MB Bakery on the Go is a Big Slice of Heaven
34 years ago, Maribeth opened a stand at the Alexandria Old Town Farmer’s Market, back when farmer’s markets weren’t all the rage.
Alexandria, VA – I hope, that when I die, heaven serves cinnablobs from Maribeth’s Bakery!!!! Better yet, she provides a full assortment of her baked goods. If you’ve not heard of MB Bakery on the Go, don’t feel bad. Until recently, you could only find her baked goods at the Old Town Farmer’s Market on Saturdays or in one of the hospitality suites at the Nationals, Blair House, etc. Now, MB Bakery on the Go is available to everyone via pickup or delivery at her facility on Colvin St. or at the farmer’s market.
Just a brief history. Maribeth was baking for coworkers and family when somebody said, hey, why don’t you sell your stuff to others. So, some 34 years ago, Maribeth opened a stand at the Alexandria Old Town Farmer’s Market, back when farmer’s markets weren’t all the rage. Her journey took her from being a farmer’s market vendor to a company with a large footprint in the Washington DC metropolitan area’s wholesale bakery industry and is a Certified Woman-Owned company. After about 30 years, they bought and built out a production facility to call home in Alexandria, VA. This facility has lots of room for baking and decorating her amazing products. The third floor houses her office, filled with Nationals bobbleheads and a pair of love birds.
Here are few factoids from her website:
· The bakery buys butter a ton at a time and her facility has plenty of walk-in space to store it.
· Of nine employees who have been with the company the longest, seven have become citizens while working there.
· Maribeth has a big, loyal, and protective dog aptly named “Cookie.”
· The same person has been mixing their cakes for over 30 years and the same hands have been rolling croissants for just about as many.
How do I describe their baked goods? There are so many ways. They are yummy, scrumptious, gooey, creamy, chunky, fruity, cinnamon-y, chocolatey, crunchy, and everything more! Let’s start with pop tarts. The flaky crust comes in so many varieties and assortments that you surely can find one you like. Right now, my faves are the strawberry rhubarb topped with candied pieces of rhubarb atop the frosting and the raspberry with sprinkles. Then again, there’s the cookies and cream to consider. The flavors leave no doubt in your mind that these are not those store-bought cardboard imitations.
Then there are the pies. Again, so many choices of flavors and sizes. But one thing for sure, they are all made with the most wonderful of flaky pie crusts that even your grandma’s pies would be jealous. Size-wise, they run from the full-fledged beauties to the 4” ones in chocolate pecan bourbon, peach with brown sugar and oatmeal streusel, cherry lattice, and classic apple that you can share with someone. Then there are the mighty one bites, well, maybe two-bites. You can just pop those in your mouth and not have to share. The full-size pies are 9” made with that same flaky crust and come filled with so many choices like the classic apple, strawberry rhubarb streusel, cherry lattice, pecan or chocolate pecan bourbon, triple berry, peach with almond streusel, and blueberry lattice. Drop the pie pan!
Speaking of cheesecakes… Name a flavor and you can probably find it among the beauties available. Chocolate marble, pumpkin ginger, caramel apple, cookies and cream, or a super extravaganza of slices. Cookies come in both traditional assortments such as oatmeal, chocolate chip, ginger, and snickerdoodles and amazing hand decorated versions including back to school, Labor Day, and Barnyard Friends.
Like any good bakery, MB makes a wide assortment of breads including buttermilk and oatmeal, whole wheat, soft sandwich, multigrain, seeded, and wild rice and sunflower loaves. There are whole wheat pull and yeast pull apart rolls, slider, split top sausage and hot dog rolls, and hamburger buns. On Friday, you can pick up an eggy challah bread or two.
Back to those Cinnablobs. When Maribeth’s nimble bakery elves finish making their delectable croissants (including plain, almond, and cinnamon) and the amazing Danish style pastries, they had a lot of leftover rich pastry dough left over. Maribeth challenged her team to come up with a solution for using these tasty scraps. The result was the Cinnablob. Imagine if you will, a monkey bread style pastry made with scraps of buttery dough rolled in cinnamon sugar and baked into blobs of sticky, caramelized, pieces of goodness. Truly a gift from the goddess known as Maribeth.
By the way, the bakery also sells a variety of baking products including both bread and all-purpose whole wheat and white flour, brown and white sugar, and yeast. MB Bakery on the Go delivers to the Alexandria area from Crystal City to Mount Vernon. Customers outside this zone can arrange for curbside pick-up or special delivery.
I couldn’t agree more with Maribeth when she says, MB Bakery on the Go delivers, in every sense of the word.
Would you like your restaurant reviewed? Contact [email protected]
