Just read that Ochre Bakery in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood has landed on Bon Appetite’s 10 best new restaurants in the U.S. (Details below). So hope to visit. It appears to be not far from Woodward Ave. (my main reference point), west of the Shinola Detroit Store and the Wayne State U. campus. Now if I can only figure out a way to hear the Detroit Youth Choir, which recently took America’s Got Talent by storm!
8:43 a.m. I’m at Ochre Bakery, and the first thing I’m eating today is a danish, the crumbly, deep-golden pastry barely holding on to the squiggles of still-juicy rhubarb in the center.
8:46 a.m. Watching the guy behind the counter make a cortado, I realize that this is as much a Serious Coffee Shop as it is a bakery, which makes sense given that it’s owned by Jessica Hicks and Daisuke Hughes, the same people behind Detroit’s much-loved Astro Coffee. I’m getting lost in the idea that I could live in Detroit and this could be my coffee shop and I could eat this Danish every morning when…
8:57 a.m. My plate of scrambled eggs shows up, but to call it a plate of scrambled eggs is kind of rude given that it’s eggs softly scrambled with turmeric; tzatziki with slivers of kohlrabi; a big pile of bitter greens; a very generous serving of very good butter; two holey slices of country bread; and a tiny handmade ceramic bowl of cumin seeds, Aleppo-style pepper, and flaky salt that I can sprinkle over whatever I like.
8:58 a.m. Can we talk about this bread? I was so fixated on the pastry case, I didn’t notice the room behind the counter where cult local baker Max Leonard babysits the sourdoughs. So not only does this place turn out pastries and coffee and savory food at the highest level, but there’s also a high-key bread program?
9:18 a.m. I’m the person taking pictures of the blue and ochre (duh) tiles hand-painted by Hicks.
9:28 a.m. Yeah, I’m going to need a slice of the lemon-pistachio loaf cake, a piece of the chocolate banana bread, and one of every cookie (espresso shortbread, chocolate-hazelnut, oaty Anzac) to go. Or maybe I’ll just never leave. —J.K.
Wanna try Ochre Bakery’s food? Get tickets to the Hot 10 party.
THE PLAYERS: Chef-owners Jessica Hicks and Daisuke Hughes
THE SETUP: The dream of a sun-soaked bakery/café
THE ORDER: Spiced scrambled eggs with tzatziki, a seasonal Danish, and an Anzac cookie
THE MOVE: Grab one of everything from the pastry case to go—and a loaf of bread too.
TakeBetsywithyou 