The Blue Door Cafe & Bakery (Facebook)
1970 State Rd. (map it!)
Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223
(330) 926-9774
Open Wed-Sun, 7a-3p
Accepts cash & credit/debit
Vegetarian/vegan/gluten free? Y/N/N
Visited: Friday, May 16, 2014 at 11:00 a.m.
Thanks to my friend Tom over at Exploring Food My Way, I’ve been hearing a lot about Blue Door Cafe & Bakery over the years. Because of Tom, my Facebook feed is regularly filled with photos of French toast, croissants, and benedicts. It’s a beautiful thing. And finally we got to experience it firsthand. On the road for a weekend trip, my family and I stopped in Cuyahoga Falls to track down the Blue Door. And find it we did: a one-story gray, nondescript little building with a jam-packed parking lot and, yes, a bright blue door.
As the full parking lot hinted, the inside was busy with customers in line for the bakery or waiting for tables in the cafe. We were seated pretty quickly at a table near the door (which got breezy on a surprisingly chilly May day).
The menu features the blue door again, with the cafe’s mission statement straight up front.
I’ve learned from watching Tom’s photo feed that Blue Door is true to the “ever-changing” tenet. The kitchen likes to experiment with specials and ingredients. This is usually a good and bad for regular diners: the downside is that you’re conflicted between choosing your old favorites and the daily specials; the upside is that you can always find something new to try at your old haunt.
We worked our way through some specials and some regular items. From the specials menu we started with a refreshing Blueberry & Basil Lemonade, balanced nicely between sweet, tart, and slightly herbal. It contains all the title ingredients, plus a hint of vanilla.
Since the bakery element is clearly a stand-out, we made a couple passes at the beautifully stocked shelves and sampled a two items.
It’s hard for me to ever pass up a donut, especially when it also has the word “brioche” in the title.
So we gladly welcomed a custard-filled brioche donut to the table, and proceeded to decimate it. It was perfectly soft, full of custard, and generously dusted with powdered sugar – all without being two sweet. That’s the mark of a good donut: it’s not just a sugar bomb, but it balances the sweetness with other flavors.
We’ve also heard tell of the croissants, and our server recommended a ham and cheese croissant.
The croissant was stellar: golden and flaky, with just the right amount of ham and cheese inside.
By then breakfast began arriving. We began with the corned beef hash with two eggs and a choice of breads from the bakery. The potatoes were thoroughly cooked and mixed with a generous helping of a very smoky brisket. The brisket was very tender, although its smokiness tended to overwhelm the entire dish.
The eggs are cooked to order, and for that day they were willing to poach them; they were served separately in a little cup, and unfortunately were a little vinegary. They were poached properly, but I think the bottom one sat in the cup a little longer and cooked through more.
We chose the English muffin (homemade, of course) as our bread. It was large and dense – very different than store bought Thomas’ muffins – and topped with a tart blueberry jam (made in house).
We also picked the Monte Cristo, in order to taste their fabled French toast in action.
As far Monte Cristos go, it hit the mark. It was filled with the usual suspects, sandwiched between two (maybe a little too) giant but soft and custardy pieces of French toast. It used some of the same ingredients as the ham and cheese croissant, and came with a side of house-made potato chips.
The real stand-out was the blueberry pancakes, which were up there with some of the best I’ve had. They’re made with yogurt, which results in flapjacks that are big, fluffy, and browned nicely. Topped with Creme Chantilly (a fancy term for lightly sweetened, real whipped cream), fresh blueberries, and Ohio maple syrup, it’s really hard to beat.
During our meal, owner Michael Bruno stopped over to say hi. He answered our questions and chatted about some of their baked goods. On our way out, we picked up some bakery items to go. Michael recommended their brownies (which were dense and fudgy); we also bought another brioche donut and the last ham and cheese croissant. On the recommendation of the server at the counter, we purchased a pair of moist almond cupcakes. All of them were winners; we had to hide them from the kids so they weren’t devoured immediately.
Consensus? Blue Door is clearly a gem in the Akron-area dining scene. As if I didn’t know that from Tom’s posts and pictures already, just the reaction on social media as I posted photos on Facebook or Instagram (/subliminal message) confirmed it. Pretty much anyone who is from the area or travels there regularly is familiar with the cafe and bakery. Blue Door is a popular hangout and a destination. The sincerely and lovingly made food is reason enough to visit, on top of an adventurous rotating menu, a mission of supporting local and responsibly made products, and the genuine enthusiasm of the owner and employees.
