Sugar Low: Baked Brooklyn Redefines Sweets

June 2, 2009 7:13 pm

Sugar Low: Baked Brooklyn Redefines Sweets

At first glance, Baked appears trendy, yet another stab at the one-syllable naming convention that has been popping up lately for restaurants: Fork, Taste, Salt. But Baked isn't a fad. The direct title simply captures exactly who and what they bring to the table: baked goods. Their spin? A back-to-basics and natural approach, baking delicious toothsome treats without infusing lots of sugar and sweets.

Baked started out as a dream Renato Poliafito had while working in advertising. Poliafito envisioned opening the perfect coffee shop, and after fortuitous meeting with Matt Lewis, the founder and owner of Chocolate Bar in the West Village, his dream expanded. Their relationship started off without baker's hats; Poliafito helped design a website for Chocolate Bar. A friendship emerged, and soon after, he decided to research his goal and get experience in the restaurant business. He got a management gig at a small East Village cafe and jumped in feet first. A year later, he and Lewis decided they were ready for the next step: a bakery/coffeeshop combo, a sort-of Brooklyn offshoot to Chocolate Bar. Lewis left Chocolate Bar, and they settled on Red Hook, Brooklyn for Baked because the rent was affordable, the neighborhood up-and-coming and being off the classic "grub street" grid gave them room to experiment and learn the baking trade with less consequence. "Manhattan is on the radar so intensely" says Poliafito. "And being off the radar, we got to experiment. Our kitchen became a kind of lab. Baking is a science neither of us had real formal training in. Savory cooking is easier to correct mistakes and with baking you don't know if what you did was right until the end result, when it's done."

They also wanted a fresh take on baked goods and desserts. Tired of stodgy classic recipes, they built recipes that worked, but reflected modern times. Less sugar, more flavor. High-grade cocoas, chocolates and candies. Particularly notable, their tasty-but-not-overly rich buttercream, inspired by French and Italian meringue. "You don't have to infuse sugar to make something taste good," says Poliafito. "You want to taste the actual chocolate first."

If ingredients are king for Baked, then texture is their queen. Their multi, award-winning Sweet and Salty Cake is a dark chocolate cake infused with salty caramel, caramel chocolate ganache and topped with fleur de sel. The fleur de sel's pleasurable, salty crunch contrasts perfectly with the light cake and luscious, silky caramel. No wonder Martha Stewart asked them to appear on her show to make it. Their spin on Red Velvet Cake is called The Red Hook Red Hot and has a hint of Valrhona chocolate, layers of cinnamon and soft vanilla buttercream. Traditional "Red Hots" candies appropriately garnish the finished cake. Their Oatmeal Cookie solves the crunchy vs. soft cookie debate. Its exterior is firm, has a nice structure, yet isn't exactly a crispy cookie. It doesn't break off in your mouth right away and the chewy coconut, dried cherries pecans and white chocolate chips round out the flavor. You'll need a fork to bite into their Lemon-Lime Bar, a lemon bar upgrade with a crumbly, graham-coconut crust. A true lemon curd, it requires refrigeration and the contrast of the pillowy, zingy custard and the grainy textured crust transcends it from being just your bodega afterthought.

The only exception we tasted from Baked,'s overall not-too-sweet approach was their PB Krispy Bar. With dense, smooth peanut butter and rich milk chocolate on a bed of caramelized, crisped rice cereal, this treat packed a sugar-punch and the perfect fix for anyone with a serious sweet tooth. Tasty, could take me a few days to get through just one. Last but not least, we sampled the Banana Whoopie Pie with chocolate buttercream, another classic retrofit. Reminded me of a lighter version of banana bread spread with butter. Not a bad bite for banana bread enthusiasts, perhaps with a cup of hot coffee. I felt like a kid in candy store sampling sweet after sweet, but even after all these treats, we left Baked sated, but not weighed down.

—Christi Ciani

Baked
359 Van Brunt Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231
718.222.0345
www.bakednyc.com