Just got off the blower with Pete Marczyk at Marczyk Fine Foods, and he passed along a nugget of really good news: As of April 6, the market will be bringing aboard John Hinman -- renowned pastry, pie, cake and cookie guy -- as a full-time staffer.
If his name sounds familiar, it should. Hinman's made pastries at Mel's and Vesta, for Dave Query at Jax. As I reported a couple of weeks ago, he was also the guy who (along with his girlfriend, Jayne Yelich) ran the Gelato Spot/Nosh space at 1439 South Pearl Street. But Nosh closed recently, leaving Hinman without a steady gig. And that was when Marczyk stepped in.
Hinman has been doing some part-time piecework for the market for a couple of months -- some cookies here, brownies there. But what Marczyk (and the market) really wanted was an in-house guy to shore up the pastry section and keep the house amply supplied with baked goods. Pete himself had been doing the work for a time, and he was ready for a pro to step up. Enter Hinman.
Hinman will be doing "bake-sale type sweets," according to Marczyk. "Stuff you would make at home if you had the time." Brownies and blondies, whoopie pie and bacon-chocolate chip cookies. You know, the basics.
In time (and in season), Hinman will also provide breads and pies -- all fresh and all handmade. "We won't do any fillings out of a bucket," Marczyk told me. "That's not how we roll."
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And that ain't how Hinman rolls, either. He's a baker who's always been adamant about freshness, scratch-baking and quality ingredients. I think the two of them are gonna get along just fine.