After locating the Clock Tower Bakery under a red and white striped awning just north of the clock tower on Santa Fe Drive in Downtown Overland Park, I was shivering from the bitter wind and starving.
I entered the cafe just happy to be inside where it was warm. While the sound of classical music in the background was nice, the vast open and very clean kitchen, modern tables, and black and white colored walls made it less than cozy. Other than the three employees, we were the only guests in the bakery during the peak of lunch hour.
Walking up to a glass display case my stomach growled as I looked over stacks of huge cookies, various cinnamon rolls, muffins, cupcakes, and croissants. A nice man, handed us paper menus from behind the counter and after looking over the small list of items available he took our orders.
When we asked about the soup he explained that there was one bowl of chicken curry soup left which we said we would take, since the pizza was going to take 15 minutes and we were starving. The soup was delicious with rice, chicken, and vegetables. Plus it was warm and helped melt away the chill from the wind outside.
As we waited for the pizza, the man, who we discovered was the owner, explained that his wife was the pizza maker/baker/chef. We could see past the counter and into the kitchen where she was making our pizza from scratch. He told me that he and his wife had just opened three weeks ago and that along with hot food, they offered pizzas that could be taken home and baked as well as breakfast items.
Finally our lamb and goat cheese pizza with lemon- rosemary crust was served along with a small pepperoni pizza too. The only problem, was that the kind man left us no plates. Oops! Finally with our plates distributed, we had the chance to taste the lamb pizza.
It had a unique taste to it though, definitely not as spicy as the hamburger or sausage you get on a regular pizza. And the buttery lemon-rosemary crust added a little pizazz. The pepperoni pizza was top notch. It would have been nice to have a salad with our pizza but noticed salads are not on the menu.
After the main course we had our pastries and baked goods placed in front of us. A flat chocolate chip cookie that resembled a pancake, a cinnamon roll perfectly dusted with cinnamon, and a vanilla cupcake with raspberry icing. They did not disappoint. They tasted as good as they looked, even better!
The cookie was crunchy and had just enough chocolate chips – it was about as good as a chocolate chip cookie could be. The cinnamon roll was good but I love my cinnamon rolls with much more icing. The high point of the whole meal was the beautiful vanilla cupcake with raspberry icing. I had never tasted raspberry icing but it’s dark pink color looked too enticing to pass up. It was heaven on a plate. The icing was perfectly flavored and sweet. I plan to go back many times just for this cupcake and maybe even purchase it for friends as a gift.
While needing better signage, more advertising and definitely more guests, the food was very tasty. Althogh not being the ideal restaurant for high school kids to frequent, it’s a nice place to stop by with you’re family or friends while shopping to grab a pizza or a sweet treat. They are worth the trip. You can get cute little individual “to go” boxes for the cupcakes as well if you’d like to give them as a gift.

2 out of 5

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