Foodie Sundate with Eric
I now proclaim Sunday to be the best day for dates. Today Eric and I did some exploring in the Gourmet Ghetto. Here's the Acme Bread bakery in Berkley. We fell in love with their bread at Hog Island Oyster Co.
My favorite offering. I forget what they're called. We bought two at $1.80 each!
We were supposed to stop in at Cheese Board to pick out some lovely fromage to smear onto our feshly baked bread, but it was closed, as anyone in the know knows. We were not in the know. No biggie, I have St Agur in the fridge...one of my favorites. It's a creamy, intensely blue (i.e. moldy) french cheese. It's the cheese that had me buying Cambozola in order to fulfill my creamy blue cravings. If you read my Cambozola entry, then you'd know how crazy I am about St. Agur. It's the real thing, baby.
Anyway, we headed for Masse's patisserie across the street. I've raved about their finaciers, but they failed to excite this afternoon. Instead of rich, buttery, and slightly chewy around the edges, they were pale, too soft, and the hazelnuts tasted a bit rancid. The chocolat cookie was to die for. A brownie/collapsed chocolate souffle of a cookie, so tender and fragile that it collapses when you bite it, but with a beautiful chew. Intense chocolate flavor, perfectly sized chunks of melted chips, and unobtrusive chunks of pecan dotting the shiny surface. A real elegant cookie.
The strawberry macaroon had a disgusting pepto bismol color. At 1.25 for a half-dollar sized pastry I almost passed it up, but I had to have a 15$ minimum to pay with credit and didn't want to buy a cake. The macaroon was definitely sub-par, though not as repulsive in taste as appearance. The strawberry flavor was almost artificial tasting, the macaroons themselves like those dried-frosting flowers set atop a gaudy birthday cake. Biting into it was like biting into a day-old spoon of frosting: crusty on the outside, overwhelmingly sweet and melty within. If you want a real macaroon, visit Miette in the ferry plaza.
They had beautiful white tulips all over the cafe. If this pic isn't a predictable advertisement...well...Then I overrate my abilities as a photographer, which is actually pretty likely.
After our little patisserie date, Eric and I went next door to Black Oak books where I spotted a teeny hardcover filled with the rudest food critiques. I want!
posted by Melissa Sebastian @ 9:26 PM
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