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Mel's New Bakery


melmck

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Hi Peeps!!

OMG I don't know where to start...I have met a few folks from EG and I always crack up becuz I feel like they've busted me, been reading my diary behind my back.

This is not a huge update, as I don' t have time. Just to let you know I am clinging to life. Remember those elephant size balls I claimed I had?? I've been kicked in them repeatedly. (Chrome-dome, I just felt you flinch!) possibly been stampeded by an actual elephant. Duckduck came to see me and it is true about the couch/lack of sleep etc... what is truly fucked up is that I am getting used to the schedule. I really want to kill people when thay say things like, "oh you should take some time for yourself" or "let's get together sometime". BWWAAH-HA-HA that is so funny. NOT.

So this being a business owner running a bakery thing is HARD SHIT!!! There is not one easy thing about it. Every day I learn something new about what to do or not do, what works, what doesn't, who doesn't etc...

I have to give props to a few people though, my husband for working his ass off here all the time as soon as he's done with his work. Coming in @ 3Am on weekends to help me w/ bread.

To my Frenchman- Emmanuel, who is a God of the Doughs and can sheet laminates in his sleep. (while tied up.) I thought this man was a speed freak for a while, only to learn that he is so,so fast and really, really good. He makes my life much easier. THANK YOU!!!

Oh, how could I possibly forget this very important bit of info. DO NOT EVER BUY ANYTHING FROM AKVATEK INDUSTRIES IN MIAMI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!They ripped me off for $7,000 and now I have even bigger legal fees because of those bastards. That's right, on top of opening a business I am in litigation with them. Good times. people, good times.

Melissa McKinney

Chef/Owner Criollo Bakery

mel@criollobakery.com

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OMG! What happened with Akvatek? That's lousy....

I've been telling my (non-EG) friends about your place, I will come soon to try your stuff, it sounds great....

: )

Good luck and Congratulations!

Edited by eem (log)
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  • 2 weeks later...

We'll see if I can make this work...I've been having troubles with links to extramsg.com but we'll try it. Photos of Criollo.

http://www.extramsg.com/modules.php?set_al...lbum.php&page=1

Pamela Wilkinson

www.portlandfood.org

Life is a rush into the unknown. You can duck down and hope nothing hits you, or you can stand tall, show it your teeth and say "Dish it up, Baby, and don't skimp on the jalapeños."

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duckduck, thanks for posting the photos. It was fun to see Mel's place. And if you read this Mel, your shop looks great, and all the pastries etc. look fantastic. I hope business is going great. Best of luck. Marilyn :wink:

check out my baking and pastry books at the Pastrymama1 shop on www.Half.ebay.com

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Everything looks spectacular. If I were a customer I would want to buy one of everything.

Plus, I love the look of the shop. Thanks for the pix.

"Some people see a sheet of seaweed and want to be wrapped in it. I want to see it around a piece of fish."-- William Grimes

"People are bastard-coated bastards, with bastard filling." - Dr. Cox on Scrubs

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It all looks spectacular. Congratulations! I hope your hard work is paying off with ample customers. It looks like your breads are popular, judging by the empty bins.

"I just hate health food"--Julia Child

Jennifer Garner

buttercream pastries

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omg.

i just found this thread and hoovered the whole thing while pretending to work. mel - you ROCK! i hope through all the bullshit you must deal with every day - you are still massively proud of what you've built. the sweets and savories alike look amazing. i think i need to talke a roadtrip down south!

how's business?

from overheard in new york:

Kid #1: Paper beats rock. BAM! Your rock is blowed up!

Kid #2: "Bam" doesn't blow up, "bam" makes it spicy. Now I got a SPICY ROCK! You can't defeat that!

--6 Train

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What a beautiful shop with glorious goodies! Mel, best of luck. Your efforts have produced a foodie heaven setting.

A good cook is like a sorceress who dispenses happiness. – Elsa Schiaparelli, 1890-1973, Italian Designer

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Mel,

The place looks great. I wish u all the best. I may even borrow some ideas................

"Chocolate has no calories....

Chocolate is food for the soul, The soul has no weight, therefore no calories" so said a customer, a lovely southern woman, after consuming chocolate indulgence

SWEET KARMA DESSERTS

www.sweetkarmadesserts.com

550 East Meadow Ave. East meadow, NY 11554

516-794-4478

Brian Fishman

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It's so good to see you post Melmek, I wish you had more time to chat!

Your place looks fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beautiful mix of work, theres something for everyone. I would love to taste everything. The laminated items are very well done, breads focacia-beautiful, I noticed quiche too. Your selections and place shows how much thought and effort you put into it. Bravo!

I love the clear acrylic platters you've chosen to use, it gives nice clear views. Your place looks very welcoming, tables outside-fab.!

I hope you get slammed everyday, you rock girl!

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My artist/colour nut/interior-design-hobbyist wife approves heartily of your decor.

I approve heartily of the contents of the showcases. And I like those clear trays too, they're much more appealing than the industrial white ones we use where I work. I'll surely be coming back to those photos for cribbing purposes...

“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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WOW, what a great looking place, and a beautiful selection and variety of baked goods. I wilsh you much success and next May when I am out that way, I will definitly look you up.

It is good to be a BBQ Judge.  And now it is even gooder to be a Steak Cookoff Association Judge.  Life just got even better.  Woo Hoo!!!

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Wow, I had no idea photos were even taken! Surprise. I actually have photos that i haven't had time to organize. BTW, the plates are all glass. Not acrylic. Here is the good news-- finally a review from the Willamette Week paper:

"Spence isn't the only pastry maven to capture the sugary spotlight. In June, Melissa McKinney, Bluehour's former sweets genius, opened Criollo Bakery in Portland's chichi-lite Beaumont district. Unlike Spence's underground cake walk, McKinney's new bake space, with its cool stone floors and rust walls, is a showroom--for the Jaguars and Maseratis of the pastry world. Sexy lush models like the lemon-lacquered Baby Extreme Lemon Teacake ($1.50), glossy fruit tarts and crumbly Apple "Rugelach" Dumplings ($3.25) are parked front and center in lit cases.

In fact, you can't even buy coffee in this bakery, though it does offer a lovely, light lunch menu in the afternoon. So on a recent morning visit, we headed through Criollo's French doors to the Java Man Coffee outlet next door to feed our other favorite addiction. After all, for this junkie, caffeine and sugar are the ultimate speedball. "

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally published on WEDNESDAY, 8/4/2004

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not bad for a first review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Melissa McKinney

Chef/Owner Criollo Bakery

mel@criollobakery.com

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McKinney's new bake space, with its cool stone floors and rust walls, is a showroom--for the Jaguars and Maseratis of the pastry world.

Love it!!! Great review. You must be thrilled.

"Some people see a sheet of seaweed and want to be wrapped in it. I want to see it around a piece of fish."-- William Grimes

"People are bastard-coated bastards, with bastard filling." - Dr. Cox on Scrubs

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I want to take a trip just to sample the "Tart Cherry and Hazelnut Brioche" and the "Roasted Shallot and Cheese Croissant". I am melting. Thanks for the pictures. Fantastic job Mel.

Shannon

my new blog: http://uninvitedleftovers.blogspot.com

"...but I'm good at being uncomfortable, so I can't stop changing all the time...be kind to me, or treat me mean...I'll make the most of it I'm an extraordinary machine."

-Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine

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Mel, thanks so much for sharing your life with us. It occurs to me, that while I can get really stellar pastries, bread and the like at Central Market, that perhaps I should be doing my civic duty and shopping at a local mom and pop bakery when I need baked goods that I'm not willing to produce myself. I AM willing to pay premium prices when I want good stuff. I'm not willing to pay 75 cents for a crappy danish I would pay $3.00 for one that makes me weak in the knees. Maybe one person won't make a difference in keeping a M&P bakery open, but by gum I'm gonna do it, thanks to you. Its worth making a longer or separate trip to get better goods, and to support small business. Thanks for helping open my eyes. I wish I lived down the street from your place. Then again, my plump posterior is thankful that I do not.

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Just found this thread and stayed up an extra half-hour reading it.

Beautiful décor and colors, and the food looks so so good.

Congratulations on kicking serious ass in the bakery, and long may you reign.

tana, i'm very disapointed in you, i thought you had your thumb on the pulse of eG ;-)

tammy emailed me saying i -had- to see this thread on mel and well, that's how i got started on eG, so you now know where to place your blame at :-)

mel;

looks awesome, even this cranky old fool likes what he sees :-D now, lets gets some photos of the kitchen!

Edited by Painting (log)

Isaac Bentley

Without the culinary arts, the crudeness of the world would be unbearable. - Kate & Leopold

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Yay, pictures! Thank you, DuckDuck, for posting them. I've been checking in on this fascinating thread frequently, hoping for some visual updates.

Congrats, Mel, your store looks awesome! I had to slow down the slideshow of these pics, because 3 seconds is not enough time to ogle these beautiful treats.

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