"choux" news and stories

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.

I haven't been keeping up much with what's going on in the dining underground, mostly because the idea of leaving an air conditioned apartment and braving the sweltering heat outside, even if it's from the apartment to the car, is just too unappealing. However, I did have to run out to the Japanese market here on the westside of Los Angeles, and I noticed something new.

Yes! There is a Beard Papa's Sweets Cafe in West Los Angeles' Little Osaka, along the strip of Sawtelle Boulevard between Santa Monica, known to those who are in the know simply as "Sawtelle." It looks like the FKA (formerly known as) Mousse Fantasy is now sharing space with the Sweets Cafe that is famous for its giant cream puffs, as well as notorious for causing much hype.

I wasn't able to go in, since parking in the area is tight and I didn't have it in me to play Parking Lot Showcase Showdown, but since it's now on the Westside, I have no excuse to not try it.

Perhaps I missed the taste boat on this one.

Beard Papa's is a chain of Japanese bakeries/dessert cafes that are famous for one thing and one thing only: cream puffs. When rumours of an LA location started last year, that was all I ever heard about. Beard Papa's. There's now one in Hollywood and another recent opening further south in Gardena, and I do recall what a feeding frenzy it was was when it first opened its doors.

Beard Papa was supposed to open its first location in Northern California at 99 Yerba Buena Lane in San Francisco back in January, but apparently, it is still not open. May the force be with you on opening day.