Luna Bakery Cafe

Luna Bakery Cafe, Cleveland Heights

Recently, my good friend R.H. and I ventured into a new crêperie located in Cleveland Heights, Luna Bakery Café. For the most part, I’ve only positives to speak about the place and easily give it deux thumbs up (had I another hand, I’d make it three). My five rationales are noted below.

One: The Interior.
So simple and beautiful—white walls, a few wooden two-tops and in the middle of the seating area, a large six-seat community-style table.

Odd as it may seem, the latter detail is actually one of my favorite notables about Luna, in part, because of the forced interaction it encourages. There’s only one piece of framed art adorning the entire café, and it rests above the napkin and silverware counter across an encased display of baked goods. While I love the simplicity of the space, I think it would be cool if the café included framed local art. It would only complement the locavore feel of the spot.

Two: The Sweets.
Luna has a jointing room, home to Flour Girl, which serves up Luna’s cookies and pastries. The space is owned by Bridget Cavanaugh Thibeault, a former New York City food stylist who launched FG as a creative side business. Flour Girl also custom designs cakes and the boutique biz has even grabbed top picks by The Knot’s Best of Weddings and Little Black Book’s Style Me Pretty.

Inside FG is where eye-popping sweet creations take form under the skilled hands of genius pastry chefs. It’s where the French macaron prep occurs each Wednesday evening. These alone easily make a trip to Luna absolutely necessary. I’ve scoured the city in search of the delicate treasures, and it’s been a long, long hunt (note, Bonbon Bake Shop also serves them). The macaron flavors are clever—I recently saw one lightly dusted with cayenne pepper. Hands down though, nothing competes with my favorite: sea salt caramel.

It’s not just the macarons that make me smile with delight. Three words: carrot cake cupcakes.

Think what you will. The triple C is my ultimate favorite dessert (and future wedding cake, should that day ever come). But it doesn’t stop there. Brownies, chocolate croissants and lemon bars, oh my.  And then some. Point being, the sweets are perhaps worth a cavity because they are that good.

Three: The Outdoor Area.
Back to my seating fixation, Luna has a wonderful arrangement by the front entrance, a prime spot for people and cake watching. Yes. You read that right. One can view pastry chefs meticulously fashioning custom wedding cakes in the window front of Flour Girl. The outdoor area is also perfect for sitting with a book in one hand and an ice coffee in the other.

Four: City Roast.
Luna proudly serves City Roast Coffee, a local craft roaster of estate grown organic and songbird safe coffee. This means the environment in which it’s grown is protected from deforesting. Simply knowing that makes the coffee worth drinking even more. I recommend an order of ice coffee, which I’m told is City Roast’s South Side blend. It tastes slightly tart with a balance body and pairs quite well with the aforementioned desserts.

Five: The Day Menu.
It boasts unbelievably good crêpes, among them: nutella and banana, caramelized apples, pralines and crème fraiche and poached pears with mascarpone (there are a few others, however, these are my top picks). On the savory side, smoked turkey, provolone, spinach and tomato pesto or the roasted portabello mushroom with summer squash, goat cheese and artichoke pesto. The latter can also be ordered as an oh-my-god-this-is-too-good panini. Hmm, can you guess my typical order? And it’s also served with an ice cream scoop sized portion of quinoa.