Eileen's Special Cheesecake, NYC

If you ask New Yorker's the best cheesecake, you'll get a variety of answers.  My personal favorite has been Veniero's, the tourists will all flock to Junior's, and there is a loooong tail of other places that people will swear by.  New York is known for cheesecake after all.  But one place that does come up frequently on best cheesecake lists is Eileen's Special Cheesecake.  Food & Wine named it the best cheesecake in America in 2019.

Like many great stories, Eileen's started by a baker, Eileen, who got talked into selling her cheesecake to friend and neighbors, and eventually as a real bakery in 1975. Her daughters now run the business with her, all family run, all women.  

They make, well, cheesecake of course, in 6", 10", or individual tart sizes.  They offer a few other items like chocolate covered strawberries (random!), cannoli, and chocolate mousse too, but, cheesecake is obviously the focus.  Cheesecakes can be topped with different glazed fruits (strawberry, blueberry, cherry, pineapple, raspberry), or come in specialty flavors like salted caramel, chocolate, cookies n' cream, dulce de leche, banana, chocolate raspberry, birthday cake, and more.  They also do make a gluten-free version, a low sugar version, and even a tofu based vegan one. Special flavors like lemon, lemon with raspberry swirl, key lime, mango, coconut, Bailey's, marble, pina colada, red velvet, pumpkin spice, or heart shaped varieties are available with advance order too.

I finally got a chance to try it when we had a party at the office with the individual tarts.

Individual Cheesecake Tarts

The individual tarts do not have tart shells, so not really what I think of as tarts, but rather are cheesecakes in little cupcake style wrappers, individual sized.

Strawberry. $6.

"A creamy cheesecake filling topped with a sweet strawberry glaze and a whole strawberry, nestled in a crisp tart crust."

The first I tried was strawberry, which is the traditional cheesecake with strawberry topping.

This was a very good traditional cheesecake.  Dense, NY style, very cream cheese forward, but still fairly fluffy.   No hint of lemon, nor touch of vanilla, just, plain, but the sweetness level was good, and it shined in its simplicity.  The crust was fairly average compressed crumb crust.  The topping was extremely good - it looked like fairly standard strawberry goo from a can, but it was really quite flavorful and the perfect level of sweetness that complimented the plain cheesecake well.

****.

Blueberry. $6.

"A creamy cheesecake filling topped with a generous layer of blueberry compote, nestled in a crisp tart shell."

The blueberry was much the same, same base cheesecake, this time with a thick blueberry compote on top.  Again, it looked kinda generic, but I found the sweetness level really ideal, and the thick nature of the compote worked well with the cheesecake.  ****.

Mango. $6.

"Creamy cheesecake infused with mango atop a buttery tart crust."

Another dense, NY style cheesecake, but still somewhat fluffy.  Strong cream cheese flavor.  Mild mango flavor that was light and tropical.  Standard crumb crust (I think a missed opportunity to do something like a coconut crust that would go so well with the mango).  Quite good, although I do generally go for non-fruity flavors of base cheesecake. ***+.

Chocolate Cappuccino. $6.

"A single-serving cheesecake with a cappuccino-flavored chocolate filling, garnished with a coffee bean."

And finally, a chocolate based one.

This was the most unique of the cheesecakes.  The menu description didn't say it, but it had a chocolate crumb crust rather than standard blond graham crust.  I greatly preferred this compressed chocolate soil style.  The cheesecake itself was much like the others - dense NY style, strong cream cheese flavor, etc, etc.  But this one stood out due to how strong the coffee flavor was.  Really quite a strong intense coffee flavor, which I really enjoyed, but definitely not one for those who are lukewarm on coffee flavors.  ****.

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Thai Diner, NYC

Update Review, August 2024

When I returned to NY this summer, Thai Diner was high on my list of places to repeat order from.  I was very tempted by their newest brunch offerings too (think: Thai tea French toast!), and by their lunchtime Thai style philly cheese steak that gets all the raves, but, in the end, my eating agenda wound up too packed, and I was only able to sneak in a small order my second to last day in town.

Snacks: Boiled Octopus. $17.

"Broiled Octopus served with Spicy Seafood Nam Prik."

I opted for just a dish from the "snacks" (e.g. appetizers) menu, as I had other food at home to finish up.  I was really craving octopus, so was quite excited when I saw this was still on the menu.

The octopus was really nicely prepared.  It was broiled I guess, but I think it was finished on the grill, as it was nicely crisp and a bit smoky.  The pieces were chopped up to perfect bite size, and were remarkably tender.  So simple, but some of the best octopus I've had in the past few years.

It came with a lime to drizzle over it, perhaps the first element that actually screamed out "Thai" rather than Mediterranean/Italian/etc, which did add a hit of acidity and brightness.  The spicy seafood Nam Prik I had the first time I ordered from Thai Diner when I just got extra sauces to play with, so I knew what to expect from that.  It was indeed spicy, and it had all the signature elements of Thai cuisine you'd expect: heat, sour notes, acidity, a touch of sweetness, some funk from fish sauce ... it had a ton going on, and was a flavorful (and spicy) powerhouse.  I gladly used the leftovers drizzled on other dishes, and it added instant next level flavor.  I think I almost liked it more on other things than on the octopus, as the octopus was so good I kinda didn't want anything to mask it.

Loved this, highly recommend, and would get again no question. ****+.

Original Review, March 2024

New York has no shortage of great options for dining, no matter what cuisine you are interested in.  When I visited this past summer, I was craving good thai food, as we just don't really have great thai in San Francisco.  I had numerous options of course My first thai craving lead me to order from the well regarded Fish Cheeks, which I did enjoy, and would gladly get again, but, I wanted to try something different.  Somehow my searched lead me to Thai Diner, a concept that sounded great to me - thai food, served all day (including breakfast), in a diner-like setting. The menu sounded fairly authentic, had some great sounding dishes, and used proteins I enjoy like octopus, liver, and skate.  It has a Michelin bib gourmand too, so, some credibility.

Packaging.

I ordered for delivery on DoorDash, so I didn't get to see the diner decor, but, reviews I read all really do laud the decorations and vibe.  

My items all came nicely labeled with the contents, and a vibrant Thai Diner sticker was used to seal for both security and practicality.  My items came in a variety of containers: this cardboard box for the salad, an aluminum tray with plastic lid for another, and a cardboard bowl for another.  All disposable, no re-usable.

Food

So, the menu.   I wanted much of it.  If I was there at breakfast or brunch, I'd certainly be tempted by the thai tea babka french toast (think: thai tea butter, salty condensed milk, babka base!!!) or even the well lauded breakfast sandwiches (wrapped in roti of course).  But I wanted dinner food, and was alone, so, I couldn't order too much.  I went for a salad, a "snack", and a dessert, so I skipped the main dishes entirely, including the sandwiches & platters section (diner inspired here, but, thai), the "House specilaities" (everything from curries to lobster omelettes to one of my favorites, khao soi), and the "From our woks" (noodle dishes, which can be made with standard tofu, chicken, or vegetarian, but also fried chicken (!), beef shortrib, or large prawns).  I also skipped the sides and the raw bar, so I could order two dishes (salad and snack) and not have too much leftover.

They also have an extensive drink menu, with tons of teas, espresso drinks, wine, and fun sounding cocktails or herbal elixir shots.

Soup & Salad

Soup & Salad Menu.

To start, I got a salad.  Not what I'd ever normally order from a Thai restaurant, but I read so many rave reviews of their baan salad (and also, I have had some fantastic crispy rice salads in the past).  They also had a standard papaya salad.  To the salads you can add a variety of proteins: a fried egg ($2), fried tofu ($5), chicken ($7), fried chicken ($8), beef ($9), prawns ($10), snow crab claw ($13), or even a half chilled lobster ($15).

Baan Salad (No Avocado). $15.

"House salad with Crispy Red Curry Rice, Romaine, Watercress, Avocado, Red Onion & Thai Herbs.  Served with Sweet Chili Dressing."

I was ordering it as a light side salad, so I did not add any protein, although I did ask to have the avocado omitted as I'm allergic. Luckily, it was a built-in option when ordering online to have no avocado (same with red onion).

I was fairly underwhelmed by the salad.  The base was as promised, romaine and watercress, both quite fresh and crisp, along with some herbs mixed in.  There were also some slices of watermelon radish, which along with the thinly sliced red onion, added a pop of color.  But besides the crispy rice, there wasn't anything else to this.  The crispy rice added great texture, but it was more like the crispy rice topping from Sweetgreen (which I do adore), than the mind blowing creation that was the crispy rice salad at Mumu in Sydney.  Just individual bits of dry crispy rice.  A garnish, not a focal point.  I had to leave off the avocado that is normally included due to my allergy.

So, a kinda boring salad.  That said, my salad was also missing the dressing.  They had an option to have the dressing on the side, rather than pre-dressed, which I selected.  However, my dressing was nowhere to be found.  The sweet chili dressing sounded unique, but, alas, I had none.  And thus, no dressing, and no avocado (that part was my choice), and an interesting salad it was not.  *** as it was all fresh. 

This also happens to be vegan.

Snacks

Snack Menu

The next dish I got was from the "Snacks" portion of the menu, essentially the appetizers.   This section had so many heavy hitters, like spicy stuffed clams, octopus with seafood nam prik that people rave about (and I do love octopus!), betal leaf wraps (always something I enjoy), Thai "disco fries" with massaman curry and other toppings, and so on.  Picking just one was very, very hard.  If I were to return, I'd love to try more from here.

Snack: Spicy Chopped Chicken Liver. $16.

"with Pineapple, Thai Herbs & 2 Rotis."

I settled on just one, the spicy chicken liver, as it definitely sounded the most unique, and is one of the most well regarded items on the menu.  Plus, I love chicken liver!

It was just as fascinating, and delicious, as people had said it would be.  It hit all the notes of great Thai cuisine: spicy, sour, sweet, salty, bitter.  The chopped chicken liver mix was well seasoned, and properly funky.  It reminded me a bit of some fermented pork Thai dishes I've had, with all that umami in it.  Very good chicken liver.  The crispy fried onion bits on top added crunch and salt, the cubes of pineapple added a balancing sweetness, the thin sliced red onion and lime to squeeze over provided the acid and sour notes, and the fresh herbs brightened it all up.  They really nailed the balance of all the things, in a very unexpected dish.  I've had various types of liver or pate with a fruit component many times, but this was hands down the most unique prep I've had in years.  ****, unique, and very well thought out.

It came with 2 fresh roti, each packaged in a metallic bag to keep warm.  The roti was very good - flaky, buttery/oily, lightly decadent.  As good of roti as I've had, particularly as I wasn't having it quite fresh.  ****.  Additional roti can be added to any order for $3.

Making wraps with the liver and other ingredients made for really quite taste bites, particularly when I drizzled the spicy sauce in as well.  Speaking of that sauce, it was definitely spicy, and full of unique flavor.  Again, properly funky, nice umami and spice, just, everything.   **** sauce too.

So, overall, a unique dish, very tasty, and fun to eat as well.  **** all around, and I highly recommend.

Roasted Chili Nam Jim / Spicy Seafood Nam Prik. $1.75 each.

I couldn't resist adding extra sauces to my order, as I'm a sauce girl through and through.

First up was the roasted chili nam jim. It was fairly similar to the sauce that came with the liver, capturing all the classic Thai goodness of sweet, sour, spicy, and pungent.  Funky yet balanced, and would be fabulous on just about anythin.  ****.

And lastly, the spicy seafood nam prik, which normally comes with the octopus appetizer, and gets rave reviews.  This truly was spicy as advertised, and overall very flavorful.  I detected lime juice and fish sauce, which both gave it a balanced complexity.  I absolutely see how it would make for a great dip for grilled octopus or calamari, or really, any seafood.  Or even something like yucca fries.  ****.

Dessert

Dessert Menu.

And then of course, dessert.  The entire dessert lineup was tempting too, with a "thai coffee monster" (a monster shaped thai coffee cake with condensed milk frosting) that I would have ordered if it was earlier in the day for caffeine, or a play on the signature New York black & white cookie with a "green & white", featuring pandan and salty coconut (!), and, for dine-in, an epic sundae.  But, if I had to pick one, the banana rum pudding it was, as I adore puddings.   

Banana Rum Pudding. $10.

"Banana Pudding with Uncle Boons Rum topped with Whipped Cream, Caramelized Bananas & Thai Lotus Sesame Tuile. "

I love all pudding, but I really love banana pudding, and I certainly bought in to the idea of adding both rum and a tuile on top.  I was so excited for this.

When you dine-in, the tuile is a topper on the big pudding bowl.  I asked to have it on the side so it would stay crispy.  I'm not sure if they normally stuff it in with the pudding.

The pudding base was ... fine.  It had a strong banana flavor.  This wasn't just vanilla pudding layered with sliced bananas, it was actually banana pudding.  I did not taste any rum.  It was however really quite sweet, and a fairly thin style, not a rich and creamy pudding.  ***.

On top was whipped cream, thicker.  It helped balanced the sweet pudding a bit.  ***.

Then, the caramelized bananas, which were a notch above standard just plain sliced bananas for sure.  They were lightly bruleed on the top.

And finally, the beautiful crispy sesame tuile.  This was not only awesome to eat (so crunchy!), it was loaded with sesame flavor.  Such intense sesame.  Sweet too, as it was glazed in some way.  Delightful.  You could definitely just eat these as a snack and be quite happy.  ****+.

Overall, this was good, but not amazing.  The pudding a bit too thin and too sweet, but the other elements somewhat made up for it.  In a city of such great banana pudding though (I'm looking at you Magnolia!), this didn't really measure up.  ***+.

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Pastries from Panera

Update Review, 2024 Visit

Panera added a few new menu items in summer 2024, and most were a bit over the top.  Clearly trying to get attention.  Like the CinnaTops product line, that is full cinnamon rolls, topped with standard icing, and then either cookies (chocolate chip or candy chip, your choice) and more icing.  I'm all for mashups, but this didn't really seem like one that made sense.  They don't get particularly great reviews, but I still wanted to try.

Fudgy Brownie CinnaTop. $4.99.

"A deliciously crafted cinnamon roll made with our sweet dough, stuffed with cinnamon-sugar filling and topped with decadent icing, brownie chunks and finished with an icing drizzle."

Reviewers all say the brownie is the best of the bunch, and, since I never liked Panera's chocolate chip nor candy cookie as standalone treats anyway, that seemed like the best choice for me given the 3 options.

It was even more ridiculous when I saw it in person.  Yes, the base was an extremely large cinnamon roll, and it had 8 large hunks of brownie on top.

This was my first time trying a Panera brownie.  I believe this is the regular brownie, just chopped up.  Mine had 8 well arranged hunks on top.   The brownie was fairly moist, and pretty generic.  Rich and fudgey, and probably what I'd like better warm and a la mode, but I'm not generally one for brownies (I prefer blondies, or if I'm going for warm chocolate carb dessert a la mode, I prefer a nice chocolate cake as my base).  But nothing wrong with it.  Low ***.

Fudgy Brownie CinnaTop: Side View.

The amount of icing was ... um, over the top.  Er, over the sides?

Marketing Images.

For context, the marketing images show the icing on top, but not fully extending over the edges, still revealing a bit of cinnamon roll, which mine did not.  I think someone was over-zealous with the icing application on mine.

Now, getting to the base roll itself, which I was assuming was just the regular cinnamon roll I've had before a few times, however the moment I saw it I realized something had changed.  

Cinnamon Rolls: Old (left), New (right).

Yes, the base looked totally different from what I expected, and it turns out, about 5 months prior, in March 2024, Panera reformulated the cinnamon rolls, to be far less lofty and doughy.  The old ones (above, left) required proofing overnight, were baked in a pan and cut out, and were far more work for the bakers.  Now, they just bake from frozen (right).  My sources (e.g. Panera staff members on Reddit) say the icing is unchanged, which made me hopeful, as I liked the icing before.  I definitely prefer the more lofty style, but I was always let down by that element previously, so, hey, maybe this is a better change?

Fudgy Brownie CinnaTop: Cross Section.

I dug in first at room temperature, as served, but fully intended to warm it up too.

The pastry part was pretty lackluster, more of a danish/croissant dough than the puffy dough I prefer in a cinnamon roll.  It did not taste particularly fresh, even though I picked this up at 10am.   It did have plenty of cinnamon between the folds.  But, a pretty mediocre pastry really.  ** base.

The icing was the best part, it was sweet but not crazy cloying, and seemed to have light lemon notes to it?  I actually quite enjoyed the icing, comical quantity and all.  It was however quite hard.  *** icing.

So, what do you get when you put together a mediocre danish-style cinnamon roll, decent icing, and a generic brownie?  Yeah, this.  I wasn't particularly compelled to finish it, nor to get another.  **+ overall.

The regular cinnamon roll is 520 calories, and the brownie 470, so I guess it isn't a full size brownie, as this is "only" 790 calories, so I guess ~60% of a brownie?

Update Review, 2021 Visit

Vanilla Cinnamon Roll. $3.89.

"A freshly baked roll made with our sweet dough, stuffed with cinnamon-sugar filling and topped with decadent vanilla icing."

For my birthday freebie this year, I was in the mood for sweet, and was thrilled to see Panera still had cinnamon rolls when I visited in late afternoon (I got the last one!).  But uh ... I didn't like it very much.

I took a bite at room temp, and felt fairly "meh" about it, just like before - the dough was just boring, and yes it had plenty of cinnamon sugar filling between the folds, but it was just ... eh.  And the very very plentiful icing was just too sweet.

Still, I remembered liking it better heated, so I heated it up.  It looked great, the icing slightly melty.  But ... it still was just ... ok.  Not bad, but not very good, and not something worth nearly $4, or 650 calories ... (that said, now that I read my past review, I think I felt pretty similar, I just "saved" it that time by adding ice cream.

I probably wouldn't get this again. **+.

Update Review, Early 2020

Yup, yup, yet another update review of the pastries from Panera, as I continue to work my way through their reformulated offerings.  See below for all my prior reviews.

Chocolate Croissant. $3.29. (Sept 2019)

"A freshly baked, perfectly flaky butter croissant stuffed with chocolate flavored cream cheese and topped with a chocolate flavored drizzle and powdered sugar."

When Panera re-vamped the bakery goods last year, they *radically* changed the chocolate croissant.  In very non-traditional ways.

Just looking at it, and reading the description, you can tell this is not a standard chocolate croissant.  Most chocolate croissants, or pain au chocolat, are rectangular, and filled with 1-2 bars of chocolate.  This was more  shaped like a traditional croissant, except covered in chocolate "flavored" drizzle and powdered sugar, and, um, filled with "chocolate flavored cream cheese".

The pastry itself is indeed improved from the past.  It was not oily, spongy, or stale.  The outside was slightly golden brown, and had a slightly crisp exterior.  Inside was moist, and faintly buttery.

I wanted more flaky layers, more significant butter flavor, but it was certainly better than what I've had anywhere like Starbucks, or hotel breakfast buffets.

The powdered sugar on top I don't think added much (besides messy fingers), but I did like the chocolate "flavored" drizzle, as I was really in the mood for chocolate when I got this.

So, I rate the croissant itself above average, but not the same calibre as a real bakery. *** so far.

 Chocolate Croissant Inside.

The filling however is the part I was most interested in.  As I said, I was really in the mood for chocolate, and I was curious what this would deliver.

What is "chocolate flavored cream cheese" anyway?

The answer seemed to be ... soft chocolate paste.  I liked the chocolate flavor, and the consistency was good, kinda like dipping bread into soft chocolate, but I didn't taste anything vaguely cream cheese like.  That was fine with me, but if you wanted to taste cream cheese, this wouldn't do that for you.

I liked the filling, but you need to know this is not standard chocolate croissant filling, and, despite the description, isn't really cream cheese-y.

I'm glad I tried this item, I enjoyed it enough given the chocolate-y mood I was in, but I wouldn't order another. ***+.

Update Review, January 2019

Hot on the heels of my amazement last month that Panera introduced basically kouign aman to their lineup, I tried another new pastry item, the cinnamon roll, and was even more impressed.

Vanilla Cinnamon Roll. $3.

"A freshly baked roll made with our sweet dough, stuffed with cinnamon-sugar filling and topped with decadent vanilla icing."

I've been eying these cinnamon rolls since Panera introduced them late last year.  They seem to be crowd pleasers though, or perhaps hard for Panera to make in quantity, as literally any time I have arrived post 11am they are completely sold out.  I only ever see them earlier in the morning, and they usually have them still in the baking pan, with only 1-1 left.

So I finally ordered one in advance, through the app.  It was ready and waiting in the rapid pick up area.  I knew that that the cinnamon rolls are large, because I had seen them before.  I still gulped when I picked up my box to see that it was literally full from the single cinnamon roll.  I laughed remembering that this was listed under the "pastries for one" section, as they also sell these as a four-pack.  You might ... wanna split it with a friend, or at least save half for after lunch?

It also had a rather generous amount of icing on top.  I hoped the icing would be good, and, it was.  Super sweet, actually vanilla flavored, and, as you can see, plenty of it.  I really enjoyed the icing, the best element at room temperature, as Panera serves it.

Vanilla Cinnamon Roll: Side Profile.

I was impressed when I cut into the roll to see that it truly was stuffed with cinnamon-sugar filling.  There was a generous amount of filling between the rolls.  It was well rolled.  Really, a nicely constructed pastry.

I was not particularly impressed with the dough itself, it wasn't fluffy or moist as I hoped.  At room temperature, I basically thought it was better than most chain cinnamon rolls, and applauded the construction and icing, but I figured I'd hand it off to my partner later.  ***.

But first, I had to try warming it up.

It was *much* better warm.  While the dough didn't improve in a dramatic way, it was certainly better warmer, and the icing melted into more of a sticky caramel, which I enjoyed.  Totally different from the already tasty icing, but, it worked well with the cinnamon, making it more like a sticky bun.  And then I added my favorite vanilla ice cream.

Warm cinnamon roll turned sticky bun with melty ice cream?  That was a winner. ***+.

So my protip: don't bother with it at room temperature.  If you want to consume it at Panera, consider a quick trip in the microwave (every Panera has one!) perhaps, although I didn't try that.  My partner does swear by microwaving (very briefly!) cinnamon rolls and glazed donuts.

I'd get it again, but only with intentions to eat it warm and a la mode, not for breakfast.

Update Review, December 2018

Thank you Panera.  That is what I have to say.  They finally re-vamped the pastry section of the menu, eliminating or changing so many of the items I never liked.  The lackluster Pecan Braid is reformulated.  The sad Cobblestone is gone.  So is the Pecan Roll I never liked.  Also removed are the old cheese and cherry and cheese pastries, which opened up space for new additions.

They ... added kouign aman?!  (As you know, I consider this, when done well, one of the best pastries ever!)  Really?  Really Panera?  Of course I was skeptical, because, um, they haven't ever impressed me with the pastries after all, and they don't actually call it a kouign aman (because, mass market, like people would ever learn to pronounce that!), and dub it a "Brittany" instead ... 

"We improved the dough quality of our previous Cherry and Cheese Pastries, then enhanced the product even more!"

They do seem to realize though that the dough left something to be desired before.  So that is something.  The Brittany comes in two varieties, cheese, or cherry cheese, the later of which I tried.

Cherry Cheese Brittany (December 2018). $2.99.

"A freshly baked, flaky butter pastry filled with cream cheese filling and topped with cherry filling."

Well, it didn't look half bad.  It didn't look soft and spongy, and really did look like a real kouign amann.  The powdered sugar on top was appealing, as were the cherries.

It was ... ok.  Probably most would even consider it good.

The problem for me was that it wasn't really a kouign amann.  It was, however, a much better pastry than they ever offered before.  The exterior was crisp, the dough came in nice layers, it was flaky.  But it wasn't nearly as buttery nor caramelized and decadent as I expect from a kouign amann.

The cream cheese filling was a good element, a decent portion, slightly sweetened, good texture.  Nothing wrong there.  And the tart cherries were juicy and flavorful, sticky in a good way.

Really, if you just wanted a better cherry cheese danish or croissant, Panera did a good job improving this item.  But if you want a real decadent deeply caramelized kouign amann ... look elsewhere.

***+.

Update Review, October 2015

If you didn't read my original Panera baked goods review, I suggest you start there, and then return to this update, since I'm skipping the background this time around.   See "Original Review, October 2014" below.

Assorted Baked Goods!

I recently attended a brunch where someone brought a platter full of Panera baked goods, nicely cut up into reasonable size chunks.  I used it as an opportunity to check in to see if the disappointing cobblestone sweet roll was still as lackluster as before, and to check in to see that the scones were still the best baked goods from Panera.  Answer: yes on both counts.

I also tried the pecan roll, which you can see peeking out of the front right and back left corners of the platter. Described as "Freshly baked sweet dough with cinnamon-sugar filling and topped with caramel and pecans."

Sadly, it went exactly the same way as the cobblestone. It looked good. It *should* be good, given the lineup of ingredients. But, just like the cobblestone, it was really dry. You could see cinnamon, but it had no cinnamon flavor. There were plentiful pecans, but they were bitter tasting. And yes, plenty of caramel, but even that wasn't very good.

Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake. $2.49.

"An old-fashioned butter coffee cake, swirled with cinnamon and finished with a butter crumb topping."

Ok, so this is weird.  I don't know what happened to me.  I headed to Panera, intending to get a blueberry scone, since I recently had one at brunch and I enjoyed it.

And then I got to Panera and didn't want a scone.

For some reason, the muffins called out to me.  And of all things, the cranberry orange muffin looked good.  I don't like orange flavor!  And I've never liked a single muffin I've tried from Panera.

I was paralyzed.  Logically, I knew I'd hate the muffin.  But I really, really wasn't feeling the scone.  And I had a birthday free pastry to use.  In my moments of total indecision, I saw the coffee cake.

It didn't actually look good.  And honestly, I don't generally like coffee cake.  Heck, I don't even really like cake. But somehow it seemed like I'd get the muffin satisfaction, and have a chance of trying something totally different?  I don't know what I was thinking.  I think I remembered the really great streusel topping I had on top of coffee cake recently, and it inspired me.  I just wanted streusel, really.

My decision was made when I asked the friendly worker what he thought of the coffee cake.  He told me, honestly, that all he does is eat the topping.  He said the topping was awesome, but the cake was, well, just frozen thawed cake, and not interesting.  But he loved the topping.  Done.

So I got it.  Even though I don't like cake.  Even though it didn't look good.  Even though the streusel layer looked piddly.

It ... wasn't awful at least.  Better than I expected, honestly.  But, really not great.

The cake itself was not dry.  Nor was it moist.  It was very homogenous, non-offensive.  There was slightly different flavors in the two colors, but I wouldn't be able to identify either as anything in particular.  It was just plain cake.  I didn't really taste any cinnamon.

The topping was decent.  It was sweet, slightly buttery.  Again, no cinnamon.  It was crumbly.  But there wasn't nearly enough, which I could tell just from looking at it.  The powdered sugar on top did help too.

So, overall, not horrible, but not particularly exciting.  Not that I expected it to be.  I wouldn't get it again.

The slice for $2.49 was in line with their other baked goods.  It is also available as a whole cake.

Original Review, October 2014

Last Monday, I reviewed a bunch of scones from Panera.  The week before, I covered some drinks.  A while ago, I reviewed their bagels and mufins.  I've also covered the cookies. I'm not one for sandwiches, soups, or salads, so, what else remains?

Of course, more baked goods.  I'm skipping a real intro here, because you can read all about Panera in my previous posts.

Pecan Braid.  $2.49.

"Our pastry dough, twisted and braided with butter and freshly ground pecans coated with light sugar syrup for sweetness."

I've had a thing for donuts, cinnamon rolls, and similar treats lately.  I'm really not sure what it is, but somehow sweet bready things are just really appealing to me, particularly when paired up with a coffee.  So when I entered Panera, although I was intending to get a bagel, I didn't make it past the pastry displays.  Whoops.

I was in the mood for a cinnamon roll, and Panera makes a cinnamon roll, but it hasn't ever looked good.  It always looks kinda dry, and clearly doesn't have enough icing.  They also make a pecan roll, which looks a little too far in the other direction, coated in sticky sweet caramel.  I kinda think I'd love it as a dessert, but it was morning, so I was trying to pick a "reasonable" breakfast pastry.  I went for the pecan braid, it looked like a compromise, as it had an icing so it would meet my sweet need, and it looked sorta like a twisted donut.

I know the description didn't say anything about cinnamon, but I somehow thought that the filling was going to have a cinnamon flavor, and be a cinnamon-sugar mix with the ground pecans.  It wasn't.  It was really just ground pecans, so it totally didn't meet my cinnamon roll craving.  Whoops.  It also wasn't donut-style dough, more like a croissant dough, although not really light and flaky and buttery.  So it didn't meet that craving either.  Double whoops.

As I said, the dough wasn't flaky, it wasn't buttery, it was a bit dried out even.  It made me very glad I haven't bothered try any of their croissants, as those always look dry, and I'm pretty convinced now that they must be.  I don't understand though how it was so stale seeming, as I got it at 10am, and they said their baked goods are all baked fresh at each location every morning?  How could it be stale already?

Anyway.  The form factor for this pastry was a success, I did like how much pecan filling there was, and the way it was twisted made every bite nicely distributed.  But the filling didn't really have much going on, I wanted more spicing of some sort.  The whole thing was coated with a sweet glaze that seemed to have a bit of an orange essence to it, although I'm not certain, and a single pecan half perched on top.

Like many of the other pastries I've had at Panera, I really wanted it to be warm.  It was just so unremarkable and dry at room temperature.  I saved a chunk to bring home and stick in the toaster oven, because I was curious if it would be better.  Indeed it was, it even seemed to get more moist this way.  But it still wasn't that great, and I wouldn't get another.

Unlike most pastries at Panera, I was not surprised by the nutrition stats, as they seemed fairly resonable: 470 calories, 26g fat, 24g sugar.  Since the filling wasn't sweetened, the only sugar was the light glaze on top, so it made sense that the sugar wasn't off the charts like most of their goods.  And the plentiful amount of ground pecan explains the fat content.  An actual reasonable choice, compared to the rest of the sweet rolls, muffins, and scones.

It turns out that I'd had this once before, as I discovered some tasting notes once I went to write this up.  They read: "Icing on top not particularly good.  Kinda soggy and not flaky dough.  Didn’t pick up on much pecan.  Meh."  Whoops.  While my notes weren't identical in context, I would have known better if I'd read them.

The $2.49 price was fine for a baked good of its size.

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