The Chocolate Tarte, Somerville

Almost a year ago, my blogging friend Rachel of Fork It Over, Boston!, in the middle of a quest for the best cupcakes in Boston, declared that she had found a winner (of course, that wasn't going to stop her from continuing on her quest). Her praise for The Chocolate Tarte in Somerville seemed too good to be true. Because, frankly, I've had a lot of bad cupcakes and some good cupcakes, but none that left me talking about them for days.

So when Linda of The Chocolate Tarte invited a few bloggers to her shop to try her wares, I was ready to see if her cupcakes could possibly live up to the hype. I walked into the store and immediately had delicious chocolates thrust into my hands. Pistachio white chocolate? Yes! Raspberry Anise? Of course! Tequila? Don't mind if I do! We were all so distracted by these little gems that I almost forgot there were cupcakes to be had.

Linda had lined up a whole bunch of vanilla, chocolate, and red velvet mini cupcakes, and I jumped for the chocolate. I couldn't have been more surprised to find the moistest mini cupcake I'd ever tasted. Anyone who bakes knows that it's tough to keep miniature versions of pastries as tasty as the full-sized thing, so this tiny little piece of cake was a revelation. The frosting on top was light and creamy, like whipped cream with a bit of Fluff thrown in for good measure.

There was also a whole red velvet cake that we went at like wolves, and it was as perfect as the cupcakes were. The Chocolate Tarte does beautiful cakes to order, and I know where I'm going the next time I need a tasty birthday treat.

Of course, there's more to The Chocolate Tarte than just cupcakes. As the name implies, tarts (chocolate and not so chocolate) are a specialty. We tried mini chocolate rosemary tarts (above) which were just fantastic. The rosemary was very subtle, and the chocolate filling was creamy and smooth. If I had to pick a favorite dessert of the night, it would probably be these tarts. There were also fudgy brownies that were so dense, you only needed a few bites to be sated.

So while I didn't believe Rachel when she said these cupcakes were THAT good, I do now. Don't believe me either? Head out to The Chocolate Tarte in Somerville yourself and tell me I'm wrong.

Full Disclosure note: The pastries were provided for free by The Chocolate Tarte. But I wouldn't write about them if I didn't like them.

Chocolate Madness 2010

For the second year in a row, NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts invited me to be a judge at their annual Chocolate Madness event. It wasn't even a possibility for me to say no.

I arrived just as the rest of the judges were sitting down at the tables in the center of the Cyclorama. The participating bakeries and restaurants had been split up into five groups, and five sets of judges worked their way through their candidates. I was on the "Down to Earth: Mother's Contemporary Candies" table, and we all carefully sampled our five offerings before debating their merits. One point that came up amongst us was that only one choice - Taza's chocolate - could actually be deemed a candy (although I thought Care's Bakery's Chocolate-Covered Caramel Waffles fit the bill as well because just about anything enrobed in chocolate can be considered a candy). We voted based on taste and originality, and when we were done, we were sent to look at all the table displays, to vote for our favorite.

The six (well, seven) winners:

Into the Aether: Sky High Layer Cakes
Canto 6 Bakery's Chocolate Whiskey Cake

Down to Earth: Mother’s Contemporary Candies
better batch/Cakes to Remember's Mini Chocolate Meringue Sandwiches

Flowing Water: Spoonfuls of Puddings, Ice Creams, and Sorbets
Christina’s Ice Cream's Ice Cream Surprise

Out of the Fire: Fresh from the Oven
South End Buttery's Bacon and Brooklyn Brown Ale Cupcakes with Espresso Smoothies

Light as Air: Served in a crust (A tie!)
Beacon Hill Bistro's Chocolate Custard Tartlets with Maple Sugar and Sel Gris
and
Petsi Pies' Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pies

Best Dessert Table Display
Canto 6 Bakery (picture at top of post)

My favorite desserts of the evening were:

• Flourless Chocolate Cookies from Athan's Bakery - I've eaten dozens of this type of cookie over the years, but this was probably the best one I've ever had. The edges were crispy and the middle was chewy, almost brownie-like. The nut flavor didn't even bother me, although I'm usually adverse to nuts in cookies or brownies.
  
  
• Mini Chocolate Meringue Sandwiches from better batch/Cakes to Remember - This was the ultimate winner at my table, although we argued over whether it could be considered a candy and that it was really more of a marshmallow than a meringue. Whatever - it still tasted damn good, with a crispy cookie base, chewy marshmallow middle, a hint of espresso, and a topping of chopped hazelnuts.
  
  
• Chocolate Mignardises Trio from Peter Ungar's Dining Alternative - These three little bites are something like what Chef Ungar serves at the end of a meal, when you need something sweet but don't want to eat much. Each of these bites were filled with flavor. They were chocolate truffle cubes with yuzu and candied meyer lemon, marzipan and chocolate madeleines, and dark cocoa and peppermint meringues. They were just one bite each and yet immensely satisfying.
  
  
• Chocolate Lavender-Ganache-Stuffed Cupcakes from the Regal Beagle - What seemed like a fairly normal chocolate cupcake (albeit moister than most that are out there) was filled with a delightful creamy lavender ganache. Lavender can often be overpowering of cloying, but this was mild while still imparting its flavor. I've enjoyed savory food at The Regal Beagle, and word is they're starting brunch soon. If they called this a muffin, I'd have one for breakfast ;)
  
  
• Bacon and Ale Cupcakes from the South End Buttery - I enjoyed these last weekend at the Bacon and Beer Festival, and I'm glad more people got to try them.
  
  
• Chocolate Lime Ice Cream with White Chocolate Chips from Christina's Ice Cream - Wow. This stuff was just amazing - chocolately and limey, with most of the sweetness coming from the white chocolate. It was refreshing while also being chocolatey, which I don't think I've ever had before. Christina's was also serving their Taza 80% ice cream, which I've had in their store before - if you like chocolate, you MUST try the Taza 80%.
  

There are a few more pictures of the event on Flickr.

Girl Scout Cookie Creations 2010

As I mentioned last year, I am a Girl Scout. Like, still a Girl Scout. Like, a lifetime member of Girl Scouts. So when Girl Scout cookie time rolls around, I'm always excited to buy a box or twelve. (It helps that my niece is now a scout and gave me a box of Thin Mints for Christmas - like a drug pusher, she is. First taste is free...)

Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts has, for a few years now, put together an event called Girl Scout Cookie Creations. They ask local chefs to create recipes using Girl Scout cookies, and then they throw a big bash where people consume inordinate amounts of sugar. This year, they split the event into two nights - one in Salem and one in Boston. I only attended the Boston event, but from looking at the recipes, the night in Salem sounded just as delicious.

My friend Melody, who went through all 12 years of Girl Scouts with me, and I arrived right at the beginning of the event and quickly got to tasting. Our first bite was the Peanut Butter Terrines (featuring Peanut Butter Sandwiches and Shortbread) from Turner Fisheries (above). And from the first bite, it was clear that this was the dessert to beat. With the Shortbread as a base and the peanut butter puree on top, this was a perfect little treat. The puree was just sweet enough, and I loved the textural difference between the puree and the shortbread base.

Next up were Kickass Cupcakes' Caramel Delites Cupcakes. They were, like all of Kickass' cupcakes that I've tried, fine - a little dry and with waaay too much frosting. They used crushed Caramel Delites as a filling to the cupcakes, which added a nice crunch to the cake.

I was already feeling like I'd had too much sugar, and we were only 2 tables in! Some water cured me, though, and we proceeded to the Au Bon Pain table. Frankly, I wasn't expecting much of anything from the bakery chain, but their granola bars were fantastic. I tried the Caramel Delites bars, which were hearty, filled with granola, almonds, coconut, honey, and cookie chunks. I would most certainly buy this at an Au Bon Pain, and I might even make these at home. I didn't try the Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana bars (featuring Peanut Butter Patties) because I don't think bananas have a place in dessert, but Melody didn't like it as much as the Caramel Delites bar.

While enjoying our granola bars, we both thought we smelled something savory, like chicken wings. We took a swing by the cheese table in the front of the room, but there was nothing that looked like it would be giving off such tempting aromas. So we headed back to try the next sample, and lo and behold, Locke-Ober had ribs! Served with grits and sprinkled with crushed Shortbread, the ribs were delicious, but a bit of a cop-out. The cookies had almost nothing to do with the dish, making them an odd choice for a cookie-inspired event.

Ready for more sugar, we headed on to Aura's table, where they were offering something called the Layered Lemon Ice Box. The layered dessert was served in a push-pop, which made it all that more fun to eat. It consisted of layers of lemon curd, pureed blueberries, whipped ricotta, and crushed Lemonades cookies. The push-pops were fun, but they made it difficult to taste the layers together - instead, I really only tasted one at a time as I pushed the bottom up. Definitely tasty, though, and this has me wanting to make some citrus curd sometime soon.

Aquitaine was up next, and although I don't like bananas, I bravely tried their Boston Banana Cream Torte, featuring Peanut Butter Sandwiches and Daily Go Rounds. I can't say much beyond that it was good despite the bananas, and if this is your kind of thing, it looks very simple to make at home. But I do normally enjoy Aquitaine's desserts, so this is really just a personal preference thing.

Finally, we visited Tremont 647 for some Peanut Butter Cheesecake with Butterscotch Sauce, featuring Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies. After the first bite, I had a problem on my hands. Turner Fisheries had been on the top of my list the entire evening, and then suddenly, with a different take on peanut butter, Tremont 647 was turning everything on its head. I enjoyed the cheesecake, but the butterscotch sauce really tied the whole dish together.

Melody and I needed another break from the sweet, so we enjoyed some cheese and discussed whom to vote for. It seemed clear that we would vote for either Turner Fisheries or Tremont 647, and in the end, we went with Turner Fisheries because their dessert was something completely different. While Tremont 647's cheesecake was very tasty, it was cheesecake, which can take on any number of flavors, whereas the cookie puree in the Turner dish was something out of the ordinary.

And it looks like we picked a winner. Turner Fisheries got the crowd votes, and Aura won the judges over with their lemon curd push-pops. I was surprised that none of the chefs went for Thin Mints, the most popular of the cookies, but after stating that one of the mint offerings last year tasted like toothpaste, maybe I'm not so surprised. Is it sad that I'm already looking forward to next year?

And don't forget to buy Girl Scout cookies! If your local scout doesn't knock on your door, you can search for booth sales here. Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts also collect boxes of cookies for soldiers overseas, so buy an extra box to send to a soldier.

Cake, Lexington

Apparently the cupcake trend won't go away. This summer, the Back Bay's Sweet expanded into Harvard Square, and Todd English is about to open a cupcake bakery on Beacon Hill sometime soon. Quietly entering the cupcake market, on the other hand, is Cake in Lexington center.

Cake opened a few weeks ago on the first floor of a Victorian on Mass Ave, and their focus is meant to be on actual cakes, "made from scratch... using only the purest, finest, freshest ingredients available." But they seem to be doing a brisk business with their cupcakes. At $2 a pop, the cupcakes are a reasonable treat - a good size at a good price with delicious flavors.

For the sake of "research" (ah, the lengths I'll go to...), I picked up one of each cupcake when I was on my way to my brother's house for a full day of Beatles' Rock Band (we ended up playing for 8 hours, because the game is THAT awesome). We cut the cupcakes up into little bites so everyone could get a taste, but I still think I OD'd on sugar a little bit.

My favorites were the Midnight Delight (dense fudge cake filled with sweet chocolate pastry cream topped with Ghiradelli cocoa icing), the Berries & Gold (rich gold cake filled with fresh raspberry preserves and a whipped Chambord buttercream), and the Minuteman (moist gold cake layered with strawberries, fresh from Wilson's Farm, light whipped cream and topped with vanilla buttercream). The Midnight Delight was a powerhouse of chocolate - sweet, with just enough bitterness to highlight the cocoa flavor. The cake really was dense and super chocolatey. The Chambord buttercream on the Berries & Gold may have been my favorite aspect of any of the cupcakes. And the Minuteman was just a beautifully composed strawberry shortcake - yum!

I was not so fond of the Karat Topped (pineapple cream cheese icing set on a moist, full-bodied carrot cake), which I thought had way, way too many nuts (but really, I prefer my carrot cake with no nuts at all), and the Red Carpet (smooth, deep red velvet cake laid out with a decadent cream cheese icing), because I always find red velvet cakes to taste fake, no matter where I get it.

In the picture above, clockwise from the top, are the Karat Topped, Red Carpet, The Minuteman, Mocha Express (bittersweet chocolate cake iced in a cappuccino buttercream and garnished with a mocha espresso bean), Berries & Gold, Midnight Delight, Black Tie Affair (sweet vanilla bean cake filled with pastry cream and dressed in ganache), and in the center, chocolate with vanilla buttercream.

The full-sized cakes at Cake seem a little pricy (I think the sign said that they start at $20 for a 4-inch round), but the cupcakes are a fantastic deal at $2. Cake is located at 1628 Mass Ave in Lexington and is open Tuesday-Thursday, 10am-6pm, Friday 10am-8pm, Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday noon-5pm, and closed Monday.

Cheap Eats: Sofra Bakery

In a quiet spot just off the main road, with a menu that deviates from the typical fare, Sofra Bakery in Cambridge offers a wide variety of tantalizing eastern Mediterranean flavors. With so many choices, you're sure to find something you like.

The shining glory of the bakery is the mezze bar, which takes up a good portion of the area next to the register. Mezze (or often meze) is a spread of appetizers - and this is definitely a spread. Choose one (with crackers) for $3 or five (with bread) for $9. The whipped feta with sweet and hot pepper (a mainstay at Oleana and something you can make at home) is creamy and sweet, with not too much kick. The spicy Moroccan carrot salad is addictive, packed with flavor from harissa, ginger, olive oil and vinegar. Be adventurous - with so many options, you have plenty of room to try something you might normally order. But make sure to order an extra piece of bread - you don't get nearly enough.

If sandwiches are more your deal, try the stuffed flatbreads. Think of them as a Mediterranean burrito - a griddled flatbread wrapped around inventive and creative fillings, such as eggplant, leeks, and goat cheese, or chick pea, potato, labne, and za'atar. The sausage flatbread, with cumin, orange, olives, and feta is this Bostonist's favorite, packed with ground sausage and more flavor than you'd think the wrapper could handle.

And of course, don't forget that Sofra is a bakery above everything else. A variety of delicious treats are perched next to the register, and it's hard not to order one (or twelve) as you order your meal.

Sofra Bakery is located at 1 Belmont Street in Cambridge. They are open Monday-Friday, 8am-8pm, Saturday 8am-6pm, and Sunday 8am-3pm. It can get really crowded inside, so be prepared to visit at off hours or get your food to go.

Originally published on Bostonist.

Bread & Chocolate, Newton

When you find a good bakery, it feels like you've struck gold, especially when you bake fairly well at home. It's easy for bakeries and restaurants to make desserts that are sufficient, but to make them extraordinary takes a lot of talent. I had heard good things about Bread & Chocolate in Newtonville, but I certainly wasn't expecting to find such a boon of deliciousness.

When my friend and I arrived, we wanted to jump right into eating the desserts, but we were slightly more virtuous and ordered a sandwich first. The Pesto Chicken Salad Sandwich was light and flavorful and thankfully light on the mayo. The chicken was good-quality white meat chopped into chunks. I really liked the addition of pesto to the mix, as it made the whole sandwich taste less mayo-y. And the bread was fresh from Iggy's, chewy and crispy and a nice foil to the soft filling.

For dessert, I went with a canelé - a small French pastry that I had heard about but never tried before. From the first bite, I was in love - chewy and crunchy on the outside, creamy and custardy on the inside, delicious all the way around. The canelé was small enough that I didn't feel like I was eating a huge pastry, but large enough to be satisfying. If all canelés are this good, I may have found a new favorite dessert...

I had heard the most about Bread & Chocolate's cupcakes, and luckily, I ran into a classmate outside, who recommended that we let the cupcakes warm up to room temperature before eating (they are kept in a refrigerator case). We chose a few different types, then headed home. After dinner, we pulled out the box, and oh my god, the cupcakes were amazing. I chose a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting, topped with ganache - I may or may not have ended up with it smeared all over my face in my exuberance to shove it into my mouth. The cake itself was soft and moist, not dry like almost every other cupcake shops', and the peanut butter frosting was perfectly flavored - and they didn't leave out the salt! However, the ganache had cracked by the time we got home, so no pretty picture. Instead, you get a pretty pic of a pre-Easter coconut cupcake, which was equally delicious and perfectly baked.

Over all, I was tremendously happy with Bread & Chocolate. I'm ready to go back to try more things (although I'm sure I'll have a hard time not order a canelé and a peanut butter chocolate cupcake).

Cheap Eats: Canto 6

Bakeries can be a great choice for delicious meal options, but it often seems that the meal doesn't justify the price. Not so at Canto 6, a small bakery in Jamaica Plain. Their menu boasts some great sandwich combinations, all for under $7. But the real value lies in Canto 6's pies and quiches.

Personal-sized pies and quiches make a quick and easy meal that will definitely fill you up. The scallion, bacon, and cheddar quiche ($3.25) has a fantastic balance between all the different flavors. The crust is especially good - buttery and flaky goodness that surrounds the filling. The peach and berry pie ($3.75) features the same perfect crust, plenty of sweet, fresh fruit, and a tender crumble topping. Pair them together, and you have a huge, delicious meal.

Canto 6 is located at 3346 Washington Street (at Green Street) in Jamaica Plain. They are open Monday-Friday, 7:30am-6:30pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 8am-8pm.

Originally published on Bostonist.

More Cakes from Rise Bakery

So it appears that Rise Bakery in Ashland has become our family bakery. It started with my brother's birthday cake last October, a week before the World Series. The latest, pictured above, is what we got when my sister-in-law asked for "something beachy" to celebrate our summer birthdays at our Cape house. Their designs are always unique and expressive, and the cake... yum! Dense and delicious, you can cut small slices, so that cake could have fed about 20 people with no leftovers.

Rise really needs a website to showcase their awesome work...

Wellesley Bakery in (Surprisingly) Wellesley

Another stop on my recent wander through Wellesley was the Wellesley Bakery. Ann thought we should hold off on dessert at Susu and hit this stop instead (hey, I wasn't going to argue, since I'm all for trying as many places as possible).

Entering the Wellesley Bakery is almost a culture shock after Susu. Where Susu is polished and gleaming and fancy, Wellesley Bakery is more homey and a little more what a real working bakery should feel like. The workers are clearly busy in the back, because there's even a bell to ring if they're not at the counter.
Everything looked so good in there that I had a hard time making a decision... so I didn't. I ordered a bunch of different cookies and proceeded to eat them over the next three days. The linzer cookie (above) was my favorite - truly delicious, buttery, flaky cookies sandwiched around gooey, condensed raspberry jam. I would be very happy if I could make cookies that good. The peanut butter cookie was chewy, not hard and dense, and I really liked that. It was also not overly peanut buttery, and it had little peanut butter chips in it as well. The oatmeal chocolate chip was my least favorite of the bunch, but that doesn't mean it was not good - the oats and the chocolate were well balanced.

I also ordered a raspberry croissant, but I didn't get around to eating it for a few days. And while it was still good when I did eat it, I'm sure it would have been fantastic when fresh... *sigh*, I guess I'll just have to go back.


As I was standing at the counter, I spied some interesting sodas in the case out of the corner of my eye. Mash ("a water drink") comes in some interesting mixes, like mango-blood orange and pommegranate-blueberry. The flavors were intense and delicious. They're made our of sparkling water and juices, so they're slightly better for you than a Coke. I just wish I knew where to find them closer to the city.

Susu Bakery, Wellesley

My friend Ann and I often act much older than our years and use our preppy upbringings to visit "ladies who lunch" -type places. It's usually for tea (like our recent trip to the Taj), but on Friday we had lunch at Susu Bakery in Wellesley.

Susu is in a beautiful space, with lots of light and huge tables. There's even a granite countertop in the bakery section. One particularly large table was hosting a book group when we entered.

The lunch menu is short, but the choices cover plenty of ground - salad, sandwiches, soup. I opted for the tart (because I'll eat pretty much anything if there's pie crust involved). There was a solid layer of spinach along the inside of the crust, and a half of a tomato was in the center, with the egg mixture poured in around it. The quiche was served with a fresh salad tossed in a slightly creamy vinaigrette - nothing special, but it rounded out the plate well.

It was nice to see the care taken in plating the food. The sandwiches in particular looked very nice, with little cherry tomato halves topping each triangle. It definitely helped to add sophistication.

We grabbed a few baked goods on the way out, because what's the use of visiting a bakery if you don't get dessert? I tried a currant scone that was fabulous - flaky and buttery without being overwhelmed by the fruit. Made me want some clotted cream.

Overall, Susu is a little pricy for what it is, but it's clear that there is a lot of care taken with the food. I'm not sure I would go back again for lunch, but I really loved that scone, so I'm sure I'll be back for more of those.

Mariposa Bakery, Central Square

I've been hearing about Mariposa Bakery in Central Square for a while, mostly because they used to host a Chocolate Lounge, featuring Taza Chocolates from Somerville. I was in the area this weekend and decided to give the place a try (finally).

I had a day of eating ahead of me, so I didn't want to fill up, but I still wanted to try a variety of things. My friends and I sampled a few different baked goods to get an idea of what the bakery could do.

We started with the chocolate chip coffee cake. It had a nice level of density (not too light, not too heavy... Goldilocks would have been quite happy) and was very moist. There was lots of chocolatey flavor without it being overwhelming. The semisweet chocolate drizzle on top was a nice touch, balancing out the sweetness of the cake.

The lemon scone was fantastic and very lemony (but not in the Lemon Pledge kind of way). The dough was not too dense, and it had a slightly crunchy crust, especially at the bottom edges. The frosting was probably just lemon juice and confectionary sugar, but it was perfect as a glaze for the scone.

The biscotti was a big surprise to me, and was maybe my favorite of the samples. It was filled with dried cherries and whole pistachios for a very middle eastern flavor. My favorite part, though, was the texture - not break-your-teeth hard like most biscotti, but just hard enough that it could stand up to a cup of coffee. It was, actually, fairly soft, making the crunch of the pistachios stand out. I would love to be able to make biscotti like this (that gives me an idea.... anyone have a good recipe for softer biscotti?).

Sadly, despite the lovely weather on Saturday, Mariposa had no iced coffee, so I had to settle for iced tea...

They have some interesting looking sandwiches, and it seems like a friendly environment to study in. If I find myself in the area during the semester, I might grab a cup of coffee and a biscotti and get down to reading.

Pie Bakery & Cafe, Newton Center

Pie Bakery & Cafe is located in Newton Center, between my apartment and my friends' house. I drive by it all the time, but it's usually closed whenever I'm nearby. I love how simple the name is (can't beat the Pie Hole, though), and you know what you're getting when you go in there. There's even a giant pie mural on the wall, so it's hard not to figure out what they sell.

Surprisingly, I didn't order pie on my first visit. Well, not a typically piece of pie. Instead, I opted for a hand pie and a "pie" cupcake.

The roasted veggie handpie was very tasty, although a little unappealing looking. The vegetables (mostly zucchini and eggplant) were a dull brown inside the glossy wheat dough wrapper. However, the flavor of the dough and the light lemony sauce inside more than made up for the looks.


It felt almost blasphemous not ordering a slice of pie for dessert, but the Boston Cream Pie cupcake looked too good. It was mostly all looks, though. The cupcake was too dense, and the chocolate coating on top was very hard. The cream, however, was fantastic, with little vanilla bean flecks throughout. I could have just eaten a bowl of the cream instead. And while it was tasty, it wasn't great, and I would definitely try the real pie next time.

A New Year of Coffee

I've talked about my magic mug from Bruegger's before. For one flat fee, you get all the coffee, tea, and soda you can drink for a year. I must say, my 2007 mug paid for itself in no time. Oh, and the coffee is Green Mountain... good stuff!

This year, included in the $119 price, you also get a dozen bagels every month. I figured that there are at least 4 of us in my office with mugs... that means bagels every Friday for all of 2008!

So if you live or work near a Bruegger's, be sure to buy your mug soon. They sell out quickly, and they're well worth the large upfront price.

The Spotted Apron, Beacon Hill

A few weeks ago, I had a day off from work, so I wandered around Boston, exploring areas I don't usually go. I started my day at the Charles/MGH T stop to visit a new bakery, The Spotted Apron.

The bakery is nicely decorated in yellow, khaki and gray. Polka dots are everywhere (even the handpainted dishes), and there are some gorgeous food "portraits" on the walls. Two whole walls are devoted to tall windows, but I still felt comfortably removed from the bustle of the street and the hospital across the way. I could see this as a great place to hang out for hours.


This was just a snack to get my day going, so I didn't try one of their sandwiches or empanadas. I opted for a scone and some fresh mint lemonade (a special).

The lemonade was delicious, not too sweet, with just a hint of mint. The mint sprig on top made it feel extraordinary. I could have had a couple of these.


I also could have had a couple scones. I picked a lemon, cornmeal and dried cherry scone, which was a fine baked good example. It was very moist, and surprisingly not rough from the cornmeal. The cherries were very plump, and the dough had a nice buttery taste. However, it was a tiny scone - about the size of the base of my lemonade glass. I believe the scone was $2 - I would have wanted a little more for the price. What I had just kind of felt like a tease - a delicious tease, but still...

I'd be curious to try more of the menu, especially the more meal-like items. Has anyone else eaten there?