I was on my way to Harvest Fresh to try out their sandwiches when I was distracted by the Red Fox bakery. The Red Fox lady and her kid came into Dustpan Alley the other day, and I figured I'd return the favor.
There was a disturbing sign in the window warning of coming price increases, since this has been the worst year for the MidWest since the Dustbowl years, and wheat crops are being lost.
The fella in front of me asked if their coffee was good, and the girl said "it's the best. We use Illy."
The guy said, "well, I warn you, I'm a coffee connoisseur!"and described the custom blend of six beans he likes to drink. Like a dick I chimed in with, "then I don't think you're going to be happy with Illycafe."
I got to chatting with the guy and his wife, and told the story of when I roasted a pound and a half of green Jamaican Blue Mountain beans in a cast-iron skillet. Best coffee I've ever had.
The guy's wife is like "oh, no! Now there's something else you've got to try!" :)
He said there's no good coffee in the South, "but maybe you disagree." I did disagree, but only second-hand. When I was growing up, my father had my Grandma mail regular 20 lb packages of coffee in red bags from Louisiana, since there was no decent coffee to be had in California at the time. The guy had to admit that Louisiana French Roast was good, and that before he got into his "bean-thing", he'd mix some Lausanne(?) coffee with chicory into his Maxwell House to give it a bit of a kick.
Anyway, he had a cup of coffee (with milk) and when the girl asked him if it was good, proclaimed that it was "in the range of acceptable."
Anyway. The Red Fox has no debit machine, so I scaled back from the Turkey and Apple sandwich I wanted to an Egg Salad Sandwich ("egg-selent salad") so I'd have enough to leave a tip, because I thought I'd stay instead of take my sandwich to go. I thought I wanted a coffee, too, but not after it became such an issue.
The egg salad was really good. The bread was a little crumbly for the job, but I also got a beautiful little 'salad', which was either the worlds most compact salad, or the fanciest, tastiest garnish in the world. It was a leaf of baby romaine, with a cherry tomato, a baby carrot and something shredded maybe (I ate it in two bites and I forgot to dissect it, sorry), dressed with a nice vinaigrette.
And a macaroon. Oh, the macaroon was great. Even a bad macaroon is pretty yummy, but this one was crispy and chewy and very flavorful, and made me downgrade all other macaroons in my estimation. Now they all seem either too gummy or too burnt in comparison.
I could see eating one of those macaroons every day as part of my morning coffee ritual. I may even try it with the Illy Cafe coffee...
8 comments:
!!! An explosion?! That's terrible!
I like the old ways, too. No cell phone here yet, either. I think it's especially impressive that you have no microwave at the bakery.
I'm glad you thought we were nice; I was starting to feel insufferable. I worked at a cooperative cafe/pizzeria called Sluggo's where we served Illy. I drank it by the quart and liked it, but what stuck with me was that one of my fellow Slugs just hated it, and I just blurted out what came into my head.
I attempted to have lunch today at the Red Fox. Not only was the counter person rude and somewhat incoherent, my food never came out. When questioned, she gave me the deer lost in the headlights look and never inquired on my two sandwiches. Which, by the way, were just standard fare on the board. No deviations in the least. I politely asked her to make my sandwiches “ to go” informing her that I was on my lunch hour and time was running out. I asked her if she could just refund my money since the sandwiches were never made. She told me they were being “made as we speak”, but we never saw her leave the counter and inquire. I waited another 15 minutes and the sandwiches never came. Once again, she made no attempt to ask the cook where our food was. In all, my wait was over an hour and we left without sandwiches, only drinks. You pay in advance at Red Fox so we were out our money and tip. My husband made several attempts to reach the manager by phone but he was either busy or had left for the day. Their actions are very unprofessional. I am not sure whether their lack of response is due to arrogance, lack of experience, or stupidity. I opt for the last.
I purchased many bakery items from them in the past for all of our corporate meetings. I will now go to Starbucks and get the pastries.
Suggestion:
Do not pay until the food arrives.
As The Owner of the Bakery I feel uncomfortable about posting, however Guests do need to realize that even though my wife and myself arrive at 2am and work until well after dark, we sometimes cannot be aroud during all of the regular service hours. I can assure you that if I had been present during that meal period the sandwiches would have been delivered promptly and they would have been beyond expectations. Unfortunatly as the Father of two small children and bussiness owner I am obliged to split my time between family nad bussiness. Therefore all I can do is apologize for any inconvenience and assure all others that I am now making all lunches and they are served quickly (within 5 minutes by hand from scratch) and to the highest standards. Any comment that reaches my ears is taken with the utmost seriousnes wether good or bad and we strive daily to exceed our customers expectations.
As the owner, I apologize for your experience at our bakery. I know the person at the counter is no longer employed by us.
I do hope you will give us another chance.
I am shocked to think that someone would have been rude to a customer, I know that while I worked there, the staff was always really efficient and friendly, or someone was just having an off day. The food is great and so is the service on a normal day. I do hope you go back and enjoy the bread,food and pastries-it's so irristably yummy.Don't let one bad day ruin a good thing.
Wow, I can't imagine someone being rude to a customer, the whole crew while I worked there was efficient and awesome, that person must have just had an off day. The bakery food,breads,pastries and drinks are all amazing. Sometimes when we are in a hurry we don't realize that we are letting off a bad vibe, sometimes making the other person feel attacked, at any rate, often when we are having a bad day, we will assume that someone is being rude or ignorant when that is just not the case.
I suggest that you do go back to the bakery, and not let one bad day ruin your whole Red Fox experience. I personally loved the food and the owners are awesome individuals and very hard workers, with great children.
Misty White
I have to agree with the complaints about the service. My husband and I have been in Red Fox on four occasions. We won't be going back. There is way too much emphasis on chit chat at the expense of decent service. On one occasion we waited at least 10 minutes for a latte only to have it served in a cracked and leaking cup. You guessed it, another 10 minutes to make another. The brownie was rock hard and the scone was too dry and crunchy around the edges. The next time we went in we ordered plain brewed coffee. You'd think that would be pretty easy. But no, the wait person was brewing up a fresh airpot but forgot about it and left it in the back. I had to remind her to bring it out. I could understand all this if they were super busy but they weren't.
I want to like this place but just can't. There are many other cute places in McMinnville. Try one of them instead.
My wife and I have been to the Red Fox Bakery several times while we were staying at Hotel Oregon, and enjoyed it every time. The first time we went there, I didn't have enough cash for as much as we ordered, so they were kind enough to spot us the money. We came back after a trip to the ATM to pay them back, and they gaves us a couple extra pastries. That kindness has kept us coming back everytime we are in McMinnville, and particularly looking forward to our time at the Red Fox.
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