Hey, Philadelphia-area people!

[dichroic]

I’ve mentioned this on Facebook, but don’t think I have here. Y’all should go visit Cake and the Beanstalk (check out this awesome article about it) on 1112 Locust. I haven’t been there myself yet, what with living on a different continent and all; I’m recommending it because I’ve known the author since he was a year old. (I babysat!) That’s not why should should go, though; you should go because everyone who’s been there (and who has written about it) says desserts are awesome. They’re baked there every day; according to the blog, “Thus far, he has churned out: banana chocolate walnut cake, cheesecake, chocolate chip pound cake, strawberry pound cake, plain pound cake, several kinds of blondies, brownies, chocolate tree nut cookies, chocolate peanut butter cookies, coffee cake, blueberry crumb cake, gingerbread cake, and Jewish apple cake. “.

The other thing I’m impressed by is that Daniel is literally almost the only person I know who decided young on a somewhat unusual ambition, laid out a plan to get there, and followed it. He was talking as college about wanting to open a dessert restaurant someday. He majored in restaurant management, then worked at some of the most famous restaurants in Philly both as a baker and out in front. Now it’s time to see how all that planning has paid off.

Mirrored from Dichroic Reflections.

Comments

[apis_mellifera]

Do you have any idea what his prices are like? I didn't see anything in the article or on his blog about that--we don't get up to Philly very often (or rather, I don't--P. goes to dim sum with friends once a month or so) because it's increasingly a pretty expensive outing (and I don't mind expensive outings, it's just that I like to have an idea of how much it's going to cost beforehand).

[dichroic]

Bear in mind it's only desserts. (IIRC, there are plenty of restaurants in the area.) The only thing I know about prices is that he seems to have a lot of morning "happy hours" with $1 coffee, but that might just be opening promostions. There's also this from the Philadelphia Citypaper article: "Klein, a Penn State hospitality grad, is keeping things simple to start out, offering house specialties like his banana/chocolate/walnut cake, chocolate/pecan/almond "tree nut" cookies (he also crushes these up for his cheesecake crusts), Chestnut Hill coffee and gigantic one-pound brownies, with or without walnuts ("If it's a $2.50 brownie, I want to make sure it's worth that $2.50," says Klein.) He'll soon begin offering a small selection of panini (on Le Bus bread) and salads, as well."

[apis_mellifera]

Oh, I get that it's only desserts. It's just that any sort of trip into Philadelphia for a fun outing has to be budgeted (don't forget, we would have to pay for gas and parking on top everything else--we once went to dim sum and ended up paying $27 for 3 hours of parking; P. has since found a less expensive parking alternative) and I'd want to make sure that I had sufficient funds allocated. That way I don't feel guilty about the excursion after the fact.

$2.50 for a really fantastic brownie sounds like an eminently fair price, though--I'm not unwilling to pay fair prices, it's just that well, not made of money over here.

[dichroic]

I understand the budgeting thing - just wanted to make sure you didn't go in planning on dinner and get disappointed, because that would suck. Seems like a bit of a long haul for a brownie. But if you happened to want dessert *after* dim sum..... well, if I remember correctly that's a walkable distance from Chinatown 0 what, 8 blocks or so? I still know Market, Chestnut, Walnut, Locust, but don't remember how far north of Market Chinatown is.

[apis_mellifera]

I can't remember, either. I know it's fairly centrally located, but it's been a while since I've gone. I've been thinking about an excursion to Philly some weekend after the weather is more reliably warm--I'll have to keep this place in mind when I plan it. :)

[dichroic]

They show prices for a few things here - looks like $2.50 is pretty standard.