Photo by Erin Nelson.
Salmon toast, left, a traditional butter croissant, right, and a kale salad are a few of the specialty dishes served at the newly opened Bandit Patisserie, located in the former Octane Coffee location next to The Little Donkey and Steel City Pops in Homewood.
Kristen Farmer Hall and her two daughters, Emma and Eleanor, became known as the baking bandits in 2013.
The Homewood residents would bake treats, deliver them to neighbors’ doorsteps, ring the doorbell and run away.
“I really wanted them to grow up in the kitchen,” Hall said of her daughters. “For me, pastry, it’s such a joy to be able to bake something and then share it with other people.”
Hall still does that, but now in a professional setting. Along with business partner Victor King, she co-owns The Essential cafe on Morris Avenue in downtown Birmingham.
It serves elevated comfort food that is seasonally driven and locally sourced, Hall said.
In November, the two restaurateurs debuted their next project, a boutique bakery and cafe called Bandit Patisserie at 2821 Central Ave. in Homewood.
“It has been a lovely adventure there, but we knew all along we really wanted a separate sort of freestanding bakery,” Hall said, “so when we opened The Essential, we started looking actually for the perfect spot for Bandit, and we found it here in Homewood.”
Bandit specializes in pastries but also serves breakfast and lunch. Its pastry selection consists of items both savory and sweet, such as croissants, danishes and cookies.
“The pastries won’t be necessarily what you would think if you walked into sort of a typical bakery …” Hall said. “It’s French-inspired with Southern ingredients.”
Bandit serves breakfast from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., offering breakfast sandwiches, toast and jam and granola parfaits, among other items.
It then serves lunch beginning at 11 a.m., and that will include salads and sandwiches.
Meal prices will generally fall in the $8 to $12 range, Hall said.
At The Essential, King is the executive chef and Hall is the executive pastry chef. Hall said she will now spend the bulk of her time at Bandit guiding the pastry operation.
“I have a lot of passions, but one of them is to sort of really help educate what pastry is and the handcrafted nature of it,” Hall said.
Bandit has taken residence in the 2,600 square feet occupied previously by Sweet Jon’s Cafe, between Little Donkey and Steel City Pops.
“It had a really beautiful kitchen and really had sort of a bright, open space that we were really looking for,” Hall said. “It was like the perfect mix of architecture, and obviously we wanted to be in the neighborhood.”
Hall and King have overseen remodeling of the building’s interior and exterior in recent months.
Part of the space is dedicated exclusively to pastry making, as Bandit produces pastries for itself and The Essential. There also is a full espresso bar and seating for 65.
“When we planned the seating, we planned for a lot of two tops or individual seats for people to be able to work,” Hall said. “... We’ll have lots of caffeine and Wi-Fi.”
Bandit is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days per week.
For more information, search @banditbham on Instagram.
