Crumbs and Carrots!

Today, my roommate, Kirstin, and I visited the marvel of East State Street, the Village Bakery.

Kirstin had never been there before, and I had been bugging her all week to take me there. (She has a car on campus, and I was too lazy to walk a mile when my tummy was rumbling.)

We walked through the glass door to find a counter stretching the length of the shop. Along one side of the counter are pastries, cookies, breads and cheesecakes galore (my personal favorite). To the right of the counter is the beverage station with four coffee varieties and tap water for drinking.

The mid-morning sun brightly shined through the windows that completely encompass the front of the building. The aroma of freshly baked bread mixed with the scent of coffee, herbs and spices whirled at me from every direction.

Employees with plain and simple clothing, wearing bandanas to keep their hair out of their faces, scurried behind the counter like mice, twisting and turning through the maze of the open kitchen.

Giant chalkboards with the day’s menu hang above the counter. Each chalkboard has a different category: salads, soups, beverages, pastries, morning nourishment and cookies. On Sundays, the menu is revamped for a 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. brunch, which is a bit pricey if you ask me, even though the quality is excellent.

Although I was craving a pastry, I decided on something new. (OK, it was because I worked out before, and I guess I wanted to keep up with the health kick, at least for the day.) I ordered a side salad with feta dill dressing, which was yummy but interesting, and a cup of Cuban black bean soup.

The salad was sort of atypical because the sprout to lettuce ratio was equal, and I’m not used to that many sprouts. Have you ever heard of feta dill dressing? I hadn’t until I looked at the menu, so I figured, Oh, what the heck? Why not? And honestly, the name is very telling because it tasted like feta cheese, with a sprinkle of garlic and dill pickle juice. It may sound nasty, but if you like feta, I highly recommend it.

And the soup was great, except that it was a bit watery. Unlike the other black bean soups I’ve tried, this had chunks of sweet potatoes and a bit of cream poured on top, which gave it a slight milky taste.

Though I didn’t get dessert (Remember the health-food kick?), I promised my roommate that we would definitely be back during finals week for a nice, little Village Bakery treat.