The truth hurts
Posted by chris on Aug 6th, 2010 add a comment
Cookies from Gregory’s Gourmet Desserts
After 24 years of diligent practice and non-stop training, I know how to tell when I’ve had enough cookies: When there’s none left. And the bag, box or bakery is empty. And there’s chocolatey, sugary, sometimes-snickerdoodley pain in my stomach.
Previously on Cut & Taste
- Alarmingly good — Information about Gregory’s
- Chewed Up — Louis C.K. talks about being full
from twitter Posted by chris on Jul 20th, 2009 add a comment
follow me on twitterAt the farmer’s market, I only had enough cash to get either the Thai Chicken Curry or an oversized Red Velvet Cupcake. But not both.
The decision was a piece of cake.
review
Alarmingly good
Posted by chris on Jul 15th, 2009 3 comments
I never set an alarm clock. I work from home, on my own schedule and sleep very sporadically. I don’t plan things in advance so I rarely need to be somewhere at a specific time. But this morning, I broke my habit and set an iTunes alarm for 10:45AM…
All cause of Gregory’s Gourmet Desserts in Oakland, California. They’re open to the public one day a week: Wednesdays at 11:00AM (They close when they sell out.) Gregory’s is first & foremost a wholesale bakery, catering to hotels & restaurants. But due to public demand, they decided to open their doors to common streetwalkers — one day a week.
Ambiance
Their priority still lies with their corporate clients: They don’t have a “store-front” for the public. No fancy glass cases to show off their sweets like expensive jewelry. You basically walk down some stairs to a back room of the kitchen where they sell you cookies right off the baking trays.
No fancy printed menu behind the cash register (no cash register, either.) Instead, you walk by a human-sized dry-erase whiteboard just outside the door, filled from edge-to-edge with a huge list of cookies, cakes & cobblers. It’s not even pretty handwriting. It looks like I wrote it — And if you’ve ever had the misfortune of getting something handwritten from me, you know how shocking that is.
Fuck it. They don’t make menus, they make desserts. And you want ‘em.
My findings
- Key lime pie
- Peach cobbler
- 3 dark chocolate coffee cookies
- White chocolate blueberry oatmeal cookie. Tons of blueberry flavor. This is coming from a guy who’s still recovering from a cold.
- Peanut butter chocolate chip cookie
- Snickerdoodle
All for me.
daily diet
Hurts So Good edition
Posted by chris on May 21st, 2009 add a comment
Chocolate mousse topped with strawberries; Raspberry mousse with whipped cream, Lemon mousse topped with blueberries; Triple chocolate brownie a la mode, Apple cinnamon crisp a la mode, Bread pudding with raisins & vanilla, with buttery whiskey sauce:
Done.
(Actually, there’s still some left in the photo above, but it really was completely finished before we left. I wouldn’t lie to you.)
Guys vs Girls
Posted by chris on Apr 23rd, 2009 add a comment
I showed up too late to try the Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes that Jill was talking about, but she was nice enough to bake another kind of vegan cupcake:
A pretty darn good vegan dessert — makes you wonder how much better it would’ve been with the addition of tasty, tasty animal products.
review
Baklava: It’s what’s for breakfast
Posted by chris on Jan 25th, 2009 10 comments
Thanks to my homie, Bilal, at my local Farmer’s Market I scored the last of his baklava tray for five bucks (regular price would have been $14). Every week, he hooks me up with a super deal on his food. And all I had to do was be a loyal customer for a year — an easy task.
A quick story
A while back, Bilal was telling me how his sales were low that particular day. We talked for a while and I bought $15 worth of food, paying with a 20 dollar bill. After talking some more, I asked for my change. Turns out, I had accidentally given him a 10 dollar bill, shorting him $5.
Yes, I can count. But I’m usually half-awake (or as the pessimist in me wants to say, I’m half-asleep) when I stumble into the Farmer’s Market each Sunday morning. So I wasn’t thinking very clearly. Thing is, he didn’t even mention my mistake until I brought it up. He was prepared to silently take the $5 hit, even after a dismal day of sales, just to keep me as a loyal customer. Dude is a class act.
If you ever visit the Blossom Hill Farmer’s Market, don’t leave without visiting the Afghan booth, next to the (also great) cinnamon bread stand. Bilal, a young guy in his 20’s, will be there with his usual lively banter, giving you enough free samples to skip breakfast. Unless I buy everything first.
Related post: Grocery list #2 – Where I talk about some of the other food Bilal sells
review
Dark Chocolate Almond Laceys
Posted by chris on Apr 12th, 2008 4 comments
An extraordinary, crisp continental confection with rich smooth dark chocolate melted between two feather-light toffee wafers. WORD.
Think of it as the best sandwich in town. But instead of bread, it’s almond-toffee. And all that healthy stuff that goes in the middle has been replaced with dark chocolate. I highly recommend this evil concoction brought to you by a company called, Desserts On Us. (Bought from Whole Foods.)
There’s also a Milk Chocolate Macadamia flavor, which is quite good.
It’s pure fatty, chocolate-y fun. With no corn syrup. So you can eat a whole box and not feel guilty. And since it has 1 gram of fiber per serving, you might as well buy two boxes. Not to mention the 2 grams of protein. I can already see this treat being the basis for the next fad diet.
ingredients
Bittersweet chocolate (unsweetened chocolate, sugar, cocoa butter, milk fat, soy lecithin (emulsifier), vanilla), almonds, sugar, butter (milk), cream, enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), honey, vanilla.
