The first thing a diner will likely notice when walking into Lucky Oven Bakery (5401 Penn Av. S., Mpls., luckyovenbakery.com), besides the fragrance of baking pastries, is a wall covered in 54 Easy-Bake Ovens, many of them decades old.
It's an ode to the humble beginnings of proprietor Kristy Dirk, who, like many pastry chefs, started her baking "career" with the culinary toy. Since then, she's worked at the likes of Salty Tart and Red Wagon Pizza Co. across the street, steppingstones that led to the opening of her own bakery and cafe, which debuted in a former dry-cleaner shop late last month.
"I like feeding people, and I just wanted the place to be really happy, really warm, and a place where people feel at home," Dirk said. "The neighborhood has been super-receptive."
Her new nook features a range of sweet and savory pastries, including brioche rolls, tarts, scones, muffins, cakes and cupcakes — with plans to expand into breads and croissants as soon as Dirk & Co. are able to keep up with the demand for Lucky Oven's other focus: breakfast and lunch.
The breads Dirk is making are all aimed at dishes served at the bakery's handful of cafe tables from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.
On the menu are such dishes as sourdough pancakes, roasted mushroom and braised greens Benedicts with house-made English muffins, and corned beef sandwiches on fresh rye. A couple of gluten-free treats, such as a coffee cake and peanut butter sandwich cookies, are also on display.
Dirk plans to add more options, as well as wine and beer, once the license is finalized this week.
It's a far cry from what Dirk was churning out on the Easy-Bake — she has one of the 1978 square gold models that so marked her childhood — although there, too, she pushed the limits.
