Mark’s Score 8.6
I have always held the belief that in order to be classified a good place to live, a town must have a decent bakery. It is essential and it is Salisbury’s great downfall. Salisbury does not have a bakery worth mentioning in polite company. Snow Hill has Del Vecchio’s, Berlin has Baked Dessert Café, and Cambridge has Black Water Bakery and Eatery.
Black Water is unique in that it a full-fledged restaurant, as well as a bakery. It is also unique in that it is primarily a bakery/breakfast place with a liquor license. So, if you enjoy a mimosa or two with your breakfast, and who doesn’t when on vacation, then this is the place to go.
I am all for revitalizing downtowns, especially in old historic places like Cambridge. So, the first thing to be said about Black Water is the fantastic job it did in revitalizing an old storefront on the top end of Race Street. There are some beautiful Victorian buildings on that block that have seen better times. I’ll support any business that makes an effort to bring these commercial districts back to life. It is especially encouraging to see, given that Cambridge’s downtown saw the loss of several great restaurants after Covid.
I have not eaten breakfast at Black Water, though I hear great things about their breakfast food. I rarely get to Cambridge at breakfast time, but next time I eat at Black Water, I have resolved to try their breakfast.
A couple of weeks ago, I was making a delivery at Emily’s and I decided to have lunch at Black Water. There are two dining areas at Black Waters, I decided to sit in the section next to the bakery so I could watch the bakers do their craft. I was in luck; they were making chocolate chip cookies just as I arrived. Honestly, chocolate is not my favorite, and if I order a pastry, I usually order a fruit-based pasty. But truthfully, there is nothing like the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. I imagine that Heaven smells of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies; after all is there anything closer to paradise than the smell of a chocolate chip cookie?
I ordered the chicken curry salad wrap with grapes and candied pecans. It is always a risk ordering this dish. Restaurants tend to overpower the chicken salad with curry. But the risk paid off. The curry was light and creamy and delicate enough so that you could taste the grapes and pecans. What is the point of putting ingredients in a dish if you overpower their flavor with spices? As an added bonus, the accompanying fries were my definition of perfection, light golden brown, crisp on the outside, soft in the middle, and no grease. What does a bakery know about fries, a great deal, apparently.
I would definitely visit again; in fact I am looking forward to ordering their breakfast.
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