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The line for hand-cut doughnuts forms outside Half Baked Cafe & Bakery in Beverly Farms before it opens. The 2-year-old spot (the name means half bakery, half eatery) cranks out rounds with vanilla cream, maple iced, and bacon, or slathered with salted creamy toffee ($2 to $2.50). Co-owner Kelly Mackin, 32, also bakes cupcakes and other pastries ($1.75 to $2.75), all nut-free, at the 25-seat eatery, decorated with a hot pink ceiling and a wall of tiles that resemble frosting. Co-owner and chef Craig White, 36, a former chef at Rialto Restaurant + Bar in Cambridge, creates elaborate sandwiches ($10 to $15) you might not expect here. The chef roasts, cures, corns, or smokes all meats, and makes condiments. Breads are baked here too, and might be part of a Vietnamese-style sub sandwich with chicken liver pate, duck confit, pickled watermelon radish, red-striped chiogga beet slices, and Kewpie mayonnaise. Porchetta in a roll is spread with olive relish, pickled peppers, greens, and garlic mayonnaise. A seafood sandwich on multigrain has layers of crab salad, a slice of octopus terrine, seared sea urchin and avocado mousse, and citrusy greens. “I’m just trying to make awesome food,” says White. The steady stream of customers agrees.
Kieran Kesner for The Boston Globe
A selection of doughnuts at Half Baked.
Half Baked Cafe & Bakery, 1 West St., Beverly Farms, 978-969-6177, www.halfbakedbeverly.com
ANN TRIEGER KURLAND
