Salty Tart

Never in my life have I had such incredible pasty! I have yet to try something there even remotely boring. The prices are a little higher than normal, yes, but when you taste it, you’ll know where that extra money went! The other bakeries in town have got NOTHING on Salty Tart.
Keep up the awesomeness!

The girl who serviced us was impatient with us when we asked her about the food pics on Unilocal… We ordered pumpkin tart which was creamy but very sweet.

Soooooo close to five stars. I think the only thing holding me back is the price point, but I really struggled with this one. Why? Because the take ‘n bake chocolate chip cookies were truly ASTOUNDING. Top 5 chocolate chip cookie of ALL TIME. Buttery and brown sugary and chocolately and floury and oh man were they good.
Picked up a few items for family, and my father-​in-​law (who has some incredibly sensitive and dialed-​in tastebuds) had nothing but great things to say about the blueberry cobbler/​crumble/​pie. He said it was delicious.
Had to stop in while I drove through the Twin Cities after reading that this place was the 7^th best bakery in the U.S. according to so-​and-​so whatever-​dot-​com.
Turns out these guys know what they’re doing. If I’m back in Minneapolis, I’m heading right for this joint to get more of those take ‘n bake chocolate chip cookies. WOW.

Better than your usual walk-​up bakery in a food mall. It was not easy to find in the mall, as the sign was not too obvious. I came late in the day looking for fresh bread and the choices were pretty meager — normal for the time of day. The bread I got was excellent. Pastry was good too — chocolate cake was very good.

We stopped by the Salty Tart stand early one morning before most of the Midtown Global Market was open for a quick breakfast and, well, we walked away with way more than breakfast.
While taking in my options, it was hard to decide. I ended up with breakfast and then some. I grabbed a rhubarb tart, ham and cheese croissant, macaroons and a baguette and rhubarb pastry from the «day old» basket. Items in the day old basket were only $ 1.50, so quite a deal. For breakfast that morning I had the ham and cheese croissant and rhubarb tart (because I decided breakfast should have dessert). The tart was yummy (I’m a big fan of rhubarb). But there are no words to describe the croissant. It’s like Salty Tart has somehow reinvented this simple sandwich but I have no idea how they did it. The cheese is baked into the bread on top… and there was mayo inside… it was magical. All I can say is that croissant was so good I went back for another one to eat on the plane ride home the next morning (when I also had my rhubarb pastry for dessert). I am happy to report that altitude does not affect the taste of Salty Tart’s creations.
The baguette came in handy as a snack throughout the day while we hit up a few breweries. The macaroons traveled well and were enjoyed after I returned home a few days later. They were still good despite not being the freshest but I thought they were a bit pricey at $ 6 for only 4.
Next time I’m in Minneapolis I will definitely be back for more. I didn’t even get into the chocolate cupcakes. And I’ll need about 5 more ham and cheese croissants.

I love this place! It’s so cute, girly, and a little hipster. Get their almond croissant with strawberry. It’s so flaky, buttery, light (not on the calories I bet…) and sweet. I also tried the passionfruit tart and liked the whipped cream.
Their macaroons are worth the hype. The texture is dense and moist on the inside and really fun to chew through. MMM. I’ll have to come back again.
It’s a bit pricey ($ 6 for 4 macaroons).
As the bag that came with my croissant said: «TREAT YO SELF.»
(P.S. probably skipping lunch today…)

If you gave this place anything less than 4 stars, then you probably should try again.
I am a huge cupcake fan and basically anyone can win me over in any situation with a cupcake. I have been all over the city trying cupcakes of all sorts. When I found out that Salty Tart was nominated this year for a James Beard, I couldn’t help but go there.
While I am not a fan of Midtown Global Market at all, I am a fan of Salty Tart. This place deserves a bigger venue than a little stand in the middle of the market in my opinion. I naturally ordered two cupcakes. One was a soy/​vegan chocolate cupcake and another was a red-​velvety cupcake. I never would order a soy/​vegan cupcake but I thought that then an bf could try it. Fortunately for me, I got to eat both. I devoured mine immediately the next day and then his a few days later. They were packaged in a plastic two-​cupcake container and I put them promptly in the refrigerator. After a few days, the cupcake was still moist and delicious. So, my vote for the most delicious cupcakes in the city in my opinion.
The only thing keeping me from going here more frequently is the location.
I heard they have a stand at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings now that the season has begun, so I will most likely be frequenting that venue for a while.

I went to try the coconut macaroon and they did not disappoint. I will return for more before leaving town. The big surprise was the quiche: it was awesome!!! If I return to Minneapolis again I will definitely put this on my list to return each time!

Like another reviewer mentioned, I’m surprised at the amount of 5 stars for this bakery. I work near the Global Market, so I’ve tried several things at Salty Tart over the years, and have been pretty underwhelmed by most of it. The sweets I have tried (cupcakes, cream filled brioche, cookies) have all been pretty dry and devoid of flavor. I kept trying them because everyone raves about them. The only sweet/​pastry that has actually lived up to the hype are the meringues — crispy outside, gooey inside.
I would have given them a lower rating except for one item that is amazing — their milk buns. I’m disappointed that they don’t have them anymore (you have to special order them), but if you are having a cookout, order some! They are the perfect!

Love it!!! The baguettes are out of this world and the croissants make me smile. We got the chocolate mousse cake and the flourless chocolate cupcakes– divine!
I love that they sell real vanilla beans too.
It’s seriously impossible to go wrong here.

This place is extremely highly rated and has a good reputation so I was excited to try it! I stood at the counter for about 5 minutes before anyone helped me. It was about 4 pm on a Saturday so it’s not like it was about to close or anything. There were 3 employees back there and they all looked at me multiple times before anyone came over to help me. Service wasn’t friendly either, no apology for the wait.
I ordered the Surly cupcake. The frosting was hard, so I thought maybe I neded to let it get to room temp or something. Still hard. The cupcake was not moist either. The only thing that was good was the filling. I kept the cupcake around for a day and tried it several times but still it was not good. I don’t know what was wrong with it but my experience was very disappointing.

***Salty Tart is very well regarded and is run by a talented pastry chef; unfortunately, I felt their pastry cream filled brioche and cupcakes did not live up to this bakery’s reputation***
Salty Tart is from an acclaimed James Beard award nominated chef though it is not a restaurant. It is a bakery stand in a mercado called Midtown Global Market – a collection of international eateries and groceries (it reminds me of Grand Central Market in Downtown Los Angeles). This bakery stand features breakfast pastries, cupcakes, cakes by the slice, and whole cakes.
I did not think many of their pastries and desserts looked great so I opted for what the staff recommended. I had their pastry cream filled brioche, which was okay. I thought there was too much sugar covering the pastry and the sugar crystals were a tad too identifiable. The pastry cream was fine and the flavor of the brioche was appetizing though I felt the brioche was slightly dense.
Their chocolate cupcake was filled with dulce de leche. Unfortunately, there was not any filling in the cupcake. I think it all dried out. The cupcake was not very moist, but it was not dry either. The flavor of the cupcake was fine.
Salty Tart also sells wrapped caramels and they were good.
Service was friendly and quick.
Prices are not too high given this bakery’s reputation.
Salty Tart is an okay bakery, but it was disappointing given this bakery’s strong reputation. I have been to several good bakeries across the country (like Ken’s in Portland, Oregon and b. Patisserie in San Francisco), but I felt Salty Tart (while serviceable) did not really measure up well against those other great bakeries.
Metered street parking (via coins) is available. You can also find parking across the street in a big parking structure. I think the parking is free as long as you run the parking ticket inside the Midtown Global Market and do not stay too long.

Small bakery that makes great croissants. Almost as good as Rustica, which is my favorite bakery in the MSP metro.
Small space limits the amount/​variety of products available at any given time this is also why they’re a 4 star bakery and not 5.

Chocalate cake: very rich, decadent
Crème Brûlée: absolutely delicious, texture very rich. To die for. BEST crème brûlée I’ve ever had! If your gonna try anything at salty tart, definitely try the crème brûlée

Anyone giving Salty Tart less than ⁵⁄₅ should have their head examined.
Ok, maybe if all you got was the custard filled brioche that is covered in sugar, it was very good but not face melting. But the croissants. The tarts. The macaroons. The… everything else. Best ham/​cheese croissant I’ve ever had by far. Mushroom/​brie (wait, was it brie? Crap.) croissant, amazing. Chocolate croissant, damn.
The noises my coworkers have made while eating this stuff could be dub over in xxx flicks.
Very friendly people. Reasonable prices for the size and quality.
Easy top 5 bakery in the TC.

So after a horrendous disaster of a meal at Birchwood, we steam closer to our end goal in the art fair with a stop at Midtown Global Market. My first experience here, but, loads of bookmarks to hit up, starting with this amazing gem.
I’m amazed my woman picks the vanilla-​lemon cake as opposed to the Surly cupcakes, but I’m assured next time she’s getting those. I opt for the blueberry vanilla cheese cake bars.
The cake was pretty damn good. It’s a cold served cake so the frosting is a bit chilled, which I love. However, it does make the cake itself kind of fall apart which we had a few issues with. The lemon frosting that runs through it was really good too. Very soft, but, it does crumble quite easily from the chilling and it does cool the flavors down a bit. It’s good, and I get the chilled cake with the lemon to try and give a cooling lemon flavor, but the texture of the cake needs to be touched up a bit to stop it from falling apart and being touch to actually pick up.
The cheese cake bar was as good as it gets. Perfect, really and 2^nd to none from the bars I’ve had (I’d be interested to put it in a cage with some swords with the rhubarb bar from French Meadow and see who comes out victorious though) in my food adventures. Amazing creamy flavor, perfect tarty-​sweetness from the berries and an incredible crust with just enough crunch. If we delivered these to the middle east, there’d be no war, lets just put it that way.
Next time I’m in Midtown Global, I’ll be back to wreck some more baked items from Salty Tart, bank that.

I was looking for Salty Tart’s hours of operation the other day and realized that due to some GROSS OVERSIGHT on my part, I had only given them four stars. WHAT? My 2012 self should be ashamed.
I really, really love this place and it’s one of my favorite bakeries in the Twin Cities. And I’ve eaten pretty much all the things there. Favorites include the ham and gruyère croissant (rivals P46, and I’ve eaten both in the last seven days… so I feel I have the necessary information to compare), the salted caramel chocolate ganache tarte (rich as f*@&, but really amazing) and the brown butter tart with blueberries, which I thought had been retired from their bakery forever until my sister special ordered it for my bachelorette party a couple of weeks ago (UM, BEST SISTER AWARD).
Anyhoo, I officially want to five-​star everything Michelle Gayer touches.

I have been saying for years I like to eat chocolate chip cookies when I drink beer. For some reason I like it. Lo and behold, this place has a Surly Furious cupcake. So I am not crazy. That cupcake was darn good. The cake part had a very smooth, sweeth choco-​latness to it that really stood out. The Furious is subtle until the end, then you really taste it. The cupcake was perfectly moist (I HATE dry cupcakes!)
Got some milk bread buns for burgers later. Tasty. Long line but moved quick.
Only knocking one star because $ 3.25 for the size cupcake I got was a bit ridic…

Would have probably given 3 stars if the website, Unilocal reviews and slot holder on the top bakery in the country list hadn’t had my expectations a little/​lot higher. Plus we made a special trip just to visit the Salty Tart, parking in a busy ramp and getting our ticket validated. Not worth the effort.
The website is amazing. The tiny counter in the middle of busy Midtown Global market is not. Shouldn’t these things correlate?
I was also not wowed by anything I tried. The salty caramel tart’s crust was dry and crumbly. The pear galette was flakey, but lacking in flavor. The coconut macaroon was good. The bread pudding was satisfying, but didn’t leave me dreaming about it. I did really like the cheese and spinach quiche. Great flavor and crust. But… they give it to you in a paper cookie bag. No warming it up, or plate and fork. That’s fine if you are taking it home. We were starving and wanting to eat now! Sitting in a cafeteria setting was also not what I was expecting.
Looking for outstanding baked goods with atmosphere and service, I recommend Patisserie 46. Skip the Salty Tart.

Salty Tart is one of those places that I will make time for and if I don’t have time stop by anyways. A good cupcake seems pretty easy to come by lately but there is something about the simple but fresh combinations and the texture of the butter cream frosting that cannot be replicated. It is slightly chilled but still smooth and delectable.
My personal favorite cupcake is the Surly Chocolate. Simple but locally inspired. I wish I could give a more well rounded review but I never get past the cupcakes to try anything else. The staff is friendly and quick and the shop itself is quirky and cute.