I first heard about babka (the braided dessert bread that nowadays usually has swirls of chocolate, cinnamon or both) in “The Dinner Party” episode from season 5 of Seinfeld, the one where Jerry and Elaine attempt to get their hands on one to take to a dinner at a friend’s after forgetting to take a number in a busy bakery.

Fast forward to Summer 2020 and Notes Coffee Co. in Pawtucket: They carry the chocolate and the cinnamon varieties made by BUNS Bakery (who are celebrating one year in biz this month) on a regular basis and that’s where I first tried the sweet coffee-cake-y-meets-bread stuff.

So, when I spied the BUNS Bakery table at the Providence Flea the other day, I made a beeline over and no surprise, ended up scooping up a bunch of items including one of their Cinna Babs (which Elaine was wrong about by the by — the cinnamon was a real hit with everyone in our pod and definitely not the “lesser babka”), a Razin’ Holla! (a challah bread with raisins that I’ve been slicing up for toast in the am), a Hippie Holla! (a challah made from whole wheat dough), and a Holla! Pretzel.

Also, as I’m typing this, someone else from our pod is trying a piece of the Cinna Bab for the first time and cannot get over how INCREDDIBLY YUMMY it is.

If you want to order any of their baked goods (they also do Rugelachs, Tarts & Burekas), check out their site and their Instagram.

As always, if you wind up ordering from BUNS Bakery after seeing this, please do let them know you found out about them here on PattyJ.com.