Results tagged “dessert”

It's just about Halloween, so why not have a four-day fall open house with different free samples each day? That's what Valerie Confections on West 1st Street (Beverly/Virgil) is doing, starting with their famous version of Coffee Crunch Cake from Blum's Bakery today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. They'll also be sampling Blum’s Lemon Crunch Cake. The full schedule of treats can be found here.

Last fall we talked with Samantha Page and Camilla Yates, whose delectable Sweet Square dessert bars were available by order for fans of hand-held treats that don't involve the word "cupcake." If you didn't have the chance or occasion to order up a batch of their squares, you might find yourself somewhere in the city where you can bite into one of their bars.

          

Yesterday not only marked the last day of September, but also the last event at a vegan festival (of sorts) called 30 Days of Celebrating Being Vegan. Bakers and those with a sweet tooth gathered at 2 Headed Horse Production/Art Studio on Glendale Boulevard for the event last night, which benefited Compassion Over Killing.

Dutch Apple. Cherry. Banana Cream. Chocolate Peanut Butter. Almond Mocha. Lemon Meringue. Strawberry-Rhubarb. Blueberry. Black-Bottom. Mixed Berry. Banana Caramel Cheesecake. Pie, glorious pie! That list might make you drool, but for the culinarily-inclined, it might make you feel inspired to break out your baking dishes and best recipe to enter KCRW's Good Food Pie Bake-off.

For Emily Zaiden, her popsicle business started with how all delicious things should begin: with an undaunting passion for the food she loves, in this case, desserts. "I've always been a frozen dessert fanatic," the Echo Park resident, Laurel Canyon native, explained over the phone from her company kitchen. "In elementary school for the inventions convention, I invented an ice cream flavor," she said with a laugh.

Chicagoist finds that a bakery is selling cookies with the face of Michael Jackson on it and ponders... "While we found something tragic about eating Michael Jackson's face, these cookies got us thinking, are there any celebrities we would actually like to see be displayed on food items upon their death? Would you want to stretch out and chew on pink Spencer Pratt face taffy or slice and devour a Kim Jong Il face cake? Or would you feel better eating a beloved Katherine Heigl face scone? Ok. We're creeped out. No more face dessert."

The popular rotisserie chicken and french fries joint Reddi Chick at the Brentwood Country Mart will be serving free ice cream today from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. The eatery is not exactly an ice cream shop--they serve the basic soft serve chocolate and vanilla in a cup or cone--but if you're in the area, free helps in this economy, right?

One of the most consistent tips police give retail business owners along Ventura Blvd. is to leave cash registers empty and open over night to show potential burglars there's nothing to steal. However, that doesn't mean they'll try anyway.

They just won't go away. Not even eclipse-able by Frozen Yogurt, the ubiquitous cupcake has held Los Angeles in its sugary, frosted, portable grip for the past few years, and doesn't seem to be letting go. In today's LA Times, food writer Mary MacVean looks into the cupcake phenomenon and tries to unravel its sweet mystery. Why do we still adore cupcakes?

Fans of cupcakes, rejoice! Next Sunday, you can bask in the glory of your favorite baked goodies as many of Los Angeles' top cupcake-makers gather at the Nesquik Cupcake Challenge.

       

Like most places, sales have been sluggish at Cold Stone storefronts across the nation in the current economy. Loyal customers who visit the store 2.3 times a month on average are coming in less. And although they have closed 100 stores, they are opening new ones and are now adding new items to hopefully boost sales.

The area where Venutra Blvd. meets Woodman Ave in Sherman Oaks is known as one of Los Angeles' great restaurant rows.

Happy 74th Birthday, Elvis! If you were alive today (oh wait, conspiracy theory #1445 says you are alive), you would have loved this cupcake with one of your favorite foods that we just tasted at Crumbs Bake Shop.

With the holiday season right around the corner, it's time to start thinking about gatherings, celebrations, indulgences, and treats. Of course, sometimes we get in a holiday rut; the same old-same old cookies, cupcakes, and pies. LAist recently got tuned into a truly delicious alternative, the Los Angeles based Sweet Square, who make really scrumptious squares and bars available by order. We were lucky to sample some of their four-cornered fare, including the Oatmeal Fruit Squares, the S'mores, their fudgy Brownie, and, our favorite of the bunch, the Peanut Butter and Jelly.

Let's face it. Ever since Sprinkles Cupcakes in Beverly Hills first filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Famous Cupcakes in Valley Village over the use of a modern circle, people had to give the competitor a try. What happened? Business went up for the Valley Village storefront, according to employees, as many cupcake fans discovered they liked Famous better (us included).

Are you so over cupcakes? Too sweet for you? You may want to give bundt cakes a try. Stop laughing. We tried them at the newish bakery, Kiss My Bundt, in Midcity and were pleasantly surprised because 1) they are available in teeny tiny cupcake-size bundts rather than not-so-cute bundt cake slices, 2) they aren't uber sweet, making them a perfect coffee complement and 3) the small bundts are pleasantly cheaper than most cupcakes out there.

   

When the first wave of the frozen yogurt phenom hit in the mid-80s, this LAister was a Torontonian; that was when and where the newest froyo franchise to hit the City of Angels today was born. YogenFruz started in Toronto in 1986, and has just opened their second LA location in Tarzana. To celebrate, all weekend long the new store will have a "Buy One-Get One Free" promotion going on, so grab a friend and head into the Valley to see what makes YogenFruz different from other frozen yogurt.

Sunday brings the 2nd annual TasteTV Luxury Chocolate Salon to Los Angeles, and chocoholics and the sweet-toothed can score discounted advanced tickets until 6 p.m. today online to the indulgent event.

After all the salt consumed by eating tons of deep fried foods like avocado and Oreos and a huge brick of cheese fries leaves one desiring sugar. The easy answer is Dr. Bob's in the farming area of the fair. When National Geographic released their 10 Best of Everything guide for travelers, Dr. Bob's Handcrafted Ice Creams came out at number two on the list.

Submitted and Written By Dan Collins

Last Wednesday, I spent happy hour at Ugo Wine Bar in Culver City. The week before, we spent it at Bottle Rock (where I've had a great time on the weekend), which was disappointing. It was loud, the service was slow and the food was expensive. Ugo Wine Bar was exactly the opposite and it was such a pleasure. We thought it was Vinum Populi, and it used to be, but these days, it's part of the Ugo empire.

In the earlier days of the frozen yogurt craze, Yogurtland sprung up in Fullerton in February 2006. It was a success and so more stores opened in Hollywood, Long Beach, Little Tokyo, Sherman Oaks and many other Southern California locations and one in Cupertino up north. They even opened a location in Greenwich Village in New York City with plans for Vegas, Hawaii and Texas.

      

There's no better time to open the city's first New Orleans snow-ball shop than during a heatwave. Tucked between two of the many small restaurants in Sherman Oaks' restaurant row is Nola Ice, a product of two entertainment publicists with Southern origins and aspirations to bring the Big Easy treat to the West Coast.

Last week's contest for tonight's Rilo Kiley concert at the Greek Theatre was all about what to do in Los Feliz before and after the show (related, we're running a Robert Plant/Allison Krauss contest right now). Many readers responded with food suggestions. So here, we present to you, by you, your quick guide to eating in Los Feliz:

LAist has had some well documented cases of searching for that elusive “hidden bakery-café” in Burbank, or that extra parking spot at the Porto’s on Hollywood Way and Magnolia. And my suggestion? It doesn’t provide a solution for either of those problems, but an excellent alternative in Cake Monkey.

The first annual Cupcake Challenge on May 18th will put the lip-smacking in a foodie smackdown. In this event sponsored by CozmoDeck, Fiji Water, and K and L Wine Merchants, 13 of the best local cupcake bakeries--cupcakeries, if you will--are putting on their oven mitts and throwing down the best they have to offer in the hopes of determining whose cupcake is the tops in town.

No, this isn't Care Bear Puke, but that would be pretty cool (in a strange way). This is the peppermint ice cream cookie sandwich ($4.25) at Disney's Soda Fountain and Studio Store, attached to the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood.

       

Brunchtime is one of life's great ironies. You want to go out, relax, enjoy the company of other people, eat enough to fill you up two meals' worth, sip your beverage slowly, and take your time. And because you are not alone in this pursuit, you tend to go where lots of people go, because they want the same thing. But all those people means all that waiting. But what happens when you find a great a brunch, with great food, but the restaurant is empty? Do you tell everyone you know, and hope they'll fill it up...and steal your secret? Or do you think "what's wrong with this picture?" and put your name on the waiting list at the joint down the road where the crowd spills out on the sidewalk, anxiously checking their watches?

Like many coffee shops, Polly's may just be a great place to take your grandma. Maybe the menu isn't very interesting beyond breakfast, their exotic chicken salad sandwich (ooh, are those cashews?), and the chicken pot pie. And yes, they are in an unholy alliance with the Colonel ("it's a well-known fact he puts an addictive chemical in his chicken that makes you crave it fortnightly"). But if there was only one Banberry Pie left in the world, I would fight you to the death for it.

LA Mill finally (soft-)opened its "boutique" in Silver Lake last Friday and we were lucky to get there in time to sample the goods -- for free. The space is impressive but the environment -- almost pretentiously over the top. But let's discuss the coffee: