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EXCERPT:
Pastries
By Bharti Kirchner

©2003 Bharti Kirchner
Permission Granted for Reprint for Review Purposes

A while later, Scott peeks in again to announce the arrival of food critic Donald J. Smith. It's a jittery moment, even though as a restaurateur seeking exposure, I should welcome Donald. He writes for the city's most prestigious newspaper, the Seattle Daily News. Two years ago, Donald cited me in his weekly column "Fine Dining with Donald." Though he allotted just a small paragraph, it was a significant event around here, mentioned by patrons for months. The column, now a browned custard shade, hangs on the refrigerator, the lettering still dark and legible. Donald declared:

Sunya Cake is tasty, beautiful, hypnotic, and lyrical. It's an accomplishment perhaps only my mother could match. But my mother doesn't have the secret recipe. Only Sunya Malhotra has it and she isn't telling.

Since then, Donald has made prodigious attempts to acquire the "secret recipe," which he believes will give him cachet with his readers. The last time he came to visit, I let him sample the cake to his stomach's capacity (which is ample) and allowed his photographer to shoot all the photos he wanted (as many as thirty), but refused to part with the recipe. Donald is nothing if not persistent, and so any encounter with him leaves me a touch rattled.

Now Donald waddles into the kitchen, all two hundred forty pounds of him packed into a checkered sport jacket and dark trousers, his hair the color of wheat toast. As usual, he has a scarf draped around his neck. At sixty, he has had a lengthy career with the News. He was raised on beef, spuds, and frozen apple pie, and has a definite bias in favor of the regionally based big business. In short, he represents old Seattle. Many readers believe his retirement is long overdue and his taste buds no longer conform to the city's current preferences for an infusion of international flavors, but he's stubborn and refuses to let go of his territory.

Donaldís eyes sweep the kitchen as he sniffs. "Must be heaven to work here."

"Yes." I shake myself out of the trance, force a smile, and pull up two chairs. Donald takes his seat, while throwing a glance at the kitchen counter strewn with a fifty-pound sack of flour, a thirty-pound box of pecans, an industrial-size KitchenAid, a high-heat spatula, and a massive beechwood rolling pin.

"These are all part of the baker's arsenal," I say, as I serve him a mug of coffee and a wedge of a cherry-almond scone from a heaping platter. I had intended to dish up Sunya Cake and find myself hoping he won't notice the omission.

"Definitely the right metaphor, Sunya." Donald's voice gathers more strength as he goes. "As a matter of fact, I'm planning to write about the impending Bakery War."

"Bakery War?"

He looks away, though I spot a smirk playing on his lips. "Cakes Plus is opening a branch just four blocks from here," he says. "At the corner of Meridian and Fifty-sixth, what used to be the site of M and R Produce Market. It'll be more than double the size of your bakery. Their new management is very aggressive, as I'm sure you're aware."

Hands in my lap, I sit in absolute stillness. This is the first time I've heard of this development. My café, though it barely ekes out a profit, has become an informal social center, a pied-á-terre to the patrons. Surely, they wouldn't desert their second home for some franchise.

"I don't think we serve the same clientele." I play with my coffee mug, feigning a lack of concern. "People come here because of the quality of our goods, the ambience, and the fact we're small. They like small, Donald."

"You wouldn't be the first small business that Cakes Plus steam-rolled." He pulls the scone apart and examines its fruit-flecked interior. "Just between you and me–their new scones taste very similar. Almond-spiked dough studded with sweet bits of dried cherry. They didn't somehow get hold of your recipe, did they?"

I lean back in my chair. "That would be highly unlikely."

Further Information:
• Review of Pastries
• Interview with the Author