85°C Bakery Cafe, United States

85°C is a Taiwanese based chain of asian bakery cafes, with 1,000+ locations worldwide, including a slew of locations around the Los Angeles area (the first US location opened in Irvine).  Sadly, there are none in San Francisco.  It is a fairly impressive company, founded only in 2003, first US location in 2008, and now seemingly everywhere around there.

This is no American style bakery and cafe though, they feature predominantly Japanese and Taiwanese items, and everything is shockingly inexpensive.  The focus is on quality, freshness, and affordability.  Nearly every time I visit LA, I seem to wind up walking by one, and in Sydney, I pass by at least one daily. 

Original Review, Pasadena Location, May 2018

I've previously looked in, drooled, but needed to move on to my other plans.  On my recent visit to Pasadena however, I sought out 85°C explicitly, so I could finally try the goodies that so often beckoned to me.

ZOMG, #allTheBakedGoods

It was just one visit, by myself, so I had to narrow down my choices, which was ridiculously difficult.  I wanted it all.

I loved what I did select though, and will return again in a heartbeat.

If only they'd open one in San Francisco ...

Setting

This particular visit was to the location in Old Town Pasadena, but they have locations throughout the Los Angeles region, Texas, and, worldwide obviously.

Corner Location.

I don't know if intentional or not, but I swear every location I have seen is located on a corner.  Maximum windows, double store front, why not?

The locations are also all huge.  And, if you go in the afternoon or evening, always quite busy.

Front Seating.

A small seating section is adjacent to the cake display cases, with very basic metal chairs/tables, but most seating is in back.

Back Seating.

A spacious area with a long communal table and fancier tables fills the other side adjacent to the drink area.

That said, most people seem to be getting big boxes of goodies to go, and it was relatively empty when I visited (granted, it was 9am on a Saturday!)  Every other time I've ever walked by one, it has been packed.

Drinks

Along with the bakery, the other section of the establishment is drinks, ranging from milk teas and slushes to hot and iced espressos and teas.  In Taiwan, apearantly this is what they are known for, where Taiwanese style bakeries are far more common, and the coffee sets them apart.  In the US ... things are reversed.

Coffee is actually where the name 85°C comes from:

"We believe that coffee holds its flavor best at a steady temperature of 85 degrees Celsius. To us, the name 85°C symbolizes our devotion to provide coffee of the highest quality. We hope to give our customers the best drink possible."

They take the coffee in particular seriously, offering no drip coffee, only espresso based beverages.

Drink Prep Area

Drinks are made in side portion of the space, ordered when you pay for baked goods, but made to order, so your number gets called out when ready and you fetch from the counter.

This area has a classic joint bubble tea and espresso bar setup, which I’ll admit looked pretty crazy to see side-by-side.

Again, if I wanted more, there were many great things here (included taro based lattes and frozen smoothies), but, I skipped it.  This time.   I was also drawn in by the ones topped with sea salt cream ... again, next time.

Self-Serve

One full side of the very large space is filled with self-service items, mostly breads, pastries, sponge cakes, and tarts that you must grab with tongs and place on a tray, plus some packaged items like cookies.

These items are all mixed throughout the displays, with the exception of a few chilled items, so I'll do my best to break down the categories and still provide photos.

85°C make it a point that items are all baked on-site.  Not frozen and reheated, baked fresh.  And not just daily.  They claim to produce 50 varieties of pastries baked fresh ... hourly.

I do believe it, actually.  While I was there, I saw a constant stream of fresh items being brought out.  All of my selections were indeed warm, even though not kept under heat lamps.  And they clearly rotate through many items, you might not always be able to find something you had last time.

Cashier.

You take your tray of goodies up to a cashier in the front (e.g. the long line), where you can also order cakes and drinks.

My Goodies: Squid Ink Bacon, Marble Taro, Taro Puff.

I settled, finally, on one savory item (to have alongside lunch later), and two sweet taro items.  I was so drawn in by the taro!

My items were each placed into individual plastic bags, since I was getting them togo.

Packaged Chilled Items

Chilled Packaged Items.

The first display case of self-serve items I believe is chilled, packaged items.  Here you could find a fairly random assortment of things, "shells" filled with taro or custard, "coconut snow cubes", cheesecake bites, cream puffs, red bean panna cotta cups, and a packaged "honey cake".

Basically, it seemed to be all the things that could be packaged up individually for easy self-service, but required refrigeration?

Half Moon Cakes.

On top of this area was large half moon cakes, almond or pork sun (labelled backwards, lol).  These are vanilla sponge cake with cream, and toppings I think just on the outside edges.

Sponge Cakes

Next, moving into the main self-serve section is tons and tons of trays of goodies, starting mostly with sponge cakes.

Tarts, Sponge Cakes, Danishes.

This section had 3 types of rolled sponge cake (coconut custard, chocolate cream, matcha red bean), and egg custard tarts on the top row, and assorted pastries on the bottom (coconut twist, taro danish, spinach kale danish, ham & cheese.

No real rhyme or reason to this lineup the best I could tell, sponge cakes, tarts, and both sweet and savory danishes all together?

On top was package nougat candy, pineapple cakes, and a really fascinating "sun pastry" that I impulse grabbed, but did put back.  It was like a soft pastry-cookie, and strangely flat like a pancake?  I read later that this is a traditional Taiwanese item, filled with a chewy sweet filling.  I wish I"d kept it!

I came *so* close to grabbing the taro danish too.  Flaky pastry.  Taro.  Yes!  But I moved on.

Tarts, Danishes.

This section continued with different tarts (Mixed Berry, Hokkaido Cheese, Coconut Raisin), and one more danish style (Apple Almond).

The offerings on top, packaged up, were cookies (chocolate chip, white chocolate macadamia, fudge nut brownie), and mini lemon cakes.  I'm curious who visits and gets cookies here, given the other selections!

Breads

85* makes 4 main styles of breads: Taiwanese style, Japanese style, European style, Toast style (e.g. loaves), plus some danishes and other pastries.

The bread menu is further broken up into 7 categories: Puff Pastry. Savory Bread. Sweet Bread. Toast. Danish. Multigrain. Yudane. I wanted nearly everything.

Since I was just getting treats for one day (and actually, only planning for breakfast and maybe something to have alongside lunch … ) I had to limit my selections, particularly as things are HUGE. I picked a savory, a sweet, and a puff pastry.

Toast

The "Toast" category is certainly the most boring, just loaves of bread (white, multigrain, milk).

European Style

European Style & Yudane.

The second least exciting section of the bread menu for me, European breads, although if I really just wanted some hearty bread, the berry multigrain looked appealing.

This area featured large loaves of plain, walnut raisin, and berry multigrain on the top row, walnut sesame on the second.

The second row was still bread forward, but more interesting options, like cream cheese stuffed chocolate or cranberry bread, known as Yudane.

"Yudane" was a concept I wasn't familiar with, but seemed to just be cream cheese stuffed buns?  I'd gladly try one (probably the chocolate cream cheese?), but, with one day of snacks only, this category also was low priority for me.

On the bottom, a few more savory breads, garlic cheese and salted butter.

Danish

Danishes and other pastries.

The final category I didn't get anything from was danishes, although this was a hard call, and they seemed scattered across most of the display cases.

I love my pastries, and this one had a slew of heavy hitters: the "Boroh", with or without cream filling, seen on the top row here, alongside Portuguese style egg tarts .

The second row had puff pastry items, considered a separate menu category than the danishes a distinction I didn't quite understand.  Here there was a "Jumbo" guava cheese strudel, potato cheese turnover, and chocolate croissant.  I laughed that the strudel was the only item named "jumbo" and was less ridiculously oversized than many other things.

The bottom was more puff pastry based items, another "Jumbo" strudel (coconut), their play on a kouign amann, and cinnamon twists.

Puff Pastry

The puff pastry category was too hard to look past.  Some were more standard (like the cinnamon twists and turnovers), and those pearl sugar topped strudels (guava cheese, coconut), but then there were puffs filled with great sounding options (milk butter? taro!).

Taro Puff Pastry. $2.15.

 "This puff pastry is light, flaky, and layered with delicious taro filling inside."

I went for the taro puff pastry as the last item I picked up. I was planning to get just one taro item, and I had sooo many choices (the aforementioned danish, several different sweet breads, cakes, and more), but … it was an impulse move, I’ll admit it.

And it was the best move, it turns out.

It was fantastic!

Incredible, really. Still hot. Basically kinda like a sweet buttery croisstant, very, very generously stuffed with taro. The bread was not quite as flaky as a European style croissant, but, a bit flaky still. I loved it. Warm, soft, sweet.

Taro Puff Pastry: Inside.

And inside? Yes, that taro filling I was after.

So generously stuffed, a lovely taro mash. Sweetened, but not too much. Amazing real taro flavor. Loved it.

The creamy taro filling and the puff pastry were magic together. I’d have one of these for breakfast, or a afernoon treat, anyday. At 480 calories, it wasn't light, but also was not worse than a scone or any other breakfast pastry from a bakery or chain, and it only had 6 grams of sugar (unlike what you see at Starbucks, Panera, etc), although 22 grams of fat.

Truly incredible, and I’d get another in a heartbeat.

Sweet Bread

And then we get to the sweet breads.  From this category ... I'll be honest.   I wanted it all.

The standard items of glazed cinnamon rolls, fascinating twists, and fruity breads were easy enough to look past.  But other options include a HUGE brioche loaf that everyone adores. "Berrytales" and "Mangotales" that are also signature items, stuffed with fruit and cream cheese.

Chocolate fans have sooo man options, from simple chocolate buns, to a huge chocolate chip "bowl", to a chocolate cookie bread with a cookie crumble topping, to cream cheese stuffed chocolate buns. Coffee lovers? Yup, they have coffee breads, coffee breads filled with milk butter, and mocha bread.

Want creamy pudding filling?  Many options there too. "Milk Pudding" filled, "Premium Milk", "raisin milk butter", and more. You could go for red bean filled, a fascinating looking sugared cream cheese brioche, or, my other strong choice ... the taro swirl.

Picking one was nearly impossible, but, I did it.

Sweet Breads.

The top row here was all large sweet breads, some of their most popular items: the brioche, mocha bread, and marble taro.  My understanding is that the brioche and marble taro are literally brought out every 2-5 minutes, as they disappear that fast, and they often keep some near the register just in case the racks are empty. Or something like that.  Both high on my list, as simple as the brioche looked, and sounded.

The next row, more sweet options, starting with two coffee breads - one filled with milk butter and topped with chocolate chips, the other filled with red bean and mochi, and a chocolate cookie bread covered in oreo crumbs.

And finally, the bottom row, another chocolate option (a small chocolate yudane bun), the premium milk, and a coconut twist.

The "Premium Milk" was very high on my list, a soft sweet milk bread, filled with white chocolate.  But I couldn't move past the marble taro.

Marble Taro.  $2.40.

“Our top seller Marble Taro is a sweet bread made with mixed grains and filled with signature taro filling.”

Yes, I went for another taro option, the huge, huge, huge Marble Taro.  It was a beast!  But it promised taro in the bread, and taro inside, AND is the top seller?  Also, it was a beautiful purple color.

I had to get it, even though it was insanely large. Much heavier (physically too!), than the puff, 640 calories, far more sugar (33 grams), but hey, less fat (only 16 grams since not puff pastry I guess). I had read many testimonies that it keeps fine for a day, and you can heat it up later successfully.  So I had plans for this.

But of course I had to try it fresh! It too was hot.

The bread was entirely different from the taro puff pastry. A sweet bread, slightly taro flavored, more hearty, since it uses mixed grains (rye flakes, rolled oats, rolled wheat, flax seeds, millet seeds, sesame seeds, and whole wheat flour), in addition to the regular flour and cake flour base, yet still very soft and fluffy.

It was fine, but wasn't that taro-forward, at least in the bread ...

Marble Taro: Inside.

From the cross section you can see better why it wasn't very taro-y in the bread itself, there really was just a marbling on the outside, the bread was the plain multigrain.  But inside the taro delivered, plenty of the taro mash.  Creamy, smooth, but with bits of real taro, great flavor.  Given the huge size of the bread, sooo much taro filling.  I love that filling.

A very different item from the taro puff though, and it was good.  It really is just a question of what you are in the mood for, a flakier puff pastry, or a more bread-like item.  I really liked the filling again, but I'd like to try the taro danish and swirl before I'd go back to this.

Sweet and Savory Breads.

The top row here was savory, with a s spicy sausage bread, and the space for more cheese dogs, but that section was empty (no fear, the other one had plenty),.

Row two started savory with garlic cheese bread and ham and cheese, but moved sweet with the berrytale.

The bottom was all sweet, with the raisin milk butter, taro swirl, and mangotale.

I had read so many things about the taro swirl, it looked like puff pastry (but isn't made from it), topped with powdered sugar, and filled with the taro.  But since I picked the taro puff already, I didn’t want both.  Doubling up on taro was fine, but I wanted to try to do more diverse bread type. I think it would have been similar, just more flaky

The taro swirl really is next on my "To Try" list.

Savory Bread

The savory line up at 85* is fascinating, in the way that Asian bakeries are.  Bacon, hot dogs, sausages, corn, squid ink, pork floss, galore. Lots of mayo and cheese.

Savories.

The back side of the chilled section had some savories, including the super random ham, tuna, & corn sandwich, even more egg tarts, an espresso bun, and a bacon & cheese roll.

I wanted bacon, so this was on my list of savories to try, but not high enough.

Puff Pastry & Savories.

More savories were mixed into the next section.

The top row here was a milk pudding filled roll and the taro puff pastry I adored.

Below that, a pork sung bun, a milk butter puff pastry (what is milk butter anyway?), and ... the cheese dog!

On the bottom, more savories: cheese bread (cream cheese stuffed and cheese topped, a crazy sounding combo to me), Hawaiian chicken (with tomato sauce? A la pizza?), and a butterhorn.

I was drawn in many directions.  I wanted the cheesy dog.  I wanted the pork floss.  But there were many more savories that also called out.

Assorted Sweet and Savory Breads.

The top row was non-savory: chocolate croissants, MORE egg tarts, and mango bread.

Next, a huge chocolate chip 'bowl', alongside the start of the squid ink line-up, with corn, chicken, and cheese. Then, a giant whole wheat roll topped with mushroom and cheese.

On bottom, more squid ink, a version with cheese and bacon, one just called a "calmari stick", and, a sugar and cream cheese topped round brioche.

Squid ink was the fascinating, so I picked one of these to be my savory choice, passing up the hotdogs.

Squid Ink Bacon.  $1.80.

Once I decided to go for squid ink, I still had a slew of options. A cheesy “calamari stick”, one topped with corn and chicken, and, one with bacon. Well, that choice was easy. If there is bacon, pick bacon.

This I planned for later on, as part of my lunch. Cheesy, meaty, savory, seemed appropriate alongside some salad right?

But it was hot, so I needed to try it fresh too!

The bread was much different from the others, chewy, not as fluffy as I associate with Asian bakeries, yet still quite soft.  It had a complex flavor, but didn't actually taste particularly squid-y.  The ink certainly colored it, but, the fishy flavor was quite mild.

The bacon and cheese though were quite detectable. On top was two lines of melted cheese (Swiss), plus breadcrumbs, which both gave it some nice visual appeal.

Squid Ink Bacon: Inside.

Inside was like a filled croissant, like a standard ham and cheese croissant, with melted Swiss cheese and chunks of bacon.  When I heated it up later, the cheese melted nicely.

The Swiss was a great match for the bacon, very flavorful.  The bacon pieces were a flabby style though, not quite my thing.

I describe this as interesting, and much better than a ham and cheese croissant, but, not particularly awesome.  Next time? CHEESY DOG!

Displayed Cakes

Most of the cakes are separate from the other baked goods, not self-serve.  They clearly don't trust us to serve these beauties ourselves.  Or maybe because they require refrigeration?

Instead, you order at the cashier, and on every transaction, without fail, they ask, "And would you like any cakes or drinks?"

"Cakes" is not quite accurate to describe this area, as it contains far more than just cakes, but that is what they call it.  Broken into full size cakes, medium sized bars cakes, slices, rolls, cups, and more.  All are very complex, not just sheet cakes, mostly all layer cakes, and all beautifully decorated.

And yes, taro options here too.  So many options.

Cakes.

The top row was 8" full size cakes: Taro Snow, Royal Chocolate Strawberry, Mango Creme Brulee, Black Forest, Fruit Cheesecake,  and something chocolately and square Deluxe Chocolate Mousse.

Next individual slices: Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake, Taro Snow, Classic Tiramisu, Deluxe Chocolate Mousse, Deluxe Strawberry, Cream Cheesecake.

Below that, bar shaped cakes, called "Full Month Cakes", which looked to serve 4-5 people: Fruit Topped Cream Cheesecake, Black Forest, Chocolate Cookie Crumble, a randomly packaged honey cake, and more slices (Mount Formage, Red Velvet).

These names don't really do the items justice.  The item called "Mango Creme Brulee" is actually "Vanilla sponge cake layered with vanilla brulee and mango mousse. Decorated with fresh mango, strawberries, chocolate, and mango cream."

So many great things.

Taro Snow.  I resisted the urge to *also* get cakes, but that was at the top of the list.

More Cakes.

That was only half the cakes.

The next section again had whole cakes on top: Deluxe Chocolate Mousse, Deluxe Strawberry, Mango Creme Brulee, Sea Salt Coffee Brulee, Red Velvet, Strawberry Chocolate Mousse.

Next, cups and slices.  Mango Panna Cotta Cup, slicesof Strawberry Chocolate Mousse, Sea Salt Coffee Brulee, Red Velvet, Black Forest, Mango Creme Brulee.

The bottom row had individuals: Chocolate Delight, Mango Delight, Coffee Cream Brulee Cup, Fruit Jelly Cup, White Chocolate Strawberry Cup, and a Fresh Fruit Tart.

Update Review, Cupertino Location, July 2019 Visit

Oh 85* Bakery Cafe, I just can't quit you.

It doesn't matter that I never really like your goodies (particularly now that I have comparison points, like Bao Bao Bakery in Boston), and that you are way more expensive than makes sense.  I'm like a moth, you are my light.  I just keep trying.

This recent adventure into an 85* Bakery Cafe was post incredible ube soft serve, in a taro filled taiyaki cone, at Somi Somi, a few doors down.  I had taro on my mind, and I knew one place could make my taro dreams come true.

And, yes, I had many taro options.  Taro danishes, buns, and breads galore.  I settled on two, one of which I had before and knew was great, and one new one.

Marble Taro. $3.

"Our top seller Marble Taro is a sweet bread made with mixed grains and filled with signature taro filling."

The marble taro was quite good, as before.

A huge bread, yet easily devoured.  Slight sweet base, with a hint of a hearty mixed grains, with a lovely purple swirl on it.  Inside was sweetened taro paste, fairly standard, but, good.

Overall, a nice item, although simple.  If you just wanted a slightly sweet bread with some taro in it, this was it. 

Even better warm, with a little whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.  I can imagine maybe even slicing and buttering for breakfast?  But I loved it warmed as a dessert.

Taro Puff Pastry. $2.50.

"This puff pastry is light, flaky, and layered with delicious taro filling inside."

For my more decadent item, I went for the taro puff pastry.

It was less successful.  The base of this was a puff pastry, as named, but it wasn't particularly good puff pastry.  Not very buttery, and not flaky in a croissant-like way.  Just, well, kinda generic puff pastry.  I think I somehow expected it to still be more like a traditional Asian bun, even though it said it was just puff pastry (it did *look* more interesting than a puff pastry, after all!).

Inside was taro filling, the same as the marble taro, and I did again like the taro filling, but, this was not the item for me.

Read More...

Turn Dough - Chimney Cakes, Donut Ice Cream Cones, Venice

Turn Dough, in Venice, CA, taught me that sometimes it is ok to just walk down the street, take a gamble, and get a great reward.

I had a fabulous dessert, featuring one of my top passions (soft serve ice cream), served in a unique (and delicious!) way, without ... research and planning ahead.  And yes, this was novel to me.

But let me back up.

Captivating Sign.

I'll admit it.  I was walking down the boardwalk, and I was drawn in by the sign.  Not drawn in by the prominent word on the sign "milkshakes", but, by the images of the crazy cone creations.

I rarely wind up somewhere on a whim, without pre-meditated decision and thorough research, but ... it happened here, at Turn Dough ... the home of chimney cones, filled with soft serve ice cream, drizzled and topped with elaborate things.  Yes, these had Instagram written all over them, which, is often not a good sign for actual taste.  And why would I expect a random place in the long line up of shops serving ice cream stuffed into baked goods to be good?  Seriously, donut ice cream sandwiches and soft serve with churros sticking out were both on the same block, and nearly every third shop had some kind of ice cream ...

I dunno.  I was drawn in, what can I say?  A quick Yelp search showed four stars, so, at least no immediate red flags.

Storefront.

Perhaps a red flag would be that no one, literally no one, else was there.  No one else even seemed to look over, and the area was quite busy, 1:45pm on a sunny Friday.

The storefront is along the boardwalk, with menu boards showing their signature chimney cake ice cream creations (most, with pictures!), along with options to build your own, plus the beverage line up.

You order at one end, and it comes out at the other.

There were a few standing tables as well.   I had the place to myself, which was actually quite nice.

The signature creation lineup did look pretty amazing, full of really fun components, but nearly every one had just one element to it that I wasn't excited for, so I choose to build my own (although I really did almost get the signature tiramisu one, which came with amaretto mascarpone inside, plus nutella dipped lady fingers as garnish, and espresso and cocoa powders sprinkled over it!).

The build-your-own system is listed out, step by step:

Step 1: Spreads. Your choice of nutella, dulce de leche, crunchy peanut butter, or cookie butter (+$1).  I didn't know it at the time, but, these get slathered *inside* the chimney cake.

Step 2, the base ice cream, vanilla bean or vegan coconut (+$1).  They used to have chocolate, but, the market demanded a non-dairy option.

After that, toppings: walnuts, almonds, graham cracker crumble, rainbow sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, gummy bears, cap'n crunch, or fruity pebbles.

And finally, sauces: chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, sea salt caramel sauce, raspberry sauce, mint chocolate sauce, white chocolate sauce.

All are $8.90, for signature creations or create-your-own, and come in a chimney cake.  There is no option to just get a cup or regular cone of ice cream, no option to get no toppings, no alternate sizes.  I did find the inability to just get ice cream a bit odd, but I guess there are so many other places to go if you just want simple ice cream?  Nor could you just get a chimney cake, slathered with a spread (although I guess you could say "hold the ice cream"?)

Extras of nutella shell or fresh fruit are listed on the menu for additional $1, but I also found out that any signature components of other creations (e.g. matcha kit kats, matcha pandas, toasted marshmallows, Toffifays, Oreos, Ferrero Rocher, brownies, nutella dipped ladyfingers, lemon curd, etc, etc) are also available to add on for $1.

Wipes?

Once you order, you are given a number (which, was amusing, given that I was the only one in sight), and, two wet wipes.  "You'll need these", the server said with a smile, and, well, she was very, very right.

I needed more than two, and I certainly needed more than two napkins, which she provided alongside my treat.  Protip: GET EXTRA.

Custom Creation: Cookie Butter / Sliced Almonds / Mint Chocolate Sauce / White Chocolate Sauce / Raffaello. $8.90 + $1 + $1.

For my creation, I decided to create my own, inspired randomly by the Coconut Raffaello.  For some reason, I decided I really wanted a raffaello, and this seemed like a great time to get one.  The raffaello version normally comes with no spread nor sauce, and is covered with coconut and sliced almonds (plus the rafaello as garnish), but I wanted spread and sauce, and didn't want coconut, so, I say "inspired by", as, really, the only things I kept were the nuts and rafaello.  It came with two chocolates, one perched on either side.

For my spread, I went for cookie butter.  I almost got the dulce de leche, but decided last minute to go for cookie butter, as I wasn't sure the dulce de leche would go well with my sauces, and I knew I wanted those.  I kinda wanted all of sauces, honestly, but I also knew they wouldn't combine great, so I went with my first choice (mint chocolate!) and added the white chocolate as it seemed like it would compliment it better than the salted caramel that I also wanted.  My ice cream choice was the vanilla, I had no interest in trying the vegan coconut one.  I kept the sliced almonds from the raffaello signature one, as I had my own sprinkles with me, and nothing else appealed.  And of course, added on the raffaello.

It was quickly assembled and handed over, and I was a bit surprised to see that while it was a cone, the cone was in a cup, which turned out to be extremely practical, and this wouldn't have worked at all without it.  It also came with a tiny wooden spork, that I hated ... I know plastics are not good for environment, but, the mouthfeel of the wooden thing was not pleasant, and it was too tiny to get a real good bite of ice cream, but, again, while I thought this was going to be a lickable cone creation, it, wasn't.

So, starting with the ice cream.  It was very good soft serve, above average, creamy, and, it reminded me a lot of Japanese soft serve, very, very milk forward, not a classic American style vanilla bean.  I really liked it, and it was quite refreshing (an odd word choice, I know, but really, it was!), particularly when combined with the chimney cone (more on that soon!).  It melted quite nicely, which, matters to me.

My sauces were fine, pretty average mint chocolate sauce and white chocolate sauce, thin style, drizzled over it, not particularly good nor bad, likely just purchased.  The sauces did add some flavor, but I suspect simple salted caramel would have been a nicer choice.  The sliced almonds added crunch, and I'm glad I had them for texture.  I added my own sprinkles too.  I plucked the raffaello off and ate them at the end, a delightful, creamy, sweet post-treat treat.

Honestly, I would have been pretty happy with just this soft serve, in a normal cone, with these (or other), toppings.  But, there was much more to it.

My creation wound up pretty expensive, $10.90, since I had two upgrades, and just the base is usually $8.90.  I can't say it was necessarily worth $10.90, but, it really was an excellent creation, and I'd get another.

Cookie Butter & Chimney Cone.

So, the chimney cake.  This was another dessert itself!  And, I'll admit ... this was my first time ever having a chimney cake, although I've seen them before (never stuffed with ice cream though).

If you aren't familiar, these are an Eastern European pastry, known by many names in their respective countries of origin, made by wrapping dough around a dowel, buttering it, and dipping in something (traditionally cinnamon sugar), and then baking, and then re-dipping in cinnamon sugar.  They come out crispy and slightly caramelized on the outside, yet soft and fluffy inside, and the dough has a croissant-like buttery flaky quality to it.  Many places I've seen them before make them to order, but Turn Dough did not, although it did seem quite fresh.

This thing was delicious.  Like a hybrid churro croissant donut ... sorta.  A bit hard to describe, but, crispy and soft, fluffy and flaky, sweet and buttery ... just all at once.  I also liked the experience of eating it, just ripping a little off, as it pulled off the cylinder shape, was really quite fun.  Of course, this is also why one requires the wet wipes ... my fingers quickly got quite sticky with cinnamon sugar and melty ice cream, but I kinda didn't care.

The spread you pick comes as a lining inside the cone, and mine was very generously slathered in cookie butter.  The cookie butter was quite tasty, but, I found that it did somewhat over power my experience - there was quite a bit of it, and it was very rich, thus taking over many bites entirely.  It needed the ice cream to temper it.  In the future, I'd pick a different spread, most likely the dulce de leche.

Much like the ice cream, I actually would have been pretty pleased with just the fresh chimney cake on its own, no ice cream, spreads, or toppings required.  But the combination of the refreshing, cool, creamy ice cream and the flaky pastry really was fabulous.  I liked to alternate bites too, ripping off a chunk of cone, and then taking a spoonful of ice cream.  So very good.

Melty Mess.

As I neared the end of my cone, I quickly realized why it came in a cup and not just a cone, as the ice cream had melted out all over the place.  I can only imagine how much more messy I'd be without the cup.  The chimney cake doesn't really form a full structural cone.

One thing I liked is how the eating experience changed as you progressed through it - first, it started as mostly just an ice cream sundae, spoonfuls of ice cream with toppings, then you get into ripping off some cone, and then near the end the ice cream had really soaked into the cone, which was totally different too.  And at the very end?  Of course I just drank up all the melty ice cream in the cup.

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Randy's Donuts

Randy's Donuts.  A Los Angeles area icon.

Randy's Donuts is, well, a bakery, specializing in donuts.  It is also a landmark.  It is considered a mandatory stop for many on their way in/out of LAX.  It is the home of some truly fabulous donuts, that I finally was able to experience on my recent trip to the LA area.

Randy's is known for their huge donut sculpture on the top of the building (er, buildings, they have several locations now), and for having a 24 hour donut drive through, but it turns out, the donuts are impressive in their own right.  Highly recommended.

I'd go back in a minute.

Table of Joy!

I did not visit Randy's Donuts myself in person, but several of my co-workers did, to pick up a large order, several hundred donuts, for a surprise treat at a work function.  Of course I helped orchestrate this.

We pre-ordered online to make it easier, which was simple on the website.  We could have had them delivered, as Randy's uses numerous food delivery services, but they wanted to drive to pick them up.

If you are curious, yes, you can literally just order one donut, and have it brought to you.  And yes, I was quite tempted my final morning in town, after having experienced them the day before.

#allTheDonuts.

I put together the donut order for our group, expecting about 100 people to want donuts.  I wanted us to get to experience basically everything, so we got two dozen each of each type of assortment that Randy's offers: Classic, Deluxe, Fancy, and Premium, plus several dozen of the Randy's Rounds.

The table was a sight to behold.

I wasn't able to get a photo before the first wave of people broke into it, but, here you can see some of the glory.

Rounds: Topped - $6/dozen, Iced $5/dozen, Glazed $4/dozen.

Knowing that plenty of people really do want a bite of something sweet, but don't want to commit to a whole donut, or aren't comfortable cutting them up, we got plenty of Randy's version of donut holes, which they call "Rounds", which, really is more accurate, as they are far bigger than the hole of a donut.

These ares old by the single or dozen, cheaper by the dozen.  We got a couple dozen of each kind of assortment: glazed, iced, topped.

I really liked the size, as they were about the size of 3 Dunkin' Donuts Munchins, so, yes, much bigger than a donut hole, and were plenty big enough to feel like you could eat just two and be satisfied. 

From here, I only tried one, the maple glazed.  It was good.  Above average.  A fluffy, beautifully raised donut hole, very generously coated in maple glaze, that truly did have a maple flavor to it.  It was however very sweet, as it was glazed in regular glaze, and THEN the generous maple glaze was applied.  I think this would be great alongside black coffee if you really wanted a sugar bomb, but, as I didn't have it until I was many donuts in, it was just sweeter than I really wanted.

Classics: $1.25 each or $13/dozen.

The first dozen was the most basics, dubbed the classics. 

Randy's picked the assortment, a nice variety, including a bunch of cake donuts (all iced - vanilla, orange, cherry, maple, chocolate, sprinkles and chocolate, Devil's Food), plus some raised (also iced or glazed).   They do make plain cake, and a few other icing tops as well.

None of these were the most exciting to me, none are ones I'd generally order, but I did want to try something basic, so I tried the cherry iced cake donut, and it was fine.  Nicely coated in icing, good fruity flavor (although, sweet!), decent enough cake donut base.  A very good donut, but not a standout given what else was to come ahead, and not one I'd care if I had again or not.

Deluxe. $1.35 each or $14.20 / dozen.

Next, the "Deluxe" box, a whopping $0.10 more per donut.

This box had less traditional shaped donuts, although still nothing entirely novel. We had an assortment of bars (buttermilk - plain, glazed, and chocolate iced), old fashioned (glazed, chocolate), crullers (vanilla, chocolate, maple), twists (glazed, chocolate), and long johns (chocolate, maple).  I was a little sad that my top pick from this category, and what I'd order if I was ordering from this bunch, a blueberry cake (available plain or iced), was not included.

I tried a chunk of glazed buttermilk bar (good, moist, decent buttermilk flavor, sweet glaze), a bite of a glazed old fashioned (fine, but nothing notable), and a chunk of the vanilla cruller (lightly, fluffier, sweet, fine).  I was glad to see they nailed all the basics, er, deluxes, but, still, not really want I wanted, and again, none that I would really care to have again (nor would I be opposed to having again).

Basically, a bunch of good donuts, nice execution, but I was ready for the next box.

Fancy. $1.65 each or $17.80 / dozen.

Ok, *now* we were getting fancy, for $0.30 more per donut than the deluxe, the fancy assortment.  This is where my interests mostly lay.

This box had (left to right, top to bottom): Bear Claw, Raspberry Jelly Filled, Cinnamon Roll, Roasted Coconut Raised, Lemon Jelly Filled, { Unknown ... Cream Filled }, { Unknown ... }, Fruity Pebbles Raised, Sugar Crondy, Fruit Loops Raised, Chocolate Raised with Coconut.

The missing one was a apple cinnamon filled, which someone snagged before I took the photo.

Yes, things were getting more interesting, and the colorful fruit cereal topped donuts certainly gathered attention (and are likely popular with kids?).  I didn't try those though.  Nor did I try any of the coconut ones (not really my thing), or even the cinnamon roll (I do like these, but it didn't look particularly special), nor the second mystery one (filled with something and dusted with something).

But I did try the other mystery one, which you can see already had a chunk missing, as my co-worker loved it, and wanted another opinion on what it was.  He said it had "boozy cream" inside.  I ... didn't taste booze.  But it was a very good, fluffy, raised donut, with some cream filling, AND some kind of coating that we definitely couldn't identify.  Everyone who tried a chunk liked it, and no one could really say what it was.  My 4th pick overall.

I had special ordered a raspberry jelly filled, so I left the other one alone in this box, but did try a bite of the lemon jelly filled, once someone else broke into it, just because I wanted to try the filling.  I usually dislike lemon desserts, particularly lemon curd, but this was called "lemon jelly", which sounded more interesting.  And it was.  It was just sweet lemon flavored ... uh, jelly?  I didn't dislike it, but lemon flavors still aren't for me.

I somehow failed to try the crondy, as I didn't realize what it was at the time.  Doh.  Next time.

I did however try the MASSIVE bear claw, and, zomg, my world has been changed.  Absolute favorite of the day.  More on that soon.


This category also contains what I consider to generally be "The King of Donuts", the apple fritter, but alas, we were not provided any.  If I were ordering for myself, that would have been my third pick to order (after the aforementioned raspberry jelly and another one still to come).  Also in the Fancy category, that we didn't get, are cream filled long johns (chocolate or maple), more varieties of "crondys" - their version of a cronut, and some other coconut based ones.

Premium. $2.80 each or $31.60 / dozen.

Yes, they got fancier.  Er, more "premium".  The highest end box, the premium assortment.  If you are keeping track, these are a full $1.65 more than the classics ... you could get a classic AND a fancy for the price of one of these.  They really were more elaborate, although were some of my least favorites.

Here we had: M&M's raised, Bacon Maple Long John, Red Velvet Cake with Ganache, Matcha Tea Raised, Chocolate Iced Oreos Raised, S'mores Raised, Nutella Raised, Vanilla Iced Oreos Raised, Caramel Raised with Coconut & Chocolate, and Mint Raised.  

The missing one from this box was the White Ganache Raised with Chocolate.

This box scared people.  Seriously.  Everyone *stared* at them, but no one was willing to cut into them.  I didn't go for most of these, Oreos, Nutella, S'mores ... they looked great, sure, but I know they aren't really what I like.

I did try a bite of the M&Ms when there was still one left later in the morning, and I was impressed with the quality of the chocolate coating, very rich chocolate, and the crunch from the mini M&Ms really was nice.  A good donut, probably my 5th favorite overall.  I also tried a chunk of the bright green matcha glazed donut and was quite let down.  It didn't taste like anything!  The raised donut was still good, and the coating was well applied, thick, sweet, but ... matcha it really didn't seem to be.  It was just ... green.

I had to try a chunk of the bacon maple long john, because everyone was talking about it, and, yup, it was a good version - again, nice raised lofty base, well applied sweet maple glaze, plentiful bacon, not too greasy.  I'm kinda over the novelty of bacon maple donuts, but, this was done well.  

The biggest letdown in this category, or really, of all the donuts I tried, was the red velvet cake donut.  It was ... bo-ring.  I didn't taste anything special in the base at all, it just was like a regular cake donut.  Dense, yet moist, and fine, but ... nothing red velvet about it.  The icing also didn't have any real noticeable flavor.  

But Randy's made up for that with the mint raised, again, a great glazed raised, fluffy base, with TONS of icing, really quite minty, and then absolutely loaded with bits of chocolate and green (mint?) chocolate.  The icing, like all the icings, was quite sweet, but I just adored how intensely mint it was, and the crunch and extra flavors from the mint and chocolate bits on top were fantastic.  A wonderful donut, my second favorite of the day, and I went back for seconds and thirds of it.

Other options in this category include a giant Texas Glazed, a Tiger Tail, and, the other donut I was most excited for, and actually wanted to special order, the maple raised with churros.  Yes, a raised, glazed donut, with maple icing, AND churro bits on top.  I was pretty sad they didn't include one, but, it isn't like I didn't have other options ...

Fancy: Raspberry Jelly Filled. $1.65.

My co-worker who put in the donut order knew I cared more than most about the donuts, and asked me which one I wanted most of all, so he could special order it (he did this for a few others too, not just me!), to ensure we got our top picks.  Of course I had an extremely hard time picking just one, but, in the end, I gave him a list of three: raspberry jelly filled (classic, can be amazing), maple raised with churros (fascinating!), and, apple fritter (king of donuts).  I let him pick.

Set aside for me (along with the ones for the other special people), was the raspberry jelly filled.

I didn't try it right away, as I went for trying chunks of all the communal donuts first, since I wanted to try as many as possible.  But once I had tried 13 (please don't judge!), I was ready to settle in to my donut.

This was basically as good as a jelly donut is going to get.  I feel broken record by now, but, the raised donut was just perfectly done, fluffy, raised, not too greasy, and, yup, coated in tons of sweet glaze, a very thick layer, well coated.  The glaze was fresh, and didn't flake off.  I also liked that it had the signature slightly crispy side with a crosshatch on it, that some jelly donuts often do.  The extra texture was nice.

Raspberry Jelly Filled: Inside.

But a key element of a jelly donut of course is ... the jelly!

Here you can see the cross section, and it should come as no surprise that it was very generously filled.  Randy's doesn't mess up on the execution.  Seriously, every bite had plentiful jelly.  If anything, actually, I'd say it almost was over stuffed, as there were bites that had more jelly thandonut.

What I loved about this is that the raspberry jelly was very, very classic jelly donut jelly.  It wasn't trying, at all.  No artisinal filling, no seeds, no fancy compote ... it was raspberry jelly.  Classic donut shop, raspberry jelly.  Goopy, sweet, and just perfect for what it was.

I do have to confess that I was a bit overwhelmed by sweet things by the time I got to this donut though, and I know I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have.  "It is so sweet!", is all I could think, as I bit into sweet glaze and very sweet jelly squirted out with every bite.  By mid-day, I gave it another go, and again just found it sweet (but delicious), and wished it was morning, and that I had a black coffee to go with it.  

I think this donut really was perfect, but, my ridiculous donut binge prevented me from enjoying it at its fullest originally.  My third favorite overall, and I'd really love to get it again sometime, first thing in the morning, and NOT with 200 other donuts.

Leftover Jelly Donut / Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.

So what about the other chunk?  Yeah, I saved it.

It actually held up remarkably well, still soft and fluffy in the morning.  But I still found it actually just a bit too sweet for me, and kept thinking, "I really want some cream or ice cream to compliment this."  So I saved it for after lunch, heated it up in the toaster oven, and stuffed it with vanilla ice cream.

AMAZING.

The warm glazed donut was glorious of course, and the ice cream did exactly what I was hoping - it tempered and complimented the sweet raspberry filling.

I truly adored this leftover creation, warm perfect donut, warm gooey sweet jelly, and cooling ice cream.  Delicious.  Maybe this donut is better suited for a dessert donut after all, and Randy's *is* open 24 hours ...

Fancy: Bear Claw. $1.65.

I don't know how to introduce this. Besides, #glorious.

Seriously.  This was, no question, the best bear claw I've ever had.  But not only that, it was, again, no contest, one of the ... top two donuts of my life.  And I can't point at what was #1, but I feel there *must* have been another one that was more amazing.  But I don't know what it was.

So, without further ado, the most glorious bear claw there ever was.  

And to start, it was MASSIVE. I've seen a lot of comically large donuts before, but this was a league of its own.  Insane.  The size of 4 normal donuts.  And, although it was the best thing ever, there is no way, no way at all, that a single human could take this down in on sitting, even me.  But that was no problem, as it held up amazingly well - I even had a second chunk (of the other one that no one claimed) the next morning, and it was good as new.  No heating, no any special treatment required.

But back to the beginning.  I took a large chunk.  Bigger than a round even.  I was captivated at first bite.  Yes, all the raised donuts have the same perfect, fluffy, fluffy, amazing lofty base donut, but this one was even better than the rest.  No oily nature, just, perfect.  And yes, it was coated in just as much glaze as all the others, again, not novel, but perfectly done, and the sweetness it added worked great with not only the donut, but also the filling.

Bear Claw: Inside.

The filling.  Wow-zer.

Think of the best apple pie of your life.  Transplant that filling inside a perfectly raised glazed donut.  And that is what we had here.  And, like all the Randy's donuts, the amount of filling was extremely generous.

The raspberry jelly filled donut went low-brow, just sweet goo style, but this was not remotely the same.  The filling was loaded with chunks of apple, perfectly sized to really have something to bite into, and perfectly cooked, not mushy, not too firm.  The spicing was dead on too, not too much obnoxious apple pie spicing, just enough to make it interesting.  It was sweet, and did have goo too it, but not too sweet, and the sweetness from the donut glaze instead is what brought it all together.

I really can't explain how amazing this was.  I had an initial chunk, and I had so many other donuts to try, but I couldn't help but go back and get a full second chunk, which I promptly devoured.  And when there was a final bear claw still remaining, I devoured another full half after lunch, and then had the other for breakfast the next morning, and I honestly think they were all equally glorious.  I didn't grow sick of them, and they certainly didn't degrade.

Life changing.  Maybe even worth going to Los Angeles for?  Uh, maybe ...

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