Stone Oven Bakery
 Cleveland, Ohio       Date of Visit  09/15/13        http://www.stone-oven.com/ 

We had parked in the lot behind the Stone Oven Bakery on our trip to The Tavern Co. on Lee and walked through the dining area to get to our lunch destination. Only problem is we saw and smelled the goodies and were going to be walking back through to get to our cars…it would be just rude to walk through and not patronize the nice people. Right?
 

Lots of Savory & Sweet Options
 

Sour Dough Passable But Under-Sour
 

Several people were enjoying sandwiches and salad but we had just finished brunch and perused the bread and pastry options for some later hedonism. We ended up with a small boule of sourdough, a coconut cream tart, a peach-blueberry crisp, a lemon square and a nutella croissant. The only slight disappointment was the loaf of sourdough. It was labeled as San Francisco sourdough which gives me expectations of a heady sour funk and flavor which this just didn’t have. It was fine but that was all it was.
 

The sweeter treats were much more on point to be something you would remember. I am not a coconut kinda guy but the crumbly crust and rich, thick custard of the coconut tart were well done. The lemon square was sweet and tart. The crisp was a little trip back to the first time a friend’s mother had baked a peach blueberry pie and I almost didn’t take a piece because in my naiveté I believed pies were ordained by God as solo fruit only and that odd combo must be an abomination. Mine eyes were opened and this little peach multiberry crisp was pretty close. The oatey crumble on top didn’t survive well but matched the sweet peaches and just tart blueberries.
 

Stalwart Layers Of Buttery Classic Pastry
 

With Nutty Chocolate Filling
 

The croissant was old school. Fat layer of butter sandwiched, turned and repeatedly folded until layers are piled atop of layers. Rich, buttery and with serious tear. There is a healthy dollop of hazelnut and cocoa spread running through the center. There's just no way to go wrong with the time and effort it takes to churn something like this out. It’s a classic and it’s well done at the Stone Oven along with a number of other options. Definitely worth a stop, whether you were planning to go or not. Talk about a lucky parking spot.