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| - I'm pleased to say that this is an establishment that lives up to it's yelp hype. It's not fussy and the offerings are diverse enough but overall, the menu is simple.
You can expect the favorites (Chocolate croissants, croissants, morning buns, etc) to sell out every day, usually before noon or even before 10am. The cookies seem to hang around all day and are very tasty and classic with a unique twist. The chocolate rye cookie tastes like a flourless chocolate cake in cookie form with a molasses note. It's a favorite of my kids. They also love the ginger molasses which is one of the best bakery cookies in the burgh in my opinion. Tastes like something that came from a French grandma's kitchen. The snickerdoodle is fluffy and crispy and the chocolate chip is a basic classic but not as good as the other offerings.
The chocolate croissant is better than any you've had in a Pittsburgh bakery with beautiful buttery lamination, large air pockets, and perfectly bittersweet chocolate.
The baguettes inspire lines during busy weekends and out the door in the dozens for holidays. There was near hysteria over Christmas with those that wanted baguettes for holiday gatherings. The good news is, Five Points takes orders in advance and they even offer holiday specialties. They have many loyal patrons that place daily orders for croissants and baguettes.
In addition, they have a few simple but delicious sandwiches that are ready around 10am or slightly after and they are often completely gone before 1pm. The vegetable is my favorite, with arugula, fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers and maybe another pickled veggie or two. (They used to serve this with a little pickled cauliflower and it was to die for so I hope they go back to it!) I very much disliked the tofu kimchi bahn mi but I didn't find it to lack quality, I simply don't care for heavy use of fish sauce. I also did not enjoy my piece of quiche enough to finish it because it felt a little bland and heavy, almost soggy, though again, quality ingredients and techniques were clearly used.
Overall, the bakers at Five Points are genuine artisans who show up at work early and crank out consistent quality. Here's to many years of success as I hope they are around for generations.
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