Sweet comeback by Garcia

If you have been seduced by the incredible Three Chocolate Mousse at Take the Cake, here’s some good news: Gina Garcia is opening a new bakery and cafe.

Garcia closed Take the Cake on South Sherman Avenue last month after 12 years and will reopen Monday as Bittersweet Bakery and Bistro in a new location on South Grand Boulevard. Take the Cake favorites such as the Three Chocolate Mousse, Lemon Chiffon Cake and Chocolate Marquise will still be on the menu, Garcia says. “We’re just going to add on.”

Bittersweet Bakery and Bistro will have extended hours, and they’ll keep more items on hand for eat-in or take-out, something that wasn’t possible in the smaller space on Sherman. There will be desserts, breakfast pastries, French-style crepes and salads. The bistro will have seating for about 20 people.

Before Garcia turned to pastries, she trained as a sauté chef. She also studies each year in France and will incorporate some of the dishes she’s learned into the bistro menu. “This just gives me an opportunity to offer the folks in Spokane some of the unique French food that I don’t think we have here at this time,” she says.

The name of the new bistro was inspired in part by Alice Medrich’s cookbook, “Bittersweet.” (The book also helped her choose paint colors in the new bistro.) It also describes her experience as a business owner and chef, Garcia says. “This is my dream. Owning a bakery was a wonderful dream to fulfill but this, for me, is the ultimate dream.”

Bittersweet Bakery and Bistro is located at 1220 S. Grand Boulevard. The hours will be Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 455-8658 for more information.

Where food lives

It’s something Spokane graduate Eli Penberthy wants people to know.

As part of her sociology thesis, she is offering a program in July for area high school students to visit the local farmers’ market, watch the film “Super Size Me,” and discuss the book “Fast Food Nation.”

Afterward, the students will spend the afternoon at Luna restaurant listening to guest speakers and learning to make homemade pizza and ice cream.

“In a time when fast food is the norm and huge agribusiness have made family farming obsolete, many students literally do not understand where their food comes from and do not know the importance of … meals with family and friends,” she said in an e-mail message.

Penberthy hopes to teach students the healthful and social benefits of learning to cook from scratch, appreciation for local farmers and knowledge of sustainable agriculture practices. She is a senior at Pomona College, in Claremont, Calif.

She’ll host the daylong program twice, on July 6 and July 20.

The only prerequisite is an interest in food, she said. For more information, call Penberthy at 458-3263 or 951-4361.