Pastries on Main

Sometimes destiny just smacks you in the face, makes you stand up straight to pay attention, and then guides you blissfully into something sweet. I had not intended to pass through Tooele a few weeks ago. In fact, I circumvented the town on my way to Deseret Peak Wilderness in favor of a more direct route through Grantsville. When the road up South Willow Canyon was closed for flood concerns, the pup and I had to sidestep to salvage our hillromp. Never fear, we still clowned around west of Clover Springs and stretched our long-​weary winter legs.
When the skies started to threaten rain I packed up the pooch into the pickup and mapped our trip home through Tooele. It’s a charming old Main Street, so I was looking forward to the drive. It was a change of plans, but a welcome one.
On my way down Main Street I was admiring the shops and surfing the Unilocal app for a spot to grab a chocolate banana shake. I’m a sucker for small-​town burger joints, you see, and I often find real, honest, greasy food to be the perfect way to end a day of outdoor fun. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw the word «pastries» and I gave the brakes a quick pump so my brain could verify the eyeball report. Sure enough, there above the windows: «Pastries on Main.»
Well, at this point I was certainly powerless to protest a pastry pit stop, so I parked and popped in. The shop is small; a bank of bakery cases, a cashier, and a few café tables to sit and enjoy your treat. It’s a new store, so it’s décor is fresh without trying too hard and it was clean and tidy.
Here came the hard part — decision time. The cases were full of honest-​to-​goodness pastries including streudel, croissants, and lots of other fancy to semi-​fancy treats. Although each looked delicious, the overall theme can’t be pinned into a category like «French bakery» or «breakfast pastries.» There’s a large sampling with several well-​known and well-​made treats. Nothing’s too exotic and everyone in the family can get something they like.
I selected a large raspberry streudel and dove in like I thought there was a prize at the end. Turns out the prize was given every bite of the way. Delicious, sweet, moist, and *just enough* raspberry filling to delight but not overpower.
As it turns out, the pastry shop is a sister-​project to Sostanza, a well-​reviewed restaurant next door and their pastry chef masterminds the baking at both locations.
Were it closer, I would have been back already. It’s hard to justify the drive to Tooele for a pastry (although longer drives have been made for lesser foods) especially when Salt Lake has some great bakeries in its own right. But Pastries on Main is definitely worth a detour. Sit and sip your coffee while you chew a croissant, or grab a dozen delights to go. For me, it was a serendipitous way to put a delicious end to my day-​trip.