Our greetings crossed paths in the air as I opened the door to this family owned Iraqi bakery when Fatima, the lovely young woman at the counter, said, "Welcome in!" at the exact moment I said, "It smells SO good in here!" She said the aroma was from the Iraqi bread that was not long out of the oven and she was right. The bag we bought (a bargain price of only $9 for 10 pieces) was still warm when as we carried it to the car.
But bread isn't the only delightful to eat thing inside this space because there are over a dozen kinds of baklava, a variety of cookies like sesame and date filled ones, and pastries featuring katafi and many are filled with pistachios, including one of my all time favorites, birds nests, along with other sweets like Turkish Delights.
All of the pastries are petite sized which is appropriate given they are all sweet and rich and just right to enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee at home. I think they are priced by the pound, ranging from $11 to $20. In addition to bread, we bought a large container if sweets (they have small and large) that we filled with our selection of pastries and cookies to try so we could start to reach our goal of tasting every one of them made here!
FAMILY BUSINESS: Another impressive thing, is that all of these pastries and the bread is made by Fatima's father and sold in this business which is owned by her brother. The family is originally from Iraq then lived in Turkey before coming to the United States, so the baker has the heritage and life experience to create these authentic treats.
LOCATION: On the Bench in one of Boise's many decrepit and very old strip malls. I imagine this building hails from the 1960's. The space leased by the pastry shop used to be Toby's Treasures so if you look for images on Google, that's what you'll see. In the mode of don't judge a book by its' cover, go inside!
PARKING: Private lot, a big advantage in Boise.
ACCESSIBILITY: There is no ADA parking. There is no need to step up onto a sidewalk, the walkway is level with the parking lot. Parking cement blocks make it difficult for a wheelchair user to get through in between them to access the walkway. But if you can do that, then it is level in the door to the pastry shop and all on one level.
SHARING IS A GOOD THING: We introduced a favorite neighbor who had never had Iraqi bread to it by sharing some with him along with a note about ways to use it and the shop's contact information. This family relies on word of mouth, including social media sites like this, to spread the word to keep their business open.
HOURS: Closed Mondays, otherwise current hours are 10a - 7p six days a week. read more