Home is Where the Tart is: Blue Stove Café Serves it Up

In the 1930s, times were tough. All over the country people were pinching pennies as factories were shuttered en masse, leaving millions of Americans unemployed, broke and homeless. However, in the face of food rations and bread lines, still the fundamental human desire for luxury seemed to prevail. When there was no sugar, coca-cola and orange juice substituted; without eggs and butter, shortening served as a stand-in. For extra flavor, coffee or cloves were often added to the mix. In even the direst of straights, ad-hoc cakes seemed as necessary as anything, serving as a sweet incentive to endure the difficulty of trying economic times, perhaps representing the overarching tenacity of the spirit.
Circumstances today are not, by a long shot, as bad as they were back then, though we are, day by day, being forced to cut back on expenses, especially those that are considered to be indulgences. But, as the banks go bankrupt, buildings foreclose and stores go out of business, sweet shops seem to be doing just fine, and just last week Greenpoint welcomed a brand new one, The Blue Stove Café, to the neighborhood.
Rachel McBride stands in a colorful flower-patterned apron, her blond hair hanging past her shoulders in two long pig-tailed braids. She leans over the counter behind the displays case, rolling small balls of dough and placing them in rows on a baking sheet. McBride is the owner of Blue Stove, as well as its only baker.
“I have always loved baking but have never really done it professionally. Pies are my favorite,” McBride said, her eyes fixed on the dough bowl. “Two years ago I decided to test out my pies, so I went out to Burlington, Vermont and sold them at the farmer’s market there. The responses were positive, and I always wanted to own my own business, so here I am!”
Though this is her first business, baking is in McBride’s blood. She comes from a long line of baking enthusiasts, taking inspiration from her great grandmother’s pie recipes. Even the café’s name—Blue Stove—is inspired by her great-grandmother’s depression-era stove, which now serves as a table for milk, sugar, spoons and coffee stirrers.

“I grew up with that blue stove,” McBride said. “My great-grandmother got it in 1926. She gave it to my mother, and she cooked for me on it when I was a baby. My great grandmother taught me how to bake, and my mother taught me. All this is kind of to honor my family and our traditions.”
As a brand new business owner McBride expressed a few reservations about opening a shop in such an unstable economy, although overall she feels confident and excited that Blue Stove will survive and flourish, and understands that—like in the Great Depression when her great grandmother was baking pies with the same recipes she uses today—sweets are important.
“Of course I’m concerned about the economy, I’ve invested my whole life into this,” McBridge said. “But it’s kind of fitting. After all my great-grandma was living during the Great Depression and baking pies all the time. Pies are actually a great way of using leftovers—you make pie filling so that your fruit doesn’t go bad. And I also just love to see people feel happy and comforted by pies and cookies and cakes.”
Apart from her love of baking, McBride also loves Greenpoint, and is looking forward to establishing herself here.
“I really wanted to open a shop in Greenpoint,” McBride said. “This neighborhood has so much potential. It is, historically, a vibrant business district. And for me, starting a small business is part of building a community here, really making a home for myself. I’m amazed at how supportive the community has been. Everybody is so welcoming and friendly.”
The Blue Stove Café, which opened its doors on February 13, just in time for Valentine’s Day, serves six types of seasonal fruit pies (not to mention an assortment of savory quiches), several different kinds of cakes, three varieties of cookies and a handful of tea breads, scones and other miscellaneous treats at any given time.
And as for McBride, who bakes everything all by herself?
“Yes, it’s tiring,” she said, her hands full of flour. “But there’s so much problem solving and experimentation, I don’t think baking could ever get boring. Really I’m just trying to make things that are yummy and cozy and make people feel good.”

Blue Stove Café
415 Graham Avenue