Carlo’s bakery for those of you who don’t know is located in Hoboken NJ and is the subject of a reality show called “The Cake Boss” on TLC. Carlo’s Bakery is run by Buddy Valastro and his family. Buddy is a fourth generation accomplished baker as well as a master baker and cake decorator, so to say that he knows something about baking is an understatement.
Carlo’s Bakery has been in the same location since 1920 and brings patrons from all over. While standing in line I heard one woman say she was from Texas and another say she was from California.
We went right before Thanksgiving (as part of our trip to meet Rachael Ray) and as you can see there was quite a line outside.
We walked up to what we thought was the end of the line and was asked by someone else who was waiting if we were there to go to the bakery. We said yes. She pointed behind her and across the street. “There’s the line.” she said. The line was almost 2 blocks long. But there were bakery employees outside making sure that the line was orderly and moved as quickly as possible. We were probably in line for 45 minutes, and even though it was New Jersey in November it actually wasn’t that bad outside.
Once we got to the front door we were given a number and then we made it inside the bakery. The scent inside was heavenly – like sugar but not overpowering.
The bakery was crowded with people waiting for their number to be called and other people ordering. Behind the counters employees scurried back and forth — filling orders as quickly as they could from people wanting cookies, cupcakes, cakes and holiday pies. I wasn’t really sure what to order so I’m glad that we actually had some time before our number was called, giving me a chance to look at all the pastries, cakes and cookies available. I had a request for cannolis from my daughter and cookies from my son, so we settled on 2 pounds of cookies, 12 cannolis, 4 lobster tails (which are pastries that look like a lobster tail but are filled with the most luscious cream) and a Happy Thanksgiving chocolate, chocolate cake.
In my humble opinion Carlo’s Bakery is not cheap – everything we bought came close to $100. But the quality is superb and everything was beyond delicious!! I wanted the whole experience and even though we were a couple hours from home everything made it back just fine. That is until we actually got it back and the pastries and cookies started to disappear. I remembered a tip from the man we met in line at the book signing — if you put the pastries or cookies in a ziploc bag, then into a plastic container they will last up to 2 weeks. That is if no one gets to them first!
I really enjoyed the lobster tail. It reminded me of a pastry we used to get in St. Louis called a cream horn, but this pastry was a lot bigger and the pastry itself was a lot lighter.
The cookies were buttery and melt in your mouth good! Not sure how many adjectives I can come up with to describe the deliciousness of all the products we got at Carlo’s.
Was t worth the trip? Well we were nearby anyway –but YES! Would I go back? Most definitely, even if its just to go the bakery and no other reason.
So the next time you go on a day trip or even just take someone to the airport, why not try a new restaurant, bakery or other point of interest? And if you do you might want to invest in a GPS! Lastly, I’d like to apologize for the quality of these photos. They were taken with my phone and well…..it takes crappy pics.
