Miss Molly’s feeds your inner cookie monster
What could be better than a bakery? I’ll tell you: a bakery with a fireplace, considering the winter we’ve had.
I wouldn’t say the fireplace at Miss Molly’s Cafe & Pastry Shop at 92nd and Center is the star — that designation belongs to the baked goods — but imagine heading to the cushy furniture with a coffee or tea in one hand and, say, a hazelnut cookie in the other.
That hazelnut cookie ($1.50) is about half the size of the other cookies, but boy, is it a rich little number, packing in flavor through ground hazelnuts.
Proprietor Molly Sullivan created fancy desserts for fine-dining restaurants before opening her own place; she made a strawberry entremet, or layered cake, at Braise that haunts my dreams. Now, she crafts desserts and sweets for everyday, like salted chocolate chip cookies ($2).
The pastry case is the first thing you’ll see at Miss Molly’s (unless there’s a line, as I saw one Saturday when there was a family activity at Christ King Parish across the street).
First, the refrigerator case. That’s where the incredible caramel tartlet lives ($5), glazed with a layer of chocolate, alongside other treats like cupcakes in a couple of flavors ($3), the frosting looking a like a rose
To the right, more bakery. (Perfectly proper name for both the place and the sweets, as any Milwaukeean knows. “Do you buy groced goods at the grocery store?” I once asked a friend from Illinois who argued that a bakery sells “baked goods.”)
It’s a beautiful display: Cake stands hold a moist olive oil Bundt cake, split and filled with strawberry jam ($2.50 a slice), and a British Bakewell tart, ground-almond batter in a buttery crust, lined with raspberry jam ($3 a slice). There are the cookies, often four kinds; breakfasty muffins, such as carrot with caramelized oatmeal topping ($2.50); and sturdy scones with tender interiors, including a great currant scone scented with clove.
Sullivan picks another unexpected and wonderful flavor for her big squares of shortbread, shot through with a bit of cornmeal: Earl Grey tea with citrus ($1.50).
The cases are a little fuller on the weekends, with offerings such as macarons ($1.50), and some desserts change with the seasons.
For sipping with your treats, the cafe serves a full lineup of espresso drinks and light- and dark-roast batch-brewed coffee, as well as teas and other beverages including kombucha (beer and wine, too, and on the weekends, mimosas).
Like other modern bakeries, Miss Molly’s sells breakfast and lunch dishes, a smart move that keeps people visiting all day.
The brief, wholesome menu takes the right tone for light daytime meals. At breakfast, the house granola is spiked with bits of candied ginger and almonds, and served with thick, honeydrizzled yogurt and fresh fruit ($8). One of the panini holds a free-flowing egg with chicken sausage, gouda, spinach and apple-cider mayo between slices of golden-brown sourdough bread.
It’s smart to offer vegan and glutenfree items, too, like the ancient-grains bowl ($9, or $9.50 with egg), but the current offering was lopsided, decidedly more quinoa than roasted vegetables.
A couple of distinctive small plates on the lunch menu by chef Cassie Hersh are especially good: the smoked-walleye toast, with caper remoulade and brussels sprouts slaw ($11) that’s served with a green salad; and tender rabbit confit ($11), with olives and herbs.
There are more panini and big salads, too, including one with kale, roasted squash and candied pumpkin seeds in cranberry vinaigrette ($10).
Get those lunch dishes while you can; seasonal changes come to the menu Jan. 16. Diners then will find a few more breakfast items, Sullivan said, including a gluten-free crisped polenta cake with poached eggs and sautéed mushrooms, and new lunch dishes including white bean and chicken cassoulet, mushroom grilled cheese sandwich and a roasted root-vegetable sandwich that’s vegan. Watch for weekday lunch specials, too.
When they’re finished eating, diners clear their own tables and find that most of what’s left goes in either compost or recycling bins; little goes into the trash.
Miss Molly’s has its charms, not even counting that fireplace. Big windows drench the cafe in natural light even on overcast days. The cafe has a good number of tables, but it’s a popular place and full or close to it at peak times. I’ve seen customers walk in, see that every table is occupied, and walk out again. Persist! By the time you’ve ordered at the counter and the food is ready, seats are likely to open up, or so I’ve found.
This is the perfect spot for Miss Molly’s, this storefront that previously was home to Vietnamese and Thai restaurants. The surrounding Wauwatosa and Milwaukee neighborhoods are light on local restaurants but filled with customers clearly hungry for a gathering place. And cookies and panini.
Look for Carol Deptolla’s restaurant news column, Side Dish, in Friday’s Weekend Tap section. Contact her at (414) 224-2841, carol.deptolla@jrn.com or on Twitter, @mkediner.