philly suburbs and I don't see any shortage of bakeries at all. Around the corner from me is an Italian bakery in Collegeville, and there are at least two more that I know of in Norristown and one in Conshohocken. Thats just one strip of Montgomery county. I do have the advantage of being Ital-American and have grown up with knowing where they all are!
Bennymosh at 7:49PM on 10/11/07
benmoscia, aren't there also lots of good German-American bakeries on Frankfurt avenue in philly?
Ed Levine at 7:53PM on 10/11/07
Jeez, Ed, I wouldn't know, but I would guess that there should be. I was just noting that within a short drive of my home, there are four Italian bakeries that I've been to. I didn't even consider the newer ones on the main line, and I am totally ignorant of the ones in philly. Like I said, I think there is no shortage of bakeries in these parts.
Bennymosh at 8:06PM on 10/11/07
I'm all for bakeries, but I think that a lot of the New York ones aren't good. Billy's, Cupcake Cafe and Buttercup are blech. The average home cook can make better cupcakes. Then there's the price: $3 for a childhood treat? I don't mind paying that much if it's a multilayered work of art, but it's a cupcake...
Ohiogal, I love Bea's Bakery. Mmm, chocolate babka! They are really nice there, too.
thesu at 8:17PM on 10/11/07
I agree with you about Billy's. Buttercup has become too corporate for its own good. It's now officially a business concept instead of a bakery. Where is Bea's Bakery?
Ed Levine at 8:22PM on 10/11/07
here in greensboro, NC, we have a little bakery buried down in the back of an alley, called "Simple Kneads." they make mostly bread, but i've had their fabulous cookies and my husband really enjoys their pastries. north elm street, next to the chakras spa - check it out.
altosaxchica at 10:52PM on 10/11/07
Ed -
Bea's is in Tarzana - a city in the west valley of LA. (And yes, named after Tarzan etc.) They supply the corn rye to langers for their pastrami sandwiches and their coconut bars (aka lamingtons) are supposed to be divine as well. (And Thesu, thanks for the headsup up on bea's babka!)
I confess to being lazy (it's a 40 minute drive even without traffic for me.) But, I take comfort in the fact that the brooklyn bagel bakery is only 15 minutes from me - traffic or not.
ohiogal at 1:29AM on 10/12/07
I totally agree with your sentiment. Bakeries are returning because of the experience, and the fact that most supermarket fare is bad to mediocre. I was thinking of opening a bakery, in Tribeca. I went to school, interned at Soutine, and then decided it was more work than I was willing to put in. I have been to Trois Pommes Patisserie in Bklyn. I was not impressed. The cookies were dry or stale. The cupcakes were not to my taste. Nothing there was even very good. To be fair, I went there the first week she opened with a friend who had worked with Emily. Maybe things have gotten better. I'm still contemplating doing a small business, as I bake and constantly have people try to order from me. We'll see. If I had to pick my favorite NY place, it would be Sugar Sweet Sunshine.
Mich23 at 8:00AM on 10/12/07
punkin712- Where are you opening a bakery in Central NJ? You are so right about it being a wasteland where there are very few good food places in general.
Mich23 at 8:06AM on 10/12/07
Billy's isn't bad - the cupcake prices are lower than most of the other high profile NYC cupcakeries - but the prices for cake and pie slices are ridiculous. They taste fine, but nothing I couldn't do (or better) at home. Also, since Billy/Lauren sold her share of the business, it isn't really "Billy's" anymore.
IMO, the worst NYC cupcake award has to go to Crumbs. The enormous size doesn't make up for the horrible taste. There is just more of it to hate. I think the highest price for a standard size cupcake must be BabyCakes at $3.50 a pop. In what warped universe do people spend $40+ on a dozen cupcakes?!
I think many of these places get so wrapped up in the PR and marketing they forget it's the product that makes people come back a 2nd, 3rd or 743rd time.
punkin712 at 8:31AM on 10/12/07
Hi Mich23! I'm opening up in Plainsboro - just a short hop from Princeton. Are you nearby?
punkin712 at 9:11AM on 10/12/07
klg19: If I may ask..around when were you going to Michelle's? It became progressively worse over the years. I have yet to try Silver Moon but it certainly sounds like it might be a destination spot. Too bad it wasn't around when I worked at Columbia.
izzy's mama at 9:12AM on 10/12/07
Hi punkin712- I have a house in North Brunswick, so I am always going to Princeton. What is going to be the name and address of your bakery? When will you open? I will be there!!
Mich23 at 10:11AM on 10/12/07
Hey Mich23 - small world! The name is sugar + sunshine bakery and it will be located in the Plainsboro Village Center - the new retail/residential development near the Municipal Offices. I'm really excited to get open, but it's been going quite slooooooowly. I was hoping to be open for the holidays, but now I'm just hoping for a Valentine's Day launch.
If you want to email me at sugarandsunshinebakery@gmail.com, I'll let you know when we finally set a date for the opening.
punkin712 at 11:40AM on 10/12/07
Ed--As to Wall's Bakery, I haven't lived out on the island since 1980 and all of my friends and family have moved away from there too, so I don't know if Wall's is still open or what they are making now. But as to my favorites, in memory anyway...My birthday cakes (always the "Victory" cake of devil's food iced and filled with stabilized whipped cream, with devil's food crumbs pressed against the outside) came from Wall's every August, as did the seedless rye which we all loved, the fancy dinner rolls that Mom felt had to be passed at a dinner party, the crusty rye and pumpernickle rolls which my father demanded...not to mention fancy cookies for when my elderly aunts came over, babka for a "nosh" after the bridge game, brownies and black-and-whites for afterschool treats...the only things my family did not buy at Wall's were my brother's birthday cakes (he always demanded a Carvel ice cream cake) and our bagels (Dad picked them up at the bagel joint in Penn Station on the way home.) The only real rival for Walls' primacy was Peter Pan in Forest Hills.
annien at 4:10PM on 10/12/07
ed,
if you go to Trois Pommes, try the pumpkin cheesecake. i added some pictures of it to the SE flickr pool if you're curious.
foodinmouth at 12:23PM on 10/16/07
ed, i was actually googling Wall's bakery in hewlett, ny and came across your article. i grew up on long island and moved to south florida 17 years ago. needless to say, i have been missing a Wall's bakery pie ever since.
Wall's bakery made fruit pies that, as far as i'm concerned, have never been duplicated anywhere else! the crust was a heavier, cookie dough type and the top was always sprinkled with coarse sugar and toasted walnuts....mmmmmm! i have tried to replicate those pies without much success and can not find a recipe that even comes close.
when i was growing up, a pie from Wall's bakery was a treat that beat all others! how sad to hear that all the bakeries i grew up with are going by the wayside...my dad used to go to get the newspaper from the local candy store and he would always stop at the bakery and bring home fresh, warm french crullers on sunday mornings...memories i will never lose...
if anyone out there has ever had a pie from Wall's bakery and knows where i might be able to find one again, i will be forever grateful!!!!
that cookie dough crust and the crunchy walnuts covering the fabulous apple, peach, or cherry filling will be something i will never forget!
danahh14 at 7:30AM on 12/16/07