Old Post 15: Allegro Hearth Bakery

Murray Ave in Squirrel Hill is a bakery jackpot.  In three short blocks, there are 3 bakeries, all offering a different type of sweet treat.  Sweet Tammy's for the kosher folks, Gluuteny for the gluten free and Allegro Hearth Bakery for the bread lover in you.

The Allegro Hearth is primarily a bread bakery.  They have multiple kinds of fresh made bread available everyday- rye loaves, boule, baguettes, etc- as well as a smattering of other baked treats.  

And that's about all there is to say about Allegro Hearth Bakery.  

In all seriousness, they are a very middle-of-the-road kind of institution.  With no website, it's hard to get to know the bakery, understand their full menu, or see what they see themselves as being.  The store itself lacks personality and is quite stoic.

The food is not much different.  While the kalamata olive bread was quite good, nothing else really stood out.  The French baguette was not very...French.  The texture of the crumb and thickness of the crust lent it more to a sourdough baguette. 

On the baked goods side, the lemon square was on the incredibly tart side and had a loose curd.  The blueberry crisp was flavorful, but definitely needed to be heated and served with ice cream to enable a truly enjoyable dessert experience.

One of their more unique items were the cookie cups.  They look like cupcakes, but they are actually made of cookie dough.  The appearance and texture though, are disconnects.  The brain tells you it will be a cupcake that tastes like a chocolate chip cookie, not a chocolate chip cookie shaped like a cupcake.   The problem with a cupcake shaped chocolate chip cookie is that it is incredibly dense and chewy and also very dry.  Not to mention the chocolate icing on top was hard. 

Overall, the Allegro Hearth was an ok bakery.  There just isn't much to it and they aren't putting out any kind of message about themselves for people to learn and respond to.  Stick to the bread and you'll be sure to get a loaf to satisfy your artisan bread craving, but don't expect to be blown away by it's deliciousness.

Allegro Hearth Bakery's Kalamata Olive Loaf on the Sugar Love Scale:

Taste ♥♥♥
Texture ♥♥♥
Appearance ♥♥♥
Overall ♥♥♥

Old Post 7: Delicious bread and more at M. Cibrone & Son's bakery

The borough of Castle Shannon isn't making it easy to get to with construction blocking it's entrance from both directions, but M. Cibrone & Son's Bakery located on the corner of St. Rt. 88 and Grove Rd is worth the park and short hike. Its sign would leave you to believe that it's just a bread bakery, but Cibrone's is actually a full little Italian grocery store.

They have a section of homemade frozen Italian dinners, pasta, olive oil, etc., plus a meat, cheese, and deli counter. But the intense aroma of freshly baked bread gives the store away. It's a bread bakery. In many ways, the smell is reminiscent of the French Boulangeries right after they finish a fresh batch of baguettes or artisan breads, but it has a hint of something sweeter too.

Cibrone's bakery section is full service. They have cakes, cookies, pastries, and doughnuts as well as sweet loaves of bread. The helpful and friendly staff can answer any type of question you have about the baked goods and they don't hesitate to share their opinions.

They'd recommend any of their breads, but especially their pepperoni roll with cheese. Who can argue with a pepperoni roll with cheese?

One loaf of Italian bread (they'll even slice it for you in the store) and a pepperoni roll later, it was hard to wait the 5 minutes to get home to taste it. The Italian loaf is wonderful. Its crispy crust with a soft crumb goes oh so well with butter, jam, lunchmeats or cheeses. Or you could just eat it plain. It's great that way too.

The pepperoni roll with cheese is even better. The pepperoni sneaks up on you. The first bite in isn't bursting with cheese and pepperoni, just crusty Italian bread and then it hits you. Spicy and sweet all at the same time and complemented by the food of all food, cheese.

Typically, the Sugar Love scale would only rate those things that make your sugary cravings go off the charts wild, but today Sugar Love is going to dedicate some of it's taste buds to bread, the first baked good.

M. Cibrone and Son's Pepperoni Roll with Cheese on the Sugar Love Scale

Taste ♥♥♥♥
Texture ♥♥♥♥♥
Appearance ♥♥♥♥
Overall ♥♥♥♥

4 ♥’s out of 5!