Even though they have been selling (and I've been buying and eating) their breads, pastries and cookies wholesale (Vios uses their breads) and at the Columbia City Farmers Market for months now, it was only yesterday that Andrew Meltzer and Evan Andres finally opened the doors to the Columbia City Bakery at 4865 Rainier Avenue South.
The last time I was at the market I overheard that the bakery's opening was scheduled for the 14th so I drove down there early this morning.
I was craving my first cup of coffee and a little pastry, fuel for a very busy day that was to include a gallery tour at the Frye, lunch at Vios, a movie, a little shopping for marzipan mushrooms and cocoa powder for hot chocolate, a pit stop at Barnes & Noble for the Paris issue of Nylon (recommended by a reader of this blog) and even a little play up the street at the ACT later in the evening.
There was no sign on the door--this after all is a very soft opening--but the place was packed, with a line out the door. Not a seat available, every table full. I ordered a vanilla soy latte (Caffé Vita) and a pastry (strawberry and custard danish for here and a fig and pluot danish to go) and waited for the first table to open. I got lucky, a stool by the window with a gorgeous fresh flower arrangement.
I then sat down with this week's copy of The Stranger to sip my coffee and savour every bite and every crumb of my scrumptious pastry while watching people and pets walk by and the drizzle and leaves cover the sidewalk.
It was just enough time to take in the beautiful space (the outside is red, the inside orange and pale lime green with lovely art work), the buzzing about of people in and out of the shop and the great vibes inside the brightly colored room (more bakery photos here).
And it was evident people were having a good time. I could sense they were just happy to be there, even the ones without a table, hanging about patiently, just like I had done before.
This neighborhood needed a place like this. And by mid-afternoon that to go pastry was just what I needed. Flaky, with a beautiful custard, a very light sprinkle of sugar crystals, plenty of tang from the pluot and a just a little honeyed sweetness from the fig.
This danish alone will have me going back.
Columbia City Bakery
4865 Rainier Ave. S.
Seattle, WA 98118
206 723-6023
Wed-Sat 7-2
Sunday 8-2
