100 Maddy Hernandez of Pastries A-La-Carte

Episode 100 hits a little different, because the best parts of Pittsburgh food culture aren’t just pierogi, pepperoni rolls, and perfect cookie tables. It’s the way people use food to find each other, support each other, and build something that lasts. 

We're joined by Shayla Penn, who returns to the table to share what’s happened since her early appearance on the show, and it’s a lot: hosting cooking demos & competitions, founding a non-profit, all while her Facebook community Burgh Eats and Treats has grown to nearly 33,000 members. Shayla is truly cooking with fire in our food community. 

Then we go from community power to cookie craft with Maddy Hernandez of Pastries A-La-Carte in Pleasant Hills. Maddy is the lead cookie decorator, and she breaks down what it takes to oversee custom cutouts, weddings, and wholesale at a busy Pittsburgh bakery. She shares the sweet headline you’ll want to repeat: Pastries A-La-Carte is the official bake shop of the Pittsburgh Penguins, with desserts in the suites and beyond, plus the behind-the-scenes systems that keep quality high when the volume is nonstop.

If you like Pittsburgh bakeries, and stories about how local food turns into real connection, you’ll feel right at home here. Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who loves a good cookie, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Doug 0:54

Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman. Who is the official bake shop of the Pittsburgh Penguins? We talk with Maddy Hernandez, lead cookie decorator at Pastries A La Carte to get all of the sweet details. But first up, thank you for listening in as we debut episode 100 of the Pittsburgh Dish. To celebrate this podcast milestone, I've invited a friend of the show back to the table to catch up. Hi, Shayla. Hi, Doug. Shayla Penn. It has been a little bit of time since you've been on the podcast. Welcome back to the table. Thank you. My favorite place to listen. Aw. You know, let's remind listeners, you were on episode 10. Okay.

Shayla 1:45

And what episode are we on now?

Doug 1:47

Well, the reason I invited you back because so much has happened. We are on episode 100.

Shayla 1:53

Oh yes. Yes. I'm so happy for you, Doug. Oh, thank you. That is a huge accomplishment. You sold me on podcasts. Oh, really? You were my first podcast that I've turned into. Oh. I'm serious.

Doug 2:07

Well, thank you for listening and for sharing your story and all the things. Yes. I wanted to ask you back today because, you know, not just because it's our hundredth episode, but so much has happened since you've been on for both you uh and for me and for the show. And us together. Yeah. So I thought it might be fun to catch some of our listeners up on all of those things.

Shayla 2:28

Yes.

Doug 2:29

I mean, personally, I know if you are a fan of the show, we've gotten to talk to so many people, hear so many interesting stories of people doing something unique in the food space, but not just when I'm recording here at the table and the microphones. Outside of here, you and I have done cooking demos. Cooking demos. At Woolies, at Woolies specifically. Yes. Yeah, we're part of their rotating crew. We are the Wholey's crew. We are the Wholey's crew. The Wholey's cooking crew. You've organized a couple of food competitions that I've had the privilege of being a judge of all of them. Oh my gosh. Almost all of them, right? And some of them, like I'm I'm remembering cupcakes and mac and cheese. I don't know how we ate that much. In soup. Yeah, how did we eat that much? I don't know. By soup, I was smart enough to know not to take a whole bunch of ice.

Shayla 3:23

Yes. We learned through the cupcake competition. Oh my gosh.

Doug 3:27

Shayla, in you know, in the first time that you and I met, the reason I asked you to come on was because you had this growing food group. Yes. Let's remind folks what's the name of the group on Facebook.

Shayla 3:36

So the name of my Facebook group is Burgh Eats and Treats.

Doug 3:42

7,000. It was 7,000 members when you were on episode 10. Where are you at today?

Shayla 3:48

I am almost at 33,000. Congratulations.

Doug 3:52

Thank you.

Shayla 3:53

Yeah. It has been such, I mean, when I say a blessing, it's that's an understatement about how much it's recreated my life. It's a really active group. Very active. Yeah. And it's it's a variety of people. Like it's equal as amount of people that post about food. There's equal amount of business owners that are there to fit their needs, which I love the most.

Doug 4:15

Yes. Even beyond your Facebook group, a lot of other things have happened for you in the last two years.

Shayla 4:22

Yes. I have since starting the group, I have gotten a proclamation by my city councilwoman. Wow. I have won a Woman of Excellence award for giving back through my group.

Doug 4:36

Incredible.

Shayla 4:37

Yes. I have it's been a whirlwind. I don't even know where to begin with. Established a nonprofit. Yes, I did. I established a nonprofit for my neighborhood called Leading Through Love. Um, it's a community-based school program that services our community because we are a food desert. So now we have um it's called the Mustang Market, which we are able to provide evening services for people who might be in need of food or hygiene products as well as resources that they might need.

Doug 5:12

This is like a pantry concept.

Shayla 5:14

Yes. So uh Langley K through eight is our community school, and they are considered a community school. So we are able to do these things, partner up with the community food bank. They do drop offs, and we also are creating evening cooking classes where yes, we are doing fruit preservation classes, we're doing knife skill classes, we're doing all kinds of classes that are kid friendly. So um there's so much more in store for Leading Through Love. We're not even a year in and we're already functioning twice a week, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the evenings, and follow the website. There's so much going on. Such good work. Yes, I am the board president. So the um owner and operator is Karen Mitchell.

Doug 6:01

Uh did you have any idea when we spoke two years ago that you would be helping to lead a nonprofit?

Shayla 6:08

I thought that that I would have a couple of friends that I, you know, I the goal was just to grow and just talk about food. That was my goal. I never thought that I could create so much from just meeting just amazing people who support me, see my vision, and want to help and participate. It's all about collaboration, honestly. Everything I've done has been because of some type of collaboration with someone else in the community. I've never done all this on my own ever.

Doug 6:37

Well, I will even say from the podcast, I saw you collaborating with people that I knew as prior guests. Uh, we know our friend Chef Alekka. Yes. We've done work with her. Yes. I think more recently, I saw an incredible reel of food from Ana Eats. Ana Eats, that's my girl. Now you guys are friends. We are friends. So I just smile because of all these connections that have sort of happened.

Shayla 7:02

Am I it? It's your one degree of duck. I say that everywhere I go because your name is spoken up all the time. Because you have your your you have your hands in a lot of different genres. So that kind of bridges us all together.

Doug 7:15

It's really truly a privilege. And I say to a lot of the guests, it's because I naturally am Nebby. Me too. I want to know you and I want to know your story. And if people don't know you, I want them to. And if people know you already, I want them to love you a little bit more.

Shayla 7:31

I think where that's why we are we are so similar. We're just on different platforms because we have the the Nebby complex thing. I wanted to know all what what they were eating, Sunday dinner. What are you eating today? Where are you going to go to eat? Where can I go to eat? Like, I'm so Nebby when it comes to food. If if there's food involved, I need to know what's going on with it.

Doug 7:52

I always find um when I'm interviewing, I interviewed a chef earlier today before you came. What are they eating on their day off?

Shayla 7:59

Yes.

Doug 7:59

What was their family food like? I think I'm getting a really good Greek meatball recipe soon. So yeah, it's it's incredible. Yes. Like what you learn and who you get to meet.

Shayla 8:09

Exactly.

Doug 8:10

I do want to talk about you for a minute longer before we wrap up. Okay. You've had some big things happening. We're just past the NFL draft, and you kind of had an incredible meetup.

Shayla 8:21

Yes. So I I have a collaboration beer with AcroSpire. It's called Blueberry and Flow. It was started because um I participated as a collaborator for Barrel and Flow Fest, which is the biggest all black beer festival in the entire United States. So I didn't know as a content creator you could collaborate, but because of my cooking skills, that's what made me try to do it. So I wanted to be partnered up with a smaller, the smallest brewery in the city, which happened to be Yakupire.

Doug 8:54

Yes. And they're up in um Glenshaw. Glenshaw. That's right. Right up Route 8.

Shayla 8:59

Yes, they're great guys. Um, Kevin, I love you, Kevin, Eric, all of them. But yeah, so I wanted to keep it going. It was only supposed to be temporary, but the beer was doing really well. It's a beautiful can. It was um designed by the local artist Q Perry, which he also designed the Pittsburgh Penguins African-American History Month jersey. Wow. He's the same person that uh designed my can. So that was very important to me to use all local everything for um my beer. But I wanted to keep it going. So I came up with this idea because I'm good friends with Mike Logan, who is a happens to be a Super Bowl champ. Um, and he agreed to do a four-quarter story of his life from being raised, born and raised in Pittsburgh into becoming a Super Bowl champ. In between that, I thought, hey, why don't I just pair some food with my beer? So three courses with three different beers from AcroSpire. Me and another chef, uh, Monica Johnson from Foxy Friends, we collaborated on the dishes. We used Jenny Lee products in our dishes, which was a blessing, but we didn't use it in a kind of traditional way. Yes, we used it in very different traditional ways, but you can follow me and you can see exactly what I did for the event. I love it. And we're doing it again. We're doing it for the uh football season, upcoming football season.

Doug 10:27

I love it. Yes, I love it so much. Sidebar question. Yes. We've had Scott Baker on the show.

Shayla 10:33

Love Scott Baker.

Doug 10:34

Had you met Scott Baker before all of this, or was it kind of through the show as well, or your group?

Shayla 10:39

It was through the group. It was um we linked up when I did the um charity event for his at-home bake kits. That's how we met. Yeah, and I was we did a bake off against each other. That's right. We were next to each other. He won hello. I did it, but I I I begged for his cookies to home. They were so good.

Doug 11:00

I got lucky. Those cookies were inspired by something my grandma used to make. So they were so good. Oh, thank you. Yeah, so many connections. That's so many connections. That's why I just wanted to catch up. Yes, I could talk forever with you, Doug. Anything on the horizon?

Meet Maddy And The Bakery Menu

Shayla 11:13

Um, just a lot of fun events coming up. I'm gonna kind of take some time off to just really enjoy the fruits of my labor. I catch up on content. Catch up on content, catch up on life, catch up on vacation. So I'm gonna take a little hiatus, but I'm my next major event will probably be part two with Mike Logan at AcroSpire. Um, we've created a great thing, and a lot of the raffles are benefiting a lot of different nonprofits. So that's the best part of what I do. I can tie in my love for nonprofit and giving back and still do what I love and create great food and create community because if you make good food, they will come.

Doug 11:59

Well said. Shayla, let's just remind folks once again, if they want to find and follow you or the Facebook group, what are those handles?

Shayla 12:08

So I am on Facebook as a group. It's called Burgh Eats and Treats. It's very simple. If if you log on, then you just hit join group. I'm also on um Instagram under Shay Burgh Eats and Treats. And I do private cooking services, and I'm under Burgh Eats and Treats by Shay Shay on Facebook.

Doug 12:32

Okay. Sheila Penn, always good to see and talk with you.

Shayla 12:37

Thanks so much for being on The Pittsburgh Dish.

Doug 12:39

Thank you, Doug. I'm so grateful to be here, and I'm so grateful to call you my friend. Oh, me too. And thanks for helping me celebrate the 100th episode.

Shayla 12:47

100! Yay!

Doug 12:51

Up next. If you want to know a little bit more on how to live the sweet life, both figuratively and for real, we chat with Maddy Hernandez of Pastries a la carte. Thank you so much for coming over and for being on the show.

Maddy 13:07

Thank you so much for having me.

Doug 13:08

Would you introduce yourself to our listeners and what you have going on in the world of food?

Maddy 13:14

Absolutely. Um, my name is Maddy, soon to be Hernandez. Maddy Hernandez. Um, I am a lead cookie decorator at pastries a la carte. Um, so I oversee the cookie department, specifically cutouts, fancies, um, wholesale, custom orders, weddings, you name it. I oversee quite a few different areas in the bakery. I've touched quite a few different areas. So I like to think I'm pretty well-rounded at pastries a la carte, but there's always room to grow.

Doug 13:40

So well, I I hear you in all of those directions because if someone hasn't visited pastries a la carte, you all make everything. Everything. I was gonna ask, or I often ask, like, you know, what's the special thing? But really, I don't know. Like, I went in my first time just a couple of weeks ago for punchkies specifically. But you have every kind of cookie under the book.

Maddy 14:05

We do.

Doug 14:06

One that I noticed that my Aunt Juanetta makes that say they say they're a labor of love is the peach cookie.

Maddy 14:11

Oh my goodness. Yes, that's amazing that she makes, though.

Doug 14:14

She makes a few.

Maddy 14:15

Like she said, they are definitely a labor of love. They are intense. That is one of the cookies that I oversee. And yeah, it's about if you're doing it, it's like two to three days, it can be a three-day process, but ideally about two. So yeah, it's it's it's so special to have those because it's not something that you said different bakeries have, or it is something that is in the family. Um, that's special to have when, you know, maybe your aunt isn't wanting to make some. Next time I'll go up, yeah. Come see us instead. Yeah.

Doug 14:45

Um, she was always our, you know, like the cookie train maker.

Maddy 14:48

That's awesome. Yeah, there's one in every family. Of course. Or hopefully there is.

Doug 14:52

But I mean, and beyond that, if somebody walks into your location, it's the cookies on one side, uh, there's cakes, there's pie, there's cheesecake.

Maddy 15:05

There is.

Doug 15:05

There's really good coffee on demand, by the way.

Penguins Partnership And Stadium Sweets

Maddy 15:08

That's something kind of new to us where um we really went full swing with it at the beginning of this year. Um, started kind of testing things out at the end of last year. And then, yeah, I think that every time I am out in the store or I uh see something going on out there, if someone's not there for coffee, uh, they're there and they're getting a coffee with their order for sure. Um, but lots of tasty drinks, lots of different things going on. And I feel like we're always adding. So that's very exciting thing about working at Pastries a la carte. It's our owner, uh, Kathy. She never says no.

Doug 15:40

So you yeah. I I mean cakes and you know, wedding cakes, and I mean, you do all the things. Yeah, we do. I think if folks haven't visited, number one, it's worth a drive. It's on like Clariton Boulevard. Correct. Uh is that Pleasant Hills?

Maddy 15:54

Pleasant Hills, yeah, technically.

Doug 15:55

Yeah. And you're open every day but Sundays. You also uh sell your products in a lot of other places throughout the city. Can you name a couple?

Maddy 16:05

I can, yes. So our main uh partner is actually the Pittsburgh Penguins. Yes. We are the official bake shop of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and we have been since Kathy said, I believe about 2011, or maybe a few years before that. But, anyways, we had a uh chat about that recently. And ever since we have had the penguins as a partner, uh, we're featured in their suites and on the suite level.

Doug 16:25

Wow.

Maddy 16:26

Um, so in each of the individual suites, and then we have a dessert cart on the suite level that people can, if they don't have enough in their suite, they can come out and buy more. More suites for the suites. More suite, absolutely. And that cart is cool, it's like wrapped with all of her branding. Yeah, Sierra actually got to go down to the uh stadium and see them all in person and take pictures.

Doug 16:44

This is your multimedia manager. And Sierra is sitting over in the wings today.

Maddy 16:48

That's right to my right, listening in. But uh yeah, Sierra goes down from time to time to do some different media stuff down there, whether it's for media day, whether we're bringing stuff down to the suites for the beginning of a new season. Uh but it's so, it's so much fun. Even if I don't get to go down and see what's going on, it's so much fun having the bakery as a whole be involved in that because it is truly like we are at Pittsburgh Bakery through and through. Yeah. And being that involved in the sports teams, because sports are such a big part of the Pittsburgh culture. Um, it's so special. But from that penguins partnership, the um trust with us obviously grew and our reputation grew. So from them, we were able to pick up the pirates at PNC Park. We were able to pick up the Steelers with Accrochure. We've done stuff for um the Riverhounds down at the other stadiums. We do things for Jefferson, yeah, down at Highmark uh do things for Jefferson. We've done things for the airport, you name it. Um so many different places and different events. So it's very interesting and it's so cool to see. Um, because even sometimes these stadiums don't do it, it doesn't have to be sports. Sometimes it's concerts, sometimes it's if even they're hosting an event for their staff. So it's something all of those opportunities came from the penguins. Yeah. Um, so really, yes, we are the official bake shop at the Pittsburgh Penguins, and we are so grateful for that partnership with them because it has led to so many other amazing partnerships. Um, but it's so cool to see people come in as well from these spaces and be like, hey, yeah, we actually had your cookies at X, Y, and Z, and we needed to come in and get more and try something different.

Doug 18:21

And that's so special. A great news story. It is. Maddie, as you were talking about that, I do have a side question. Maybe you know, maybe you don't. As the official bakery of the penguins, do you know if the penguins are ever partaking in some of your baked goods?

Maddy 18:36

Yes, actually. And it's so exciting because recently Marc-Andre Fleury came back um to retire a penguin, and I got to make cookies for his family.

Doug 18:47

Amazing.

Maddy 18:48

Yes, and it was for the flurry suite, and it went to his family. So I got to make them uh flurry jersey cookies and cookies that said welcome home, flour, all those, you know, different special things. So it's very fun. And I think there was yeah, Lemieux suite, different things like that. They'll have um Christmas parties, Halloween parties for the kids for the teams. And we get, yeah, send cookies for that. So it's so much fun. And it's like I said, you can you name it, we've done it for these places, but to have yeah, that special memory.

Doug 19:17

Yeah, like a true connection to the team.

Maddy 19:20

Yeah, it's so cool. And it's like every time I watch a game, I'll always say to my fiance, I'm like, Yeah, my cookies are there. So you're famous. Yeah, they're there.

Doug 19:30

I I have a complete sidebar. Uh, rumor has it, Sydney Crosby makes banana bread for his other teammates. I want to get that banana bread recipe.

Maddy 19:41

Yeah, he's never shared with us.

Doug 19:42

No, I mean, if you can work it for us, do that.

Maddy 19:45

We'll see who we can talk to.

Doug 19:46

But I hear that maybe chocolate chips fall in there sometimes.

Maddy 19:49

Ah, yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, we'll have to reach out, see if we could get the Crosby connection.

Doug 19:53

That would be it. The the official Crosby banana just make it at the bakery.

Maddy 19:59

Yeah, right now. Let's make a real partnership.

Doug 20:03

Moving from the all of the sports teams in the city, you also partner with uh, you know, some other local businesses like uh Family Delhi and Page's Dairy.

Maddy 20:14

Page's Dairy, yeah. We were just talking about them as well because um the former owner, it's actually her dad. Um, Margie actually, she owns Pages currently, but her dad, uh, he always is visiting Pastries a la carte. So we know very we know them very well. It's a lot of fun. And even that, when they come in, it's always just like, oh, pages, like such a Pittsburgh station. So it is, it's so much fun to be a part of that Pittsburgh community. Uh, especially I had taken a few years away from I had moved down to Orlando and I was in Orlando for about five, six years. And then I came back and I was able to get a job at Page's a la carte. And being able to kind of just dive right back into your hometown like that, and all of the things that make it like quintessentially Pittsburgh has been so much fun and so comfy and being like, oh yeah, I really am proud that I came from Pittsburgh. And like Pittsburgh is such an amazing city, and we have so many different assets to us and so many um fun things to do. But Pittsburgh is very special, and I love being a part of that, even if it's just a small cookie here and there. But it's amazing.

Doug 21:18

We really value a cookie.

Maddy 21:21

Oh, I think yeah, I I do too. You know, yeah, of course.

Doug 21:25

And yeah, you got me thinking about the hometown connection, and maybe we should give listeners a little bit of history of the bakery and of you, please.

Maddy 21:33

Yeah, of course.

Doug 21:33

Um, I think you mentioned earlier, Kathy, Kathy Battis is the owner of Pastries A la carte. It started in, I think, 2004 and then opened up the shop. Correct. Built all these connections. I know I read an article where you expanded in 2019. Yes. And it's still just going strong, this woman-owned business, this family-owned business, right? What about you? When did you come on then uh into the bakery the first time?

Maddy 22:00

Um, so the first time I ever visited Pastries, I actually unknowingly had a connection with Pastries a la carte pretty much my whole life. And I found that out when I started working there. Okay. Um, but my great-aunt uh she had always purchased iced cutout cookies specifically, yeah, from and uh I remember the ones specifically, they were Animal from the Muppets. Oh, they're at my cousin's birthday party, and she had gotten them from pastries a la carte, and this was in like 2008. So about four years after they had opened their storefront. So I had unknowingly had this connection. We had always gotten some special treats here and there from pastries a la carte for birthdays. Um, so they had been in my life for quite a while. And then when I moved back up here, my fiance and I stopped in because we just wanted to tour pretty much every different bakery in Pittsburgh. Why not? Yeah, Florida does not have these bakeries, it's their grocery stores, and then you get A few here and there, very big on the home baking.

Doug 22:56

I'm sorry. This is why people they wonder why people move back to Pittsburgh. Yeah. We have good bakeries.

Maddy 23:01

We have good bakeries and really good pizza, too. But yeah, that is a whole other culture.

Doug 23:07

But yes, I think honestly, sideboard, I think there could be a Pittsburgh pizza podcast. Oh my gosh.

Maddy 23:13

Yes, 100%. And the competition is so fierce.

Doug 23:15

It's amazing. Um back to bakery.

Maddy 23:18

Back to bakeries. We were doing the grand bakery tours of Pittsburgh, I guess. Um Patricia Solid card isn't too far from us. So we had stopped in one day and it was right before Mario Day. And we had bought it was a question mark block from Super Mario Brothers. It was a cookie. And I think it was like Yoshi eggs, different cute stuff like that. So I had taken a picture and tagged them on social media and was like, oh my gosh, these are adorable. I love these. These are so much fun. And it was something that you couldn't get anywhere else. Every other bakery that we had been to, none of them had Mario cutouts. So that was something so fun that we got to do. My fiance and I. And then I was like, you know what? I really liked it there. I was looking for different jobs in the area. Um, and I really had the entire time I was down in Florida too, it was so strange because I always would say to my fiance, I'm like, I really wish I could work in a bakery again. I miss working in a bakery. Working in a bakery is so much fun. So I think I kind of spoke it into existence. You did, you willed it in. I did.

Doug 24:15

Had you worked at a bakery before you have.

Maddy 24:18

I actually I got my I worked at Bethel Bakery before I had moved. Yeah, so another Pittsburgh staple. Yeah, I worked there for a few years in front of house. So I hadn't done any decorating or anything uh production-wise, but I was a I had some general knowledge of the bakery life. And it was so funny, probably whatever. But I would always try and sneak in the back and top some things off, uh like decorating-wise when I worked at Bethlehem Bakery. You just wanted to get your hands on it. I'm so sorry, guys. But yeah, I would sneak in there occasionally and try to decorate just because I I couldn't help myself. I wanted to decorate so bad.

Doug 24:52

It's what you wanted to learn.

Maddy 24:54

And I would watch um the woman, um, she would sit back there and she would make roses all day and just pipe roses out all day. And it was incredible. And I loved having conversations with her and just watching her do that. So, anyways, I was back to trying to find a job at a bakery, and I had seen that Pedro Lescart was hiring for cookie decorators.

Doug 25:14

Okay.

Behind The Scenes Bakery Departments

Maddy 25:14

They didn't ask for any specific they asked for an artistic background. They didn't ask for any specific decorating background or anything like that. And I didn't have much of a decorating background besides, you know, home baking and just being in the general proximity of other decorators. Um, so I had gone in for an interview and they had asked me if I was interested in potentially being the lead, uh the manager of the department afterwards. And yeah, I of course said yes, and the rest is history, but what year is this? Um so beginning of 2023, and I have been there since April, May of 2023.

Doug 25:52

So you're coming up on your anniversary.

Maddy 25:53

I am, it's so soon. And it's so special. But thank you. Thank you. And actually, speaking of anniversaries, also of recording this podcast too, our uh the birthday of the bakery was a few days ago. So 22. 22. Yeah. It was so fun.

Doug 26:08

Sierra is flagging us. The birthday of the bakery was yesterday.

Maddy 26:13

We turned 22 yesterday. Oh, that's so exciting. Yeah, congratulations. Lots of anniversaries and celebrations, which is our thing at the bakery, is I think that you should celebrate everything. Everything's a reason to celebrate.

Doug 26:24

Why not?

Maddy 26:24

So yeah, life's short, and I think you should celebrate the little things with something sweet.

Doug 26:28

I have a question about when you you came in as the head of the department.

Maddy 26:34

Yeah, I was scary.

Doug 26:35

How many folks I mean, how many folks work with you or how many folks work at the bakery?

Maddy 26:41

So it ranges by season.

Doug 26:44

Okay.

Maddy 26:44

Uh, we will get more folks on the team uh during the holidays, of course, when staffing has to pick up because the crazy demands, yeah. Um, so we will have full house, and I would say it's near we get close to 4050. Oh, wow. Um, when it's a full house. And then day to day, I would say it ranges from about 20 to 30 in the bakery, and we're pretty tight in there. Um, we always have room to expand though. And um, my department when I started, I was overseeing about four to five different people. Wow. Since then, um, we have created different departments, and then we're trying to streamline more things, and like I said, with off-seasons. So I currently oversee two other lovely ladies. Um, and then we have some different departments throughout the bakery with how it's broken down.

Doug 27:33

Could you tell us some of the other departments? Like how do you guys like it?

Maddy 27:36

It's very interesting.

Doug 27:37

I know it's like there's so much going on there, and there's so many different products.

Maddy 27:41

And it's so when you first start off, it is kind of like, isn't that a bit excessive to have this many departments and all these different leads and whatnot? But no, it's truly necessary because of what we are hand making and the quantity at which we're doing it. I think it is so necessary to have your separate leads overseeing their specific departments and products. That way we have a better quality control on things. Um getting more specialized. Absolutely.

Doug 28:09

But you also probably could rotate around ultimately if someone wants to stretch their wings.

Maddy 28:13

We have quite a few people that will bounce back and forth between like if they need help in the cake department, we can go decorate a cake. If they if we would need help with cookies during, you know, the busier holidays or even with baking. Um, I guess I recently started trying to learn more about the baking. So obviously, we have our beautiful, wonderful front of house staff who is responsible for all of our lovely customers. They are great. They're so friendly and felt so taken care of when I'm there. They're amazing. Um, they're great at what they do, they're very knowledgeable of all of the products. And now they are having to be baristas as well. So they're learning all of that, and it's very special to learn about even the pairings of different coffees, cookies, creating new drinks. It's constant. They're very good at what they do. Next, it would go into, I would say, the production department, which is where all the baking happens. So that is as soon as an order gets in and you're making a cake, that is where it's gonna start. And with the batter and the baking, from there, it is going to move on to decorating, which would either fall to the cookie department or the cake department.

Doug 29:11

Okay.

Maddy 29:12

And then after that, she heads on over to the packaging department. And then we also have another lovely separate department, which is all of our admins and wholesale and whatnot. And we have our delivery drivers, you can't forget about them because that's how the product gets to the stadium.

Doug 29:27

I mean, and it has to get there too.

Maddy 29:28

It does, it does, and they're so good at what they do too, because I would be so nervous if I was to drive around these wedding cakes and like I've taken a two-layer cake and I'm nervous.

Doug 29:39

I know.

Maddy 29:39

Even with my cutouts, I'm like, don't wiggle them, like put them down nice and flat. But it's so funny. Um, but all of these incredible people that make up our team, and like I said, we all are pretty well-versed and well-rounded in that, so we can help each other out and do what we need to do to make the machine run smoothly. Sounds like such a great place. It is. We all very it is. I I always hated when people are like, it's a family. It is very much the way family dynamic in the sense of we do have the utmost love and respect for each other. But there are those days, of course, where it's like, oh my goodness.

Doug 30:11

Somebody's stressing out.

Maddy 30:12

Yeah, someone's stressing out, and that sometimes you inevitably end up feeding into it. But I do think we also do a good job of keeping each other kind of level headed and being like, you know what, at the end of the day, yes, it is art, and yes, it is very serious, but at the end of the day, it's cakes and cookies, everything can be fixed, it can be settled. Yes, it's not world shattering. So we are very uh fortunate to have each other and to be in that position to know that. Hi, this is Maddie with Pacries a la carte, and you are listening to the Pittsburgh Dish.

Doug 30:45

You mentioned before you got into the business here, you hadn't baked a lot professionally. W what was life like in terms of baking or cooking at home or when you were younger? Did you start baking or did you?

Maddy 30:58

Yeah, it was always in my life. And I can I have these very vivid memories, and they're some of my favorite memories of my mom and aunts, and my grandma went out to take Wilton cake decorating classes at, I don't know, it was probably like a Michaels or something like that. Wilton is still well around. I love my Wilton products. Um, but they would go out and do these decorating classes, and I would get to stay and hang out with my great aunt. And she was always our baker decorator of the family. Her name's Aunt Carol. So hi, Aunt Carol. But uh yeah, she was the one who always had the cake pans, the decorating. She would she made me like a little mermaid birthday cake for my eighth birthday, and it was that classic Barbie cake with like, but it was it was different because she was a mermaid and she was sitting on a rock, and it was so cool. Um, so she got me into that, and it was something where I was always like, I really like that. And then it was the cake boss of it all came around, and that was just a big, huge obsession of mine in like elementary and middle school. Yes, that's amazing that people do this as a you know, obviously as a profession, but it remember Ace of Cakes. Ace of Cakes, yeah, kind of obsessed with Ace of Cakes is so that one too. Yes, all of those amazing like Georgetown Cupcake, all of those shows where it was just like, yeah, I think I credit a lot of those to being like, I really want to do inspo. Of course. And I was always I'm always involved in the arts in some form or fashion. I always just like to be creating something of some sort. So I do musical theater and I like to paint, and I've done ceramics in the past. So I think all of these things have kind of just come together, and now I'm able to do this as a profession.

Doug 32:35

Absolutely.

Maddy 32:35

Yeah, it's incredible, and I don't take it for granted for a single day, and it's something I have so much passion for and love for, and I'm always trying to improve and do better and find different things and new things. But that all came from, yeah, what I was growing up, and um, baking at home was you know, a birthday cake or cupcakes or things like that. So uh cutouts were fairly new to me. Um, learning how to properly like tech proper techniques, because of course, when you're decorating at home, you watch videos or you see, you know, these shows, and you can mimic as best you can, but to truly take a step back and learn from the base up, yeah, um, these basic techniques was very helpful. Um, but I am a very visual person. So just being in the room with these people and watching, like, oh, that's how you use that tip, or oh, that's how you fill a bag, or whatever it may be. But I respect Kathy tremendously, and she personally has taught me so much because she wanted it all, right? She did everything doing everything, everything, and that's where it is so funny to watch her jump back into things here and there through Easter. Obviously, we're very busy. She was in that cake room, she was in that production area, and I was like, Kathy, why don't you come hang out in the cake cookie room, please? Like, we miss you. We would love you to grace us with some of your cookie decorating, but um, it's so much fun, and uh, I learned so much from her, and I always cherish that too. When it's like even yesterday, I got to do I was doing like sugared cutouts with her, and it was one of the first times I had sugared them, and she taught me how to do them, and it was like it was special to me. That's like I get to learn it from her and to have that and know that she she did go to pastry school, and a lot of the people that I did get to learn from are very um trained uh pastry chefs, and yeah, of course. So being able to create alongside of them and do things with them is so incredible, and I love learning from them, and I think we like learning from each other, but like I said, I'm always trying to learn and do different things, but that baking home baking is definitely so different from your bakery baking, it's the training wheel, it is, right? Absolutely, and it helps a lot having that just general knowledge.

Doug 34:43

But you didn't come in cold, I did not, yeah.

Maddy 34:45

I I I had a tiny, tiny bit. Lynn, like I said, I uh Bethel, I was sneaking around, but did you grow up in the local area?

Doug 34:54

I did, yes, yeah.

Maddy 34:55

Um, Baldwin, sort of Carrick area. I've always been around. So you've always been to South Hills.

Doug 35:01

Yeah. I am wondering as you're talking about you know, being here, you're doing all this creative stuff, and you're around all these sweets all the time. I am uh do you still like the sweet treats? Does that ever get old?

Maddy 35:15

That's nothing that my sister, because I I don't know if I said this yet, but I am very fortunate. I work with my sister and I work with my fiance. Wow. It is very much so a family affair for me. Yeah, just like it is for Kathy, and um, she works with her daughter-in-law and her son and her husband. So, and then there have been a few couples throughout the bakery's life here and there, and it's so cool to be like I mean, I, you know, our paths don't cross very seldom um with the front of house and uh myself, but I work right alongside my sister. She is at my right all day, every day, and sometimes that's trying, but most of the time it's a lot of fun, and she is truly my right hand. But even her, she came in with very little decorating experience, and she's drawing Mona Lisa on a cookie and stuff. It's crazy what she can do.

Doug 36:05

You're surrounded by all of these sweet treats all the time. I am yeah, you still like to eat a cookie, or are there some things that you're like, eh, I've had enough?

Maddy 36:15

It varies by week and by day, and my sister and every talking about that because there are some days where we will come into the bakery and be like, I don't want to see another sweet thing. Like, don't let a cookie touch my table. I don't want it, I have no interest. I only want salty things, and there are some days where it's like every broken cookie, send it my way, send the kits cake scraps my way. Okay, give it to me. Wow, and I love seeing the I love, like I said, I love going to different bakeries and seeing what they have to offer. Uh no, I don't get sick of sweets.

Doug 36:43

You don't get sick of sweets.

Maddy 36:45

I love sweets.

Doug 36:46

Yeah, it would be dangerous for me. And you did bring me a little pink of sweets. What do we have on this tray over here?

Maddy 36:52

So we've brought a lovely yeah, we've brought a lovely assortment of our fancy cookies. Um, so we've yeah, we do have some Ladilaks over there. We also have some of our thumb prints, we've got jelly teas, we've got shortbread.

Doug 37:04

Beautiful.

Maddy 37:05

Yeah, we've even got some pecan tassies, so a few different things here and there for you to try.

Doug 37:10

But you're killing me.

Maddy 37:12

Yeah.

Doug 37:12

In the best way. It's so good. You you brought up another point. I wanted to circle back to uh we've talked about all the things that the baker makes. Are there a couple savory things in there?

Maddy 37:23

Yes, of course. It kind of ebbs and flows with the seasons, but uh one of our permanent things that we've been doing for a while now has been our pepperoni rolls.

Doug 37:31

Yes.

Maddy 37:32

I saw those the day I was there. They're very good. Uh also our bacon jalapeno cheddar chin uh pinwheels. Bacon jalapeno cheddar pinwheels. That's a tongue. Just try and say in real. Yeah. Great breakfast, great lunch. Um, from here and there, they will throw some different things in there, try different things. We did uh spinach turnovers recently. They were delicious, they were great. So things pop up here and there, but our two permanent savory items in our line are definitely here to stay and they do well.

Doug 38:00

So we love a pepperoni roll.

Maddy 38:02

We do.

Doug 38:03

Maddie, I'm just thinking it there's so much going on all the time. I always sort of like to ask the guests, you know, what's on the horizon or what's next. Yeah. Are there any uh special things happening throughout the summer or or in the near future at the bakery?

Maddy 38:18

There are uh coming up shortly or as this recording is coming up, but the draft, the NFL draft is coming to Pittsburgh, and that is very highly anticipated and lots of regards. So, like I said, we're one of the chosen bakeries to provide sweets for them. Um, I'm going to be providing a lot of cutouts as well, I found out. So I'm excited about that. That's on the horizon. We've also got some goodies coming up with just different partnerships. We do a lot of partnerships and collaborations with uh animal rescues. Um we try to make it a somewhat monthly or um every other month type of thing. So always keep an eye out for that. We love to partner with and support the local um rescues and whatnot like that. So there are some of those coming up, and then from here and there we go to different vendor shows or things in the area that we might have our items featured at. Um, but then other than that, personally note I am getting married. So that'll be thank you. So that'll be something that I'm obviously working very heavy with the bakery with.

Doug 39:17

Your cake is coming from your cookies are coming.

Maddy 39:20

They're gonna be from Pastrie's a la carte. So of course.

Doug 39:22

And you met your husband there.

Maddy 39:24

I met him at Disney World, but I dragged him to Pastrie's a la carte with me. So yes, you moved back home from Florida and he works in the bakery as you will see his face up front if you ever visit the front of house. So yeah, he he's a great he's up there, and he also is gonna start doing things with the um different stadiums as well. So we're very excited. We're very involved in the bakery. We love it. It's our bread and butter, if you will.

Doug 39:47

Oh wonderful. Yeah. Yeah. You're just living in a sweet world.

Maddy 39:51

We do, we live with a sweet life.

Doug 39:53

Maddie, I always like to let our listeners know where they can find and follow you. I know physically folks can find the bakery on 81 Clariton Boulevard.

Maddy 40:05

Correct, yes.

Doug 40:06

In the Pleasant Hills.

Maddy 40:07

Correct, yes.

Doug 40:07

Um, and then if they want to find and follow you all in terms of websites, socials, could you remind us of a couple of those? I know you're kind of everywhere.

Maddy 40:16

We are. We have TikTok, we've got Facebook, Instagram, and then we do have our very own website, of course. Uh, you can check us out on any of the socials at pastries a la carte. Um, and then pastries a la carte.com is our website. So yeah, super, super simple. So just check us out there. We're always keeping up to date on lots of things that are going on, either in the bakery or things that we'll be participating with. So it's a good source of info.

Doug 40:39

Yeah. Maddy, it's been so fun to talk about. It has. We're coming towards the end of our time.

Maddy 40:44

Sadly, yes.

Doug 40:45

The name of the show is The Pittsburgh Dish. What's the best dish that you've had to eat this past week?

Maddy 40:54

This past week? I'm gonna toot my own horn. It was it was barbecue chicken dip that I made myself. Not buffalo. Not buffalo, because I'm a big fan of buffalo chicken dip. But no, a friend of mine had posted on Facebook and it was barbecue chicken dip. And it was onions in there, and obviously lots of barbecue sauce. You can throw some jalapeno in there, it's some cheese, and then you put it over the cream cheese like you would with buffalo chicken dip, and it's delicious. So that was probably my favorite dish this time.

Doug 41:23

I think that sounds like a best bite.

Maddy 41:24

Yeah, yeah.

Doug 41:25

Can we get that recipe?

Maddy 41:26

Of course. That's why I was like, thanks for my dinner for the week. So good.

Doug 41:32

Maddy. Yeah, lead of the cookie department.

Maddy 41:35

Whatever you will dub me.

Doug 41:39

Thank you so much for spending time with us today. Oh my goodness. Talking all things about the bakery.

Maddy 41:43

Yeah. Thanks for being on the Pittsburgh Dish. Thanks for having me so much. I appreciate it.

Doug 41:48

Thank you. If you enjoyed the show, consider buying us a coffee for this episode or supporting the show monthly. You can find links to those options at the bottom of our show description. And if you want to follow my own food adventures, you can find me on social media at Doug Cooking. That's our show for this week. Thanks again to all of our guests and contributors, and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.