Baked, Brooklyn

 I was interviewing at a location in Red Hook, Brooklyn. There is nothing more stressful that navigating discombobulated transportation on the way to an interview. I didn’t even know there were places in New York that required taking a subway and two buses.

Alas, there I was standing outside of the building after my interview, wondering how the hell I was going to get home. Hail a cab? Fat chance, the only yellow vehicles were Mack trucks driving to the construction site down the road. I was exhausted and wasn’t thinking quickly enough to come up with a plan.

A fellow interviewee asked if I wanted to go to Baked, the famous Brooklyn Bakery. ‘Awhaaaa?!’ I responded. Somehow I had ended up in a faraway land, and yet in this land there were world renowned baked goods just around the corner?

Yes and yes.

Baked was everything I wanted it to be, mostly a respite from my morning of standing on my feet and thinking about my every move.

Am I smiling enough? Or am I smiling too much? Can’t be that over-eager, over-smiler.

Only use proper vocab and big words only use proper vocab and big words.

Did I just say “okie dokie’?

Crap.

So after my stressful morning of interviewing, I needed a booth seat and some sugar. Baked just stepped up to the plate and provided. 

 I ordered the Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake. It achieved coffee cake perfection. All of the flavor of a sweet, cinnamony dough, with those pockets of air that make it seem to melt on your tongue. The crumble topping was nutty, buttery, and delicious, and it was placed on top with what had to be magic. There is nothing worse than when some delicious thing with crumble topping loses all of the crumble.

My new friend and fellow interview survivor ordered the Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. It was dense and generously studded with chocolate. The bread was more dense than I normally like banana bread, it was more akin to a pound cake that meant serious business. Nonetheless, the flavors were phenomenal. 

 I hope I get the chance to return to Baked, it is worth the multiple modes of transportation necessary to get there. The staff at Baked was kind enough to let us linger for an hour while we missed our bus four times, I really have no explanation for this expect for that I was in a post-mental strain, post-sugar rush coma. Take me back I want to do it again. 

Baked

359 Van Brunt Street

Brooklyn, New York