As Good as Instanbul

It takes a lot to get me somewhere by 11:00 on a Saturday morning.

A new bakery can do it.

WPA (Well-Made Pastry Alliance) Bakery in Church Hill was doing their trial run for coffee and pastries, so I joined the detoured throngs trying to wind their way around the marathon.

What felt like hours later (damn marathoners!), I finally got up to the hill.

I'd been in the space before when it was House of Homemades. but it's far more charming now that baker David will be beating and folding there.

Ipanema and Garnett's have long been my go-to dessert spots thanks to David's oven magic.

And now he has his own place so I can get his goodies all day, every day.

A bakery case greets you when you walk in and the wall is lined with tables and chairs.

There's a rolling pin rack on the back wall.

A red chandelier hangs over the counter and WPA-era posters abound.

Some are reproductions - "Eat fruit, Be healthy!" and some had been re-imagined by baker and artist David - "Save Your Eyes, Use Your Pie Goggles."

My favorite? "Simplicity is the key to successful living."

Spread out for the public to taste were an array of David's baked goodies.

I had the blackberry muffins full of plump berries and the sticky buns, notable in that they were not disgustingly sweet like so many sticky buns are.

The buttermilk pie with blueberry sauce came highly recommended from a neighborhood guy who chatted me up.

"This reminds me of the pastries I had in Istanbul," he shared as he ate.

Clearly I looked like someone who likes discussing foreign pastry.

"There are bakeries on every block in Istanbul," he continued. "When I was there, I ate pastries five times a day. I gained twelve pounds in a week and a half. Turkish bakeries are the best. You could go there just for the pastry and ignore what a cosmopolitan city it is."

It's satisfying to know that I can be recognized by a stranger for the pastry lover that I am.

Even better, to get reinforcement that my simple life is what makes me successful.

At least that's how I feel when I have my pie goggles on.