Review: Breeze In (♦1/2)

If Homer Simpson lived in Juneau, this would be the Kwik-E Mart.

Put another way: Mmmmmm...donuts.

This convenience store/deli across the street from the Nugget Mall is pretty much as good as one gets here, with a handful of others mostly offering small selections of limp and overpriced grab-and-go sandwiches. Those at the Breeze Inn are at least competent, even if they won’t make anyone forget a decent deli, but their real selling point is being the only decent source in town for traditional bakery items like donuts and fritters.

They have some other strengths as well, including a large and creative selection of bagels (although they have that soft, bready consistency of those found at supermarkets) and being the only place I’m aware of that’s open 24/7/365. That can be a big deal when one needs staples, a video rental or bottle of wine for a workday that goes past midnight or holiday. There’s a slightly better grocery selection than a typical 7-Eleven, but, alas, nothing hot aside from occasional soups and stuff one can microwave like frozen burritos (being across the street from one of our two McDonald’s, apparently they didn’t feel the need).

The cornerstone is operations manager Judy Hamann, who’s spent at least a decade baking and deep frying muffins, danishes, donuts, cookies and other mostly sugary starches on the self-help shelves near the register. Limp supermarket pastries are the pretty much the only competition for low-end grub like donuts, but Hamann deserves more than a title by default. She insists on continuing to buy higher quality ingredients, such as the chocolate to cover her donuts and cheese for her bagels, while the rest of the world is skimping to save pennies. She’s also a hardcore and knowledgeable football fan, which automatically elevates her status considerably.

One doesn’t need a massive 1,000-calorie fritter to indulge in the experience. Several varieties of donut holes cost a few pennies each, with the best coated with that rich and not overly sweet chocolate. Most of the time they still have that savory crunch of something recently out of the deep fryer- in fact, they seem to keep it longer than the donuts, so I usually just buy a small batch of the former. As for the fritters, they’re among the best I’ve had if they’re not overcooked, which happens more often than it should. They come in the usual apple, plus a rotating selection of other fruity flavors such as cherry, lemon and pineapple. Muffins, cookies, brownies and a few other things also satisfy the necessary sugar cravings, but don’t have the same edge over the competition. By the way, I accidently typed “vompetition” at first, which wouldn’t be a bad word to describe how one might feel after engaging in a citywide comparison of donut shops.

Bagels (79 cents for one, $7.50 for a dozen) are probably the food item the Breeze In is best known for (they do, after all, have a large liquor selection). The variety won’t overwhelm visitors who frequent Einstein Bros., but for a long time the Breeze In was the only game in town besides the marts. The downside is Juneauites came to think of those soft-crusted discs as what a bagel should be, so when a place finally came along offering the more legit jaw strainers it struggled mightily before establishing itself (this refers, of course, to Silverbow Bagels, a place of great personal affection even if they have a near-perfect record of messing up at least one of our orders).

The plainer varieties at the Breeze In aren’t any better than their supermarket wannabes. But a few standout recipes justify the extra trip, including butterscotch/walnut, parmesean/spinach and those generously topped with with quality cheddar. The big caveat is the baking isn’t consistent - some days they’re large and perfectly cooked, other times they can be pale or shrunken hockey pucks that resemble a cake that’s fallen in the oven. There’s a generous assortment of flavored cream cheeses, although very expensive for the quantity (especially with all that air whipped in).

Pre-wrapped sandwiches ($4-$6) are a step above a typical 7-Eleven thanks to better ingredients used in generous amounts and because they’re fresher. Those on bread (store-bought deli, as best I can tell) include the usual combinations of meat (ham, beef or turkey) and cheese (havarti, swiss, etc.), plus some with more exotic names like the Michaelangelo and Giovanni where various combinations of extras like sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts are added. The latter types are almost always the better choice. Bagel sandwiches assemble meat, veggies and cream cheese into compact, durable packages. The Cobb croissant with turkey, bacon, veggies and blue cheese dressing is a good choice, although I tend to pull out some of the many sprouts that otherwise dominate the taste buds. The egg salad and chicken salad sandwiches are pretty bland. There’s also a mostly ordinary collection of wraps for about $4 - the ubitquous Thai chicken variety is absent, but a smoked salmon turkey wrap is a more than welcome substitute. Fairly cheap are a collection of mayonnaise- and pasta-based salads, but the pricier fresh veggie and fruit trays are far more appealing. Flavored coffees in vacuum bottles are OK, but this isn’t the place to get a latte unless you want it from a do-it-yourself machine.

Something special worth noting is the butterflake rolls and pies Hamann makes for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Both are as good as anything made anywhere in town and they sell out of as many she can make. It’s a glimpse into talent that obviously could go way beyond convenience store grub, but there’s also reason to be thankful she keeps cranking out pleasantly munchable stuff in volume that cheap and easy to go.