Carol's Pastry Shop

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Carol's Pastry Shop
Originally uploaded by ninetreats
Just last week I read about Carol's in an article on the Best of Utah 2009 in City Weekly. Surprisingly, I had never even heard of the place. But having been there now I can see why it might have escaped my attention.

The article in City Weekly claimed they have the best eclairs in Utah, so I put it on my list of places to visit when I had the chance. Fortunately, just yesterday we had to take a trip to the doctors office up in this part of Salt Lake and that provided the perfect opportunity to stop and validate City Weekly's claims.

Approaching this place from the street for the first time could leave people wondering if they have the right address. The street (Lincoln St, e.g. 945 East) is a residential street in one of Salt Lake's older neighborhoods (with lots of great bungalow and craftsman style homes).

When you get to the right house number, all that is there is a house. Running along the north side though is an alley way and mounted on the fence is an unobtrusive sign that says "Carol's in rear" with an arrow pointing down the alley.

With some trepidation we started down the alley, and discovered behind house what looks like someone's carport. Except that as you can see in the photo, there is a van parked in the carport that says "Carol's Pastry Shop" on the side. A dead giveaway that a bakery is near.

In this picture (sorry about the quality, all I had with me was my phone) back behind the van in the corner is the actual entrance to this place. At this point I was thinking either I've somehow ended at their wholesale location or if this is the entrance and they've managed to stay in business for the decades they have, there must be something good here.

Turns out this is the entrance. There is a good sized production bakery in this building with a small retail counter and a couple display cases in front.

Our visit was late in the day and when I asked for some eclairs the gentleman helping said they were out for the day. Oh so disappointed. But he followed that disappoint with this, "...unless you want the big ones." It took me about 3 seconds to think, "eclairs = good; bigger = better." And so I said, "I'll take them." All of them, I'm thinking, which turned out to be five. Turns out they had some small lemon ones left as well so I got four of those as well.

I feel bad, because as I was ordering two other guys walked in. One of them even asked if was taking the last of the eclairs. Sorry, didn't mean to ruin your night. The eclairs were good. 1950s era bakery doing old-fashioned style eclairs. Vastly different that the one I had Bouchon Bakery in Yountville several years ago, or from the Bakeri and Eis shop up at Zermatt Resort in Midway, but for what it was, very good. I had another one today, making it a day old. I think there were even better at the end of day two.

I'd like to go back sometime and get there earlier in the day to see what they have and try some of the other things they sell besides eclairs.

Carol's Cake and Pastry Shop
1991 Lincoln Street
Salt Lake City, UT

Best Eclairs in Utah?

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City Weekly's gave this the Best Eclairs designation in their 2009 Best of Utah. Since I have a daughter who loves eclairs, putting this one in the queue to try when the time is right and I'm in the neighborhood.

From City Weekly...

Carol's Cakes
Carol, Schmarol ... this hidden-away place in Sugar House is operated by Al, Bob and Jeff Walkenhorst--three guys who know their eclairs. And anyone who's tried baking them know there is an art to whipping up the perfect pte choux, the pastry shell that has to be baked hot and high so it doesn't deflate and leave no room for that heavenly filling. So Bob and Jeff have learned a thing or two over the years (the bakery has been around for decades). It's obvious from looking at all their offerings, they're perfectionists. But those dang eclairs--they're impossible to resist. 1991 S. Lincoln St., Salt Lake City, 801-484-3442
I've been to Este before and written about it in the past. But it has been a long time since my last visit and it was at their other location. Recently I took the other brother to this new downtown location. It was his first visit to any Este location and my first visit to this new location.

Purely by coincidence I ended up eating here twice in the last week or so. A dinner during the week and then lunch on Saturday. Este still rates as some of the best pizza that I've had here in Utah and even outside of Utah. Highly recommended as a New York-style thin pizza and well worth the visit whether in downtown Salt Lake City or down in Sugarhouse at their location just off 21st South.

156 East 200 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84101

Beyond Glaze Donuts

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Beyond Glaze Donuts

Originally uploaded by ninetreats
I read about this place earlier in the week in the Salt Lake City Weekly newspaper that my other brother and I picked up at Moochie's. It was City Weekly's annual best of Utah edition and this was in some category related to donuts.

Every donut starts as a glazed donut and then Beyond Glazed adds the toppings to it. In the picture there is a cherry chocolate, key lime pie, cookies and cream, and s'mores.

After cutting these up and letting everyone in my family try a couple bites of each flavor, the consensus was that key lime was the most flavorful. For me, the s'more tasted mostly like chocolate. The cherry chocolate was good, although I'd love to try just a plain cherry.

They had a slew of other flavors that I didn't try on this first visit: pineapple, blueberry, caramel apple, chocolate ganache, one with mango, peanut butter, chocolate and peppermint, and chocolate. They also told me that they use real fruit in all their fruit-flavored toppings. The four I bought came to $1.00 each.

It is definitely worth a return visit when I'm in the neighborhood.

Beyond Glaze
177 West 12300 South
Draper, UT

Moochie's

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Moochie's
Originally uploaded by ninetreats
Recently covered on the Food Network show "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Drives. My brother and I went here for the first time last week. It is a small place with a set of sandwiches and salads. They are famous for their philadelphia style cheesesteak and meatball sandwiches.

I went for the classic cheesesteak which included onions, and also added mushrooms and tomatoes. The bread was crusty, the filling was hot and gooey and dripped all over the place, including the front of my shirt. And it was all good. I'd like to go back and try their pizza cheesesteak which includes pepperoni and mozzarella and housemade marinara sauce. It is definitely worth a return visit.

Moochie's Meatballs & More!
232 East 800 South
Salt Lake City, UT
http://www.moochiesmeatballs.com/

Recent Comments

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