New pastry shop opens in Central Ballard

Posted by Geeky Swedes on January 6th, 2009

In the small space along Market St. once occupied by Cafe Sweet Posie, in the diagonal alley between Azteca and Anchor Tattoo, a new pastry shop called Pauline’s has just opened for business.

Owner Stephanie Hardgrave, who has sold pastries at the Magnolia Farmers Market as “Little Luxuries,” named the new shop after her grandma. Hardgrave is the third vendor from local farmers markets to open a fixed location in recent months (along with Veraci Pizza and Anita’s.)

Among the tasty treats: pecan bites and harvest chocolate cake. Most cookies are .75 each. Hardgrave is also putting together a rack of products from other local producers, like truffles and toffee. Pauline’s is closed on Mondays.

Tags: Ballard Facebook

David V.T. Hall

Et Al

Ok, Ok!!! Paulines's was once a fish monger shop, chairs are a cool idea too but for those that are not zen masters of city ordinances, at best a challenge for the space. The hours of operation are the hours of operation and from my vantage point reflect the inconsistent if not nonexistent morning flow of traffic - right on Stephanie! Pauline's already makes good confections, excellent pastry and cakes, and as the "new kid on the block" the product is setting a high bar. So what is left to discuss, I stop in and shop nearly daily. So every one on this blog, get up, put on your rain slicker and your wellies and get down to Pauline and BUY SOMETHING! In these economic times that is the way to help the shop keepers of Ballard. Let's not wait around passively watching our shops vanish. Get down there and help her out one cookie at a time if need be. Let us make Pauline's a destination point of Ballard for years to come. Yes we can!

meg

yay! i love pastries and the more, the better! the prices sound reasonable too. its true that not much has lasted in that little hole, but i really loved nervous nellie's when it was there and was sad to see it go. its a cute place and i wish pauline's well!

bakery junkie

Things I've tasted so far at Pauline Pastry so far:

Scones: To quote a family member "magnificent". I get extras for breakfast the next day at home and they are still moist, not dry and crumbly like others I've tried.
Fresh fruit tarts: Devine! Personal favorite is lemon raspberry. Big hit a recent dinner party.
Peanut butter cookies: light and moist and not too sweet.
And you gotta try the chocolates! The hazelnut covered one is pretty darn good.

mickey

Stephanie -

You can be sure I will stop by soon. And not just because my grandmother's name was Pauline too.

Stephanie~Pauline Pastry

Sorry we missed you Cakespy!

Currently our winter hours are:
Mon : Closed
Tues : noon - 4pm
Wed: noon - 4pm
Thurs: 10am - 4pm
Fri: 10am - 4pm
Sat: 9am - 4pm
Sun: 9am - 4pm

When the weather warms up and more folks are out and about earlier in the day, we plan on extending our morning hours.

We will also be open on Saturday for Artwalk from 6pm - 8pm and we will have samples for all to try! So do stop by!

Cheers!
Stephanie Hardgrave

BlackSheep

Good luck, Stephanie - I look forward to stopping by! What are your hours?

Cakespy

Just tried to go this morning and was disappointed to see they don't open til noon on Wednesdays. Boo! The pinwheel cookies looked great from outside looking in though :-)

Stephanie~Pauline Pastry

Thanks for the well wishes and great suggestions everyone!

We look forward to being a part of Ballard!

T-REX

Maybe they can get 'henry' to paint a giant cookie on the wall or some such...I like me some reasonable prices cookies.

BlackSheep

Those are good suggestions, philk - you'd have to do something to make that location stand out a little more. I hope they are able to do that, as it does seem like nobody lasts long there.

philk

the issue with this location is that it's set back from Market and on an alley. some creative signage (like big sandwich boards), or something more unique, like painting the alley (hey, if they can paint the curbs...), with an artful path leading from Market's sidewalk to the entry could work, good lighting for after dark. I think I once saw sidewalk cafe chairs outside this location, might be good once it warms up. No doubt this is a challenging location, and there was that short-lived cookie store on Market, so Stephanie will need to have great pastries plus strong marketing/advertising/signage and sell a heck of a lot of 75 cent cookies to make a good go of it. I'm hoping this business does great. Pastry shop has me thinking about cannoli, ah, what i wouldn't do for a good cannoli.

aptgal

Yay Stephanie!!!!

Don M

Looks like it might be the former location of the Ballard Fish Market, where I first smelled lutefisk 60 years ago.

Asbjorn

It's such a strange location, no wonder that place has had a hard time keeping open. Hopefully the cookies are good, and they are open on weekends, at least in the morning.

Nordic Woman

I hope that it lasts! Oddly, there was a fish store in there for years that did well! (before your time, Sharon.)

Sharon

Nothing in that location seems to last very long. I've been in Ballard for just about 10 years and it seems there have been at least 6 different shops in that time.

Hopefully they will have reasonable hours to match their reasonable prices and will do well!

orangeyouglad

I can't wait to try this place, and I'm relieved the prices actually sound reasonable. I tried the new pasty shop in the Canal Station building, and while the macaroons were killer, they we sooo expensive that I don't even want to go back. I hope Pauline's does well.