Booo on the Back Door Cafe
Normally I'm not such a negative nancy. But this morning was a special one. It's my best friend/roommates birthday, and in an early-morning moment of dedicated love, I woke up extra early to get breakfast treats—croissants and lattes—to celebrate her quarter century mark. My horrible singing forced her out of bed, and we headed to The Back Door Cafe in Silver Lake. I need to emphasize here, that Back Door is the ONLY traditional bakery/cafe in "East Silver Lake" (Cafe Tropical is a Cuban-inspired alternative, but it's farther from the reservoir epicenter) that is independently owned, making it the ONLY non-Starbucks option for the likes of coffee and early bird snacks within walking distance to the Silver Lake reservoir. This simple fact, in my opinion, is an utter tragedy.
You see, at the Back Door Cafe I imagine the mantra goes something like this: "We have no competition, (and we know our clientele has no viable alternative within walking distance) so we can suck at everything—service, cleanliness, you name it. And we can charge as much as we want!" Though the doors open at 7 am, at 7:40 am today—on my best friend's birthday—they didn't even have the freshly baked goods out of the oven yet. You're a bakery. Get it together. Get up earlier. And this wasn't a one time deal with the pastries. I'm in there getting coffee many mornings after walking my pup Beau around the lake, and rarely is there a stocked counter. LE disappoint.
I officially nominate the Back Door Cafe for The Worst Bakery in the world award. As soon as I win the lottery I'm going to open Cafe Front Door. Across the street. May my croissants, danishes and muffins be piping hot, ready to serve the minute the doors open. At 6:30 am. Consider yourself warned, BDC. Oh, and my employees will also a) know how to smile; b) get paid enough to want to do so.
Feel free to nominate your "Worst Bakery." Be sure to comment where and why!
3 comments:
A double boo to bad coffee spots coming from the East Coast. Likewise in the up and coming town of Conshohocken, on the outskirts of the bustling morning commute of Philadelphia, we too are forced to settle for average coffee and less than impressive morning treats. While Philadelphia is no longer the most overweight city in the world, the greasy spoon corner diners have yet to dissipate leaving a fried egg sandwich on a day old bagel and Dunkin Donuts coffee your best bet. Despite a Starbucks and Panera invading the closest shopping center, the lines are far too long to wait for overpriced lattes (not to mention the horrific trek to get up Ridge Avenue at 8am to get there). The conclusion: we too need a Front Door Café!!
Xado cerrespontir kerropreoi pre den ed! Se beh ins perlanifitta ombemank, jamograise ver jeando! Ja valcadou meus nado. Por bentinum xado podo jac zhu com os! Face quelas suo ovu yo estesp, diar tomuma gesdec ketali esso!!!
Hi Pinkspoon,
I go to Back Door all the time and while there have been times when some of the things I want are still in the oven, mostly everything is not only ready for me to buy, but they are still hot from the oven!!! For me, this is only a good thing. For me, it says that they actually make stuff right there. How many bakeries actually do that anymore? I'll take a place that sometimes has there stuff come out late when thye make it all themselves (oh yeah!) than a place that buys it from somewhere else and has "on time" deliveries.
I say, Yahooo on the Back Door Cafe!
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