Sunday at Honore Bakery

What to do on a day anticipating snow?  Go to the nearest bakery...I am lucky that one of my favorite bakery Honore is only about 7 blocks away.  

Went there this morning for some coffee and the line was almost out the door but I waited out and picked up enough pastries for the day. I picked up 2 Gougeres since I've not had any of theirs since before Christmas, a Huckleberry Vanilla Bean Tart, and Cheddar & Green Onion Scone.  

Gougeres
Now that I've made my own, I can say...mine are just as good. :0) Correction from my previous write, their price is 1.50 each...it's their macrons that are 1.90 each.

Huckleberry Vanilla Bean Tart
I love this tart. It's very flakey and creamy pastry cream line the bottom.  The fruit is a nice nice and tart to balance the rich pastry. My favorite is their blueberry.  They change it up with seasonal fruit.

Lastly, one of my staples of savory pastry for breakfast...the scone.  I've always found these to be a little bit too much butter and not as crumbly for a scone, but still wonderful.

Honore Artisan Bakery - French Macron

Honore is a little neighborhood bakery in Ballard.  It's only about 5 blocks from my house.  I love this place.  Somethings are better than others here, but this place has things that are not available in most bakeries.  Things like Kouign Amann, a salty sweet dense croissant like pastry and Cannles, the dark brown baked custard pastry. 

But I'm here to talk about their Macron.  I think they have the best french ones in Seattle.  I've tried them all available in Seattle...the ones from Fresh Flours, Bakery Nouvoue, and Le Panier.  The ones at Le Panier are good but these are better.  They taste more fresh and the flavors are more vibrant.  The cookie itself is nicely crisp on the outside, full almond flavor, and their fillings are unique.  I've had salty caramel, coconut caramel, chili chocolate, lemon, passion fruit, raspberry, coconut, pistachio, and coffee.

It's divine!


They don't have a website but here is their address.
1413 NW 70th St
Seattle, WA 98127

Birdbath Bakery - NYC

The Birdbath is a lovely neighborhood "green" bakery in NYC.  I came across this bakery by accident, in that it was not on my list but  a pit stop during the Sex in the City tour we took while in NYC.  How wonderful for me because I fell in love this place and it was an inspiration when I open my own bakery some day!
http://birdbathbakery.com/ 

I got a  chocolate chip cookie and iced coffee.  The iced coffee was one of the best I've had.  So creamy and no bitterness at all.  Mmmm...I still remember it.  The cookie was very rustic, crunchy, and buttery.  

Check out the beautiful pumpkin pie they had fresh that day.

This place was created by the Maury Rubin chef owner of City Bakery. One of the old time, popular bakery in NYC.  He was known for his tarts and now is popular for the Pretzel Croissant.  I have his tart cookbook.

I wish I had tried the Pretzel Croissant. I regret this and can't wait for my next trip to NYC.

Besalu Bakery

After my disappointment with Tartine Bakery's croissant, I needed to do a sanity check and make sure my love of Besalu's croissants were in fact genuine.  It had been awhile since I've had their pastries, so this morning I went before going to work.


I pick up 3 pastries...the plain croissant, chocolate croissant, and my favorite the onion gruyere croissant.  I didn't eat all 3 at once.  :)   Yep and it didn't disappoint but confirmed my love of their pastries.  They do have the best croissant in my eye.  I will keep confirming this as I visit other bakeries and cities and countries.




I feel very luck to have Besalu in my neighborhood of Ballard.  James Miller and his wife Kaire are the owners.  James is the baker and amazing. He is so nice and low key.  The lines are long, around the block, especially during the weekend.  Their pastries are baked around the clock so don't be surprised if you get a warm pastry.  They have quiches, scones, brioche, and many others.  They have great coffee too.  If you've not been there, my friends, please check it out.  Give me a call and I will go with you since they are in my neighborhood.  :)

5909 24th Ave NW
(between 59th St & 60th St)
Seattle, WA 98107
(206) 789-1463

www.cafebesalu.com

The Plain...
The classic, so buttery without being too rich, right amount of salt, and most importantly does not feel too bready.  The outside layers are crispy, light crispy, that when you bite into it, you hear the little whispy crisp until you hit the soft warm layer.  The flavor and this texture is what makes Besalu's croissant stand out.  Perfect!

The Chocolate...
Perfect pastry with rich dark chocolate.  I've never gotten this room temperature.  Every time I've gotten it, the chocolate is soft and warm.  Mmmm...

The Onion & Gruyere....
I love to have this one with a Mocha.  The sweet and slightly tangy caramelized onion with the savory gruyere cheese is amazing.

Urth Caffe

Amazing Desserts!

Last night we went out to this caffe for some sweets and wow! What a cute charming place. They are about organic coffee and teas but they should be known for their desserts.

We where there about 11pm at night and the outdoor seating was full of people having coffees, teas, and their amazing desserts or just working on their laptops. It was a great place that I think a place like Wallingford or Fremont neighborhoods in Seattle could use. Most places like this in Seattle close early but it would be a really nice alternative the usual night spots or clubs.

We had...

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

Napolean

A little trivia...they are the first exclusive organic coffee place.

We are going back to get something for flight tomorrow! :) I wish we had a place like this in Seattle and that is why I am going to start one!

Cafe Besalu!

A jewel find in Ballard!  They have the best french pastries in Seattle area.  You all know how much I know my pastries.  The lines are long on the weekends...I've waited 30 min one day to get my onion and guyere croissant.  You can see the owner rolling butter in to the dough. 

The thing is they have excellent coffee too.  Very artistic and looks perfect each time.

Carolyn and I used to go here every Thu during the summer.  We would order 2 pastries, one to eat in line and other while we went to our weekly meeting.  We are now both trying to get in shape so no more weekly Besalu.  :(

Flying Apron Bakery

What a gem! 

I discovered a vegan, gluten free, wheat free bakery cafe in Fremont today.  With new year starting, I like everyone else is trying to eat better and work out.  It's the latter half of Jan and I've not gotten off to a good start.   

The pastry case looks scrumptious and their deli case had great fresh greens. I had the greens, some kind of rasin, pecan, and chcoloate loaf, and soy latte.  Eating the greens really gave me lots of clean energy and felt great.  I also brought home a curry calzone which was okay.  The crust was too thick and I did miss flour in this one.

They also have wireless so I'll be working from this place more often.  Now, I just got to go work out.  

http://www.flyingapron.net/home.htm