Mid-Week InstaNom: Cruller Donut at Plan Check (Fairfax)

Here’s your mid-week InstaNom to get you over the hump:

After chatting about churros and donuts over dinner at Plan Check, my friend and I had sweets on the brain and found dessert looking more and more inevitable. Serendipitously, Plan Check’s Cruller Donut is the perfect hybrid of those two deep-fried delights. The donuts, served in a cast iron bowl, had a crisp, cinnamon sugar exterior with a warm, fluffy interior and were accented by whipped cream and sliced bananas. These delicious, airy donuts were simply meant to be.

Plan Check Fairfax
www.plancheck.com
351 N. Fairfax Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(310) 288-6500

A Picture Perfect Birthday Weekend

Over the weekend, I rang in my 25th birthday and celebrated the occasion the best way I know how: surrounded by delicious food and great friends.

My official birthday and party weren’t until Sunday, but my boyfriend wanted to make my big 2-5 an extra special one and planned a surprise “Birthday Adventure” for us on Saturday. The day kicked off with a map showing the location of and activity at each of our stops, but I was left to fill in the blanks. While I was embarrassed to correctly guess only one stop, I was also tickled by the idea of a whole day full of surprises.

For our first surprise stop, we headed downtown to Bread Lounge to fuel up. The new-ish bakery specializes European-style pastries such as croissants and focaccias and, of course, bread. Bread Lounge’s industrial-inspired décor may be sparse, but its menu offerings were anything but. Between the chockfull menu boards and the bountiful display case, we first time visitors needed a few moments to take everything in before narrowing down our options.

Eventually, I zeroed in on the Gringo, a pizza-like focaccia topped with two eggs, bacon, crumbled feta and cherry tomatoes, which was heated to order. Funnily enough, this focaccia was the very reason that Justin decided on Bread Lounge as our first stop. He knows me so well! Boasting a crispy yet pliable crust that rivals some of the best pizzas in the city and generous, hearty toppings, the Gringo was pretty much flawless. With bacon n’ eggs and a latte in our bellies (and a fruit pastry to-go), we set off for our next surprise stop.

Filling our apartment with fresh flowers is one of my absolute favorite indulgences and, for our second stop, we visited the Flower District to stock up.

How funny is this sign?



There’s no flower I love more than the soft, delicate and feminine pink peony and looking out on this sea of them made my heart flutter and nearly caused me to dance through the market Sound of Music-style.

Justin treated me to two bunches of peonies and some hydrangeas, and now they fill every room in our apartment. *Swoon*

My Birthday Adventure itinerary advised me to save room for our third stop, and, when we pulled up to Langer’s Deli, I was glad I listened. Opened in 1947, Langer’s has earned kudos for its pastrami from even the most die-hard New Yorkers and is a spot that I’ve always meant to try but, somehow, never have.

To start, I ordered a Vanilla Egg Cream, soda fountain throwback made with seltzer, milk and vanilla syrup, which was delightfully frothy and sweet.

Langer’s has served more than 4 million pounds of pastrami in its 65 years, and it’s safe to say that much of that was served as a #19, its most popular sandwich. In the #19, a mountain of hand-cut hot pastrami, coleslaw, Russian dressing and Swiss cheese are served on double baked rye bread. Justin and I both loved the tender pastrami and agreed that the crisp, double baked bread was Langer’s secret weapon in the battle for pastrami sandwich domination.

After spending all morning with the human love of my life, I turned my attention to my four-legged one. When Justin and I adopted our dog Mona about two and a half years ago, we noticed that the intake date on her shelter paperwork was coincidentally the same date as my birthday. I took this as a sign that she and I were always meant to be and decided to celebrate her “birthday” on the same day as mine. To celebrate Mona’s special day, we took her to Three Dog Bakery for a doggie sundae and some “pupcakes.” Mona enjoyed herself so much that she got downright stubborn when it came time to leave.

Later, armed only with a suggested dress code and our reservation time, I hopped in the car and we set off for dinner, stopping finally at chef Michael Voltaggio’s ink…but more on that here.

Perhaps my favorite surprise of the entire lovely day was my birthday cake, which was carefully selected by Justin and drew an audible gasp from me when we picked it up from Valerie Confections. Appropriately pink and girly, the Rose Petal Cake was made with vanilla bean cake, rose petal passion fruit ganache, covered in white chocolate glaze and finished with candied rose petals. If you’ve read this blog for any amount of time, you know my obsession with both rose and passion fruit, and I’m hard-pressed to come up with any cake more perfect for the occasion.

On Sunday, I practically had to roll myself out of bed for my party at Sunny Spot…

…but of course found room for a Bottomless Rum Punch and a Two-Fisted Burger…with a fried egg (previously written about here).

As the weekend drew to a close and I headed into the office, I thought my days of birthday gluttony were behind me, but my amazing co-workers had other ideas and ordered a special delivery from Donut Snob (previously written about here).

Where to begin?!

Thank you to my friends and family for celebrating with me and for making my 25th birthday truly the most wonderful one yet. Thank you especially to Justin for planning one of the best days I’ve ever had and to Mona for being your adorable, wiggle-butt self.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some research on juice cleanses to do.

Bread Lounge
www.twitter.com/breadlounge
700 S. Santa Fe Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90021
(213) 327-0782

Langer’s
www.langersdeli.com
704 S. Alvarado St.
Los Angeles, CA 90057
(213) 483-8050


Valerie Confections
www.valerieconfections.com
3360 W. 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90004
(213) 739-8149


ink
www.mvink.com
8360 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90069
(323) 655-7225

Sunny Spot
www.sunnyspotvenice.com
822 Washington Blvd.
Venice, CA 90292
(310) 448-8884

Donut Snob
www.thedonutsnob.com
www.twitter.com/DonutSnob

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National Doughnut Day!

Happy National Doughnut Day! While I normally roll my eyes at days arbitrarily designated as “National Grilled Cheese Day” or “National Bagels and Lox Day,” I’m far more receptive to food days that indulge my sweet tooth. In celebration of doughnuts (which I’ve only recently come to appreciate), here are Insta-Noms of some of my favorite deep-fried delights from both coasts and details on spots where you can revel in National Doughnut Day yourself.

Donut Snob

 

Donut Snob’s gourmet doughnuts are handcrafted with top notch ingredients to create confections such as The Berry Best (a raised doughnut with a cinnamon glaze, mixed berry coulis center and topped with fresh berries) and The Oinker (a raised doughnut with maple cinnamon, an orange zest glaze and topped with maple bacon). My first bite of Donut Snob was a revelation and the first step towards converting me into a doughnut-lover. Donut Snob is delivery-based, but you can sometimes snag one at food events around town… and today at Coolhaus (see below).

 

Doughnut Plant (NY)

With several locations in New York, Doughnut Plant specializes in all-natural doughnuts handcrafted with high-quality ingredients that are organic when possible but are always trans-fat and preservative-free. Their signature sweet is a square yeast doughnut, but it was this refined, aromatic cream-filled rose doughnut that had me swooning.

Now that we all have doughnuts on the brain, here are two spots to get your National Doughnut Day on!

Photo via Let Me Eat Cake

Starting at 6:00PM, Coolhaus‘ Culver City shop will team up with Donut Snob to serve doughnut ice cream sandwiches. Donut Snob and CoolHaus are irresistible separately, so the combination of these confections is sure to sell out quickly.

Photo via Carlitos!

Pastry chef Mariah Swan’s ICDC (Ice Cream, Doughnuts and Coffee) is slated to open later this summer, but she’s previewing her menu in honor of National Doughnut Day. Pop by BLD between 11:00AM and 11:00PM today for a taste of flavors such as Cereal Milk Glazed and Beer Caramel with Pretzel Crunch. Starting at 6:30PM, there will be a doughnut tasting ($15.00) with an optional beer pairing ($12.00).

Now get out there and eat some doughnuts!

Sidecar Doughnuts and Coffee (Costa Mesa, CA)

There’s something I must confess: I’m just not that into doughnuts. Don’t get me wrong– a good doughnut is a truly magical thing, but a bad one is oily, tastes slightly stale even when fresh and leaves me queasy…and, sadly, there are far more bad doughnuts in the world than good ones. Given this unfortunate ratio, I generally steer clear of these confections unless something really piques my interest. Enter: Sidecar Doughnuts and Coffee.

A few weeks ago, I day-tripped it to San Diego for a bridal shower, and my doughnut-lovin’ pal Gastronomy Blog suggested a pit stop at Sidecar Doughnuts and Coffee in Costa Mesa, a small shop about which she’d heard good buzz. When something’s on that gal’s radar, I’m all ears, but when it’s her favorite sweet treat? You bet I’m gonna listen. 

Tucked into a shopping center, Sidecar Doughnuts offers a rotating menu of handmade raised, cake and specialty doughnuts (including gluten-free ones on Fridays), prepared with fresh, seasonal ingredients. I’d read that they make only a limited number of doughnuts per day and often sell out, which made me feel slightly better about how early I was awake and on the road on a Saturday.

On this day, Sidecar’s menu touted a mix of staples such as their Maple Bacon, seasonal specials like Huckleberry and a few Cinco de Mayo-inspired ones.

I was only marginally successful in narrowing down the scrumptious-sounding options and selected three doughnuts for the road. 

It was love at first bite for me and the Passion Fruit doughnut ($2.75), an airy, delicate raised doughnut coated with a perfectly tart fresh passion fruit glaze. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t consider turning my car around to buy a dozen more of these. 

Equally delightful was the pillowy Strawberry Basil ($3.50), a raised doughnut dunked in a strawberry glaze and flecked with bits of freshly torn, piquant basil.

After one look at the Samoa Doughnut ($2.50), the self-restraint I exercised during Girl Scout Cookie season flew out the window. This cake doughnut topped with shredded coconut, caramel and chocolate drizzles hit all the notes of the addictive cookies but with a far more satisfying bite and purer flavors thanks to its fresh, homemade components.

Sidecar Doughnuts and Coffee exemplifies what doughnut-aficionados love about the confection and why I won’t just eat any ‘ole doughnut. When they can be this good, there’s just no reason to waste your time with lesser versions.

Sidecar Doughnuts and Coffee
www.sidecardoughuts.com
270 E. 17th St., #18
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
(949) 887-2910