Set in a historic cobblestoned building on 13th Street, just a few businesses away from Washington Avenue, is the small storefront that is the Thirteenth Street Bake Shop, Ltd. The store name is scripted on a white sign over a blue-green wall set into the cobblestone. A homemade wooden screen door screeches to greet you as you enter the initiate bakery.
The wall near the right side of the counter is hand-painted to look like a European café front, with a blue and white striped awning and chalkboard paint used so the drink menu can be handwritten right onto the wall with colored chalk. Up and to the left of the counter, a large blackboard is suspended from the ceiling with the bakery menu hand-scrawled in colored chalk as well. The bakery case itself features just a few items that were recently homemade. Two deep baking dishes contain massive cinnamon rolls, one pan with and one pan without raisins. Other trays held other items, including various flavors of muffins, breads, and Danishes.
I asked the middle-aged woman behind the counter what was good to eat here. She reached for a clean plate and spatula as she replied, in an almost annoyed voice, as if everyone should already know this answer, “Everything, but we?re known for our cinnamon rolls.” By the time she was done with her short reply, she looked ready to scoop one up for me, so I told her I'd take a cinnamon roll without raisons. I also ordered a hot chocolate.
The cinnamon roll was served on a warm plate that was perfectly sized for the mammoth roll, which was about 3 x 5 inches wide. My hot chocolate was also given to me on a plate, with a perfect head of whipped cream towering up over the rim of the mug, and a spoon resting on the plate, which is exactly how I love my chocolate to be served.
Everything looked absolutely, perfectly delicious, but looks can be deceiving. The cinnamon roll was served at room temperature, and the icing had just been poured over it right after I ordered it. (You may choose not to get icing.) I have strong expectations that the roll would taste worlds better if it was served warm. Overall, this roll tasted like any ole cinnamon roll, except that the bottom of this roll was a spongier texture than the rest of it, which was due to the absorption of the delicious browned butter on the bottom of the pan. Hot chocolate featured lots of real whipped cream on top. I watched the counter girl make this hot chocolate the way all hot chocolate should be made, with steamed milk, but this particular version had watered-down flavor and thin consistency that did not hit the right flavor spot for me.
As I sat eating at a large wooden table, I leaned back to fully take in my surroundings. Every table and chair in the room was made out of solid wood, but each one was a different wood stain and construction style. Pushed up along the front window was an old couch covered in a floral print. The hand painted walls and mix-and-match distressed natural wood style made me feel like I was in a family-owned European country café.
I watched other customers walk in and place their orders, and as I observed the counter girl, I realized that some of these customers must be regulars because she appeared to automatically know what they wanted to order when they walked in the door. The café was quite full on this Saturday morning. (Note that Thirteenth Street Bake Shop is not open on Sundays.) Some of the customers were taking their food out into the connecting glass hallway and into other parts of the building. When I finished my food, I got to explore where they had went, and discovered that there were three other dining rooms, each one decorated like an English study or library room in a family's home. The entire place was about 80% full, but I overheard the person who appeared to be the owner say that the place was “empty” that day, but on the previous Saturday the dining areas were packed full.
I enjoyed the atmosphere here enough that I would return to try some of the other tasty-looking things in the bakery case, even if all the looks turn out to be better than the tastes. Don?t get me wrong, the food was not bad, I just had high hopes when I found out that this place was known for its homemade famous cinnamon rolls. Thirteenth Street Bake Shop seems to be the hot cafe to be on a lazing around on a Saturday morning while eating a baked good, drinking a specialty coffee, and reading the morning paper.
Click the link above to watch the video, right-click
to save the linked file, or get all this site's videos in your iTunes
by subscribing to the Podcast/
Videocast 
.
(Need technical support?)
0 COMMENTS:
Post a Comment
LINKS TO THIS POST:
Create a Link
<< Home