LITTLE ROCK — The Hillcrest neighborhood has a new family bakery, Rosalia’s, adjacent to Cafe Bossa Nova.
Oh, you picked up on some sarcasm? I only mean Rosalia’s serves up fresh breads and treats more fabulous than any family I’ve ever known. I suppose “family” is meant to ward away seedy truckers looking for the Triple X bakery off the interstate.
The expansion of the Cafe Bossa Nova empire will be as welcome in Hillcrest as British hegemony was in Hong Kong, back in the day. The neighborhood doesn’t have anything like it, and it deserves the bakery cafe, and Rosalia’s deserves Hillcrest.
The bakery is bright, warm and open inside, a confluence of ambient elements that is really rather hard to pull off. A sofa and some small cafe tables crowd one side of the shop. With free Wi-Fi and Fair Trade Dean’s Beans coffee ($1.50 small, $2.50 large) brewed nearly as dark and rich as the chain place - and, of course, treats far superior than the competitor’s air-dropped mini-doughnuts and scones - Rosalia’s may eventually be a favored nonalcoholic weekend hang.
Here’s some of the stuff we tried:
Sonho (pronounced “soanyo”) dulce con leche ($2.75). This may be the crown jewel of the sweet tooth crowd, a kind of round doughnut halved and filled with a soft caramel filling and rolled in granulated sugar.
Croissant ($1.75). A big, flavorful, chewy thing that Home Style editor Marcia Schnedler swears “could hold its own against croissants in Paris.”
Sweet yeast bread with custard and walnut ($6.75). Chewy, not too crumbly, andnot sweet throughout. More bread than coffee cake.
Pao zinho rolls (75 cents). Praise for standard French bread can only go so far. In that case, “so far.”
Coconut clove candy ($1). A gritty, soft candy ball that is thankfully more sweet and creamy than clove-y. Must try.
Peanut candy with cashew ($1). Closer to peanut brittle than peanut butter, this one tasted unpleasantly like something my great grandmother might have had around the house.
Baked blueberry custard pie ($2.75). Very smooth and gelatinous, like dense flan; plump blueberries, surprisingly unsweet. May I suggest a caramelized sugar cap, or would this defile it?
“Not too sweet” is a common assessment of many of the desserts at Cafe Bossa Nova, and people appreciate it.
We are, after all, a people pickled in pure cane sugar.
Rosalia’s offers challah bread Fridays, and birthday and wedding cakes to order.
Rosalia’s Family Bakery Address: 2701 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock Cuisine: Breads and desserts Hours: 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday Credit cards: AE, D, V, MC Alcoholic beverages: No Wheelchair accessible: Yes Carryout: Yes (501) 319-7035
Weekend, Pages 38 on 01/20/2011