It's a Small World After All

There's nothing like the "bite-sized" factor when it comes to the sweet stuff. Vanilla Bakeshop, Santa Monica's resident cupcakery has mastered the art of itsy bitsy treats. Cupcakes that fit in the palm of your hand range in flavor from Passion Fruit to Peanut Butter Chocolate, but the cute confections don't stop there. Vanilla also offers a variety of miniature pudding cups and cheesecake bites. Now you can have your cake and your dinner too - and not feel so guilty about it afterwards!

Vanilla Bakeshop
512 Wilshire Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 458-6644
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Good Things Come in Threes, Right?

Okay, I have to be honest with you. I was so very very much looking forward to my lunch at 3 Square Cafe, as much as I would assume a young, toe-headed child wakes up hours before the sun rises on Christmas morning. For one, the cafe (which stands adjacent to the 3 Square Bakery) is on my favorite street in Los Angeles: Abbott Kinney. And second, there have been so many good things said about this little Venice cafe that it was like Tickle Me Elmo all over again.

So there I was with this fantastic sounding menu in front of me and not knowing what to pick. So I did what every hungry girl does, and ordered the one plate that offers the most options, which in this case was the Mini Sandwich Sampler, of which I chose: Tuna salad with avocado and red onions on brioche roll, Bavarian meatloaf on pretzel roll with sweet mustard, and, Chicken curry.

As you can see from the picture, the sandwiches were almost too cute to eat. As they say, you eat with your eyes first and my eyes were watering. Here's the thing. The sandwich's weren't bad, but they weren't this either. The tuna was tasty, but it wasn't anything different. And although I'm a fan of curry chicken salad, this one wasn't any better than my favorite salad at Quality. And then there was the Bavarian meatloaf... which I think... was SPAM. I don't want to insult and Bavarian people out there, but is it? I mean, I've never had SPAM, but if it looks like a duck...

Needless to say the best part of the meal was the bread that my lovely piece of SPAM was sandwiched in between. It was a homemade pretzel roll which just melted my little heart. Long story short, I think I'll give 3 Square another shot in the Brunching hour, and make sure I go next store and grab some pretzel rolls to go (sans the SPAM).

3 Square Cafe & Bakery
1121 Abbot Kinney
Venice, 90291
(310) 399-6504
$-$$

It only took me 4 times driving past the "Coming Soon" sign to check out the details on SweetCake. Although I never visited their previous location, I'm so excited to welcome this adorable bakery to my 'hood. Yelpers seem to have found the Hollywood location to be a gem, so yay for late Summer 2007 when SweetCake will again open it's doors.

SweetCake
633 North La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Whoa Daddy!

Photo courtesy of Shisso.org

I finally made it to Beard Papa's last night and thus began a spiral into gluttony. After an "okay" dinner at Restaurant 2117 (uninspiring, I might elaborate at a later date), I needed something sweet. Planning to grab some fro yo at Big Chill, I was luckily drawn to the strip mall across the street from the restaurant. And there it stood: Beard Papa. I knew there was one in Hollywood, but to stumble upon one on Sawtelle - what a surprise! This place has received quite a lot of buzz since it first opened in Osaka, Japan in 1999, and recently it's been spreading all over the world, and thank g-d for that!

So I walked into the store and was faced with a decision: vanilla, chocolate or carmel. I chose vanilla, my friend chose carmel, and we decided we'd share. After requesting such from the uniformed ladies behind the counter, our order was recited back to us in unison:

"1 vanilla, 1 carmel!"

"1 vanilla, 1 carmel, thank you!"

Oh joy! What an entrance for these little puffs (which disappeared in about 30 seconds. A tragically short but dramatic life). The dough is light, fluffy and flaky. The cream (a mixture of custard and whipped cream) is soft, creamy and incredibly flavorful - and there's plenty of it. One bite and the custard is spilling out of the puff, and I was loving every minute of it! I was surprised that it didn't feel heavy. One generally associates cream puffs with weighing you down, heavy custard put me in bed please! It wasn't that way at all. The vanilla was sweet and simple. Not too much vanilla flavor, just enough. The carmel was really divine. Much richer, but certainly the better of the two.

Okay, finished. Now what? Well we had to order a chocolate just to see what we were missing! This was definitely the weakest of the three, but still very tasty. A rich, almost ganache tasting chocolate. Yum!

Listen to the hype, people! This place is divine!

Beard Papa Sweet's Cafe

2130 Sawtelle Blvd.

Los Angels, 90025

(310) 479-6665

The Cutest Little Bakery

Bluebird Bakery is a diamond in the ruff. It's alone on busy National Blvd. with no stores of equal cuteness in sight. However, everything you need is there. In fact, if on your visit to Bluebird a freak blizzard happens to hit Los Angeles, and you were trapped inside the restaurant, you'd be set.

As my boyfriend would call it, Bluebird Bakery is a "JP," or for those unfamiliar with the term, a "Jaimey Place." It's absolutely adorable. The first thing that catches your eye is the counter lined with cake pedistals filled with assorted cupcakes. The cupcakes are beautiful and just as tasty as they look. This place is no muss no fuss (I'm not sure if that's the right saying, but you don't get a chance every day to write "muss"). The cupcake flavors are: chocolate, vanilla, carrot and red velvet with cream cheese frosting. They are fresh, moist, delicous.
They make great pressed sandwiches as well, as if cupcakes aren't enough, but we all know they are. Great coffee and salads as well.

Bluebird Bakery
8572 National Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 841-0939
$