bakery Archives ~ NC Triangle Dining

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

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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

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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

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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

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January 10, 2015 by Ron Wen 5 Comments

Boulted Bread in Raleigh Delivering Delicious Carbs in Loaf Form!

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

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

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.

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

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

La Farm Bakery