elm street bakery and cafe

i've been enjoying the wonderful things being done at the elm streetbakeryfor quite a while and i've been sharing them with you as well. months ago, i explained my family's love affair with thebakeryand its great breads, pastries and baked goods. then, when they started a dinner service not long ago, my wife and i had to check it out in its first week and we were very impressed.

it's not surprising that elm streetbakeryhas become a go-to for us any time of the day. this past weekend, my wife and i had a chance to enjoy a great meal on a date night there.

a few weekends ago, we braved the elements and trekked an hour southwest to east aurora, ny for a much anticipated date night at elm street bakery; long have we heard of the pastries, the pizza, and the bread. i will say this – popular opinion ruined us for the evening. it’s so tricky when your expectations have been set so high, it almost seems unfair to hold a spot to that standard. even so, elm streetbakeryis absolutely worth the trip.

as a frequent visitor of the elm st. bakery, i can attest to their consistently amazing food. there aren't many (if any) places you can get locally sourced, seasonally inspired, great tasting cuisine that is way better for you than any other restaurant you'd get in the area.

a few things my husband and i love:

-the food: the food here is hands down some of our favorite. they put a lot of time into creating their menu, which changes weekly (by a few items) and seasonally, according to what veggies are available. you can tell that their hearts are in their cooking and presentation.

-the staff: the staff here are very hard workers and want their customers to have a great time. even on their busiest of nights i've yet to hear any employee complain, and they always go above and beyond. they know they're helping serve up quality food and really enjoy doing so.

-the atmosphere: the elm st.bakeryis housed in an awesome location in cute town east aurora, ny. you can eat outdoors on their patio area, inside along the windows at nice tables to watch the east aurora'ns walk by, upstairs to have an overhead view of the bustling restaurant, or downstairs in front of their talented chefs. this also has an awesome view of their 800*f + wood stove oven that they use not only for pizza's but many of their main dishes.

-the baked goods and desserts: i really cannot say enough.. where else can you find such amazing gluten free options? their baked goods, thanks to luci and friends at the bakery, are out of this world... we're talking amazing breads, cakes, cupcupcakes, chocolate ganaches.. their coconut macroons are the best. the cowgirl cookies are my fav.. i pretend they're healthy granola bars (and they probably are better for you than most granola bars out there). we had the ladies at elm st. bring some amazing desserts to our wedding last year and our guests loved them so much they're still talking about how much they enjoyed them (yes, they cater weddings and parties too!).

-also: i didn't even get into their amazing breakfasts (uhm great kimchi, local eggs, breakfast sandwiches, lox/bialy yes please!), their coolers of great cheeses and drinks (kombucha's, beers, etc.), housemade granola to go, and a really nice selection of fermented foods!

-to the review saying they don't have dairy/meat free options: yes they have plenty of meat free options and always have, and they are more than happy to accommodate all dairy free requests.

i'm not a writer, i don't work for them, and i could (obviously) keep going on and on.. but i won't. just go eat there. :)

if you want wonderful food at a place that makes you feel more positive and inspired after visiting, i highly recommend the elm st. bakery.
enjoy.

as many of you know, i’ve been a big fan and proponent of elm streetbakeryfor several years now. i’ve been particularly impressed with the dinner service chef brad rowell and his team have been putting out night after night for the last year and a half. so when we learned that brad would be leaving thebakeryat the end of the year, we made sure to get in there at least one last time to enjoy his food at elm street. as with our last stop, the food and service was excellent.

not sure. my friend and i went there to have lunch and we heard nothing but rave reviews. first we weren't expecting an order at the counter place. when we asked the cashier in the cafe part how it works, she spoke to us as if we were either stupid or children. that being said, i ordered soup and sandwich and my friend ordered a pizza. oh yes, it's the lenten season an there was no fish on the lunch menu, there were vegetarian choices. not the same as fish. the cashier neglected to tell us our lunches would not be coming out together. mine came first and there was such a long time before the pizza came out my lunch was cold. not warm but cold!! when i went up to get a second cup of coffee and the girl at thebakeryasked how our good was i told her. she did apologize and offered me a freebakerypiece. my thought was why this hasn't happened to other customers before. my friend said the pizza was good my soup and sandwich would probably be good if it was at least warm. enough said.

i love when my favorite restaurants change their menus frequently. sure, having your favorite dishes on the menu year after year can be comforting, but without some turnover, even your favorite spots can become boring. i really love places that change their menus a lot (much more than just seasonally) and continue to bring the same quality with each and every menu and meal. one of these places, as you've heard me mention on more than one occasion (including yesterday), is elm street bakery. over the weekend, my wife and i stopped by thebakeryand had another great supper.

i've been seeing the pictures and speaking with people about the "secret brunch" that elm streetbakeryhas been running on sundays for the past few weeks. it's not a well kept secret by design and it's building a nice little buzz for the new features thebakeryis offering on sunday mornings. after stopping in for dinner on saturday and speaking with chefs brad rowell and rj marvin, we knew we had to bring the whole family to check it out. everyone of us, from my wife & i, all the way to our two-year-old twins, loved the great dishes that are available only during the "secret brunch".

so when i heard a few weeks ago that elm streetbakeryhad hired chef brad rowell, former sous chef at the park country club, to create an all new dinner service to go along with the amazing things chef luci levere had already been doing there, i couldn't wait to try it. this past weekend, my wife and i got to experience chef rowell's new dinner service and it was fantastic!

very good. i eat lunch here at least once a week and have been doing so since elm streetbakerywas open. i have never eaten dinner here, nor have i gotten breakfast here.

as far as lunch goes, most of the time they have excellent and very tasty soups. particularly the curry or fennel type soups - or the butternut squash which is great. i will usually supplement a soup with a sandwich or salad, which is almost always excellent. the jambon sandwich, ham, butter on french bread is also consistently good. the appeal to me is the local and organic ingredients.

the two downsides are that the food is more expensive and that most of the lunch menu changes day by day. by the time i'm done lunch is usually $15. for some this might be way too expensive, but i'm happy to support local farms and dairies, and the food is definitely fresh. because the lunch menu changes there have been times when i was not interested in anything they decided to put on the lunch menu.

i love the elm street bakery!!!

alli and i really really love east aurora….there i said it. as city residents there's an unnecessary shame in admitting that you really like the suburbs, or at least certain aspects of the suburbs. no, were not planning on settling down and having 2.5 kids, but the small village of east aurora is incredibly cozy with several restaurants and shops that we really enjoy, add bars within walking distance and we're sold. this last saturday was our second visit to elm streetbakery, the first was an impromptu visit based on curiosity after hearing all the buzz about the place. unfortunately, we had dinner plans later in the day, so we limited our first trip to just two slices of their wood fire pizza but promised that we'd return the following week. after we finished our second meal there this weekend, alli and i realized we have found a new favorite place to eat. for starters, the inside of the building has been beautifully remodeled. while keeping the look of an log cabin/barn, the insi