Still feeling the effects of too much pastries...

from yesterday afternoon's, 'Ballard Bakeries run'. Our whole intent was to try out the 'Parisian macarons' from Honoré Artisan Bakery, instead we tried out a variety of croissants.



I got off at 2pm from my retail portion of the internship at Bakery Nantaise. We happened to be in the Ballard area in the afternoon and had some time before starting my last day of internship at Perche'No.

The Tall Grass Bakery and Café Besalu are located next door to each other. Honoré Artisan Bakery is about a mile north. All are very small bakeries, we're there between 2:30- 3:00pm, close to closing time for Café Besalu and Honoré.

The bakers at Café Besalu were busy rolling and cutting laminated dough. The work station and small ovens were located directly behind their display case. While waiting in line, I was able to chat with the baker who was measuring and cutting the laminated dough on the counter. Their tall display case featured different variety of Keish(Top shelf), variety of croissants(middle shelf), variety of cookies (bottom shelf) and a barista machine next to their cash register. They worked in tight quarters. Their croissant, was taste wise, very buttery not much flavor, texture similiar to the ones we make at Nantaise. The plum and frangipane tasted kind of weird together, flavor combination didn't go well together, plums were flavored ginger spices on top of a layer of almond paste, it tasted doughy under the plums and almond paste. Their pain au chocolat was not very good, not enough chocolate.

Tall Grass Bakery at 3 pm in the afternoon, they had crew of 5 bakers in varies stages making and baking bread right behind the retail display. They sold only breads. For a baguette, they charged $4.25. I picked up 3 small demi loaves of what looks like a sweet dough raisin bun, country french and a country french with sesame seeds on the outside and a olive batard. I've not tried them yet, was full of croissants from Honoré.

Honoré Artisan Bakery - we were there at 2:30pm, they close at 3:00pm daily. We arrived to find not much left in their retail display. Our whole intent was to try their "parisian macarons". Instead we settle for a plain croissant, apple croissant and a ham/cheese croissant. Considering it was late in the day, their croissants were still very good, very light and flaky, still had the "shattering" from the outside. It is so far, according to my husband, very similar to the croissants found at Bakery Nouveau. This place is worth a return trip to try their macarons. We did not see any artisan loaves of bread, no baguettes. The retail said to come back around 11 am daily when the macarons are usually brought out.