Dozen Bake Shop

          I was driving down to the strip the other day to get some sushi and when I got there it was packed and I wasn't wiling to spend $10 to park for a $15 lunch.  I turned around and decided to get something sweet.  I was on my way to Oakmont Bakery, but then I thought about it and realized Dozen was right down the street from where I was at.  I have been wanting to try them for awhile so I figured I would give Dozen Bake Shop a try.              

          When I think of a bakery I envision a large space with tons of cookies, cakes, pies, etc.  When you enter into Dozen you get none of that, I must say I was initially disappointed.  They have a small counter with six varieties of cupcakes, three different cookies and about seven other random small items, very different from Oakmont.  From the poster on the wall it looks like the cupcakes change daily, I was a day late on the red velvet, good thing I would have bought them all.

          I choose three different cupcakes the Elvis, the Margarita and the Salted Caramel.  I also bought a peanut butter cookie but thee isn't a picture because it didn't make it home.  The cookie was huge, it was about five inches wide and about an inch thick.  It was moist but crumbly and had a rich and creamy peanut butter flavor.

         The Elvis cupcake was amazing, it was a banana bread cupcake with a chocolate center and a peanut butter frosting.  The cake was so moist and had a strong banana flavor.  The frosting was as if someone took some peanut butter and whipped it untill it became light and fluffy.  It was perfect, the denseness of the cake and light frosting and what goes better with peanut butter than chocolate.  The chocolate frosting center put this one over the top, this is the perfect breakfast cupcake.

          The Salted Caramel cupcake was my wives favorite, it was a chocolate cupcake with a vanilla frosting and topped off with salted caramel.  The caramel was very salty but it was a great contrast with the very sweet frosting.  The cake was a bit on the dry side but the toppings saved it.

          The Margarita cupcake was different, it was a vanilla cupcake with a tequila frosting, at least that is what the lady at the store told me.  It was very nice looking with the green icing and yellow coarse yellow salt sprinkled on it but all I tasted was vanilla and salt.  The icing didn't do much for me, I was expecting a lime taste or a tequila taste.  The cake was nice and moist but all together this one didn't work for me.

          Will I be back?  If I am down that way and want a cupcake, yes.  The price of a cupcake is 2.50 each and that is the same price as Oakmont and they have more of a choice.  I will say that these taste more homemade not mass made like they are at Oakmont.  This place had wonderful food don't get me wrong but I do like more of a choice when I go out for dessert.  So in the end I didn't get my sushi but I did get a very good dessert.  Dozen has a very good product, and if they get more of a selection I bet they could compete against some of the better know bakeries in the area.

Dozen Bake Shop

3511 Butler St.

Pittsburgh, PA 15201

E2

          Last week I knew I wanted to go out to eat but couldn't figure out where, I wrote down a list of restaurants and told my wife to choose.  I said go online and look at the menus and pick which one looks and sounds the best.  She chose E2 in Highland Park.  When you enter E2 the first thing I noticed was how small it was, good thing we got there right when it opened or we would have been waiting.  The dining room was small, a bit dark and once it was full you had to yell to talk to the person next to you.  I am not complaining just making an observation.  It seemed almost being at home for the holidays with a big family.
          Our waiter came over and told us about their OMG menu, which isn't listed on the website, it includes a bunch of vegetables, cheese and meats that are served with toasted bread.  We got the Gorgonzola mess and some type of meat the waiter told us was like salami but fattier and spicier.  Our waiter was a bit distracted the whole time we were there even though like I said it was small and it wasn't like he had a ton of tables, he didn't ask us if we wanted drinks other than water and when my wife got an iced tea she only got one refill in the hour and twenty minutes we were there.  Our appetizer came out and it was simple, just toasted bread and two plates of the toppings.  The Gorgonzola mess was awesome, it was a soft Gorgonzola cheese mixed with sriracha and basil.  The cheese was salty with a bit of a blue cheese taste, the sriracha was present but not enough to make it overly hot and the basil gave it a nice freshness.  That alone with the bread was enough for the four of us that went out, all for $3.  The meat was just as the waiter said a fatty and a bit spicy salami that was cut paper thin.  It was good but nothing out of this world, the cheese didn't need the meat.
          For our entrees my wife got the linguine pescature and I went very simple with the spaghetti and meatballs.  My wife's dish was amazing, it was linguine mixed with tender bay scallops, some shrimp and crab meat covered in a spicy red sauce.  The sweetness of all the seafood mixed with the spiciness of the sauce paired up very well.  My wife hates spicy and as soon as she said it was spicy I thought she was gonna want to switch dishes, but she loved it.  I chose the spaghetti and meatballs because I heard their red sauce was really good.  It didn't disappoint but it didn't wow me either, the sauce was chunky but smooth enough that it covered everything.  It tasted very fresh and a had a a good use of herbs not to overpower the tomato in the sauce.  The meatballs were tender and juicy.  They were seasoned great, they didn't need the sauce to cover them they could stand on their own and be fine.
          We were all full but my wife wanted dessert, so we got the chocolate pudding.  I am not a chocolate fan but my wife is and she picked the place so we got the dessert she wanted.  I wanted the apple dessert and we saw that right before we left and I can't tell you how it tasted but it looked great.  Our dessert was a bittersweet chocolate pudding with a whipped cream and a cookie on top.  It was good, very strong chocolate taste but the whipped cream was lacking flavor it was almost like whipped air.  The cookie was good it was a crispy chocolate cookie and I know it is a chocolate dessert but I think it may be better with a vanilla cookie just to change up the taste a bit.
          Overall, this place was very good.  With some updates in the dining room and a tweak here and there to the food it could be one of the better small simple restaurants in the city.  Plus with a price tag of $50 for everything it can't be beat.  Maybe I will let the wife choose where we eat more often....but this is the only decision making power I have left.

Overall 7.5 of 10

Food 9 of 10

Service 6 of 10

Price 9 of 10

E2

5904 Bryant St.

Pittsburgh, PA 15206