Mia's Brooklyn Bakery

When I recently spent time in New York City, I was determined to eat some excellent things, which, if you've ever been, you know it is quite easy to do there.  But on my list of tasty things was, as always, wonderful dessert and baked goods.  I had an overwhelming number of options, for every style of dessert I was craving.  As I narrowed in my research to bakeries, and in particular, to ones in Brooklyn where I was staying, two names kept coming up over and over: Martha's Country Bakery, and Mia's Brooklyn Bakery.  I made an agonizing decision to pick Mia's for my first venture into the NY bakery scene.  

I don't know much about the bakery, nor its history.  They have only two locations, the one in Brooklyn that they are named for, and an offshoot near Times Square.  The menu is seriously extensive, and I tried to hit most categories in my single order: pastry, pie, cake.  Sadly, I skipped the puddings, cheesecakes, danishes/muffins/croissants, tarts, cookies and bars.  Next time.  (And yes, there will be a next time, because this place was fabulous).

I did not visit in person myself, opting rather to get my goodies delivered.  Since it was delivery, I wanted to "make it worth it", and thus, ordered far too many things than was reasonable, but, I was not upset with this move.  Everything arrived well packaged, although the delivery took quite a while, more than 1.5 excruciating hours!  

Pastries

Mia's carries two styles of pastries, breakfast pastries such as muffins, danishes, and croissants, and more dessert style pastries, which is where I focused.

Pastry Lineup.

The pastry section of the menu includes items that I do traditionally think of as pastries, but also a bunch of custards such as panna cotta, flan, creme brulee, plus bread or banana pudding, and bars and brownies.  I was of course very tempted by all the puddings and custards, given that I have label dedicated to them on my blog, but, I had just had panna cotta the week before from Cellermaker, and had been eating incredible mousse and pudding and trifle every day at my office (they specialize in homemade puddings of all kinds!), so, I managed to look past those items.

Assorted Classics

Mia's further breaks the pastry menu down into a group of "assorted classics" that contains, well, some Italian classics such as cannoli (in two sizes, both regular or chocolate covered), lobster tails (with regular or Nutella filling), orange pie, and ... baklava.  Well, as they say, "assorted" classics.

I originally planned to get a napoleon from Mia's, one of their signature items, but couldn't stop thinking about the epic lobster tail I had seen mentioned.  Both involve flaky pastry and thick custard filling, so I didn't want both, and at last minute, I switched to the lobster tail, because it just seemed more fun to eat.

This was an excellent decision.

Lobster Tail.

Ok, wow.  Wow, wow, wow.

This lobster tail was, in a word, incredible.  First, of course, it was MASSIVE.  It may be hard to tell from the photo, but, this could feed 4 people and not leave any of them unsatisfied.  It was a monster.  A delicious monster.

The pastry was insanely crispy.  Flaky.  Delicious.  Hard to describe if you haven't had a pastry like this before, as it isn't softer/eggier choux like a creme puff or eclair, but also isn't quite like a croissant either.  It is essentially a layered laminated dough (like a croissant) with a thin core of choux, if that makes sense.  The pastry was incredible, and the powdered sugar dusting completed the deal.  ***** pastry.

Lobster Tail: Inside.

And then we get to the filling.  The filling is why, besides the sheer size, that the lobster tail weighs a ton.  It was filled, to the brim, with diplomat cream.  Here you can see the cross-section of the tiny tail end.  Stuffed.  

And the cream?  Also phenomenal.  Thick.  Rich.  Vanilla bean flavored.  Essentially, think of the best creme brulee custard you've ever had, and that is what this is.  I think it easily fit 3 full size creme brulees inside of it, just, sans torching of course.  *****, perfect cream too.

Add all that together, and you get a truly stunning dessert.  Crispy, flaky, creamy, light, rich, everything, all in one.  If I could make it just a touch different, I might drizzle it with chocolate just because I was in the mood for chocolate, but, it was absolutely stunning as it was.  Perfection.

But do note that it is 1) huge and 2) has very little shelf life, as the cream filling needs refrigeration and that would ruin the flaky pastry, so, go very hungry, or prepared to share (although I promise you won't want to).

Perfect *****, one of the best pastries I've ever had.

Pies

Whole pies (8" or 10") are available in a variety of flavors for $30-40, and most are also available in slices.  Options include your fruity standards: apple, blueberry, cherry, or triple berry (all available crumb topped or double crust), all 8", or, custard pies: key lime, pumpkin, coconut custard, or pecan, all 10".

Pie Menu. $8.25/slice.

The by the slice lineup also included a few more: banana or chocolate cream, and did not offer any of the crumb topped, only the double crust.  All slices are $8.25/slice.

I selected two slices for my order, but truly would have been happy with any.

When my order arrived, I learned that "slice" here means ... 1/4 of a pie!  Really.  These are massive slices, 2 servings according to my family's already large slice definition, and easily could be 3.  Essentially, a 10" pie is usually a round 8-10 slices, and they clearly were making it just 4.

Blueberry.

Since it was summer, a fruity pie seemed appropriate.  I first selected cherry, then at last minute swapped to blueberry, although I had a moment of remorse that I hadn't picked the triple berry.  Really, all the fruity options sounded good to me.  Although I like crumb tops, I like great pie crust even more, so was glad the by-the-slice options were all double crust.

The pie looked like a high quality homemade pie.  I was drawn in by the pearl sugar on top, and actually appreciated the fact that the back crust was slightly dark, as it made it look not mass produced.

The crust was fine.  A bit better than your average grocery store crust, but it wasn't particularly flaky, buttery, or special.  So, average for a bakery, something a home baker would be happy enough with.  *** crust.

The filling had a lot going right for it.  First, it was very generously filled.  Bursting with blueberries.  Big juicy berries.  Just the right amount of goo.  Not too sweet or cloying.  Really, excellent filling, in most ways.  But ... it had a spicing I didn't quite care for, it seemed perhaps citrus, orange maybe?  Just a touch too strong, and not a flavor I was anticipating.   So, again, just not quite my style, making this a **+ for me for the filling.

Overall, **+, not one I'd get again.

Pecan.

Next, I had a slice of one of my favorite classic pies: pecan.  Pecan is always the pie I request when my mom makes pies for the holidays.  This order was also a strategic move on my part, because I knew it would keep a few days, and freeze beautifully, and, given how much I was ordering, I wouldn't get to it right away.  

But of course I did try it right away, because, how could I not?  It was a very nice pecan pie.  You can see how loaded up with whole pecan halves it is, no skimping here.  The pecans were lightly glazed on top.  All perched on top of a sweet custard filling, not too sweet, just the right level of sweet you want from a pecan pie.  Which is sweet, don't get me wrong, but just not cloying as some generic pecan pies can be.

The crust was similar to the blueberry pie, fairly average for a bakery, not particularly buttery nor flaky, but not stale or too processed tasting.

Overall, a high quality pie, clearly well made, and full of premium ingredients.  **** overall, and would get another half star if the crust was better.

Cakes, Cupcakes, Cake Pops

Cakes, and related items, make up a big portion of the menu.  Massive layer cakes in a slew of flavors, from the classics like chocolate fudge, vanilla, black forest, German chocolate, Brooklyn blackout, red velvet, strawberry shortcake, carrot, etc, to more unique offerings like Oreo, Nutella, or burnt almond.  And then there are all the assorted cheesecakes, cupcakes, and cake pops.  And napoleon cakes.  So many choices.

I nearly went for a slice of the burnt almond cake, as it certainly seemed unique, or the well regarded napoleon cake (available regular or with berries inside), but decided in the end on one cupcake, and one cake pop, so I could try two things for the price of one larger slice. 

Cupcakes

The cupcake lineup doesn't mirror the full size cake lineup.

Cupcake Menu.

Instead, it has more basics (vanilla and chocolate, with vanilla and chocolate frosting, in all varieties) and filled cupcakes of all kinds like Boston Cream, or even a creme brulee filled and topped one.  There are a few vegan offerings as well.

Cupcakes range from $4.50 - $5.25 each, depending on the variety.

I ordered the cookie dough cupcake, with cookie dough filling inside, and a mini homemade chocolate chip cookie on top, but, alas, they were sold out.

Vanilla Vanilla Cupcake. $4.50.

"Vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting."

And thus, I got the simple vanilla-vanilla.

It looked fairly average.  Average size, not particularly large.  Average amount of frosting.  Slight decoration from a couple little white pearls.  

It wasn't my style of cupcake.  The cake itself was a very light sponge, almost akin to an angel food cake.  Which just isn't the type of cake I prefer.  I like it denser, sweeter, American style butter cake.  The frosting was nicely sweet, fluffy, but just plain vanilla, so not all that interesting.

Sadly for me, this was a meh, just due to preference in cake style really.  Those who like a lighter, less sweet cupcake would probably enjoy.  **+.  For me, Empire Cakes still makes my favorite cupcakes in New York (update review coming soon!).

Cake Pops ($3.75)

Cake pops are available in 4 flavors: chocolate, red velvet, salted caramel, or Oreo.

When I ordered, they had only the salted caramel and Oreo available, so I went with the Oreo, even though I really do not like Oreos and dislike "cookies and cream" style things.  I was really craving chocolate.

Oreo Cake Pop.

Luckily for me, there was very little Oreo about this.  If you asked me what kind it was, I would have told you it was a dark chocolate cake with white chocolate shell.  Definitely a darker style cake than standard chocolate cake, more like a Brooklyn blackout cake.  And definitely a sweet shell, but, really tasted like just standard sweet white chocolate, not particularly Oreo creme like.  Which was fine with me.

The pop was bigger than most cake pops I've had, more than a few bites, but still smaller than a cupcake.

Oreo Cake Pop: Inside.

Here you can see the inside.  Like I said, deep dark chocolate.  Nice cocoa flavor, very moist, presumably there is some buttercream mixed in here as is customary with cake pops.  Sweet and chocolately, and exactly what I was craving.

The shell was a nice thickness, good snap to it, classic sweet white chocolate flavor.

Overall, nothing earth shattering here, but, a good, slightly large, cake pop.  ***+.