The only Canadian Bakery in the US is located in Wesley Heights

Photo of Towers Condominium (intersection of Cathedral Ave and New Mexico Ave) courtesy of Canadian Sweets and Treats

From an email:

“Being the only Canadian bakery in the United States, we have some unique products, not available anywhere else locally. One item is our tourtiere hot pockets. It’s a hand-held pie, in the shape of a pop-tart, filled with ground pork, potato, carrot, onion and seasoned with spices and herbs, enclosed in a flaky pie crust. It’s an item we developed a few months ago, great for a snack or a quick lunch on the go.

Also, the products we sell daily at the bakery, are croissants, scones, cookies, nanaimo bars, butter tarts, biscotti, and sometimes cakes, pies, bars… etc… I enjoy making a different kind of cake or dessert every week for customers to try.”

Canadian Sweets and Treats’ website says:

“Canadian Sweets & Treats (For the U.S. Eh?) was founded in Washington, DC in 2010 when, during the course of a friendly conversation about the greatest desserts of all time (ranging from the wholesome goodness of a Granny Smith Apple Pie to the sublime perfection of Pistachio Crème Brule), someone (out of respect for whom we have promised anonymity) asked a stunningly simple, but wholly unexpected question: “What’s a Butter Tart?”

There was a moment of silence while baffled glances were exchanged. Somebody gasped and another shook her head in silent disbelief, until those of us who had grown up with the gooey goodness of walnuts and currents drowning in a sweet buttery syrup inside a perfect pastry shell slowly began to explain the transcendent qualities of one of the finest delicacies known to modern civilization – the traditional Canadian Butter Tart.

From there, the thirst for Canadian culinary knowledge seemed insatiable. “Tell us about Nanaimo Bars” demanded our American-born friends. So we described British Columbia’s famous concoction of creamy vanilla custard filling between a cookie crumb-cocoa coconut base and bitter sweet chocolate coating. We searched for words that would do justice to the flavorful explosion that is Canada’s amber maple syrup when drizzled with chocolate over a freshly baked chestnut tarte – and a topping of Saskatoon Berry syrup on a fresh Tarte au Citron.

And in no time, we were detailing the pleasure of harvesting grapes from the tender fruit lands of southwestern Ontario where Canada’s award-winning ice wine is produced, and which, when used in the baking of biscotti that are later served with that same sweet vintage has been known to make grown men weep with joy.

The epicurean journey of discovery didn’t end there. Recalling our own childhood, we recounted the merriment of maple syrup “boils” when the new sap was cooked over a campfire while we stripped bark from tree branches and used them for stirring. Once they were well coated in the molten syrup, we would plunge them into the snow to create instant maple sugar toffee. The remaining syrup was cooked down into maple sugar candies and along with les Tartes Au Sucre (Sugar Pies) was packaged for sale at the nearby farmer’s market.

It was deeply rewarding to enlighten our friends to delights of our Canadian culinary culture; yet curiously unsettling because of the gastronomic inequity it exposed. Why should Americans – our best friends, our allies, and trading partners – be dispossessed of that which every Canadian can enjoy?

We devoted a lot of time and energy determining how to best to redress this egregious imbalance in the Canada-US relationship and establish a fair and equitable treat balance between the greatest neighbors in the world. Our considered solution is this bakery: Canadian Sweets & Treats (For the US Eh?).

We are absolutely delighted that you have found us – and look forward to a long and intensely satisfying relationship.”