The Cookie Critique
Weighing in on Downtown North Bay’s Cookie Crawl
Downtown North Bay & Waterfront and participating restaurants have created a tasty way to tour the downtown. Five restaurants have created different cookies to be purchased through the summer until the beginning of October. When you purchase a cookie, you’ll be given a paper passport (at your first stop) and that restaurant will sign off on your purchase. After visiting four restaurants and filling up on their cookies, you will hand in your passport to the last restaurant visited for a chance to win $100 downtown dollars, which will be drawn in October.
This is such a fun and unique way to visit the downtown and a great initiative on the part of Downtown North Bay & Waterfront. Thinking about participating in the Cookie Crawl? The Laframboise Team’s Abby Fitzmaurice has taken the tour and is here to give you the scoop on each restaurant’s cookie.
The perfect treat at Northern Tikes for the kid at heart
Northern Tikes, located at 210 Main Street East, is an indoor soft playground perfect for children of all ages. Located within the premises is a small café serving up delicious lunches, snacks and drinks. Northern Tikes has joined the Cookie Crawl with a kid-favorite, the M&M cookie. While it isn’t the biggest cookie on the crawl, it is the thickest. This cookie is perfectly chewy with the right amount of M&Ms. My only critique is that the cookie is not baked in-house.
Cookie rating: Delicious!
A tasty take on a classic at Cecil’s Brewhouse & Kitchen
My next stop was at Cecil’s Brewhouse & Kitchen, located at 300 Wyld Street. Cecil’s is a downtown staple and they kept that going with their chocolate chip cookie. Now, a plain jane chocolate chip cookie may seem like something to write home about, but this cookie was anything but. This cookie was the largest on the crawl, spanning almost my entire hand. It has a nice crispy edge but was still nice and soft through the middle. My favorite part was the use of dark and milk chocolate chips in this cookie. It gave a depth and complexity to each bite, while still bringing you back to that classic cookie flavor. In my opinion, this was the best cookie on the crawl.
Cookie rating: Amazing! Need a dozen…
Nut-ing short of Delicious at Good Glaze
Starting out as a vendor at the market and growing into a storefront at 130 Main Street East, Good Glaze has been providing North Bay with tasty treats for several years. It is no surprise that Good Glaze hopped on the Cookie Crawl train and created the Chocolate chip Nutella cookie. Unfortunately, due to a tree nut allergy, I was not able to sample this cookie, so this critique was done by my husband (really had to twist his arm…). This cookie is the second smallest cookie on the crawl, but had a good thickness, while being chewy and soft. The Nutella was not overpowering and added something fun and special to a regular chocolate chip cookie. My husband’s only complaint is that he wished it was a little bigger.
Cookie rating: Get two…trust me!
Give me s’more cookies from Opera Bakery
(disclaimer: Opera changes their cookie daily/weekly)
I saw this cookie on social media and it was the cookie I was most looking forward to. I practically ran to Opera Bakery, located at 164 Main Street West. This s’mores cookie was the second biggest cookie of the crawl. Just looking at the melted marshmallow peeking through the top of the cookie made my mouth water. I broke this cookie open and it has an interesting layer technique so that it really did look like a s’more. It was a lovely added touch. This cookie was delicious and my second favorite. My only critique was that the chocolate used was either semi-sweet or dark, and I prefer my s’mores with milk chocolate. It gave a nice flavor, but wasn’t exactly what I anticipated. I took this cookie home and I popped it into the microwave to get that gooey marshmallow effect when breaking in half.
Cookie rating: Better than camping! Yum!
A delightful surprise from the Culture Club
On my way to The Culture Club, located in the back of the FARM and Main Supply, I didn’t know what type of cookie I would find, but I knew it would not be a typical classic cookie. The Culture Club is a micro-bakery that makes som of the best baked goods in the city (in my opinion), so I knew I would not be disappointed with their cookie. Ginger cookies are not my favourite. I usually will forego them for something sweeter, but The Culture Club’s Maple Ginger cookie was a delightful surprise I found myself really enjoying. This is the smallest cookie on the crawl, but it is packed with flavor. The maple is subtle but very pleasing and the ginger was fresh and fragrant. the cookie has a nice snap while remaining chewy, and it had a dusting of sugar to top it off. I liked it so much, I bought a second. My only critique is that my second cookie, while remaining in the bag was not as soft and chewy when I gobbled it up later that evening.
The Culture Club also has another cookie available for the crawl, but it was sold out by the time I arrived.
Cookie rating: Snap, ginger, maple! Gourmet for sure!