A Baker’s Wife

4200 28th Ave S
Minneapolis, MN
612-729-6898

Category: Bakery, Cafe

Rating (Scale 1-10, with 10 being the highest):
Food: 8
Service: N/A (counter service)
Ambience: 8

Recommendation: Very Good. A gem of a bakery and a great place for a continental breakfast.

The smell from this bakery is intoxicating and draws you to it just as you approach the corner of 42nd street and 28th Ave in SE Minneapolis. You can stop by for a quick “grab and go” to pick up all you need for a breakfast picnic at Lake Nokomis and Hiawatha Lake, which are minutes away. The interior isn’t fancy…in fact it’s cluttered with trinkets and antiques, but the stuff is quirky and you could spend hours looking through all the things hanging on the wall and scattered throughout the room. Tea cups and pots, clocks, bread baskets, coffee shop wall art, curios, handmade signs….the list goes on and on. The stuff is as eccentric as the owner who was hard at work in the back and brought out fresh batches of treats every once in a while. We’re glad that this place does so much more than breads…breakfast pastries, cakes, donuts, and coffee. It recently received the accolade of Best Bakery 2008 by CityPages.

We were there recently for a light breakfast and managed to get one of the few tables outside in the sun. The choice of breakfast treats is tremendous; to the point that the glass display couldn’t hold all the options…some were lying on the back counter. We pointed to the Chocolate Donuts, which had just been brought out. To add to the variety, we picked a Tea Cake and a slice of Banana Bread. The Donuts were outstanding…perfectly iced with sweet chocolate frosting yet light. Don’t miss out on the Tea Cake; think of this as a chewy croissant with a gooey caramel topping. We really liked the combination of the sticky texture of the topping with the light airy base. The Latte was a perfect complement to this sweet pastry. We didn’t actually get to the Banana Bread until later but when we did, we liked it. We’ll be back real soon to A Baker’s Wife…there’s too much left to explore.

$. Pastries are very affordable $2-$3.