Las Vegas Dessert Tour: World’s Largest Chocolate Fountain October 10, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in bars, chocolate, cookies, cupcakes, dessert tour, ice cream, information, sweet eats.Tags: bellagio, chocolate, crepes, jean philippe patiserrie, las vegas dessert tour, las vegas desserts
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Let’s continue on my Las Vegas Dessert Tour with a stop at the delicious Jean Philippe Patisserie inside the Bellagio:
Berry Crepe
Chocolate Crepe with Dark Chocolate Fudge
Not only is the Jean Philippe Patisserie famous for their Chocolate Waterfall, they are also known for their French style crepes. There are all sorts of crepes – sweet, indulgent, fruity, and savory – to satisfy everyone. We tried three different crepes:
Veggie Crepe: Crepe filled with Mediterrenean vegetable mix and a side of field greens. Good, but not amazing. Tasted a little bit like marinara pasta and salad.
Chocolate Crepe: Crepe with chocolate syrup, intense chocolate fudge, brownie bites, chocolate shavings, powdered sugar and mint garnish (comes with whipped cream if you like). I LOVED this crepe – Very indulgent and SO delicious! Extremely chocolate-y; a must for chocoholics!
Berry Crepe: Crepe with berry (strawberry, raspberry, and blueberry) compote, powdered sugar, and whipped cream – my favorite one of the three! Sweet and berry delicious! I loved the chunks of fruit and the perfect balance of sweet and tangy fruit. Very light and leaves you craving more.
Pastries
The dessert paradise that is Jean Philippe Patiserrie has a never-ending supply of pastries, candy, cakes, and gelato. There are giant almond brioches, fancy eclaires, a variety of sandwhiches, baguettes, hazelnut spread, opera cake, slabs of chocolate from the chocolate fountain, Sponge Bob birthday cakes, Hello Kitty cupcakes… you name it! I could barely take it all in with my eyes. Can’t wait to go back!
Jean Philippe Gelato
So I think I met myself from the future… September 20, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in information, sweet eats.5 comments
… not really but totally kind of! Well I didn’t meet her but I know she’s out there! PROOF BELOW:
Bakery owned by my Future Self in Korea
THAT photo above is a shot of the entrance to the Dorothy Ann bakery in Korea!! DOROTHY. ANN. BAKERY. in KOREA.
and its HOT PINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cannot believe someone beat me to it and opened a hot pink bakery in korea named after myself. I have forever been wanting to open a hot pink bakery named Dorothy Ann!! And I’ve always wanted my bakery to be in Korea because I wish I was Korean! Absolutely cannot believe that there can be another person SO similar to moi but so much more accomplished.
Then I realized it has to be ME from the future!! I mean, that’s the only explanation for the existence of this bakery. It looks exactly like the one that’s been sitting in my head! It IS the one that’s been sitting in my head.
I hope she’s married to a korean pop star.
Dorothy Ann Sandwich
Seoul, Korea
Los Angeles Dessert Tour: (I strongly strongly recommend) Porto’s Bakery August 25, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in bread, cake, chocolate, cookies, cupcakes, dessert tour, information, sweet eats.Tags: burbank desserts, cheap bakeries, cuban cuisine, cuban desserts, glendale desserts, los angeles bakery, los angeles dessert tour, los angeles desserts, porto's bakery
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- Dulche de Leche Napoleon
Porto’s Bakery is my newest love and obsession! This place is so super wonderful; I have no idea why it took me so long to find it! Located in the heart of Burbank or Glendale (there are two locations), Porto’s is just a quick (and very worthy) drive away from L.A., and a definite dessert stop in Los Angeles. I recently visited the location in Burbank, and had the time of my life. The place is almost as big as a Whole Foods store, and packed to the max with cakes, pastries, desserts, and customers! This dessert heaven is completely family-owned and operated, and all the goods are made fresh at the premises.
Exotic Red Velvet Cupcakes
Surprisingly, Porto’s is actually a Cuban restaurant and features a wide variety of (delicious) Cuban sandwiches, snacks, and drinks along with traditional Cuban desserts and exotic pastries. Even though they are a Cuban bakery, they still have a great selection of the regular cakes/pastries/desserts we are used to. There is also a huge selection of fresh baked breads and rolls, too. I’ve never had real Cuban cuisine myself, but a customer standing in front of me in line told me Porto’s had the most authentic Cuban cuisine she had ever had in California – and yes, she was Cuban.
Delicious Banana Chips
Now, I never write about real food because I don’t really eat it, as I just live off dessert, but the real food at Porto’s was SO good that I am going to mention it. I had a vegetable sandwhich which was perfectly cheesy and delicious, but the thing I really want to talk about are the banana chips that came with the sandwhich. These are supersuperthin slices of banana that are freshly fried into crispy banana chips – also know as plantain chips. Soooooogood! They are the perfect thinness and perfect crispiness and they even come with a delicious dipping sauce. I suggest you order a large side and enjoy!
On to the best part now – the desserts! Porto’s is super fun because it has two extremely long glass display cases that stretch the entire length of the store completely filled with all the sweets you are craving. A lot of the sweets feature the exotic flavors of guava, mango, pineapple, apricot, and coconut which you don’t usually see in desserts at traditional bakeries. Here’s a small sample of what they have to offer in those wonderful display cases: Opera Cake, Apricot Empanada, Cheese Roll (sweet cream cheese filled pastry; their best-seller), Tiramisu, Guava Pie, Napoleons, Mariner Cake, Red Velvet Cupcakes, Tres Leches Cake, Raspberry Pudding…
Mango Turnover
admist all this wonder, I finally settled on six sweets to try:
Coconut Strudel: my favorite item from Porto’s! This was so coconutty and sweet, I ate half of my strudel and ran inside to buy more 
Dulche de Leche Pound Cake: good, like caramel pound cake from anywhere else. The only average-tasting item I had at Porto’s all day.
Dulche de Leche Napoleon (I was having a caramely day): soooo good! The layers were flaky perfection, the buttercream filling was delicious, and the dulche de leche definitely filled my caramel cravings.
Chocolate Eclair: this was pretty average as far as eclairs go.
Mango Turnover: delicious! Mango in a turnover is genius.
Refugiado (guava and cheese pastry): omg so good! I have never had guava in a pastry before, but I have totally been missing out! Similar to a raspberry and cheese strudel, but more tangy. The tang compliments the sweet cheese perfectly.
Refugiado (guava and cheese strudel)
Next time I go, I am definitely going to stock up on Coconut Strudels and Refugiados. I also want to try their Cinnamon Rolls, which are bigger than my head, their best-selling Cheese Pastry, and the Tres Leches Cake.
Doesn’t Porto’s sound amazing?! Well, I didn’t even tell you the best part yet – the PRICES! I have never been to a dessert place with prices this good. My favorite Coconut Strudels are only 85 cents each, and $7.40 for a dozen. The delicious Refugiadosare only 65 cents each! Most cheesecakes/sliced cakes/Napoleons are only $2.50. The cheapest I’ve ever had for a Napoleon outside of Porto’s was $6.50! The cinnamon rolls that are bigger than my head are $1.50! Everything is super worth it.
After that life altering dessert trip, I have added a new life goal to my list of life goals: to try every sweet at Porto’s Bakery! Yay, this is going to be so much fun! If you’re planning on going, be prepared to park far away and wait in long lines as the place is ridiculously popular and always packed and there is no such thing as big parking lots in or around LA. Porto’s Bakery has two locations to satisfy your sweet tooth:
Glendale Location
315 North Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91203
tel. (818) 956-5996
fax (818) 956-0696
Map it
Burbank Location
3614 W Magnolia Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91505
(818) 846-9100
Map it
So if you live near LA, go! Now!! I’ll see you there
Los Angeles Dessert Tour: Gourmet Churros on the Boardwalk August 3, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in chocolate, dessert tour, information, sweet eats.Tags: chocolate, churros, gourmet churros, los angeles dessert tour, los angeles desserts, santa monica, third street promenade, xurro
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Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California, is a sunny wonderland offering blocks of ocean, shops, and most of all, delicious eats. Its the ultimate place for some fun under the sun!
Santa Monica, CA
A recent addition to the overflowing dessert shops lining up and around Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade is Xooro, home to the most exciting premium spanish fritters I have ever encountered. This is a brilliant concept. Bascially, its an ubergourmet churro. A Xooro (pronounced SURE-oh) is a filled (chocolate, caramel, etc) churro that is coated in chocolate, caramel, etc.
Xooro has a wide variety of fillings and coatings to choose from, such as Maple Bacon (churro filled with dulce de leche then dipped in white chocolate and coated in bacon pieces), Raspberry (churro filled with raspberry filling then dipped in white chocolate and coated with white chocolate sprinkles), and the Triple Chocolate (self-explantory). There is also The Original (also available as Chocolate Original), which is a churro filled with custard, and The Original Gluten Free.
We tried three different xooros:
Missippi, Jordan's Special, and Tortoise
Tortoise: The Tortoise is filled with dulce de leche, dipped in chocolate, and then coated with crushed pecans. It was delicious, but not as good as it looks. The dulche de leche filling can definitely be better, but the chocolate is very milk chocolate and the pecans and churro were satisfyingly crunchy.
Missippi: The Missippi is filled with peanut butter filling, dipped in chocolate, and then coated in crushed peanuts. Again, not as good as it looks, but still delicious. The peanut butter filling was more like straight up peanut butter; I think it would be a lot better if it was filled with a sweeter, thinner concoction, like peanut butter frosting. Also satisfyingly crunchy.
Jordan’s Special: This one is my favorite out of the three. Jordan’s Special is filled with Nutella, dipped in white chocolate, and drizzled with dark chocolate. I really liked the white chocolate here; the sweetness really balanced the bitterness of the dark chocolate and the Nutella. And the Nutella filling added the perfect hint of hazelnut flavor to complement the churro.
And don’t feel guilty about eating these! These churros are fried in rice bran oil, so they are slightly healthier than other churros. If you’re not in the mood for a Xooro, there are also a variety of cold and hot drinks, like Spanish Hot Chocolate or Dulce de Leche.
All in all, a very fun place to visit for dessert in Los Angeles. And its right next to the beach! Xooro has two locations:
Xooro
125 Broadway
Santa Monica, California 90401
(310) 260-2919
8360 Melrose Avenue
West Hollywood, California 90069
(323) 951-9592
Los Angeles Dessert Tour: First Stop, Sweet Hart Sweets June 27, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in dessert tour, ice cream, information, sweet eats.Tags: los angeles bakery, los angeles candy shop, los angeles desserts, melissa joan hart candy shop, melissa joan hart shop, sweet hart sweets
21 comments
Sorry everyone, I haven’t really been floating around the blogosphere since I’ve been catching up over here. But I have been working hard on my new project for Dessert Obsessed:
I have decided to do a Dessert Tour of Los Angeles, since my Dessert Tour of New York City was so popular! This tour will definitely take more time and each review will be more detailed, as I actually live in L.A. and have more time to spend at each place, instead of cramming six dessert restaurants into each (of my four) days and trying to sample as many sweets as possible without feeling like I was commiting Cavity Suicide in NYC.
My first stop on my Los Angeles Dessert Tour is Sweet Hart Sweets. I actually found this place while sitting at a traffic light. I was sitting in traffic (this is the annoying part of doing a Dessert Tour in L.A. – you have to deal with traffic everywhere you go), and impatiently waiting for the light to change, when I noticed a sign across the street that boldly declared “the second happiest place on earth!”. Underneath the sign were some of my favorite words: “desserts”, “gelato”, “yogurt” and “candy”. Of course, I absolutely HAD to go! The second happiest place on earth right across the street from me?! It was fate! After finding parking (there is a small parking lot in the back of the store but I didn’t notice so I parked on the street), I made it to “the second happiest place on earth” to find that it was actually a sweets shop, by the name of Sweet Hart Sweets.
The first thing I noticed about Sweet Hart Sweets was the decor. Very, very, VERY cute, and all purple and white. Vintage inspired chairs and walls, but very modern tables. The tables were my favorite; they’re clear but embedded with candy and glitter. So fun! The best part is the giant table and giant chairs in the back of the store which are fun to take pictures with.
Sweet Harts Sweets has a wall of fat free frozen yogurts in various flavors (from peanut butter to raspberry), and a selection of toppings (fruit, chocolate, etc), all yogurtland – style. There is also glass case hosting gelato, which also comes in a variety of flavors (tiramisu to spumoni), and a second glass case boasting cupcakes and cakes. Cookie jars along the counter sport nicely sized cookies. The majority of the wall of the store is dedicated to candy. They have all sorts of candy there, but nothing I haven’t seen before. Hello Kitty candy, Disneyland-esque lollipops, your usual grocery store candy, the usual movie theatre candy, some imported candy, and candy from your (well, my) childhood (Now and Laters and Poprocks!).
All in all, I wasn’t impressed by Sweet Hart Sweets. It was way too mediocre for a sweets shop in Los Angeles. L.A. has too many amazing dessert spots, and its hard to compete. If you want to go to a real candy store, visit It Sugar (to be reviewed as part of the LA Dessert Tour soon!), or Dylan’s Candy Bar. Sweet Hart Sweets has a fraction of the candy offered at It Sugar or Dylan’s Candy Bar. Sweet Hart Sweets also does private parties, like Dylan’s, but I have no idea what those are like. Furthermore, I was actually disappointed by the frozen yogurt and gelato. Both were extremely watery, and I have no idea why. Not melty, the way it should be, watery. Probably the worst gelato I’ve ever had, as the watery texture just made it weird. Also, the worst frozen yogurt I’ve ever had. The taste is artificial, as well as the weird watery texture. Yogurtland (another stop to be reviewed on the Dessert Tour!) is defintely the place to go for fro-yo. Also, the cashier girl charged me for a gelato when I actually got frozen yogurt! (there is a difference: yogurt is 38 cents/oz. while gelato is 75 cents/oz.) And I left so I wasn’t even able to tell her she had it wrong and get my money back! I didn’t try any of the baked goods, but I have a feeling they won’t be amazing. I asked the kids working there if they were baked in the store, and they told me that all the baked goods were baked off-location and brought over in the morning
But the worst part about Sweet Hart Sweets was not the sweets; it was the service. I don’t know if I just went on a bad day or what, but the service was very bad. There were three workers (all kids) that day. One was the manager, but she doesn’t do anything. She spent the majority of her time in the back, and was not available to answer questions or listen to complaints. Arielle, the girl working (the one who overcharged me; do avoid her if you visit) at the time, was extremely rude and unhelpful. She rolled her eyes when customers asked for samples, didn’t know the answers to any questions, and complained when customers took photos, never smiled, and spent her work shift examing her fingernails. On the other hand, Ivan, the boy working with Arielle, was extremely nice and helpful. He gave out heaping samples to every customer, and actually offered samples to everyone who walked through the door. He also answered questions as much as he could, and was very polite. But only 1 good employee out of 3? Not good enough for me.
So why did I include Sweet Hart Sweets on my Los Angeles Dessert Tour? After I got home, I googled the store and found that it is actually the brainchild of Melissa Joan Hart, of Sabrina the Teenage Witch fame! Sabrina was quite popular during her time, so there are probably a lot of people out there who would like to visit Melissa’s sweets shop, so I thought it was worthy of a review as part of my LA Dessert Tour. Oh, and the interior makes for really cute photos!
Essentially, Sweet Hart Sweets tried to cram Dylan’s Candy Bar, Yogurtland, Sprinkles, and gelato all into one place… and kind of failed. The second happiest place on earth? Nice try, Melissa. I definitely have some suggestions for the business model of this place, but that’s another blog post for another blog.
