Today on Fork This, Savannah I explore a brief history of my restaurant crush and some of my favorite items on their menu.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF MY RESTAURANT CRUSH
Love at First Sight
I stumbled upon the bakery in early 2007 when I was looking for cupcakes for my vintage inspired 17th Birthday Party. The nice folks at Paris Market and Brocante referred me there when I asked where they got their delicious pastel butter cream cupcakes.
When I walked into the bakery for the first time, I fell in love. The decor was retro. Pops of pink, blue, yellow, and green pastels. There was a big crystal chandelier wrapped in white Christmas lights hanging over a vintage farm table. Elementary school style storage cubbies served as a bar counter. The walls and floors were unfinished. Pages from cookbooks were pasted on the wall in patches. Bright pink roses in milk bottles adorned each table. It might of been the cupcakes, it might have been the decor. It might of been a mixture of both. As I purchased the cupcakes I needed for the party, I was already planning my next visit.
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17th Birthday with my first Back in the Day Bakery Cupcakes |
And visit again I did. When I was an undergrad at SCAD, Back in the Day Bakery became my token lunch place. I went before or after classes. Sometimes I'd order their flaky ham and cheese croissant. Or the best chicken sandwich on earth, the aptly named Super Chicken (thick slices of roast chicken and white cheddar between slabs of airy ciabatta, topped with lettuce and onions, and smeared with a rosemary infused miracle of a mayonnaise). I've probably celebrated three or four birthdays there since finding them.
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| My 18th Birthday at Back in the Day Bakery |
But when I graduated from college in 2011, I wasn't in the area anymore. So I didn't visit as often. I'd stop by on a Saturday here or there. But I thought I'd finally gotten over my crush. I was in my early twenties. Too old for crushes!
Nowadays
Now back at SCAD for graduate school, I started stopping into Back in the Day Bakery during the twenty minute time slot I have between work in midtown and classes in the downtown area. During those twenty minutes, I'm usually stressed about balancing work and school. Worried about an assignment. Worried about finding a parking place close to Arnold Hall.
But Back in the Day Bakery is always a little respite from those worrisome thoughts. You get the sense that the folks working at Back in the Day Bakery actually like working there. The gals behind the counter always have a smile on their faces. Never mind that the place is slammed at lunchtime. Or that the person who just ordered was short with them. They greet every customer with genuine smiles and they seem just as excited about the food as I am. They gush over the flaky, buttery buttermilk biscuits Back in the Day serves on certain days. Or something new they've got in the baked cases that day. With that kind of enthusiasm, you can't help but let your worries slip away a little. Besides, how can you worry when you're tearing into a Tomato Caprese sandwich that's bigger than your face?
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| Caprese Sandwich (Tomato, balsamic, fresh basil and mozzarella) |
I post Instagram and Facebook photos from the bakery regularly. Without fail, Back and the Day serves up their sandwiches and sweets looking cookbook photo-shoot ready. So it's no wonder I can't help taking a picture of every blessed thing I eat there (Sorry for making you hungry, Facebook friends).
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| Jam and Biscuits with Iced Tea and Newborn Cupcake |
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| The Happy Day Salad (You can read about that on my first post ever) |
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| Vanilla Buttercream Cupcake |
I often bring one of Back in the Day Bakery's white to-go bags to class. As I pull out my buttermilk biscuit and jam or Mexican Hot Chocolate shortbread, my classmates gaze at me jealously, "Where did you get that delightful thing?"
And I just smile, "This place called Back in the Day Bakery. You have to go there."
Sounds like I've totally gotten over my crush, right?
SOME OF MY FAVORITE THINGS ON THE MENU
If I'm in a bad mood, I can always count on something like the Strawberry Pie Bar (If a fruit cobbler and a strawberry pie got married, then Back in the Day's Strawberry Pie Bar would be their child. A winner of the culinary genetic lottery, trust me) to brighten my mood.
You cannot eat something like this without smiling. The man sitting next to me kept staring at me as I devoured it. Finally, he shyly asked as I brushed crumbs from my face, "What was that delightful thing?
Back in the Day Bakery's Cinnamon Bun Saturday is probably my favorite way to kick-start the weekend.
On Saturdays only, you can sit down to one of Back in the Day's house specialties. Their massive sticky buns slathered in rich, creamy white icing. If you're used to Pillsbury or Cinnabon, you'll never go back after having one of these. It's like tasting butter for the first time after being raised on margarine
You know how the best part of most sticky buns are the middle? Not so with Back in the Day's buns. The whole bun is like the center. It's sticky, bready, twisted heaven.
I may not be doodling "Back in the Day Bakery" on my binder but let me assure you, I'm crushing on them. And if they keep feeding me things like their sublime Strawberry Pie Bar, and sinful Saturday sticky buns, something tells me I'm not getting over this crush anytime soon.
2403 Bull St, Savannah, GA 31401
(912) 495-9292
Hours Open: Tuesday-Saturday 8am - 5pmClosed Sunday & Monday
