As
I experienced my first directly-from-the-source Martino’s
tea cake experience, I wondered why the bakery has not
boasted about their tea cakes, using them as a marketing
tool for profitability. Why have they kept their
signature product on the down-low, so to speak?
It’s been a mystery to me.
Even
before my first visit, I Googled “Martino’s Bakery”
with hopes of hundreds of hits worth of stunning write-ups,
rave reviews, and personal home pages dedicated to the
legendary tea cake. The actual results:
1)
An article on Inc.com explaining the unfortunate reasons
for Martino’s temporary closing in April of 1998.
I think the parties involved should have had a tea
cake eating contest to resolve the issues, no hands
allowed. Much laughing would have ensued, then
napping.
2) PubCrawler.com informing me that there are
“6 Beer Places within 5 miles” of Martino’s Bakery.
Thank you, PubCrawler. Next time I go for tea
cakes I’ll be sure to pair them with a nice chocolaty
stout for contrast.
3)
A website called TakeoutEZ, which posts menus and
expedites ordering for food service establishments
who sign up for the service. Martino’s has apparently
registered for the free basic service, but “has not
entered their information.” Bummer.
4) The Cheap Eats LA section on deconcierge.com
featuring Billy’s Deli of Glendale on their A to Z
guide. Here we have our first mention of tea
cakes! Billy sells Martino’s tea cakes at his
deli for a near 50% profit. Billy knows a good
tea cake when he sees one, and he is taking advantage.
5)
Citysearch.com Best Bakery results: Martino’s
as a bakery is rated 8.7 out of 10 (not bad), but
I was unable to find any member reviews on the bakery.
Nary a tea cake mentioned.
OK,
I obviously wasn’t getting the results I had hoped for.
I tried searching for “Martino’s tea cakes” instead.
Only one hit: a personal webpage by a guy named
Steve with a link to photos of what seems to be day
camp. One photo, actually titled “Martino’s tea
cakes!” shows rows of the boxed goodies (they
look authentic) at what appears to be camp registration.
This photo alone has been viewed 77 times. This
is what I’m talking about! Thank you, Steve, for
your small but truly passionate tribute. But I
wanted more.
So,
I searched “Martino’s Bakery” + “tea cakes,” and all
combinations thereof. I found one more restaurant
that features the cakes on their menu: Dish in
La Canada. Getting there…
Then,
I omitted the apostrophe in “Martino’s.” This
last step led me to the most anticipated hit of all:
The Original Martino’s Bakery Webpage. As I waited
for the page to load, I had hopes of a giant tea cake
photo, perhaps animated, gracing the opening window.
However, to my disappointment, the page is under construction
(although there is a nice little introductory story
briefly describing the bakery’s history). Sigh…
A
little more detective work found me searching “tea cake”
in the archives of the LA Times webpage.
To my surprise, an article about the re-opening of the
bakery in 1999 was featured in the Times’ Food
section some 5 years ago. The title intrigued
me, but latimes.com only teased me with a small excerpt
from the archived article, prompting me to pay $2.95
to purchase 60 days worth of access to the entire content.
I actually considered paying the price, but the registration
process was too annoyingly time consuming that I gave
up. But I took my free excerpt, which made me
happy.
From
“The Return of the Burbank Tea Cake” by Amelia Saltsman,
Los Angeles Times Food Section, October 1999:
The
baked goods case near the door stood empty.
Everyone who walked into the new Martino's Bakery
midday on a recent Wednesday--myself included--worried
that the tea cakes were sold out on opening day.
Those familiar with the venerable Burbank bakery,
which closed in 1998, knows these “world
famous tea cakes”
put Martino's on the map.
World
famous! I knew it! This is what I’ve been
trying to say the whole time! But where is the
evidence of all this world famous-ness? Does the
Pope enjoy a secret pact with Martino’s so he can chow
on a few shipped tea cakes every morning for a power
breakfast? Perhaps the Queen of England quietly
hoards Martino’s tea cakes, in dozens, to bring out
at tea-time every afternoon. And if the bakery
is so “venerable” why aren’t these tea cakes marketed
in a more profitable manner? I don’t know.
It just doesn’t make sense. How can something
this good not be plastered all over the internet, or
on billboards along the 101 and the I-5, in the fashion
of Andersen’s Pea Soup?
It
simply must be that Martino’s, and the city of Burbank,
are humbly proud of their precious tea cake, and deservedly
so. There are no low-budget TV commercials with
cheesy jingles featuring Martino’s treats. The
street corner nearest the bakery is vacant of a dancing
temp employee donning a tea cake costume holding a giant
arrow-sign pointing toward the building. I sort
of consider myself lucky to know about these celebrated
confectionaries, and I guess the last thing I would
want is for Martino’s Bakery to sell out and become
a tourist attraction. That would mean longer lines.
Kristin
can be reached at kristin@babblog.com. |
