It's reassuring to see bakery founder Azikiwee Anderson take the bold step of opening this retail space today. I've heard his specialty baked goods were creative and satisfying. My only previous interaction was when I was the happy recipient of a free sourdough loaf. They had overstock as I was fortuitously passing by. Before that, the space was another bakery cafe, Vive La Tarte.
I stopped by today thinking they might be out of inventory by lunch time, but fortunately everything was available from their compact but tantalizing menu. I appreciated how they avoided overextending their offering and chose instead to focus on a limited number of items - three individual tartines, two breakfast toasts, four grilled cheese sandwiches, and a coffee selection (Photos 6 & 7).
I was excited to try their ube sourdough loaf. I'm a sucker for ube smoothies, so I ordered the $14 Ube Marscarpone where they toasted a slice of the ube sourdough and topped it with a spread of ube marscarpone cream. It was blended with condensed milk along with sprinklings of toasted coconut and maple pepitas (Photo 10). The ube-on-ube flavor was rich but not overly decadent.
The additional elements provided the right level of sweetness. I might only suggest a creamier texture to the marscarpone. I ordered the $6.50 Iced Latte (Photo 8), and it was a refreshing accompaniment to the dessert-like toast. Business was pretty brisk on their first day, but there was still available seating. I look forward to trying their grilled cheese sandwiches next time.
FOOD / COFFEE - 4.5 stars...the sweet confections are very good, looking forward to the more savory options
AMBIANCE - 5 stars...nice set-up with a good vibe appropriate for this part of SoMa
SERVICE - 5 stars...welcoming on the first day, turnaround was impressive
TOTAL - 5 stars...grateful that chef Anderson has made a bold retail step in the 'hood
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