Eva's Bakery: A Boulangerie!

Boulangerie: A bakery or a place where bread is sold (noun). Chef & Owner Charlie Perry invited some food writers down for a media opening of his bakery. He has operated Eva, a small restaurant located right down the street for a couple years now.

Even if you don't have the address, you will find it as long as you are on the same block. Eva's Bakery likely glows in the dark with it's bright blue exterior. It truly is a treat to the eye. Inside, there are many treats for the mouth; too many to count. They serve breakfast items, salads, lunch specialties and soups. I look forward to coming back and trying all of these. How can you turn down Carbonara Mac & Cheese, especially when the cheese is Gruyere. On this day, we were here for pastries & bread. It was carbo loading time.

Charlie wanted be a Chef since he was 7, after spending ample time with his great-grandmother. She was a fabulous cook and passed on her enthusiasm. They are from Logan and run Central Milling, the oldest operating business in Utah. The milling operation is the largest & best organic flour producer in the United States. Providing the best organic flour helped them develop relationships with restaurants and high-end bakeries in San Francisco and Seattle.

Some partners in Utah ultimately brought him back to his roots to open Eva's. With the success of Eva's Restaurant, it was time to bring a new concept to Salt Lake: an fancy, artisan style Boulangerie which brings the style of french life right to the rocky mountains.

Along with Pastry Chef Alisa Watson and Baker Ryan Moore, Charlie wanted to give Salt Lake what Boulangeries brought San Francisco: artisan style breads & pastries that it would appreciate. These high end bakeries gave people the french style of life where you pick up a croissant or pastry in the morning and a baguette on your way home in the evening.

The Specialty of Eva's Bakery are the Baker's Pies and they are selling like crazy. We had the pleasure of tasting many great pastries & breads: Goat Cheesecakes, Maple Bar Eclairs, Tangerine Bars, Grasshopper Macaroons, Hazelnut Dacquoise, Cannele Bourdelais, Mountain Bread, Ciabatta, Sourdough, Karimata Olive Loaf, Brioche and Bread Pudding.

The Cannele Bourdelais has beeswax & butter on the outside. The Bread Pudding has scallions, tomato and Gruyere in the batter. The Sourdough takes 36 hours to make and is a little sweeter than a San Francisco sourdough would be so that it may appeal to all palates. Their Mountain Bread could be referred to as the house bread. It includes bran, white flour and was made quite by accident. Seems like some of the best things in life are viewed as accidents in the beginning.

Whether you are coming for lunch, breakfast, to load up on pastries or all the above, you will find many things that you like.

Eva's Bakery

155 South Main Street

Salt Lake City, Utah, 84111

Happy Eating