Carpati Euro & Delicatessen

I came here on a friend’s recommendation to try out the amazing boozy chocolate cake here. She went on and on how it doesn’t look like much but it sent her dreaming of her back packing days across Eastern Europe and hours spent at coffee houses with luscious desserts. With that thought, I went almost the next day.
The little strip mall looks lonely and the biggest thing there is the mediocre Italian bakery with the cranky staff. This store is tucked away in the corner of the ‘L’ shape. It says deli and bakery on the signage. When you walk in, holy … Hanging sausage smell. Not only did this little store carry a lot of deli meats, they were practically curing their own.
An elderly gentleman manned the store and he didn’t speak English but that did not stop him from enthusiastically sharing, showing, and pointing out all the wonders from his Eastern European homeland.
All baked goods here are handmade and it really shows. They’re not pretty but they’re ridiculously large, boozy smelling, and filled with either lots of butter, real whipped cream, dense dark chocolate, or alcohol. Oh and one pastry that is filled with awesome salty fatty succulent pork. That pastry is nearly 10 inches long for only $ 4.
The chocolately booze bomb came in a rum ball form and a chocolate cake that can only be described as a Bavarian mousse, dark chocolate brownie, and sacher torte love child. The chocolate glaze/​ganache Iis slathered on but the first bite is heady with a fruity sweet alcohol.
Another highlight is the apple streusel here. They’re about a foot long and stuffed with apples. I thought this would be great for my brunch guests but it didn’t last the night in my house. Oops!
This place is no looker and neither are the goods itself but it makes it up in great flavours, real ingredients, and a lot of love and enthusiasm.

VERY GOOD! Romanian owned deli. It’s not huge but they carry a decent variety of products. It does incline towards Romanian ethnic food. There is a ready made food section with a variety of dishes, I usually go for the cabbage rolls which are different from what you buy at Starsky, they are the better homemade version, stuffed peppers, soups. Lots of pastries and there is also a meat section with sausages and cold cuts. There is a frozen food section where you can get frozen pierogies, spanakopitas and even soups in containers which you can warm up at home. Freshly made apple strudel, cookies, European style super chocolaty cakes. I believe the older gentleman who is the owner is very welcoming and helpful and so is everyone else. And if you are looking for something in particular just ask the staff, the deli is small and sometimes you just don’t see everything they have behind the counter.