Tabor Bread
5051 SE Hawthorne Blvd – Portland
$2.25
This one was a crapshoot. I honestly could not tell by looking at it whether it was going to be a delightful cloud of lemon, toothsome chewiness – or a tragically dry, biscuit-y disappointment.
I am happy to tell you that it was the former! Thanks, maybe, to the eponymous semolina and… egg whites(?)
As far as I can tell, there is nothing particularly dear among these ingredients. No fancy nuts, no dried fruits, no chocolate, and nothing complicated in the preparation and construction. I mean, a macaron, sandwich cookie or rosette – for these I can understand a higher price point because they can be all kinds of tsuris.
Even hamentaschen, which are not so terribly tricky to put together have to be much more time consuming and expensive to make than this seemingly simple lemon drop cookie.
What I’m getting at is this: I feel the price should be less than $2.25. I know this makes me sound like a tightwad, but I’d love to see more of a balance with respect to cookie price points reflecting the amount of labor and price/quality of their ingredients. But I don’t think anybody is going to this bakery for the bargains. So if ounce for ounce cookie value is not your concern, then ignore everything I just said.
I can usually judge a cookie by its cover. But every now and then an unassuming sleeper will catch me off guard.
This one? It’s very good. I like it!