Russell’s Bakery & Coffee Bar
3339 Hancock, 419-7877Monday-Friday, 6:30am-6pm; Saturday, 7:30am-2:30pm; Sunday, 8am-1pm
There’s something enduring about a bakery. The smell of fresh coffee, the sugar-tinged, yeasty aroma that twines through the air warmly embraces you and evokes carefree Sunday mornings. Bakeries are by definition community spaces. Even those that attract customers from far away fundamentally rely on a core clientele of neighborhood folk. They are gathering spaces, and we turn to them for support during major events: meetings, parties, weddings, and funerals. It is perhaps this innate familiarity that makes them so comforting.
Part cafe, part sweetshop, Russell’s Bakery & Coffee Bar in Northwest Hills exemplifies a community business. Native Austinite Russell Millner opened his bakeshop nine years ago as a way to get paid for doing what he loved most: cooking and baking. Russell’s original location in Barton Hills was tiny and basically provided Millner and his partner, Alan Kirkhart, with a platform from which to build their cake business. Five years ago, the business moved to its current home in order to expand the retail trade and accommodate more sit-down customers. At its new location, the works of local artists adorn the walls, while local musicians provide the musical background (live and recorded). The bakery supports neighboring schools, not only providing baked goods for school events, but also participating in reading programs and field trips.
Surrounded by a knot of Fifties-style suburban homes and quiet residential drives, you wouldn’t think that the bakery could attract much business in its current spot. Drive by at 8am on a weekday, though, and know that Russell’s is the place that Northwest Hills (and Allandale) residents go for a breakfast snack and a cup of joe. With a dazzling assortment of great morning pastries and fresh-brewed Anderson’s coffee (another local spot), it’s a challenge resisting the temptation to stop in for a treat. Fruit scones that are daintily sweet, chewy sugary cinnamon rolls, flaky elephant ears, and baked apple fritters are hard to pass up. Harder still to resist might be the extensive collection of cakes made daily and served by the slice. Russell’s pudding-esque coconut cake and decadent chocolate truffle cake ensure some major repeat business. German chocolate, Black Forest, Italian cream, and just plain old vanilla cake make for reliable attractions.
In addition to the usual offerings, the bakery rotates specialty cakes, tarts, and cookies through on a regular basis. In the summer months, look for their lemon tart, made with a cookie crust and topped with artfully molded meringue. Cheesecake flavors change weekly, while a shifting array of season-inspired hand-painted shortbread cookies beckon not just the kids but also adults. This fall’s ghost and pumpkin cookies were a big hit at my house, and I am already preparing to place an order for turkey and Christmas-tree painted cookies.
Over the past five years, Russell’s has catered to an expanding lunchtime market and now offers a limited menu of savory stuff. Pecan studded chicken salad and satiny tomato bisque are among their most popular items. Tuna salad, green salads, and deli sandwiches typify the other offerings. Nothing fancy, but all are made daily on the premises. Fresh-baked savory breads are noticeably absent from this cafe. The bakery focuses on cakes and sweets, though in the future Millner and Kirkhart do plan to add breads to their menu. For now, however, Russell’s remains a comforting example of an old-fashioned sweetshop.
This article appears in November 14 • 2003.
