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09/27/2018 12:00 AMOne, two, three go! We hear customers are raving about fab desserts from three shoreline bakeries: Cheri's Bakery (Branford), Meriano's Bake Shoppe (Madison), and Pursuit of Pastry (Old Saybrook). Check out what their owners have to say about shop favorites; then go and check them out for yourself!
Cheri's Bakery
267 East Main Street
Branford
www.cherisbakery.com
203-488-1755
Opened in 1998, Cheri's Bakery is a go-to shoreline favorite for folks looking for the variety and tastes of an old-fashioned bakery. The family owned and operated bakery offers freshly made cakes, donuts, Danish, cookies, pies and many other baked goods. The fresh donuts are a big draw, but it's Cheri's authentic Italian pastries that have built their reputation over the past 20 years, says owner Pat Gargano Sr.
"Italian pastries are our number one item," says Gargano. "We like to think people come for our Danish and stayed for our Italian pastries."
Gargano met his wife, Cheri, when the two were working in a bakery together. Today, the couple operates the shop with their son, Patrick Gargano Jr. You could say baking is in their DNA.
"It's in our blood," says Gargano, who loves providing customers with the many traditional treats they come looking for. "We're probably the last old-fashioned bakery in the area."
Meriano's Bake Shoppe
200 Boston Post Road
Madison
www.cannolitruck.com
203-779-5812
Celebrating 30 years (1988 -2018), Meriano's is a full-line bakery specializing in Italian pastries and offering handmade baked breakfast goods, breads, cookies, cupcakes, pies, and special occasion cakes. But when it comes to standing out, Meriano's has a trio of items that take the cake, says second generation co-owner Andrea Meriano.
"The cannolis and our cakes and our cookies are the reason people keep coming back, for sure," says Meriano, adding fans are also following the bakery's mouth-watering Cannoli Truck on Twitter (@cannolitruck) to catch their favorite flavor on the fly.
"The cannolis are hand-filled, and we have several different flavors that you really can't find anywhere else," says Meriano. "My personal favorite is the peanut butter cannolis. But the Italian cream cakes are my favorite cakes."
Check out Meriano's website for special updates as the family celebrates the shoppe's 30th anniversary year.
Pursuit of Pastry
709 Boston Post Road
(Elm Street Shopping Center)
Old Saybrook
www.pursuitofpastry.com
860-391-8687
As a bakery that's home to creative souls who "live for pastry," Pursuit of Pastry is a full-service bakery in Old Saybrook where pastry is paramount. The pastry menu pulls customers in for both simple breakfast pastries and elaborate desserts. So what's the hands-down top seller when it comes to something sweet? The individual chocolate mousse bombe continues to be a local favorite, says owner Jill Peterson.
Running a close second: Pursuit of Pastry's hand-made, baked donuts. They may start out as what Peterson describes as "...an unassuming little blob of dough," but the end result is a baked delight of a donut that's dipped
in butter fresh out of the oven and rolled in cinnamon.
The shop's variety of delicious breads are also a daily draw, says Peterson. "People really like our salted
baguettes," she adds. "They're made from scratch daily. Everything we make is made in-house, from scratch, fresh
daily."