In which we had to go all the way to Medford for pastries

The South End and Back Bay need more bakeries.

There, I said it.

We all love Flour and the Buttery, yes; but, where can you go for house-made, hot-out-of-the-oven bread around here? And the places you might think of that do sell good, fresh bread (usually baked elsewhere) seem to always run out of it by the time most people get out of work. It's a breadtastrophe. Sundays are a little better since the SoWa Market has brought in bakery carts from the metro region, but I say "give us, this day, our daily bread!"

We've seen the folks from The Danish Pastry House at the SoWa Market for the past few years and have very much enjoyed their croissants, pains au chocolat, and breads. Having had a hankering for a carb-ridden adventure the other day, we hopped into the car and drove the quarter hour over to Medford to visit the Danish Pastry House's bakery & café there on Boston Avenue. Forty-five minutes later, on a nice sugar high, we started bemoaning the fact that we can't easily get such goodies in our own neighborhood. If only we had the means to open a bakery ourselves! Oh well, ANYWAY...

We had some very delicious things at the Danish Pastry House and highly recommend a visit to anyone in the Tufts/Medford area.

The Almond Kringle (above) was AMAZING. Full of almond paste and buttery goodness.

Apparently, it's the house specialty. Makes sense to me!!

From left > right; top > bottom: we had a Floderbolle (described as "almond cookie base, Italian meringue filling, chocolate & coconut dipped); a Froggie 'KAJ' (we called these marzipan monsters amongst ourselves; they were very cute balls of flavored buttercream wrapped with marzipan, dipped in chocolate on the bottom); a raspberry frangipane tartelette (self-explanatory and my favorite); a chocolate bourbon pecan tartelette (this was apparently the girl behind the counter's favorite); and a slice of that delicious Kringle.

The Danish Pastry House's Bakery and Café is located at 330 Boston Ave, Medford. According to their website, they also have a retail bakery in Watertown. 

The Wholy Grain

This afternoon we ventured over to The Wholy Grain on Shawmut Ave in the South End to try it out. The Wholy Grain opened last Friday and is located ont the street level of a traditional brownstone. The inside is light and airy with yellow walls, chalkboard menus, and white marble countertops and tables. Although somewhat reminiscent of the South End Buttery, the Wholy Grain maintains a charm of its own. There are baked goods to choose from on the counter ranging from the traditional croissants to muffins to breakfast stromboli. There is also a glass case which--as of today--only had a strawberry cream cake and brownies in it; but, eventually, it should be filled with cakes and other pastries, we can only assume. We ordered a few items to try, a chocolate croissant/pain au chocolat, a blueberry muffin, a bacon-avocado-chicken wrap, a spicy-chicken and blue cheese sandwich, and a raspberry-almond cream croissant. Although it is unclear, we think the croissants and bread are made off-site while the muffins and tarts seem to be made in-house.

The chocolate croissant was light and flaky; overall very good. We were impressed with the raspberry almond cream croissant; on looks alone it could have won us over but the taste was just as impressive--it was fantastic. The bacon avocado chicken wrap was decent. The avocado wasn't quite ripe enough and the wrap itself was a bit bland but the bacon and chicken tasted good. The wrap sold for $6.95, so a bit over 7 bucks after taxes--a bit too high a price I think but typical for the area. The blueberry muffin was jam-packed with blueberries, after unwrapping it and breaking off a piece you could see a ton of blueberries inside. The spicy chicken sandwich looked and tasted very good, too.

The Wholy Grain was quite busy when we got there, but we didn't mind the wait. We enjoyed the friendly service and the comfortable atmosphere. This is a good alternative to the Buttery. My hope is, as the weeks go on, there will be more take-away baked goods such as cakes, cookies, and different types of bread available for purchase. Overall, there are a few kinks the Wholy Grain needs to work out but it will make a wonderful addition to the neighborhood. We are certainly excited for the outdoor seating come warmer weather!