New Bloomington Bakeries, yay!

For some reason, baked goods appear to be mushrooming. In the past few weeks, I've visiting 3 new bakeries. The good news: I liked them all. The bad news: I liked them all. Kinda like that.

Chelsea Morning Bakery
Located in the space the City Bakery once was a number of years ago, on the west side of Rogers between 3rd and 4th, in one of the long low yellow buildings, Chelsea Morning is heartbreakingly around the corner from where I lived for a couple years right before it opened. POUT. The fresh pastries are all very tasty and the best prices I've seen in town--you can get lemon bars for like 2.25 or a whole little cheesecake pie for under $5 with tax, which is saying something. More sweets, but savory pies and turnovers also. It's an unpretentious business: the counter looks right onto the kitchen, the decor and food packaging simple (ingredients listed on all the labels, though!). Feels down-home, and tastes just as good. The building is a bit odd, but with high, spacious ceilings and lots of light inside, it's a great place to sit quietly and work/study/schmooze on the comfy plush furniture or at the little tables. An accessible coffee stand dispenses coffee for ease of multiple refills. If I still lived there, I'd be a regular, no doubt about it. If you live in Btown, stop by and check it out!--you can also sample sweet goods at the downtown Bloomingfoods.

Sweet Claire's
Located next to Baked! in that building that is perpetually some kind of caterer or other, Sweet Claire's has a pretty, classic little interior space painted in soothing lavender and purple shades. When I stopped in, they were focused on brioche, an airy French bun, and anticipating slowly expanding to a fuller menu of French-style pastry and some cafe-style breakfast and lunch options. The brioche was good, I am full of hope for their further offerings and plan to return soon to see what they are--and I will say, moreover, that I don't know anywhere else to get an authentic brioche in this town (City Bakery does authentic croissants, but I don't think brioche. Scholars etc. do brioche-based French Toast, but that's a whole other issue).

Feast
Located off in the slightly more moneyed area of the SouthEast of town, Feast's major claim to attention is their fresh tamales, and I haven't had one yet, so I can't comment. They do also have a menu of cafe sandwiches and salads, and a case of pastries, of which I tried two. They were good, no doubt about it--an "Island Turnover" filled with pleasantly spiced potato-pea-etc. mix and served with a dollop of cilantro cream, and a "Vermont Chew" bar, yummy maple-coconut-buttercrust heaven. Ginormous muffins, croissants, cakelets, etc., other than tamales the spread is similar to (smaller than) Scholars. Price-wise, this place is also on the steep side. The food is high quality, but the space isn't the best. While pleasantly decorated, it's a small narrow space inside, and the outside tables are next to a heavy-traffic intersection, so I'd say get goodies to go. They do have the charming idea of providing a water cooler filled with lemons, one of many little touches of a nice aesthetic both visual and gustatory.