I love cookies. So imagine my delight when a restaurant with the word "bakery" in its name opened up just five minutes away from campus.
The Essence Bakery Cafe (825 W. University Drive) recently took the place of old Israeli favorite Sabuddy's at Hardy and University drives.
I visited Essence Bakery Cafe when it opened at 10:30 a.m. on a recent Monday with my roommate. The small building is painted a pale yellow and green, creating a simple, cute atmosphere.
I ordered the spanakopita, a traditional Mediterranean dish of spinach and feta cheese baked in phyllo dough. Forget other local restaurants that serve spanakopita, including My Big Fat Greek Restaurant and Pita Jungle, instead of a salty, greasy mess, Essence's spanakopita was crisp and light. It came with a Greek salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, olives and feta cheese with a lemon oil dressing.
My roommate ordered the quiche lorraine, a tart-sized quiche with bacon, leeks and gruyere cheese. She described it as fluffy and surprisingly not soggy.
While both dishes were delicious, my roommate and I both got tired of the same flavors by the time we were done eating.
Despite New Year's resolutions of eating right, we just had to go back up to the dessert counter after our meals. We walked away with a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie with cranberries and a heart-shaped Linzer tart - a raspberry-jam cookie sprinkled with powdered sugar. I wasn't a fan of the macadamia nut cookie because the cranberry taste overpowered the white chocolate. The Linzer tart, however, was beautiful and scrumptious.
Essence also offers a variety of sandwiches and salads at lunchtime and tasty entrees - like chicken stuffed with spinach and leeks - and salads for dinner. Lunchtime lines are often out the door, while the dinner crowd remains sparse.
SPM's editor, a fan of Essence, recommends you stay away from the moussaka, a Greek casserole of beef, eggplant and cream sauce that tastes too heavily of grease and cinnamon. But she gives a thumbs-up to the salads and other desserts - like chocolate macaroons and banana cream pie tarts - for those who aren't cookie monsters like me.
Reach the reporter: tara.brite@asu.edu.
