Apple Pie Bakery

Kugelhopf, where have you been all my life? I discovered this delicious cross between brioche and panettone during a recent upstate visit. Apparently, it is not a popular choice because people don’t know what it is, or so theorized the lovely culinary student I chatted with. So all I can say is, «just do it.» The CIA’s version is studded with golden raisins and filled with some sort of cream (mascarpone?) and orange marmalade, which takes it over the top. Breakfast heaven!
Hubby’s Bacon and Cheese Scone was a perfect study in flakey, buttery goodness, and the kid gave a thumbs-​up to his Mudslide Cookie. We took home a loaf of Sourdough that outclassed a lot of our local NYC options.
Only bummer was the Plum Financier, which was very dry along the sides, as if it had been sliced and allowed to sit for too long. When I pointed this out, they explained that «this is how it is supposed to be.» Regardless, I was not a fan. In the end, they kindly offered to let me get another pastry instead. And I went with another delectable Kugelhopf!
Fwiw, we try to stop here every time we are in the area. Baged goods, especially breakfast pastries, almost always tend to be a sure thing. The lunch menu is more up and down.

The desserts were really good especially the eclaire. My chicken sandwich was under seasoned and bland. The mac n cheese was nice but under seasoned.

love this place. beautiful campus and that apple pie bakery is always great. love their bread and sandwiches. i bring friends there every year several times. its really an excuse for me to go back there again and again and again…
for the price the quality of food is amazing.

Love the food here. So fresh and clean and the people are friendly. My favorite thing is the Mac and cheese. There macaroons are also very good.

Food: we ordered all sweets! The blueberry lemon Danish, almond croissant, cheesecake, and Black Forest cake were very good! Only complaint was that the coffee was too sour for me:(
Service: A+++++ the students were super friendly and prompt.
Environment: the school is beautiful! The aroma is so good ! Walking outside the building makes me hungry!
Price: reasonable! Worth it!
Overall: I will be back!

We had the crab cake and the mac and cheese for lunch. In the past the food had been very tasty and worth the drive we take to get to the APB. Well taste has taken a holiday. While you could tell the mac and cheese was made with Gruyère cheese the overall taste was bland. The crab cake was average at best and the sauce was with some taste but not enough on the plate to use with the entire crab cake. The service, as usual, was great and caring. Too many other places to have a more flavorful meal than to hurry back to the Apple Pie Bakery.

Timing is everything when dining at a CIA restaurant. Once the students get the menus, food prep, and service down, you can be assured that your meal will be good, and perhaps great!
Fortunately, at the Apple Pie Bakery, we’ve consistently had great lunches, and bakery items!
Sandwiches, soups and goodies are tasty, and fresh! Don’t miss out on the truffle fries, I would never order fries at any other restaurant (usually replacing that choice with salad), but, these are absolutely wonderful!

Upon my arrival to the Culinary Institute, I was blown by the beautiful structure of all the buildings on campus. The culinary students are dedicated to their craft and take pride in serving their guests.
The Apple Pie Bakery is just one of the restaurants on campus run by students. The interior matches the exterior of the college and makes you feel like you’ve been transported to Hogwarts!
The aroma coming from the kitchen was intoxicating, and the display cases filled with gourmet pastries and desserts was stunning. I ordered a simple salad which was very basic and nothing special, my boyfriend ordered a short ribs and my friend ordered a chicken sandwich. The boys raved about their meal and left nothing on their plates. We ordered some sweets to go and couldn’t have been more excited to dig into them.
I absolutely loved everything about this little place and I cannot wait to come back in the spring and try their new menu!

When visiting a school specializing in culinary arts the grading scale is set at a higher level. Fortunately, the apple café did not disappoint. Expect classic preparations of each dish — and expect near perfect results.

Even though I live so close to it, I had never been to the CIA’s campus until this past spring, when I met a friend for lunch at the Apple Pie Bakery. First off, the grounds of the campus are straight opulent — I was late to lunch because I spent a few extra minutes driving around so I could take it all in (sorry, friend!).
The Bakery, like all of the CIA’s eateries, is student-​run and they were all very polite and polished looking. Like others have said, definitely make sure to get there early or try to avoid peak hours. We were seated and finishing our food around noon, when a flood of students packed the place for lunch.
For my meal, I got a fruit tart of some sort, a crab cake and a glass of chardonnay. I’m normally not huge on tarts and fruit-​based desserts, but I figured, «Hey, I’m at the Culinary Institute, if anyone’s gonna make a fruit tart that I like, it should be them, right?»
Right.
It was delicious and moist and fresh and I really should have bought more and brought them home (luckily, I live about 7 minutes away).
The Dungeness Crab Cake, though, was amazing. They obviously used high quality ingredients and they didn’t skimp on the meat, which I find is often the case with crab cakes. The plating was also very lovely. It was just a singular crab cake, surrounded by a light garnish of greens. It was easily the best crab cake I’ve ever had so I’m sure at some point in the near future I’ll be back to try it again (and stock up on pastries!).

There’s two things I learned about visiting the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY:
1. Most of the restaurants (all but 1) are closed on Mondays.
2. To get a table at one of the finer dining restaurants, you need to book months in advance.
We drove two hours from New York City north into the Palisades Parks region, just north of Poughkeepsie, into a small town called Hyde Park, NY. Hyde Park is famous for two things– the hometown of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the home of the Culinary Institute of America, also called the CIA. The school is housed on 170 acres along the banks of the Hudson River. In addition to classrooms, resident halls and test kitchens, the college also operates 4 restaurants open to the public (with an occasional pop up restaurant). Three of the four are full service outlets and require reservations well in advance. The fourth, a small bakery café is the only place open for lunch on Mondays– the Apple Pie Bakery and Café.
We walked up to a counter and placed our order while oogling at the fresh baked pastries on display. We then chose a table in the very crowded dining room and waited for our food to arrive.
I visited with my Mom and my boyfriend Chad and we all chose different types of dishes. My Mom ordered the Goat Cheese, Avocado and Watercress Sandwich– simple but delicious. The sandwich was made to order on fresh bread with a generous amount of fillings.
Chad ordered the special of the day which was a Grilled Salmon platter served with rice. It was a small portion but he enjoyed it.
Luckily, we also ordered a side of truffle fries so he didn’t go hungry. The fries were served hot and crisp with a sprinkling of truffle seasoning.
I had the Fried Goat Cheese, Spinach and Golden Beet salad. A very healthy serving of fresh spinach with roasted mini golden beets and lightly fried balls of goat cheese lined the rim of the plate. It was very good, but again, I am happy we ordered the extra side of fries so I also didn’t leave hungry.
For dessert we split the Pumpkin Cheesecake. It was small enough that we each could have easily enjoyed our own, but incredibly rich so just a few bites was more than enough for us.
The restaurant staff is made up of the college’s students. They are easily accessible to answer questions as they serve, bus and clean tables. Every student we saw around the campus were full of smiles and seemed genuinely happy to be there. We did not take the guided tour of the campus. Instead we roamed the halls of the school ourselves and peeked into classrooms and test kitchens as the students were hard at work.
The campus is beautiful– from the stately main building to the lodge-​style resident halls. Be sure to check out the little shop in the main building for CIA gear as well as a collection of hard to find kitchen gadgets and accessories.

Apple Pie Bakery always has a queue, but it is worth it. I highly recommend the macaroons.

Tried their donut today and had to add a star… delicious! So was the apple pie!
The tofu sandwich was nice and flavorful.
We also tried the heirloom/​pesto/​mozzarella dish which was delicious, just wish there were bigger pieces of the mozzarella.

Amazing café at CIA — great destination with visitors! Have visited multiple times, have enjoyed sandwiches, salads, beef tenderloin, hamburgers, breads, pastries and apple pie. Worth the trip. Tremendous Attention to detail. Students and instructors put much heart into their offerings and their service — it shows!
Best to arrive early before opening as usually a line, which does move efficiently. Enjoy!

Needless to say the food is gourmet without being pretentious. Everything is perfectly prepared and looks beautiful as well. The café is only open weekends for breakfast and lunch but it is worth the trip. There are many items that can be taken home but I recommend the apple pie which is the best I’ve ever eaten. The service is superb and everyone is friendly and well trained.

I do not underatand why they need that much time to pack one donut and one coockie.
Extremely slow service and overpriced

Great selection of baked goods and coffee for dine in or take out.
The apple pie was particularly good. Prices are reasonable considering the quality.

We had a trip planned to Poughkeepsie, and we immediately thought of stopping at the CIA. Turns out, the other restaurants all stop serving lunch fairly early (1pm) but the Apple Pie Bakery is open until 5 and doesn’t require reservations. Bingo.
When we arrived– around 1:30– there was a line of maybe fifteen or so people outside of Apple Pie (the fire safety code requires them to limit the number of folks inside), but it moves efficiently enough. Once you place your order, you sit down with your number and await delivery of your food.
It’s hard to explain how magical sandwiches can be — but everything we had here was delicious. An avocado, goat cheese, and watercress sandwich on a warmed multi-​grain bread served with perfectly crispy french fries was pure bliss. The daily quiche was served with a «simple salad» that was complicated enough not to be boring but simple enough to be refreshing.
And please don’t forget the baked goods which are, arguably, the star of the show. The cookies, oh, the cookies. As big as your head and tastier than almost any cookie I’ve ever had.

All of the food at this bakery is produced by students of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). This is a pleasant café which is perfect for a quick snack. My wife and I dropped by to sample their baked goods and sweet treats. There was a short line to get into the café and we were able to chat with the hostess who gave us some recommendations. Their macaroons are supposedly top notch but unfortunately we didn’t get any. I had a pomegranate lychee granita which is a semi-​frozen dessert (think slushee). It was good but a bit too sweet for my palate. My wife had this coconut, tapioca, pineapple concoction which was served in a glass jar. It was very unique and pretty tasty.
I really enjoyed the atmosphere at the café, it’s chill and relaxing. I noticed a few students studying in the café while munching. It’s a great vibe there and I’d recommend stopping by the bakery for a bite if you ever visit the CIA

By far the most casual and least expensive of the CIA’s four restaurants. No dress code here and we ordered a bunch of different things where our total came out to under $ 40. By comparison, we previously had to dress up a bit for lunch at American Bounty and our tab came out to over $ 80.
No reservations at Apple Pie Bakery, so brace yourself for a long wait. For a minute, I wondered whether I was standing in line at the soup kitchen. But, at least students come by every few minutes offering you samples while you wait. The strawberry shake (special that day) was awesome and the dark chocolate was good as well. About 20 – 30 minutes passed before we even got through the front door, then another 5 – 10 before we could order, then within 5 – 10 minutes of sitting down, we progressively got served. It was kind of like a strip tease, but with food.
Everything on display is visually appealing. It was truly difficult to decide what to order despite the small menu size. Other than the Apple Pie, the menu seems to change pretty regularly so there’s probably no use in telling you what we loved and what we weren’t overly thrilled with, but here goes anyway.
What we loved:
Truffle parmesan fries
Stuffed pretzel (with andouille sausage, garlic, and peppers)
Apple cider
What we just liked:
White bean and pesto soup (soup of the day)
Mac and cheese (overwhelmingly heavy; heart attack in a bowl)
Apple Pie (Remember, they call themselves Apple Pie Bakery, but they don’t even have vanilla ice cream to give you the option of Apple Pie a la Mode.)
Similar to my experience at American Bounty, I left here just as surprised over how little the students serving us knew the menu. We asked some questions about the food in both places and none of the students knew off hand. (No, I wasn’t being a jerk and quizzing them; I was really just curious.)
Would I go back? In a heartbeat. Assuming it doesn’t stop beating from the mac and cheese they served me.