The Standard Baking Co.
Chocolate Chip Cookie, Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
Lobster Shortbreads
Apricot Almond Galette
Chocolate Chip Financier
Rhubarb Crumb Tart
Blueberry Oat Scone
Morning Bun
Widely known thanks to accolades both printed and televised, The Standard Baking Company in Portland was chosen for snacks en route to Booth Bay Harbor on Independence Day 2016, the results at times showing evidence of why the space is so well regarded while several items were unfortunately no better than average.
Owned by a group behind several local restaurants, the sizable shop apparently quite popular with the downtown crowd and tourists staying at hotels nearby, The Standard Baking Company suggests a “family owned bakery offering a diverse array of daily breads and sweets, plus breakfast pastries” and true to their word all of the above were indeed present at the time of a 9am arrival, though the prices seemed a bit discordant to other nearby places when accounting for both the portions and the quality.
Eventually selecting eight items, all of them sweet as though the loaves all looked quite good, it was almost immediately on exit that the warm Morning Bun was tasted, the yeasty curl decent but softer than would be expected while the caramel was sparsely applied in a lopsided fashion.
Saving the rest for later, a few Lobster Shortbreads eaten on the road more clever in their shape than they were rich in butter or flavor, a pair of cookies proved equally lackluster with both the rim and center equally crisp without much flavor beyond the chocolate chips or raisins, a far better concept presented by the chocolate chip studded financier that made good use of the toothsome almond flour.
Far less impressive than Two Fat Cats when it comes to scones, the one here mostly dry with Blueberries doing the bulk of the work in terms of making the hefty triangle edible, it seems The Standard Baking Company is far better represented when riffing on French classics, the Rhubarb Crumb Tart surprisingly letting sour notes shine without much added sugar while the Apricot and Almond Galette proved as noteworthy as the Financier by way of the complexity of the fruit puree juxtaposing its rich texture.
