Nucci's Bake A Deli

Bakery: Nucci's Bake A Deli
Address: 801 Red River Rd, Thunder Bay ON
Website: http://nuccis.ca/
Style: Italian, North American
Price: $-$$

At the beginning of August, I embarked on a road trip from Toronto to Kelowna. Five provinces. Six days. Sure, the main purpose wasn't to go cake touring, but it was certainly a top priority, especially considering that I am still aiming for 150 bakeries from all over the country! Here are the results.

From Sault Ste. Marie, I crossed the barren, bakery-less expanse to Thunder Bay. I had huge plans in store for Thunder Bay. First and foremost, I was there for Finnish baked goods, and I was especially looking forward to a Finnish bakery a visitor had recommended me quite awhile ago. And then there were the others. Not to mention Persians. Yes, I was intent on trying a famous Thunder Bay Persian. I just had one obstacle in my way -- and it proved too great for me. That obstacle was Civic Holiday long weekend. I mean, the holiday doesn't even have a name and yet, the whole city was shut down. Not even just Monday, but the whole weekend. A Finnish dinner didn't happen. Neither did any of the Finnish bakeries, even the ones already done. The Persian Man was closed. Donato's, the 24-hour bakery was closed. I was in a state of shock and disbelief; the city was dead and I was stuck eating Greek. Curse you, long weekend!

I made one last ditch effort: Nucci's. Nucci's was on the road out of town to the highway. Coincidentally, the inventor of Persians was apparently a man named Nucci. Nucci's had the same holiday hours notice as Persian Man. It was meant to happen. Yes, Nucci's was open!

Now, I'm not quite sure what a Bake a Deli is, since I saw a lot of deli going on and not that much baking. Sweets were limited to the case right up by the cash; there was no use circling the store. And 50% of that sweets display was Persians: classic, chocolate, unglazed and sold with the icing on the side -- you name it. Quite honestly, I don't remember what was there besides Persians. 

Of course I took a Persian. Well, two Persians, to be exact: one regular (with the pink strawberry icing) and one blueberry ($1.10 each). A few hours later, when getting ready to finally eat my miraculous find, I discovered that the worker had stuffed both in one bag facing each other and the classic Persian destined for me had been stripped of its icing and it had all gone over to the other one. Someone really doesn't like me. ;__; With some efforts, I got a little icing back onto mine and bit in. Fresh fried dough with cinnamon, not enough to tell me it's a cinnamon bun, but good nonetheless. A bit too much icing in places, but it was fluffy and did compliment the dough underneath. I personally liked the blueberry icing, with chunks of blueberries in it, better than the classic version, but the blueberry one happened to be stale....

Nonetheless, I have tried a Persian! And they were good, better than expected in fact. Perhaps not worth having a mental breakdown over, but an enjoyable treat when in Thunder Bay... on a regular day. ;)

Rating: ***