Hayden Valley

Hayden Valley is an actual place.  In Yosemite.  But it is also the namesake of Hayden Valley Foods, a snack foods maker focused around making snack mixes, gummy candies, yogurt or chocolate covered confections, and as I focused, covered pretzels.  And no, they aren't located in Hayden Valley, they are based in Ohio, so I'm not sure why the name is what it is.

"Quality: Experience the difference with Hayden Valley Foods. We pride ourselves on delivering covered pretzels that stand out in taste and quality. Dive into a snack experience where excellence is a constant, and every bite is a testament to our commitment to quality.  Indulge in pretzels that celebrate the purity of ingredients. With no artificial preservatives, colors, or high-fructose corn syrup, Hayden Valley Foods pretzels represent a commitment to clean and wholesome snacking. Every bite is a step away from artificiality, welcoming you to a realm of natural goodness."

I don't generally get excited by eating plain pretzels, but, add seasoning and make them part of a snack mix, or coat them in sweet flavored coatings, and I'm all in.  But at the same time, I'm really opinionated on the base pretzel.  I care less about the shape (rods, nuggets, twists, all good), but more about the pretzel taste, although it is hard for me to pinpoint.  I hate Rold Gold, if that helps, and often really like gluten-free pretzels.

But anyway, this is about Hayden Valley Foods, and their lineup.  They pretzels in a variety of sizes (mini, twists, etc) and coatings (blueberry, strawberry, raspberry or plain yogurt, milk or dark chocolate, all sorts of seasonal specials like pumpkin spice or red/green holiday drizzles), and packaging (mini cups, bags, bulk).  They have also done collaborations with well known brands like Cinnabon.  I had the regular retail bags, purchased on Amazon.  I tried 3 different flavors and enjoyed them all, although every single flavor arrived melted.

Salted Caramel

"Savor the delightful interplay of savory salt and sweet caramel, making each pretzel a masterpiece of taste."

I started with the salted caramel.  So trendy a few years back.  And so often poorly done.

But, wow, they *nailed* the salt level on these.  I'm always annoyed by "salted caramel" items that are just caramel, minimal salt.  These brought the salt, aggressively, in a way that made the overall flavor just really pop.  The caramel was also good, very sweet, perhaps a bit too sweet if you ate more than a few at a time (which, isn't necessarily a bad thing!).  They really delivered on the salted caramel aspects of these.

The pieces were well coated, although you can see that they did arrive melted from Amazon.com, so that slightly detracted from the eating experience as I had to pry them apart, and I did want even more coating.  Fairly standard crunchy fresh enough pretzels inside.  I can't pinpoint anything wrong with them, but they weren't the type of pretzel that really draws me in (I still don't quite know what it is about some packaged pretzels that I like, because some I really do, but most I don't).

Overall, good, salty and sweet, and I gleefully finished off my bag.  3.5/5.

Milk Chocolate.

"Indulge in the classic elegance with our Milk Chocolate covered pretzels. Experience the smooth and creamy milk chocolate that lovingly envelops each pretzel, delivering a timeless taste of indulgence in every bite."

Next up, milk chocolate.

The milk chocolate fared even worse in the mail (note to self: don't order coated products from Amazon in the summer?), the entire bag was melted into a single big glob.  But that issue aside, they were decent pretzels.  Again, well coated, fresh pretzel within, and the milk chocolate had good chocolate flavor and was reasonably creamy.

Not remarkable, but, good.  Higher 3/5.

Pumpkin Spice (Seasonal).

My final flavor was the seasonal pumpkin spice.  Another trendy flavor, another one that can often be poorly done.  And for me, one that I frequently really dislike, as the "pumpkin spices" are usually too strong for my liking, given that I dislike nutmeg and clove.

They were another mass of melted together pretzels.  But again, decent pretzel base, well coated, creamy coating.  The spicing was distinctly "pumpkin spice" and it wasn't subtle.  I didn't hate it, but I certainly didn't like it much.  Just too strong overall for my taste, although it wasn't necessarily too much nutmeg or clove, just, very strong pumpkin spices.  I still finished my bag, but I wouldn't get another. 3/5, due to preferences.

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Tarts de Feybesse

Ooph.

That about sums up how I feel about Tarts de Feybesse.  And I feel bad about it, but ... wow, this place let me down.  I went in with fairly low expectations, given just how mixed online reviews were, but even so, ooph.  This just isn't going to be a positive review.

But let's back up.  Tarts de Feybesse is a newish bakery in Oakland, with a great pedigree - the pastry chef was a James Beard semifinalist of Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker.  She was on Top Chef.  Some of their creations went viral pretty quickly on Instagram due to the quasi-realistic nature of the fruit entremets.  And yet reviews ... paint a very mixed picture, particularly for the price.  Still, I love baked goods, so I was excited to try them nonetheless.

I didn't actually venture to Oakland myself to seek these potentially mediocre items out, but instead was treated to a popup event at my office.  They brought 8 items with them (3 pastries, 4 entremet, 1 other).  I used restraint and selected only 4 items, which still felt a bit greedy, but truly I would have liked to try any and all of them ... or so I thought.  But one by one, I was let down.

Viennoiseries

The lineup starts with some classic viennoiseries.  These don't seem particularly noteworthy, just the basics, besides the savory ham and cheese "escargot", which sadly they didn't have with them at the popup.  People on Yelp/Google reviews do seem slightly more positive on these items than the more elaborate pastries, so I did select one to try.

Pain au Chocolat. $6.50.

"Laminated pastry with dark chocolate batons."

I went for a pain au chocolat, despite it looking a bit over baked and quite dark. The outside shattered nicely, which was a good sign, but it did taste burnt on the outside.

Pain au Chocolat: Inside.

I was let down pretty much immediately though when I cut it in half.  The single baton of chocolate was a meager filling.  The lamination was mediocre. The flavor of the pastry was average, not particularly rich nor buttery.  The chocolate seemed to be fine quality at least?

A very average pastry, as in, hotel buffet quality, but not what I'd expect from a French style bakery, even one in the US. Low 3/5.

Apple Chausson. $6.50.

"Apple compote baked in puff pastry."

I feel regret that I didn't try the apple chausson, but I was trying to be reasonable and only take one item from each category, and this was my second choice of viennoiseries, so I moved on.

Pistachio Eclair. $8.50.

"Choux puffs filled with pastry cream."

I also skipped the pistachio eclair, despite loving pistachio, as I don't generally care for choux pastry, and again, was trying to be reasonable and not take everything.  I'm still so curious about that pistachio filling though ...

Trompe L'oeil

The main attraction, or at least what gets all the Instagram and media buzz, is their signature lineup of Trompe L'oeil, basically quasi-realistic fruit shaped entremet.  Since these were the most appealing and interesting, I selected two to try.

Mango. $15.

"Almond financier base, Manila mango compote, white chocolate mousse and chocolate shell."

This looked stunning.  Not quite realistic, but, stunning nonetheless.  I was worried about style over substance, but I had hope, just given how nice it really did look.  This is their best selling and most popular dessert, for a reason.  It did indeed draw me in.

But I was let down the moment I dug in.

Mango: Inside.

Where to start.

I guess, the shell.  The shell was painted white chocolate.  I read reviews that commented on how waxy it was, and how it just tasted like candymelts, but I didn't quite believe them.  I assumed they were white chocolate snobs.  I love white chocolate, and don't have particularly high standards for it.  But ... indeed, this was really waxy, fake sweet, and not enjoyable.  It is rare that dislike white chocolate this much.  This was exactly the kind of white chocolate that makes people think they don't like white chocolate.

Then, the base.  A dense, wet, possible almond or coconut joconde? (A: almond financier). It was the type of cake that you take a bite and think, "Eww, this must be gluten-free".  But I don't think it was.  It just wasn't pleasant, like soggy dense sawdust compressed together.

Above that was the mango layer.  Surely it would be ok?  Sadly, no.  The mango was sour, not ripe, again, just not enjoyable.  The surrounding white part seemed to a fairly flavorless panna cotta.

I was shocked by how much I disliked all these elements, even though I knew reviews warned me, I still didn't really expect it to be this not tasty.  I'll give a generous 2/5, because it was pretty, and the cream was fine?

Raspberry. $12.

I wanted to try the raspberry too, but that was my third pick out of the trompe l'oeil, and I only went with two.

Lemon. 

"Lemon curd, lemon mousse, white chocolate."

The lemon was the most realistic looking of the bunch.

Vanilla Bean.

The vanilla bean item was hands down the least attractive item in the lineup.  And perhaps the most boring, after all, people literally call things "vanilla" to mean plain or boring.  I think it was supposed to resemble a vanilla bean.  Maybe?  This was my second pick of items though because I know how stunning a really good vanilla bean item can be, and know how easy to overlook it can be.  I dug in to my, uh, log.

Vanilla Bean: Inside.

It had the same very low quality waxy white chocolate shell as the mango.  And it had cream filling.  And ... that was it?  Where was the vanilla bean?  I didn't taste any vanilla bean, I simply tasted crappy white chocolate/wax.  This was perhaps even worse than the mango, as it was hard to extract even just the cream to eat. 1.5/5.

Other

The bakery also has a few other assorted items, like a basque cheesecake, classic Opera cake, and breads.  They only brought one other item with them, which I gleefully snatched up.

Riz au Lait. $10. 

"Creamy Tahitian vanilla bean rice pudding, French style."

Although it really didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the menu, as a pudding lover, I was thrilled to see the kinda random riz au lait on the menu.  It came in fairly average jar, a bit of a surprise given the visual appeal of other items.

The pudding was ... ok.  It did have ok vanilla bean flavor, unlike, well, the vanilla bean pastry itself.  I'm not sure what French style means exactly.  It wasn't too sweet.  The rice though was ... pulverized.  Tiny bits of rice, and very soft ones at that.  So it ate more like a mush than a rice pudding.  Is that French style?  I have no idea, but it is not a style I like it turns out.

I didn't particularly like this, but it was the best of the 4 items I tried by far in that I didn't actively find it to be poorly made, just I guess a different style. Or maybe it was poorly executed and not supposed to be mush. Id unno.  Low 2/5 and I struggled to want to finish it.

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Sterns Bakery, NYC

Sterns is a kosher bakery in the New York City area.  It is a family run bakery, started in Hungary, but moved to the United States in 1949.

The bakery makes sliced breads and challah, buns, bagels, and pita, plus tons of cakes (roll cakes, bundts, layer cakes, babka cakes), all the pastries (donuts, danishes, muffins, cupcakes, cookies, rugelach), and cheesecakes.

In addition to the bakery fresh items, they have several more stable product lines: Pastry To Go is boxed family sized individually wrapped smaller (1 ounce) snack cakes (akin to Little Debbie/Drake's, etc), Munchbreak is individually wrapped convenience store style boxes of slightly bigger (3 ounce) items, and Fresh To Go is the larger (5-6 ounce), clamshell packaged pastries.  It is one of the Fresh To Go items that I tried.

Fresh To Go Packaging.

"In 2012, Stern's unveiled the Pastry to Go product line, a revolutionary moment in the cake industry. Individually wrapped for convenience, these pastries became a clean and delicious go-to snack, bringing taste and tradition into the hands of consumers."

I tried a Fresh To Go item, which is the style of something you'd find in a convenience store that is sorta trying to look like it has fresh bakery items.  This product line has muffins, danishes, turnovers, and a few desserts (classic black and white cookies, napoleon)

They make all your standard muffins: chocolate chip, corn, blueberry, plus some very dessert-like ones such as cappuccino, chocolate cream cheese, or cappuccino cream cheese.  All are 4", 5 ounce muffins, although they make minis too.

Blueberry Muffin.

"A 4” vanilla-based blueberry muffin that is crisp on the outside and moist on the inside."

The blueberry muffin is definitely a cake masquerading as a breakfast item style, sweet, vanilla cake base.  It was fairly moist, didn't taste overly full of chemicals or processing.  Fairly average.  It had some big blueberries in it, well distributed and not clumped together, but not nearly as many as I'd hope to see.  A tiny bit of streusel on top that I liked, but again, not as much as I'd want.  It was "fine".  3/5

They consider this 2.5 servings, and like many muffins, it was ~600 calories if you ate the whole thing.

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