bakery Archives ~ NC Triangle Dining

February 22, 2019 by Ron Wen

First Take: Saint & Co in Durham for Stellar Pastries and Pizza

Front of Saint & Co. in Durham - nctriangledining.com — Front of Saint & Co. in Durham – nctriangledining.com

When it comes to bakeries and sweets, Durham has its fair share of tasty options. Guglhupf in S. Durham, E. Durham Bake Shop, Monuts Donuts and more. So I was curious when I first heard about Saint & Co. on 9th Street. I hadn’t heard much about this business but picked up some pictures on social media after it opened up. Saint & Co. is officially a Viennoiseries which specializes in croissants, brioche and more. With a menu covering sweet pastries and savory pizzas, I wasn’t sure what to expect out of Saint & Co. But I had my fingers crossed because I knew they had a wonderful space for their new business.

Space at Saint & Co. in Durham - nctriangledining.com — Space at Saint & Co. in Durham – nctriangledining.com

Order counter at Saint & Co. in Durham - nctriangledining.com — Order counter at Saint & Co. in Durham – nctriangledining.com

If you’re headed out to visit Saint & Co on 9th Street, just be aware that it sits on the far northern end of the strip in a newish plaza. Saint & Co took over the short-lived Piehole space which has a premium corner spot with a wonderful finished patio! Given all the previous baking equipment that was probably in the space from its previous owners, Saint & Co. makes a lot of sense. They offer a variety of delicious croissants, seet tarts and more here on display, under glass. And if you don’t have a sweet tooth, Saint & Co. also has some sandwiches and pizzas on the menu, cool! Counter order, grab a number and then hang out and wait for your food. It’s a chill space with plenty of Duke students taking advantage of their wifi and coffee drinks.

Chocolate croissant at Saint & Co. in Durham - nctriangledining.com — Chocolate croissant at Saint & Co. in Durham – nctriangledining.com

Salted caramel tart at Saint & Co. in Durham - nctriangledining.com — Salted caramel tart at Saint & Co. in Durham – nctriangledining.com

Over the course of my two visits to Saint & Co. I’ve dabbled in both the sweet and savory sides of the menu and have to give an edge to Team Sweet! Their chocolate croissant was loaded with high quality, dark chocolate and dusted with powdered sugar and sliced almonds, phenomenal. And their salted caramel tart is crunchy cooking topping sitting over a pool of soft dulce de leche in a buttery crust. All really, wonderful pastries if you’re not holding back on the calories and maxing out on taste.

Meat Lovers pizza at Saint & Co. in Durham - nctriangledining.com — Meat Lovers pizza at Saint & Co. in Durham – nctriangledining.com

And the pizzas at Saint & Co are solid, billed as Neapolitan but a bit more casual. While the crust is tender, they roll it up and I’m pretty sure they aren’t doing a wood-fired oven in back so let’s just call it Neapolitan-style! But it’s a good pie with excellent tomatoes, good cheese and more. I’ll have to work on the sandwiches on my next visit! But all in all I’m quite pleased with what Saint & Co is doing for Durham. It’s a higher end pastry and coffee shop with excellent service and some nice lunch items to keep you rolling through to the afternoon. While I’m not a huge fan of dealing with the traffic on 9th Street, there’s now one more reason to hoof it over to this side of the Duke campus, bon appetit!

Saint & Co.

810 9th St Suite 130

Durham, NC 27705

984.888-0190

Location on Google maps

June 2, 2017 by Ron Wen

News: La Farm Bakery Opens Its House on June 24th in Cary!

La Farm Bakery 2017 Open House in Cary on June 24th from 3 to 5pm - Photos from La Farm Bakery — La Farm Bakery 2017 Open House in Cary on June 24th from 3 to 5pm – Photos from La Farm Bakery

When it comes to delicious baking and bread, La Farm Bakery out in Cary is an easy choice. Known for their rustic, artisan French loaves, I’ve always been a huge fan of their bread and pastries over the years. But thankfully for my waist-line, they remain safely out of arm’s reach in central Cary. But if you are a fan of La Farm Bakery, you don’t want to miss their upcoming open house on Saturday, June 24th from 3 to 5pm. As part of the 5th annual Bread Bakers Guild of America open houses, you’ll get a behind the scenes tour of La Farm, sample delicious breads and take home one of their dee-licious white chocolate mini baguettes! And yes, it’s all for free my bread-loving friend.

You’ll get a chance to see this lovely bakery in action with a bread-shaping demo and loading the hearth oven. And master baker-owner Lionel Vatinet will be on-hand for the celebration! I had the chance to take a pastry baking class at La Farm Bakery with Lionel and I can tell you for certain that he is a funny and talented man. So how can you pass up an opportunity like this? If you’d like to join in on the baking fun and eat, please RSVP with an email to [email protected] And if I don’t make it there on Saturday, grab a white chocolate baguette for me!

La Farm Bakery

2017 Bakery Open House for the Break Bakers Guild of America

4248 NW Cary Parkway

Cary, NC 27513

June 24th from 3 to 5pm

Save

September 1, 2016 by Ron Wen 1 Comment

First Take: Nothing Bundt Cakes, a Sweet Escape…

Storefront for Nothing Bundt Cakes in Morrisville- NC Triangle Dining

As much as I can be a bit of a piggy when it comes to savory eats, thankfully I don’t have a super-strong sweet tooth! But every now and then, the temptation for sweets strike and it’s time to grab a cupcake or splurge at fave lucettegrace. And while cupcakes and pastries are great, what about bundt cakes? Yeah, I know they haven’t been that popular or trendy recently but eventually all the 5-star online reviews for Nothing Bundt Cakes caught my eye.

Counter at Nothing Bundt Cakes in Morrisville- NC Triangle Dining

(Note: Nothing Bundt Cakes has two new locations in Durham and Morrisville) Located in the Park West Village plaza across from Goodybox Cupcakes, Nothing Bundt Cakes presents a pretty innocuous front face. Inside the space is small and tidy with a glass case of full-size bundt cakes, bundlets (single-serving) and bundtinis (bite-size). There are about 10 different flavors for sale today ranging from red velvet, lemon, chocolate-chocolate, white chocolate raspberry and more. At $3.99 per bundtlet, it’s certainly not cheap but right in line with cupcake prices in the area. I order up 5 different bundtlets with my GroupOn and service is quite good for this quick transaction.

Bundtlet options for Nothing Bundt Cakes in Morrisville- NC Triangle Dining

Back at home I check out my sweet bundt shwag. After giving away two bundlets, there’s still plenty to eat with a lemon, red velvet and white chocolate. They are pretty sizable cakes and drizzled heavily with cream-cheese frosting so you’re best off keeping them refrigerated. Mentally I rationalize that I’m looking at “single-serving” portions so I dive right in with a spoon. Whoa, these bundt cakes are super moist and have great flavor on the cake. Adding in the soft sweet frosting takes it up another notch and before long, most of bundlet is gone. I save my other two cakes for another day and they are equally good even after 36 hours.

And while Nothing But Bundts is certainly like a cupcake on steroids due to their size, they are different. The flavor combos are a bit simpler given the standard frosting and they aren’t filled so their strengths are more about their size and wonderful cake. In the end, I would probably prefer a cupcake over bundt cakes but these sweets are pretty durn good. And if you like cream cheese frosting you’ll be in seventh heaven here! So thank you Nothing But Bundts for the sweet escape you provide me. You may be just bundts but in my world, that’s plenty good!

Nothing Bundt Cakes

2008 Market Center Drive

Morrisville, NC 27560

919.694.5300

Location on Google maps

Save

July 1, 2015 by Ron Wen Leave a Comment

Night Kitchen Bakehouse, Raleigh – A Modern Take on Breads and Sweets!

Front of Night Kitchen Bakehouse in Raleigh- NC Triangle Dining

With all the new bakeries popping up in Raleigh you might miss out on Night Kitchen Bakehouse & Cafe. Which would be a shame because it’s pretty darn good. Not as fancy as lucettegrace but good in its own way!

Counter at Night Kitchen Bakehouse in Raleigh- NC Triangle Dining

Located in Seaboard Station around the corner from J. Betski’s, Night Kitchen Bakehouse is pretty unassuming up front. Inside the space opens up quite a bit, communal table in the middle a nice counter in back with the pastries along with a bread display. While Yellow Dog around the corner focuses on da bread, I feel that Night Kitchen skews more towards the pastries which is fine by me!

Pastries at Night Kitchen Bakehouse in Raleigh- NC Triangle Dining

Bostok pastry at Night Kitchen Bakehouse in Raleigh- NC Triangle Dining

I ask the nice lady up front for a recommendation and I end up getting a bostok pastry and coffee. The bostok is a sweetened bread covered with almonds and a dusting of confectionary sugar. And it is GOOD! Just the right amount of sweet and butter, paired up with my coffee I was a happy boy. I enjoyed my first visit to Night Kitchen and think they’ll do well as long as they can get the word out. With a nice selection of tasty sweets, savory breads and more, they should be popular and have the space to take advantage of a bigger crowd. Rock on, Night Kitchen!

Night Kitchen Bakehouse & Cafe

10 W Franklin Street #140

Raleigh, NC 27604

984.232.8907

Location on Google mapsRating

Save

May 1, 2015 by Ron Wen Leave a Comment

Kader’s French Pastry in Raleigh for Fresh and Inexpensive Sweets

(Updated 6/20/16)

Out at Cary Towne Center there’s a new pastry sheriff in town, Kader’s French Bakery! Formerly location on Western Boulevard in Raleigh, Kader’s has moved their operations and delicious sweets to Cary and in the mall. And I can tell you that nothing has changed from a product standpoint. It’s still the same great pastries and sweets as always!

Kader’s is not easy to find, again. The mall directory has not been updated, they are near the carousel at Cary Towne Center if that helps you! The space is a bit more modern now with decent signage and a long space with plenty of display cases. Kader’s was pretty quiet when I stopped in.

At the pastry case you’ve got a slew of sweets in bright colors: pistachio greeen white coconut, yellow lemon and more. A lot of their pastries lean towards a light, four-layer, cream/sponge cake type sweet along with more crusty Mille-feuille along with palmiers. I end up grabbing some mille feuille, a strawberry tart and tiramisu cake which were all great. Prices have gone up a bit with the four pastries running a bit over $11. But not a shocker given the new location.

So while I’m not particularly thrilled with Kader’s new location, I’m certainly glad that they haven’t shut down. Because it’s still hard to find pastries at this quality level in the area. Unfortunately it’s now a bit harder to also get them…

Kader’s French Bakery

Cary Town Centre

1105 Walnut Street #5520

Cary, NC 27511

919.659.3343

Kader’s French Bakery menu

Location on Google maps

Save

First Take: Saint & Co in Durham for Stellar Pastries and Pizza