Sunday morning, May 29th, about 9:00, I should have been sitting in a church pew someplace in NYC, reveling in the rare opportunity to be a regular worshipper rather than a musician “on duty.” (Not that Manhattan is exactly dotted with churches to choose from, but St. Patrick’s Cathedral would have sufficed very nicely.) But instead, I found myself on a sidewalk in downtown Hoboken, New Jersey. . . with Kathy and our good friends Rita and Ben Gentile. . . standing in line outside of Carlo’s Bakery, the site of one of our favorite television programs, The Cake Boss. Rita had done some on-line research on how to get there (you have to take a special PACE train, whatever the heck that is) and we felt very proud of ourselves for finding the train and for disembarking at the right stop. (Whenever I climb aboard an unfamiliar train in NYC, I have this fear that I’m going to end up in Portland, Maine or Baltimore, Maryland.) And by getting there fairly early on a Sunday morning (we got there a little before 9) we were fairly certain that we would beat the crowds.
We were wrong.
As we reached Carlo’s Bakery, we did see at least 30 people standing in line on the sidewalk, but we figured that wouldn’t be too awful a wait. But then someone pointed out that the line actually continued on the next block – and that line was much much much longer, with maybe 60 people in it, and all of them there for the same reason: to step inside of the now world famous Carlo’s Bakery. As we took our place in line, we asked the nice young bakery employee patrolling the line how long our wait was likely to be. . . and we tried not to faint dead away on the sidewalk when he replied “two and a half hours.” And as it turns out, he predicted it correctly almost to the minute. Fortunately, we were in line with some amiable people, including a friendly guy from Philadelphia, and knowing that all of them were as crazy as we were made us not seem quite so crazy. (If that makes any sense at all.)
A word about this crazy quest of ours. There is a television program on TLC called Cake Boss which concerns a family- owned bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey – hometown of Frank Sinatra – which is especially renowned for the extraordinary theme cakes which they design and construct. The clients are sometimes regular people (with a lot of money to throw away) who want a birthday or wedding cake to reflect some sort of off-the-wall theme . . . while in other cases the client will be some corporate entity (like Century 21 or NASA) which wants to commemorate a special occasion which an elaborate cake. So part of the program involves watching as these incredibly elaborate cakes are made, typically with at least major setback or narrowly averted catastrophe. But the show is also about the everyday interactions of these straight-talkin’ relatives who are not averse to blowing their stack at each other in one moment and being the best of buddies the next.
The show has a devoted following, which means that on a daily basis there are people lined up on the sidewalk for an hour or two (or even longer) waiting for a chance to step inside the bakery itself and . . . . best of all . . . to indulge in some of the amazing stuff they bake there. (We’re not sure, but we’re pretty sure that residents of Hoboken, NJ can show their ID and gain immediate entrance to the place. At least I sure hope so. Not that I’m planning to move to Hoboken any time soon- but one would hope that they wouldn’t be forced to stand in line with all the crazy folks from across the country who have turned this establishment into the biggest tourist attraction in the whole county.)
So we stood in line for two-and-a-half hours, chatting amiably amongst ourselves and our neighbors in line, and once in awhile with the bakery employee, Dimitre, whenever he ambled past us on his good-natured patrol of the ever- lengthening line. I’m pretty sure both my wife and Rita were rather taken with him, and I was especially sure when they both giggled as he posed for a photo with them. A house doesn’t have to fall on me. Ben and I had to find our own entertainment in our own way by patronizing the hot dog vendor who was set up near the corner. Eventually, we got to cross the street and enter the block where the bakery is located, which felt mighty nice- – – and at about 11:20 we actually walked through the door of the place. But even then, our wait was far from over, since they were serving customer #54 and we were customer #68.
But that gave us plenty of time to feast our eyes on all they had to offer- cookies, cupcakes, doughnuts, and every delectable Italian dessert you can imagine- plus some of the most brilliantly-crafted cakes you’ve ever seen.
But none of that was quite as exciting as when Rita and Kathy had the chance to pose for a photo with Lisa, one of Buddy’s sisters and someone seen quite regularly on the program. She was friendly and fun and seeing how over-the-moon excited Kathy and Rita were to meet her made our whole wait well worth it.
Eventually, our number was called and the ladies placed their order (we decided to do it on one ticket) and a few minutes later, we walked out of there with about $30 worth of baked goods. By the way, I can’t help but mention that my one and only request was for one of their elaborately frosted cupcakes- but in the excitement of the moment, my wife forgot. I only mention it because when she realized her mistake, she issued the single most heartfelt, plaintive apology of our entire married life, and seemed one tiny step away from standing in line all over again just to get me my cupcake.
But no matter. We had all kinds of other delights to enjoy, which we did across the street at a little Italian resturant where we had lunch. The meal was good, but it was but a preamble to the most spectacular dessert of our collective lives… one miracle after another from Carlo’s Bakery, which we enjoyed in that sidewalk cafe. And as we enjoyed all of that decadent deliciousness together, we enjoyed something even better. . . the delight that comes when you do something that to most of the world might seem one step shy of certifiably insane but which you know was one of the best ideas ever.
pictured at the top: one scene from our adventure at Carlo’s Bakery. You see Kathy and Rita to the far left of the frame – but what I really like about this picture is how it captures at least a little bit of the incredible flurry of energy and activity behind the counter. Buddy himself, the newest owner of the bakery, was spotted very briefly in the bakery – but before we got in the door. By the way, because our adventure took so much longer than we expected, we ended up missing the Carthage Choir’s performance of the St. Nicholai Mass of Haydn. That was the only drawback to our little excursion to Hoboken.