Ravelin Bakery
416 S. Elm St.
Denton, TX 76201
No website, phone: (940) 382-8561
This fine little shop in Denton sells a wide assortment of delicious pastries from buttery croissants, flavorful cakes, to savory pies. TG claims they have the best hot cross buns and they’re certainly not quite a secret anymore after they were awarded a spot on D Magazine’s annual Best Of list.
Make sure to arrive early as my first visit on a saturday afternoon taught me a harsh lesson on how quickly they sell out of baked goodies. For my second trip, I made sure to show up on a friday morning well before the lunch hour. The sweet aromas from the fresh pastries made it very hard to choose where to start.
Their mushroom and swiss croissant was so good that I ate it so fast and forgot to take a picture. Crap. I’ll make it up with some detailed shots of the almond croissant.
Soft, flaky, and oozing with flavor from almonds, semi-sweet chocolate, and one taste I couldn’t quite place that balanced everything out. The owner, Eric Helland, responded that it’s the mascarpone that provides a rich, but not too-sweet flavor. Look closely and it’s visible in the cross-section as a semi-transparent puddinglike coating surrounding this delightful pastry.
The chocolate eclair evenly distributed it’s good points. The chocolate layer on the top was minimal while the pastry cream in the middle was mild, fluffy, and light. However, it could have used a little more cream. The outside crust was not very soggy and the overall construction was neat and compact.
I stopped by Ravelin just before having an outstanding Thai lunch at Andaman, and brought some snacks home to enjoy later. The black and white cookie has two different halves. The darker is a chocolate/caramel combination, and this chewy half is reminiscent of Samoa Girl Scout Cookies. The lighter side is a soft, tender coconut macaroon. The texture and minimal sweetness made for a complete contrast to the other half of the cookie.
I lucked out and picked up the last slice of key lime pie. The meringue topping was light and airy, while the bottom had a nice concentration of lime and had a very subtle graham crust. Although there was a nice balance of flavor, it could have been more tart.
I do realize the oddity of making all these trips to Denton lately, but I’ve saved a pretty good one to conclude this series. One more entry and we’ll be moving along.
Man, I love a good croissant. It sucks that the only easily available croissants are the ones from Costco, and they just ain’t the same.
interesting, the shtuff you picked out. i never would’ve thought to choose the B&W cookie or the pie; appreciated the photo of the eclair.
so few people do croissants well that, when i do come across a place that does them as well as Ravelin does, well then that’s pretty much all i order.
thanks for reminding me that hot cross bun season is about to recur!
looking forward to the final chapter in your denton series. will you do an entry on the Andaman lunch?
Yea what about that Andaman lunch? What all did you have? Is it worth the drive?