Cafe Madeline

Cafe Madeline is a small cafe, with two locations in San Francisco in the Financial District, offering up a wide variety of pastries, cakes, cookies, and more.  They also serve a few breakfast and lunch items.  Open weekdays only.  Their display cases always look fabulous, and their staying power, open since 1999, proves that the locals agree.

"Our own line of French style pastries with American influences."

While some of the savory lunch food sounds good (burrata lasagna! Pot pies with quality pastry!), it is the baked goods that drew me in, well, that and their puddings, zomg, I adore pudding in general, and fancy puddings?  YES! 

Too Good To Go "Mystery" Bag
The Real Real Cafe Cafe. $3.99.

My first time trying Cafe Madeline however was not by visiting the cafe itself, but rather, by getting pastries from nearby The Real Real Cafe Cafe (no, not a type-o, that is its name), a small cafe on Maiden Lane, located inside a luxury consignment shop (The Real Real).  They carry a large assortment of pastries from Cafe Madeline, along with savory quiches and puddings.

I didn't actually purchase my items directly however, I got them using Too Good To Go, a service that lets you reserve a mystery bag for discounted price, to "rescue" food that may otherwise go to waste.  In this case, I paid $3.99, and was given the choice of any 4 pastries from the case that I desired (except the cookies) or a pre-made salad (normally $17, as it came with fresh grilled salmon or chicken on top).  It was no question, I was clearly going for the pastries.

I selected:

• Blueberry chocolate scone (normally $4.50)
• Ham & cheese roll (normally $4.75)
• Strawberry ricotta puff (normally $4.75)
• Raspberry pop tart (normally $5.50)

The bag value was $19.50, so paying only $3.99, and getting to pick the goodies myself, was a fabulous value!  I highly recommend TGTG if you like surprise treats (although, beware, look at the ratings, some places really are not a win - think: expired items, rotten produce, etc).

Anyway.  Back to The Real Real Cafe Cafe and Cafe Madeline.  This was most certainly a win!

Ham & Cheese Roll. $4.75.

"Zoe's honey ham with melted cheese, served in a flaky pastry puff."

I started with a savory item, to at least pretend to be responsible and not just eat a giant pile of sugar and carbs.  I brought it home to lightly warm up in my toaster oven, while I assembled a little side salad.  See, responsible!

The pastry looked fabulous, quite flaky, but I didn't find it particularly satisfying to eat - yes, it flaked all over the place, and it was buttery, but somehow, not as glorious as it looked.

Ham & Cheese Roll: Inside.

The roll was generously filled with a thick slice of ham and cheese.  I loved how my cheese got all melty when I warmed it.  The ham was ... ok.  I didn't really think it was particularly great, although I know Zoe's is well known.  It didn't taste like honey ham to me, just, ham.  I added honey mustard to jazz it up.

So, overall, it fell a bit flat.  The pedigree was there - flaky pastry, quality ham - but it was just "ok".

***.

Strawberry Ricotta Puff. $4.75.

"Strawberries, ricotta cheese, organic flour, organic butter, white sugar, wrapped in a light flaky pastry puff."

This strawberry ricotta puff made up for the ham & cheese roll, and then some.  My goodness this was good.

Beautiful flaky pastry, dusted with powdered sugar to amp up the sweetness, but not too much.  The pastry alone made me quite happy.

But it was the filling that just made this item shine.  And shine it did!

Strawberry Ricotta Puff: Inside.

The ricotta was lightly sweetened, and soo creamy.  Like a fluffier cheesecake almost.  And then the strawberry, full juicy berries, bursting with flavor and fruitiness.  So incredibly good.  

Every element of this item was fabulous on its own - beautiful laminated sweet flaky pastry, incredible cheesecake-like ricotta, and juicy berries - but combined?  MAGIC.

I warmed it up slightly and enjoyed even more.  I'd get another in a heartbeat.

****+.

Raspberry Pop Tart. $5.75.

"White sugar, organic butter, organic flour, baking powder, organic cream cheese, raw vanilla and fresh raspberry compote."

I adored the strawberry ricotta puff, but ... the Pop Tart gave it a run for its money.  It was this item that I was most excited by just looking at it, and it really lived up.

Perfect crust, this one pie crust style, rather than puff pastry like the previous items.  Thicker, more firm, less flaky.  Covered in pearl sugar AND drizzled with bit of ... something sweet?  This thing could have no filling and I'd still love it.  This is what pie crust dreams are made of.

Inside was the raspberry compote, and it, like the other items, was well stuffed.  Fruity, sweet, and tasty, but I preferred the juicy roast strawberries in the puff to this, just slightly.

Overall though, fabulous, basically a fruity hand pie, and I'd gladly get another.

****.

Blueberry Chocolate Scone. $4.50.

"Butter, flour, sugar, eggs, cream, vanilla, baking powder, salt, blueberries, chocolate chips."

And lastly, the scone, strategy on my part as I hoped to save it for breakfast the next day.  Really, how many pastries do you think I can eat in one sitting?  Particularly ones as large as these!

I of course tried it right away though.

It was a good scone, soft, not too crumbly.  Loaded with big juicy blueberries AND chocolate chips, which did clash a bit for me.  I like both these things, I like them both in scones even, but, together, they almost seemed to compete.  Chocolate muddling the fruity goodness, and fruit muddling the chocolately nature.

Still though, this is just a nit, it was a great scone, and I liked the slight tang to it, not sure where it came from as it doesn't use buttermilk, but I liked it.

***+.