Gale Gand on the state of pastries

In the Huffington Post, Gale Gand bemoans the state of modern pastries, while singing the praises of Pasticceria Natalina and Julius Meinl:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gale-gand/real-pastry-the-places-so_b_153301.html

I think it's hard for what Gand calls "real" pastry shops to survive, at least if they don't find a great, high-traffic location. There was an absolutely splendid pastry shop in Glenview -- Dessert Gourmet -- only used real and natural ingredients, had amazing flavors, used real butter in the butter cream, had incredible quiche, and even made astonishing gelato -- and it vanished. It costs a lot more to produce pastries that are 100 percent "real,' and unless you're highly trafficked (as I'd imagine Julius Meinl would be), none of it lasts very long without preservatives, so it's either all custom order, or toss it out in a day.

I'm glad to hear that there are some places she approves of, though I'd be surprised if there weren't actually more top notch pastry chefs, especially in the better restaurants.

All that said, I can't honestly say much of what Gale Gand did ever really blew me away -- it may have been "real," but it often seemed either goofy or ill-conceived. Mary Beth Liccioni always topped Gand, in my book.

Cynthia wrote:I'm glad to hear that there are some places she approves of, though I'd be surprised if there weren't actually more top notch pastry chefs, especially in the better restaurants.

There are still scores of old-school European bakeries scattered across the area. I don't know what Ms. gand is thinking, unless she's too snooty to go to a place like Dinkle's, Delightful Pastires, Roesser's or their ilk.

I concur with Gand here. Chicago is severely lacking in the pastry department. P.N. is a notable exception.

If you read the article she has certain criteria (all butter, that sort of thing) which probably let out many of these places which are, nonetheless, plenty good to me and easily distinguishable from supermarket pastries etc.

I'm with Gale, too, though I don't think the issue has anything to do with pastry in particular. Small, artisan makers/ retailers of anything homemade have an incredibly hard time making a profit in this city. Attempts even by very talented chefs, designers, etc. usually fail to steal away enough business from big box stores. The dearth of good bakeries is no different than the dearth of good butchers, cheese mongers, and wine shops. Those of us who live with LTHForum as a regular part of our days sometimes forget that the rest of the country cares little about the relative quality of what they eat and drink.

Gale Gand wrote:And their cup cakes, pies, and cookies were made with real butter, satisfying you so you never felt like you needed more than one at a sitting.

I know Gale's a master, but I am NOT a fan of an all-butter pie crust. Too sweet by half (butter alone is sweet). I like a shortening/butter hybrid crust. My mom makes fantastic pies -- the women on her side were/are fantastic bakers -- and FWIW, she thinks all butter is a bourgeois myth and a well-executed shortening crust is actually a better vehicle for a fruit pie and provides more texture and better contrast to the fruit. I generally adhere to that philosophy, but I do like some butter in the crust. Aren't Prairie Grass' pies made with an all-shortening crust?

Back to the article -- sure, we all can agree that butter "flavoring" from a bottle is bad. We can agree that what passes for baked goods at the supermarket is a travesty, if only because they are manufactured more for shelf-stability and hardiness during travel than taste. But I disagree that there aren't "real" bakeries out there if you look.

Very funny story--yes, food related-- about Gale Gand's mammogram here.

That is a very cute story.

Let us not forget Vanille in this topic.

hopefully some of the pastry shops can get the bigger accounts, like hotel orders, etc. and they won't have to rely totally on foot traffic.

In Naples, Italy they have great pastry shops, but they do seem to rely on the foot/vespa traffic which we don't quite have here.