A comment by the reader, Liliya, led to this post.  Her question about the raspberry-chocolate croissant- when was a good time to get one, or is there a certain time/day that we bake them- is actually a common question we get about a lot of product.  It’s also a very good question and one that needs a slightly longer answer.

So, first of all, Liliya, at this time that particular croissant tends to be a mornings-only item, with one or two bake-offs per day.  So, early mornings during the week or weekend, they are usually out by 8 am at the latest so far as I’ve seen, or if you’re really interested in trying one, or you find you really like them and want to be sure to have one on a given day, you can place a special-order.  As with all orders, it needs to be placed  at least 48 hrs in advance to give the production crew time to cycle the product in.

This brings up the more in-depth answer to your question- When is a given product available, or when in the day is the best time to get a particular item?

‘Nouveau’ is not just part of our bakery’s name, it’s also a concept for us.  We try to have fresh product throughout the day, which is why you see Audrey, Jason and now Phill and Andre, working hard in front of three ovens, and we try to rotate part of our product roster seasonally, and bring out new flavors and items that we find interesting, or that let us use that really nice selection of blueberries we lucked into (well, luck is 7/8’s having a good relationship with your vendors!).  So, our selection can vary seasonally and by time of day.  Some types of breads or pastries we typically only produce for the weekend.  Some products, like our soups, may start out weekday only, and sometimes expand to the whole week, sometimes not. 

As we’re constantly adjusting production to our needs, we sometimes end up rotating out more specialized items for a few days, while we catch up on more popular items.  For example, we might drop a specialized brioche out of production at the beginning of a week to catch up on twice-baked and other croissant.  Also, sometimes we just plain run out of a necessary ingredient (sometimes there was a spike in demand that leave us calling our vendors in a hurry).  If we can’t make it to our tastes and expectations, we won’t. 

So, where does that leave us?  Well, to start with, we will pretty much always have a supply of our standards and very popular items just about everyday.  This includes our twice-baked almond and several other croissants, baguettes, desserts such as our classic chocolate cake and carrot cake, and our sandwich and pizza selections.  It’s not 100% guaranteed they will be there (sometimes we do run out, and sometimes the bake has to catch up to a busy period, so you might have to wait), but chances are they will.  Most of our other current items usually are as well, but we might run out of stock faster than with our standards (again, we do rotate some things out of production on a seasonal basis).

What can you, the customer, do to ensure we have a certain product?  First, give us a call at 206-923-0534.  Our staff can let you know if that item is being produced for the cafe that day, or if we have some on hand already.  They can also find out where in the production cycle an item is (today?  tomorrow?  this coming weekend?).  They cannot, however, take ‘paid holds’ at all.  This is a fairness issue with us, as with products with limited availability, we prefer to help the customers directly in line.  We have tried both paid and un-paid holds, and ended up throwing out a lot of product that got forgotten. 

Second, if you know you will want a specific item on a certain day and it’s something seasonally current (I can’t stress that enough), please place an advance order!  With 48 hrs notice, we can produce the vast majority of our product (confections are an exception, and there are a few others), or produce a little extra of one of our specialty varieties.  We’re definitely happy to do so, and this way, you will definitely have the product you want.

Thirdly, for the adventurous, just come in and if we don’t have what you were initially after, try something new!  Being on staff, this is actually my preference, since I know I sometimes get into a rut with a favorite product (straight-up chocolate croissant please!), and it’s always been a pleasant experience to need to try out something else when my pain-au-chocolate just wasn’t available.  That’s how I tried the kringler, apple danish, coffee cake, etc. 

So, call ahead and see if and when we’ll have something, place an advance order, or play a little roullette and chance having to try something new.  Ok, it’s sunny and nice out, and technically this is my day off, so I’m going for a nice walk.  Have a great weekend everyone!