One of my last stops in Philadelphia was The Bourse Building. I was in Old City, and I had seen a piece on YouTube by amazing Philadelphia based travel Vloggers, Ryan and Stacia, of Death By Vlog.
I’m slightly obsessed with their content and have learned a lot for our upcoming trip to India, but that’s another story.
Growing up in Philly, I’ve seen the Bourse building in several incarnations. None of them exceptionally well done. This time it looked fascinating.
I wandered in pretty early, and very little was open except for a coffee shop and a small bakery. I roamed around, taking in the fun iconic Philly graphics, looking at the food stands yet to open and walked by the bakery for the second time.
I kept looking at the shopkeeper at Barry’s Buns, having been raised in the restaurant business in the Philly burbs he looked really familiar.
On my next pass, he said, “ Hi, can I help you?” to which my answer was, “Sure as soon as I can figure out where I know you from!”
“That’s fine, Mark, it’s Joel!”
Joel, AKA Barry (his middle name) when my wedding planning business was sponsoring the region’s largest wedding cake competition, and he was Assistant Pastry Chef at the acclaimed Rittenhouse Hotel.
The space in the Bourse Building in their second location with the first in Chestnut Hill’s The Market At Fareway, another Philly foodie destination.
While we are catching up, I’m drooling over the display cases. One side is filled with Cinnamon Rolls, Crumb Cake, Jewish Apple Cake, and their signature buns.
Sticky Buns are a sweet yeast dough rolled with cinnamon and sugar, traditionally they come plain or with raisins or walnuts. But, Barry’s takes it one step farther with delicious seasonal favorites.
Being October, the seasonal was PUMPKIN! Don’t get confused with all of the pumpkin spice stuff out there, this is the love child of a pumpkin pie. The Cinnamon Bun is schmeared with a secret recipe pumpkin pie filling. Once it’s finished, it gets a dollop of spiced cream cheese frosting.
OBVIOUSLY, that’s the one I had. It was sticky, sweet, and buttery with a tender dough and the perfect balance of fall flavors.
At the risk of being a pig and eating my way across the second case containing cookies, waffles, bars, and biscotti, I said goodbye to Barry and made my way across town.
If you are in Old City Philadelphia, be sure to check out the newly renovated Bourse Building located across from the Liberty Bell. And, don’t forget to stop by and check out Barry’s Buns.
