YEE: Sweet and Savory at Blackmarket Bakery

OMG!!! Love, love, love!

This is aN interesting place for breakfast and for coffee and pastry. The almond croissants we had ware so light and crispy, and so full of flavor. They are as good as any we have had anywhere. Unfortunately, when we went back there the next day, the almond croissants they had on that day were completely different and much less attractive. The first day’s experience would have warranted 5 stars.

Came by here after dinner to grab some quick desserts !
Caramel apple tart (2 stars) — I did not like this one very much. It was way too sweet for me. The caramel just tasted completely like sugar. I am giving it two stars though for the way it looked.
Pumpkin merengue tart (3 stars) — Tastes just like pumpkin pie
Chocolate Chip Cookie (5 stars) — SO SO SO GOOD. this chocolate chip cookie is perfection. so soft and chocolately. I am salivating just thinking about it. A MUST GET !

PRODUCT CONSISTENCY IS KEY. I have been enjoying Blackmarket for a long time now. Usually the organic drip coffee is made great and the scones are perfect which keeps me coming back. Lately the coffee has been thin and watery and the cinnamon scones have been inconsistent in flavor and texture. If there is someone new on the line it happens, but please don’t neglect quality control for those in training. Your business and product is worth it! :)
I would be so sad to see you have fewer customers due to inconsistency.

My first encounter with Blackmarket Bakery was at a Unilocal event at SOL Cocina a few years ago and I would keep enjoying their goods when I moved close to Kean Coffee in Tustin. When Ryan C. sent out this Sweet & Savory event at Blackmarket’s new location at The Camp in Costa Mesa, I knew I had to see it for myself.
The Camp is notorious for horrible parking but I lucked out and got one right out front. My girl Elise V. played bartender with wine or beer libations, Shivani (wo)manned the registration table and of course our awesomesauce CM Ryan made the rounds (and even served us some sandwiches)!
Elites got the opportunity to take home goodies from the bakery with a 25% discount — I am a sucker for their lemon tarts so I had to take that home.
Big thanks to Chef Rachel for toasting up some housemade s’mores and for letting us Unilocalers sample some sweet and savory snacks! It’s nice to see a permanent space for Blackmarket Bakery after encountering them (via Unilocal!) so many years ago.
I love Unilocal events because I get to see old friends, make new ones, and get a glimpse at how businesses I enjoy are doing! Hope to see you all at the next one!

Blackmarket Bakery is always a fantastic place to go. They are sugar and spice and everything nice twice with some spunk and punk in ‘em. Ever since I stumbled into the original bakery in Irvine when it was a wee retail spot doing an open house, I’ve been a fan and frequent visitor (to the Costa Mesa location). Whenever Unilocal decides to do an event at Blackmarket Bakery at The Camp, I’m probably one of the first to put my RSVP in because I love Chef Rachel’s goodies. While I didn’t get officially in this time around, I did sneak on by as Duke D’s +1 so managed to nosh on some of the greatest baked goods around again. There were just a handful of guests on the list; that just meant more food for everyone and definitely an easier setting in which to meet others.
One of the things I most enjoy telling people about Blackmarket Bakery is that most of the furniture, structures, and (just about) everything is actually made by Chef Rachel’s husband. The installation involves sweat equity from the entire Klemek family and even the artwork is originally painted by the mother-​in-​law. A family business that encourages family (customer) business! Our Community Manager Ryan had set up lovely areas with Unilocal swag that evening, and we mixed and mingled with some fun people.
That night featured both sweet and savory lovely treats. Let’s talk about the sweet first though because it’s really what people go to a bakery for, right? Blackmarket Bakery emphasizes using real ingredients — that is, real sugar and butter in whatever it is they make. We got treated to some nutter butters (who needs the cheap-​y commercial version when you can have it freshly made with in-​house ground peanut butter?) and flourless chocolate walnut cookies (so, so good). There were also eyes-​rolling-​back s’mores made live in front of guests via Chef Rachel’s toasting torch. Chocolate-​drizzled housemade marshmallows smooshed between housemade gingerbread cookies were a hit with the crowd. I think they should all go back for the Saturday $ 1 S’mores Nights on Saturdays from 7pm to close… just saying!
Did you know that this bakery also makes very tasty toasted sandwiches? It makes sense after all — they’ve got a lot of bread on hand! We all snatched morsels of their Handsome Italian (pesto, tomato, mozzarella) and Graceland (peanut butter, bacon, banana) sandwiches as soon as they came out. They were devoured pretty quickly by everyone because they were just that good. The Handsome Italian is an Italian food lover’s dream with its fresh flavors, and the Graceland hit all the sweet, salty, and savory notes. Props to Clinton, Master Sandwich Maker over at Blackmarket Bakery for keeping up with the demand!
Everyone seemed to have a great time, especially with free beer and wine in the back corner. Our thanks to Ryan for putting the fun event together, Chef Rachel for letting us clean her food out, and the Blackmarket Bakery staff for giving everyone smiles despite the grabby hands and after-​hours work!
Photography by Duke D. while I fed him and talked to others.

YAY! I was SO excited to go to this Elite event!
I’ve been to the Camp maybe 2 times, but never even noticed this place. I’m glad this event happened to call to my attention that I’ve been missing out!
I absolutely loved the chocolate walnut cookies they had. I think collectively I ate a whole batch lol. And the cheese and tomato sandwich things were SO addicting! I think I practically took one out of someones hand! I liked the banana bacon sandwich, and the peanut butter cookies were also really really good. But I’ll choose chocolate and cheese over anything, any day.
I REALLY wish liked honey, because I LOVE s’mores and was so sad that the fancy s’mores the lady was making had a honey flavor. Personal preference.
FREE BEER AND WINE. YES.
I just LOVE the Unilocal goodies! I swear if I keep going to these events I’ll never have to buy mints again! Or totes! YAY!
I had a great time with my friends, enjoying delicious food and cookies, and drinking to our hearts content the free alcohol. OH! I’m so glad I got to meet Ryan C. Nice guy, that one. Thanks to him and whoever else involved for this event. You guys rock!

The event was not overly packed and it was a good chance to try things that they had to offer. I liked their handsome italian sandwich samples and of course the free booze! I bought a cake and a tart to try later on and they were both very good!

Can’t knock an event with S’mores and booze!
Ryan C, you sure know how to put together a great event. This time I brought my sweet toothed sister in to sample the goodies with me. Man was she thankful. We tried everything… melt in your mouth peanut nutter sandwiches, flourless chocolate cookie, handsome Italian, Glaceland sandwiches, and my favorite… the s’mores. The owner, Rachael, even came out to torch the s’mores herself. Really sweet and nice gal. Had an awesome time mingling with the other elites.

I like my Unilocal events one of two ways: epic parties where food and booze flow free while Michael P. loquaciously regales me with stories; or small, intimate events that only a handful of people can get into.
This was the latter, and I think Ryan C. really kicked some ass on putting this thing together.
After I heard about the lack of available parking here, I figured I’d make an early appearance and grab some grub at Umami Burger, which enabled me to ensure I could park. After eating, I couldn’t exactly figure out where this place was located. That is because I never walked behind Umami to find out that there’s a hippie commune parked in the rear. All this eco-​friendly shopping and organic food places totally caught me off guard. I used to frequent The Lab back in high school (which, now that I think about it was about 15 or so years ago) but I never knew they built a sister site across the street. You learn something new every day, right?
Got to Blackmarket and I was surprised to not be greeted by The Line that forms before each event. Maybe everyone is stuck in traffic? Nope. Upon check-​in, I glanced down at the guest list and saw it was only around 20 – 25 names. Well, hot shit, that means elbow room and less mouths to eat the things I also want to eat!
My chick and I got inside and were immediately greeted by a woman wielding a blowtorch, ready to flame some massive s’mores. The marshmallow on this thing looked like a white brick. The cookie was… gingerbread, I think? I more or less inhaled it.
Around the corner, there were some peanut butter sandwich cookies and rocky road brownies. Good stuff.
They laid out many plates featuring small bites of two sandwiches they offer. The first, called Graceland, consisted of peanut butter, bacon, and banana. It was as good as you’re imagining it to be. The other, which I like to pretend they named for me (how that would be possible, I don’t know), was the Handsome Italian, with provolone, artichoke pesto, and roma tomatoes. I probably ate enough of both to make up a sandwich or two. Hey, they kept bringing them out and nobody was really diving in…
Solid drink selections, too. The Blue Moon Seasonal went quickly, but there were plenty of Coronas left. I couldn’t imbibe too much, though. All that pastry and savory food (and the Umami burger) had me filled to the brim.
We bought some more tasty treats on the way out because everything in this place is delicious.

Delicious goodies abound!
A fun event, great to taste some favorites and try some new goodies.
Ryan is awesome as always, but I can’t help but say «where are my socks?» I finally got to meet Shiv, who was doing check-​in duties and she is great! Elise was rocking the wine and beer bar, while rocking that pink hair (you go girl!) A big thank you to Rachel and all her friendly and informative staff who dealt with the extra heat of summer and people fabulously.
Shout-​outs and Unilocal Love to Donald who looks fabulous, Vy, great seeing you, finally getting to meet Minerva and her love Duke, and a long overdue chat with Kelley and her love Mark.
Sweet and Savory on full display: Torched Smores, torched before your eyes, Flourless Walnut Mudslides, who knew gluten free could be so delicious?, Peanut Nutter Butters, forget those fakes in the grocery stores, Graceland and Handsome Italian, two totally different little appetizer bites, each unique in their taste.
We luck Elite Unilocalers also got 25% off fresh baked goods, and hubby and I picked up a few items, one of them a favorite of mine from Blackmarket Bakery, Caramel Pecan Popcorn:
What a sweet time!

What an awesome little bakery! Loved the noms– torched smores should be a regular thing in my life! Super great folks here and we got to take home some really tasty bread. Kalamata Olive Bread should also become a regular thing in my life!
Ryan is also the most awesome community manager!
All around win!

Yay! My first real Elite event and it was a BLAST!!!
The samplings were addicting! OMG the peanut butter, banana and BACON sandwich was to die for! And I don’t even like bacon. I couldn’t get enough of the peanut butter cookies either. I kept sneaking by over and over for another taste.
To top it all off, they were making s’mores for us to try. Incredible. The atmosphere was so fun and relaxing. I’ll definitely be back to try some of the other goodies! Thanks to the Unilocal team and Blackmarket Bakery for putting on such a fun event!

We got to sample so many delicious desserts and Panninis, I loved the yummy s’mores. We enjoyed the Hot Mess sandwich and left with several desserts. The owner, Rachel Klemek, is a total sweetheart. Thank you Rachel and Ryan C. for this great event! I left with a full belly and a smile.

This is the first time I’ve written anything about a Unilocal event. Probably because I rarely have the opportunity to attend one due to my work schedule. Luckily I was able to make this one as it was a more intimate affair with some excellent taste treats to sample.
I am a fiend for sweets and enjoyed the nutterbutter cookies and also the homemade s’mores (the marshmallow and graham cracker cookies were made from scratch) but really went wild for their hot sandwiches. The «Graceland» (peanut butter, banana & bacon) was excellent. There was also a cheese, tomato and pesto sandwich and one with kalamata olives that were really yummy too. If you ever come to Blackmarket for a sandwich you can have one of their signature sandwiches or choose ingredients to make your own.
Great to finally meet Ryan C. and also had a nice chat with owner Rachel about the cool décor of the place and the fun events they have on Saturday nights featuring special treats. She is obviously passionate about her bakery and really enjoys creating the treats they serve. Also great to see Kelley U. again and meeting a bunch of other Unilocalers. Fun event!

Blackmarket Bakery is located in The Camp on Bristol in Costa Mesa. The location isn’t very hard to find, but parking can be a pain. On this occasion, we were lucky enough to have a person getting into her car as we were passing her spot. Score for us!
We arrived fashionably early (30 minutes) so we were able to catch up some with Ryan and introduce ourselves to Shiv … Hello! It also gave us an opportunity to go inside and plan out what baked goodies we would be purchasing at the event’s discounted price of 25 percent (love discounts!). We went back out and ran into Minerva, Duke and Elise (who had a little problem finding a parking spot). As the line started to form, we also met Kelley, Mark and Donald (looking fit man!) Donald compared our weight loss notes from the last time we ran into each other (the House of Blues Event) and I think he has a slight advantage over me.
Once the event opened there were several new menu items to try:
Handsome Italian Toasted Sandwich
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Graceland Toasted Sandwich
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NutterButter Redux
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Flourless Walnut Mudslides
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Torched S’mores
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Kalmata Olive Sourdough
(This is where my iphone decided to take a siesta! Damn I need a new battery or phone!)
Elise was manning the beer and wine table the whole event serving three types of beer in addition to red and white wine.
Both the sandwiches were very good, but I give a slight edge to the Graceland. As the name implies it is a take on Elvis’s favorite sandwich — Peanut Butter, Banana and Bacon. I am a sucker for «Sweet and Savory» and Elvis knew what he was doing when he came up with this gem! The Blackmarket Bakery’s rendition is a Billboard Chart Topper.
Rohlinism: Elvis was the King … of sweet and savory!
Out of the NutterButter Redux and Flourless Walnut Mudslides, the clear winner were the Mudslides. When my wife loves sampling anything with nuts in it (Walnuts no less) and purchases it on the way out, you know you have created something special. The NutterButters were good, but I just didn’t think they stood out. Probably the least favorite of the items was the S’mores. I know … how can I not like S’mores? The marshmallow was really good and I liked the on the spot torching, but the chocolate sauce and graham cracker cookie just didn’t work for me. I am used to the melted Hersey bar pieces and I didn’t think the sauce was a good substitute and something about the cookie just didn’t agree with my palate. I have to give it to Rachel for hanging in their the whole event and torching up those S’mores. The Kalmata Olive Sourdough was another excellent item. It was served with cheese, tomatoes and pesto and all the flavors were wonderful together. While inside, I ran into Jaime, Hope, Jorge (Still smiling, but it has only been a month or so, that ball and chain needs some more time to tighten around his neck), Vy and Matt. It was great talking movies with Matt during the event and just hanging out with my fellow Unilocalers in general.
Sadly, we could not stay until the end (I could hear Kaya calling all the way from Mission Viejo), so we decided to take care advantage of the 25 percent off of baked goods and bought the following:
Box of Caramel Corn
Flourless Walnut Mudslide Drop Cookie
Praline Drop Cookie
Black Widow Tart
Chocolate Pecan Muffin
Happy with our haul, we said our goodbyes and headed home to our four legged family member.
As always I would like to thank Ryan, Shiv and Elise for setting this event up and manning the stations and Rachel and the staff at Blackmarket Bakery for hosting another great Elite Event. I know there was a long wait list for this event because the store is small and there were less than 50 people allowed in, so I feel very privileged to have been in attendance!

Thanks for putting on the great event. I have wandered in to the bakery previously, but never ordered anything. Well… that is going to change.
The owner was out front making fresh ‘smores, they put out a yummy peanut nutter sandwich cookie and a flourless chocolate cookie (Passover treats anyone?) as well as bites from a pair of savory sandwiches. Toss in a bit of beer and wine and very short guest list and it was a great mid-​week break from the usual routine.
I even brought home a coupe of berry goodies for the girls.

Sweet and Savory tasty treats made this YEE at Blackmarket Bakery a definite five star event! We could all smell the yummy goodness as we entered the bakery.

Such cool and delicious samplings to include Torched S’Mores, Flourless Walnut Mudslides, Peanut Nutter Butters, Graceland Toasted Sandwiches and Handsome Italian Toasted Sandwiches. Owner/​Chef Rachel was working hard torching S’Mores and making sure everyone was enjoying themselves at the event.
My favorite sweet treat had to be the Peanut Butter Nutters!
We were also able to sample from the delicious wines and beers that we available.
And yes, wine and S’Mores are a good pairing ;)
A discount was provided on the pastries for take home goodies.

As always, it was great to chat with Unilocal friends, Donald, Laina, Rohlin, Kent, Minerva, Duke, Ryan, Tim, and Betty. Nice to meet lots of new Unilocalers at this event, also. We all enjoyed the wonderful tastings Blackmarket Bakery provided for us.
Thank you, Ryan, Elise, Shiv, Chef Rachel and Blackmarket Bakery staff for making Unilocal Elites so lucky to attend these awesome five star events!

This was my first time at Blackmarket Bakery and it was great!!! The hot mess is great, the pepper jack and roasted red belll pepper on their dutch crunch compliments the texture and suttle flavor of the mushrooms and the saltiness of the bacon. I’m glad this was my first Unilocal Elite Event. The staff was very polite and I recommend anything from the bakery cause I literally got one of everything and I’m now sitting in my living room at 11pm with one pastry left… only a couple of hours after leaving… like always it was good to see some new faces and I hope to meet more of my fellow Unilocalers in future events as I enjoy putting a face to a review/​photo/​quick tip/​awkward stare.

This lucky Elite Unilocaler decided to come out of hibernation and it couldn’t have come at a better time, because tonight’s event at Black Market Bakery was AWESOME!
As soon as I stepped inside, i could smell the sweet aroma of toasted marshmallows. I followed the tantalizing aroma to where Chef Rachel was torching up fresh s’mores for everyone to enjoy. How cool was that?! But it didn’t end there, we also indulged in chunky nutter butter cookies, super chocolatey flourless walnut mudslides, savory roasted peppers on grilled cheese and my personal favorite, the Graceland! Yes, peanut butter, bananas and crisp bacon sandwiched between two beautifully toasted pieces of bread, …sooooo goood!
In honor of the event, the fine folks at Black Market Bakery were also offering 25% off their pastries and baked goods all night, so you could enjoy all that yumminess for later.
Elise V was servin’ FREE Stella, Blue Moon and Corona throughout the night and the bakery was poppin!
I had a blast chatting with new friends Nicole and Milee, while catching up with my friends Kelley & Mark was a lot of fun.
Big thanks to our kick ass CM Ryan C for putting this all together for us and special thanks to Black market Bakery for hosting this memorable event.
I had an incredible time!
Happy Times & Happy Eats!