Otmuchów Bingo

Otmuchów is a snack food producer I discovered in Poland.  I love trying snack foods in other countries, and these caught my eye immediately as they looked like peanut puffs, one of my current favorite kinds of things to munch on, just like the Przysnacki brand I also had in Poland, Lorenz in Germany, or, the OGs, Bamba from Israel.

I can't find much info about the brand, but I see they make the puffs in both a classic peanut flavor, and the one I seem to have picked up, paprika.  I don't know anything about the other product lines, nor about any other varieties they may come in.  The puffs are corn based like most.

O Smaku Paprykowym
(Paprika).

I opened my bag and found a product that basically looked like I was expecting, puffy bite size pieces, much like any other product in this space.  They were fat but very short, so a slightly different form factor than others, but, quite familiar.  I popped a few in my mouth.  Airy yet crisp, again, quite familiar, quite expected.  They were pretty middle-of-the-road in terms of how crunchy they were.  Basically, all seemed normal so far.

But then ... yes, um, there was something else going on with these.  I saw the package had a red bell pepper on the front, which, frankly confused me as to why I would have purchased these as I don't really care for bell peppers, but I didn't taste bell peppers.  I tasted peanuts, and the packaging had no peanuts.  Was my brain just looking at them, seeing something Bamba-like, and making up the peanut flavor?  And why was there bell peppers on the package?  But I did taste something slightly ... zesty? among the peanut flavor.  It was really a confusing taste, but I didn't dislike it.  If I hadn't seen the packaging, I would have thought it was just a Polish version of peanut Bamba.  

Once I used Google Translate at home I saw that these were paprika flavored.  Well, that sorta made sense, at least, in that the image on the front made sense.  But I still mostly tasted peanuts.

I did like these.  Good form factor, fun to have niblets a bit smaller than other brands, decent peanut flavor, not too sweet, and just a little extra something to them.  I'd get them again.  I'd love to compare them side by side to their regular flavor.  Slightly odd, but not in a bad way at all.  4/5.

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Stella Pastry

Update Review, October 2024

Two years ago, I tried my first item from Stella Pastry, a napoleon.  It was good, but I didn't run back to Stella again.  Then, I attended an event at Club Fugazi, where they had a small dessert menu available, with items from Stella: tiramisu, chocolate truffle cake, or their signature sacripantina.  I was sad it was evening and thus I couldn't have the caffeinated first two items, but still happily ordered the other.

Sacripantina. $7.75.

"Sponge soaked with rum, zabaione cream." -- Stella"

"White sponge cake soaked with rum & buttercream." -- Club Fugazi

If Stella Pastry has a signature dish, I believe it is this.  I was glad to get a chance to finally try it, even though sponge cake isn't usually something I'm particularly excited for.

It was ... ok.  The sponge was moist and light, and did have a boozy rum soak.  The cream layers were fine.  It sorta reminded me a very muted tiramisu - but obviously no espresso flavor, no cocoa powder, no richer mascarpone, so it seemed kinda plain and boring.  It made me want a flavorful digestif or at least a coffee to pair with it.

As this was my first time having sacripantina, I can't quite judge how good it is compared to others, but it seemed well made, just not really a dish I'm into.  Low 3/5.

They sell this for $7.75 at the bakery, but I had it at Club Fugazi, where they sold it for $13.

Original Review, May 2023

I lived in San Francisco for 17 years before every trying something from Stella Pastry.  As a dessert, and baked goods, fan, I don't really know how this is possible.  Stella is likely the most famous of all the old school North Beach bakeries.  They don't have flashy, or remotely innovative, items, but, the Italian classics?  Stella is famous for them.  Basically "everyone" claims Stella has the best, ranging from the tiramisu, cheesecake, eclairs, and layer cakes to the signature rum based sacripantina.  

So even though I didn't try anything for 17 years, I've certainly be aware of Stella.  I've even stopped in a few times just to gawk at the goods, but, yes, it took me this long to finally, finally try something.  

This "visit" wasn't even technically a visit, as I actually ordered on DoorDash, when I saw Stella Pastry show up as an option to DoubleDash, that is, to add on to my other order from another nearby business for no additional fee.  It was like the online version of impulse grabbing candy in the grocery store checkout line.  It caught my eye, I clicked, and next thing I knew, I had a glorious dessert headed my way.

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If you do visit in person, the first thing you'll notice is the display cases, loaded with goodies.  They make it easy to eat with your eyes, and want, well, everything. 

Cheesecakes / Tarts.

The cheesecakes at Stella really look incredible.  Huge slices, and they look, well, perfect?  Classic NY cheesecake, with or without fruit (strawberry or blueberry, on the bottom).

Cakes.

The case continues with a variety of layer cakes, including the signature sacripantina (top right).  Some of the chocolate ones look incredible too, and the cream horn was quite tempting to me as well ...

Napoleon. $7.75.

"Puff pastry layers with custard filling and a fondant glaze topping."

The item I tried from Stella Pastry was super random on my part.  After years of hearing about the sacripantina, and after countless times myself drooling over the cheesecake, somehow it is the napoleon I ended up getting.  For some reason, I just got it in my head that I really wanted crispy puff pastry and cream.  Nothing else would suffice.  So random, as I've never been one to go out of my way for a napoleon ... 

Also, while Stella is very much an Italian bakery, and they called this a napoleon, I think it is technically more like a French mille-feuille ... as it had custard filling (rather than the almond cream that is usually in a napoleon) and had the fondant top?  It followed the traditional form of two thick layers of custard with three layers of puff pastry, and a vanilla and chocolate fondant top.

The portion, like all the goodies at Stella, was quite generous, a very large slice.  It was cracked on top, likely due to transport, as I had it delivered.

It was a good napoleon.  The custard was perhaps a bit too sweet, but it was rich, thick, and very good.  There was a lot of it.  It was a heavy custard, no question.  The pastry in the middle was a touch soggy, but, it was 8pm when I had my treat, and it was likely (hopefully?) made that morning, so, it makes sense.  The fondant glaze on top was also very sweet, so, together, it was sweeter than I was expecting or wanting actually.

So, certainly a good item, likely better when a bit fresher.  It trended too sweet for me at the time, so I paired it with fresh raspberries and strawberries, which was quite perfect.  I suspect it would go amazingly with a coffee or after dinner liquor as well.

I'm glad I tried it, and it inspired me to want to try more items from Stella, but I likely wouldn't get this again. ***+.

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