Aria Patisserie, Las Vegas

When in Las Vegas, there is no shortage of tempting food around, ranging from quick food courts to celeb chef branded fine dining, and everything in-between.  When it comes to sweets, again, no shortage. If you want something ice cream adjacent to beat the heat, you can easily grab DQ from the food court (which, of course, I did), you can wait in long lines at Milk Bar (yup, also did, review coming soon), or you can stop at any of the generic unloved gelato stands.  If you want pastries, again, grab something quick from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, opt for higher end items at Dominique Ansel's Las Vegas outpost (which I nearly did, given how much I've loved his NY locations), or just grab from whatever hotel cafe you happen to be walking past.  Or, follow the crowds to a place that has it all: Aria Patisserie.

"At ARIA Patisserie, everything you crave is handcrafted daily with the freshest seasonal ingredients. Rise and shine with delectable pastries and perfectly brewed draft coffee. Enjoy wholesome sandwiches, salads and freshly squeezed juices. And sweeten any mood with an exquisite chocolate or gelato selection. Whether you’re seeking an early morning treat, a late-night snack or anything in between, ARIA Patisserie has something for you."

Aria Patisserie is located, as you may have guessed, inside the Aria resort casino.  I didn't really look into the savory lineup, but I did see fairly high prices on items such as basic salads, overnight oats, and simple breakfast/lunch fare. They also make fresh crepes, both sweet and savory, and that section seem to draw crowds.

 
The Patisserie is divided into two main areas, one exclusively for gelato, and one for everything else. It seemed busy at many times of day - the cafe side extremely busy in the morning for breakfast/coffee/pastries, and later in the evening for cakes and sweets. The gelato line was always long by mid-day, and even at 11pm, it was as long as ever.  They are open 24 hours a day, so your sweet tooth can always be satisfied.  It was nearly always buzzing, but I'll admit I never checked out the crowds at 3am.

Tip: if you just want a cake/pastry, the Market Cafe next door at Vdara carries the Aria Patisserie cakes and pastries, and is never busy.  Pricing is consistent between the two locations.

Goodies, Caramel Corn.

For those just looking to spend some MGM F&B credits, the pricey packaged confections could be a good option.  Lots of chocolate covered things, crispearls (!), and drizzled caramel corn.  I was certainly tempted.

More Goodies.

Different displays with packaged items abound, there to catch you while you wait in line, and just can't resist.  Think, grocery store checkout candy displays, just, upscaled.

Chocolate Bars.

They also had a large lineup of chocolate bars.  I'm not sure if they actually make any of these in-house, or if they are known for them, but, there really is an extensive amount of chocolate available.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries & Macaroons.

People rave about the chocolate covered strawberries in particular, which I thought was strange when I saw so many reviews of them, but perhaps does make sense if they are known for their chocolate work.

Pastries.

And then there are the pastries.  This is just one section, but, there were all sorts of croissants, monkey bread, cinnamon rolls, muffins.  All looked slightly above average, better than a generic cafe, but not exceptionally amazing (go to Dominique Ansel or Bouchon Bakery for those!).

Cakes.

The cakes however really did draw me in.  The first one in this case, a brilliant purple ube creation (with ube chiffon, coconut mousse, ube cream, coconut meringue), and the huge slices of flan were hard to walk past.

Cakes.

The carrot cake gets rave reviews (it has a layer of crispy pecan nougatine within!), and the others all look pretty top notch too.  The cheesecake was very inviting with the huge mound of raspberries on top.

Gelato Menu.

However, I was there mostly for the gelato, which is available as single or double size, in cup or cone.  They also have a trio sampler, which is $1 more than a single, but allows you to pick 3 flavors (all mini scoops, equivalent to a single scoop, basically, pay $1 more to try more!), and I love that they have an option like that.

Gelato.

All gelato flavors are very attractively displayed, with really quite vibrant colors and toppings.

Birthday Cake & PB&J Gelato.

I sampled the PB&J which was excellent, very rich peanut butter flavor, a little bit of berry swirl.  Definitely more PB than berry though, and very rich.  I think it would be great either paired with a scoop of something chocolate or perhaps berry flavored, or with a chocolate dessert.  A full scoop of just that might be a bit much.

The birthday cake was a looker, with big hunks of cake perched on top.

Donut & Campfire S'mores Gelato.

The donut flavor was even more ridiculous looking, with full size donuts perched on top.  A person before me got the Campfire S'mores, and requested one of the giant marshmallows in their serving.

All flavors here at Aria Patisserie looked soooo much better than the generic gelato shops that were every few stores along the Strip, I find it hard to imagine why someone would go to one of those instead (unless they truly didn't want to wait at all).

Ube Gelato (and Birthday Cake).  Single. $6.50.

I asked to sample the birthday cake flavor as I knew it was one that can easily trend way too sweet, but was told they don't do samples during peak hours.  However, my server was cute and snuck a tiny baby scoop into my cup, so I got to try it after all.  <3!

The birthday cake flavor had sprinkles in it, and tasted like yellow boxed cake mix, by which I mean, yes,  super processed and fake tasting.  So they actually really did nail the "classic American generic yellow birthday cake" flavor, but I'm glad I had only the sample and not a full cup of this.  ***.

Since I couldn't sample anything this visit, I decided to just get a single, and opted for ube, as, well, I love ube (that's why I have a blog label devoted to it!), and thought that even bad ube gelato would likely still be pretty great.  I didn't worry though - it was fantastic, among the best ube ice cream/gelato/etc that I've ever had.  Very strong ube flavor.  Really quite enjoyable.  It was very smooth, more dense than creamy, and just overall a nice gelato.  Nothing I'd really change.  ****.

White Chocolate Strawberry.  $3.50.

I also got a chocolate covered strawberry to enjoy later.  I struggled to pick between the dark chocolate or white chocolate options, but ultimately settled on white since I was planning to eat it after my caffeine cut-off time.

It was massive, as I could see in the display case, but it was even more apparent once I sat down to eat it.  The berry within was nicely ripe, juicy, flavorful.  They definitely do pick good berries to use for these.  Base berry: high quality, giant, excellent.

The white chocolate coating was thick, sweet, and didn't break off too easily (although obviously once you bite in, it loses structural integrity).  It had a creamier mouthfeel than a lot of white chocolate, which I assume means it had a higher cocoa butter percentage?  It was very good, but definitely very sweet.  In retrospect, I think I would have enjoyed a dark chocolate covered berry more, as the less sweet chocolate would pair better with the sweet berry within.  Still, I do enjoy white chocolate, and liked this quite a bit. 

****.

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Buttercup Bake Shop

I didn't know anything about Buttercup Bake Shop, and in fact had never heard of it, before I went to write this review.  But I discovered the bakery when someone had extra cupcakes when I was visiting our New York office, and of course I sought out info afterwards.  I can't ever resist a chance to try new baked goods!

Buttercup Bake Shop was started in 1999, by one of the two founders of Magnolia Bakery.  Yes, *that* Magnolia Bakery (which I've reviweed before), and yes, she left Magnolia to start her own place just a year before Magnolia blew up on Sex in the City.  Anyway, same baker, new place.

The offerings from Buttercup Bake Shop are about what you'd expect from an American bakery: cakes & cupcakes, cookies & bars, cheesecake & pies.  Some are gluten-free.  I tried only the cupcakes, available for $4.25 each.  Cupcakes come in a slew of flavors, with all the expected basics, including some filled or elaborately topped, some honoring snack food favs like Twinkie or Deviled Dog inspired, and some less classic American flavors such as buko pandan or, as I went for, ube.

I found the cupcakes to be much like those from Magnolia: underwhelming.  I think they just aren't my style of cupcake.  When in NY, my heart belongs to Empire Cakes.

Ube.

"Imported purple yam paste from the Philippines gives our unique texture and taste to our delicious Ube cupcake and buttercream."

Ube!  I was so excited to see this flavor offered, as you'd expect given that there is a label dedicated to the ingredient on my blog.  

It was an attractive purple cupcake, with a purple base, purple buttercream, and even purple icing sugar on top.

This cupcake was a mixed success for me.  The cake itself let me down.  It wasn't particularly moist, and the ube flavor was fairly muted.  I would have easily believed it was just vanilla.  ** cake.

But the buttercream?  Now THAT I loved.  It was very sweet, but somehow not cloying.  It was fluffy.  It tasted like ube and vanilla and sugar and butter.  Uh, yes, ube buttercream indeed.  I really enjoyed that buttercream, and it ratio of cake to frosting was good.  **** frosting.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

"Vanilla cake with a chocolate chip cookie inside topped with cookie dough molasses buttercream + cookie dough topping."

Eh.  The description stated there would be a filling of sorts, but there was not.  There were mini chocolate chips studded throughout the cake, but I was expecting something a bit different given the description ... either a cookie baked inside as the description implied, or maybe a cookie dough style filling.  The cake was fairly plain, not particularly moist, average cake.  Distribution of the little chips was good.  

The frosting was ... well, exactly as described, molasses flavor.  Extremely strong molasses flavor.  For me, too strong.  I didn't care for the flavor all that much, and I don't really think of strong molasses in conjunction with chocolate chip cookie dough?  The description also said there would be "cookie dough topping" which seemed to just be a few mini chips.

So overall, well, no filling, no cookie dough topping, boring cake, and too strong molasses buttercream. Not a winner for me.  *+.

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Urban Ritual

Urban Ritual is a tea/coffee shop with locations in San Francisco, San Mateo, and San Jose.  I've been aware of the business for a few years, drawn in by some of their more unique bubble tea adjacent drinks (like the mango sticky rice drink with rice milk and coconut milk, the black sesame rice ball drink with drinkable mochi in it, another with pandan & corn milk (!), and others with brûlée of all sorts).  They do of course make more traditional tea drinks, for the less adventurous.  

I still haven't been to one of their shops, but I recently attended an event that had drinks catered from Urban Ritual, and I was thrilled to get my top pick of drink from the lineup.  I loved my drink, and now do intend to make a proper visit!

Feed Me Ube! (Rice Milk, Add boba). $7 + $0.75. 

"Ube Creme brûlée, taro chunks, coconut milk, and a choice of rice milk or whole milk."

Oh be still my heart!  Ube AND taro AND creme brûlée, all in one creation?  I have dedicated labels on my blog for each of those because I adore them, so this was a trifecta of awesome in my mind.  I opted for the rice milk version.

For mix-ins, Urban Ritual offers standard honey boba or crystal boba, lychee, grass, or osmanthus tea jellies, aloe vera, mochi, and creme brûlée pudding.  I normally would have picked crystal boba or the mochi perhaps, but our drinks were pre-designed by the event hosts to use standard boba, which I was happy enough with.

There is no need to draw this out further.  This.  Was.  Glorious.  I had high hopes, and it exceeded them.  The rice milk was the perfect backdrop for it, very mild, light horchata vibes.  There was no option to modify the sweetness, but it didn't need modifying.  The base was not very sweet, but just sweet enough to be more enjoyable than plain milk.  The coconut milk was a minimal component, just there to round everything out.  So, the top 50%, actually just pretty enjoyable rice/coconut milk.  But of course, the rest of the creation is where it gets more interesting.

At the base of the cup was the standard boba.  They were the right kind of soft, no hard centers. Some were clumped together, but I blame that on the fact that we had a huge delivery order, so likely less freshly made than if I had gotten it as an individual at the store.  The boba were fine, but not actually needed in this drink.  I'd leave them out in the future (or, try the mochi or lychee jellies most likely).

Above that is where things got really special.  The mashed taro (not very visible here, but it was a less vibrant purple) and the ube creme brûlée.  The taro was exactly what I expected from decent fresh mashed taro.  I quite enjoyed it, and it went really nicely with the rice milk.  I would have been happy enough with this drink at this point, just a taro rice milk/coconut milk boba, and given it a nice ****.  But then there was the ube creme brûlée, and ZOMG, that stuff was magic.  Glory.

The ube creme brûlée managed to have incredible creme brûlée flavor, as in, I swear I could taste the sweetness from the caramelized top, and a lovely custard that wasn't too eggy, AND it had very strong ube flavor, making it sorta like a very sophisticated creme brûlée, AND it had an incredible consistency, soft and actually still in chunks, so you could suck it up with the wide boba straw, or use a spoon to pluck it out and enjoy that way.  It was incredible, and I've really never had anything like it before.  I would love to be able to just order a dish of that!  ***** that stuff, really.

So overall, all very good components, that went well together, and introduced me to the concepts of both ube creme brûlée and creme brûlée hunks in a bubble tea drink (I've had pudding bits before, but they weren't quite like this) ... just a winning creation all around, and I enjoyed every sip/bite.  I'd gladly get it again.  Very high ****+.

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Pinklady Cheese Tart

New York City is a great place for many reasons.  The vibe, the culture, etc, etc.  But for me, a big draw is the food.  And in particular, if you know me well, you know desserts factor highly into all decision making for me.  I love plotting out my dessert adventures in general, but in particular when I'm in a city like NY with so many incredible offerings.

My research lead me to discover Pinklady Cheese Tart, a fairly young business, about 4 years old (yup, a pandemic born success story).  The baker started by making just the namesake cheese tarts, but has expanded to include other items like macarons and even yogurt drinks (although you won't find these mentioned on the website).  Reviews are good, and it just kept popping up in my searches, due to also offering basque cheesecake, which I was craving and searching fo.

When I saw the flavor lineup at Pinklady Cheese Tart featured ube in several dishes, it was easy to move it to the top of my priority list of places to try.  I ordered for delivery from DoorDash, which went smoothly.

Tarts

"Our oozy cheese mousse is made with three types of rich cheese and cream with a perfect balance of saltiness and sweetness. As for our crusts, we use double baked method in order to create crispy delicious tartlets."

Pinklady Cheese Tart is known primarily for the cheese tarts.  They are a Japanese style, so quite light, and not super sweet.  They are available in a slew of flavors: original cheese, fruity (blueberry, lemon, strawberry), black sesame, ube cheese, matcha cheese, and chocolate cheese.  

I tried two flavors, and would gladly have either again, but also would love to try more varieties.

2 Tarts. $8.
Black Sesame, Ube.

"Try it when its warm, cold or room temperature for different texture and experience!"

I narrowed my choices down to the my top two picks, which I could get as a pair for $8 (so, $4 each).  You can get 6 for $22 to save a little if you want more.  $4 each seemed quite reasonable.

All use the same style tart shell, a double baked butter shortbread.  It was a sweeter style than I was expecting, definitely sweeter than standard tarts.  Hard style, not a flaky style, not crumbly, quite crisp. It was almost like a sweet sugar cookie (I think this is pâte sucrée?).  It was better than most tart shells (which, you may know, I generally dislike and discard), but I did find it almost too sweet.  *** shell.

I found it interesting that they recommend trying them at 3 different temperatures (chilled from fridge, room temp, or lightly warmed), and of course I wanted to try all the ways.  Chilled from the fridge, the result was like a fluffy cheesecake soufflé if that makes sense, lighter and not dense like traditional cheesecake.  Warm, the filling turned oozing and nearly liquid, a delight in another way entirely.  Room temp was somewhere in-between.  I truly don't know which way I preferred.

Ube.

The ube tart was a stunning (likely unnatural) purple color.  It looked fantastic, both due to the vibrant hue, and the fluffy loft to it.

It was as tasty as it looked.  The filling was light, fluffy, and somewhat oozy (in a good way!), and intensely ube flavored, with a backdrop of the sweet cheese flavor.  Sweet but restrained.  Fantastic texture, fantastic flavor.  As I mentioned above, when chilled, it was more like a very light cheesecake, when room temp it was like a soufflé, and when warm it was akin to a molten lava cake.  

I really enjoyed this filling, and would get it again, but I liked the next one even more.  High ****.

Black Sesame.

The black sesame shared the same pedigree, same textural difference at each temperature, etc.  But the overall experience of eating it was entirely different, as it was less sweet, and very nutty.  The black sesame flavor was really quite intense.  I loved it even more than the ube.  ****+.

I'd like to try pairing one of these side-by-side with the fruity blueberry or strawberry flavors, to create pb&j vibes. 

Basque Burnt Cheesecake

More recently, Pinklady expanded to include cheesecake, if you want something bigger than a tart.  But not just cheesecake, Basque style cheesecake (and interesting choice rather than staying in the Japanese style of a fluffy bouncy cheesecake, or NY-style given the location).  Basque style is more on-trend this year, so, likely a great call, and one I was thrilled to see.  I've been really enjoying Basque cheesecake lately, even the version from Cheesecake Factory truly isn't bad (it is far better than their regular cheesecakes ...). 

Pinklady offers traditional vanilla or ube, both in 4" or 7" varieties.

Ube. 4". $13.50.

"Four inches ube flavor cheesecake. Caramelized burnt top with buttery crust and creamy cheesy center. Serve 2-3 people."

I obviously went for the ube.  I'll admit it didn't look great visually, but, this is to be expected.  It *should* have a dark top, it *should* be sorta sunken, and, since I picked ube, it should have the purple hue that, when dark, yes, looks like this.  I didn't care that looked a bit ugly.  That said, this wasn't a legit traditional Basque cheesecake as it has a crust, which gave me a moment of pause.  True Basque cheesecake doesn't have a crust ...

The size was perfect for sharing, 2 people could feel satisfied given the richness, three I think would only want to share if they also each had a tart (which, is what I'd recommend).  The cheesecakes are also available in a larger size to serve 6-8 people for $39.95.

Ube Cross Section.

I'll start with the only negative aspect: the crust.  Perhaps I was just feeling grumpy about the inclusion of the crust in the first place, and the fact that it made it harder to cut, but, I didn't care for the crust.  It was dry, seemed too dark/burnt on the bottom, and was just not a style that added anything to the dessert.  I felt it really detracted.  Boo to the crust, but, it was easy to avoid.

The body of the cheesecake though was glorious.  As you can see, it was fairly textbook in the nearly liquid oozing center, yet light and fluffy all around it.  Like the tart, it had a strong ube flavor, was sweet but not too sweet, with a strong cheesy backdrop.  The top was dark but didn't really give the caramelized taste I have experienced in other Basque cheesecakes, but that was fine, I'm not sure it would have matched as well with the ube flavor.  **** filling.

Overall, definitely good, and well baked.  I'd like to try the vanilla version too, but do wish it had no crust.  Lower **** because the crust brought it down a bit.

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Hungry Crumbs

As part of the SF Vacant to Vibrant program, the SF government is “helping small businesses, entrepreneurs, artists, and cultural organizations activate vacant storefronts to revitalize the area and promote economic recovery”, by paying their rent for the first few months, giving them grant money to seed their operations, providing resources to help with securing permits, etc. Many of these vacant storefronts are around my office and neighborhood.  One, Hungry Crumbs, just opened super close to my house (where Prima Cafe used to be, which I'm sad about losing, as I really did like their froyo and the owners seemed so nice, but I'm glad to see something finally there, it has been vacant since the pandemic).

Signage.

"Stuffed Cookies Made Right!  Hungry Crumbs offers delicious home made stuffed cookies!"

Hungry Crumbs makes one product: cookies.  The space certainly could accommodate a more extensive menu, as Prima Cafe offered a full breakfast and lunch lineup, along with froyo, and a full coffee bar with espresso drinks, etc, all in that same space, but so far, they are focusing only on cookies.  Hopefully soon they offer drinks too?

"Hungry Crumbs is a  a unique cookie concept that combines classic and contemporary flavors. The menu includes unique selections such as Ube Cookies and Balava Dough Cookies, tailored to appeal to both traditionalists and adventurous eaters."

Anyway, I don't know much about the business, as they have a very minimal webpage.

Displays.

The cookies are all attractively arranged under display domes. All are priced the same, $6.50. The day I visited had 8 regular flavors available. The lineup was: 

• Ube Crinkle
• Hot Chocolate (chocolate based cookie with mini marshmallows)
• Banana Biscoff
• Lemon Curd
• Cherry White Chocolate
• Pecan Dulce de Leche
• Strawberry Cheesecake
• Chocolate Chip

They are larger than your average cookie, and most (all?) are stuffed.

I had a very, very hard time narrowing down my pick, as the strawberry cheesecake sounded very unique and had visible gobs of strawberry cheesecake in it, I do adore ube anything (hence the label on my blog), and the staff member serving me recommended the banana Biscoff as a unique one, and said he loved the lemon curd too.

Oatmeal Raisin (GF, V)

They also offer one gluten-free and vegan offering (that I think changes) for those with dietary restrictions.  It is priced the same as all regular cookies at $6.50, no upcharge.

Racks of Cookies.

Cookies aren't actually plucked from the display domes to sell to you, rather, they are stashed on racks behind the counter.  They are served room temperature, not warm like most other trendy cookie shops these days.

Pecan Dulce de Leche. $6.50.

"Indulge in the rich, nutty flavor of pecans complemented by creamy Dulce De Leche caramel."

After an agonizing decision making process, I went for the pecan dulce de leche.  Something about the pecan perched perfectly in the center just really drew me in.

The base cookie was somewhat a textbook standard for what a good cookie should be - it was soft, yet it had a pleasant chewiness to it.  It tasted freshly made.  The base flavor was fairly average in terms of sweetness level and butteriness.  Baked evenly, with no too crispy burnt edges.  Do I prefer a more gooey, lightly underbaked cookie?  Yes.  But there was absolutely nothing to criticize on the bake on this.  

I knew it was a pecan cookie, but I was surprised by the actual taste of the cookie base, as I recognized it instantly: while it might look like a more common chocolate chip or whatever generic base, it tasted exactly like a pecan sandie, which, I suppose, is the only real pecan cookie I know.  There were bits of nut studded throughout, and it was a very nut forward cookie, which I wouldn't have guessed from inspection alone.

Pecan Dulce de Leche: Inside.

The pecan cookie alone was a pretty good cookie, but this had more to give, in the form of the dulce de leche filling.  Here you can see the cross-section.  It had a thin layer of the dulce de leche right in the center, that extended through most of the cookie.  It isn't a puffy, mega-stuffed cookie, but, you do get some filling in every bite.  It is, predictably, very sweet.  It was fairly thick and rich, it didn't really ooze out at all.  

At room temperature, as served, I consider it a fairly unique, very well baked, cookie, but not one I'd likely find myself really craving.  ***+.

Of course, I wanted to try it warm too, and a la mode, since that is where magic often happens.  The cookie softened up a bit, and as I had hoped, the dulce de leche got a bit more oozy.  It still didn't ooze much, but a bit more.  It did pair nicely with ice cream.  ***+.

I'm not sure which way I preferred this though, room temp with some whipped cream, or warm with ice cream.  Both were fine.  I'd try another flavor next before getting this again, unless really craving pecans.

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Sunday Bakeshop

I love everything I know about Sunday Bakeshop.  Baked goods and snacks - two of my favorite things.  AND in flavors I enjoy?  Yes!

"Sunday Bakeshop is an Asian American, French inspired bakery that celebrates the ingredients and sweets we grew up eating. Our philosophy is to create fun, flavorful and unique pastries that span many cultures and techniques, while using high quality, seasonal ingredients.

Sunday Bakeshop invites you to enjoy life’s sweetest moments; and treat yourself to something delicious.  Make life sweeter! "

What does Asian American inspiration look like in a French bakery?  Think: ube twice baked croissants, kimchi corn cheese danishes, red velvet White Rabbit cookies, black sesame crispy treats, raspberry rose mochi cakes, and more.  Oh yes.

I haven't actually gotten the chance to try their baked goods, as they aren't carried near me, but I did get to try some of their snacks, and I was quite pleased.

Chex Mix

I'm no stranger to Chex Mix.  As in, I consume far more of it than an average human, even one who thinks they eat a lot of Chex Mix.  That said, I rarely ever eat the commercial Chex brand Chex mix, as, well, it really isn't that good.  

I've been spoiled by a mother who makes custom Chex mix blends for every person at Christmas, with our own favorite brand items and our own favorite mix-ins (e.g. different brand pretzels for me vs my sister, mine has chow mein noodles, wontons, corn nuts, wasabi peas, plantain chips, and the like, my sister's has Goldfish crackers whereas those aren't allowed anywhere near mine, I have brazil nuts and macadamias, my sister has other mixed nuts, my dairy free cousin has vegan butter instead, etc).  Spoiled, yes.  My doesn't just make the standard Worchetershire savory blend (although that *is* her classic mix), she also makes other savory versions (spicy! Truffle! Cheesy!) and loves trying out new sweet and decadent versions.

I've also been spoiled by working in an office that had an in-house pastry department that made snacks for our microkitchens, and for several years, they made homemade Japanese style furikake Chex mix every day that I was absolutely addicted to.  Once those glory days passed, my Japanese Chex Mix hookup was easy to find, as another one of the pastry chefs from my office started his own brand, and he makes Japanese style Chex mix in a slew of flavors (not just a sweet furikake version, but also a white truffle one, a spicy one, etc.  Stay tuned for the review of Mackbox, coming soon!).  And of course, I've tried a few other commercial versions too, like LoloYum, that I wasn't really impressed by.

So it suffices to say, that at any given time, I have at least 8-10 different Chex mixes on hand in my house (most will be vacuum sealed, and frozen, for longer term storage). I definitely didn't need to try yet another Japanese style Chex mix.  But, when I saw it offered from Sunday Bakeshop, I couldn't help but try it.

Furikake Chex Mix. $9.

"A throwback to the classic Chex mix but amped up with soy, seaweed, and a little spice. This makes for the perfect savory and sweet snack with a small kick."

The Sunday Bakehouse version at first seems much like my mom's, or MackBox's classic version, with Chex, honeycomb cereal,  bugles, pretzel sticks, and of course, TONS of furikake.  

I was surprised when I took my first bite though that I was actually distinct from other versions I have tried.  First, it was considerably more, uh, green.  It just had a lot more seaweed coating than others.  This gave a stronger vegetal taste.  Second, it was not nearly as sweet.  My mom's version is essentially candied, and Mack's is pretty heavy in the sugar, and this, while certainly still sweet, was a touch more savory than others.  And finally, rather than just blonde (corn or rice) Chex, they also use darker wheat Chex, which again, just made it a bit more hearty and savory overall (the honeycomb and bugle pieces were of course still more sweet).

I appreciated the subtle but noticeable changes from other versions.  I think this bag was intended to be more than one serving, but, um, mine didn't go that way.  Clearly, I liked it.  ****.

Popcorn

Probably my absolute favorite snack, and quite frankly, a bit of an addiction for me, is popcorn.  Sweet, savory, cheesy, spicy, decadent, I eat it all.  Never microwave popcorn though.  And generally frozen (it is crispier!).  I can go on and on about my love of popcorn, but, you've probably heard it before.  I obviously had to try Sunday Bakeshop's popcorn.

They always carry one signature flavor, pandan coconut, but from time to time offer others too, such as a spicy gochujang one, and I think I saw black sesame once.

Pandan Coconut Caramel Corn. $8.

"Twist of the traditional Cracker Jack that many of us grew up eating and love. A sweet and salty caramel corn with hints of coconut and exotic notes of pandan flavor."

Well, clearly I love popcorn.  And, I really enjoy pandan.  So this was a no brainer.  I had high hopes, and they were entirely met, even exceeded.  The popcorn had a lovely green hue.

The kernels were all large, fluffy type, quite fresh tasting.  Well popped, no unpopped or quasi-popped pieces.  The pieces were well coated in sweet pandan flavored glaze, real legit pandan flavor that I quite enjoyed.  Certainly sweet, but not cloying at all.  I didn't taste much coconut, but that did not bother me.   Most pieces were entirely coated, but there were a few that were only 70% or so coated, which I actually liked, to lighten it up a bit.

Overall, very good, and very easy to devour.  I'd gladly get this again.  ****+.

Cookies

They also make red velvet White Rabbit cookies and a more pedestrian brown butter chocolate chip.

Ube Snickerdoodle. $3.50.

"A cakey cookie with chewy edges flavored with ube and coconut."

"A chewy, soft baked cookie with mashed ube and shredded coconut, finished with sugar."

Snickerdoodles are basically at the bottom of my list of cookie preferences.  I like cinnamon in general, but, I just don't really ever recall liking a snickerdoodle.  So although I adore ube, I was slightly deterred by the "snickerdoodle" name to this.  

When I looked at the ingredients though, there was no cinnamon.  I thought that was kinda a defining characteristic of a snickerdoodle, so I'm not quite sure why they call this one?  Anyway.  It was an ok cookie.  Somewhat soft, somewhat chewy edges as described.  Very mild ube flavor, stronger coconut flavor/texture from shredded coconut, pearl sugar on top.  Basically a sugar cookie, with some interesting texture from coconut, mild other flavor, and purple hue.  Definitely not as powerful as I was hoping the ube would be.  ***.

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Zero&

San Francisco has no shortage of bubble tea shops.   New ones crop up all the time.  Most don't really catch my eye, but one, Zero& (or 0&), did - and not just because the name is awkward.

"We’re proud to offer the highest quality, most unique hand-made fruit beverages on the market today. From our idea to your smile, we put lots of love and careful attention in each item. We hope you enjoy our work as much as we enjoy bringing it to you!"

Zero& is a small chain, with several stores in San Francisco, and others throughout the bay area.  The name, and concept, behind Zero& refers to the lack of additives - 0 additives. 0 artificial flavors. 0 calories sugar.  This means fruit drinks made with entire whole fruits - 20 whole lychees in the "lychee blossom", a whole coconut in the "coconut zero", half a pound of strawberries in the "strawberry marble", and so on.  Real ube and taro, no powders.  A lineup of drinks without a slew of unhealthy mix-ins or toppings.

But none of that really was enough to make me pay attention.  I've tried other healthier bubble tea shops before, like Aura, and I wasn't particularly impressed.  What drew me in to Zero& was actually NOT their drinks, but rather, their partnership with Hanabi Bakery, and some fantastic sounding pastries and cakes.  Now that sounds more like me, right?  You know how much I love my baked goods.

My first "visit" to a Zero& location was actually virtual, when I ordered from the Hayes Valley location online for delivery via DoorDash.  I placed my order online for desserts: a mini box cake, a croissant, and a cooler bag (mine had just ripped, seemed like a great coincidence that they had them on DoorDash!).  I put in my preferences to contact me if anything was out of stock (so they wouldn't just refund), so I could pick a different flavor/variety of the item.  I'd had such a hard time narrowing down my choices, I would have been fine picking my second choices.

Alas, when my Dasher checked out, I got the receipt, and ... they cancelled the mini cake entirely, and charged me for the cooler bag, but, it didn't arrive.  So in the end, I ordered 3 items, and only got one.  Sadness.  

I didn't really like my item all that much, but I was still drawn in to the concept and menu, so a few months later, when Zero& opened a shop in the Westfield mall near my house, I visited again, this time, in person.  In addition to trying more desserts, I also finally tried a drink.  The queue to place an order at the kiosk was looong, and the wait even longer.  They do have clear screens showing how many drinks are in the queue, and which ones they are working on, along with time estimates, so I was able to see that it was going to take nearly half an hour, once I finally got to the front to place my order.  In the future, I'll certainly just order online in advance, which I did my next visit.

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• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
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• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

Drinks

The drink lineup at Zero& is a bit different from many bubble tea shops.  While they do still have some common drinks, most are fairly curated and unique.  They do not have a huge lineup of toppings, only regular or crystal boba, and grape or lychee jelly.  That is it.  Some drinks come with cheese foam, but only a few, and you can't add it on to any others.  The only customizations you can make for the most part are sweetness (regular or "less", cane or zero calorie sugar - which is $0.50 more) and milk (regular milk, oat milk, or for some, milk tea base).  I wish they had more flexibility.

Cold

For cold drinks, Zero& has several categories: fruit (blended, whole fruit based drinks), Milk Tea (only some of which actually contain tea), and Pure Tea (actual teas).  You can customize the ice level in these to regular, less, or none.

Ube Taro Milk Tea (no caffeine).
Iced. Less Sweet. Add Boba. $5.95 + $0.50.

"Ube Purple Yam, Freshly Steamed Taro Paste, Fresh Grade A Milk."

Since I love ube, and taro, it should come as no surprise that my first drink was the ube taro milk tea.  Yes, ube and taro in the same drink?  I'm in!  It sounded perhaps a bit like the ube milk tea with taro puff cream and taro balls I got from Happy Lemon.  I added boba, and asked for less sweet.  I kept the regular milk.

It was quite clear this drink was made with real ingredients and not powders.  It was still a lovely shade of purple, even without the artificial ingredients.  The ube flavor was fairly subtle, but I really liked the generous amount of lightly sweetened taro paste at the base.  Since I got it less sweet, it was not overwhelmingly sweet.  The boba were fresh, not stuck together, had a light chew.

Overall, clearly a drink made with quality ingredients, although I did wish for a bit more strong flavor.  I'd consider the lychee jellies with this in the future, but really, I wanted to be able to add the cheese foam!  ***.

Baby Peach (Seasonal). $7.45 + $0.50.
Add Boba.

"Fresh Honey Peach, Jasmine Green Tea, Dragonfruit , Sea Salt Cheese Foam."

A companion went for one of the blended fruit drinks, made with a green tea base, peaches, and dragonfruit.  He added boba.  This is one of the lucky drinks available with the cheese foam.

This drink looked great!  Vibrant colors, such layers.  I didn't try it, but he enjoyed it, and said it reminded him a drink he had in China.

Lychee Blossom. $5.95.
No Sugar, Add Crystal Boba +$0.50.

"20 + Real Lychees, Edible Rose Petals."

My next visit, I went fruity, quite out of character for me, but, I wanted to try something quite different, and I had the impression that the real fruit drinks are where Zero& really shines.  I opted for the lychee drink, which I think is literally just made with a slew of lychees blended with ice.  I didn't add any additional sugar, since I knew lychees would be quite sweet on their own.  I added crystal boba, just to have some texture in there.

The drink was really nicely made, perfectly blended.  Really smooth slush.  It was also quite sweet, as, well, it was mostly just lychees.  A lovely sweetness, but, quite sweet nonetheless.  I can't imagine adding sugar to this.   I ended up adding some water to mine to water it down a bit once the sweetness got to be a bit much several gulps in.  It was the kind of drink that made me want to be on a beach, and, uh, spike it.  Drinking it in San Francisco dreary weather didn't seem quite appropriate.

I quite liked the crystal boba, they were firm but not hard, none stuck together, and complimented the lychee quite well, they almost seemed like lychee bits, but they were my added boba.  I definitely recommend that pairing.  The rose petals on top were visually pretty, but didn't add much to the drink.

I also did add sea salt cheese foam (+$1), but it was accidentally left off my drink.  I was able to get it on the side instead, and that worked out better anyway, as I could taste it separately.  It was a fairly lackluster version of cheese foam - not particularly cheesy, not particularly salty, not particularly great consistency.  I love good cheese foam, but this was pretty mediocre, more like, uh, slimier whipped cream? I did like it with the sweet slush though, nice to have the richness against the sweet lightness.

Overall, not the right drink for the setting, but a good drink, and very well made.  ***+.

Creme Brulee Muddy Milk. $5.45.
Less Ice, Add Boba +$0.50.

"Torched Crème Brûlée Cloud, Fresh Grade A Milk."

A friend got this, and, obviously, given my love of crème brulée, I *had* to try it, particularly when his response to "How is it?" was barely coming up for air to say "yum!", as he spooned up all the crème brulée goodness (and yes it came with a tiny spoon just for those purposes).

I tried only the topping, and I see why he enjoyed it.  It was a rich custard, more like a thicker anglaise than a more set actual crème brulée, which makes sense, given that it was on top of a drink after all.  So it was kinda thick, but fairly runny, and tasted deeply like custard.  If that doesn't sound great, it is just me poorly describing it, after all, haven't we all just wanted to lap up a vat of creme anglaise before?  It was exactly that, just with a lightly bruléed top, so it had a slight caramelization and crisp top.  Very, very tasty.

The rest of the drink was the muddy milk, I think brown sugar syrup sweetened milk, but I didn't try it.  No sweetness modifications are possible for this drink, but you could opt for oat milk if you wish.  He seemed to like it.

I'd definitely consider getting this myself in the future, although this is definitely a heavier, dessert style drink.  **** for the topping for sure. 

Hot

Most of Zero& drinks are iced or blended, but they have a few warm options too: warm versions of the ube taro, cream brulee, and teapuccino milk teas, or hot versions of the jasmine blossom or peach oolong.  No warm fruity options.

Black Sesame Blizzard. $6.45 + $0.50.
Hot. Oat Milk. Less Sweet. Add Crystal Boba.

"House Black Sesame Paste, Fresh Grade A Milk, Signature Black Sesame Cream."

The black sesame blizzard is a brand new drink on the Zero& menu, available in both iced and warm versions.  Even though I love taro and ube, I went for this one day, as I do quite like black sesame, and it is a more rare find.  I get black sesame whenever I can, like in dumplings at Din Tai Fung, or ice cream like with the shaved ice at Ice Monster in Tokyo, excellent hard serve at Polly Ann here in SF, or creamy, dreamy soft serve at places like Soft Swerve in NYC, Chanoma Cafe or Rice Workshop in Sydney.  Of course, I've had other drink versions too, like the taro sesame milk at Original Royaltea in Sydney or black sesame latte at K Tea Cafe in Sunnyvale.

It was a cold, rainy, gloomy day, and I opted for the hot version, as I was looking to warm up, and be comforted.  I went for less sweet, and made with oat milk, and added crystal boba.  I think this was my first ever warm drink with boba added.

My drink clearly had been made a while before my number was called as it was barely lukewarm when I got it, even though I was standing by waiting and waiting for it (it took 20+ minutes!).  I have to dock Zero& a few points for that, as it really would have been better warmer.  That said, I did still really enjoy it.

The drink is made with housemade black sesame paste, which I found lining the inside of my cup too. Again, no powders here, only real ingredients.  It was thick and rich, and had a really strong nutty flavor.  A sophisticated nutty though, akin to tahini.  I had oat milk as the base, and that was a nice match for it.  It was lightly sweet, just as I had asked for (only regular or light are options, no option to have no sweet).

On top is black sesame whipped cream, which melted in since I had it warm, like it would in a hot chocolate.  I think this would work better on the iced version, as mine really had mostly melted in by the time I got it (again, also likely due to it sitting there so long?).  Still, the sesame whipped cream was tasty.  The crystal boba I was a bit hesitant to add in a warm drink, not quite knowing how that would work (would they melt?) but actually it was fine.  They stayed nice and soft, not gummy, not clumped together, lightly sweet, and fun to suck up.  I suspect lychee jellies would be a nice match too if you wanted sweeter.  

Overall, this was warm, creamy, nutty, and comforting.  Exactly what I was looking for.  Only downside (besides the lukewarmness)?  Black teeth after I drank it!

****.

Desserts (By Hanabi)

"Delicate desserts, beautifully designed and handcrafted with love. Healthy and mind-glowingly delicious."

"Our vision is to bring customers a refined handcrafted dessert selection with all-natural ingredients and modern designs. Our menu is composed of modern French mousse cakes, delicate desserts and bread inspired by flavors from different cultures around the world. Every product crafted by Hanabi kitchen is lovingly handmade by our trained bakers, after multiple rounds of testings and improvements before presenting to customers." 

The baked goods and desserts at Zero& all come from Hanabi Bakery, a small establishment founded by a pastry chef who had worked at Craftsmen & Wolves and several Michelin starred restaurants.  I don't think the bakery has a retail storefront of their own, but their goods are sold at several other places around town, and they do a lot of catering.

Baked Goods

Hanabi makes some pretty awesome sounding breads, including savory korean garlic bread and a croque monsieur croissant, and filled sweet croissants like ube almond, pandan almond, thai tea, and more.  Oh, and don't get me started on the sound of the taro pork sung croissant, an all butter croissant stuffed with fresh taro paste, kewpie mayo, and covered in pork sung and furikake.  Zero& doesn't carry the entire collection, but, most of it.

Sesame Almond Croissant. $5.95.

"Butter Croissant; Sesame Almond Cream; Almond Slices."

Given my adoration of black sesame, it should come as no surprise that the first baked good I had from Hanabi was the black sesame almond croissant.

I knew before I ordered, from seeing photos online, that Hanabi's style of croissants isn't a bready, lofty style, they are more dense, flatter.  I think these are made like classic double baked almond croissants, just, with different pastes inside (and obviously, on top).

The croissant was ... fine.  It was very flaky, very messy, and clearly high butter content.  Best heated up.  Not really a croissant I'd rave about, no amazing layers, but, better than an average cafe croissant.  

On top was baked on sesame paste and tons of sesame seeds, both black and white.  The sesame flavor was there, but I didn't taste anything almond-like.  The menu description said "almond slices", but I didn't see any on top, nor inside.  The seeds on top made an amazing mess as I cut or bit into the croissant.

Think of the messiest, flakiness croissant you've had, the kind where you have rubble all around you, and this was that, just, magnified.  In addition to shards of croissant, there were sesame seeds all around me.

Sesame Almond Croissant: Inside.

Inside was a very thin layer of more sesame paste.  I was really let down by how little paste there was, as it was pretty easily lost.  I also realized that I really wanted a cream filled croissant, not just a paste.

Overall, I'd call this a fine croissant, and nice to have something other than a standard almond one, but, it wasn't an amazing croissant, and the filling was not very generous.  I'd try something else next time, not another croissant.

***.

Cakes

A major focus of Hanabi bakery is cakes.  Full size cream cakes with amazing flavors like the Chestnut Château with mocha butter chiffon cake, chestnut paste, vanilla whipping ganache cream, chestnut chantilly cream, edible gold flakes, roasted chestnuts, chocolate covered espresso beans, and fresh sage leaves.  Mousse cakes like layered uji matcha mousse and coconut mousse with matcha dacquoise.  Stunning mirror glaze creations.  None of these are available at Zero&, but Zero& does carry the individual size "Mini box" cakes.

Mini box cakes come in several different flavors year round, with seasonal specials like pumpkin in the fall and a lunar new year red velvet.  They also even make some gluten-free.

Matcha Jasmine Mini Box. $8.99.

"Uji Matcha Chiffon Cakes, Jasmine Green Tea Whipping Ganache, Uji Matcha Chantilly Cream, White Chocolate Crunchy Pearls."

When I visited, all of the non-gluten free options were caffeinated, with either chocolate components or matcha.  My companion got the matcha one, and it looked amazing.  She ended up not trying it then, opting to take it home for later, so I wasn't able to steal a bite. 

Rose Lychee Mini Box. $8.99. 
Gluten-Free.

"Gluten-Free Vanilla Chiffon, Light Rose Chantilly Cream and Whole Milk Powder, Whole Lychee Fruit, Edible Rose Petals and Edible Gold Flakes."

I didn't want caffeine, and sadly they were sold out of the taro and black sesame ones I was eying, so I took a gamble on the rose lychee box.  I do like rose and lychee, but I was wary of the gluten-free cake base.  

This was ... ok.  I don't think the gluten-free nature was the problem, but I wasn't really a fan of the cake layers.  I realized I don't generally really like chiffon cake.  It was fairly moist, and light, but, boring.  Like angel food cake.  I just never want that kind of light cake.  Bring on the butter please!  

The chantilly cream was lightly sweet and lightly rose flavored, a pretty subtle, lightly floral, fairly lovely flavor.  I liked it.  Within the layers, there were chopped up bits of lychee jellies, like the kind you get in a bubble tea, along with a full lychee split in half on top.  The lychee was sweet in all the right ways.  The rose petals were pretty but I didn't actually like the texture they added.  Mine had only two tiny bits of gold flake.

So overall, the cream was tasty, and I liked the lychee and rose flavors, but, as a layered cake, this wasn't a winner for me.  **+.

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