Wishing everyone a wonder summer, no matter where you stay or go!

Coombs Old Country Market is known for their grass roof covered in live goats and a funky market full of imported foods, gifty things, and their massive bakery counter.

Located not too far from me, Coombs is less than ten minutes west of Parksville on the Port Alberni Highway 4 on Vancouver Island. I’ve been a fan of their Bee Sting pastry for some time now – a croissant-style puff pastry roll which has been split in half, stuffed with fresh whipped cream (real, not that edible oil garbage), then covered with a thick layer of freshly-made caramel, drizzled over the top. It’s beyond ridiculous and just as good as it sounds.

A friend visiting Vancouver Island from the prairies recently went to try her first Coombs Market bee sting on the way to Tofino and reported back to me that there was another flavour of Bee Sting: Blueberry and Lemon. I was in the car the next day with a somewhat suspect list of groceries that could only be purchased from Coombs Market as, lets be honest, a weak excuse to get my hands on a new kind of pastry.

When I arrived, to my dismay, there were no Bee Stings, blueberry lemon or caramel, to be seen anywhere in the bakery. Then, like magic, a fresh tray of treats slid into view inside the enormous glass baked goods case, topped with a sign that said “Raspberry Lime Bee Stings”.

Raspberry and lime in pastry sounded as weird as it did delicious and I dove right in. The combination of flavours was perfect – the classic Bee Sting puff pastry roll, split in half and this time stuffed with raspberry whipped cream, flecked with pieces of real raspberry. The lime glaze topping was perfect, smooth and velvety with a zingy lime twang that highlighted the creaminess of the interior. This sweet monstrosity was topped with two perfectly fresh ripe raspberries and a small slice of raspberry crystallized jelly, unintentionally making a tasty little happy face.

There are tons of great reasons to stop in Coombs on your travels around Vancouver Island, but getting your hands on a Coombs Market Bee Sting or another of their decadent desserts should definitely be topping that list.

I’ll be back in line soon enough… I haven’t tried the Blueberry Lemon Bee Sting yet!

Click here for more information about Coombs Old Country Market.

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Since watching Anthony Bourdain eat at the French Laundry on an episode of A Cook’s Tour way back when, I’ve been dying to taste Thomas Keller’s food. I’m saving my appetite and wallet for one of his massive tasting menus at Bouchon sometime in the future, but in the meantime, I thought I’d take advantage of a more affordable way to get a taste of what he’s all about at his Bouchon Bakery in The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.

Along with supplying the baked goods for Keller’s upscale Bouchon Restaurant, the Bouchon Bakery sells a variety of pastries and fancy snacks along with coffee and cappuccinos to Venetian casino patrons (which, although the Venetian is one of nicest casinos on the strip, still seems to be a bit of an odd fit).

On my first visit to the bakery I bought what was marked as a “Cheese Danish” from the Vienoisserie section. The Bouchon Bakery website says  that “Vienoiserie is the name given to a category of baking that includes croissants, milk-bread doughs, and brioche.”

The “Cheese Danish” turned out to be a slab of puff pastry that had been stuffed into a muffin tin, baked within an inch of its life while still allowing for under-baked globs in the centre and topped with an overly sweet twist of cream cheese icing. The pastry was so dry (read dry, not light and flaky) that it exploded into a shower of sharp crumbs with the first bite, leading to an embarrassing episode of sneezing and coughing in the Venetian poker room. Even with the price tag of $4.50, I still didn’t want to finish it.

On my next trip to Vegas I was feeling optimistic. Surely I had purchased a dud pastry at the end of a long wait on the shelf. This is Thomas Keller, after all, one of my food idols. So back to Bouchon Bakery I went again, determined to buy the most delicious sounding pastry in the display case. I settled on a Strawberry Croissant and asked what was in it. The gal behind the counter assured me that it was great, and made with fresh strawberries.

The Strawberry Croissant turned out to be the bottom half of a sliced croissant, once again baked to extreme dryness, so bad that the edges of the pastry were rock hard and inedible, any flakiness long since baked away. The “fresh” strawberries had been baked and had dissolved into an unpleasant pink/grey goo over the accompanying almond paste (at least I hope that’s what is was). The croissant was topped with a mediocre crumb topping that only sucked more moisture out of the gummy filling. Once again, didn’t even finish half.

My love for Thomas Keller and his food philosophies is so strong that I’ll still be waiting for the day to try his full restaurant menu at Bouchon and (dare to dream) someday at The French Laundry.

But knowing what I do about his bakery, I just might skip the bread basket.

Passed through the Mojave Desert during the hottest week on record, then the ancient inland seas of Idaho, through Oregon in the dark, then saw the sun rise over the green valley pastures of Washington, plowed through the rainy mountain tops, then across the border and ferry over the Georgia Strait back to Vancouver Island.

2,147 kilometres, 1,334 miles and a lot of hours behind the wheel… but well worth the trip!

Here’s the route by car:

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