Brown's Bakery

A hard and fast rule at C's school is that outside snacks may be brought into the classroom however they must be prepackaged and unopened.

Yet baked/boxed from a commercial vendor are perfectly acceptable.

When C recently wanted to have a little 2nd grade celebration of her 8th birthday in her class, Wifey flatly refused to go the generic cardboard boxed WalMart bakery route. Since our small town has no other commercial bakery, she turned to our favorite solution for such family dilemmas...we go retro.

Nearby my beloved's downtown OKC office building sits an unassuming bakery that is a total throwback to the service and level of quality our parents and grandparents looked for in their daily pursuit of commercial baked goods.

Ladies and Gentlemen, take a big nostalgic whiff of baked goods from a bygone era and enter the realm of family owned eateries at Brown's Bakery.

Now, while their website isn't an indicative representative of the authentic nostalgic atmosphere and style of it's retro-chic downtown location, the bakery itself is the real deal - as are the folks who work there.

Case in point. A not-quite-so-young-anymore couple saunters through the plate glass doors, and while the male of the two takes a knee weakening tour of the miles and miles of glass cases filled with baked goods of every size, shape, and caloric counting level, the female gets down to business and interfaces with the large, elderly man working his icing magic on a double-decker cake.

While no cupcakes were to be found in the display area, quicker than I can say, "bread is the butter of our lives," Wifey's request for 20 white caked cuppers with white butter cream icing and pink and purple jimmies on top was being filled before our eyes.

With nary a snarl, or huff, or sarcastic sigh from the beefy Baker to be found.

Did they taste any better or fresher than had we sunk our dollars into some Wal-Pastries? Perhaps not.

Did the kids eat the cake portion of the cupcakes with as the same enthusiasm and gusto displayed when licking off every last drop of icing. Course not.

Did I carry my gaze a little higher and step a little livelier as I presented the bevy of paper wrapped wonders to C and her class that day, knowing that we had contributed just a tad to a downtown institution of fine eats and tradition.

You betcha.