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November 6-12, 2008
buzz@boulderweekly.com
• The substance of spuds
Celebrate the International Year of the Potato
by Joan Obra
A spruced up Boulder bakery
Spruce Confections is a casual repast for savory sweets and salads
by Clay Fong
On the west wall of Spruce Confections’ sunny North Boulder location hangs a reproduction of Van Gogh’s “Café Terrace at Night.” Painted during Van Gogh’s stormy tenure in Arles, France, this painting features the memorable image of a café bathed in warm yellow light. Nowadays, if you venture down a quiet back street a few steps away from this cafe, you’ll find a small bakery. This venue features several treats that do double duty as a light meal, including a world-beating chocolate croissant and pissaladière, the famed onion and anchovy tart.
Memories of this patisserie caused me to reflect on how Spruce Confections is not only one of the few bakeries in town, but also a fine spot for a light meal. Regretfully, Spruce Confections doesn’t offer up any anchovy tarts, although it does provide a decent menu of pre-packaged sandwiches with house-made bread and winning, fresh-tasting salads. These can be enjoyed on site, or packed away for a last late-season hike or picnic before Old Man Winter settles in.
Bypassing the turkey and hummus versions, I enjoyed a moderately sized, but satisfying $6.05 roast beef sandwich. While it would have been a true bargain at a dollar less, this sandwich delivered more value than many pre-packaged variants. Although refrigeration dulled some of the flavor, I could still appreciate the garnishes of red onion, a pungent but not overwhelming horseradish-based aioli, Swiss cheese, dried tomato and romaine. These elements nicely harmonized and highlighted the rare texture and full-bodied taste of the meat.
While the meat was rare in my sandwich, this wasn’t the case with the protein in Tertia’s $6.32 Ahi spinach salad with sesame soy dressing and crunchy jicama and carrot. Unlike many Ahi tuna salads, the chunks of fish were well-done and not seared, as is the case with made-to-order versions. But since this salad is pre-made and could be enjoyed hours after preparation, cooking the fish in this thorough manner makes sense from a food safety standpoint. This entrée salad was the equal in quality of higher-priced versions, with crisp vegetables and a generous allotment of fish.
Upending our hopes for a light repast, Tertia and I ended the meal with a pair of pastries, each less than $2: a Ruby’s scone with raspberry, honey and almond, and a black bottom cupcake. The scone was both crumbly and rich with the taste and color of berries. The black bottom cupcake successfully melded the taste of milk and white chocolate with a sweet tang of cream cheese thrown in for good measure. This baked good reminded me of when my dad bought me my first black bottom cupcake from Just Desserts in San Francisco in the 1970s. I’ll compliment Spruce by saying their version is closer to the original than the newer, measurably inferior, mass-produced Just Desserts version.
At Spruce Confections, one can be as virtuous and healthy as one pleases by selecting a balanced entrée such as the Ahi spinach salad. On the other hand, one can also explore more decadent choices like a slab of buttery shortbread and a frothy cappuccino with whole milk. While it may not provide the selection found in a southern French Van Gogh-inspired patisserie, Spruce Confections is still an ideal spot for a quick and casual repast that’s not necessarily too heavy.
Spruce Confections
4684 N. Broadway
Boulder, 303-449-5819
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
Clay’s obscurity corner
Arles, France
Arles wasn’t kind to Van Gogh. Three months after he painted the image of the café, he threatened artist Paul Gauguin with a razor and lopped off his own ear lobe. Eventually, Van Gogh committed himself to the hospital in the nearby town of Saint-Remy. Swirling forms became a reoccurring motif in his paintings, and it was there that he painted the “Starry Night.” Today, this village is home to a new kind of artistry. It’s now the residence of master chocolatier Joel Durand, famous for his exotically flavored creations, such as his incomparable dark chocolate perfumed with real lavender.
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
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