Best Bakery with a Scary Name

The Real Best of the Triangle Survey,
Independent Weekly^®, April 7 - 13, 1999

Sure, Foster's Market has scones and muffins big enough to choke a horse. But two doors down on Chapel Hill Boulevard in Durham is the newest and oddest-named bakery in town: Guglhupf. Opened by a trio of German emigres last fall, the small shop has become a big stop for Triangle residents looking for fresh-baked goodies.

Partners Claudia Cooper and Hartmut Jahn, and head baker Christophe Gaumet serve up flaky croissants, hot turnovers, and crackling loaves of rye and sourdough prepared in the traditions of Europe, a land where it is still illegal in many places to be seen in public without a baguette.

"For us, bread is a part of every meal," says Cooper.

Plans are in the works to add a patisserie, which she calls "a little oasis where you can go to hang out, see people and gossip a little." The bakery has developed a devoted following despite its out-of-the-way location—and its hard-to-pronounce name, which has something to do with a jumping, hooded Capuchin monk. Just ask for details while you're ordering that cheese brezelstick or Danish curl.

(The illustration is by Paul Friedrich.)