Questions about ordering medialunas in Richmond

A medialuna is an Argentine breakfast pastry, smaller than a croissant and softer in the crumb, brushed with syrup while it is still warm so the top stays glossy. The name means half moon. The full guide is here.

No. The dough is enriched rather than lean, so it is softer and less flaky, the shape is smaller and tighter, and it is finished with syrup instead of an egg wash. The two are compared side by side here.

De manteca means made with butter, which is the sweeter and softer of the two Argentine styles. The other style, de grasa, is made with lard, is barely sweet and is usually eaten with savoury things.

Rellena means filled. The filled ones are piped after baking so the pastry stays crisp — dulce de leche, pistachio cream or Nutella. The filled line is here.

Yes, but gently. The syrup glaze makes a medialuna sweeter than a croissant and much less sweet than a doughnut, which is why two of them and a coffee is a normal breakfast rather than a dessert.

With coffee, twice a day. Medialunas are a breakfast pastry and also the standard thing eaten at merienda, the late-afternoon coffee around five o’clock. They are ordered by the dozen and eaten two at a time.

You order on this site: choose a box in the shop, pick your collection day at checkout, and pay. How ordering works walks through all four steps.

Thursday 11:59pm

Orders close for each week’s batch at that point, because the shopping is done and the count is fixed from then on.

As far ahead as the shop offers a date. The collection dates you can select at checkout are the ones with room left in the batch; a date that is full or past its cut-off is not offered at all, so you cannot accidentally order into a week that is closed.

Orders go through the site, because that is what keeps the count for each batch accurate. Questions are very welcome by phone or email — the number and the address are at the bottom of every page and on the contact page.

$13.50–$45.00

Every size and its price is written on the product page as text, so you never have to ask.

You pay when you order, on the site. There is no account to create, and nothing to settle on the day you collect.

1725 West Cary St, Richmond, VA

Saturday 9:30am–12:00pm

Saturday 3 October

The date at the top of every page is the next one with room in it.

Delivery is inside Virginia only. That is the law for a cottage food kitchen, not a preference.

No. Virginia cottage food law does not permit shipping, so there is no way to send medialunas out of state, however much anybody would like to.

Call as early as you can and it will be sorted out. The number is at the bottom of every page.

(804) 200-3922

On the day you collect them. Everything is baked to order for the batch it belongs to, so nothing sits overnight waiting for a buyer.

They are at their best the day they are baked and still good the next day. Keep them sealed at room temperature; do not refrigerate them, because a fridge dries the crumb faster than the counter does.

Yes. Freeze them in a sealed bag on the day you collect them, and warm them straight from frozen rather than defrosting them first.

In an oven at 325°F for three or four minutes, or five or six from frozen. A microwave will heat them, but it makes them soft rather than crisp.

Eggs, dairy (milk and butter), wheat and gluten, tree nuts (hazelnuts and pistachios) and soy. The weekly rotating special sometimes contains peanuts.

Every product page lists that product’s own ingredients and allergens, because the filled ones are not all the same.

Yes. Crave bakes under Virginia’s cottage food rules, which is why delivery stays inside the state.

Processed and prepared by a home kitchen that has not been subject to standard food processing facility inspection.

a dozen serves about 4 people

For a room rather than a table, the guide to party and office orders has the quantities by occasion.

Yes, that is what the catering page is for. Large orders need more notice than a normal box, so ask early rather than late.