Wow! I may have found my favorite bakery... but why is it all the way in Galena?? (Enter crying emoji here.)
From the moment I walked in, I felt welcome. The person behind the counter--an owner, I think--was really friendly, as were all the staff. I bought a bunch of items here. I had planned to get just a cinnamon roll and empanada for a quick breakfast and ended up piling on, so we try a bit of everything throughout the day as we made our way back and got home.
Everything we've had is delicious. The empanada is amazing--so good that I'm going to stop in the way out of town and get at least one or two more, and maybe several if they tell me they freeze well. They have a perfectly flaky crust and are filled to bursting. I had a tiny bit of the lemon muffin I bought for my partner and it was really good: I think they may use lemon zest in the muffin because I could taste the lemon's oils and not just the juice. I bought some macarons--one of each--for the macaron enthusiast (it's not me) to try and enjoy. We had the macarons yesterday, and they were really good--even for macarons that had been in the refrigerator overnight (which I'm sure is probably the way wrong way to store them, but we were too full to try them). I had a bite of each of them and they were pretty good (remember, I'm not a fan of macarons) and my partner really loved them.
Galena Bakehouse also has some nice merchandise. I bought what they call a French basket because I thought it would be really helpful at the farmers market or grocery. They also had canvas totes, which I prefer for shopping to the standard, branded reusable bags that stores themselves sell, so I bought one of those too. They had several bottles of wine and champagne as well as orange juice for folks to make their own mimosas, and some celebratory supplies too (small plates, maybe candles, and so on). They have aperol, which I forgot to buy. They rent picnic baskets, which is a really fun service! I wish they sold them because I was ready to buy one (I don't know why but nice quality picnic baskets are tough to find). I did buy a nice big blanket that I can use when I visit the Grant Park Music Festival this summer.
I started writing this review when I was still in town, and had planned to visit and buy several more of the breakfast empanadas to bring home with me and freeze. When I returned, they were no longer selling the breakfast empanadas but had moved to lunch, which included a vegetarian one (spinach, cheese, and possibly artichoke), and a beef picadillo one. Both were so freaking good, and the beef one didn't have any cheese so my significant other enjoyed it as well.
I almost didn't come to Galena Bakehouse, because I wanted to make a single stop for pastries and coffee and it didn't seem like Galena Bakehouse sold the latter. I'm glad I decided that two stops wouldn't be that much trouble! I wish they'd make their way to Chicago... Manhattan's loss is Galena's gain. read more