Bare Naked Bakery — Restaurant in Town of Hempstead

Bare Naked Bakery is a little slice of GF heaven for me. First of all, it's a full and proper eatery, with plenty of seating and nice decor. Most GF bakeries I have been to are just store fronts with cases of baked goods. This was much larger and cozy feeling.

There were a lot of offerings. Candies, cookies, rainbow cookies, cake pops, black and white cookies, sugar cookies, linzer tarts, pound cakes, and cupcakes. There were also a large selection of freshly baked loaves of bread and an assortment of different bagels. They also had a selection of frozen breads, pizza dough, rolls, as well as many different dry baking mixes.

I purchased a sugar cookie, a linzer tart, an onion bagel, an everything bagel, and a loaf of the mock rye bread. Total cost was just under $20, which I felt was very reasonable for a speciality bakery. On the way home from the bakery, the aroma of the baked goods permeated the car. For someone who has been gluten free for the past 18 months, this was a real treat. I have rheumatoid arthritis, and gluten kills my joints. Even the tracest amount can be felt within hours.

The sugar cookie was delicious. Soft, creamy. I wish I had bought a few more. I am tempted to go back again just for thr cookies. I had the linzer tart later with coffee. Again, delicious. I had the bagel the morning after buying it and it was still moist and soft. Seriously worth it. Same with the mock rye. Ate slice plain just to taste it. Did not have any adverse reaction to the food.

The guy behind the counter when we visited, Lloyd, was fantastic. He was personable, social, and knowledgeable about the products. He gave me a lot of different suggestions and explained how certain things tasted, and how well they would stay good. I got the mock rye at his suggestion. He made the experience even better for me. As someone who cannot eat gluten, my eating and food shopping experiences have been severely dampened. It's a constant battle to try and ascertain what's in my food, and I encounter restaurant staff regularly who do not understand what gluten is. So being in a space that was safe to eat at, a proper bakery outfitted for am actual meal, with a fellow GF traveller was cathartic. Great food, totally reasonable prices, great staff. I will be making the trip...

Going gluten-free and dairy-free has been really challenging, but Bare Naked has made it much easier. I typically order bagels, sugar cookies, and muffins. The muffins are pretty good, but in my opinion, nobody else I’ve tried can top Bare Naked’s GF/DF bagels and vegan sugar cookies; those two items are truly outstanding for a GF/DF/nut-free/vegan bakery.

Some people in these reviews have complained that their items were stale. What I like to do is call the bakery 20 to 24 hours in advance and place an order for pickup. By doing this, the items are baked fresh for me the morning I pick them up. I’ve definitely noticed a difference in quality between stuff I order in advance and stuff I spontaneously purchase from them, so I definitely recommend this approach.

Lastly, after trying several different GF/DF/vegan bakeries that offer a similar assortment of items, I can safely say that Bare Naked’s prices are market-rate—especially for the NYC-metro area, of which Long Island belongs. The bakeries I know in Manhattan and Brooklyn that provide similar items are similarly-priced to Bare Naked. Additionally, I have tried similar bakeries in Philly and the Philly suburbs (where I went to school) and their prices were only slightly cheaper despite being located in a much cheaper metropolitan area. The bottom line is that these kinds of bakeries are inherently expensive because of the skill required and the ingredients used to produce these items. I’m also on a tight budget, so I understand the frustration regarding the prices—but, if you’d like to indulge once in a while (like I do), this bakery is a great place...

I have celiac disease and it's great that my mom found this place a couple of years ago! Every thing is gluten free here so there is so much to choose from! I usually get a panini or an everything bagel there and they are both delicious! The panini's have a great meat:cheese ratio as the cheese does not over power the meat. The bread they use for the panini's is amazing. The everything bagels are the best bagels they have, just remember to ask for your butter on the side. The best deserts there are the brownies, which taste like fudge, and the chocolate chip cookies which are just as good as the brownies (sometimes I have trouble choosing which one to get!) the serving size at bare naked is kind of big so you can usually bring home leftovers if you get a brownie or a sandwich.

The only things I don'trecommend are the cakes, cupcakes, and muffins because they put way to much of this binder called xanthum gum in them which makes them taste funny and have a weird texture. Secondly, there is this desert that is two chocolate chip cookies/sugar cookies with a ton of royal icing in the middle. They call it a cookie witch. It is delicious but can be very heavy on your stomach.

Overall, bare naked is an amazing place for anyone with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity and for people who don't have celiac disease. This is an amazing place and once again I am so happy that it exists. Just don't confuse it with Bare buns another gluten free place by the same people, bare buns is not as good...