Nestled on quiet rue Beaudoin, just south of Notre-Dame and southwest of the Place St-Henri metro, is Sweet Lee’s Rustic Bakery—one of the city’s most hidden gems of a bakeshop. Co-owners, brother and sister team Liana and Greg Lessard whip up mountains of brownies, cheesecakes, muffins, pies, vegan and organic fruit crumbles, savoury scones, and now dips, pastas, and stews daily in their inviting storefront. While it’s not a sit-down kind of café, the wood paneling, homemade pickles and preserves lining the walls, and red- and white-checkered drapes make you want to stay awhile and smell the fresh dark chocolate, mint and orange cookies coming out of the oven.
Soon, they will be moving into their new space in Verdun, but it’s tricky to find a space with a great storefront and kitchen large enough to pump out all the delicacies Sweet Lee’s whips up daily.
The current space at 291 Beaudoin used to be a chocolate factory, and before that a bakery, making it easier for the team to renovate for their needs. An added plus being that people in the neighbourhood are already in the habit of stopping by in search of something rich and gooey. They can still come for their morning chocolatines, but they now can come back later in the day for for triple chocolate brownie cheesecake with raspberries, or the blueberry cheesecake squares.
Sweet Lee’s is big into “local and seasonal” too, combining squash with pumpkin pie spices in rich cakes. “You can put health and decadent together,” she says about her brownie butternut squash cheesecake, pointing out that it’s sitting in the fridge right now. Healthy? Well, maybe healthy-ish. No preservatives, no artificial flavours or colours. All butter. All delicious.
So it may sound as though Sweet Lee’s is all about cheesecake, but the way to a woman’s heart is…”usually chocolate,” finishes Greg.
Correct, Greg. Personally, I’m a big believer in a gift basket so you can offer a greater variety of treats and hedge your bets on what will go over best with your amoureuse. And if you’re more into savoury than sweet, there are Greg’s favourite spicy Mexican scones with cumin, Gouda, roasted peppers, onions, lemon and lime zest, cilantro and jalapeno.
If St-Henri isn’t your stomping grounds and you don’t want to make the trek, you can find a selection of Sweet Lee’s baked goods at Soupson (conveniently located next to live music venue Il Motore on Jean-Talon, for pre- and during-show snacks), at Bar Kafein on Bishop, and at various local markets across the city. Or if you’re a regular at St-Henri Micro-Torrefacteur and are wondering where that homemade-tasting banana and peanut-butter muffin or that triple chocolate cookie came from, better take a jaunt up the road.
Or you can order in: ice cream sandwiches are even available on catering orders, and there’s a larger selection at even lower prices if you order directly from their website or call. Specialty cakes are also available but since you only get one birthday a year I recommend celebrating obscure holidays, such as National Golf Day (Oct. 4). Turns out October is sun-dried tomatoes month, and yes, Sweet Lee’s has an applicable savoury scone.
And Liana’s recent marriage hasn’t slowed her down one bit, and the lucky beau will have his work cut out for him to keep off the post-marriage pounds when such addictive baked treats are everywhere in his life.
Sweet Lee’s Rustic Bakery
291 rue Beaudoin
sweetleesbakery@gmail.com
514-885-3504
Check out Sweet Lee’s facebook page for where they’re going to appear next (just missed them at Puces Pop and the Concordia Sustainable Food Festival, but they do all sorts of local events)
Photos from Sweet Lee’s website and facebook pages
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