Gastronomical Exploration: Carlucci's Bakery

So far, most of the pics I post here, I've already posted on my profile on Facebook. All those pics taken on my gastronomical adventures have made my friend want to come along with me. I was definitely excited to have someone just as passionate about food as I am to go with me to explore :)

We made plans to try Carlucci's Bakery, since she had never been there. I've been there before, but it's been years--but I remembered their pastries to be pretty decent.
We got there around 1pm. It was fairly busy, but the staff was courteous and smiling. I wanted to try their red velvet cake, but they didn't have any :( But there were plenty of other selections to choose from:

My friend got the Olive Oil Cake, Chocolate cupcake, and almond tart. The cake was dense and moist, like a financier, and "olive oil-y"(instead of buttery), same as the one we made in Advanced Desserts class. The almond tart was good, but didn't taste very almond-y. The chocolate cupcake was pretty good--they used good quality chocolate for the curls on the top, and the cake part itself had a good chocolatey flavor. The buttercream was also good, nice and smooth American buttercream. There might have been some cream cheese in it, but I wasn't sure. My friend liked the olive oil cake and the cupcake, but not the almond tart so much.

I got the rosemary cookie and mini fruit tart. I've made savory rosemary shortbread before, but I've never used rosemary in sweet baked goods (other than that strawberry-rosemary sorbet I made in class) so I was curious. It was pretty good, just like Mexican wedding cookie with rosemary in it. The cream in the fruit tart tasted good, but kinda buttery, almost like that buttery cream filling I encountered at Leslie's Pastry shop.

We split everything up, so we got a taste of everything. And they were so cheap, at around $0.95 each! After we sampled everything, we talked for perhaps an hour and a half, mostly about food. She told me about a sesame oil cake she had that was too greasy to be eaten alone--but it was perfect with the ice cream served with it; about this 'soy sauce' candy made only in Japan; how cakes at Chinese bakeries are light and fluffy, but without substance and somewhat dry (I think so too!); and how I should open a macaron boutique in Salt Lake City.

This was so much fun! I can't wait to go on another exploration!