The final morning of a recent trip to Atlanta I decided to try two different pastry-oriented places before hitting the road for home.  I didn’t want to be too full for the drive and thought something to munch on during the drive would also ward off the boredom that sets in between Macon and Savannah (if you’ve ever driven it…enough said, you know what I mean!  If not, make sure you’ve got satellite radio, an ipod, or favorite CD’s because the radio selection is practically non-existent)

First stop:  Bakeshop, a bakery and cafe operation located on Peachtree St. in midtown Atlanta.  It’s owned by the Concentrics restaurant group which operates a large variety of other operations including Parrish Foods & Goods which I visited on a previous trip.  Just like a kid in a candy store, I can be a bit dangerous in a bakery when left to my own devices.    I ended up settling on getting three items for the road: an almond croissant, an enormous apricot and pecan scone, and finally one of their tarts – apricot and pistachio. 

Amazingly enough I did manage to hold off until I reached home to cut into each of them.  The croissant was good but I was a bit disappointed that it was a plain croissant that appeared to have been cut in half and had the almond paste smeared inside rather than being baked inside the dough.  It was good but it didn’t live up to my longtime favorite from Some Crust Bakery in Clarement, CA  that I’ve loved since college days.  (I could sure go for one now!)  My main reason in trying the tart was to investigate the filling.  It appeared to be a mixture commonly known as frangipane which would typically be almonds, sugar, butter, and eggs that are ground into a paste-like consistency and baked in tart shells, usually topped with fruit.  In my baking classes I’ve often suggested using other nuts such as walnuts or pecans but quite honestly hadn’t really considered pistachios.  It was ok but not as flavorful as I’d like.  All was not lost though….the piece de resistance was most definitely the apricot and pecan scone!

Wow, it was good!  A dense moist scone packed with pieces of dried apricots, nice bits of pecans, and the surprise element…small chunks of white chocolate!  It was moist and dense enough that it needed no butter.  I think butter would simply cover up the delicious flavors of the slightly tart apricot, nutty pecans and perfect sweet creaminess provided by the white chocolate bits.

Second pastry stop:  Sublime Donuts, located in a strip mall on Tenth Street near the Georgia Tech campus was referred to me by a friend that had kept a magazine clipping featuring it but hadn’t yet visited it himself.  I love all manner of baked goods but my REAL weakness is for donuts!  I mean REAL donuts…yeasty fried cakes that have enough bite and pull to them without being tough or easily squashed when picked up.  Not the sickeningly sweet puffs of air made by Krispy Kreme or the lackluster things made by other chains.  Until I moved out of California I never realized what  a “donut culture” California really is!  Growing up and then living there I just always assumed that all areas of the country have plenty of independent donut shops producing great tasting donuts.  It wasn’t until I went to Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island and discovered that donut chains seemed to be the norm everywhere else. 

Exterior-wise, Sublime Donuts looks like nothing more than any other donut shop.  The uniqueness lies in the variety and types of donuts that they produce.  It’s owned by Kamal Grant,  a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America.  According to the bio on his site, his goal is to produce a donut so good it’s worthy of being “someone’s last meal on death row”.   No basic glazed donuts here. 

Some of the options included the Reese’s which was a raised donut with a chocolate glaze, the hole was filled with peanut butter and pieces of Reese’s peanut butter cups in the glaze on top as garnish.  Rather than sickeningly sweet gooey jam, he has opted to create a “Strawberries & Cream” donut which features a solid round yeast donut that is split is partially cut in half and filled with whipped cream and fresh strawberry slices.  Instead of a basic Boston Cream he offers up the “A-Town Donut” which is an A-shaped donut filled with whipped cream and chocolate.  My preferred of the far too many that I ate were the mocha flavored A-town (similar to above but with coffee cream filling and chocolate glaze), and the Dulce de Leche!  As one might expect for the uniqueness of the donuts and fillings, prices are a bit higher than a standard donut shop.  Most donuts seemed to be in the $1.50-$1.65 range.  But that’s the price you pay for unique individual quality items that aren’t being made for the mass market.

Addresses:

Bakeshop
903 Peachtree Street, NE
Suite C, ATL, 30308
404.892.9322

Sublime Donuts

535 10th St.

Atlanta, GA  30318

404-897-1801