The alarm went off this morning at 7:30am and quickly Darren and I got dressed and dashed out of the house. We thought we were getting a jump start on the holiday crowds gathering at Riviera Bakery in Ardsley, NY. Boy were we wrong! The store opened at 7am and will remain open til 4pm (or until everything is sold out). We arrived shortly after 8am and the parking lot was packed and the line inside wrapped around and around, almost out the door. It seems plenty of people had the same brilliant idea we had of being the first people to arrive.

Every holiday throughout the year, people from near and far in Westchester County descended on this bakery shop for their amazing desserts and baked goods. The shelves were filled with fresh breads (sourdough, 7 grain, rye, french bread, etc..), muffins (pumpkin, blueberry, cranberry), turnovers, holiday cookies and cupcakes, and fresh baked cakes and pies. The apple crumb pie, sour cream coffee cake, double chocolate cake, babka, banana cream pie, were all flying off the shelves faster than they were coming out of the oven. Holiday favorites baked in the shape of the Yule Log, Reindeer, and even a replica of the Empire State Building filled the counters. While Riviera is known for their baked goods, they also sell a variety of quiches, soup, even chicken pot pie. Their tarts were also popular and are not just the traditional fruit tart. They had root vegetable, potato leek, chili and zucchini/brie/mushroom. People were buying everything and anything in preparation for the Christmas holiday. After about 30 minutes, Darren and I walked out with a variety of cookies, cupcakes, and turnovers. We will be bringing our scrumptious treats with us tomorrow as we are headed to Darren’s folks for a holiday gathering. If you still need to pick up your baked goods, you should get up and get and out of the house fast before everything is gone.