Scratch

I’ve tried Scratch three times, and each time I was disappointed. I’ve had the avocado toast, the shirred eggs and one of their tartines. The flavors for all of them were… lacking. Very much on the bland side. They just don’t have that extra punch that you’re looking for when you want the food to hit the right spot. It also didn’t help that every time I’ve been the server has been less than enthused. He didn’t really want to answer any questions and just looked underwhelmed.

Yummy interpretation of eggs Benedict. Snow had avocado purée over thick toast & she liked it. We also had a side of cheese grits that was delicious. Definitely recommend this place.

Stopped by for a quick snack, had to try the donut muffin, as recommended to us by a local bartender. The buttermilk donut muffin was scrumptious — not too dense and not crumbling apart. Coated in a thick layer of sugar and cinnamon. We could have eaten half a dozen of them.
There were so many delicious looking desserts that we didn’t have the room to try (chocolate pie, even King cake!) as well as a very enticing brunch and lunch menu.
The shop is roomy, has lots of tables, and has huge windows that let in lots of light.
Would definitely return!

My second time here in two days. Do I like this place? Well yeah. And that’s where I start. It’s a very comfortable, unique place in a nice spot.
So far the food has been a mixed blessing. I tried the shaker lemon pie. Great crust, solid lemon flavor, but a bit too much sugar for me. I’d like a little more sweet/​sour balance. I will pass on the red beans and rice next time. Not enough Cajun flavor and without andouille sausage it’s a pretty bland bowl. Chocolate doughnut muffins on the other hand rock!
But I will be back! Many more interesting things to try.

We’ve been here a couple times now. Their coffee is so-​so but decent enough. The donut muffins are awesome, I highly recommend the buttermilk. The biscuits are also awesome, especially with city ham and cheddar. The sorghum chive butter was also really good. The bacon jam is good but intense and if you order it on the biscuit you get a lot… so beware. The radish avocado toast is really, really good but lacked some acidity… I added salt and that really brought it together. Overall this place is great, check it out!

Baby friendly, quick service, and friendly staff at 9 am on a Saturday for brunch. Both of the brunch items we ordered were unique and very tasty. Would come back again!

My friend and I stopped by after lunch to grab some dessert here! He got a slice of the chocolate chess pie and I got a slice of their gingerbread cake. Both were solidly delicious, but a bit overpriced. I really liked the gingerbread cake – spicy and awesome flavors, moist, but the only thing I didn’t like was that the glaze on top was sour and overpowered the flavor of the cake. Otherwise, it was tasty!

What an adorable bakery with amazing baked goods and a great menu! We walked in just before they closed, so we only had a coffee (cortado) and a few bourbon balls, but next time I’m in Durham, Scratch is at the top of my list for lunch and brunch! And a slice of one of their beautiful, delicious pies as well!

After driving 2 hrs for a doctor’s appointment I decided to check out Scratch on 11÷30÷15. I was so disappointed when walking up to the door there was a sign saying «closed today due to plumbing problems». Really? You could see people working inside so you gotta wonder what was going on. I hope I’ll have the opportunity to check it out some day. The 2 star review reflects my disappointment not the food as I wasn’t able to try any.

Egg-​cellent way to start to the day.
Cozy aquamarine interior, complete with a bakery display and the menu written along an entire wall in chalk. The food ordering system is pretty straightforward: go to the counter, place an order, and they will bring your food out. We found a nice table near the window and the chalkboard menu wall.
My friend and I decided to share a hoe cake benedict, shak shuka eggs, and a london fog latte. The satisfyingly sweet drink came first, in a gorgeously huge cup no less. While the benedict was pretty traditional, I was totally surprised when the shak shuka came out: it was a soupy egg dish that was almost sweet tasting. Rather strange, but warm and filling nonetheless; perfect for a drizzly Sunday.

I love Scratch. My week is incomplete without at least one breakfast or brunch here. I usually start with a chocolate donut muffin, then move on to shirred eggs or avocado toast on a weekday or something more adventurous like the shakshuka on a weekend day. They serve delicious Intelligentsia coffee and the service is friendly and fast. Oh, and PIES. So many delicious pies. Every. Single. Day.

Phoebe Lawless is a truly classy and respectful entrepreneur and pastry chef. Last year, my mother had eaten a tomato pie that had unfortunately gone bad, and Phoebe personally contacted us to send her sincere apologies as well as a gift card to her wonderful shop.
No place is ever perfect, even one that qualify for a James Beard Award, but good customer service is a core function of any successful business.
Thankfully Phoebe and her team have sustained the food and customer service here at a 5 star level. I would highly recommend their coffee, brunch, and pies for your everyday and special occasions!

Mostly just have a series of unrelated comments:
–Really good biscuits and shakshuka
–SO many pies but they’re all overpriced
–Amazing donut muffins
–Shitty coffee
–The watermelons they sell are yellow and taste like a bland slushie

We started day two of our Elizabeth City Roadtrip by heading over to the Scratch Bakery in Durham to find out what makes the Pastry Chef Phoebe Lawless a 2013 James Beard Award Semi-​Finalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef. After driving in circles a few times trying to find the elusive W Orange St (thanks for nothing Google Maps) we discovered Scratch & W Orange St are only accessible on foot. After parking around the corner then walking past a bunny hopping around a tree on the sidewalk (yes it was real) we finally found Scratch.
We found nothing other than pies listed on the online menu but once inside there was a diverse and ever evolving menu written across the wall. After a couple of seconds of second guessing and uncertainty we settled on trying the Buttermilk Donut Muffin, the Shirred Egg with Buttery Toast, the Fried Duck Egg Sandwich, and a couple of hot NC Apple Ciders.
The Buttermilk Donut Muffin was light, dense, fluffy, crumbly, sweet, and ridiculously delicious. The hot NC Apple Cider made for a perfect pairing with the donut muffin and we found ourselves wanting a lot more of it… like a whole lot more!
The Shirred Egg with Buttery Toast reminded us a lot of the Soft Truffled Egg over Toast we ate while at the Fire on the Rock Competition Dining event. We didn’t immediately fall in love with the shirred egg but I think that was only because we were expecting something a little different. It was our first shirred egg experience and although it wasn’t love at first bite… it was very delicious with the buttery toast.
The Fried Duck Egg Sandwich was probably the biggest mystery of our morning. We didn’t love it… we didn’t hate it… we honestly weren’t really sure what to think of it. The pickled onions were definitely good and the bacon jam was good (as is everything with bacon) but I would recommend using a little less next time. The home made bun was very good (a little out of place on a sandwich) and the pesto mayo was delicious but used a little excessively on our visit.
Scratch wasn’t the mind blowing experience I was looking for but with an ever evolving menu featuring local and seasonal ingredients its pretty likely that something will rock your socks. We loved Scratch as a bakery… the décor, the vibe, even the menu itself, but we’re still looking for that special menu item to add to our favorites list.

Went in here with my girlfriends for some coffee and interesting eats. Loved the ambience as we walked in, simple and bright. Between three of us we ordered Latte, Cortado and Cappuccino which were all spot on. Latte here comes in a big bowl literally bigger than your face. Apart from desserts and coffee they have variety of food on the menu too. We ordered all the side salads they have and I would highly recommend cucumber salad with quest fresco, cold and crispy. We ordered savory pies and tomato sandwich which was all average and didn’t make my skirt fly.
Right after I came back home the place was on Cooking channel and was going on about how lovely there doughnut muffins are so looks like I’ll have to go back for that and more.
There is a paid parking right in front of the US postal building which is 10 steps away so don’t sweat looking for street parking.

Scratch was one of my first stops when I moved to Durham several years ago. I visited for their BYOB (or W) pizza night and was impressed right away. Not only is Scratch a delicious bakery, but they will also delight your tastebuds with a delicious variety of coffee products (Sorry, no SOY!) and a breakfast and weekend brunch menu. You’ll walk through the doors and most likely will be greeted by the tallest (second tallest to Andrew W.), friendliest server you’ve ever met, with possibly the longest hair for a guy you’ve ever seen! Mr. Tall Man will give recommendations upon request and always with a smile will ring up your order [side note, I also learned he’s an ARTIST – what, what?!] Scratch dishes up one tasty latte! And with their newest Barista – Derek– making your drink, you won’t be disappointed! You might be surprised for the $ 4.00’s that you’re paying, HOWEVER, they serve their drinks in BOWLS, literally, a bowl full of the tastiest coffee you’ll find downtown – okay, I admit, second only the Coco Cinnamon.
And aside from the delicious desserts (and yes, we did order ALL the pies for Thanksgiving last year – try the Valrhona Chocolate Hand Pie or Lemon Chess Pie, GOOD!) the brunch is amazing. I will give you fair warning, it gets crowded. You might get annoyed with people standing around waiting for a table, but good news, if the weather is nice, they set up TONS of tables outside, and on a sunny day, it’s definitely the best spot to be. Otherwise, just cross your finger that you’ll get a seat inside. On my latest visit I tried the ShakShuka ($ 10) and the Duck Egg Sandwich ($ 9) – note their prices are a little on the high side for a alley way bakery, so be prepared. The shakshuka was a tomato based vegetable dish served with poached eggs and a couple sliced of toast. It was a great taste, but I wouldn’t order it for breakfast again, a couple bites satisfied me, but I need something with a wider variety of flavors, which brings me to the Duck Egg Sammy. Lord, I want to go back and get another one RIGHT NOW! A soft bun encloses duck eggs, bacon jam, garlic mayo and pickled onions, it was a ass smacking combination and one that I’d recommend to all! So if you can overlook the hungry customers and find a seat, definitely give Scratch a try. They also serve lunch and you’ve got to try out their Wednesday pizza nights (they’re bringing them back THIS SUMMER!)

Three words. Chocolate. Chess. Pie.
This pie is definitely a cure-​all for the case of the bad-​day. It’s decadent, rich, creamy, smooth, and deliciously sweet. It’s what you’d want on a Friday night, crashed on the couch, surrounded by your girls, stacks of chick flicks, and boxes of nail varnishes. It’s a feel good type of pie, and in reality, perfect for any occasion – not just a wild Friday night. This is coming from a girl who casually had a slice for breakfast on a Wednesday morning. Win.

Pros:
Great pie. I had sea salt chocolate pie. The crust is crispy with a delicious, thick and smoothy chocolate taste. Lots of space to seat, both inside and outside.
Cons:
Hard to find a place to park and service is slow if you want a quick bite and leave, you may find annoyed.

Items Selected:
Valrhona Chocolate Hand Pie
Peanut Butter Chess Pie
Banana Cream Pie
Buttermilk Biscuit
Chocolate Donut Muffin
Buttermilk Donut Muffin
Located directly across the street from Loaf, and actually the space where we indulged in many of the wood-​fired bakeries goods, it was onward to Scratch that the three-​stop breakfast progressed and not exactly a direct competitor to the spot across the street it was again to a vast number of goods I was tempted — the sugar pie unfortunately proving unset when the young clerk cut into it, but the other half-​dozen selections showing a deft hand from the team working in the kitchen at back.
Admittedly a bit chilly, the weather outside just above 40 °F and the large glass windows doing little against the whipping wind outside the panes, it was perhaps a miscalculation on the part of the staff not to have turned on the heaters when they arrived but with both servers and patrons all bundled up against the elements it was still in a half-​full café that selections were made, each item plated and delivered to the table up front where my mother and I sat.
Undoubtedly a place for pie, no less than nine varieties offered amidst a variety of cases both chilled and room temperature, it should come as no surprise that half of our order was comprised of these signatures but beginning first with a trio of items hot from the kitchen one would be hard pressed to call any of them less than excellent, the butter-​brushed biscuit flaky and light while both ‘donut muffins’ were virtually oilless, a delicate crumb beneath the sugary topcoat with both the buttermilk and cocoa notes surprisingly restrained.
Onward to pie, at least in a way, suffice it to say that the rustic hand-​pie trended far richer than did the aforementioned muffin and with a the center falling halfway between ganache and brownie each bite disappeared fast — the theme of richness assuredly carrying over to an all-​natural banana cream pie using housemade yellow-​cake crumble as a makeshift crust while the peanut butter imbued chess slice featured a hearty all-​butter shell more than capable of standing up to pudding-​moist filling that again scaled back the sweetness with just enough cornmeal to make the top crumbly and soft.

This place serves small to medium plates. They have a variety of pies, biscuits and entrees. I found the Chocolate Chess pie to be the best of the lot. It packs both a crumbly and smooth texture into it. A pie where a dig at it isn’t sufficient :) Apple crust pie was good, nothing out of the ordinary. Shaker lemon pie was bad. We wanted to try a pie with a lemon flavor but a different texture. Shaker lemon was the suggested. It had lemon peels and the pie felt like a sour marmalade packed into a crust. Eeeek…
Pimento cheese biscuit and Biscuits with relish tasted fine. Avocado bread spread was nothing but avocado spread with chopped radish. Radish did add an interesting taste and not to mention the crunchiness.
Shaksuka had interesting curry flavors to it. Dipping the homemade sourdough bread into it made it taste better. Chile roasted sweet potato salad was good. The sweet potatoes were cooked very well. They were shaped like the croutons in the salad. You would have look closer I spot the difference :)
Friendly staff and reasonably quick delivery. The downside to this place are their hot drinks. With respect to the taste, they deliver. But they are lukewarm. I like my coffees hot. Their cups are wide (see photo) which makes the coffee cold in an instant. Got to gulp it down. But that’s not how you serve coffee. Their small plates are slightly priced higher.
Bottom line: Good tasting small plates and entrees, few good pies and lukewarm to cold coffee :(