La Baguette Panaderia
It’s a Sunday afternoon and Sundays are usually my days to splurge calorie-wise: a big breakfast/brunch or a big dessert, etc. This Sunday, I was jonesin’ for some pastries and my original intent was to go into M. Henry to see what baked goods they had. Well, I guess it was too late in the day because their selection was pretty poor. So instead, I went across the street to La Baguette. I have to admit that the name of the place confused me; it says “Baguette” but they have cakes in the window… WTF? However, inside, there are rows of pastries–I’ve found the right place.
I must first say that there is absolutely NO indication of how things are supposed to work and there are NO signs describing what pastry/baked good is what (except for about 3 things). So unless you’ve been in a similar panaderia before or you grew up eating this stuff, you’ll have no clue what any of the items are or how to pull out items you want to buy. Eventually, I figured out that you are supposed to grab a metal tray and a pair of tongs that are neatly lined up at the counter and use those to collect your pastries. I chose three small cookies and three large pastries: I could identify a couple of the cookies and I know one of the pastries was a cinnamon roll with raisins, but other than that, I had no idea what I was about to consume.
I went up to the counter to pay and I was sure that everything was going to cost at least $8.00 (oh, and there are no prices listed, either), but I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that my collection was less than $4.00! And the woman behind the counter was very polite and nice to me; no really complaints about the service, except that one one helped me when I came in.
When I got home, I decided to try half of each of the three big pastries. The cinnamon roll was awesome; a lot better than the most recent one I’ve had at Flourish. The sugar-cover croissant-thing was pretty good. The last thing, which was pretty plain from the outside, was interesting; it was filled with a sweet potato mixture–like a sweet potato pie that’s been turned inside-out. I think I could have done without that one.
This place seems great for picking up some sweets for a large group breakfast or a dinner party, since it’s so cheap. I just wish I knew what was inside all the pastries beforehand so I’d be more likely to pull something that I will actually like. I’m also guessing that they do most of their business through custom cakes, which is totally cool, but I’ll never be ordering one (I hate icing).
I’ll definitely try La Baguette in the future and possibly adjust my rating accordingly, hopefully for the better.
P.S. Just had the cookies… They’re really good. Not too sweet with a really delicate texture. I may buy a bunch of these the next time I throw a dinner party!
Yelp Review: 3 Stars