REVIEW: TUSCAN BAKERY, Menands (Turkish)

Jul 15

Tuscan Bakery

100 Broadway, Suite 7, Menands | Facebook

We like it for: Freshly baked bread, take out Turkish pastries (böregi), dine in Turkish breakfast, afternoon coffee with pastries
Must try: Turkish coffee, tea, Turkish böregi (get the twisted kol börek,) varieties of baklava, syrupy walnut-stuffed kalburabasti, and imported Turkish delight
The Vibe: Clean, inviting bakery and coffee shop
Sound: Not applicable.
Style: Turkish cake shop

This fabulous Turkish bakery is hiding in plain sight in an unassuming plain shopping plaza. Its misleading name stems from the fact that owner Nurettin Ulukaya opened Tuscan Pizza Oven in the corner of the multi-business building and added Tuscan Bakery in Suite 7 shortly after. Stand at the counter to watch baker Cagri Akdig pull and stretch dough into the thinest layers before rolling, folding, stuffing and twisting it into savory kol börek filled with minced beef, spinach, or potatoes, or feta cheese-filled su borek, and circular pogaca and simit. In the bakery, house made cookies and assorted baklava and kataifi rival colorful imported Turkish delight rolled in saffron, rose petals, pistachios, sugar or chocolate. Go for an afternoon Turkish coffee and pastry or start the morning with a Turkish breakfast plate of borek, kashkaval cheese, white cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, jam, honey, eggs, bread, simit, su borek and unlimited tea for $17.99 or menemen (tomatoes, eggs, onions and peppers) for $9.99 served with bread and tea.

They will soon be adding decorative cakes and a cake order service. Manager Celaledn Dogan explains the Turkish word for cake is “pasta” so in opening a “pastahane” (cake shop) like Tuscan Bakery, they must sell cakes as well as the array of sweet/savory pastries and breads they already serve.

Parking: Large open parking lot
Nearby: 1. Tuscan Pizza Oven (sibling biz) 2. Eggy’s 3. Good Religion Grill Jamaican (N. Third Street) 4. Arsenal City Tavern (Watervliet)