Tartes

Went to Tartes! Had a really cute-paper gift card! With a typo! ("Past tries", eh? -- instead of ""pastries'). Tartes is this little pink shack with a little bit of floorspace, a display window with a whiteboard sign, and an electric mixer (no mixing/folding by hand, I guess...).

There's also a huge rip in the wall.

Surprisingly enough, I managed to obtain four representative items for exactly $15, which is pretty neat when you consider that the items end in .25, .50, .75, and .00.

1. Chocolate chip pecan cookie - $2: Extremely normal chocolate chip pecan cookie. There aren't even that many chocolate chips or pecans in the batter! I.e. I can make a dozen of these for ~$2.

2. Key Lime Pie - $5.75: Gooey lime curd (but is it KEY LIME curd? I don't think I know the difference between "limes" and "key limes"...which is good because I can use inexpensive normal limes to make lime curd) without sizeable zest. Shortcrust shell that wasn't sweet. Normal whipped cream. Cute, though.

3. Chocolate Chip Toffee Bar - $2.50: Lots of chocolate chips, walnuts, oatmeal and pastry. Toffee bits in 2 forms: tiny crispy chunks, and globs of toffee goo.

4. Lavender Pound Cake - $4.75: Normal-textured poundcake, but it smells and tastes like lavender! Who knew that lavender could be a cake flavour? The icing is also extremely lavender-y and melts perfectly in my mouth. ICING!

Overall...not particularly impressed (except for the lavender icing), mainly because
1. kind of expensive (well, it was "free", but I wouldn't exchange $15 for this), especially as these aren't even made with local or special ingredients
2. I have higher standards since I know how to bake these things/make curd

Tartes
212 Arch St.
Philadelphia