Buenos Aires Bakery & Café
Ham and Cheese Empanada
Entremets – Tres Leches Cake, Dulce de Leche Horn, Chocolate Caramel Square, Caramel Peanut Butter Cake
Dulce de Leche Croissant
Dulce de Leche Cream Puff
Egg Custard Danish
Guava Danish / Cream Cheese Danish
The second stop on a morning trek towards Tampa Bay, Buenos Aires Bakery proved to be a destination sort of place for someone with an intense interest in traditional ethnic pastry and whether Argentinean, African-American, Caucasian, Cuban, or otherwise the vast selection and friendly service seemed to put a smile on everyone’s face while festive decorations and televised futbol pleased the eye.
Far larger in size than one would expect from the street it is to a selection of nearly one hundred items that those entering the Miami Beach bakery are tempted and although ordering can prove to be a difficult process given the lack of signage and English-as-a-second-language nature of the staff those willing to take a chance are likely to be rewarded – the prices a veritable bargain for treats running the gamut from sweet to savory with several sizes offered to allow for substantial tasting regardless of appetite or party size.
Focusing largely on items considered signatures by those ‘in the know’ it was with one piping hot fried empanada that our tasting began and with the pastry nearly choux-like in texture the fillings were creamy and smooth with nary a bit of oiliness to be found, a similar experience offered by the crispy caramel creampuff – essentially a profiterole packed with dulce de leche without suffering from sogginess at all.
Moving next to a plate of petit-fours, each offering a single bite of one of Buenos Aires Bakery’s well regarded cakes, suffice it to say that any event celebrated with the milky Tres Leches is bound to be a success and while the others were also quite tasty in their own rights none of them could rival a quartet of laminated pastries to follow – the soft buttery layers less crispy than French counterparts but the fillings each reference standard, the housemade guava jam and still-warm egg custard my personal favorites while my mother and aunt swooned over a cream cheese danish that walked a fine line between sweet and savory that the powdered sugar dusted croissant happily ignored.
http://www.buenosairesbakeryandcafe.com/
