Bakery hours are Tuesdays 9-5, Wednesdays 9-5:30, Thursdays and Fridays 9-6, Saturdays 9-5 and Sundays 11-4.

Second Avenue Sweets
Foods from Second Avenue Sweets
Comments

2012 May 17
I wish I'd read a review on this place before going.. Had the worst cupcake of my life today, French Vanilla crap.. is what it should have been called.

The icing was as Tiana describes, lard like. I too threw it out, and let me tell you. I love my sweets. I took one bite and that was it. I can't unforget how horrible it was.

I even tried to salvage the experience by eating the bottom part of the cupcake but even a bite of that wasn't worth eating.

How are they still selling these? WHO eats them. horrid!

The other purchase was a Pecan pie square.. having had dedacant chocolate pecan pie from Thyme and Again I know how well this can be made. It was off, pecans were soft, and the piece just didn't have great flavor. Had half.

Oddest thing, I asked the cashier for napkins.. and the apparently don't have any.. WTF.

2012 Feb 17
Today my colleague brought in a box of cookies from SAS for a farewell party. I tried 3 types: lemon glazed with pecan, gingersnap and chocolate chips.

The lemon glazed with pecan was extremely delicious, just the right balance of crunchiness and moisture, not too sweet like most North American cookies are and great pecan taste! Gingersnap is so so, little bit too much brown sugar, I only ate the rim. Chocolate chips is delicious as well.

I'd definitely go back to get more cookies!

2011 Aug 9
Today I bought the chocolate toffee crunch cupcake and it was NOT AT ALL as described below.

The chocolate cupcake was very moist but not very chocolatey. It was not filled with ganache, which is ok. The frosting was... probably the grossest thing I've ever had in my life. I'm not sure what flavour is was supposed to be but it tasted like lightly sweetened lard. It had a thick, smooth, concealed texture and was so revolting that I actually THREW OUT THE REST OF THE CUPCAKE.

Did you read that? Because I never thought I would do that in my life but it was THAT awful. I really regret spending $3 on that. I really hope it was just a bad day thing but I'm not willing to try their cupcakes again unless someone else is footing the bill.

I wish I had gone with my gut and got the caramel pecan brownie but the size and 'rustic' look of the cupcake was endearing.

2011 Mar 31
Im doing a co op in this bakery and I must say that all of their products are tasty. I may be young and don't have much experience in the baking world but Pete's breads are amazing. Not dry at all. So simple and I even find the older it is the softer it is. My opinion.

2010 Dec 17
This is one of my new fave places for one reason only: their flourless chocolate cake.

It is absolutely divine!

They are little individual one-size portions although I find them too rich to eat in one sitting so personally they are definitely a sharing dessert or a finish-over-two-meals dessert.

I also tried a handful of other desserts from SAS which were okay but nothing to write home about. The flourless chocolate cake though ... yum yum yum!

2010 Mar 24
Cupcakes- something SAS makes a good number of. My favourite has always been the chocolate toffee crunch cupcake, which is a chocolate cupcake (large sized) with a caramel ganache inside, light vanilla frosting, and crunchy toffee on top. The plain chocolate cupcake is choclate with chocolate ganache. Generally I have liked the moistness and the size (the are 3$ each) as well as the centre ganache. The chocolate and vanilla ones are fairly plain though, not really worth the price tag. I believe they are fairly similar to SAS's vanilla and chocolate cakes respectively. With a new cupcakery set to open nearby, hopefully SAS will try and freshen up the plain vanilla/chocolate offerings.

2009 Sep 12
In Japan, we make creme caramel just as Pete described. Here is link to show you a serving image.
japanesefood.about.com

2009 Sep 12
That makes SO MUCH more sense!

I had the rest of it inverted, and it makes a big difference... instead of eating the eggy part and wondering what the liquidy stuff is. I've obviously only been served this, not the other way around!

It's actually not bad, when you know how to eat it. Tastes more like caramel and less like egg. I don't think I'd get it again, though.

2009 Sep 12
Embean - A Crème Caramel is supposed to be in two parts... a relatively thin caramel sauce and solidified eggy light custard. It is prepared, as in your picture (caramel on bottom, custard on top), but is normally 'inverted' when served, onto a serving dish, so that the caramel spills all over the place. Sometimes this is tricky, and makes a mess when you tip it. One way to help it is to warm the container just slightly and it should just slip out. If you've had crème brûlée, the custard of a crème brûlée should be much richer and creamier than a creme caramel custard.

2009 Sep 12
So, I finally checked this place out, mostly because I heard they had salted caramels. I got:

1) Salted caramels
2) Lemon squares
3) A creme caramel.

Salted caramels are just okay, I'd probably get them again just because I can't find them anywhere else in Ottawa. But they are EXTREMELY goopy, I was hoping for something a bit more substantial. They are almost liquidy if you don't refrigerate them. I know caramel can be hard to work with, but if it's tempered properly, it's not a problem. I don't know why they chose this consistency, but oh well.

2) I'm not a lemon person, but everyone here says these were the best so I got a couple. They are quite good, and a good balance between candy-lemony and tangy-lemony.

3) I've only had creme caramel a couple of times, so I don't have much to compare to, but I'm pretty sure this was BAD. I realize it's eggy, but all I could taste was egg, and the whole thing had separated, as in eggy-solid and caramel-liquid. It might as well have been an omelette with caramel sauce. Am I supposed to warm it up? I was eating it cold. I still have half of one so if anyone has creme caramel insight, I can give it a second chance.

I picked up the creme caramel for the heck of it, but other than the lemon squares, nothing else really looked interesting in there. All sort of blah. I think it might be a bit nicer in there if they could organize seating/a patio.

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2008 Nov 1
I've eaten croissants on my travels, including France. I agree the French Baker croissants are great. But, right there with them are the croissants from Second Avenue Sweets in the Glebe. You have to get there early to buy them as they don't make a lot each day. The chefs there are incredible.





2009 Sep 8
As near as I can tell, these are made fresh (not sure whether or not they're in store) and are delicious!!! They run only 25 cents each, or 5 for a dollar, which is a reasonable price, especially if you just want a few.





2011 Mar 27
Their lemon squares are the best I've ever had. Keep up the good work. The pride you take in your baking shows.

In response to the above postings regarding hours... well, I believe family does come first and if customers can't appreciate how hard you work during your business hours in order to get the job done and get home to your family, then that's their problem, not yours.









2012 Dec 10
Second Avenue sweets is where I order their delicious Tuscan cake. It can be served as dessert for after dinner or served as morning dessert with coffee. Freezes well...if it lasts that long!