Bake- A new favorite in Chicago

I love checking out bakeries! Unfortunately, perhaps because of my profession, there isn't many that I would call favorite. I feel a little sad everytime out of town friends ask for bakery recommendations. Often time, I refer them to Vanille Patisserie and the list ends there. Anyone knows that one recommendation hardly constitutes a list!

But yesterday, I added another bakery to my favorite list! It was a happy day.

Bake opened its door at the Wicker Park area on end of November. In only a few short months, it has captured the attention of local medias and residents in the neighborhood. Its popularity is evident on Yelp! Everyone raves about Bake's pastries, which range from the cupcakes, cookies, muffins, whoopie pies, brownies and coconut macaroons. If there's one thing I may add, it would be the coffee. On my visit yesterday, Eric pulled out a delicious and nicely balance cup of latte.

In full disclosure, I must mention that I know one of the owners. But my review on this gem is based solely on the pastries I paid and tried.

I had a big chocolate chips cookie, which was nice and chewy, studded generously with lots of chocolate chips. It tasted like it was fresh from the oven.

A banana chocolate cake- it was moist and had a nice balance of sweetness. The chocolate chips and walnut in the cake added a nice crunch to the cake. Which is how a good banana cake should be.

Last but not least, a whoopie pie. People on Yelp! raved about Bake's whoopie pie, which I finally tried. It was also the first whoopie pie in my entire life. It was downright comforting.It is the kind of pastry a girl needs on a gloomy rainy day.Like now. Bake's whoopie pie is so big that I could cut into four pieces and share with friends.

There are other patries like their gigantic muffins studded with lots of fruits, coconut macaroons the size of my fist and oreo cookies that I really wanted to try. I think all these give me reason to wander into wicker park soon.

Everything from Bake is baked with the highest standard and quality ingredients. That is what you get when the owners are respectable pastry chefs who worked in luxury hotels and some of the finest bakeries in the country. Because I have been working with Eric for a while, so I know the values and high standards he and Jennifer set for Bake. This knowledge makes me feel safe, knowing that anything I buy from Bake will be nothing but products they are proud of.

My heart was filled with happiness when I got home yesterday. Finally there is another bakery worth recommending to friends. More importantly, another source to get good and fresh pastries made from scratch in Chicago.

Although Bake has only entered the bakery scene in Chicago for less than 4 months, it has been nominated as one of the best new bakery by TimeOut Chicago magazine in the 2010 EatOut Award. I wish them best of luck because they definitely deserve to win!

Bake
2246 W North Ave
(between Bell Ave & Oakley Blvd)
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 384-7655
www.getbakedchicago.com

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Danish Pastries

When one enrols in pastry school, keeping a healthy diet proves to be challenging. Although I think I do pretty good in refraining myself from gobble up all the goodies I make, there are some pastries that are simply irresistible.

Case in point, the freshly made danish. Or yeasted laminated dough in general. I told you that I have fresh artisan breads for dinners in the past 2 weeks. But I deliberately left out the details of the sinful breakfasts I partook in that 2 glorious weeks- super flaky, buttery, arteries clogging croissants and danish pastries. The phenomenal croissants is worthy of a post on its own, so let's focus on danish now, shall we?

Although I have made danish with the Daring Bakers before, making this breakfast pastries in class is a totally different experience. Depending on the time of the year and the temperature in the room, dealing with a large amount of butter in a recipe is never an easy feat. For that reason, having ample cooler and freezer space is anytime an unspoken advantage. I remember rearranging my "well stocked" cooler and freezer when I was attempting to chill the danish dough for danish braid last year, and it was a real pain. Cooling space aside, having a machine to roll out the dough is another reason to bring smile to my face. I fell in love with the sheeter the first time I used it. I think of sheeter as a big pasta machine ,it can roll out any kind of dough in no time.

Typically used in laminating dough to minimise contact time, which may result in melting the butter in the dough. My friend told me that the bakery she staged at used a sheeter to roll out cookies dough. Using just 2 fingers, I can have the danish dough roll uniformly to the desired thickness. Pure bliss~ It's great time saver when dealing with a large batch. But rolling out by hands definitely feel more rewarding.

A few weeks ago, a representative from POM Wonderful dropped me an email to see if I would be interested to try their 100% pomegranate juice. The answer, as you may already guessed, was YES! I must confess that I was too cheap to buy it from the grocery stores because I wasn't sure if I would like it. How typically unadventurous of me. Even though I love the lovely bottle the pomegranate juice comes in.

POM Wonderful's antioxidant power has well documented as significantly higher than red wines and other fruit juices. Other health benefits on cardiovascular, prostate and erectile function can be read from their website. Although according to the studies, one needs to drink the juice for a long duration to fully reap the claimed health benefits , I think it is definitely a healthy beverage option compared to many in the market.

We had a pomegranate tree in the back yard when growing up, so I am no stranger to the fruit. I remember ripping open the red skin to messily digged out a lump of pomegranate pulps. They were then sent directly to my mouth. Taste of fresh pomegranate juice, extracted in my mouth. After that, a game of seeds spitting ensued, all in the name of hope - that some will grow into pomegranate trees the next day/week. The messy but delicious memory. My first sip of POM Wonderful juice reminds me of the fresh pomegranate juice I had in my childhood. They taste exactly the same! For this, I say "Good Job!" to the folks at POM wonderful for a great product.

POM wonderful has some interesting recipes on their website, but I simply drink the juice as it is. After eating so many croissants and danish, I need to drink something wholesome to counteract the negative effects of overloaded butter. Pomegranate juice definitely fits the bill.

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Sweet Spot @ NYC- Pichet Ong's Batch Bakery

Ask me about my NYC trip, and I'd have many things to tell. So many that I have a hard time on where to begin. Meeting up and hanging out with my BGF from London was certainly THE highlight, so was the visits to the top of Rockefeller Center, the "Slice of Brooklyn Tour", walking across Brooklyn bridge and many more. One of the highlights of my NYC getaway which I can't wait to tell you about,was the visit to Pichet Ong's Batch Bakery.

It was sheer serendipity that I found myself at the charming west village, steps away from Pichet Ong's dessert spot- P*ONG after agreeing to meet my friend at the nearby meatpacking district.

Turned out, the park we met was right across Magnolia Bakery. I will tell you more about the cupcakes next time. Or maybe I won't. The cupcakes were nothing to call home about. But the line that formed outside the bakery eluded us. Did we miss something. Well, nevermind. It doesn't matter.

After the cupcakes, we consulted ST's little TimeOut guide, and there it was, chef Ong's P*ONG restaurant was within walking distance! At that point, I didn't remember his bakery-Batch was just next to P*ONG.

As we walked past Batch, the man himself was there, wearing a black singlet with a matching three quarter pants, frosting a batch of what looked like chocolate peanut butter cupcakes on the counter. I enthusiastically walked in and confirmed that he was indeed Chef Ong, and told him that I admired his work and was a big fan. I went on to tell him that I had tried his favorite banana cake and the Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream recipes. As if that's not enough, I told him that I am Mrs Ong. All of which was true, even the last bit. OCT's surname is indeed Ong, which makes me legally Mrs Ong.

Maybe it's not everyday that a crazy female fan would walk in and proclaim herself Mrs Ong, chef looked a bit shocked and didn't know how to respond. So I asked him for recommendations on what we must try. Still half full from the heavy lunch and cupcakes, we ordered the chocolate hazelnut cake and green tea tiramisu that Chef Ong recommended, along with two cups of iced coffee, which he mixed for us. On hindsight, I must thank ST for not running away and dissosiated herself from me on the embarrasement I definitely had caused.

"Do you take milk with coffee, and how much?" Chef Ong politely asked.
"As much as you deem right, chef" I replied.
"And chef, do you mind, signing a copy of your book for me?"
"Sure, who should I address that to?"
"Mrs Ong."
"........" awkward....
"just kidding, my name is Mandy"
"Right Mandy, here's a carrot cupcake on the house" Chef Ong smilingly offered.

"Do you like the tiramisu?" He asked
"Yes! I like that you use rhubarb at the bottom layer!"
And then we went on chatting about pastry, on where he drew his inspirations, how he began in the pastry kitchen,his opinion on Asian inspired desserts; in between frosting his tray of cupcakes, picking up a few calls and entertained a few walk-ins.

Chef Ong was really nice and patient to answer all my quirky questions, which made me feel comfortable in his ecclentric little bakery. I feel so surreal, sitting on the only couch, eating cakes with my best friend, and talking to one of the 10 best pastry chefs in US at the same time. It is not everyday that I get to meet such remarkable baker who so generously dispense his knowledge and wisdom on sweets and life in pastry.

While we were half way through the cakes, chef suddenly asked if we didn't like the cupcake, because it was not finished. We told him that it's because we were trying to savor it slowly, while digesting the insight he imparted. :p

As if on cue, I put down the huge piece of chocolate hazelnut cake, and started eating the carrot cupcake.

"I like the filling in the cupcake, chef. Is that cream cheese? What did you put in it, it tastes interesting."
"It's salted cream cheese" Chef Ong replied.
"Oh, interesting! Where did you buy that?"
" I made it"
"I see....of course you made it...." I felt like an idiot. But salted cream cheese was indeed a brilliant idea.

Before he ran off, I took the opportunity to have a photograph with him, and ordered another macaron. I confessed that I was not a big macaron fan, which he emphatized and proceeded to tell me something shocking about macarons. Oh, and another salted caramel macaron on the house. :)

That's Chef Pichet Ong and moi, with a half eaten macaron. I was having an allergy on my right upper eyelid, so I didn't have any makeup on.That explains why I looked pale and tired. Should have put on my sunglasses!

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