Pusateri's Fine Foods

Bakery: Pusateri's Fine Foods
Address: 57 Yorkville Ave. (2 other locations)
Website: http://www.pusateris.com
Style: European, French
Price: $$$-$$$$

I'm sorry, but this was one of the biggest disappointments I've had to review so far on my little site. I've always been scared away by this place because of the valet parking (with freshly cleaned Mercedes waiting for pickup) and its classy look. I decided to actually go inside this past weekend while I was in the area to see a movie, and at first, I was just blown away, despite it's pretty cramped location. There were so many cakes and super fancy treats. It was so beautiful and it made me wonder why I hadn't come here earlier! *-*

And then, as I was waiting in line after a couple who were planning on buying *every* cake and flan in the display case, I started paying more attention to the actual tags. Yes, I was very pleasantly surprised that everything was labeled and priced as it should be, but the latter of which... shocked me. I've mentioned to people before that buying individual cakes and goodies at fancy stores isn't too bad, because they can't overcharge you so much that you can't afford it. I suppose that's not the situation in Toronto, since the prices seemed extremely ridiculous for me: $7 berry tarts, $3.30 doughnuts (!).

Then, I realized that they don't make a single thing here; you can expect this of supermarkets, but it was pretty disappointing to see such a place as this fall into this as well. I expected a lot better than seeing those guys from Dufflet here... and having to pay $4 for a tart that costs $3 in every other supermarket, no matter how fine it is (I was browsing the website of the bakery that provides the $7 tarts and found them to cost $5). So, I just made a note of all the bakeries that they do sell (he he he, look out for those posts in the future ^_~) and settled on something from their baked goods section, which features some more items from other bakeries (these guys don't even bake their own croissants -- come on!), usually French staples like butter croissants, brioches, etc. Being a complete lover of poppy seed buns, I picked that ($2.50 + tax). This is courtesy of Harbord Bakery, which I now know I *need* to visit. This particular bun, however, was hard like a rock. A decent bakery wouldn't even sell this in the day-old, reduced section! The icing had completely flaked off and I couldn't bite the dough at all and tried (in vain) to revive it by sticking it in the microwave, but even that couldn't get rid of the crust on the poppy seed mass and that telltale texture of stale bread. The worst was that this would have been an amazing bun, which is why I need to see these guys in person. The typically Jewish and/or Russian poppy seed mass is getting me excited...

This is definitely a 'no' from me. Yes, Pusateri's can sell their expensive, high-end foods (although at the same time, I find it hilarious that a place trying to be so fancy sells Wonder Bread XDDD), but they should stick to something with a long shelf -life, because this was just not edible and shouldn't be sold, especially at such a price. "Expensive" is *not* synonymous with "tasty"!

Rating: *1/2