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Bakery

July 14, 2019 by Ron Wen

Layered Croissanterie: A Flaky Take on Delectable Pastries for Downtown Raleigh

Front of Layered Croissanterie in Raleigh - nctriangledining.com
Front of Layered Croissanterie in Raleigh – nctriangledining.com

While I’m more of a savory guy versus a sweets guy, color me curious when I first heard about Layered Croissanterie coming to West Street in Raleigh. I hadn’t heard much through the foodie grapevine and its quirky location just north of Peace Street had me wondering. Layered Croissanterie officially opened up on June 30 and I’ve been able to stop in several times and sample their pastries. And I can tell you for sure that this savory-loving foodie is super excited to have them in the neighborhood, here’s why!

First things first, if you’re headed over to Layered, it’s located on a quiet section of West Street just north of the popular Cardinal Bar and the future Publix. You can also access West street off of Wade Avenue, right on the exit ramp for Capital Boulevard South which is really easy if you notice it. Layered Croissanterie sits in a newer, renovated building in white brick, just look for the pastel-colored logo and roll-up garage door.

Seating area at Layered Croissanterie in Raleigh - nctriangledining.com
Seating area at Layered Croissanterie in Raleigh – nctriangledining.com

Viewable baking area at Layered Croissanterie in Raleigh - nctriangledining.com
Viewable baking area at Layered Croissanterie in Raleigh – nctriangledining.com

Inside Layered Croissanterie it all feels white, light and airy with plenty of sunlight, casual seating up front. The modern looking space features a viewable baking area and small, counter order area in the back-right. A display of the day’s pastries sits up front on white pedestals so you can commence drooling before ordering! Note that Layered Croissanterie is only accepting cards as payment right now and is open 6 days a week, closed on Monday’s.

Crowd at Layered Croissanterie in Raleigh - nctriangledining.com
Crowd at Layered Croissanterie in Raleigh – nctriangledining.com

The menu at Layered Croissanterie is super simple: a handful of regular croissant pastries, rotating seasonal pastries along with coffee drinks and beverages, easy peasy! I’ve worked my way through a good chunk of the menu and have high praise for the croissants here. They are perfectly baked, buttery and showcase a density of layers for your enjoyment.

Croissant display at Layered Croissanterie - nctriangledining.com
Do not eat, for display only at Layered Croissanterie 🙂 – nctriangledining.com

While you can’t go wrong with any of them, my favorites include the double-baked bananas foster which is split down the middle and filled with chunky, banana spread and topped with cream. The lemon meringue cruffin (croissant muffin) is also fantastic, crowned with soft and sticky meringue and filled with a bit of lemony cream down the center. Oh and the kouign amann (pronounced Queen Aman) pastries are delicious simplicity. A croissant type pastry layered in a sugary crust, yum!  Get your pastries for take-home or enjoy it at Layered with a hearty cup of Counter Culture coffee and you’ll be in sweet and flaky heaven!

Lemon meringue cruffin at Layered Croissanterie - nctriangledining.com
Lemon meringue cruffin at Layered Croissanterie – nctriangledining.com

I had a chance to chat with Layered Croissanterie’s owners, Mark and Kawsar to learn more about their business and pastries. A very cool and hip couple, Layered Croissanterie is their first food-retail bakery experience and their baking talents were honed over 10 years as a hobby. Head baker Kawsar, was a school-teacher in her prior life and has been baking for friends and family before channeling her skills into Layered Croissanterie.

Queen of hearts croissant at Layered Croissanterie - nctriangledining.com
Queen of hearts croissant at Layered Croissanterie – nctriangledining.com

They are usually up and working on pastries at 3 to 4 am given the 3-day process to make the croissants (make dough, shape dough, proof and bake). Wondering how they get those wonderful layers? Butter is laminated/layered on the dough, folded over three times and then folded several more times resulting in anywhere from 9 to 12 layers of flaky goodness, very time intensive.

Breakfast hash danish at Layered Croissanterie - nctriangledining.com
Margherita and Reuben croissants at Layered Croissanterie – nctriangledining.com

Snack visit to Layered Croissanterie - nctriangledining.com

And there will be more seasonal/international flavors over time, a savory spinach-bechamel croissiant (the Popeye) is the latest addition to the Layered Croissanterie menu! All I can say is that I’m excited to have this new pastry shop in Raleigh (and so close to home) but I’m pretty sure my waistline will be bearing the brunt of their deliciousness. So welcome to the neighborhood, Layered Croissanterie. Can’t wait to see what comes out of your ovens over the rest of 2019!

Layered Croissanterie

911 N West Street, Suite 107

Raleigh, NC 27603

984.200.1200

 

Location on Google maps

Filed Under: Raleigh, Restaurant & Bar Reviews Tagged With: Bakery, Coffee-Tea

January 10, 2017 by Ron Wen 5 Comments

Boulted Bread in Raleigh Delivering Delicious Carbs in Loaf Form!

Corner of Boulted Bread, Raleigh- NC Triangle Dining
Corner of Boulted Bread, Raleigh- NC Triangle Dining

There’s something amazing about a good loaf of bread.  Thick crackly crust, soft leavened insides with just the right amount of pull and chew.  We’ve been blessed in Raleigh with the arrival of first, Yellow Dog Bakery and now, Boulted Bread!  I had seen an article about the three founders of Boulted Bread in IndyWeek and it piqued my curiosity.  Over the course of three visits, color me impressed and carb’ed up…

 Counter at Boulted Bread, Raleigh- NC Triangle Dining
Counter at Boulted Bread, Raleigh- NC Triangle Dining

Boulted Bread sits in a quiet spot off of Boylan Heights on South Street.  The right you’ve got the Men at Work car wash and barber shop.  Across the street the Ice Market and a church.  But there on a corner in the burnished blue storefront and garage roll-up door is Boulted Bread!  It’s a pretty tiny (cozy) space and an interesting mix of hipster and old school Raleigh.  Small display counter up front, check out the chalkboard on the side-wall to get an idea of what’s on the bread menu for the day.  While the shop may open at 8am, the breads were scheduled to come out at 8:30 am and 12:30 pm during my visit.  For my visit, Boulted Bread had Levain (sourdough), rye, ciabatta and baguettes in the oven…

Bread rack at Boulted Bread, Raleigh- NC Triangle Dining
Bread rack at Boulted Bread, Raleigh- NC Triangle Dining
 Beautiful loaf of levain bread from Boulted Bread, Raleigh-NC Triangle Dining
Beautiful loaf of levain bread from Boulted Bread, Raleigh-NC Triangle Dining

In addition to the breads, you’ll find a lovely display of pastries ranging from croissants to buns and tarts.  I’m making some seafood stew that night so I order up  a loaf of levain ($6.50) and a pull-apart bun made with raspberry jam and Escazu chocolate ($4) .  While prices at Boulted are on the slightly higher side, you do get the comfort of knowing you’re support some baking artisans and the local economy which is always a good thing.  At home I pull the bread out of the loaf and it’s a wonderfully crusty and slightly burnished exterior with a super soft and elastic interior.  There’s a lot of glutinous texture to this Levain loaf and the hit of sour makes it perfect to be paired with my cioppino for the evening.  I didn’t get to the bun that evening but snacked on it the next day and it was solid too.

Pastries at Boulted Bread, Raleigh- NC Triangle Dining
Pastries at Boulted Bread, Raleigh- NC Triangle Dining

So thanks for perking up this neighborhood with your wonderful baked goods, Boulted Bread!  While you’ve only been up and running for several months, I think your breads may be on par with my bakery fave, La Farm.  And with Yellow Dog Bread Company on the east side and Boulted Bread right in the center of downtown Raleigh, we are looking good for all manners of baked goods and breads.   I’m already looking forward to my next visit…

 

Boulted Bread

614 W South Street

Raleigh, NC 27603

919.999.3984

Location on Google maps

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Filed Under: Raleigh, Restaurant & Bar Reviews Tagged With: Bakery, Coffee-Tea

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

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Filed Under: Raleigh, Restaurant & Bar Reviews Tagged With: Bakery

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
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
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
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.

My sweet escape from Nothing Bundt Cakes in Morrisville- NC Triangle Dining
My sweet escape from Nothing Bundt Cakes in Morrisville- NC Triangle Dining

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

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Filed Under: Morrisville, Restaurant & Bar Reviews Tagged With: Bakery

October 9, 2021 by Ron Wen

Utica Bakery in Apex For Baked Italian Sweets and Savories

Utica Bakery in Apex - nctriangledining.com
Utica Bakery in Apex – nctriangledining.com

If I’m in the mood for sweets, I usually end up with some cookies or ice cream. But every now and then, the need for great pastries hits my little prehistoric brain. And one category of sweets that unfortunately seems to be lacking in the Triangle is Italian pastries! Back up north, it’s not too hard to find a good Italian bakery offering up cookies, cannolis, and other goodies but down here in North Carolina, the pickings are slim. So if you’re looking like I have been, I’ve got some great news for you: Utica Bakery! Based out of Apex, Utica Bakery offers up some delicious pastries and surprises if you’re willing to make the effort and drive over to the Peak City.

Menu and Prices at Utica Bakery in Apex (Oct 2021)- nctriangledining.com
Menu and Prices at Utica Bakery in Apex (Oct 2021)- nctriangledining.com
Cookie assortment at Utica Bakery in Apex - nctriangledining.com
Cookie assortment at Utica Bakery in Apex – nctriangledining.com

Head on over to Apex and you’ll find a black trailer sitting in a side-lot at 430 Upchurch Street. Grab some street parking, there’s shaded cover overhead for patrons that’s lit up with some cheery, white light bulbs. You can order online and pick up at the window but for those who haven’t pre-ordered, scan the menu on the side. While most of the baked goods are Italian sweets, Utica Bakery also offers up some savory items and breads. For many of the filled items (cream puff, lobster tail, eclair) you can choose your type of filling and they will prepare it fresh to order. Choose from whipped cream, pastry cream, cannoli cream (lemon-ricotta base), and chocolate hazelnut cream. Some of the more popular items are probably the cannoli, lobster tails, and cookies. There’s a vertical display of the goodies right next to the menu!

Cookies and lobster tail pastries at Utica Bakery in Apex - nctriangledining.com
Cookies and lobster tail pastries at Utica Bakery in Apex – nctriangledining.com

One item that I definitely enjoyed is the lobster tails! Similar in construction to sfogliatelle, they are funnels of crispy pastry layers baked to a crisp and filled with the cream of your choice. I’d probably do the pastry cream or whipped cream to keep things light. The cherry on top just completes the deal. Utica Bakery is also known for their beautiful cannoli which can be ordered with chocolate or pistachio encrusted ends. The rum baba is a tall pastry that’s drizzled with rum syrup and can be filled with cannoli cream, a classic Italian treat. Utica Bakery’s cannoli cream is quite good with some lemon essence and perfect sweetness.

Cannoli at Utica Bakery in Apex - nctriangledining.com
Cannoli at Utica Bakery in Apex – nctriangledining.com
Cookies and rum baba at Utica Bakery in Apex - nctriangledining.com
Cookies and rum baba at Utica Bakery in Apex – nctriangledining.com

If you’re a fan of Italian cookies, Utica Bakery has a good assortment. My favorites are the almond paste-based cookie which are moist and chewy. I’ve also seen the classic Italian rainbow cookie on the menu but missed them during my last visit. I’m used to a larger number of cookie options at an Italian bakery but what Utica Bakery has is decent. And don’t forget about the savory treats at Utica Bakery. The tomato pie is similar to a tomato sauce-only pizza sprinkled with parmesan cheese. A large half-tray slab that’s best shared with friends and family. I hope to try out their stuffed breads sometime soon!

Tomato pie at Utica Bakery in Apex - nctriangledining.com
Tomato pie at Utica Bakery in Apex – nctriangledining.com

Given that it is SO hard to find Italian bakeries in the Triangle, I am so glad to have Utica Bakery nearby in Apex. Their sweets and savories are all well-done and reasonably priced for what you get. The service has been excellent during my visits here, you might want to order online if you want to save some time. I’ve had amazing Italian baked goods having lived in both the Boston and Hartford, CT areas so here’s hoping we get more and better Italian bakery options in the future!

 

Utica Bakery

430 Upchurch Street

Apex, North Carolina 27502

919.267.5716

Location on Google maps

Filed Under: Apex, Restaurant & Bar Reviews Tagged With: Bakery

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