Essence Bakery Café Makes a Killer Crust
Essence Bakery Café
There are a million different things you can get at restaurants around town, but if you want to know my go-to dish, it’s quiche Lorraine. And Essence Bakery’s quiche Lorraine might be the best one in town. It’s dense but fluffy, the crust is rich but holds up, and the bacon and spinach just add the right amount of flavor. Not to be competitive, but if you’re looking for the ideal breakfast, you should either go to Essence or JL Patisserie on Central. Both have awesome quiche, both make a perfect croissant, and both have enough whimsical extras to fill out the menu to keep any kid (or kid at heart) happy.
Details
Essence Bakery is a pastry shop/light meal place kind of in that middle ground between Camelback East and Arcadia on Indian School (right near Century Grand). It’s bakery casual, if that’s helpful at all. French bakery casual, to be more specific.
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Essence Bakery Café Has 3 Yumpoints
FEB 13, 2024 / NIKKI BUCHANAN AND CHRIS MALLOY
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Owned and operated by French-trained pastry chef Eugenia Theodosopoulos and her French husband Gilles Combes (the friendly GM), this busy, minimalist cafe offers the city’s best croissants, pain au chocolat, and macarons, as well as wonderful brioche, tarts, cookies, and kouign amann (the latter, weekends only), Savory breakfast and lunch options include excellent scrambled eggs (enriched with cream, Dijon, and Parmesan), quiche Lorraine, luscious lemon-basil chicken salad, and (because Theodosopoulos is Greek) spanakopita.
FEB 7, 2024 / ENDIA FONTANEZ
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Essence Bakery is known for its delightful pastries and dishes like quiche Lorraine ($14.50) and spanakopita ($14.75). Other menu items under $15 include a lemon and basil chicken salad sandwich, a Greek Caesar salad and brioche French toast.
JAN 16, 2024 / FELICIA CAMPBELL
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Stepping into Essence feels like entering a Mediterranean café. Chef Eugenia Theodosopoulos manages to make dishes like quiche Lorraine and spanakopita feel light, despite a French-level use of butter, and her bread, pastries and cookies are the stuff of legend. If you only order one thing, make it a chocolate croissant.
DEC 18, 2023 / ASONTA BENETTI AND BAHAR ANOOSHAHR
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Arizona Hall of Fame inductee and French-trained chef, Eugenia Theodosopoulos, a.k.a. Chef Theo, is the force behind Essence. The destination serves breakfast and lunch along with breads, pastries, cookies, and seasonal jams. Some of her noteworthy items are her pain au chocolat, macarons, pecan sandies, and the Mexican wedding cookie, which she makes with a hint of orange. For chocolate fans, the Valrhona Dulcey cookies are a cross between a cookie and a brownie.
