Cafe Dolci

Cafe Dolci is a tiny, and I mean tiny, little cafe (really, just a window) on Market St in San Francisco.  I probably walked by it 100+ times before ever noticing it.  Open only during the week, and it closes by 1:30pm every day, so, just not really on my radar.

In the morning, they sell coffee drinks, a few pastries, and mostly bagels.  At lunchtime, they offer one thing: banh mi.

I finally noticed the place a couple months ago when I saw the pastries, and my interest was furthered when I saw them listed on Too Good to Go - a new app in San Francisco that allows you to reserve "Mystery Bags" at merchants for a discounted price, with pickup times near the end of their hours.  Customers get a great deal, merchants are able to sell items at a lower profit that would often get thrown out.   Win-win.  Plus, um, its really fun to imagine all the possibilities of what will be in the mystery bag!

Cafe Dolci is one of the best merchants I have found on Too Good To Go, and others clearly agree - they sell out literally the moment they become available.  Not only did I help with food waste, and get a great deal, I'm fairly certain I'll return to Cafe Dolci as a "regular" customer, so, win-win-win.

Storefront

Cafe Dolci is located right on Market street.

Signage.

I strode up to Cafe Dolci at 1pm on the dot, the start of my collection period, which was 1pm - 1:30pm, the last 30 minutes of their service.  

The chalkboard sign out front let me know I was in the right place, as there is little other signage.

Bagel & Banh Mi Menu.

The menu is tiny, really, just bagels in the morning, banh mi for lunch.

Display Case: Visit #1.

A single display case is in front, with the assorted bagels, plus their top selling item (besides the banh mi): pork buns.  This display also had hot dog buns, a few muffins, butter cake, and ham & egg buns.  No prices were listed.

It is this case that the merchant plucked my "mystery" items from on my first visit.

Display Case: Visit #2.

The next time I arrived for pickup a few weeks later, the assortment of items in the pastry case were quite different.  There were no croissants nor cake slices, and two kinds of muffins this time (they look rather like Costco brand ... which, uh, I do like).

The next row down, "asian buns" section was different too: no bbq pork buns (instead, chicken "deluxe" buns), no hot dog buns (instead, a twisted hot dog and onion bun), no ham & egg cocktail bun.  This section looked pretty empty, so likely the others had just run out.

And finally, bagels, 8 varieties remained: plain, whole wheat, cinnamon, sesame, cheese, jalapeño, garlic, and really seedy.

Food

I did not get to pick my items on either visit, nor did I get a bahn mi, so this review is only of the mystery baked goods I received, most of which I really, really enjoyed.

Mystery Bag.  $4.99.
June 2021.

Cafe Dolci offers a mystery bag for $4.99, which is required to have a minimum value of $15.  I wasn't offered the opportunity to pick any items, but got a nice spread of a bagel with cream cheese, a hot dog cocktail bun, a ham & egg cocktail bun, a massive croissant, and a slice of cake.

The hot dog bun is the only item I would have picked myself, so this was an interesting assortment for me.  I still really wished she'd picked a pork bun!

Mystery Bag.  $4.99.
July 2021.

The next month, my bag was ready when I arrived, so I again had no choice.  But, I was quite pleased with the contents, entirely different from last time - not a single repeat!

Inside I found a bagel with ham, egg, and cheese, a bagel with nutella, a bun, and ... a lemonade.  

I liked this bag even more than the first.

Asian Baked Goods

I'm not sure where Cafe Dolci gets the asian baked goods from, but it is somewhere local, likely in Chinatown?  The offerings change daily, but usually include some kind of filled cocktail buns, massive steamed buns, and ... something with hotdogs, be it a bun or other pastry.

Ham & Egg Bun.

First up for me from this section was a breakfast item, a ham & egg bun, asian style on a cocktail bun.

It was a nice, soft, fluffy, clearly fresh bun.  The fillings however let me down.

Ham & Egg Bun: Inside.

Inside was half a fried egg, and two thin slices of mediocre ham.  The egg was extremely greasy.

No cheese, no condiments.  And obviously, not served warm.

Since these are not made to order, they are never warm, and I am not sure if mustard or something is ever offered.  It felt a bit plain to me, but I brought it home, warmed it, added condiments, and enjoyed it, but the egg really was far too greasy for my taste.

Hot Dog Bun.

Now, this was an item I'd pick!  Little secret: I LOVE HOT DOGS!

The hot dog was inside similar soft fluffy bread as the ham & egg bun, and again, no condiments, and served room temp.

I brought it home, heated it up, and got my favorite honey mustard and ketchup ready.

It was ... ok.  The bun was so soft and fluffy, lightly sweet.  That part I really liked.  The hot dog however was a bit below average.  I'm not sure if it was beef, turkey, or a mix of something.  Definitely not a hot dog I'd ever want on its own.  Dunked in my ketchup-mustard mix, and with the soft sweet bread though, it was satisfying.

***.

Chicken Deluxe Bun.

I was thrilled, thrilled to see a bun in my bag.  I hoped it was the bbq pork bun that everyone raves about.

It ... was not, more on this soon, but, I adored it.

The bun itself was soft, fluffy, slightly sweet, just a perfect home for the ridiculous goodness that lay inside ...

Deluxe Chicken Bun: Inside.

I cut it in half to reveal ... well, not a bbq pork bun as I had hoped.  "This must be the Deluxe Chicken Bun!", I thought.

At first glance, "deluxe" meant chicken thigh, hunks of mushroom, and ... hard boiled egg.

All was flavorful, and I liked the chew to the meaty mushroom and flavorful dark meat chicken.  The hard boiled egg was a bit odd, but I know that is a thing.

But this bun had much, much more to it ...

Deluxe Chicken Bun: A ... Sausage?!

As I quickly discovered, there was so much more inside.  A ... sausage.  Yes, a sausage, casing and all.  Very flavorful, well seasoned sausage.  And ... meatball, again, really well seasoned, plenty of herbs.  There were chives too.

A sausage, meatballs, egg, chicken thigh, mushrooms ... wowzer.  This thing was loaded.  "Deluxe" indeed.

The flavors, the textures, they all just *totally* popped.  It was so crazy good.

I adored this, devoured in seconds, even though it was quite a heafty item.

****+, and I'd gladly get this again.  I'd love to try the bbq pork bun still, but, wow, this was good.

Bagels

Cafe Dolci serves the best bagels I've had in SF.  No question.  After getting one in my first Mystery Bag, I asked the next time I was there where they came from.  The answer?   Bagelry, on Polk Street.  They are just my perfect style, great chew, good toppings.  

Cafe Docli always has a large selection of bagels (at least 8 kinds), available with butter, jam, cream cheese, peanut butter, etc, or as breakfast sandwiches with egg, ham, sausage, and the like.

They toast them to order, perfectly, load them with goodies, and just really, serve some ridiculous good bagels.  Yes, simple bagels can be ridiculously good!

Cheese Bagel with Cream Cheese. $4.25.

The bagel lineup the first day I visited included plain, sesame, "really seedy", jalapeño, cinnamon, and cheese, but it was clear that they normally have 2 other varieties as well given the empty slots in the display.

If I were picking a bagel, I likely would have gone for the "really seedy" or perhaps cinnamon to save for breakfast, but alas, the merchant selected the cheese bagel.

It was an above average bagel, nice chew to it, a good crust.  Generous amount of cheese baked into it.

Bagels are available simply with butter for $3.75, or with other spreads like peanut butter & jam or nutella, or filled with egg, cheese, bacon, ham, sausage, etc.  For my mystery bag, she added cream cheese, a rather odd pairing in my mind for a cheese bagel ... but then again, I've never had a cheese bagels besides when turning it into pizza bagels.  She added a generous amount of cream cheese.

Overall, a good bagel, but, not what I would order, and pricey (I think? I don't order bagels out so maybe I just don't know if this is the going rate?), normally $4.25.

***+.

Blueberry Bagel with Nutella.

The next time, I got this.  I was pleased to see a blueberry bagel, but a bit weirded out when I saw what was inside ...

It was a strange combo.  I do like Nutella, and I love blueberry bagels, but I haven't ever put them together, and, well, I see why.  I like my blueberry bagel just toasted with butter (and a sprinkle of sugar!), or perhaps fruity or plain cream cheese, but nutella??  It muddled the lovely blueberry flavor.

I liked the bagel though, perfect chew.  ***+ for the bagel itself.

Nutella Bagel: Inside.

I'll give Cafe Dolci credit though, it was *loaded* with Nutella, and melty Nutella really is delicious.  Just, uh, not what I wanted with my blueberry bagel!  ***+ for generous, melty Nutella.

*** for the overall item, was less good than the individual parts.  I didn't see these on the menu, but likely about the same price as cream cheese bagel, ~$4.25?

Everything Bagel with Ham, Egg, and Cheese. $6.75.

I was pretty thrilled to get an everything bagel, and the bagel was everything I wanted it to be (pun intended!).  Perfect chew, good flavor from the seeds and garlic.  Yes, yes, yes.

****+ for the bagel itself.

Ham, Egg, and Cheese Bagel: Inside.

Inside was a very thick slab of decent enough ham, a fried egg, and plenty of melty cheese.  Kudos to Cafe Dolci for cheese on *both* sides, and it was perfectly melty.

The ham was an entirely different kind of ham than the cocktail bun version, much thicker, not deli meat style.  It was good, not remarkable as I prefer smokier, more flavorful ham, but, it was fine.  I suspect this is a product Cafe Dolci gets to make the breakfast bagels themselves, rather than the asian buns that perhaps come with the ham in them.

The fried egg was good, not as greasy as before, not rubbery, very satisfying with the cheese.  There was plenty of salt and pepper too, really well seasoned.  Definitely better fillings than the cocktail buns.

Overall though, the bagel and melty cheese alone made this insanely delicious and satisfying.

Normally $6.75, so a great item to wind up in my bag!

****.

Other

The rest of the pastry case offers a few muffins (they look like Costco!), croissants (MASSIVE!), and loaf cakes, depending on the day.  I was glad I didn't ever get a muffin, as they just didn't look great. 

Croissant.

The first time, I got a croissant.  A MASSIVE croissant.  As in, comically large, actually.

It was a bready style croissant, light and airy, rather than a flaky french croissant.  It had a buttery essence to it, but not in the decadent flaky way, it was more like a ... brioche?  Buttery but not flaky, hard to describe, but this was the case.

It was too massive to really imagine just eating alongside a coffee as a morning pastry, and likely could be great to use for a sandwich, although, it was so large that it was even too large to really think of for a sandwich.

*** for the style it was, ** as a croissant though.

Butter Cake.

Well, this one was totally lost on me.

I'm not one for pound cakes, and certainly would never, ever pick this.  It was dense, I guess it was buttery, but, it tasted kinda generic, stale, and like it should have come out of a plastic wrapper.  And cake without frosting ... just, why?

I can't really fairly evaluate this, as it just isn't an item I ever want.

*.

Drinks

Cafe Dolci *is* a "cafe" after all, and although I didn't see people getting them, as it was afternoon, they offer a standard lineup of coffee, tea, and espresso drinks, along with Vietnamese iced coffee, keeping in theme.

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade.

The lemonade was the first real lemonade I've had in many, many years.  I just don't really ever go for lemonade.  It was good though, very tart, and loaded with hunks of lemon.  Quality fresh squeezed juice, and, a totally random addition to my bag!

***+ for what it was, but I wouldn't get another.