Listen & Be Heard Weekly Archives

Rosanna’s European Delights
1119 West Texas St., Fairfield
707 422-CAKE (2253)
Hours: Tues – Sat 6:30am – 6pm;
Sun 8am – 3pm

Rosanna’s European Delights takes baking into the level of high art. The most beautiful cakes, desserts and breakfast pastries are made here, with no compromise to taste.

The bakery fills two store fronts on West Texas Street. Outside, signs give notice of the hours and brag about making the best coffee in town.

Inside the rooms are full of the smell of baked goods. Glass cabinets display a wide variety of breakfast pastries and desserts. There are big flaky croissants and sugar free muffins, familiar chocolate chip cookies as well as the less familiar hazelnut crescents, and beautiful petit fours. There are also iced cookies in every shape and color imaginable. Eclairs come either filled with whipped cream or custard. Elegantly decorated layer cakes come in full size or a smaller, one or two person, size. Some are available by the slice.

There are also tables to relax at and sip a cup of coffee with a pastry, or to eat lunch. The lunch menu is limited to a few sandwiches, but they come with a choice of pasta salad or potato salad, and dessert.

The chicken salad sandwich on rye was a generous sandwich. The filling was finely blended together without a lot of ingredients, just lots of chicken with light seasoning and a little mayonnaise. The pasta salad, orzo mixed with sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts and a little cheese, was an excellent accompaniment.

The real thrill was the cheesecake. This was a small slice of crustless cheesecake with a thin layer of sour cream topping. It was moist, rich and slightly tart, well worth the splurge in calories.

The cappuccino came in a mug, which gave the bitter drink a homey touch. Although the foam was not up to say Starbuck’s standards, the espresso was good.

I got the feeling that lunch is not very crowded here. This is too bad, because everything was good, and the smaller portion of dessert is just the right amount for the middle of the day.

The big attraction here is the pastries. This is not the place to come for the more American piece of pie or typical chocolate layer cake. The offerings here remind me of looking in the windows of bakeries in France. Black Forest Cake. Marzipan works of art. Napoleans. Some of the pastries have descriptions next to them. The women working behind the display cases were happy to describe the ones that didn’t. For me, this is the place to get something exotic, but for those homesick for Europe, this is a place to get a taste of home.

Wedding cakes or cakes for other celebrations can be ordered from here. Judging from the photos on the walls of cakes made in the past, these custom-designed cakes are great successes. They are much too beautiful to eat, and yet probably every bit as tasty as they look.

If I found myself anywhere near Fairfield early in the morning (Rosanna’s opens at 6:30), I would stop here for a croissant and coffee.

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