Hot Dish Review

While Jonathan was packaging up 50 loaves of bread and Brodie was putting multiple pastries and tarts in a box for me to take home my Mom called. She was watching a show on the seven deadly sins, the current segment was on Gluttony. Thanks Mom. Gluttony is my job, hell it’s even on my business card!

After a terrific lunch at Bakeshop, Jonathan St. Hilaire’s brick and mortar venture with the folks at Concentrics, I headed home with a haul of breads, pastries, and a mini quiche to sample. I needed back-up so I called my neighbor/roommate LG.

Once again, I put out some cheeses and unwrapped the breads….country sourdough, date walnut maple, a bacon baguette, a French baguette, and ciabatta. OK, so I exaggerated a little bit, it was only 5 not 50. We tried each one with some butter, cheese, and traditional accompaniments like dried figs, honey, almonds, and olives, and a bottle of Marquis Philips shiraz.

I liked the bacon baguette but the overwhelming favorite was the ciabatta. It was crisp on the outside, light and airy on the inside. I melted some gruyere on toasted slices this morning with my fried egg and bacon breakfast.

To be honest, the dominent flavor of the date walnut loaf was orange, which was a little baffling. I was expecting some chunks of dates and walnuts but could not find any. I think it will make a good bread pudding, however, and will post that experimental recipe when I get the urge to make it.

The quiche had a lot of an herb that I still am unsure of…..dried basil? It over-powered the delicate egg and cheese but was not a total failure. We devoured the flaky croissant with a smudge of almond paste inside. The chocolate graham tart had a thick pudding-like consistency topped with crunchy chocolate cookie crumbs, but I didn’t detect any graham.

Our favorite sweet? The pistachio apricot tart, with a flavor and texture reminiscent of marzipan, it was a real winner. And it was cute too…..green with the candied apricot on top, it looked like a sunny side-up egg.

My Mom’s call got me thinking about the seven deadly sins. What are the other six? With the New Year upon us I thought it would be wise to see if I was guilty of any so I googled them. The other six deadly sins are Vanity (check), Envy (check), Wrath (check), Greed (check), Sloth, and Lust (double check). I don’t know about you but I’m obviously going to hell.

So I took down my pagan Christmas tree and rewarded my effort with the remaining chocolate croissant. It was flaky and full of melted chocolate. Maybe I’ll make a BLT on the ciabatta for dinner. Honey, I’ve got bread for days, for weeks even….come on over and make yourself a samich!

Bakeshop 903 Peachtree Street 404-892-9322 www.bakeshopatl.com

I love bread. And so does Jonathan St. Hilaire, owner of Bakeshop with partners Todd Rushing and Bob Amick of Concentrics, his former employers.

Located in midtown next to the Metropolis, this place is a full-on bakery. Nothing divides the kitchen from the dining area except a big wooden shelf of freshly baked breads. Three communal tables, one of them practically in the kitchen, made of thick solid wood are paired with tall aluminum chairs to provide casual, neighborly seating.

The aroma of baking bread always reminds me of Germany. There, we would walk to the bakery down the street to get brotchen for breakfast every few days. They used to deliver it every morning at 6am but those days are gone, folks gotta fend for themselves now.

Bakeshop offers a wide selection of breads like ciabatta, brioche, country sourdough, French baguettes, and several seasonal specialties like the date and walnut maple loaf I took home today.

In addition to the breads, St. Hilaire is a baker of pastries. Having graduated from the French Culinary Institute in New York City, he is well-practiced in the art of pastry. His almond croissants became practically legendary at the market at Parish. At Bakeshop there are chocolate smore tarts, sweets in jars (more on this later), cookies, and whole cakes.

Stints at Spice, Woodfire Grill, and ultimately overseeing all of the baking for Concentrics, his lofty resume belies his humble persona. It seems he just wants a simple bakery, where the quality reins supreme and the customers leave with a smile. The staff at Bakeshop is genuinely interested in you, the customer. Brodie was on hand today to introduce me to their wares and deliver an excellent lunch experience.

Along with the sweets and breads are delectable breakfast items, sandwiches, and salads. I lunched there today and sampled a variety of offerings starting with the soup special of white beans with a slice of sun-dried tomato bread toast, perfect for dipping. The bread provided the saltiness to the sublime soup for the perfect combination. A salad of mixed greens, walnuts, pear, and blue cheese was dressed with a light champagne vinaigrette. Light and not too fussy. A sandwich of prosciutto, arugula, and parmesan on an apple baguette didn’t deliver the sweet note I was hoping for, but was rather over-powered by the salty prosciutto. The best dish by far was the open-faced goat cheese tartine of walnut pesto, avocado, goat cheese, and watercress on a slice of toasted country French bread….absolutely worth a return visit! Creamy, crunchy, unctuous….man, it rocked!

Other savory sandwiches include a grilled cheese with bacon on sourdough, BBQ pork with cabbage slaw on a sweet potato roll, and smoked turkey with blue cheese and red onion on wheat. Fritattas, ham and gruyere croissants, and French toast and more are served for breakfast.

I topped off my lunch with a dessert in a jar. The espresso pot de creme and a large coffee from 1000 Faces, based in Athens, GA. Light yet rich, delicious.

What I had for lunch was nothing compared to what Jonathan packed up for my take-home goodies: the date walnut loaf, ciabatta, French baguette, bacon baguette, and a loaf of country sourdough. Damn! Even I can’t eat that much bread! Plus, an almond croissant, chocolate croissant, pistachio apricot tart, and chocolate graham tart, and a mini ham and goat cheese quiche to go. What a great guy….no surprise that he’s a Pisces!

To be continued…..

Cheese (cheez) n. a solid food made from the pressed curds of milk. Sounds delish, no?

I’ve really gotten into cheese in the last few years. So many restaurants offer artisan cheese plates, sometimes as a starter, other times as an option for dessert. Anne and Clifford have always done it the best at Floataway and Baccanalia. Their astounding selection at Star Provisions allows them to introduce us to new artisan cheeses from the US and abroad. But it is the perfect pairings and accompaniments that bring out the flavor and texture of each cheese that are truly remarkable.

And so I’ve learned the basics…..manchego with membrillo (quince paste), gruyere or compte with honey, dried figs, and Marcona almonds, Humboldt Fog with kalamata olives, taleggio with Vidalia marmalade, any blue with pears and candied walnuts.

Clark Wolf has written a witty and informative book about American artisan cheeses, appropriately called American Cheeses. Read my review in Atlanta’s Finest Dining here.

I picked up some cave aged gruyere, cabrales, and taleggio at Whole Foods for a New Year’s Eve snack. The cabrales is a very pungent blue from Spain, and taleggio, from Italy, is one of my new favorites… semi-soft, creamy, and a little stinky. All three are made from unpasteurized cow’s milk.

They were out of baguettes but who cares, their bread is nothing special. I ended up getting a loaf of sourdough that I crisped in the oven and served it with sweet unsalted butter (I buy Lurpak from Denmark).

Why is good bread so hard to find in Atlanta? So frustrating! Tomorrow I am going to Bakeshop, Jonathan St. Hilaire’s new bakery/eatery, hopefully I will leave with a real French-style baguette and croissant too! I’ll keep you posted.

LG and I enjoyed my cheese presentation along with a bottle of red Lambrusco and half a bottle of d’Arenberg Stump Jump (yes, I didn’t drink the whole bottle!). Neighbors C & N stopped by as we tore into a rotisserie chicken, butternut squash, and braised red cabbage that LG salvaged after it scorched (good job!).

Then it was time for the requisite champagne. I like Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut when I’m pinching pennies, Veuve Cliquot when I’m not. It was a Gloria kind of year! A bar of Chocolove’s dark with cherries and almonds was a sweet end to the meal and my first bite in what promises to be an exciting year!

Happy New Year Hot Dish honeys!