Warren Is No Longer On Yelp W.
Yelp
Here's my preamble-I use Philly Food Works as my CSA for organic groceries. Barry's Buns is one of their vendors. I have never been to the bricks and mortar store.
Over the past 4 or 5 Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, I've ordered (through Philly Food Works) Barry's holiday cookie platter, the pumpkin eclairs, the pumpkin roll and the pumpkin pie. 2022 will be my last year of ordering anything from Barry's Buns.
Since I rarely bake anything and would never tempt fate as a singleton by baking trays of cookies that I know I'd probably scarf before they were even cool enough to eat, I loved the idea of Barry's assorted cookie platter. While festively presented, this a plate of "one taste" cookies. Sure, there appear to be at least half a dozen varieties but they all taste exactly the same. Generically sweet, no buttery taste. I doubt Santa would think well of me if I werer to leave a plate of these out on Christmas Eve. The birds got the majority of this last platter. Better them than me.
Every year but this one, I have ordered the pumpkin eclairs in lieu of a pumpkin pie. They're alright as far as eclairs go. The filling is pumpkiny and not overly sweet. The choux pastry is done reasonably well and it does not get soggy. They are thoroughly underwhelming, though.
This year, I deviated from the forgettable eclairs and boring cookies. Instead I ordered Barry's pumpkin roll (like a jelly roll) and Barry's pumpkin pie. A friend was in from the West coast and I'd invited him over for a pre-Thanksgiving afternoon tea. Fortunately I sampled the pumpkin roll a few hours before my guest arrived. It was as dry and stiff as a mummy. I don't know if it had been made days before, frozen and then defrosted or if it was from a bad batch but it was inedible. The birds got that one, too as I scrambled around Center City for some tempting replacement tea tray treats.
I saved the pumpkin pie for my own solitary, non traditional (crab cakes and a citrussy salad) Thanksgiving meal and even made spiked whipped cream as a topping. When my dishes were done, my kitchen was clean after my festive meal (who needs turkey anyway?!) and I returned from a post prandial walk, my heart was set on a pot of loose tea and a large slice of pie adorned with that home made whipped cream. Upon unboxing, the crust of the pie appeared to be raw. It was pale, flaccid, sticky and had no toothsomeness. At first I thought I'd pop it in the oven to get some color and texture on the crust. Upon further consideration, given that the filling was custard and had already been cooked/baked, it seemed best to give up on the pie altogether. I toasted and buttered an English muffin to accompany my tea, sliced up a Honeycrisp apple, shelled a few walnuts and pecans and was pleased with my impromptu, thrown together dessert.
While I try hard to support small farms, mom and pop vendors and indie businesses, I also subscribe to the "fool me once, shame on you..." philosophy. Barry's Buns has already fooled me too many times. This year was the final straw.