A Sweet Society

How'd you like these raspberry-white chocolate sables delivered to you? (Photo courtesy of Tell Tale Preserve Company)

Executive Pastry Chef William Werner, one of the Bay Area’s top talents, won’t officially open his new Tell Tale Preserve Company on Union Square in San Francisco until November.

But those impatient for a taste of his confections have a novel option in the meantime: Become a member of its Tell Tale Society.

For a $35 a month subscription, you get a once-a-month delivery of house-made pastries, jams, candies and breads. Now, that’s my idea of high society.

Customers can either pick up their package at a designated location or have it shipped directly to them for an extra fee.

The once-a-month delivery bag. (Photo courtesy of Tell Tale Preserve Company)

The first burlap bag shipment of goodies is set to go out on Sept. 1. It will include an almond financier, plum-litchi pate de fruit, coffee-laced milk jam, caramels with volcanic sea salt, savory tomato-semolina bread, praline marshmallows, and raspberry-white chocolate sandwich cookies.

Werner, who has worked at Quince in San Francisco and the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, is building a patisserie and delicatessen on tucked-away Maiden Lane. Tell Tale Preserve Company is a collaboration between him and the Whisk Group, a Maryland boutique hospitality group.

The new shop, with 20 seats inside and 20 outside, will serve breakfast, lunch and afternoon treats, which will be made for the most part at an off-site kitchen in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood. Look for such delights as creamsicle eclairs, Sicilian pistachio lemon tea cake, Madeleine, nougats, macarons and marshmallows. Housemade preserves will be sold in five- to eight-ounce Weck jars, provided for a nominal one-time deposit fee. Flavors include Seville orange with bourbon, roasted banana, and savory selections such as terrine of foie gras with chocolate and port.

Breakfast sammies also will be available, as well as soups, salads, and savory cakes such as speck with semi-dried figs.

And don’t forget to check out the 35 antique pastry scales that will be on display, which Werner has collected over the years on his travels.

Sticky caramel with volcanic sea salt. (Photo courtesy of Tell Tale Preserve Company)

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