John F. Kennedy And The Jelly Donut

Some readers may wonder why I review some restaurants only once and others multiple times. In cases where I do not live close to the restaurant or the restaurant is prohibitively expensive, these barriers may be enough of a deterrent to prevent me from returning too quickly after my initial visit. Even with restaurants that are within easy driving distance, if I don't happen to be driving in that particular direction, the thought to return for a second meal might just not pop into my head. When I do return for a visit, however, I try and not cover the same dishes I had in previous visits. Since I always link to prior reviews in current ones, if the reader feels so inclined, he or she could simply load up the other review with a single mouse click.

Today's post will be about a restaurant and bakery that I have covered several other times, Golden Goose located in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The first time I went for lunch, I was a bit amused as I kept ordering almond croissants and getting ham and cheese instead. That was also the first time I met Michael Bruno, the pastry chef at Golden Goose. When Michael isn't up front helping customers make pastry selections, he can be found back in the kitchen turning out all manner of Brioche, Challah, sourdough breads, croissant, danish, muffins, and sticky buns. And that's on a normal day. When the holidays come rolling in, he adds specialties such as Bouche de Noel.

Having read Michael's post on the Golden Goose's Facebook page, I decided to stop in to check out the New Year's Eve Day treats on which he had written. Specifically, Berliner. Berliner are a filled doughnut, traditionally eaten by Germans on New Year's Eve. Technically they are known as Berliner Pfannkuchen. Interestingly, those inside the city of Berlin do not refer to them as Berliner, but as Pfannkuchen (which means "pancake"). Only those outside of Berlin call them Berliner. Thus, when John F. Kennedy uttered the famous phrase in a 1963 speech, "Ich bin ein Berliner" to the masses in West Berlin, he was not saying, "I am a jam doughnut." Had he said that phrase anywhere else in Germany, however, he would have indeed been declaring himself a fried round of dough filled with something sweet.

While Berliner at its very heart is quite similar to what Americans would just call a jelly doughnut, it wasn't until I asked Michael if there was something special about the process of making them that was different. While jelly doughnuts and Berliner are yeast-based doughs and both are fried, it is when the filling goes into the dough that differentiates them. American jelly doughnuts are filled after they are fried. According to Michael, Berliner are made by rolling out and cutting two rounds of dough. On the bottom layer, a small amount of jam or filling is applied. The second round of dough is placed on top and the edges sealed. After a final proofing, they are then fried in oil, filling and all.

For today's selection, Michael had made both raspberry and lemon. Unfortunately, as the number available dwindled, they were combined onto one plate and by the time I got there, there was no way to tell if I would be getting a raspberry or a lemon Berliner until I bit into it. Here was a shot of the Berliner:


While it may look like a jelly doughnut, my first bite into this pastry told me that it did not taste like a jelly doughnut. As with most European pastries, this was sweetened, but not sweet. I tend to think American doughnuts (of all variety) tend to border on cloyingly sweet. The Berliner dough was exquisitely fresh, with the outside have a bit more chew than the inside. At the very center of the pastry was a small well of raspberry jam. Again, the sweetness was restrained on
the jam, too. I'm very glad the selection was limited when I went or I may have bought more of these.

Of course, while I was at the restaurant, I couldn't help but also add in one of Michael's signature items, his filled croissants, specifically a Pain au Chocolat:


During a prior recent visit, he informed me that the bakery had recently acquired a sheeter. This device, for those not in the bakery business is a machine that allows you to repeatedly move and roll doughs from one side of the machine to the other, along a "conveyor belt." The machine helps to make building laminated and layered dough not only much more quickly, but also much more consistently. Prior to the sheeter, Michael had been using a rolling pin to roll out all of the dough for his croissant. Now with the machine, the process was quicker, more consistent, and the end results were pastries that went from really good to unbelievably good.

The croissant are available plain or filled, with fillings ranging from Valrhona chocolate to almond paste to ham and cheese. While I've tried and liked all of his croissant, the one that I am a true sucker for is the pain au chocolat. The bronzed exterior shatters into a thousand pieces as you take your first luscious, buttery bite. The pleasure only mounts when you begin to reach the rich, chocolatey inner core. Michael insists that you should heat them for a few seconds in the microwave for best results, but I have to be honest, these generally don't make it past the car ride home.

Since I had acquired my pastries for my New Year's Eve festivities, I decided to stay for lunch. While many of the items that Michael makes for the bakery can be subsequently used as ingredients for the restaurant's menu (such as the Brioche or Challah for French toast or bread pudding), Michael's other contributions to the restaurant menu were one or two daily flavors of quiche. While I've not found quiche to be a common item in breakfast and lunch joints, when I read the description on the daily specials board for today's flavor, I knew that would be the direction I was headed for my meal.

For roughly $8, I received a warmed slice of Spinach, Ham, Feta, and Roasted Red Pepper Quiche with a side of Fresh Fruit:


Here was a second shot from a different angle:


As my server approached me with this plate, it didn't even occur to me that this was for me. The slice was HUGE! It easily stood three to four inches tall and the plate had some serious heft to it. I tentatively took my fork and sheered off the first bite. For as much egg as was in the quiche, it cut like a dream. The extreme tenderness of the eggs were confirmed when I put that first bite into my mouth. From first bite to last, this was probably the best quiche I have ever had. Everything was in balance and harmonious. I tasted the sweetness from the peppers, the saltiness from the ham, the tanginess from the Feta, and the creaminess from the eggs.

While the crust was truly flaky and tasted like it truly belonged, it wasn't quite as good as the pie crusts from Humble Pie Baking Company. The crust on the quiche was just a bit tough to cut with my fork. When you've had crust perfection on one of HPBC's pies, you'll know what I mean. The fruit, I should add, while not in season locally, added a nice balance of subtle sweetness to match the savoriness of today's quiche.

So why did I choose to write about Golden Goose for a fifth time? Because they continue to epitomize exactly the kind of establishment at which I not only love to eat, but remind others far and wide about their commitment to excellent food and even better pastry. I've personally taken samples of Michael's croissants and other pastries to several groups of foodies (and even a group of non-foodies) and have heard back nothing but the utmost praise for his tasty treats. I strongly suggest that you stop in for breakfast or lunch and check out their menu, but make sure you stop up front and take home one (or more) of Michael's tremendously impressive pain au chocolat ... and whatever else will fill your mouth with a whole lot of happiness.

A Fantastic Bagel At National Bakery

Having only discovered the awesome seeded Kaiser rolls from the National Bakery the night before when my friend Chris and I had been shopping at his local Weis supermarket, we decided that after our stop at the Glider Diner for lunch, we would drive to this local Scranton bakery. Although a large company with a fairly good distribution, for some reason they didn't have a website of their own. While a tour of the plant would've been really cool, I was happy with a visit to their retail outlet store, which happened to be attached to the actual bakery.

Located at 1100 Capouse Avenue, Scranton, PA 18509, they can be reached at 570-343-1609. There seems to also be another location in Scranton on North Main Avenue that based on some of the commentary I saw on my Google search leads me to believe that the other location could also be serving food, too. The one that Chris and I visited today was definitely just a retail outlet.

As we approached the corner of Capouse and Poplar, the sign out front advertised the location:


We pulled into the parking lot directly outside the building. Here was a shot of the retail outlet entrance:


Once inside, you could smell the heavenly aroma of freshly baked breads and in a lovely turn of events, freshly baked pastries, all certified parve. While you could simply walk around and pick up sacks of pre-bagged yeasty goodness, the retail outlet also had a wall menu of items and prices:



Chris opted for a bag of dinner rolls. I asked the young woman working behind the counter to walk me through the pastries available today. The list was quite extensive and varied from simple to complex. I decided that I would try an assortment of items today. I chose a cheese and cherry danish, a cinnamon roll, and two different kinds of bagels. After paying the almost criminally inexpensive $2.90 for my items, Chris and I hopped back in his car and did a few errands before returning to his house where I could take things to the next level ... tasting!

While I did eat and share the danish and cinnamon roll with Chris, it wasn't until later that night that I tried the dinner rolls that Chris had bought and not until the next morning that I tried my plain bagel. Amazingly, all of them were fresh, regardless of when I had them.

First up, a shot of the cherry and cheese danish:


While the cherry and cheese topping were indeed sweet, the dough helped to balance out that sweetness so that it wasn't too overpowering. What surprised both Chris and I was the tenderness and flakiness of the pastry crust. It seemed to almost have a pate feuilletee (aka puff pastry) texture to the dough, although it was much more subtle in this danish.

Next up, I decided to try the cinnamon roll:


And here was a side shot of the roll, showing all of the layers of dough and cinnamon:


This was also quite delicious and the sweetness was well controlled. The rich "eggy" dough was complimented by the assertive punch of the cinnamon spice layers so well throughout the pastry. This was also big enough that two people could easily share one. Of the two pastries, I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite since they were both so good. As you can see from the wall menu photos above, these were only two of the many pastries available. If they are all this good, you'd have a real hard time deciding what to buy. Perhaps one of everything?

When Chris and I first returned back to his home, I went ahead and took pictures of both the rolls and the bagels, both bagged for later consumption. Here was a shot of the dinner rolls:


If you look carefully at this picture, you can see the small amounts of condensation still on the inside of the bag. As breads cool, they continue to release water vapor for quite some time after they come out of the oven. The presence of this condensate only confirmed my suspicions of how fresh these rolls really were. When I finally had a chance to taste one later in the evening with a little Danish Lurpak unsalted butter, I was rewarded with a wonderfully chewy and tasty dinner roll. The outside had a nice texture to it and the inside was soft and had a wonderful yeasty aroma. Besides pairing with the butter, Chris has been making small sandwiches out of these rolls, too.

The following morning, I had the chance to try out the bagels:


While Chris had already eaten half of his whole grain bagel, I sliced my enormous plain bagel in half and shmeared a healthy dose of cream cheese on each half before sitting down to enjoy my breakfast. Even having sat for a day, the bagel was still very fresh. As a good bagel should, this one had a very similar texture to the dinner rolls from the previous night. The outside had a wonderful chew to them and the bread on the inside was soft and lovely. While some lovely smoked salmon and pickled shallots would've made nice additions, I was entirely happy with my simple combination.

Of the five National Bakery products I have tried over my visit to Scranton, I have been quite pleased with every single one. I'm disappointed that I won't be able to get this product once I return home to Akron. Ah well, I'll just have to make sure I put a visit to the retail outlet on Capouse a "must do" on subsequent return visits to Scranton. If you are lucky enough to live close to the bakery or their distribution radius, I encourage you to check out their baked goods. While being certified kosher is great for part of their customer base, the freshness and good taste are great for everyone.