Restaurant Review: Artistic Bake Shop

ARTISTIC BAKE SHOP 6820 104th Street | artisticbakeshop.com Instagram: @artisticbakeshopyeg | Twitter: @ArtisticBakery Co-Diners: The E.A.T Crew

I've driven past Artistic Bake Shop a hundred times and it's located only a few blocks from my house in Allendale... Yet somehow I had never stopped in to try any of their baking. Open since 1966, this German/European bakery has staked their claim as a longstanding destination for all sorts of nostalgic treats (I'm looking at you, black forest cake) and will certainly tug on the heartstrings of anyone with Eastern European grandparents, such as myself. Edmonton Journal voted Artistic Bake Shop as the Best Bakery 2021 and I was looking forward to finally finding out what they're all about. Parking was surprisingly easy to find, right on the street out front. Beside the front door you'll see a huge old dough mixer, which I've often noticed while driving by. The iron door handle itself is shaped like a pretzel, a touch that I absolutely loved. Entering the space you are met with a small grocery section to the right (lots of good treasures to be found there) and the bakery counter to the left. There's even a small seating area, should you need to eat your food finds immediately, which I completely understand. I visited shortly after they opened on a Saturday morning so the entire case was at maximum capacity and filled with delicious looking treats. The bakery is simple, classic, and comfortable. The staff working are friendly and happy to answer questions. And the atmosphere is very much one of a mom and pop type of establishment. Loaves of fresh bread line the back wall in rows and there are plenty of imported goodies everywhere that you look. It became apparent pretty quickly that their most famous item are their pretzels (which I quickly spotted stacked up in baskets) but inside the case you are able to feast your eyes upon a wide array of chocolate-covered, fresh-baked, layers-of-strudel, cream-filled confections. I dare you to pick just one item because there are so many! I started with a Pretzel ($1.65), and I mean, you can't beat that price!

Coated in coarse salt, this golden brown twist tasted fresh and was soft on the inside while maintaining a crisp outside. I found it better to pop it into the oven at home for a few minutes, just to get back that warm, out-of-the-oven experience. Doing so made the pretzel softer as well, which was nice. A complete classic, this pretzel was made well and tasted exactly like a Bavarian pretzel should. It's kind of difficult to compete in the pretzel game with Zwick's in town, but I can never fault a good, proper pretzel. If you're a fan of these twisty dough knots, you won't be disappointed. Next I noticed their Florentine ($3.25) style cookies and I felt pretty nostalgic about them for some reason and wanted to try it.

Anything half dipped in chocolate can't be wrong. A florentine is actually an Italian cookie made with nuts (often almonds, like in this case) and mixed with sugar melted together with butter and honey. This creates a crisp, sticky, chewy cookie that is quite thin and nicely caramelized. This one was dipped in chocolate which added an extra bit of special enjoyment. I definitely wanted to try something cream-filled because there seemed to be quite a few of these options available, from cream puffs to eclairs. I went for the cream-filled horn, known as a Schaumrolle ($4.75) because it looked the most impressive to me.

Cone-shaped pastry creates the horn and inside you'll discover a whole lot of fluffy whipped cream. Plus they've dipped it in chocolate, which feels like a theme at Artistic Bake Shop. Everything is made better with a bit of chocolate! It's science! Liberally coated in icing sugar, the schaumrolle was flaky and challenging to eat without making a mess. However, I didn't mind. Of everything that I tried at Artistic, this one felt the most like something special. The soul of the bake shop was very much captured in a dessert like this. Lastly, I couldn't leave the Spitzbuben ($1.00) cookies behind. There are many versions of these at Artistic Bake Shop; some covered in icing sugar, others using different types of fruit filling. I'm sure that I saw at least five different flavours.

A total classic, these feel like Christmas. Known as "jam cookies" the dough is made from an almond meal and various types of jam can be sandwiched inside. Raspberry seems to be pretty typical though. The little "window" on the top that reveals the jam within completes the whole look and adds the magic. Of course the ones that I picked were also dipped in dark chocolate, because obviously. Perfect little cookies that taste like your grandma (or someone's grandma) made them. And you had better believe that they also make a truly epic black forest cake - which is having a major moment right now. Unfortunately, they don't sell it by the slice, however, the next time that I require an entire cake it is going to be that one. I can't wait. Artistic Bake Shop just feels good. They're not doing ultra modern and elevated techniques like some of the other places in the city, but sometimes you just want baking that reminds you of home. This is that. The prices are more than reasonable. This bakery has stood the test of time for a reason and the care and quality that they put into their baking is obvious. I look forward to getting to know them even better, after all, we're practically neighbours.