Got Cake's Profile
Review Square One Santa Barbara
I just heard that the opening chef/co-owner Jason has left Square One in the last few months. The new chef is Crystal "Pink" Harris who has been cooking in SB for several years. She received some rave reviews when she was head of the kitchen at Epiphany a while back. Having worked with her I know she really knows what she is doing. I am sure she will build on the positives of what SQ1 has built so far and get the reviews consistantly positive as this one from this week.
Downtown Dim Sum on Saturday
We need a few more votes - with one for NBC and one for Empress Pavillon with previous posts for Yang Chow I am still undecided.
Downtown Dim Sum on Saturday
Due to scheduling issues it has to be downtown Chinatown, not SGV. I know,sad but that is how it has to be for this trip.
From reading older posts it sounds like Yang Chow is the favorite with Ocean and CBS also strong contenders.
Santa Fe chow/foodie (but non-restaurant) recs
Here is our list so far...
Tara's Organic Ice Cream
The Chocolatesmith
Kakawachocolates
Todos Santos Chocolates
Sage Bakehouse
Cloud Cliff Bakery
Santa Fe Baking Company
Tea House
Four and Twenty Blackbirds
Anyone have anything to add?
Santa Fe chow/foodie (but non-restaurant) recs
There are already so many amazing posts about the restaurants in Santa Fe we have more recommendations than meals we can fit in to our stay!
As a pastry chef and chef coming to Santa Fe to attend another chef's wedding we are also looking for non-restaurant foodie experiences.
Bakeries
Chocolate shops
Cookware & houseware shops
Markets with take out for a picnic
and any uniquely NM or SF food experiences that we should not miss.
Also how about one dinner suggestion close to the ABQ airport if we need it on the way in or out.
Thanks in advance!
CUPCAKES
Sactown magazine's Feb/March issue just had an article profiling the 10 best places to get cupcakes in Sacramento.
http://www.sactownmag.com/inside.php
So it sounds like there are three cupcake only bakeries and then several cafes and coffeehouses that also carry cupcakes.
cupcakecraving.com
icingonthecupcake.com
babycakessacramento.com
I actually picked up the magazione in a so cal Barnes & Nobel and haven't been to Sacramento since these bakeries opened so I have no personal reviews to add.
SB help! Girls lunch & night out ideas
I do not think Blue Agave is open for lunch but it does sound like your style.
So for lunch I would suggest The Paradise Cafe or Opal. Both have good local wine lists, the Paradise has a patio.
Since your bride requests Mexican & margaritas for dinner I would say Carlito's.
They have a patio and high end Mexican food.
glbtrtr is right there really arn't andy rowdy restaurants here but The Palace Grill is great for celebrations and it is loud so you can get away with some festiveness.
The Palace and Blue Agave are only a block away from your hotel. The Paradise two blocks. Opal and Carlito's are up State Street seven blocks on the same block as the Arlington Theater.
So where is a good breakfast in SD?
We were in SD last weeked to attend the Fancy Food Show and I researched on Chowhound for recommendations of course.
The best breakfast by far and almost the best meal was at the Parkhouse Eatery.
Four of us were each thrilled with our meals. Creative menu, patio and inside seatting, friendly staff, beautiful presentation, generous portions. Inside decor was a bit old and dirty but very interesting.I wish now that we had gone there three days in a row.
My hubby went to Perry's with out me and was underwhelmed. He said the menu was limited and just not that exciting.
We were all disappointed by Cafe 222. The menu was fun and interesting but somehow nothing was as good as it sounded. Not bad, just not great. Service was so, so, girls that were talking and complaining about their lives right next to us.
So Parkhouse Eatery gets my vote!
Umm, the best Pumpkin pancakes I have ever had.
Crumbs cupcakes--worth $5
We did a cupcake crawl in NYC last year and Crumbs was my favorite. They did have other frostings besides cream cheese. Too bad the shop here is not getting great reviews on the board; I was looking forward to going.
Has Crumbs put a dent in Sprinkles lines?
I'm Writing A Taco Book-Need Help In Santa Barbara, Oxnard, San Diego
Lilly's, anytime my kids can't decide where to eat I tease them that we are going to Lilly's to try the eyeball tacos.
There was a New York Times article about a taco road trip last year that featured the eyeball tacos.
http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/travel/escapes/21tacos.html
Check out Santa Barbara posts about El Bajio on Milpas Street, my favorite hard tacos.
Exciting News - Dean & DeLuca coming to Newport Beach!
There are no words for the joy I feel right now with this news!
For many years the orginal NYC D&D was my single favorite place in the whole world.
Too bad Newport is still three hours from my home but it is nice to know that a bit of culinary heaven will be even that close.
Cupcakes :: the Good, the Bad, & the Ugly...
I am a pastry chef and am working on opening a bakery. So in the name of research I have been to a great deal of bakeries in the past few years. I usually go with other pastry chefs or chefs and we have lots of fun over analizing our baked goods.
Our favorite cupcakes in the LA area would be Leda's and Frosted in Long Beach, I also really do like about half of the Sprinkles flavors. Both Ledas and Frosted have great flavor and texture. Good frosting to cake ratio. Leda's uses real buttercream rather than frosting and I love that but realize it is almost too rich for some people.
We went to NYC and did the bakery crawl there and on that trip Crumbs was my favorite for good texture and flavor so I am excited there is one in LA now.
On our last LA bakery trip we went to Big Sugar Bake Shop in the Valley and Vanilla in SM. I loved Big Sugar Bake Shop. Love the style of the shop, the other gift items offered and the sweets that I tried were yummy. My dh ate the cupcake I had brought home so I did not get to try their cupcakes. He voted a thumbs up.
Vanilla's cupcakes were pretty good, not great. The decor is very cute. I would go back to try them again. We went very soon after they opened and I think they needed a bit of time to settle in. I was surprised to see how much crap they got here for their packaging. First the boxes were too fancy and the cupcakes falling over etc. It is so difficult to make everyone happy!
The Yummy place down a block also on Wilshire was dirty, the frosting area in the front looked like kids had gone crazy, and we just could not justify another cupcake that day. I had been to the other one in the valley before and was not impressed.
Now we are going to have to make a trip to Lark and Dots. Lark sounds great!
Thanks for all the great leads here on CH. My life is sweeter and richer because of CH!
Where to buy Rolled Fondant in San Gabriel Valley?
Rolled fondant will dry after it is rolled and cut. It is flexible for a bit to work with.
It would work fine for shapes and letters that will be applied directly to the top or sides of a cake. You use royal icing as the glue to attach the cut outs to the fondant covered cake.
Gumpaste drys harder and is appropriate for bows, ribbons and flowers that are three dimensional. It drys and cracks pretty quickly so it takes a bit more talent to work with.
Sur la Table has fondant, as does Surfas and every Michaels has a line of Wilton fontant cutters, tools and books.
On the westside there is a cake supply store, Gloria's in the 405 & Sawtell area.
http://gloriascakecandysuplys.com/store/
Chocolate Shops?
My friend who is a chocolatier is coming to LA and we want to check out a few chocolate shops. Are there any I should add to the list? Independent rather than chains. TIA
Jin
Boule
L'Artisan du Chocolat
Valerie Confections
Chains that are good
http://www.roysrestaurant.com/
Roy's of Hawaii!
Of course being in the islands is the best. The newish one in downtown LA has received rave reviews on CH, especially for service.
Vanilla Bake Shop... a small protest for a small cupcake
We went to both Vanilla Bakeshop and the new SM branch of Yummy Cupcakes this weekend.
Vanilla was beautiful, clean, and very busy. The owner was very nice, the cashier also thanked us for coming in and dealing with the wait. There was a cupcake meetup group there. I am not sure if it is always that busy.
We got one regular sized and a trio of little ones. Each was good, moist, flavorful. My hubby did't think they were all that special but he is pretty spoiled and picky when it comes to cupcakes. I liked the place and would certainly return. Their wedding cakes on their site look very modern and fun. Three minis for $5. is a bit steep but I understand that it does not make good business sense to let someone leave having satisfied their sugar fix for $1.50 instead of $3.25. or $5.
Yummy cupcakes is four times the size and it was a mess. They have a decorating area up front and it looked like little kids had gone crazy and just left the frostings and pastry bags all over the place. We did not want anything after seeing that and there was just a lack of passion about the whole place. The decor was lacking inspiration as well. There were only two other people there.
Shaved Ice!
Thanks to a few different posts with leads on chowhound we went to Shave It in Thousand Oaks on the way to LA this weekend.
Decor: very fun
Service: passive beautiful teenage girls, horribly slow, flirting with customers, really inept,
I realize that is what you get with an ice cream shop but maybe just one manager/adult on a Friday night to keep things moving along?
Ice: AMAZING, texture like powder, flavors were really good
Our favorite was their Root Beer Float, a combo of shaved ice and ice cream
I will be dreaming about it until we can think of an excuse to drive down the 101 again.
Their web site seems like it it geared to expansion or franchising. It is difficult to find the address or details about the actual shop. It is just a few blocks from the 101 and easy to find.
http://www.shaveitice.com/home.cfm
Breakfast in Montecito?
That does sound like Tutti's. It is now a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.
The owners have a small bakery, cafe downtown Santa Barbara, Tuttini, and have moved the restaurant to old town Ventura.
Scoops Ice Cream
I don't live in LA so I have not been here but now I am intrigued.
http://www.scoopsmovie.com/
Best Burger in Santa Barbara?
I vote for Paradise Cafe.
But I have been hearing great things about both Hungry Cat and Quantum, will have to go try those soon.
Recommendations for Anniversary Dinner in Santa Barbara?
For Italian-
Ca' Dario - Downtown
or Pane e Vino - in Montecito
Many swear by Olio e Limone but we have found the owners and staff to be so snobby it ruined the experience, especially as they fawn over the regulars.
Many also say that there is no great Japanese in SB. So there is not anything on par with Nobu but we are happy with Arigato, fresh, creative, fun crowd.
Search for posts and recommendations about Super Rica and go realizing it is just a taco stand. El Bahio down Milpas street is really good too.
Casual Califonia food with a good mix of locals and tourist for lunch or dinner would be
Opal. On the same block as the Arlington theater.
Another casual and good for lunch or dinner would be the Paradise Cafe.
If you like loud, festive, New Orleans style rich food, the Palace.
Congratulations and let us know where you went and how it was.
Bulk Candy?
I don't think it is cheesy at all. I make wedding cakes and I think the candy buffets I have seen have all been really cool. I like it when they work with a color scheme and have interesting jars.
If you want to go really crazy most rental companies rent cotton candy machines for about $30. per day!
What do Chowhounds do for a living (besides eat of course)?
I am a pastry chef. Chefs work hard and play hard. Since we have so little time off we have to squeeze in a great deal of "research" in on our days off. So I love Chowhound to see what is going on around the country and help me decide where my next culinary pilgramages will be. I have really enjoyed my trips even more with all of the CH recomendations.
I have been into CH maybe just less than a year and I check in about four times a week. My other new favorite site is Flickr since I can check out photos of new bakeries and restaurants that I haven't been to yet.
Thanks everyone, great thread!
Great chocolate bars?
Cost Plus has a very good selection of interesting bars and many organic chocolates.
All at great prices too.
Cafe/Bar open late in Santa Barbara
Mondial/Quantum
http://www.independent.com/news/2007/apr/12/quantum/
Fine Dining in Santa Barbara in July
Someone was not too impressed with Downey's just recently.
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/394669?query=downey's
Your list for consideration should include...
bouchon
Downey's
Epiphany
San Ysidro Ranch- Stonehouse
Square One
Wine Cask
Maybe the restaurant at Bacara- Miro, I haven't been so can't officially recommend
Places with mixed reviews, maybe look at past posts for some guidance
Sage and Onion
Lucky's
The Four Seasons Biltmore- Bella Vista
Sweet tour of LA recommendations?
We will be in LA for a few days soon and are interested in hitting up any new bakeries and sweet spots.
We have been to Sprinkles, Auntie Ems, Suzie Cakes, City Bakery, Hot Cakes, Rockenwagner Bakery, Frosted, Leda's, Portos, My Little Cupcake, Yummy Cupcakes, Jin, Boule, Sweet Lady Jane, Joan's on Third, Toast, Susina, Beard Papas, Amande, Clementine.
We have not been to Big Sugar Bakeshop, Violet's Cakes, Dot's Cupcakery, Butter Cake, Cake Walk, Milk, Pinkberry, Frittelles, Bluebird, Dainties, 3 Square.
Any places we should add to the list?
Where are the open Pinkberry? Their site does not have a working list of locations.
Any spectacular ice cream or gelato shops?
Website showing Ads Vs. Real Fast Food
I have worked as an assistant food stylist on national food ads. By law you must use the real company product, with nothing else to enhance it. So we would get boxes of frozen "Burger King" french fries, buns, burgers, pickles etc. In the case of the fries we would then fry them in small batches and hand select the most perfect ones. Then use medical tweezers placing them to create the most perfect bag of fries, that had to be the same amount of ounces as in the serving size at the restaurant. Same with each item.
One ad could take a group of ten people 12 hours to shoot.
If it was a cookbook or editorial photo then you get to play with the food more. Add things, use non food items to gloss them up etc. It was interesing to say the least.
One Day in Santa Barbara
Sorry, it is raining today and there is even snow in the mountains. That can't last long though.
Looking over your list and the other reccomendations I would say either Opal or Epiphany would make you happiest. If you want to splurge then I would add the Wine Cask and bouchon to the possibilities.
For casual lunch I would say the Paradise Cafe. Something about sitting on the patio, drinking during the day, makes me feel very lucky to be in SB and life is good.
Brophy's has the same feeling with the view of the mountains and boats in the harbor. You can watch the sea urchins and fish being unloaded off the fishing boats as you dip your fresh sourdough into your clam chowder.
I would pass on the healthy food. Maybe I just don't get the Natural Cafe and Sojourner. I wouldn't say cardboard but it is just boring. Sorry.
www.opalrestaurantandbar.com
www.epiphanysb.com
www.winecask.com
www.bouchonsb.com
www.paradisecafe.com
www.brophybros.com
One Day in Santa Barbara
I think there are places that if they come across as a filling meal for a reasonable price they can get away with it. Most people can not spend Ca'Dario, Oilo, Pane e Vino prices every time they want Italian.
Palazzio and Pascucci fall into the catagory of not great- but lots of garlic covers up the faults and they are loud, fun, busy, places.
It is the difference between chowhound and slowfood quality and Bucca de Beppo style/quality.
