It's safe to say I work with the most awesome people, Part 2

In Part 2 of "It's safe to say I work with the most awesome people" series, The Great American Bakery Hunt pays homage to April, a long-time contributor to the hunt.  April recently stopped by Tartine (with fellow bakery hunting duo, the Spangler sisters) and brought back the brownies pictured below for some delicious snacks to enjoy in the office. Rich and nutty, these brownies were the perfect compliment to the mid-day cup of coffee.  It should be mentioned that April is quite the little baker herself-- she is constantly bringing in sweets for us to try.  So thank you April, whether it's our favorite San Francisco treat or straight out of your kitchen, we're always ready to eat what you bring to the table! Thanks to the Spanglers too!

Huckleberry delivers

I blogged back in January about my mouth-watering anticipation of the bakery Huckleberry, a brain child of Santa Monica locals Zoe Nathan and Josh Loeb, a husband and wife culinary duo. Now that we're in April, I'm just now getting the opportunity to give this bakery the blog post it deserves. Huckleberry, Santa Monica's charming new foodspot, is located on Wilshire between 10th and 11th streets. It has been open since February and is starting to extend its hours into the Spring.

Zoe Nathan learned to bake at Tartine in San Francisco, so its unsurprising that Huckleberry has a similar inviting feel, as well as a familiar line of customers to match. Even with far more seating than Tartine, Huckleberry has been so packed on recent occasion that I'm now educated in the Huckleberry code of ethics. If you think you can just pop into line as if you're in a Starbucks, think again. I should start out by saying that Huckleberry serves Cafe Luxxe coffee, so I'm not implying a lack of good java. Coming to Huckleberry is not an experience of convenience, but rather one of appreciating and savoring thoughtfully executed food treasures. So perhaps you've noticed that you have to wait a few minutes in line? Well, there's good reason for that line, and I'm sure often it is rooted in customers confused and racked by indecision due to the taste potential of what they might order. Huckleberry is just the sort of place that The Great American Bakery Hunt loves to see: completely genuine, deliberate in its actions, and inviting to the bakery hunter. While it could easily become an LA baked good destination, it also still feels like a place where one can appreciate great food with a friendly neighborhood vibe.

Thought is put into their seasonal ingredients, items are made fresh, and customers really have to think before they choose. After only a few months of business, it already feels like a landmark on my city map, a place I'd like to linger with old friends over coffee and fruit crostatas. And who knew a maple bacon biscuit could be so good?

Huckleberry's creations are quality, with items such as fresh flatbreads "warm right out of the oven", homemade donuts (sorry Krispy Kreme on Wlishire), and the bustle of a bakery that means business. Their menu is featured on a spread of chalkboards and changes frequently with seasonal ingredients. This is also unsurprising in light of Nathan's ties to the farmer's market community.

With Huckleberry's thoughtful baking, I wanted to buy a tote bag to support in some free advertising, but I couldn't justify the $30 price tag, which I would estimate equals about 6-8 Huckleberry pastries. Huckleberry, I want to support you with an enviro-friendly canvas bag, but I work for a nonprofit! That $30 is going towards the pastries that eventually would go into that bag. Spending $30 on the bag means no pastries to tote in said bag. Do you see my dilemma? For the record, I would mop your floors, knead your dough, and/or continue to write glowing blog posts of your bakery in exchange for a canvas bag that I would shamelessly flaunt in grocery stores, swap meets, fitness centers, and various shopping trips across America. Or I'll wait until I win the lottery and we all know what my first purchase will be!

Until that happens, for now I'll stick with my $2 appalingly pastel but still endearing Santa Monica Public Library tote bag. But I'll be back for the pastries. These, my friends, are priceless.

Tartine dreams do come true

It's been over a year since I received the Tartine cookbook as a gift and have been hoping to visit the San Francisco neighborhood bakery. I have toiled away in my studio apartment, attempting to create their Gruyere cheese gougère and fruit galette recipes, but I finally tasted the real thing last weekend.


If you're looking for Tartine, spot it from the line forming outside the door and the pigeons outside competing for the best crumbs in town. In the two hours that I spent enjoying the majesty of the greatest San Francisco treat, there was rarely a moment when the bakery wasn't crowded with its fans.

After visiting a friend in Davis, we made the drive to the bakery and plotted to order an aggressive amount of pastries, an amount fit for a proper Sunday feast. At first, a few friends thought it crazy that we were venturing into San Francisco only as a bakery detour. But if only they had sampled the greatness of Tartine's selections, they would soon discover that San Francisco is much more than a destination for clam chowder, Chinese food, and cable cars.

Among other things, we sampled the artichoke quiche, the sinfully grand bread pudding (made with bananas that day), the croque monsieur, the croissants, morning buns, scones, gougères, and the many, many cups of (free refills) coffee that is nestled in the corner of the bakery. Of course, that didn't stop us from getting meringues, frangipane tarts, hazelnut tarts, mexican wedding cookies, and more to take on the road.


Tartine is the kind of bakery that I only wish existed in Los Angeles, the kind of bakery that makes a city great. Although at one point, the weather started storming on our outside cafe table, I must state for the record that I would gladly endure eating my Tartine croissant in the rain any day, if it meant I could savor the goodness (this statement also applicable to hailstorms, blizzards, hurricanes, tsunamis, etc.).

Baking into the New Year with the Great American Bakery Hunt

Although my lack of posts might have you thinking the Great American Bakery Hunt has slowed to a crawl, please cast aside your doubts-- the adventure continues! I've been keeping busy with new culinary undertakings: I recently tried Tartine's fruit galette recipe and came to the realization that I have a lot more learning to do. Mark Bittman's gingersnaps dough is currently chilling in my freezer. And I've taken to the habit of purposely letting my bananas ripen too much so "Oops, I suppose I'm forced to make banana bread."

But most of all, I'm hoping that 2009 will be the year I can really experiment with mastering breads and pastries: yes, all the great stuff. I realize that most people resolve to reduce carb consumption as a part of their desired New Year's transformations, but there's no place for that at The Great American Bakery Hunt. These hands are aching to take command of a rolling pin, a pastry blender, to learn challah, croissants, galettes, oh my! Luckily, it looks like Culver City's the New School of Cooking is offering a springtime Yeast Breads class that has my name on it. 2009 is going to be a great year.

And just when you thought that my tiny studio apartment kitchen might stop me, Mark Bittman, New York Times food writer and author of "The Bitten Blog" inspires me to go on!

The other San Francisco Treat...

In a recent New York Times article, Mark Bittman wrote that San Francisco's Tartine takes the cake for his favorite bakery in the United States. That's quite a grand statement, and I'd like to know how Bittman arrived at this conclusion. (Does Bittman have the bakery hunting bug too?) At the same time, I don't doubt that it's a valid one. I have heard nothing but good things about Tartine, although I haven't had the pleasure of going there yet.

I was given the Tartine cookbook for Christmas, which does me little good since it is rare that I have a solid chunk of good baking time these days. All it does is sit there on the shelf, teasing me! I need to make weekly baking a goal.

And forget about traveling up to San Francisco to feast on the real thing. I must save my money for a yet-to-be scheduled future European adventure. Indeed, I fear the only San Francisco treat I'll be enjoying anytime soon is Rice-A-Roni. Although it's possible that my fellow Denmark-obsessed friend Haej and I might splurge and travel up to Solvang, CA (a so called "Authentic Danish village")for a few days on February. You might think February is a month for lovers, but it's also prime season for random celebratory platonic bakery hunting trips. That's right, I hereby officially deem February an exceptionally ideal month for b-hunting. Lonely this February? Get off your butt and find a good bakery. You'll be the better for it.