Downtown Minneapolis’s Angel Food Bakery is the alter ego of Hell’s Kitchen, which lurks just below it in subterranean digs. In contrast to Hell’s gothic red-and-black lair, Angel is white, airy, and chandelier-sparkly: bakery as boutique.
Hell’s head pastry chef, Katy Gerdes, daughter of Hell’s co-owner Cynthia Gerdes, oversees the new operation, baking the restaurant’s famous bison sausage bread and caramel-pecan rolls, plus her own cakes, pastries, and loaves. In terms of staples, the multi-grain bread outshines the croissants, which lack differentiation between the crisp, flaky crust and the buttery, elastic center. (They’re better as scraps, repurposed by Angel Food into cute little cinnamon-frosting pull-aparts called Gooey Babies.)
Angel Food is a good source for coworker-pleasing treats—those with vegan or gluten-free diets will be pleasantly surprised by the options, especially the oatmeal-blueberry cookies
QUICK BITE: Angel Food excels in marrying sweet with savory, like these sophisticated cupcakes. In this baklava-inspired beauty, honey cake is saturated with honey milk, tres leches–style, then topped with tangy cream-cheese-yogurt frosting, roasted pistachios, and a phyllo shard. The Canadian is a fabulous breakfast-as-dessert of maple-buttermilk cake, maple buttercream, and spiced-candied bacon. Naturally, anything Devil’s Food is heavenly.
86 S. Ninth St., Mpls., 612-238-1435, angelfoodmn.com
