Moises Bakery
Tres Leches Cake
Ham and Cheese Empanada
Almond and Dulce de Leche Alfajor
Egg Custard Danish
Dulce de Leche Croissant
Taking a short walk from the expansive space that houses Buenos Aires Bakery to the far more cozy confines of Moises Bakery it should probably come as no surprise that the later features a far more frenetic atmosphere than the first and although regulars completely packed the small dining area an English-friendly staff still made me feel like a friend of the house, a request for recommendations met mostly with items I’d already targeted yielding a five-part order from which only a slightly doughy croissant would prove less than exceedingly well made.
Assuredly a ‘locals only’ sort of spot, and a place where everyone seemed to know one another by name, it was mere moments after placing my $7.75 order that items were placed in plastic baskets and although seats were entirely full a standing-room only table at the door was recently abandoned, the steaming hot empanada carefully cut with a fork and knife to liberate ham and Swiss from a crisp and thin pocket decidedly different from that at Buenos Aires and nearly twice the size but equally delicious and devoid of grease just the same.
Progressing from savory ham and cheese to creamy egg-custard at the center of a flaky butter danish before moving to the sweeter parts of the quintet it was here that the uninspired croissant was sampled and returning the rest of it to the bag we were left with the two best items of the entire three-stop morning, a powdered sugar coated Alfajor the definition of sweet decadence while a cup of Tres Leches upped the ante with a swirl of caramel – a ‘Quatro Leches,’ if you will and a reason in and of itself to make the trip from South Beach up north.
