Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Bread & Cocoa

Bread & Cocoa is a cafe near Union Square.  They serve basic cafe fare such as soups, salads, sandwiches, espresso beverages, and some baked goods.  They try to provide a healthy option for shoppers in the area, and do make some of their baked goods in-house.  Reviews aren't great, but at one point they were listed on LevelUp, and I had some credits to burn, so I swung in.

Service was friendly enough, although the lines were confusing, seemingly for both patrons and the staff, as there were two registers, and no one really seemed to know who to serve next.  I tried two items, neither of which impressed.  I doubt I'll return ...
Orecchiette with Pesto Pasta Salad.  $4.75.
I read a lot of glowing reviews of Bread & Cocoa's chicken pesto sandwich, but I don't like chicken, or sandwiches really, so I wasn't actually interested in that.  But then I saw a pesto pasta salad, already packaged up, near the register.  Sometimes I can really like pesto, and pasta salad sounded perfect for the hot day.

The first container I picked up was really oily.  I'm glad I looked inside, the bottom was a huge pool of oil.  But the oil level was very inconsistent between the containers, and I found one that didn't have as much oil.

The one I picked also was much less full than the others, but since I didn't necessarily want a larger portion I was okay with that, although they really could work on the consistency here.

Also, even if it were full, $4.75 seems really pricey for such a small side dish.  This was most certainly a side, not an entree.
Inside the container.
Described as "orecchiette pasta cocked al dente, roasted red pepper, and black olives tossed in a rich pesto sauce".

I didn't like it.  The black olives were the same slices you can get in a can.  The red peppers were incredibly mushy.  And the pesto was the style of pesto that I don't like.

The only redeeming quality was the orecchiette, as it was actually cooked perfectly al dente, and was a great shape for holding in some pesto ... if I'd liked the pesto.

I certainly would not get it again, and can't believe the price for not only a small portion, but for something made with such low end ingredients.
Lavender Oatmeal Cookie.  $2.
Many of the baked goods at Bread & Cocoa come from other vendors, but they do bake the cookies in house.  I swung in one afternoon to get a drink, and decided a cookie to go with it would be a nice idea.  The other cookies all looked better, but had chocolate, which I was avoiding at the time, so I went for the interesting sounding lavender oatmeal cookie.

It wasn't the style of cookie I prefer, as the cookie was crisp, rather than soft.  It looked fluffy, so I thought it wouldn't be as crispy, but alas, crispy style.

The oatmeal base was good, and the lavender was a really interesting flavor (subtle, not too floral), but the style of the cookie made this not a winner for me.  I brought it home to Ojan, who also didn't want more than a single bite of it.

$2 for a fresh baked, large cookie seemed fine.

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