Chocolate croissant and monkey bread from the Wedge

I stayed home sick today and decided to venture a couple blocks away to the Wedge to buy ingredients for lemon lentil spinach soup. As always happens, I ended up with more than was on my list.

I stood in front of the sweets case at the deli for about five minutes, but none of that stuff looked appealing to me. I don't know why, but that happens every time I go to the Wedge. Maybe I'm afraid that everything is too sweet. Maybe all of it just seems too decadent. Eventually, I want to try one of their cupcakes to see if they're not horrible, but I don't have high hopes. It seems like all bakery cupcakes are horrible.

Anyway, I headed toward the registers by passing the bread area and was unable to resist a chocolate croissant and a monkey bread. I fought with myself about it for about three minutes.

The chocolate croissant was really good. Light, crispy texture without being dry; buttery flavor to the pastry; rich, not-too-sweet, smooth chocolate. I should do a head-to-head of chocolate croissants in the area to be sure, but I think this is my favorite one.

The monkey bread was much better than I expected it to be. It was perfect. The size of the pull-off pieces was just right (about half a tablespoon), and nearly every piece had a mixture of textures—tender interior, slightly chewy/crispy exterior where the sugars caramelized. The dough was buttery without being greasy, until I got to the pool of butter in the bottom of the cupcake liner. It was sweet and cinnamon-y in a delicate way. It will be a serious challenge not to buy one of these every time I'm at the Wedge. I almost want to walk over and get another one right now.

I asked a woman working behind the deli counter if they bake everything there, and she said yes. I asked if they bake overnight, and she said no, they simply have a super-efficient crew of bakers who start at 4:00 a.m. I think I'll write to them to see if I could either work part-time or volunteer 4:00–8:00 a.m. a couple mornings a week.