For some reason unknown to me, I always love getting a bargain. Getting something for less or getting more for the same price always makes me a happier and fatter dude. I've always wondered what bakeries do with excess product at the end of the day. When I went to Grandaisy in the Upper West Side, I discovered that if you're lucky, they give you some of the excess, if it's near closing time. I went in to get a piece of pizza bianca, and came out with that and a little tart looking thing. The pizza bianca was delicious. You can read more about those things at Serious Eats if you want. But I just wante to talk about the free stuff.

I don't visit bakeries too often, and usually not around their closing time. It's pretty cool that they gave me the free pastry. When I saw it in the bag, I ran out of the store in case they made a mistake, because you know, if you put a pastry in my bag, I want to eat it. So I work my way through the pizza bianca and then onto the pastry. It took me at least four bites to figure out that it was lemon-y or citrusy. This tells you a lot about how much fail goes on in my mouth. Maybe bloggers aren't to be trusted... Anyway, this was quite enjoyable because it was free. If it wasn't free, I'm not sure I'd buy it, because it's not special enough to merit a trip from Brooklyn all the way to the Grandaisy Bakery location on the Upper West Side.

To be honest, there have been times in the past, where I walked by a bakery or patisserie after they have closed, and then gazed longingly at the trash bags stacked in front of their store. I would stand there and wonder whether they threw away any delicious treats in there because you know, they want to freshly bake stuff every day. Then I always stop myself because I'm lucky enough to have a job and buy food, so I shouldn't really spend so much time thinking about the contents of dark garbage bags. This after all, is New York. And there are more rats in this town than there are people, and I shouldn't spend time thinking about garbage that rats spend time dreaming about.

Also on a totally random note, I saw this cool scene in Chinatown a few weeks back too. It was two guys carrying piglets from a huge truck to a little truck. They could hold three little piggies at a time. Look at those black beady eyes! Mmm... roast that thing and turn it into porchetta please. Or roast pork. Last time I posted a picture of a dead pig, Mom said that it looked gross because it was headless. I hope these piggies (with heads) are less scary.

Grandaisy Bakery
176 W 72nd St.
New York, NY 10079
212-334-9435

Posted by Danny on August 12, 2009 at 4:51 pm

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• the pigs look fake. I wonder if they're refrigerated in the van.

  Ang
  August 13, 2009 12:27 am

• Gosh, who doesn't love free stuff?! There's this one restaurant that we get take out from that occasionally gives us free meals. We'll get the meals that we ordered, plus an extra container of something else that must have been hanging around for too long. Those are good nights!

  Agnes
  August 13, 2009 8:46 am

• Free food always taste good.

  Fat Fudge
  August 13, 2009 9:29 am

• @bionicgrrrl,

  Ooh yea, I've seen that before, it's pretty cool to see all those pigs. And free stuff usually tastes pretty good, but Chanterelle pastries sound delightful.

  @Ang,

  It kind of does look waxy. I'm sure they're real though, why would anyone bother to make so many fake pigs?

  @Agnes,

  haha, you're right! Everyone loves free stuff!

  @Fat Fudge,

  Word.

  @Ambitious,

  oh man, you don't like watching piggies being carried around? They're cool!

  Danny
  August 13, 2009 2:15 pm

• Usually, the charity groups go pick up these bags and delivery to either homeless shelters or food pantry from shops like Paneria bakery.

  chicago
  August 15, 2009 8:49 pm

• Remember the time you ate a cookie that you found on a bench? It was free too, right? :)

  I saw a similar scene of pink, fleshy pigs being carried around and it totally freaked me out! Why aren't they covered!?

  Ambitious
  August 13, 2009 12:29 pm

• A few weeks back, I was in Chinatown, and a guy opened up the back of a delivery truck and there were stacks of whole pigs. Not something you see every day.

  As for free stuff, once I was one of the last tables to leave Chanterelle and they packed up a bag of pastries for me. It was pretty damn good.

  bionicgrrrl
  August 12, 2009 11:50 pm