Romancing The Strawberry

Sometimes, for what seems like no apparent reason, we gorge on baked goods. As far as I am concerned baked goods could stop wars. After all, a croissant done right can really spread harmony throughout the room. Okay, maybe I’m wrong. I can say that people have been using baked goods to assuage feelings of emptiness forever. You know you’ve gone through your pantry at 2am, or swiped a bear claw from a baby. Okay, maybe I’m wrong. In any case, this young lady, plagued by the doldrums of continual job searching, found herself at Arizmendi Bakery gorging on baked goods. Then she found herself at Tartine the next day..also gorging on baked goods.

In case none of you knew, these are two of the most popular bakeries in the US. Arizmendi Bakery is in the sunset district of San Francisco near Golden Gate Park. 

Usually I get the pizza at Arizmendi’s. Like the Cheeseboard in Berkeley, Arizmendi features a different pizza everyday. They are delicious, thin, and topped with uber fresh ingredients. Each pizza of the day features different and unique combinations of vegetables. The shiitake, portobello and button mushrooms, sesame-ginger-garlic vinaigrette pizza is one such example and gives you that old pizza feel with a little bit of something new. You can check out the daily pizza menu before you head over to Arizmendi here. 

This time I visited Arizmendi I got the pizza of the day (house-made tomato sauce, smoked mozzarella, rosemary oil, p&p – the sauce was rich with flavor, so much so I wondered if there was bacon in it. There was not.) but I did not stop there. I also got a poppy studded loaf of sour dough, a scrumptious chocolate chip cookie (they do them right here) and a pecan roll. The pecan roll set me off edge and though I walked all through the Golden Gate Park Botanical Gardens after my binge, I still felt like the human equivalent of a pinata. 

The next day, after a long hiatus, I went to what is New York Times food critic Mark Bittman’s favorite bakery in the US: Tartine. (If you don’t believe me, read the article here.) Tartine is located in the Mission district. I love the ham and cheese croissants at Tartine. I think they are one of the best things to graze this planet and I couldn’t care less if they clog my arteries and make me die a premature death. Life would not be living without them – and when I say them, I still mean the ham and cheese croissants specifically, I am just assuming you’ll be eating more than one of them. 

On my most recent visit, however, they were out of ham and cheese croissants. I was very upset about this. I had done my hair, showered, the whole works just to strap into this place and order what I believed would be the lunch to make my day. Had I not ordered the quiche I may have been very disappointed.

Soon I learned that the quiche could also bring me to my knees. Like the Tartine croissant the outer layer is extremely flakey and buttery, making ones finger a bit of a disaster after the meal. Fortunately for you the food is so good you won’t care. The quiche is no exception. Its inner layer is unnaturally yet naturally creamy and there is not one healthy thing about it (well the ingredients are great but….). This particular quiche was made with herbs and ham. It was the perfect thing to curb my addiction for well….maybe a few days.