3 Tiers gets 3 cheers for brunch

Lisa Nguyen

The perfect spot to start the day

​3 Tiers Bakery has been in the Nokomis neighborhood since 2009 and recently expanded from cakes, cookies, and treats to breakfast and lunch offerings. The atmosphere is warm and casual, with locals chatting over coffee and scones at the bakery counter and a handful of other customers having brunch or reading the Sunday paper in the adjoining, charmingly decorated dining room.

We sat down with a couple of large cups of coffee and dug into the menu.

3 Tiers carries organic,fair trade selections from local company B+W Specialty Coffee. We had the Mocha Java, a rich, very smooth, and strong coffee. The quality of the coffee set the tone for the rest of the meal.

Lisa Nguyen

​The biscuits and sausage gravy ($5.75) really showcases the skills of the baking staff. The biscuits were fluffy and soft on the inside with a buttery shell that offered a slight crunch with each bite and a sweet flavor from the heavy cream or milk used in the dough. The sausage gravy played off the sweetness of the biscuits well. The gravy had just the right amount of slightly spicy sausage without being overly salty or greasy.

The breakfast sandwich ($5.75) blows all other breakfast sandwiches out of the water. Truly. It starts with the house-made baguette, which is closer to an Italian bread than a traditional baguette, but it's still fresh and airy with a golden crust. The over-medium egg yolk fuses with the bread to create a French toast effect that adds incredible depth to a simple breakfast sandwich. A Canadian bacon and Swiss filling would be nothing much to talk about if not for the sriracha mayo, which adds spice and additional flavor, making this an outstanding sandwich.

Lisa Nguyen

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Lisa Nguyen

​A bakery case sits next to the ordering counter offering an array of pastries, but we found the petit fours ($2.25 each) to be the most compelling. That particular day there were two choices: tiramisu and operatorte. The tiramisu was a delicate bite of cake, cocoa, and espresso, while the operatorte was a spongy cake layered with buttercream and chocolate, covered with a smooth ganache. Both of these bite-sized desserts were heavenly and great palate cleansers after a meal. Unfortunately for the cupcakes ($2.95 each), the petit fours were a hard act to follow. The banana cupcake with caramel and chocolate buttercream was decent, but we wouldn't go out of our way to order it again. The Irish Car Bomb cupcake (Guinness cake filled with Bailey's Mousse and topped with Jameson buttercream) lacked the punch expected from a dessert involving chocolate and alcohol.

Lisa Nguyen

​The counter service was friendly and familiar. We could tell 3 Tiers gets a lot of regulars coming in, and our food arrived promptly even though we arrived during a rush. While the menu is not huge, it offers something for everyone, even a vegan soup option. And if the baguette from the breakfast sandwich is any indication, we just might have to come back for lunch and try every sandwich on the menu.