Whole Foods Market [updated!]

Bakery: Whole Foods Market
Address: 301 Cornwall Rd (Oakville, ON) // 87 Avenue Rd. (Toronto, ON)
Website: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com
Style: Supermarket, North American
Price: $$

[Supermarket bakeries absolutely *suck* around here. Hardly anyone has any sweets or baked goods for sale, let alone something decent. Most, even the higher-end groceries like Longo's, can barely make the grade when it comes to baked goods. You can get yourself store-baked loaves of bread pretty much everywhere, but when you want to go beyond that, good luck. Pre-packed goods that never seem to be fresh, despite the expiry date in two weeks, gross cakes and nothing else. The big name stores -- especially Loblaws -- fail the most at this and you're stuck looking elsewhere. The three award-winners in the GTA for best supermarket bakeries go to the following (you may have your own opinion; let me know what it is... although I'm not sure if I'll be able to agree with you ;DD): Starsky, T&T Supermarket, Whole Foods. Consolation prize goes out to Highland Farms (this place is so far from me, so I don't have a chance to go so often) for their pretty impressive variety.]

Starting out with 3rd prize, I still have to say Whole Foods is one pretty good bakery. Oddly enough, whenever they do secret product comparisons in the newspaper, they always seem to pan Whole Foods for everything from their barbecued chicken to their baguettes, but I will disagree with them on this point. They don't have so much variety, but what they do have is really tasty stuff: quality ingredients (I'm not sure if everything is organic or just all-natural) and prices printed clearly on the tag, unique offerings that always seem to be fresh, especially their store-baked goodies like muffins, scones, brioches, cookies and danishes.

My absolute fave is their Bundt-like Low-Fat Berry Muffin (pictured -- $1.79 + tax), which sadly seems only available at their Yorkville location. Whole berries in a dense, not quite muffin dough coated with vanilla glaze. I love this thing! ^^;;

Another treat to try is their clafoutis-like cherry and blueberry danishes (also $1.79... I think :P) which I don't have too often, since they can be soggy sometimes and then it's not very appetizing; they should think of a better way of presenting these things, but the cherry ones are so good, and the best danishes you'll find in the area, since this isn't a forte of Toronto's. ;) Their cinnamon bread ($4.79, I'm almost sure) is already pretty good, but try and catch it when it's on sale and you'll pay $1 or more less for it. ^__~

For one birthday, we actually went to try a cake from them as well and chose the Apple Spice cake ($21.99), because the name (not so much the appearance) sounded alluring. The inside was a tad bit too plain for me and overall a little too "North American" (which isn't something I'm particularly fond of; pies and brownies and whatnot... not for me XP), but maybe that's also because I'm used the elaborate cakes from What a Bagel. :D Nevertheless, cinnamon spiced cake with chunks of apple with two layers of spiced cream cheese icing. The latter was too rich, especially when it was, along a light dusting of nuts and crumbs, all over the outside too. Still, it's gotten me interested enough in trying some of the other delectable-looking goodies behind the glass. ^^

Nevertheless, venturing beyond the store-baked goods in the baskets and the lovely stuff behind the counter (both made my them and brought in from the most accessible commercial bakery of all time: Dufflet. (yup, will be preparing a post on them in the future ;D)) brings you into the $$-$$ range, and that's something I've never tried. This is usually brought in from small, mostly local, bakeries. I mean, I'm sure their $17 pies are probably good, but really, $13 for an apple pie. No thanks; I'd rather bake a pretty decent one myself. :/ Other pretty ridiculous finds include a small box of $7 biscotti bites or imitation two-bite brownies for the same jaw-dropping price. I realize that they might be tasty -- they probably are -- and the ingredients are worth the price, but at the same time, I'd prefer taking that money to a small, local bakery (we've seen a few on here already ;)) and getting more bang for my buck, as my brother loves to say. ^^

[NEW!] I'm so excited to have a whole bunch of Easter-related goodies to review. Here's one we came across by fluke (Whole Foods is one of the only stores in the province that are open on Easter Sunday): WF's Easter baked good: a chocolate babka ($6.99) which was a yeast babka folded in with high-quality cocoa and chocolate chips, sweetened with honey and drizzled on top with chocolate syrup. I was a little afraid of trying this, since I don't like chocolate so much, but this was a great thing for chocolate lovers and non-fans alike. Plain dough lightly coated and folded almost like a cinnamon bun (their cinnamon bread is similar in taste and texture... and is also really good ;P) made a nice light snack with your tea or coffee. I was actually pretty surprised with this and, considering how much yeast babkas go for at Polish places, for instance, this was a decent price too! What a (pleasant) surprise!!

Rating: **1/2