Out to Eat: Queen City Bakery
A quaint bakery-café tucked in between the brick buildings of Sioux Falls downtown off of 8th street is the perfect place for a sweet baked good paired with a hot and creamy latte. Queen City Bakery’s smooth and rich coffee will keep you awake to enjoy a taste of their scrumptious pastries.
Early in the morning on Friday the 26th, my friends and I decided to have a chat over some coffee and breakfast.
The interior of the café immediately pulled me in with the warm wooden furniture, plants galore and the sheer amount of windows that illuminated the whole café. The rustic brick walls and a large ornate chandelier hanging in the middle of the room added to the natural ambience. The back of the café included a large window that looked into the baking area, allowing customers to see the pastries being made.
We found a table and then took a look at the wide display of goodies at the front checkout. Ranging from quiches to cookies, my friends and I had a hard time choosing what confections we wanted to stuff our face with.
I decided on a spinach bacon swiss quiche, a ginger molasses cookie and a hot brown butter latte. One of my friends chose a bagel bomb, a rounded bagel stuffed with strawberry cream cheese, and an iced cookie butter latte. The other an apple cider donut muffin and an iced brown butter latte.
The café’s pricing is comparable to other coffee shops and bakeries in the Sioux Falls area. My quiche cost $7.50, while the baked goods cost either $3 or $3.50 and our 16oz lattes were around $7.
After putting in our orders, we went back to our table with our baked goods that we were handed right away. Our lattes and my quiche were brought to our table not too long after.
We all tried each pastry together, starting with the bagel bomb that intrigued all of us when we first saw it. Upon ripping open the sugar-covered bagel, we were expecting a glob of cream cheese but were met with a miniscule amount. The bread was soft and pillowy, and the strawberry cream cheese added a bit of a fresh flavor to the mix. After a few more bites, the cream cheese thankfully became more abundant.
Moving onto the apple cider donut muffin, the crispy crust covered in cinnamon and sugar provided a lovely appearance. The slightly crunchy outside complimented the doughy inside of the muffin. It could have benefited from a bit more of the apple cider flavor, but it was still yummy overall.
Next up was the ginger molasses cookie. Its appearance was also beautiful with a sprinkling of crusted sugar on the top. The cookie was a bit more crunchier than I was hoping for, but the very center had a good balance between crispy and soft. We each had a bite that tasted a bit too much like ginger for our liking though. Other than that, we scarfed down the cookie.
After a couple of bites, we all sipped on our lattes. The iced cookie butter one had some strange clumps that formed, but for the most part had a creamy feel and buttery taste.
My hot brown butter latte was divine. The saltiness of the butter flavor paired well with the slight bitterness of the espresso. We all agreed that the drink tasted better hot compared to my friend’s latte that she ordered iced. I slurped it down and enjoyed every last drop.
Finally, the highlight of the outing was the spinach bacon swiss quiche. The creamy eggs mixed with bits of bacon and pieces of spinach was heavenly. I had only had a quiche once before, while this was the first time for my friends. We all devoured the creamy goodness.
After sitting over empty plates and mugs for a while, we all agreed that this place was going to be a staple for our coffee shop meet ups. Their extensive list of fun-flavored coffees and matchas are going to keep us coming back for more.
