Tag: sweets

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Pascal Patisserie & Cafe Holds A Trove Of Hidden Gems

Pascal Patisserie & Cafe - Foodzooka Splat Feature

At Pascal Patisserie & Cafe, the menu is a palette of artistic variety crafted to please every part of your palate. Between the scrumptious pastries, divine desserts, exquisite chocolates, puffy breads, and hearty dishes, one visit to this multifaceted bakery-confectionery-eatery wouldn’t be enough.

Commanding the corner of a Woodland Hills strip mall since 2016, Pascal Patisserie & Cafe is a partnership of culinary artistry between Sara Geller and Bruno Marcy, incorporating cultural influences from Bruno’s French upbringing, Sara’s Israeli heritage, and their combined food-crafting experiences. “It’s like French, European, Mediterranean—all of this together,” said Sara.

Pascal Patisserie & Cafe - Freshly baked pastries (Foodzooka)
Pascal Patisserie & Cafe – Freshly baked pastries (Foodzooka)

Starting at 7am nearly every day (8am on Sundays), the patisserie is an entry to a wonderland of overflowing pastry baskets, featuring flaky croissants and rolls, fruity danishes, miscellaneous muffins, and perhaps some swirly meringues, strudels, or other rotating options you might not catch on every visit. But what you will always find is an assortment of choices made almost entirely from scratch.

Bruno illustrates this point in describing the way he makes the filling for the almond croissants. “It’s an almond cream made with almonds, not marzipan. It’s not an almond paste,” he said. “To have the flavor, you have to start from the beginning, from scratch.” You’ll notice the distinctive nutty flavors of housemade almond, pistachio, and hazelnut cream tucked into several pastries and desserts.

Pascal Patisserie & Cafe - Pistachio croissants (Foodzooka)
Pascal Patisserie & Cafe – Pistachio croissants (Foodzooka)

It’s this attention to detail that recently placed Pascal Patisserie among the Frenchly.us list of finalists for best croissant in Los Angeles, driven by open nominations from LA readers and French expats. When comparing Pascal’s pastries to those in France, Sara often hears from customers, “It’s very, very close. And some people tell us it’s better than Paris.”

A peek beyond the piles of pastries reveals a stretch of more European-style treats around the corner, including colorful cakes, tarts, eclairs, and macarons. Several tarts fill crisp shells with housemade custards or creams—some with the almond cream—each paired with baked or fresh fruits. The eclairs are elongated cream puffs of flaky pastry filled with chocolate or coffee custard, covered with a light layer of fondant icing and a decorative strip of chocolate. Next to the other desserts, the macarons look comparatively simple with modest colors that match their core ingredients, such as pale almond, dark chocolate, and pink raspberry.

Pascal Patisserie & Cafe - Coffee eclairs (Foodzooka)
Pascal Patisserie & Cafe – Coffee eclairs (Foodzooka)

The cake slices are cut in uniformly long rectangles that are big enough to satisfy your sweet tooth, yet small enough to let you try different flavors. Thin coats of freshly made mousses or jams are spread between three layers of spongy cake, often topped with a shiny mirror glaze and adorned with chocolate, fruit, or nuts. “We put more fruits. We do different things. We change things around to make our cakes better,” said Sara, who has made many cakes in her career and as the previous owner of Sara J Pastries & Cakes, where she first worked with Bruno. She particularly appreciates the creativity of introducing less common cake flavors.

Hazelnut, pistachio, and banana cream cakes are among the most popular choices at Pascal Patisserie. The coconut cakes also draw attention with bright shades of pink raspberry icing or orange mango jam. The full-sized round cakes on display are also decked out with arrangements of fresh fruits, nuts, and chocolate sails, adding several inches of eye-catching height. Custom cakes can be far more elaborate, artistically designed in tall tiers or sculpted into surprising shapes or thematic scenes.

Pascal Patisserie & Cafe - Pistachio raspberry cake (Foodzooka)
Pascal Patisserie & Cafe – Pistachio raspberry cake (Foodzooka)

Despite the eye-candy quality of their appearance, the natural flavors of Pascal desserts shine through without being overpowered by sugary frostings and fillings. “The sugar can kill the taste,” Bruno explained as Sara added, “We try to do it not as sweet. We reduce sugar in things that we can.” The bakery also offers several sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free selections to accommodate dietary needs.

At the far end of the dessert display is the true meaning of eye candy. Organized in rows of stunning shapes and colors are chocolates that resemble a museum quality collection of polished gemstones. The shiny surfaces are tempered with cocoa butter to make each piece sparkle like jewels, with whirling colors of supernovas. They’re molded into ovals, spheres, hearts, cylinders, pyramids, and a few polygons gone mad. And some of the fillings are equally exotic: calamansi, mango chipotle, jasmine, and champagne. True to Pascal’s artisanal approach, the fillings are all handmade by Bruno.

Pascal Patisserie & Cafe - Housemade chocolates (Foodzooka)
Pascal Patisserie & Cafe – Housemade chocolates (Foodzooka)

As part of Bruno’s studies in France, he trained not only in the art of pastries but also chocolates. Before opening Pascal Patisserie & Cafe with Sara, Bruno owned a business called C is for Chocolate, where he made custom chocolates and sculpted chocolate centerpieces by hand. Still pursuing this craft at Pascal, his chocolate creations are often in demand for high profile customers and award show after-parties for the Oscars, Emmys, and Grammys.

Bruno has built an array of edible pieces, from abstract structures to detailed dragons, butterflies, movie projectors, sports trophies, and more, all entirely out of chocolate. Some stand three to four feet high, featuring lifelike textures and colors and thin, protruding parts.

Pascal Patisserie & Cafe - Chocolate scuplture by Bruno Marcy (Foodzooka)
Pascal Patisserie & Cafe – Chocolate scuplture by Bruno Marcy (Foodzooka)

The Halloween witch on display in the cafe this year was a captivating example of Bruno’s architectural prowess with chocolate. It was shaped to detail a crooked pointy hat and shoes, a warty face with an extended nose, a shaggy fringe cape, bony outstretched fingers, and a woodgrain staff. Such projects can take several days to make, including late nights, followed by a few delicate operations to reattach sections that may break off.

“Some pieces take two or three days. So, you have a lot of pressure. But I like it,” he said.

While Bruno has his chocolates, Sara has her cookies. Stacks and stacks of cookie containers in dozens of flavors fill shelves at both ends of the bakery. Some are chock full of nuts (hazelnut shortbread, pistachio cookies), some are culturally inspired (Mexican wedding cookies, halva cookies), some are prettily shaped (raspberry linzers, palmiers, and apricot delights),  and some are just for fun (cornflake cookies). Most are light enough to tempt you to eat them by the handfuls. And then there are the seemingly out-of-place boxes that each contain a single, oversized slice of a giant chocolate chip cookie.

Pascal Patisserie & Cafe - Assorted cookies (Foodzooka)
Pascal Patisserie & Cafe – Assorted cookies (Foodzooka)

Also freshly packaged to take home are a variety of loaf cakes and breads scattered on top of the dessert case. Among these, Sara includes huge pillowy Jerusalem bagels, whole loaves of babka, and challah bread on Fridays.

Despite all the bakery goods and chocolates on display, you won’t want to overlook the “cafe” part of Pascal Patisserie & Cafe, furnished with seating indoors and outside. The menu offers many made-from-scratch breakfast and lunch entrees that are light but ample and flavorful.

Pascal Patisserie & Cafe - Shakshuka (Foodzooka)
Pascal Patisserie & Cafe – Shakshuka (Foodzooka)

The breakfast menu is served all day, including omelettes, a breakfast burrito, avocado toast, french toast made with freshly baked brioche, and more. But Sara’s signature shakshuka is a bestselling standout, coming from a secret family recipe infused with heart and soul. This Israeli classic is a homemade sauce that delivers the concentrated flavor of slow-cooked tomatoes, served with poached eggs and a crusty French baguette made on site.

Among the sandwiches, the schnitzel is a favorite with a flattened, sesame-breaded fried chicken breast on your choice of baguette or spelt bread, and a zip of flavor from housemade pickled lemon mayo. The carne asada and tuna sandwiches are also popular choices. Several salads, paninis, and burgers fill out the menu, along with specialty quiches.

Pascal Patisserie & Cafe - Chicken schnitzel and tuna sandwiches (Foodzooka)
Pascal Patisserie & Cafe – Chicken schnitzel and tuna sandwiches (Foodzooka)

For Pascal Patisserie & Cafe to offer so much variety from scratch is a feat that Sara and Bruno achieve with the help of chefs taught in-house and a friendly, energetic staff. With this level of versatility, you can expect their selections to continuously change, while their approach to making everything remains the same.

“We want the flavors and different textures. The flavors are the most important thing,” Bruno stated. “Whatever we do, we want to do it the best,” Sara added.

Pascal Patisserie & Cafe - Woodland Hills (Foodzooka)
Pascal Patisserie & Cafe – Woodland Hills (Foodzooka)

For restaurant hours and more info, click the Foodzooka profiles below for Pascal Patisserie & Cafe in Woodland Hills and their second location in Beverly Hills.

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Cobblermania Is Just Getting Warmed Up

Cobblermania - Foodzooka Splat Feature

When you’re compelled to forage through farmers markets for freshly made cobblers, you know you’ve got Cobblermania. Shae Seward, creator and owner of Cobblermania, has been fueling cobbler fanaticism at Los Angeles farmers markets and food festivals for over 10 years.

If you add up all the seasonal variations and multi-fruit combinations, Shae cobbles together over 70 different cobbler flavors throughout the year. Some popular options include Peach, Mango-Blueberry-Peach, Strawberry-Rhubarb, Sweet Potato, White Nectarine-Blackberry-Apple, Fig-Pear, Pumpkin, and Sweet Potato-Pumpkin with Candied Pecans. Even if the top picks are sold out by the time you get to a Cobblermania stand, the mere freshness of any random choice could win you over to flavors you hadn’t considered before.

“People have told me, ‘I can’t believe I like your cobblers, because I normally don’t like cooked fruit.’ But that’s because we don’t overcook our fruit,” Shae said. “I do it all by hand. The fruit is hand-peeled, the sweet potato is hand-peeled, cooked, then strained and baked.”

Cobblermania - Freshly baked cobblers (Foodzooka)
Cobblermania – Freshly baked cobblers (Foodzooka)

Shae shops for fresh produce daily, buying some items at the farmers markets she attends, such as green and black figs, plums, and apriums from Arnett Farms and mango flavored nectarines from Ken’s Top Notch Produce. But the secret to Cobblermania comes from a family recipe Shae learned directly from her great aunt, whose peach cobbler was always her favorite. “Auntie Roi baked with fresh fruit when she made cobblers and apricot turnovers, so I was used to fresh. I’m a stickler for fresh,” she said.

Because of her sensitivities to sweets, Shae’s goal with Cobblermania is to take a more healthful approach to creating nostalgic desserts. Since she’s allergic to eggs and never liked milk, she makes cobblers without eggs, milk, or butter, so they’re all dairy-free and entirely vegan friendly. And since sugar makes her feel sluggish, Shae instead uses a light organic agave, which is flavor neutral, adding a mild sweetness without overriding the natural flavors of the fruits. ”I want everything to taste like what it is, not like a molasses flavored agave. I want you to taste the actual fruits—like white nectarines, guavas, pluots, blackberries, and apples,” she explained.

Cobblermania - Blackberry cobbler (Foodzooka)
Cobblermania – Blackberry cobbler (Foodzooka)

For Cobblermania’s signature crust, a layer of pastry covers the filling and lines the bottom of the pan. It has a tender, flaky quality that’s neither too crumbly nor too doughy. Shae also offers a gluten-free crust made with rice flour instead of white flour. Loaded with chunky ripe fruits, the cobblers come out of the oven looking truly homemade with lumpy golden tops and syrupy juices seeping through the edges. To Shae, this is what distinguishes her cobblers from neatly preened pies, but it’s okay if you want to call them pies.

The heart-shaped opening on each cobbler allows steam to escape during baking, with the offset pastry cutout adding a decorative and biscuity bonus layer to the top crust. This particular embellishment caught on several years ago when Shae switched from cutting a circular hole to a heart for Valentine’s Day and sold out of the entire batch of themed cobblers. “The following week, I was back to doing a circle,” she said, “and people returned asking ‘Where are the ones with the hearts?’” Since then, Shae has always put her heart into the crusts, though she may surprise you with other fun cutouts for special occasions, such as bunnies for Easter, or bats over the moon for Halloween.

Cobblermania - Peach Strawberry cobbler (Foodzooka)
Cobblermania – Peach Strawberry cobbler (Foodzooka)

You can feel all the hands-on work and thought Shae puts into making her fresh cobblers when you pick one up at a Cobblermania stand and find that it’s still warm. She bakes the batches of cobblers hours before each farmers market appearance, even the ones that open at 8am. For those markets, she starts work at 2am. “I tried baking the day before, but I didn’t like the texture,” Shae said. “When you buy from me, it has to be fresh-fresh.”

The 7-inch width of each cobbler looks larger than a single serving and may technically be big enough to share. But to avoid the regret of giving up a piece, Shae recommends, “If you plan on sharing it, taste it first.” Experienced customers have been known to buy two—one to share, and one for themselves, often finishing a whole cobbler in one sitting. This may be why the Cobblermania banner warns that they’re “So good you’ll (want to) slap somebody!”

Cobblermania - Farmers market banner (Foodzoka)
Cobblermania – Farmers market banner (Foodzoka)

Cobblermania turned out to be not just a fun name for Shae’s bakery, but a reflection of its loyal customer base. Shae came up with the name when a friend told her she had turned her into a cobbler fiend. As the business has grown, Shae’s cobblers—along with her exuberant and welcoming personality—have earned a devoted following of self-proclaimed Cobblermaniacs. You may even spot a few celebrity Cobblermaniacs at her booth, such as Congresswoman Maxine Waters, actress Marla Gibbs, Los Angeles Laker John Salley, “Weird Al” Yankovic, legendary model Lauren Hutton, “Byrd” the bailiff from Judge Judy, Tony Todd from the cult classic horror film Candyman, and more.

Shae has gotten to know many of her repeat customers, forming friendships that have lasted for years. Regulars have invited her to parties and family events not just for catering, but as a personal guest. For instance, Chef Tanya Petrovna, the founder of Native Foods, approached Shae to take part in vegan pop-ups at her place in Palm Springs. And at the recent wedding between Jasmine White and Tilmon Keaton, Shae even received surprise recognition when she heard them state in their vows, “I promise never to eat Cobblermania without you.”

“To me, Cobblermaniacs are as important as the cobblers. I focus on both of them. They are both growing my business,” said Shae.

Cobblermania (courtesy) - Cobblermaniac customers
Cobblermania (courtesy) – Cobblermaniac customers

Back when Shae asked her Auntie Roi to teach her how to make peach cobbler, she had no designs on starting a cobbler business. Shae still fondly recalls the first cobbler she made for her great aunt: “She ate it in silence. She was standing up and eating it, and she didn’t say a word. So I thought, oh my God, I messed it up. But then she sat down and she started scraping the bowl, and she said, ‘You have outdone me.’ And she never made it again, ever.”

From then on, Shae made the cobblers for family dinners, holidays, and potlucks, soon receiving requests to make them for friends and parties. As orders grew more frequent, cobblers became enough of a business for Shae to leave her career as a medical transcriptionist and become a regular vendor at local farmers markets. Cobblermania now covers four corners of Los Angeles at the Hollywood (Sundays), Culver City (Tuesdays), MLK Hospital (Wednesdays), and Torrance (Saturdays) farmers markets. You’ll also find Cobblermania cobblers at the annual vegan food gathering VegFest LA held in Van Nuys, as well as other local annual events and festivals.

Cobblermania - VegFest LA booth (Foodzooka)
Cobblermania – VegFest LA booth (Foodzooka)

Now, with Cobblermaniacs coming from all over, Shae has her sights set on expanding to a handful of Cobblermania storefronts. She envisions the shops as distribution spots that would recreate the look and feel of her farmers market booths. To ensure consistent quality and taste, the cobblers will be baked at a centralized commercial kitchen. Having run Cobblermania on her own since the beginning, she also now sees potential in strategic partnering with other complementary businesses as an opportunity to pool resources and grow together.

“Cobblermania is very popular and I work very hard. There’s so much more to it than just the baking,” Shae said. “I love my company, but it’s not that I just love baking. I like my customers, and they’re happy to see me. This is a happy business, and I love what I do.”

Cobblermania - Shae Seward and Kisha Boyd (Foodzooka)
Cobblermania – Shae Seward and Kisha Boyd (Foodzooka)

For more information and updates, click the Foodzooka profile below to view Shae’s farmers market schedule and follow Cobblermania on social media.

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Sonny’s Amazing Italian Ices & Cremes Refreshes The Classics

Sonny's Amazing Italian Ices & Cremes - Foodzooka Splat Feature

When it comes to frozen treats, Sonny’s Amazing Italian Ices & Cremes in Sherman Oaks covers the spectrum—from icy to creamy, from old-fashioned to newfangled. With well over 50 possible flavors of housemade Italian ices, creme ices, and ice creams, Sonny’s can serve up countless combos of scoops, sundaes, shakes, floats, malts, and more.

All this frosty variety comes from the ambitious efforts of New York transplants, Sindy Habib and Matt Hoch. Sindy opened Sonny’s in 2016 as a side business to her veterinary career, pursuing a passion she inherited from her father, who had made and sold ice cream in New York. While she’s still a full-time veterinarian at McGrath Veterinary Center, Sindy spends her spare hours churning out artisanal flavors at Sonny’s. When Matt jumped in to manage the shop after retiring as a school principal, he crammed to learn the ice cream business and continues to find new flavors through experimentation. Together, Sindy and Matt run Sonny’s with a fresh take on the ice cream parlors they enjoyed as kids in Brooklyn.

“It starts with the 56 flavors we make, and they are the real deal,” Matt said. “The flavors are great, made with the highest quality ingredients. It’s fun to create other treats from those to give people more dessert options.”

Sonny's Amazing Italian Ices - Wall mural of Sonny (Foodzooka)
Sonny’s Amazing Italian Ices – Wall mural of Sonny (Foodzooka)

While New Yorkers have enjoyed Italian ices for generations, it’s often a new experience for Los Angelenos. So Matt helps explain to new customers that Sonny’s ices are similar to sorbet, made from a blend of water and fruit (or other ingredients like chocolate) for a more natural concentrated flavor, which gets churned to a smooth, velvety texture as it freezes. It tastes and feels distinctly different from other water-based frozen treats like snow cones or shave ice, which pour syrups over plain ice to add flavor. And since Sonny’s Italian ices are entirely dairy-free, gluten-free and vegan, they’ve been particularly well received by diet-conscious West Coasters.

The housemade quality of Sonny’s ices shows through in the bits of fruit embedded in flavors like cherry, mango, peach, strawberry and more. Likewise, the tangy citrus flavors contain the characteristic zest of hand-squeezed juices. “Our flavors come from high-quality liquid bases,” Matt added. Among the 20 rotating Italian ices, curiosity may lead you to try less commonplace flavors such as sour blue raspberry and tiger’s blood (a blend of strawberry, watermelon, and coconut).

Sonny's Amazing Italian Ices (courtesy) - Italian ices
Sonny’s Amazing Italian Ices (courtesy) – Italian ices

But if your sweet tooth is screaming for ice cream, Sonny’s offers many options to hush your craving. The ice cream menu includes the classic trio of flavors with subtly upgraded labels: Vanilla Bean, Dark Chocolate, and Strawberry Balsamic. For the strawberry, the berries are marinated and heated in balsamic vinegar, giving the strawberries a fruitier, brighter, robust taste. “It could be the best strawberry ice cream you’ve ever had,” Matt suggested to one customer.

You’ll find a similar scrutiny for quality mixed into all the creative creamy flavors. The Maple Walnut ice cream is made with 100% pure Vermont maple syrup and wet walnuts, which are steeped in simple syrup for a sweet, chewy nuttiness. More novel dessert and candy flavors include Apple Pie, Red Velvet, Lemon Cookie Crunch, Cotton Candy, and The Stakeout (coffee & glazed donuts). Sonny’s also makes vegan ice creams using a coconut base, offered in flavors such as matcha, cookie butter, and cookies & cream.

“We are putting our best foot forward by using top of the line ingredients for everything that we do,” Matt explained.

Sonny's Amazing Italian Ices - Chocolate ice cream (Foodzooka)
Sonny’s Amazing Italian Ices – Chocolate ice cream (Foodzooka)

It’s because there’s no skimping on the cream that Sonny’s ice creams merit the “premium” label. They contain 14% milkfat, which is on the high end of the 12-14% US standard for premium ice creams, versus the minimum 10% milkfat in regular ice creams. Whipping a bit of air into the mix keeps the ice creams scoopably soft, achieving a densely rich and creamy consistency that’s both indulgent and gratifying.

When you can’t decide between the decadently rich ice creams and the vibrantly light Italian ices, Sonny’s creme ices will meet you in the middle. “If the Italian ice and the ice cream were to have a baby, it would be the creme ice,” said Matt. Made with a base of 75% water and 25% premium ice cream mix, creme ice brings the smooth richness of dairy to Italian ice, with less fat and a lighter texture than ice cream. Flavors include orange creamsicle, peanut butter, pistachio, nutella with chocolate ganache, and cherry vanilla chocolate chunk.

Sonny's Amazing Italian Ices (courtesy) - Creme ice
Sonny’s Amazing Italian Ices (courtesy) – Creme ice

Still looking to intensify your dessert experience? Pile your scoops into a housemade waffle bowl with your choice of over 20 toppings, including fresh whipped cream and various fruits, nuts, candies, sprinkles, and sweet sauces. Baseball fans can even have scoops served in a mini baseball helmet, featuring teams from the East Coast, West Coast, and in between.

Or you can chill out with a signature sundae. Sonny’s Chocolate Brownie Sundae, Strawberry Shortcake Sundae, and Cookie Sundae are all made with freshly baked goods and two scoops of ice cream. While the Sonny Split takes longer to make, you’ll see why it’s worth the wait. Once the banana is split lengthwise, the inner surfaces get fired with a brulee torch, creating a caramelized layer that gives the flat sides of the banana a sweet, crispy shell. The two candied slices then flank two scoops of vanilla ice cream, topped with a mountain of whipped cream, sprinkled with graham crunch, and drizzled with caramel sauce, all packed into a waffle bowl.

“People identify that with us, because I don’t know anywhere else that you can get it,” Matt said.

Sonny's Amazing Italian Ices - Sonny's Split (Foodzooka)
Sonny’s Amazing Italian Ices – Sonny’s Split (Foodzooka)

Other rare finds at Sonny’s give you an excuse to think of ice cream as a meal. After all, it’s practically brunch if you add a scoop of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and a sprinkle of powdered sugar to a pile of warm mini Dutch pancakes known as poffertjes (PAW-fer-chez). You can order freshly made poffertjes coated with cinnamon sugar or topped with caramel and bananas, chocolate sauce, wild cherry topping, or strawberry sauce.

Sonny's Amazing Italian Ices (courtesy) - Poffertjes
Sonny’s Amazing Italian Ices (courtesy) – Poffertjes

And then there’s Sonny’s latest lunchy creation: the Panini Pressed Ice Cream Sandwich. In the true sense of a sandwich, an ice cream scoop is centered between buttery brioche buns. Matt adds sauces and crunchy stuff such as pecan pralines or cereal, and heats it up in a specialized panini press that seals the bun around its cold contents.

“Tasting is believing. What you get with that is the hot bun when it’s pressed and the cold ice cream inside. And you get the soft ice cream with the crunchy texture within it,” Matt explained.

Sonny's Amazing Italian Ices - Ice cream sandwich (Foodzooka)
Sonny’s Amazing Italian Ices – Ice cream sandwich (Foodzooka)

If you’re too rushed to handle a hot-cold sandwich or even balance a bowl and spoon, you could always consume your frozen dessert with a cup and straw. Shakes, floats, and malts deliver any of Sonny’s artisanal flavors in more slurpable forms. Try the Cake Shake made with cake batter, or one of the six different Girl Scout Cookie Shakes, which include real Girl Scout cookies with ice cream, toppings, and sauce combinations that recreate the flavors of specific cookies. There’s even a float inspired by a beverage from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at nearby Universal Studios: the Butterbeer Float. It’s made with cream soda, butterscotch, vanilla ice cream, and whipped cream. “Many, many people have said that they like this better than what they’ve had at Universal,” said Matt.

Sonny's Amazing Italian Ices (courtesy) - Peanut butter shake
Sonny’s Amazing Italian Ices (courtesy) – Peanut butter shake

Though the extensive dessert choices at Sonny’s may undermine your decision-making skills on your first visit, take comfort in knowing there are plenty of reasons to return to try more. As the specials board wisely advises, “Try them all!! (Not all at once, silly).”

You may catch a bout of silliness when you spot the large cartoon logo painted on the wall. It pictures Sonny the dog sitting in a cross-legged lotus pose, balancing a bowl of colorful scoops in one paw and gripping a spoon in the other. His gaze seems fixed on you as he patiently licks his chops, as though waiting for you to give him the go-ahead to dig in to his dessert. It’s a whimsically playful depiction that memorializes the shop’s namesake. Sonny was a rescued black labrador with a life-threatening condition that Sindy took in as a puppy. Under Sindy’s care, Sonny persevered through his illnesses and enjoyed a full life of 13 years.

“He never really held a bowl of ice cream, and he didn’t really sit in a lotus position,” Matt confessed. “But he was a great pet.”

Sonny's Amazing Italian Ices - Original Sonny's logo (Foodzooka)
Sonny’s Amazing Italian Ices – Original Sonny’s logo (Foodzooka)

As ice cream spots go, Sonny’s Amazing Italian Ices and Cremes is a young pup with a lick of old-timey gusto. Nostalgic hints at ice cream parlors and candy shops of bygone eras are embedded in the cherry red metal furnishings and shelves full of retro candies, including Necco Wafers, Big League Chew, Reed’s Candy Rolls, and Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy. A wall of vintage New York photos and baseball scenes further hint at the East Coast inspirations behind the business. In both the atmosphere and the flavors, Sonny’s mix of old and new, East and West, triggers a sense of familiarity and wonder.

“Most people come here not just to satisfy a sweet craving but to relive some long-ago memory from their past,” Matt commented. “They’re sharing something that means something to them.”

Sonny's Amazing Italian Ices & Cremes - Sherman Oaks (Foodzooka)
Sonny’s Amazing Italian Ices & Cremes – Sherman Oaks (Foodzooka)

For Sonny’s store hours and more info, click the Foodzooka profile below to find their website and follow them on social media.

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Energy Bee Farm Hums Through 50 Years Of Raw Honey Busyness

Energy Bee Farm - Foodzooka Splat Feature

As you hover through the farmers market, the yellow banner at the Energy Bee Farm stand will lead you to a sweet discovery. Beekeeper Jeff Erb and his family have kept busy collecting and selling prized batches of pure hive-to-jar honey across Los Angeles area markets for more than half a century.

It’s a sticky business procuring raw honey the old fashioned way. Energy Bee Farm has always been a family business, started by Jeff’s father Gilbert Erb in 1968. Since then, three generations have worked to harvest honey from wildflower fields and orchards throughout Central and Southern California, hauling it to their facility in Inglewood, where it’s strained and packaged to be sold at 14 local farmers markets.

Energy Bee Farm - West LA Farmers Market (Foodzooka)
Energy Bee Farm – West LA Farmers Market (Foodzooka)

These days, Energy Bee Farm has between 3,000 and 6,000 active honey bee hives in locations such as Porterville, Lindsay, Ivanhoe, Visalia, and the Santa Monica Mountains. The trek to tend to so many far-flung hives pays off with the distinctive varieties of honey that come from each area. Eyeing the jars on Energy Bee Farm’s table, you’ll see various shades of gold, from bright amber to coffee brown. Simply put: different flowers create honeys of different colors and flavors, depending on the nectar source. Even the rate at which each honey naturally crystallizes can vary based on the traits of the nectar and the temperature where it’s stored.

The varieties currently available from Energy Bee Farm include avocado, sage, buckwheat, orange blossom, and wildflower. Orange blossom honey tastes expectedly citrusy like oranges, while avocado honey tastes nothing like avocados. It’s less sweet with a dark color like molasses, revealing a higher mineral content that occurs in seasons with less rainfall. The sage honey is mild and floral, buckwheat is strong and spicy, and the somewhat fruity flavor of wildflower can change between seasons.

“In drought years, you get a mishmash of everything,” Jeff described. “Because there’s so little rain, there isn’t any one dominant flower that’s producing nectar throughout the season, and then you get wildflower honey.”

Energy Bee Farm - Honey sticks and jars (Foodzooka)
Energy Bee Farm – Honey sticks and jars (Foodzooka)

Raw, unpasteurized, unfiltered honey is sought after for its flavors and health benefits. In this natural state, it contains minerals, vitamin-rich pollen, antioxidants, and antibacterial agents, all of which are compromised in mass-produced honeys that are flash heated during the packaging process. At high temperatures, honey takes on the consistency of water so it can be blasted through a filtration system and shot into jars and bottles with the speed of automation.

Energy Bee Farm takes a less hurried approach to honey extraction and packaging. First, a specialized machine slices off the top layer of the honeycomb to open up the cells, and any cells missed are scratched open by hand with a pointed tool. Jeff then places the honeycombs in a spinning device that tosses the honey out of the cells without destroying the combs. To strain unwanted particles from the collected honey, it flows through a series of gradually smaller holes and then a cloth. The strained honey is pumped slowly into barrels, allowed to settle, then poured into jars or bear-shaped squeeze bottles and labeled by hand.

“You’re not cooking it, and you’re not filtering it. And I’m handling it in a way that a large producer packer would tell me is not efficient,” Jeff said.

Energy Bee Farm - Honey bear squeeze bottles (Foodzooka)
Energy Bee Farm – Honey bear squeeze bottles (Foodzooka)

At the farmers market, a few sticky jars are telltale signs of Energy Bee Farm’s manual packaging process. In the heat of the sun, the honey will expand and seep out from jars that were overfilled. Should you happen to pick up a sticky jar, Jeff may offer you an amusing deal, saying, “All the honey on the outside of the jar is free!”

Honey sold at the farmers markets range from 8-ounce sample sizes to 64-ounce jugs that are typically purchased by restaurants. Energy Bee Farm also sells honey sticks, crystallized honey, honeycombs, bee pollen, bee wax, and royal jelly. Sometimes called “bee milk,” royal jelly is a creamy substance that bees make to feed the larvae and the queen. Royal jelly has gotten buzz as a superfood that helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, reduce inflammation, and treat digestive disorders, among many other claims.

Energy Bee Farm - Royal Jelly (Foodzooka)
Energy Bee Farm – Royal Jelly (Foodzooka)

At age 61, Jeff still eats honey every day and occasionally gets stung when working with the honeycombs. This begs the question: why would someone want to work amongst bees?

“They call it bee fever,” Jeff explained. He caught it at age 9 when his older brother Ron showed him a hive and pointed out the queen. “From the minute he opened the hive, it was absolutely fascinating. A bee stung me on the finger and I thought, ‘That doesn’t hurt that bad. I can deal with this.’”

Whenever Jeff visits the hives, he inspects the conditions of each colony, never forgetting that bees are essentially livestock. He’s careful to leave plenty of honeycombs intact for the bees to feed. When conditions like winter or drought inhibit the growth of flowers with nectar, the bees may need supplemental feedings of sugar to ensure that the colonies can survive. Vigilance is crucial since bees are also susceptible to parasites, diseases, chemicals, and other threats that can kill off thousands at a time and spread to nearby colonies.

“The beekeepers who pay the closest attention to their bees are the ones who are the best beekeepers,” Jeff said.

Energy Bee Farm - Honeycombs (Foodzooka)
Energy Bee Farm – Honeycombs (Foodzooka)

Underscoring the vital role of bees in California’s agricultural ecosystem, Energy Bee Farm is often called upon to bring their hives to orchards and crops in need of pollination. This work usually doesn’t make any honey since some flowers don’t produce enough nectar or pollen to sustain the bees. “Like apples. You never see apple honey,” Jeff explained. “Every year, thousands of bees get moved into the almonds, and yet you never see almond honey.”

For Energy Bee Farm to secure so many yards for the hives, it has taken decades of networking with property owners, farmers, and even national forest rangers. The hives often yield honey during the hottest months of the year—an uncomfortable situation for beekeepers who are covered from head to toe in protective suits that can add an extra 25 degrees. Puffs of smoke are used to pacify the bees while removing the honeycomb frames, which are exponentially heavier when filled with honey. Needless to say, Jeff has endured his share of heat exhaustion episodes in the course of his workdays.

“It is the most laborious task I ever found in my life,” Jeff said of beekeeping, “and I’ve worked in a lot of other laborious jobs.” Jeff used to do the heavy bee work with his brother while their father managed the farmers markets. Now that Ron has retired, Jeff works the markets while his nephew Dave Sample does the heavy lifting. Dave came into the bee business by marriage to Jeff’s niece Sarah, who is now building a retail line called True Gold Honey.

Energy Bee Farm - Beekeeper Jeff Erb (Foodzooka)
Energy Bee Farm – Beekeeper Jeff Erb (Foodzooka)

Jeff can be found weekly at the Westchester Farmers Market on Wednesdays and the West Los Angeles Farmers Market on Sundays, which he likes to say is his day off. Quoting his older brother, Jeff declared, “‘If you do what you like, you like what you do.’ And I like what I do.”

You can also find Energy Bee Farm at the following markets: Houghton Park (Mon), Manhattan Beach (Tues), Santa Monica Downtown (Wed), Huntington Park (Wed), Bixby Knolls (Thurs), Downtown Long Beach (Fri), Cerritos (Sat), Torrance (Sat), Buena Park (Sat), Long Beach Marina (Sun), Santa Monica Main St. (Sun), and Encino (Sun).

Energy Bee Farm - Farmers market stand (Foodzooka)
Energy Bee Farm – Farmers market stand (Foodzooka)

For more information, click the Foodzooka profile below to find the farmers market schedule for  Energy Bee Farm and follow them on Instagram.

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Fill Up On Fruzion Fruit Cocktails & Crepes

Fruzion - Glendale - Foodzooka Splat Feature

On your first visit to a Fruzion cafe, you may need to reset your expectations of a fruit cocktail. Here, it’s a mix of freshly cut fruits bathed in fresh juice with a choice of creamy and nutty toppings—a colorful medley that’s both substantial and refreshing.

Forget the soft and syrupy canned version of fruit cocktail. And don’t expect to find the makings of alcoholic mixed drinks here. With Fruzion, husband-wife owners Mike and Mary Yacoubian are reshaping notions of fruit cocktails to match the fresh and healthier version they know from their familial Lebanese-Armenian roots.

With an artful eye, Mary demonstrates an arrangement of fresh fruit ingredients in a tall glass mug that reveals the vibrant layers and swirls from a pour of juice. She crowns the overflowing cup with a dollop of cream or gelato, and then adds pistachios, almonds and honey.

Fruzion - Turbo fruit cocktail (Foodzooka)
Fruzion – Turbo fruit cocktail (Foodzooka)

You’re encouraged to customize your own combination of strawberries, mangos, bananas, pineapples, kiwis, or papayas. The juice choices include blends of several of the same fruits, plus an avocado-milk and a coconut-pineapple blend.

But for the indecisive, the expansive pictorial menu wall at Fruzion includes many helpful suggestions. The top selling cocktail bears the cafe’s namesake, Fruzion, mixing all the fruits with a strawberry-banana juice.

Fruzion - Menu board (Foodzooka)
Fruzion – Menu board (Foodzooka)

Whatever your mix, you can give your fruit cocktail a Lebanese finish by getting it topped with a cream called ashta. Commonly used in Middle Eastern desserts as a custardy filling, ashta offers a neutral milky flavor with a mouthfeel similar to ricotta. It brings a smoothness that contrasts the bulky bites of fruit, and since Fruzion makes ashta without sugar, it’s sweetened with a drizzling of traditional honey or rosewater syrup.

Other options to add creaminess to your concoction include whipped cream, gelato, or even ripe avocado as a vegan option. “We cater to a large vegan population, so we can do just fresh juices with sorbet,“ Mary said. The interplay of creaminess with plump fruit and crunchy nuts creates a satisfying symphony for your mouth. Unlike a fruit cup or smoothie, the fruit cocktail is a desserty treat that allows distinct flavors and textures to mingle for a different taste experience in each bite.

Fruzion (courtesy) - Exotic 7 fruit cocktails
Fruzion (courtesy) – Exotic 7 fruit cocktails

If your ice cream cravings overrule your fruity intentions, Fruzion also offers an inverse preparation: ice cream cocktails with a gelato base and fruit toppings. Among the nearly 20 gelato or sorbet flavors on display, ashta gelato is a popular pick.

“That’s our specialty. And if you noticed in the gelato case, that’s the one we have the least of. We sell out,” said Mary, adding fondly that she remembers her father giving her ashta ice cream with crushed pistachios as a child.

Fruzion - Ashta gelato with pistachios (Foodzooka)
Fruzion – Ashta gelato with pistachios (Foodzooka)

Where Mike grew up in Montreal, Canada, fruit cocktail shops have hooked customers well beyond the large Lebanese community. When the Yacoubian family settled in Los Angeles where Mary grew up, they realized an opportunity to popularize the concept here. Even without a background in the restaurant business, they ambitiously opened a location in Chatsworth three years ago and a second location in Glendale shortly after.

Beyond the fruit cocktails and gelatos, Fruzion also assembles made-to-order crepes and Belgian waffles with your choice of ingredients. “We customize all orders to fit the customer, whether it be for taste or dietary needs,” Mary said.

Fruzion - Crepes made to order (Foodzooka)
Fruzion – Crepes made to order (Foodzooka)

The crepes have been a particularly strong draw for Fruzion, adding even more versatility to the menu with sweet or savory fixings. Crepe orders come together swiftly, using a wooden spreader to lay an even coat of batter across the wide circular surface of a specialty crepe griddle. Within moments, the crepe is deftly flipped with a turner, then transferred to a plate for accessorizing.

The nearly 16-inch diameter of the crepe gives Fruzion plenty of room play with different folding techniques. Some crepes wrap around the fillings on three sides and others are folded into layers, creating a bed of pastry for ingredients to be piled on top. Though the crepe looks deceptively thin and delicate, the ample folds give it a heftier chew that makes for a filling meal. Couples may even find a single crepe order ideal for plate-sharing.

“Our portions are huge, so they normally feed approximately two,” said Mary.

Fruzion - Juliette crepe (Foodzooka)
Fruzion – Juliette crepe (Foodzooka)

Crepes and waffles can be stuffed or topped with fruit, ashta, gelato, or savory ingredients such as ham and cheese. The top seller on the menu is the Juliette, filled with Nutella, strawberries and bananas. Since Nutella is the most requested filling, even for custom orders, Fruzion goes through several dozens of 7-pound buckets each week.

To diversify your palate, you can try some of Fruzion’s culturally inspired options. The Yerevan crepe reflects the Yacoubians’ own Lebanese-Armenian heritage, filled with a thick, spreadable yogurt (lebni) and seasoned cured beef (basturma). The 1001 Nights crepe was influenced by Middle Eastern stuffed pancakes known as atayef, which are filled with cream and nuts. Likewise, Fruzion’s crepe is topped with a mound of ashta and covered with chopped pistachios and peeled almonds, while fruits and honey or rosewater syrup add sweetness. And the Latin-inspired Mango Tajin fruit and gelato cup has the red chili Mexican seasoning sprinkled over fresh mango and mango gelato.

Fruzion - 1001 Nights crepe (Foodzooka)
Fruzion – 1001 Nights crepe (Foodzooka)

The vastness of the menu speaks to the endless custom possibilities of “fruit creations,” a description that Mike and Mary combined to come up with the name Fruzion. Still, there are more available items that aren’t yet displayed on the menu. Feel free to ask about their chocolate-dipped fruit, “sushi” crepes (wrapped around fruit instead of fish), and waffles on a stick. You can also get toppings of Lotus biscuits and cookie spread or Kinder chocolate spread, products that are well known in Europe and the Middle East.

“We listen to our customers,” Mary explained. “If we get requests, we try and offer it.”

Fruzion - Glendale (Foodzooka)
Fruzion – Glendale (Foodzooka)

In addition to the 56 menu choices spread across the wall above the cash registers, the available combinations are enough to feed you day or night. In fact, Fruzion’s busiest hours are after 8pm, particularly on the weekends when they’re open till midnight.

For cafe hours and updates on special menu items, click the Foodzooka profiles below to find Fruzion’s website and follow them on social media for their Glendale and Northridge locations.

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P.O.P. Candy Co. Makes It Sweet Or Savory In A Crunch

p.o.p. candy co. - Foodzooka Splat Feature

It’s hard to miss the plethora of colorfully labeled, shiny gold bags overtaking the P.O.P. Candy Co. table at the Mar Vista farmers market once a month. But this is no rainbow lollipop, sugar coma kind of candy stand. P.O.P. Candy is all about the fresh butter crunch, which you’ll find makes perfect sense to pick up with your seasonal produce.

When you visit the P.O.P. Candy stall, husband-and-wife owners Rachel Flores and Bill Waiste will likely be there to greet you with samples, indoctrinating you to their tasty take on candy. At first glance, these shards of nut-embedded toffee sheets may resemble peanut brittle, but they are distinctly different.

“We’re less sweet, we’re much more crunchy and toasty,” Rachel described. “We’re butter based, and we’re not made with oils.”

p.o.p. candy co. - Nutty flavors (Foodzooka)
p.o.p. candy co. – Nutty flavors (Foodzooka)

Not to mention, none of the 13 current varieties of P.O.P. Candy even contain peanuts. Or corn syrup, or soy, or gluten for that matter. But what makes this handmade small-batch candy so different is what it does contain: real butter, premium nuts cooked into the blend, and freshly ground herbs, spices, and natural extracts. For the binding agent, they found that using organic brown rice syrup helped to amplify the fresh flavors without a heavy sugariness.

“The tastes were up,” Bill said. “You could taste the toastiness of the nuts, and the herbs, and the extract much more strongly than before. And it was less sweet.“

The vast range of options they’ve created from these basic ingredients speaks to the 10+ years Rachel and Bill have devoted to developing their product, taking the core caramel-colored base into different flavor directions. It can go sweet (brown sugar and cinnamon, rum extract and vanilla), savory (fire pistachio, fennel and seeds), or both (maple bacon, thyme walnut cherries). Sampling P.O.P. Candy may remind you of other comforting homemade tastes, such as french toast, biscotti, holiday stuffing or gingerbread cookies.

p.o.p. candy co. - Sampling table (Foodzooka)
p.o.p. candy co. – Sampling table (Foodzooka)

“Rosewater cardamom speaks to our process very well in that each batch we use freshly ground cardamom,” Rachel said. And some flavors come from customer feedback. “We have been asked a lot about coconut, and we came out with a toasted coconut.”

Customers also participate in the creative process by experimenting with their own P.O.P. Candy food pairings. Besides crumbling the candy over ice cream and yogurt, it also adds a lively touch to salads, cheese plates, roasted vegetables like butternut squash, and even grilled steak. The different flavors also pair well with wine and beer. But it may be most fun for your tastebuds to eat it straight out of the bag… like candy.

p.o.p. candy co. (courtesy) - Butter crunch pairings
p.o.p. candy co. (courtesy) – Butter crunch pairings

The product has come a long way since Rachel began making homemade candy to give as holiday gifts. She experimented with recipes to create an all-natural candy inspired by Almond Roca, a flavor she loved growing up. Friends soon encouraged her to start selling it, and with Bill’s help and depth of experience as a food consultant and executive chef, a business was born in late 2007.

“It was obvious from the first that people really liked it, and we played with the recipe and got better and better at it,” Bill said. “We believe our product has never been stronger than what it is now.”

p.o.p. candy co. - Savory and sweet flavors (Foodzooka)
p.o.p. candy co. – Savory and sweet flavors (Foodzooka)

In addition to its youthful vibe, they chose the name P.O.P. as an homage to the company’s local roots. The name comes from Pacific Ocean Park, a legendary Santa Monica amusement park that once stood on the beach at the end of Ocean Park Blvd. in the 1950s and 60s.

P.O.P. Candy Co. has held a permanent spot in the Mar Vista Farmers Market since its beginnings, currently returning there the third Sunday of the month.

p.o.p. candy co. - Farmers market stand (Foodzooka)
p.o.p. candy co. – Farmers market stand (Foodzooka)

Around LA, you also can find P.O.P. Candy products at retail spots including Bristol Farms (Santa Monica), Vicente Foods (Brentwood), Cuvée (Century City), Sketchers Cafe (Manhattan Beach), FoodLab (West Hollywood), Hoopla Emporium (Altadena), and Alta Baja Market (Santa Ana). Or you can order packages online to ship. You might also spot bags selling in select shops across Northern California and the Pacific Northwest.

Throughout the spring and summer, P.O.P. Candy will be attending regional artisan markets such as Odd Nights at the Autry, Renegade LA, Jackalope Arts Pasadena, Patchwork Santa Ana, and Patchwork Long Beach, as well as events in the Bay Area. And in the fall, they will be featured in a showcase of California-made goods hosted in Paris by France’s oldest department store Le Bon Marche.

p.o.p. candy co. (courtesy) - Fresh butter crunch
p.o.p. candy co. (courtesy) – Fresh butter crunch

Between the farmers markets and events, Rachel and Bill particularly enjoy interacting with customers and seeing the reactions of people who sample their handmade candy for the first time.

“It’s a tasting experience. The experience of trying different flavors.” Bill said. “With new customers, new people walking up, it’s really one of our favorite drivers for this whole business.”

For more information and updates, click the Foodzooka profile below to find the P.O.P. Candy Co. website and follow them on social media.

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Bulle Bakery Kneads To Bring Swedish Buns To LA

Bulle Bakery - Foodzooka Splat Feature

In characteristic Swedish style, the bulle is a pastry that seems almost complex in its simplicity. For Bulle Bakery, the art lies in creating a distinctive doughy texture with an addictive balance of mild sweetness and spice.

Usually shaped in braids or rolls, these pastries are an inseparable part of the daily coffee break in Sweden known as “fika.” In the afternoon, a bulle is ritually consumed with a strong cup of Swedish coffee.

“Almost every office in Sweden does this. People do it on the weekends, too, with friends and family,” says Sarah Reich, a Swedish native who started Bulle Bakery with her husband Ezra.

Bulle Bakery - Cinnamon Bullar (Elina Sundqvist)
Bulle Bakery – Cinnamon Bullar (Elina Sundqvist)

In their quest to introduce bulle to the US, the couple began catering out of a commercial kitchen in Marina del Rey in December. They were immediately slammed with Christmas orders from the local Swedish population.

“I got the idea for the business just from craving bulle myself,” said Ezra, a well-traveled New Yorker who has visited Sweden many times. He notes that most cafes there offer several varieties of bulle. Though Swedish furniture megastore IKEA sells a frosted covered cinnamon roll, they’re just not the same for bulle purists.

“I think you can tell that ours are made from scratch with really good ingredients,” said Sarah.

Bulle Bakery (courtesy) - Cinnamon and Cardamom Bullar
Bulle Bakery (courtesy) – Cinnamon and Cardamom Bullar

For the Reichs, artisanal entrepreneurship sprang from their commitment to bake bullar the right way. While Sarah had been making them since childhood, entering into the LA food industry took some research. They wanted to find local, high quality ingredients—such as the flour, butter, and yeast—that were as similar as possible to those found in Europe. Only the pearl sugar and the vanilla sugar are imported Swedish products that they buy from a local source.

Achieving the look is the easy part, according to Ezra. But to truly nail the thing that defines the bun, the dough must be thick and stretchy. Part of the solution was to dedicate four hours to the entire process, much of that time spent letting the yeast repeatedly sit and rise.

“So many Swedish people immediately try to know the secret,” said Ezra, who will only reveal that it took several months of experimentation to finalize the recipe.

Bulle Bakery (courtesy) - Cardamom Bullar
Bulle Bakery (courtesy) – Cardamom Bullar

The ultimate test was the approval of the local Swedish community. Bulle Bakery does private orders for many companies and individuals including weekly shipments to the Hollywood offices of Absolut Elyx Vodka, a Swedish company. And on Fridays and Saturdays, Bulle Bakery sells a few batches from home furnishings boutique Huset on Abbot Kinney Blvd., which sees a steady stream of tourists from Scandinavia.

“They’ve actually said ours tastes better,” said Ezra.

Bulle Bakery (courtesy) - Available at Huset in Venice
Bulle Bakery (courtesy) – Available at Huset in Venice

Customers trying the buns for the first time say they prefer the bulle over a cinnamon roll because it’s not as sugary, and they appreciate the mixture of savory and sweet flavors, especially in the cardamom bulle. The soft chewiness of the pastry also feels more substantial as a snack.

“It will make you satisfied, like you just had a bagel,” Ezra said.

Bulle Bakery offers two main flavors: cardamom and cinnamon. They also make a vanilla, and in accordance with Swedish Christmas tradition, they offer a saffron bun during the holidays. The bullar are priced at $5 each, and minimum orders of 10 buns can be placed by emailing Bulle Bakery or calling 310-227-2099. Orders can be picked up in Marina del Rey or delivered to your location for a fee.

Bulle Bakery - Saffron bullar (Foodzooka)
Bulle Bakery – Saffron bullar (Foodzooka)

For more information and updates on Bulle Bakery, click the Foodzooka profile below to find their website and follow them on social media.

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Donut Princess Re-dough-fines The Bouquet

Donut Princess - Foodzooka Splat Feature

For those die-hard donut lovers who can’t help but cradle a box close enough to sniff out which flavors mingle inside, the donut bouquet was made for you.

This creative repackaging of a typical box of donuts comes from Mayly Tao, a local pastry pioneer and co-owner of DK’s Donuts & Bakery in Santa Monica who recently launched her own donut delivery and catering service that borrows her nickname, Donut Princess.

Tao’s donut bouquets are carefully arranged in a manner loosely resembling their floral counterparts. Three or more decorated donuts are placed atop long-stemmed sticks, nestled in a colorful bed of neatly crumpled paper, wrapped in a burlap cloth, and tied together with a delicate bow. The bundle is then bejeweled with a custom Donut Princess logo pin and sealed in a fanciful gift box with velvet ribbons. You can also include a message for a more personal touch.

Donut Princess - Valentine's Day Bouquet (Foodzooka)
Donut Princess – Valentine’s Day Bouquet (Foodzooka)

Donuts for the bouquets are chosen to create an explosion of colors and tastes. A typical arrangement includes flavors such as white chocolate, cream cheese frosting, blue velvet, red velvet, dark chocolate ganache, passion fruit jelly, and raspberry cheesecake.

“The donut was originally just a breakfast food,” said Tao, regarding the pastry’s evolution. “Now, it’s treated as a gift item.”

Tao saw an opportunity to meet growing demand for unique food gifts in LA, and donut bouquets seemed like the next logical step for her business. “You can create a conversation about this donut bouquet,” said Tao, acknowledging that its charmingly edible presentation makes it a more shareable, social experience than receiving flowers.

“I love getting roses, every girl does,” she said. “But to receive flowers in a different form that involves food? That also appeals to a girl.”

Donut Princess - Mayly Tao (@jess.t.johnston)
Donut Princess – Mayly Tao (@jess.t.johnston)

The Donut Princess moniker reflects Tao’s familial ties to local donut royalty. Her great uncle, Ted Ngoy, earned the nickname Doughnut King of California in the ‘80s for acquiring dozens of shops throughout the state. As a Cambodian immigrant with a growing empire, he was able to bring on relatives and employ refugee families that fled to the United States to escape the Khmer Rouge violence. Tao’s parents started running the Santa Monica location of DK’s Donuts & Bakery in 1980 and turned it into a success. Tao remembers standing on a milk crate to assist her parents in the shop when she was seven years old.

“Instead of watching cartoons on Saturday mornings, I was with them in the shop,” she said.

Donut Princess - DK's Donuts (Foodzooka)
Donut Princess – DK’s Donuts (Foodzooka)

After graduating from University of California San Diego in 2012 with a degree in communications, Tao returned to DK’s with a goal to reinvent the bakery for an age of insatiable Instagram foodies actively seeking out the next dessert icon.

DK’s Donuts & Bakery made local and national headlines for being the first West Coast shop to create its own donut-croissant hybrid, which they now call the O-nut. Other hits that followed include the purple-colored Ube Donut, a waffle-donut hybrid called the Wow-nut, and the Galaxy Donut, which resembles a photo of deep space with the help of some cosmic-colored icing.

“I’m here showing that donuts are not outdated,” she said. “Donuts are cool!”

Donut Princess (courtesy) - Galactic Donuts
Donut Princess (courtesy) – Galactic Donuts

Tao started Donut Princess LA in 2017 to bring more tailored options to the vast population of donut aficionados. In addition to bouquets, her company assembles stylishly packaged curated boxes and designs letter-shaped donuts to spell out custom greetings such as “happy birthday.” Donut Princess also caters corporate events, weddings, and most recently, special menus at local microbreweries.

“Pairing beer with donuts is popular now,” said Tao. She predicts that the next stage in this trend could bring the start of donut and wine pairing parties, so she’s developing a cheese flavored donut just in case.

Donut Princess (courtesy) - Avocadokale
Donut Princess (courtesy) – Avocadokale

Donut Princess bouquets can be ordered online or by phone at 323-675-6001. Bouquet options include the classic trio ($20), six donuts ($35), mini donuts ($35), a six-donut Valentine’s Day bouquet ($45), and custom built bouquets (price varies). Bouquets can be delivered locally the same day for an extra charge or picked up at the Donut Princess kitchen facility near downtown Los Angeles (1842 W. Washington Blvd.). For orders outside of Los Angeles, Donut Princess can also ship nationwide overnight.

Donut Princess - Classic Trio Bouquet (@lifeonaplate_)
Donut Princess – Classic Trio Bouquet (@lifeonaplate_)

For more information and updates, click the Foodzooka profile below to find the Donut Princess website and follow them on social media.

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Cookie Good Holidays Make You Feel Like A Kid Again

Cookie Good - Foodzooka Splat Feature

You know you’re in holiday spirits when familiar flavors stir fond flashbacks of being a kid. That’s why Santa Monica bakery Cookie Good aims to recreate something yummy from your Christmases past.

This bakery initially captured attention when it opened its doors in 2014 with a series of breakfast cereal-themed cookies. The young at heart couldn’t get enough of Cap’n Crunch, Apple Jacks, and Lucky Charms. And then came the glowing orange Cheetos cookie, and the rest is Instagram history.

Cookie Good - Candy Cane, Cap’n Crunch’s Christmas Crunch, Hot Chocolate (Foodzooka)
Cookie Good – Candy Cane, Cap’n Crunch’s Christmas Crunch, Hot Chocolate (Foodzooka)

Ruffles potato chips, Nilla Wafers, Snickers, the list goes on and on. It’s no accident that many of the dozens of flavors on Cookie Good’s menu read like a greatest hits of iconic American snacks. The company does brisk business with adults who connect with owner Ross Canter’s nose for nostalgia.

“I’m in my 50s, but I have the palate of a six year old,” Canter jokes.

Cookie Good (courtesy) - Assorted cookies
Cookie Good (courtesy) – Assorted cookies

This year’s holiday lineup includes a classic Christmas cereal: Cap’n Crunch’s Christmas Crunch. Canter has also recreated another of his childhood favorites in a Yule Log cookie with Oreo crumbs forming the outer layer of “bark.”

From candy canes to marshmallowed hot chocolate, Cookie Good’s holiday lineup is packed with nostalgia. The Danish Sugar Cookie, a new flavor this year, is a tribute to those blue tins that often get passed around during the holidays.

“The ones filled with tiny sugar cookies in pretzel shapes, little rectangles, round ones with ridges,” Canter remembers. “My favorite was always the little circles topped with sparkling sugar crystals.”

Cookie Good - Holiday lineup (Foodzooka)
Cookie Good – Holiday lineup (Foodzooka)

As a former screenwriter, Canter says he sometimes goes to Starbucks to sit with his laptop and compose cookie recipes like a scene in a film.

“I’m tasting it in my head,” said Canter of the process. He’s been known to go to great lengths to develop ideas. To master the true essence of a babka, Canter crisscrossed bakeries throughout New York sampling the most popular ones.

“The trick was to get the layers right,” he said. The result is a cookie with a slightly malty base with layers of cinnamon and chocolate, plus a sweet, buttery streusel topping.

Cookie Good (courtesy) - Babka cookies
Cookie Good (courtesy) – Babka cookies

But with any cookie, ya gotta have milk, right? Cookie Good prepares their own varieties of milk by dunking cookies in plain milk and filtering out the crumbs. Ask for samples of holiday milk flavors including Oreo Candy Cane and Gingerbread Latte.

Cookie Good - Flavored milk (Foodzooka)
Cookie Good – Flavored milk (Foodzooka)

You can pick up Cookie Good’s holiday cookies and milk in time for Santa, and they’ll continue to be available through Dec. 30. In addition to cookies, you’ll find a selection of brownies, pretzel bars, blondies, and flavored popcorn. Though the deadline for holiday shipping has passed, you can still order online for local delivery or pickup at the Santa Monica shop.

Cookie Good - Holiday gift packs (Foodzooka)
Cookie Good – Holiday gift packs (Foodzooka)

For more information and store hours, click the Foodzooka profile below to find the Cookie Good website and follow them on social media.

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Make Zooies Cookie Shop Your Pit Stop

Zooies - Foodzooka Splat Feature

To find one of the latest additions to LA’s batch of must-try cookie shops, you’ll need to pull into an unlikely place: a United Oil gas station. Zooies isn’t just a mere kiosk but a full-fledged bakery with a kitchen, display case, espresso station, and a frozen yogurt bar. The variety alone is impressive, showcasing 20 to 30 cookie flavors, plus several brownies, coffee cakes, and lemon bars made on site. Offering so many options on a daily basis is a multi-stage process that involves thoughtfully handcrafting batters and many separate cookie components, from marshmallow toppings, to graham cracker mixtures, to pumpkin or stewed apple fillings.

Zooies - Handmade cookies (Foodzooka)
Zooies – Handmade cookies (Foodzooka)

The gas station sees a steady stream of customers every day, which was a good enough reason to set up shop, says owner Arezoo Appel. It was a concept that worked for her at an Apro station in San Diego, and the recent remodel of this Cheviot Hills station presented a prime opportunity to bring her craft to Los Angeles. At this United Oil location, the We Got It! convenience store shares a third of its space with Zooies on the sleek and spacious ground floor of a modern metallic 2-story structure.

Zooies - Cheviot Hills United Oil (Foodzooka)
Zooies – Cheviot Hills United Oil (Foodzooka)

Zooies’ most popular seller is the Gooie, a cookie with crisp edges and a soft chocolatey center. Achieving this coveted balance of crispness and gooeyness took an insane amount of trial and error, Appel said, but was worth it in the end. She applies that obsessive focus to her other creations, such as the almond cookie that’s chewier than its Chinese restaurant counterpart, an apple pie cookie that closely mimics crust and filling, and the baklava cookie that screams authenticity with rosewater and pistachio.

Zooies (courtesy) - Cookies and coffee
Zooies (courtesy) – Cookies and coffee

These cookies can be enjoyed with plain or flavored milks from Rosa Brothers, a California family-owned dairy. Or you can pair them with coffee drinks made with beans from local roaster Caffe Luxxe. And for the diet conscious, Zooies makes a paleo chocolate chip cookie made with coconut flour and honey, and a diabetic friendly version made with Splenda. All baked goods exude their own flavors and textures without shortening or hydrogenated oils.

Zooies (courtesy) - Galettes
Zooies (courtesy) – Galettes

Now with a customer base making special trips to a gas station for her sweets, Appel wants to introduce some savory treats, starting with galettes. Her version of this French favorite is similar to a hand pie filled with meats and vegetables, perfect for hurried drivers who can conveniently pop in for fuel and pick up a portable gourmet breakfast or lunch to go.

Individual cookies range from $1.95 to $2.75, and are sold in packages of four, six, and 12. Buy a dozen and get $1.95 in store credit for your next purchase.

Zooies - Cookie selection (Foodzooka)
Zooies – Cookie selection (Foodzooka)

For more information and updates on Zooies, click their Foodzooka profile below to find their website and follow them on social media.