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It took nothing short of a three-appointment root canal to get me to try one of the most hyped foods to hit LA: Beard Papa's Cream Puffs. Because I was stuck in the house with nothing but beef broth and bag of carrots, a friend of mine brought me one. It sounds stingy, the fact that he brought me one cream puff, but let me tell you, this ain't no little choux puff. It's as big as a baseball.
Unfortunately, the puff didn't live up to the hype, at least for me. I thought the choux pastry was flaky and light enough, but there was way too much cream to make the thing enjoyable. I like a reasonable puff with a well-balanced ratio of cream filling to pastry.
Oh well, next up: Pinkberry frozen yogurt.
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10-23-2006 @6:05PM Kate said... I'm one of the few, I suppose, not even tempted. The ratio of cream to pastry is so far off the mark, it would feel like a digging a spoon into frosting. I'm one who doesn't like thickly frosted cakes, either, Give me glaze or a thin layer, only, please.
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10-23-2006 @6:08PM Ray said... Finally! Someone else who will admit that Beard Papa isn't really all that great.
I trotted down there along with the rest of San Francisco when BP opened here, and was completely underwhelmed.
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10-23-2006 @6:24PM Sarah Berg said... As a Wisconsinite, I have to disagree that the photo is of a creampuff... Here in Dairyland, everyone knows that a creampuff is filled with fresh whipped cream (Hence... cream.. puff!) The photo looks like an unfrosted, round eclair.
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10-23-2006 @6:48PM MJ said... I agree witht he first comment,I dont like alot of fillinf or frosting it just takes away from the bakery product. When I saw the photo I was thinking the pastry was drowning in cream...........
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10-23-2006 @7:35PM Mike said... I may end up being in the minority here, but I love Beard Papa. I first had them in Japan. They had a tiny shop in the Sendai train station and you could catch the aroma of the pastry shells baking from a good distance off. Last year I walked 10 blocks in the snow in NYC to get a couple. I left one sitting on my hotel window sill to keep cool until later.
If you haven't had them, the filling is not as heavy as it looks. It's actually a blend of pastry cream and whipped cream. There's a lot and it's rich, but not really like eating a bowl of pudding.
The shells are filled as you order them. About 5 minutes later is the best time to eat them, the shell crunches but dosn't resist so hard you lose all the filling.
Purists will argue that this is not a proper profiterole, and they might be right. But those long donuts filled with cream aren't really eclairs either, but they do have a place in the world.
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10-24-2006 @12:13PM cars said... It looks very delicious
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10-24-2006 @12:13PM Jamar said... They're so GOOD! The reason I get them is because they're made with a lot of cream- I can't stand the ones that are mostly pastry and a little cream in the middle.I'm in China- only a couple of stores in Shanghai have them and I'll have to ask where I can find one when I get back to the states. They're cheap, though- in Shanghai it's 6RMB for vanilla cream and 7RMB for the special flavor of the week (chocolate/green tea/whatever the others are) (for reference, 1RMB=12-13cents US).
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10-24-2006 @12:13PM ben said... i like these guys, too. its probably because i was first exposed to these choux-on-steriods in Japan, tho. anyhow, they are fun for what they are,and the posters are right when they say that they arent really heavy or overly filling or anything. i mean, you can eat them up and think nothing of it. light as air. all about cutting the pastry cream with whipped cream.
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10-24-2006 @2:39PM GhaleonQ said... I'm a Wisconsinite, and Bear Papa's cream puffs are leagues behind our state fair's.
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11-16-2006 @8:44AM Patty said... I love Beard Papa cream puffs! I had them in Singapore and Taipei. You're all very lucky in the US since we don't have them up here in Canada...only Klondike bars and the like ;-)
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10-25-2006 @7:03PM FJK said... After waiting on line 20 minutes for one, I doubt any creampuff could have been good enough for me. My teenage son swears by them, but I found mine nothing special, and worse yet, not worth the calories.
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10-27-2006 @8:34PM carol said... I walk a mile to get my Papa Beard Cream Puff and for me that says a lot because I usually don't even eat desserts. However, this is worth it! Not only is it light (it has a sensuous taste in the mouth), but I appreciate the purity and freshness of the ingredients. It reminds me of going to a bakery in Europe. What a delight! And they better not reduce the amount of cream inside or it won't be the same!!! The puff is meant to be eaten slowly, so as to linger with each morsel. The perfect balance of pastry/cream.
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11-15-2006 @12:24PM Robespierre said... Jamar, the BEST cream puff I have ever had is in a French restaurant in Shanghai called "La Seine." They have a lunch buffet on weekends for like 9USD that is simply to die for. Hard to get a table though. The trip is simply worth it for the cream puffs -- each time I have gone I have eaten like 20 of them (they are small and I am a pig). Run, do not walk, to La Seine.
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11-08-2006 @8:05AM nat said... i used to like them!
but where i live (singapore) they are TOTALLY OUT. the shop is totally empty now. used to have long snaking queues.
they have even churned out variations like a chocolate version and started selling cheesecake versions.
but.. must have lost it's appeal somehow.
well these jap creations are usually fads. only SUSHI is everlasting :D
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