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."
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.
