Crème de la Crème — Restaurant in Albuquerque

I know my review goes against the vast majority of fine reviews this establishment has received, but please take a moment to understand why I strongly disagree with the rest.

I google searched the best place to get a piece of cake in the ABQ, and this place popped up first. It’s inside Sawmill Market, a 40 minute round trip drive from our place, but what the hell, good cake is worth driving for. Arrived at 4:00 PM on a Saturday. It’s a tiny little place in the market, with several people in line and taking photos of the pastries that are adorned with real flowers.

After about ten minutes, it was our turn to order. The glass display case that looks full size in the Google photos is in fact dollhouse sized. Itty bitty. And it was mostly empty. And the deserts are TINY.

I tried to order cake, was told they sold out for the weekend already, of every cake? Oh yes Sir, they said, we sell tons and tons of them. I don’t know where they’d put them, in that dollhouse sized little display they have. So many, I said, that you’re out of inventory for the weekend before dinner time on Saturday? Obviously these folks went to Baking school, but they never went to Buisness school.

I politely asked, well when could I hope to come down again to get a slice of cake? And the man tells me, politely, that the only real way to insure I’d be lucky enough to catch a piece of this magical and elusive cake is if I ordered a whole cake, as they could hold that for me. I said, OK, how much will that be? And he says, oh about $130 or so! And then he says, if you make the slices really small, you can squeeze out 8 or more slices. Wowzers. Magical cake indeed.

At this point my girlfriend is standing next to me, excited to try SOMETHING after driving here, so I say, get whatever you’d like, honey. She just can’t have nuts (nut allergy) and they have one thing she can have, just one. (They had 15 items left for sale TOTAL in the entire display case going into a busy weekend). It was a little four inch thing, less than one inch high, with some raspberries on top. She said, OK, I’ll try it.

IT WAS SEVENTEEN BUCKS. Seventeen! We went and wandered with our new $17 treasure, trying to find a single place to sit in this overcrowded, over-priced “Sawmill Market upscale Mecca” and found a single bar chair with a ten inch ledge in front of it. She sat down, and I stayed standing directly behind her, while an unruly pack of hyperactive children raised havoc six inches away from us. I could smell the brand of shampoo the people next to us had used that day, it was New York Subway at rush hour proximity.

The desert tasted like crap. I’m sorry, it was crap. The edible crust and rim was dry, almost tasteless. The raspberries were like the ones you throw out of container because they’ve gone too soft. It has some kind of strawberry crème filling that was okay, a few ounces of it at most, and about eight raspberries on top. For seventeen dollars. I can’t get over that, I really can’t. I felt robbed, I really did, as only you can feel when you willingly spend money and then get a crappy product and poor service. More angry at yourself for being a herd mentality fool than you are at the folks that just ripped you off.

I felt stupid, honestly. I drove 40 minutes to go to a postage stamp sized place that had slow service, a horrid selection, outrageously high prices, no place to sit, and never got to try what they advertise as having and what I drove all that way to try.

We ended up going to Flying Star instead, where they had everything in the world despite being busy (their owners apparent my went to business school and don’t have the Jerry Seinfeld-esque “No Cake For You” mentality) where a huge piece of gourmet, locally-baked cake was $9, and it came with a nice peaceful place to sit down and enjoy it, too, in a nice atmosphere and fun vibe.

This little place nails all the things I try to avoid in one fell swoop- overpriced, bad selection, no ambiance, cramped tiny little quarters where you have everyone packed in like...

Customer service was incredible. All menu items were described in great detail. From everything part of each item to preparation. All items were described so you could make your decision with absolute certainty. The food is leagues above the customer service, and thats saying something considering the customer service is phenomenal. They let me taste test all the cannoli filling before I chose which variation I wanted. They were also very open about there own opinions on they favorite items to further improve your decision on what to order. They had a limited run Tiramisu cannoli that they weren't currently making but described it to me and when I showed great interest in getting some, they special made it for me that day. Now that has become the standard of customer service I want to receive anywhere I visit. As far as food I ordered, I got the amaretto cannolis and the special order tiramisu canolli. They were OUT OF THIS WORLD! Sweet but not over bearing, incredible flavor. Each bite leaving me exicted for the next, and wanting more. The next morning I went back to try their breakfast. So many options from creme` filled croinuts, to croissant egg cheese and ham sandwiches. I went with the croissant sandwhich. It was everything I've ever wanted in a breakfast sandwich. Crispy and buttery croissant. Stretchy and gooey cheese. Full flavor ham that complimented the flavors of all the other ingredients adding a nice salty flavor profile to the sweet croissant. The best part was the eggs. French prepared scrambled eggs. Fluffy, buttery, moist, incredible melt in your mouth feel. I love this bakery and I will visit every time I visit Albuquerque. I recommend and urge everyone who visits the Sawmill Market to try anything on the menu and experience the incredible customer service and phenomenal...

Armani's creations are surely the Stradivarius of culinary confections, - Watching his talents, creativity and artistry evolve over the years has been truly mind blowing, and what once started as a pop up crème brûlée booth has grown into an empire of avant-garde luxurious elegance on a silver platter with offerings so aesthetically exquisite, they are almost too beautiful to eat. It's not just the glamorous arrangement of edible flowers and gold leaf and glitter befitting of Marie Antionette herself, or even the unmistakably superior ingredients and eloquent flavor profiles, but the overall inventive composition and imaginative design of each and every creation that leaves you simultaneously dazzled and speechless. Every bite is sheer poetry suitable for a King. I never have to wonder whether or not I am going to be completely wow'ed with each and every bite of absolutely anything and everything I try - every heavenly confection Armani puts his hand and his heart to is pure opulence dripping with lavish grandiosity in not only appearance, but depth, texture, and substance. Every ingredient is going to be top tier, and rest assured there is always always always something coming up in the days and weeks to come that Armani is preparing which will be unquestionably rare and magnificent and what culinary dreams are made of. Trust me, THE FORCE is STRONG with this one ~ Créme de la Créme is THE place that is always on my lips to recommend to any and all who are looking for an elevated foodie experience...