The Grateful Bread Bakery and Macrina Bakery

Nov 3

Nov 3 A Tale Of Two....Bakeries?

A.W.

Been awhile, what’s going on? I know, a couple months (okay, maybe three) and what have I been doing? Trying to get my motivation back to write about food since I have been somewhat uninspired recently. Sometimes with the food, sometimes the food scene (Seattle is….challenging, I mean I did a whole post about food disappointments and to be honest, it has continued) and sometimes just laziness in general. But I’m forcing myself back into the food fold and trying to zero on stuff I really want to try that might reinvigorate the food mood I’ve cultivated in this blog that last 13 going on 14 years. That is a lot of food considering I haven’t included much of what I have had except maybe on an Insta post. What better way to get back in the swing than with a bakery. Better yet, two bakeries pumping out the same….but different.

Sometimes we do things without thinking. We just go into automatic and fall back on old habits whether intentional or not. It isn’t a bad thing per se, but we all have our patterns. Seems I unknowingly have mine too, particularly when it comes to food. I have my likes and dislikes for things which I have plainly detailed here over the years. I feel I have been falling back on my go-to’s recently. I mean I did narrow my posts recently to lots of pizza, fish and chips and fried chicken sandwiches! Oh yeah, and donuts….mmmmm….donuts….

Which brings me to bakeries—can’t go by one without stopping, whether I am hungry or not. Once inside it takes me time to peruse the offerings, especially if they have expansive offerings and menus of things that are not on display. In this town, many of them are somewhat encompassing and go beyond cakes, cookies and what nots to also entice you in for sandwiches and other savory stuff. But I am always down for a little salty and sweet combo. In the space a couple months I found myself at two different bakeries unconsciously ordering pretty much variations of the same thing.

One was Macrina Bakery which has several locations around the area, this one being down round 19th Ave in the city and has kind of a modernist, clean lines and white tables kind of vibe. The other was Grateful Bread Bakery and Cafe which also has multiple spots, is a more funky, earthy, college town, mismatched furniture vibe given its location near University of Washington. Two different vibes but leave it to me to fall back on my taste bud likes when perusing the bakery cases.

I was at these spots around brunch time so it felt right to have some kind of breakfast type food and what better why than quiche! And merely by the looks, can you tell whose is whose? Ones a little more homemade and the other kind of streamlined. Taste wise they were also quite different. On the left we have traditional egg, bacon and cheese in a classic clearly hand made crust. Old school I’ll call it that is very egg forward, almost like a frittata slapped in a pie crust. Nothing wrong with that as it was sort of a homey, comfort food taste like your mom or grandma made, you know, if they were into quiche. It had it charms though the bottom of the crust could have been a little more firm. Otherwise, it was decent and filling for around $6.

The other tasted like some chefy French version of a quiche. Not exactly egg forward like the above, it was cheesy, custardy and super creamy smooth. Baked in a crisp, flaky, buttery crisp crust akin to a tart it was not exactly giving classic quiche vibes, more like a luscious, savory dessert that I was kind of down with. Having a side of pickled veggies did help break up the richness. It kind of fit the vibe of the place as like a modern cafe to relax and luxuriate in all the cheese for around $7.

It comes down to what your taste level is for which one you’d prefer—more egg or more cheese. Kind of a tough decision as they both had their charms and seemed oddly unique to their respective bakeries. Your food mood could go along way to deciding which one you might like better. One will fill you up and the other will make you want to take a nap after. I think in the end, I’m more of a creamy cheese crisp crust person. Like pizza! (But not)

Seriously, did we think I was gonna pass up any kind of cinnamon roll?! If so, then you have not been following me all these years! (And why not?) I’ve been eating these things even long before I wrote about them. As a kid it was always the Pillsbury in a rolled can version until I had one at a bakery for the first time. A revelation that keeps me from ever going back to the tube. Nothing like fresh doughy layers and cream cheese frosting. However, these were slightly different than your standard bready type.

On the right we have the round rolled version made with dough akin to a croissant but rolled tighter to give more layers and covered in a healthy dollop of cream cheese frosting. While it doesn’t give the super heft of the bread version, it still hit the right notes with all the buttery layers and mix of cinnamon and brown sugar in between. It had the heft I like and the cream cheese frosting was smooth and creamy with that great sweet tang. At around $5 it was a very satisfying version I would definitely eat again and again and again……

The left was also of the croissant variety though it felt more like essence of a cinnamon roll than actual cinnamon roll. You can see from the pic it had a giant hole in the middle and was not as solid all the way through as the other one. I would go so far to say this more like a croissant dressed up to try and pass off as a cinnamon roll than the other way around. There is cinnamon and brown sugar in the layers here but it is more of a light touch. And while I like the cream cheese frosting for it taste and lightness, it was more of a smear on top than actual frosting. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it was nice and all, but for me it just did not offer the heft or give the satisfaction I prefer when eating a cinnamon roll. If I an going to blow some calories I really want them to be worth it. Price on this will run a little over $5 and while if someone bought this for me I’d eat it, I can’t say I would fork over the money for it myself.

Cookies! Okay, so these are not exactly the same since once has peanut butter in it, but I have been known to spread it over my chocolate chip cookies on my own. I thought having it baked it might be a nice option to try but it does make comparison of these a bit difficult.

The peanut butter chocolate chip was a big one that will run you around $4 and at its size, was value for the money for sure. Though I think I should really have just gone with the basic chocolate chip. I do say you can judge a bakery by how well they do the basics of which this is one. I think the addition of the peanut butter with actual peanut chunks dried out the dough a bit when it was baked. It came across as thick and somewhat dry. It had plenty of chips throughout so you do get the chocolatey but even with all the peanut butter and pieces, it weirdly gets a little lost. Not terrible by any means but not the best to me either. Some of the bits around the edges gave me hints of what it could be without and I should have just gone with my usual basic chip instead of trying to branch outside my likes. Live and learn! Okay cookie, could have been better.

The other was your classic chocolate chip, large but not as thick and costing just under $4. It was crisp around the edges and just the right amount of soft in the middle without being cookie dough like. The chunks of chocolate are plentiful throughout. There isn’t much to say about it except I do think it is one of the best chocolate chip cookies in the Seattle. Try it for yourself and you will see. I’ll definitely be back for it.

In essence that makes it Macrina 2 Grateful Bread 1. Sad for me that Grateful is not as easily accessible as Macrina, which is just a walk away, as if I had to choose, I prefer a cinnamon roll over a chocolate chip cookie, but sometimes you gotta take what is available. And if you break it down further, while I liked the quiche at Macrina, I don’t really crave that and would not be upset if I never had it again. But I will miss the cinnamon roll so that does kind of make it a win for Grateful. How do you like that logic! Either way, at either bakery I am sure you are gonna find something to tempt your taste buds. But there is more to this story. Since Macrina is so close to me I have been back and let’s just say, it wasn’t all tasty cookie time. I’m saving that for my next post since just because it looks pretty in the case doesn’t necessarily mean it will translate to something that will taste great. I will let you ruminate on that till next time.