Downtown Bakery & Creamery
308 Center St., Healdsburg
www.downtownbakery.net
             and: 
Flying Goat Coffee
419 Center St, Healdsburg
Review date:  May 2010

Having walked around Healdsburg Plaza - a much smaller and simpler version of Sonoma's Plaza, with no buildings or pond and only benches for sitting - we decided to eat lunch at Barndiva but have a pastry and coffee from these two establishments. Downtown Bakery has a relatively small pastry case, but they do have a small refrigerator case for cakes and a small freezer for frozen dough items, such as pie shells and bread doughs, that can be purchased. Their fruit galettes looked yummy, so we chose a pear and raspberry galette to share with our Flying Goat cappuccinos. We took it all to the plaza to sit on a bench and eat.
The pastry was crisp yet tender, and NOT OVERSWEETENED - what a relief! There was some sugar in the fruit filling but barely there; the delicate pear flavor was evident and the tang of fresh raspberries wasn't masked. It was a delightfully simple finish to lunch, and just right between the two of us. I remarked to Carlos that I will be glad when restaurants stop this insane competition of multiple complex desserts. Sometimes simplicity is best, especially if you're using really fine ingredients.
Flying Goat's espresso blends (Carlos was regular, mine was decaf) were earthy and bitter and altogether lovely. The foam wasn't quite as good as Cafe Beaujolais, which demonstrated the epitome of proper cappuccino brewing. But at least now we know where Cafe La Haye in Sonoma gets their coffee - the mushroom-y aroma is absolutely distinctive to this elite brewer.
The two cappuccinos were $5 total. The pastry was $4.75. We're coming back for breakfast noshing and coffee before we leave the area, you betcha.
Addendum: We did go back for morning coffee at Flying Goat and different galettes at Downtown the next day. The sour cherry was very good - it's rare you find anyone using them these days - but the rhubarb and strawberry was a little too sweet, obscuring the nice tartness of the rhubarb. Our hearts remain with the pear and raspberry galette, a truly lovely breakfast 'Danish'.