The Perfect Crumb

Pastries are a food where texture is everything. Taste is important too, of course. But when it comes to the science and art of baking pies, cakes, croissants, breads or cookies, texture is taste, perhaps more so than any other type of cooking. That’s what bakers and pastry chefs mean when they talk about “the crumb.” When it’s right, we just call it mmmmm good.

There’s a new bakery in Monterey called The Perfect Crumb, where owner and pastry chef Susan Carter dons her apron each morning and works hard to live up to that name. After four visits to her homey, cheerful, tastefully decorated, sweet-smelling and ultra-clean bakery, I can say she’s nailed it.

Among her creations, the first I tasted was the key lime pie ($6), one of my favorites. Its filling tastes delightfully creamy, tangy and not too sweet; under that comes a graham cracker crust that tastes like toffee but crumbles (instead of breaking) when you bite in. Carter tells me one of her regulars buys it just to eat the crust. The key lime pies come in very generously sized (5-inch diameter) single servings, topped with squiggles of whipped cream and artfully decorated with lime zest, adding some extra citrusy zing. When key lime pie is on a menu I usually can’t resist. If there’s a better one out there I’d like to know where it’s hiding.

My wife, not a fan of sweet dessert foods, ordered the almond croissant ($3.25). I love a good almond croissant and this one was – very good, really – and I liked that it had a puffy but firm, uniformly browned and flaky almond-embedded crust. Inside was an almond, rum and butter spread, adding moistness but not so much that the croissant flops around like dishrag. Instead it’s delightfully airy and delicate, yet firm.

Another day at lunchtime I tried the spinach and feta quiche ($6). It features a fluffy egg and spinach filling, dotted with feta cheese crumbles, inside a flaky, melt-in-your-mouth pie crust – a four-part harmony of flavors. Carter says the crusts are slightly baked before filling to avoid sogginess.

For dessert I tried the coffee cake ($3), one of Carter’s proudest offerings. Understandable because it had a precise combination of airiness and moistness and just enough sweetness from the judicious touch of sugar and cinnamon crumble on top.

There are a few other non-sweet selections, like panini sandwiches, coming soon. One was the savory bread pudding – choice of bacon and cheddar or the three-cheese one with Gouda, cheddar and Parmesan ($5 either way). It was of gourmet-level and pretty filling, but I still had a hankering for the breakfast sandwich ($9, $7 without bacon), so I went for it. It’s a stack of scrambled egg, bacon, cheddar cheese and hash brown potato nested between two house-made biscuit halves. Sensational. One improvement would be to cut the bottom thicker to better support all those high-quality ingredients. Eaten by hand or fork, it’s great either way.

Before achieving the dream of opening her first storefront bakery March 13, Carter had built a solid following over the past two years at local and not-so-local farmers markets, including Pacific Grove, Monterey and more distant ones like San Leandro and Los Altos. She also sells at festivals and bakes for parties and special events. When I commented on how exhausting it all sounded, she replied that she’s got a great staff without which it wouldn’t be possible. Included among them are her daughter Caitlin, a culinary school graduate of the Art Institutes International in Kansas City, who shares the baking chores. Her son Garrett often works the front of the store and pitches in whenever and however he’s needed. Instrumental in the farmers market part of the business is Joseph Aguilar, a loyal employee who also takes care of sales and promotion.

Baking seemed to be in Carter’s future since the age of 5, when she got her first E-Z Bake Oven. She says her grandma was a great baker who used let her help and that’s where her love for baking was born. During her years as a mother and day-care operator, she continued to hone her skills making cakes and cookies for the kids. All the ravings about her chocolate chip cookies, snicker doodles and cakes stoked her passion and fueled her dream to one day open her own bakery. Local pastry lovers are lucky she did.

Finally, on my last visit, I took home the five for $8 cookie deal, choosing the chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, peanut butter, ginger and oatmeal. Each has a buttery and supremely satisfying suppleness. Have a glass of milk or a cup of coffee with any one of them but for God’s sake do not dunk! It would be sacrilege. A slice of coconut cream pie ($5), probably my all-time favorite, was simply the best I’ve ever had.

Carter is a hands-on owner who manages with firmness and a sweet disposition. Her hard work, business sense, extraordinary baking skills, pursuit of perfection and love for people are ingredients that are making The Perfect Crumb a success already.

THE PERFECT CRUMB 301 Lighthouse Ave., Monterey. 6am-6pm Tue-Fri; 6am-4pm and 6-9pm Sat; 6am-4pm Sun. 241-6269, www.theperfectcrumbbakery.com