Walking down 1st Avenue in a little bit of a daze from seeing our friends' new baby, we stumbled upon a little green oasis in the midst of sensory hell.
Propelled like a magnet into the store, I noticed the recycled countertop and reclaimed floorboards. Upon walking in you find out that they give you a 25% discount if you arrive by bike or skateboard (I was walking, but I don't know if that counts). Their walls are wheat, the cups made of corn, they compost their coffee grounds everyday.
But that's not the reason they're appealing, not to me anyway. I appreciate the awareness and the effort, no doubt, but what drew me in was, of course, the food. All organic food, the array is beautiful and palpably earthy. I bought a corn muffin and a miso muffin, trying hard to not buy anything more. Unfortunately there are no pictures of the corn muffin because I ate it on the way to the subway.
Crunchy stone ground corn, not too sweet, studded with organic blueberries. It was gone in minutes. The fact that you could actually taste the corn and weren't overwhelmed by sugar was so gratifying. I managed to get the miso muffin home and photographed before that too was devoured with a nice cup of bog standard builder's tea (that's this for you Statesiders).
Made with spelt flour, kamut, miso, apple and sprinkled with sugar, it does sound like a treehugger's dream. Don't let that put you off. BAGB is not like BabyCakes – it's not about it being good for you, or not even about it being green. It's great that they're doing their bit and all that, I'm just focusing on the fact that although they have a good marketing story, they support it by having a genuinely good product. Too many people are jumping on the green wagon, but the wagon is all that anyone is going to be driving in the next ten years. BAGB stands apart by excelling as well as having a conscience. Let that be a lesson to all you crappy wagon hoppers out there – get a good product to begin with!
Exactly! BAGB sounds like my kind of place. I need to visit NYC soon again...
I find that after I started baking my own food, I am rather repelled by cheaper commercial bakes as they're so artificial tasting and far too sweet.
Posted by: tommy | June 26, 2007 at 11:52 AM
If you visit let me know and I'll put together a food itinerary for you!
I feel exactly the same way about commercial baking. The great thing about this bakery is that the food feels real and you can taste the ingredients. And because they use less refined raw materials like kamut and spelt that are harder to come by for domestic baking, they have things you won't necessarily make at home.
Posted by: natasha | June 26, 2007 at 12:13 PM
oh *
i pass by this place often. apparently, i now need to do more than walk by because it sounds quite interesting. not only do i want to try the food, i'm equally curious about the countertop, floorboards, etc. i also see another reader sharing my name inquired about the price of the santa maria novella liqueur. what detail on that bottle. you and your novaclutch cohort, ms. tb, you should both come search for wines sometime.
Posted by: eric | June 26, 2007 at 02:17 PM