Craft Gourmet Bakery is a relatively new Pensacola small business, and yet it has already gained a lot of traction for its fresh, gourmet-style baked goods. That isn’t an understatement as Cafe Gourmet Bakery has now won the regional award of Best of the Coast for three years in a row — 2019, 2020, and 2021 — and may very well take home the award again this year. The business also was a finalist in Pensacola News Journal’s Best of the Bay awards in 2021. In short, there’s been a lot of official raving about this local bakery, the question is it a place you might want to check out during your vacation in the Florida Panhandle?
You will find Craft Gourmet Bakery in the center of the Davis Tower strip plaza in Pensacola’s Crestview neighborhood on N. Davis Highway. This food business describes itself foremost as a bakery, but they are also equipped with an espresso machine and have a nice dessert and gelato bar; the combination of which makes them more of a fully-fledged cafe. However, seating inside is limited with a more open general area and tables with chairs lined up down two sides with high-top chairs cued up at a bar area just in front of the espresso machine. Several display cases showcase various products, with one dedicated to the cold gelato, but most food products are kept in the back until ordered.
The “gourmet” in Craft Gourmet Bakery cannot be emphasized enough. This establishment is owned and operated by professional Chef Jordan Hewes. Opening up a baker was a lifelong dream fulfilled for Hewes whose passion for baking started under the tutelage of her grandmother who emphasized perfection in the kitchen and was famous for decadent pies. It’s this focus on perfect ingredients, perfect baking processes, and perfect presentation that has propelled the bakery to such heights within just a few short years. Perfection, however, does come at a price and be forewarned that you will find the prices here a tad higher than what you will find at other Pensacola bakeries and similar establishments.
Of course, you don’t have to visit Craft Gourmet Bakery’s own retail establishment to get a taste of their fabulous goods. As you wander throughout Pensacola, enjoying its many other fantastic dining establishments, you are apt to see their name scrawled out many local menus. Around 20 Pensacola fine dining eating and retail establishments order this bakery’s products wholesale for use in their own culinary creations. For example, 86 Forks Bar + Table utilizes Craft Gourmet Bakery’s milk buns for their Banh Mi Pork Sliders and other popular menu items.
If you do choose to visit Craft Gourmet Bakery itself to enjoy their fresh baked goods and desserts straight from the oven, consider ordering among the following popular menu items:
Stuffed Croissants
The croissants at Craft Gourmet Bakery are soft yet nice and flaky that packs a significant punch of flavor. You can order a classic croissant with a nice buttered topping, but why not go for one stuffed with sweet deliciousness? The Pain au Chocolate and Almond Savory Croissants both make for an excellent morning treat.
Olive Rustic Sourdough
Craft Gourmet Bakery has a long list of baked bread that they regularly make every morning, but among the most popular are their sourdoughs and of the sourdoughs, the Olive Rustic Sourdough is a perennial hit.
This bakery also offers catering and custom weddings and other cakes for those needing something extra special for a big event.
Insider Tip:
The bakers and chefs at Craft Gourmet Bakery are open and welcoming to experimenting with new recipes. If you have a specialty bread or pastry that you maybe had somewhere else or saw a recipe for in a long-ago book and want to know how it tastes, this establishment can make it happen. A wonderful custom-baked good just for your taste buds!