So many new bakeries opened in a year it is hard to keep track of them all. One of the new media darlings in town is called Bearcat Cafe. It’s a breakfast/lunch/brunch place Uptown that has garnered so many fans that another location opened in the CBD recently, with a takeout-only bakery on Julia called Bearcat Baked.
We haven’t made it for breakfast or lunch but we did one of our drive-bys at Bearcat Baked. It’s located in the little spot next to True Food Kitchen that originally housed the short-lived Pauli G’s Pizza. This is the ideal spot for a place like this. It’s filled to the brim with offerings behind a counter. There is minimal seating in the tiny space including some window seating.
The day I went in there was quite an assortment of baked goods, and very varied ones at that. There were two breads on the far left: one country bread and one small ciabatta. Sitting next to the breads were two rows of basic glazed donuts. I was surprised to see something so conventional there. Glazed Monkey bread sat beside the donuts, and next to that was Ratatouille Danish. Sausage rolls were next in the lineup. Fat flaky plain croissants came next, followed by large bear claws dusted in powdered sugar. Chocolate croissants were here too, alongside an odd cookie. The last two things on the lineup were muffins, including a blueberry muffin. A Brie and asparagus quiche sat by itself behind this, and a coffee cake was behind these baked goods on the other end.
There was a lot of activity behind the display of deliciousness. The people behind the counter stayed busy. They were helpful, hard-working, and friendly.
I was surprised at how much I wanted. I’m all about the chocolate, and there was little of that. But there was a lot here to interest me. I had to reel it in. If I could stand asparagus I would have gotten the quiche. Instead, I opted for the coffee cake.
Of course, the sausage roll would make it to the bag. And I find loaves of bread irresistible, so I got the Ciabatta. I can’t have Tom in the car and not return with donuts. The bear claws might have made it to the bag but they seemed overdone. Vegetables always appeal to me but I left the Ratatouille Danish. Besides the Ciabatta, I got the coffee cake, donuts, and the sausage roll. I didn’t want to go crazy, but next time I will. Bearcat Baked was much better than I expected.
The sausage roll was surprisingly flaky, and the sausage was tasty. The meaty inside was much larger in circumference than I expected, which is always a negative for me, but eaten with the flaky pastry made it work nicely. I will return for more of these.
The coffee cake was disappointing. The flavor was bland, and I thought the strudel swirl in the body of the cake would give it some sweetness, but it didn’t.
Tom loved his donuts, and that means they were good. They were heavily glazed and the glaze flaked off. They were soft and doughy and looked like a fancy glazed donut.
The Ciabatta was also disappointing. There wasn’t a lot of flavor to it either. I like bread that has a salt component to it. The crumb of this was nice.
It seemed to me that the flour used for this was probably healthier than I’m used to. That’s a good thing for health but the taste just isn't there sometimes. And I’m not sure how I feel about that. Virtuous, but bored?
A few more visits to Bearcat were required to render a definitive opinion on it. That was hardly a chore and we returned a few days later. This time the quiche was jalapēno cheddar, so I wanted a whole one but just got a slice. And there was a pile of fresh loaves of bread behind the staff. I asked what they were and when the reply was sourdough, I got one of those. On this visit, the bear claws looked a little less toasted so we added that to the mix. And the cookie was a basic chocolate chip, so that came too.
Tom started in on the bear claw as soon as we left the parking spot. It was large, though not as large as the ones on the last visit. The dough was flaky and the overall taste was not too sweet. The further into the center we ate the more the almond flavor came through. The almond paste inside was not overwhelming. Less is more for something like that, at least to my taste.
The chocolate chip cookie was not to my liking. I’m a crispy cookie person. I like it to crunch. This was a soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie, again with a little less flavor than I’d expected.
The slice of quiche was good. It was classic in that it had the texture of the creamy egg base. I am not fond of this although it is the hallmark of a well-made quiche. I like “stuff” in quiche, and a thick crust to offset that soft texture. The crust here was on the thin side, and the jalapēno and cheddar did not make a strong statement in either taste or texture. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy this. It was a well-made quiche with jalapēno and cheddar. What could be wrong with that?
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It wasn’t until I got home that I broke into the sourdough. I made crostini with olive oil and salt and pepper. This was the vessel for bruschetta, which turned out great.
I felt the same about the lack of flavor until I had a slice of toast with eggs. It was then that the distinctive tang of sourdough came through. For some reason, they coat the top of their bread loaves with a blanket of flour. It’s weird, and I scrape it off.
This is a newcomer in the mold of a 21st-century bakery: carefully selected healthier ingredients that often compromise taste. But that feeling didn't register here in any significant way. Just one question remains for all of these...where's the chocolate???
