A Chocolate Homecoming - One of Lily's Favorite Desserts

Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers:

I originally am from the Twin Cities - Minneapolis and St. Paul - of Minnesota.  While there are many, many, many wonderful aspects of the Twin Cities, the cold winters have kept me away from continuing to live there.  However, I try to go back once or twice a year to catch up with family and friends.

If you a regular reader of LilyOnTheLam.Com, you may realize that I have just a tiny bit of a sweet tooth.  OK, I love sugar!  I wish I didn't love it as much and I try not to indulge it too much (and by too much I mean 24 hours a day as opposed to my more prudent 22 hours a day of sugar consumption).  I don't smoke and even though my Instagram account may protest, I don't drink a lot of alcohol.  But sugar, yes that's the big monkey on my back.  Total addiction.

I joke that my Instagram account should be called "Booze and Desserts" because the majority of my photos are just that!  

Well one of my favorite desserts that hasn't made it to my Instagram account is from Wuollet's Bakery in Minnesota.  They have several locations in the Twin Cities, but I go to the one at their Grand Avenue location.  

They have a "Chocolate Whipped Cream Cake" that is instant sugar shock, but oh what a wonderful way to get zapped!  I only get a slice of this cake once every 2-3 years because it is so rich!  

This picture is actually two years old, from the last time I had a piece of this cake.  I had forgotten about it and recently stumbled upon the picture and knew I had to share on my blog.

You can buy this cake by the slice or in a 9 inch whole cake.  It has a moist chocolate base, the sweetest creamiest whipped cream filling, another slice of chocolate cake and a rich slathering of fudgy chocolate ganache with a whipped cream rosette.  It is heaven - rich, chocolatey, decadent, creamy, smooth, melt in your mouth, beyond compare cake.

It really is over the top on sweetness and richness, so unless you love a really rich dessert I would not recommend this one to those who don't worship ultra decadent desserts.

But for those who love decadence, get yourself over to Wuollet Bakery and have yourself a slice of this chocolate heaven!

You Don't Have To Be An Evil Fairy To Have A Good Cake And A Good Birthday!

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Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers!

If you read my July 24, 2014 blog post, you'll know that I talked about Maleficent the evil fairy from the children's tale "Sleeping Beauty."  You may have wondered why I picked that particular topic.  

Well it was my birthday this week (I am 974 years old!) and I wanted a special cake to memorialize the celebration.  There are not many holidays where we specifically celebrate with cake.  If I were French, I'd have a buche de noel cake for Christmas.  But I'm American!  

Thanksgiving gets pumpkin pie.  Valentine's Day - a box of chocolates if you're lucky.  Arbor Day - don't even get me started on the lack of swag for that "holiday."  Sometimes people will make a "flag cake" for Flag Day, but evidently I don't know any of "those people" because I don't see anyone knocking down my door to give me cake.  

Basically unless I get married this year, the only opportunity to have an "official cake-sanctioned holiday" is my birthday.

So what kind of cake do you get to celebrate a once a year event?

I was procrastinating from cleaning by reading "news" stories online, when I saw a picture of Angelina Jolie doing a press junket for her movie "Maleficent" in Shanghai, China.  It was also her birthday, so the press conference people presented her with this lovely birthday cake.

I have been to Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Macau, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand and what I have learned is "Asia Pacific Bakeries make GORGEOUS cakes."  

This cake was Crazy Awesome - Maleficent with her staff with the Shanghai skyline behind her and ohhhh that purple fondant.  I wondered if the cake inside was green as Maleficent is known for her green and purple tones.  I knew instantly I needed a Maleficent cake like this for my birthday.

Now I know what you're thinking -- "Lily, you're already practically Angelina Jolie's twin ... gorgeous supermodel looks, insanely hot husband, six children, millions of dollars, humanitarian ... do you really need to have her birthday cake too?"  That is what you're thinking, right?  RIGHT?

Or maybe you're thinking "Lily, the only thing you and Angelina Jolie have in common would be a birthday cake, so go to it, Crazy Cat Lady!"  (You're not thinking that, right?  RIGHT?)    

I MUST HAVE THIS CAKE ... and I knew immediately who could do it for me ...

Sweet Tweets Cakery of Tampa, Florida.  

Sweet Tweets makes the most amazing cupcakes, but it is their cakes that have me speechless in awe.  

Just a selection of Sweet Tweets many flavors - "The King" cupcake is my new favorite

I once had them make a strawberry champagne cake in the shape of a Tiffany's box.  It was absolutely the right shade of Tiffany's blue.  They also made mini cupcakes with pirate flags for a Gasparilla party that were THE hit of the party.  

If you go to Sweet Tweets Facebook page, you'll see that Sweet Tweets makes some pretty darn amazing cakes.  They have a wedding cake with cherry blossoms on their profile picture that is beyond gorgeous.  I may have to get married just so I can have that cake.  (If you see a Craigslist post that says "Marry me, so I can have cake;" you will know its me.)

I told Sweet Tweets I wanted a smaller version of the Angelina Jolie cake minus the Shanghai buildings.  I emailed them photos and kept my fingers crossed.  

And this is what they presented me with ...

Look out behind you, Maleficent!  There's a Chibby Kitten stalking you!

  
ISN'T SHE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CAKE EVER?  I know it's MY birthday cake, but come on ... she is perfection covered in fondant.  (I also liked that when I picked up the cake from Sweet Tweets, the Sweet Tweets staff referred to the cake as "her" - women after my own heart who understand that a Maleficent cake is NOT an "it" but a "her.")  

Maleficent is so regal with her green jewel topped staff!  She is cute and yet slightly dangerous looking - exactly the look women have been trying to perfect for centuries!  

I was trying to take glamour shots of my lovely Sweet Tweets cake when Chibby Kitten tried to jump into the scene.  I rescued my beautiful cake before he could POUNCE!  That would NOT have been a good picture had he reached the cake and took a big swipe out of it. 

The cake is almond with an amaretto filling.  I asked for the cake to be tinted green.  I don't know if Angelina Jolie's cake was green, but I was determined that mine would be!  The Sweet Tweets staff suggested tinting the amaretto filling purple - I trusted their judgment and I looooove the result!

Under the fondant, the cake had the most sinfully, smooth frosting.  The cake was perfectly moist and delectable.  The cake had a circle of edible gold chocolate pearls around it.  So delicious!

Several friends who could not join me for "the big day" requested cake, so my freezer is filled with slices carefully wrapped that will be distributed later this week.  (And for Mr. Cardamom Monroe - sometime hopefully in August if his relocation to Florida occurs soon!)

I can't get over what a beautiful job Sweet Tweets Cakery did on my birthday cake.  I know at age 974, I probably shouldn't have a birthday cake with a cartoon character on it ... but life is short!  Do I really want to be on my death bed thinking "I wish I had had a Maleficent cake?"  I can tell you my answer is a booming, resounding, resolute "NO!"  

My friend Ms. Wisconsin asked me if I was going to keep the Maleficent cake topper.  I said "You bet, I am going to freeze her and bring her out to top French toast, hamburgers, anything I am eating I am going to stick her in!"  (And I was only half joking!) 

(Side Note:  I picked up my cake the day before my birthday. Since I and my friends have no willpower, I picked up a four pack of Sweet Tweets cupcakes to keep any hungry cake eaters away from my beautiful, beautiful cake.  I also learned an important lesson - my new Kipling purse [birthday gift to me!] can hold a four pack of cupcakes!  I can just hear my friends saying "where are our cupcakes?" the next time we go to the movies.  "You bragged on your blog that your purse can hold a 4 pack of cupcakes, so we expect you'll be smuggling in cupcakes to any and all movies we see!"  Sigh ...  Darn these friends of mine!  More income will be going to Sweet Tweets in the future!)

White Wedding, Peanut Butter, The King and Banana Cupcake - because why have one when you can have FOUR?

Normally I'd crop my gnarly feet out of the photo but I would like to point out that
my zebra flip flops match my black and white skirt - which is about as color coordinated as I get.
But even more important, I can fit FOUR JUMBO SWEET TWEETS CUPCAKES
in my new Kipling purse!  

After eating the most beautiful cake ever, I had a wonderful birthday celebration at Armani's Italian Restaurant.  This is my most favorite place to go to watch the sunset over cocktails and a platter from their large antipasti bar.  If you are in Tampa Bay, you must go.  It is a memorable experience.

The view from Armani's

Our selected antipasti from the large antipasti bar

Two Desserts In One Day?  Well, it is my BIRTHDAY!

Armani's is at the top of the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay Hotel.  I love this hotel for its location by the Bay and a lagoon as well as its restaurants Armani's and Oystercatchers.  They have a slightly elevated walkway along the edge of the marshland off the Bay.  It is a gorgeous walk where you can often times see waterfowl.  I once took my sister to brunch at Oystercatchers and there was a Japanese anime convention at the hotel.  It made for delightful people watching.

On the grand occasion of my birthday, the Grand Hyatt did not disappoint.  A "motorcycle enthusiasts" group made up of retired military, police, fire fighters and other helpers/first responders was having a convention at the hotel.  I have never seen so many motorcycles in one place!  And I have never seen so many bikers with so much alcohol in one place!  

(For the record my answer to "what did you do for your birthday?" is now "Partied with a hotel full of bikers."  OK that wasn't exactly the truth but we talked to three leather-clad gentlemen in the elevator as we were leaving and I took a picture by about 100 motorcycles.  That counts, right?)

The service at Armani's is always stellar.  We had two gentleman waiting on our table that night.  The head waiter Jerry was very attentive and helped us select some great options.

My 974th birthday was a wonderful event -- an amazing Maleficent cake, a wonderful birthday dinner with a wonderful view, wonderful service, wonderful company, wonderful conversation, wonderful food, wonderful motorcycle enthusiasts (ha!) ... just plain wonderful.

(Side Note:  Share my beautiful Sweet Tweets cake on Pinterest!  Click here to pin!)  

No Cake For You, Chibby Kitten!!!!!

And like all fairy tales, my night ended happily ever after!

Whether you are looking for an amazing cake or an amazing place to watch the sunset and have a great meal, Tampa Bay has some amazing options!  I hope you will check out both Armani's and Sweet Tweets!
   
P.S.  When did my little blog surpass 150,000 page views?  I turn around and I am already at 151,000+!  Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading my wacky tales!  I know other blogs may get 150,000+ page views an hour (or a minute!) but I'm just a wacky person in Tampa Bay so I appreciate every single page view.  Thanks for making my day!

Dough or D'Oh!? Datz Dough in South Tampa

Hello LilyOnTheLam.com Readers!

We might as well call this Desserts Week at LilyOnTheLam as this will be the fourth time I have mentioned pastries this week!  What can I say?  I have a sweet tooth!

If you are a South Tampa resident, you are probably familiar with the hipster gourmet mecca that is Datz.  In the past several years, I have watched Datz evolve from a deli to a gourmet market/wine bar, to a cooking lessons haven and now highlighting its basic components - a foodie heaven.  And I have loved every stop along the way.

However, I have seen the customer service and the food quality go up and down and up and down.  Sometimes I would have the best meal ever and other times I would be so angry with the poor customer service and lackluster food quality, I would swear "never again!"  

I have consistently hated the lack of parking - even with the nearby overflow lot.  I cheered seeing valet parking this past Saturday morning, but booed the $5 price.  But in good times and in bad, I have loved having Datz be a part of the South Tampa food scene because it set the bar high with decor, hipness and a variety of upscale food choices at reasonable prices.  Datz has made the food scene better just due to its presence.

When I heard that Datz had purchased next door Kalupa Bakery and was turning it into a bakery cafe called "Dough" I cheered.  I was eager to see how Datz would turn the aged building into another hipster must-see/must-taste place.

I made two trips in the past couple months to sample various different versions of Dough's pastries.  I have yet to dine off their lunch menu, but look forward to doing so.

Gelato from Dough

Dough Bakery Case

Dough's Donuts!

Second bakery case

Part of the cafe seating area - LOVE the decor

For Trip One, I purchased: a chicken pot pie turnover, a bacon maple doughnut, a chocolate snickerdoodle - and I think a rum vanilla cupcake - I just thought it was so cute I glossed over the actual name of it.

The chicken pot pie turnover was delicious - an extremely buttery rich crust with a small amount of chicken, vegetables and gravy encapsulated within the folded over crust pocket.  Unfortunately for my tastebuds, the crust was too rich and overpowered the small amount of filling.  I would have liked some shredded chicken and a drizzle of gravy on top to balance out the extremely buttery crust.  

The bacon maple doughnut was amazing - if you like thick slabs of bacon and pure maple flavor, you will love this doughnut.  I had three friends try this doughnut recently, 2 loved it, 1 didn't care for it.  So like a gum commercial - 3 out of 4 say you should try this doughnut!

Oh and did I neglect to mention the doughnut is filled with custard?  Delicious, rich, tongue tantalizing custard .... ohhh so good!  As the world's worst photo stylist, I have positioned the maple bacon doughnut against a large purse/small trunk ("steampunk style") made out of a ouija board that I purchased on Etsy.com.  I chose to do this because the maple bacon doughnut is soooo sinfully good, it's best to call some ghosts to protect you from the devil!

The chocolate snickerdoodle ... first, I have to admit that I am an idiot.  This will come into play later in my tale.  My absolute favorite molasses snickerdoodle cookie is made by D'Amico & Sons in Minneapolis.  (Second favorite D'Amico & Sons' item?  The turkey and dried cherries pasta salad with poppyseed dressing.  AMAZING.  If you're not near a D'Amico & Sons, make a version of the pasta salad at home with this recipe.  Perfect for summer picnics and barbecues- as long as you keep it cold.)  

Which by the way, in googling D'Amico's website for this link I just remembered that there is a D'Amico & Sons in Naples, Florida and yet I have never been there.  Argh!  Another road trip is needed (and a stop for carrot cake at Mel's Diner in Bonita Springs!)

OK anyway, I love a molasses snickerdoodle cookie - well the one from Dough is a chocolate snickerdoodle cookie, but looks exactly the same as a molasses snickerdoodle.  So even though I read the sign that said "CHOCOLATE" snickerdoodle, my brain and stomach were set on a D'Amico & Sons molasses snickerdoodle.  So when I took a bite of Dough's chocolate snickerdoodle-- all sweet with delicious chocolate chunks, I was disappointed because I wanted a molasses one.  That's like my friend Miss A saying that her Cigar City Brewing bread pudding tasted too much like bread.

So if you like chocolate snickerdoodles, the one from Dough is very good.  If you apparently suffer from brain trauma like me, you won't like it because you have somehow convinced yourself that the word "chocolate" means "molasses."

Last but not least was a rum vanilla cupcake.  The cream frosting on this cupcake was rich and decadent.  The cupcake itself a little dry.  My favorite cupcakes come from Sweet Tweets Cakery in Carrollwood.  Dough's cupcake was OK, but I prefer Sweet Tweets.

My most favorite item from Dough is not pictured above - cold brewed iced coffee from local Kahwa Coffee Roasting Company.  This is by far my favorite cold brewed coffee in the  entire United States.  If you're in the Tampa Bay area, you must go to one of Kahwa's cafes or any of the local places that serve their cold brew.  It's really delicious.

The customer service at Dough on Trip One was friendly but slow.  I had the urge to jump over the bakery counter and help myself.  The ladies at Kalupa bakery were a tad bit faster.  Too bad Dough didn't hire them instead of the good-looking, faux boho-hipster wannabes.  Listen, do angst on your time - let's make it more snappy on that cold brew, OK? ;-)

Trip Two to Dough - I was going to attend a small celebration of twin one year olds birthday and since Sweet Tweets didn't open until 11 a.m. on a Saturday which was too late for my needs, I decided to get a selection of pastry from Dough instead.  

I arrived at 9 a.m. and the skinny, young, faux Boho hipster gentleman serving me was either half-asleep, hung over or both.  He acted as if he was walking through rice pudding.  I started off saying I would be placing a large order and if he could get a large box.  I then requested two items from the first bakery case and he said "OK that's it, right?" in a pained voice.  Well no, that's not it - so after each item I requested he would ask a huffy, annoyed "OK that's it, right?"  Each time he asked he got more huffy.  I would have bought more, but I was afraid I would slap him or he would slap me if I asked for one more thing.  

Side note:  There were only 2 people behind me and they were being waited on by another employee, so it's not like I was holding up a line or being really slow.  The attitude was not justified.  

Gee, I am sorry that wanting to buy multiple expensive items is making you frustrated and annoyed, Mr. Sleepy/Hungover.  Maybe you should get a job that starts later in the day!  Take a page from the deli counter workers at Fresh Market and Publix and say "What else can I get you, today?" instead of making me feel like I am wasting your time by ordering more than two items.  I love Dough's hip cafe feel, but for counter service I'd like a lot less hipness and a lot more fast, efficient customer service.  Whatever happened to upsell, upsell, upsell?

I felt like Homer Simpson shouting "D'Oh!" instead of cheering "Dough!"  

Trip Two - bakery display at Dough

Trip Two - bakery  case at Dough

A Box Full of Treats!

Despite the bad attitude/lack of good customer service, I still managed to go hog wild with the selection of deliciousness - in the picture above starting in the upper lefthand corner - a maple bacon cupcake, a red velvet brownie, Dough's version of a Ding Dong, a mini carrot cake, 2 campfire s'more tarts, 2 of Dough's version of an Oreo and of course the maple bacon doughnut described in Trip One.

My fellow taste testers - Ms. LP and Mrs. KRG joined me in trying some of the items above.  Unfortunately we chose to do this after lunch, so we didn't get a chance to try everything.  Darn stomachs!  But here's the review of what we did manage to try ...

Dough's Version of a Ding Dong - chocolate cake, whipped cream-like filling ... this should have been amazing.  Unfortunately it tasted old and dried out - like it had been in the refrigerator case much too long.  I bet this would be incredible fresh, but all 3 of us agreed it was not good as is.

Mini Carrot Cake - Mrs. KRG is a self-proclaimed carrot cake snob, so I knew we would have differing opinions on the carrot cake.  Ms. LP liked it.  I liked the frosting and the large pecans along the side of the cake, but was confused on the actual cake part.  It tasted like spice cake with a couple long, stringy dried out carrot shreds thrown in.  It did not taste like carrot cake at all and it was very dried out.  Even the crushed pineapple in the batter did not lend it any moistness.  

Mrs. KRG did not like it, plain and simple.  I have had carrot cake at Berns Steakhouse and Ocean Prime - two of the more expensive restaurants in Tampa and I still choose the very inexpensive carrot cake at Mel's Diner in Bonita Springs as the best carrot cake I have ever had.  

Campfire S'mores Tarts - I was excited to try these because I had seen them profiled on our local TV news.  The tart shell is graham cracker.  There is a layer of chocolate ganache and a homemade marshmallow.  The marshmallow is bruleed and then the whole tart is put under a dome and a smoker is used to impart a smoky flavor.  Then honey is drizzled over the entire tart.  Watching the tv show I thought "Really? Does it need honey too?  That seems like too much."  

Our three testers were in agreement on most elements of this dessert.  1) We couldn't taste any smokiness whatsoever.  2) The graham cracker tart shell was lacking flavor.  To me it reminded me of a British digestive biscuit cookie and not in a good way.  3)  The ganache was good but extremely rich and there was way too much of it.  It overpowered everything.  4)  The homemade marshmallow was extremely fresh and very, very, very good - the best part about the dish.  5) The honey was overkill.  

A better tasting tart shell, a lot less ganache, bigger marshmallow, skip the honey and don't tell people you smoked it - and you'll have a winning tart.    

The rest of the treats were left for Ms. LP, her twins and her family - so I'll have to check in with her to get reaction on the remaining pastries!

I have heard via Dough's Facebook page that they are working on their own version of the croissant doughnut, so I'll be interested to see how they stack up against local favorite Piquant Epicure & Cuisine.

So for my two trips to Dough, there were some hits and some misses (D'oh!).  I do look forward to trying their lunch menu.  Their decor is like a French bistro mixed with a cotton candy dream and I love it, love it, love it!

I appreciate that the Tampa Bay food scene continues to evolve and that we have more places in line with a "big city."  I enjoy the decor and atmosphere at Dough, as well as its sister restaurant Datz.  I think if the staff at Dough check their bakery cases to make sure the cooling isn't drying out their pastries and to make sure they keep fresh inventory, their gorgeous desserts will taste as good as they look.  Also take the counter staff on a field trip to a large Publix deli and give them a lesson on speed, efficiency and cheery dispositions.  Trust me, your customers will thank you for it.    

July 20, 2013 Update:  Datz Dough has announced via their Facebook page that starting Monday, July 22, 2013 they will start selling their own version of the croissant doughnut in limited quantities.  If you try one of Datz Dough's "faux-nuts" croissant doughnuts, let me know what you think about it in the comments section below.  If you just have to have a croissant doughnut before Monday, read my review of Piquant's new guava croissant doughnut here.

Piquant Has The Recipe For Anger: Tampa's First Taste of the Croissant Doughnut Sparks A French Revolution

Update:  Read about Piquant's new croissant doughnut policy and their lunch menu items in a follow up blog post in addition to the one below.

Hello LilyOnTheLam.com Readers:

Sixteen hours before this blog post was published, our wonderful local food critic Laura Reiley of The Tampa Bay Times announced the news that the croissant doughnut (also known as "cronut" or "doughssant") had come to Tampa.  This is a fantastic hybrid of a croissant and a doughnut.  

The cronut was invented by Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York City.  It stirred up an immediate frenzy and has been setting foodies on fire with lust ever since.  So much so that it was recently reported that a "crazed cronut fan" had threatened the Dominique Ansel Bakery staff! 

Now as someone who devotes a tremendous amount of her time thinking of food, dreaming of food and consuming food, I wanted to try a piece of this cronut action for myself.  But I thought I'd have to go to New York City to do it. 

(Side note: Even a flight to NYC does not guarantee you a cronut.  My friend Ms. LC flew to New York and went to Dominique Ansel Bakery in SoHo but sadly they were out of cronuts!)  

Now Tampa is not exactly the bakery trend setter of the world (although shout outs to Datz Dough, Pane Rustica and Le Mouton Noir Bakehouse for all being the stuff of my carb-filled dreams.)  So imagine my salivating lust when I read Laura Reiley's Tampa Bay Times article that Piquant Epicure & Cuisine in Old Hyde Park Village in South Tampa had developed their own version of a croissant doughnut.  

On Sundays, Piquant opens at 8 a.m.  I was there at 8:20 which for a Sunday is like 4 a.m. to me.  I am NOT a morning person, especially on weekends.  But I imagined that Laura Reiley's article would spark a firestorm of stomach interest and I wanted to get there before Piquant sold out.

A gentleman walked in ahead of me and waited by the hostess stand.  I walked up to the bakery counter, assuming this was proper procedure for ordering something to go.  A woman behind the bakery counter looked at me and walked away without saying a word.  The hostess went to the gentleman standing at the hostess stand and he said he wanted the last 4 croissant doughnuts in the bakery case.  She rang him up and again no one acknowledged me.  Had cronut/doughssant frenzy rendered me invisible?  

The bakery case at Piquant!

Then the hostess told the gentleman that they also had filled pastries in addition to the sugar ones but they were not finished yet - they were being filled with raspberry preserves in the back and would be out shortly.  The gentleman said he would like to buy one.  The hostess said that she could not sell him a croissant doughnut unless it was in the case.  She could not pre-sell any pastry unless you bought half a dozen or a dozen.  The gentleman was quite perturbed about this and just stood there in shock.  

Then the woman looked to me.  My invisibility cloak must have fallen off.  Because the gentleman decided to get a filled pastry, there was one lone sugar-coated one in the case.  (Today they had been offering cinnamon-sugar, sugar and raspberry-filled croissant doughnuts.)  

I asked for the 1 pastry, but because I was buying them for myself and a friend; I decided to "beat the system" and order half a dozen.  This was probably not the best thing to do as I stood right next to the previous customer.

The gentleman was like "What??? Wait, if people behind me all order half a dozen, does my one order get put aside or do I lose out?"  

A fair question.  The response was in my opinion, not so fair.

The hostess explained that because there were no croissant doughnuts in the case, the man did not have claim to any because he didn't buy the filled pastry.  Is this like old time real property law?  Is this a doughssant in fee simple?  I didn't pay a lot of attention in Property Law class.

This explanation was like waving a red flag in front of a bull.  The gentleman then asked if he sat at a table and ordered a filled croissant doughnut off the menu, wouldn't he then stake a claim to said cronut/doughssant?  By this time three women stood uncomfortably behind the counter, fidgeting trying to explain what they said was "The Chef's Policy."  At this point a long line of people had formed, listening to the outrage.

I felt like I was in Micro Economics class again.  (Another class I did not pay enough attention to -- whoops.)  What part of supply, demand and Keynesian economics was "you can't pay for the croissant doughnut unless it's in the glass case"?  The counter staff also started talking about how the pastry had to be "on the board."  They had wood planks as serving trays that sat in the counter.  I wanted to ask the counter staff if a pastry was in the glass case but not on the wooden board, would this be a case of voodoo economics and could I use the Gross National Product of Chile to pay for the doughssant?  But I was afraid the Counter Staff would ban me from Piquant for life!

I asked the counter staff if any more sugar non-filled pastry were coming out as I wanted my friend and I to try both and God forbid we actually share one.  (First world pastry problems!)

The woman behind the counter said "no," which I found hard to believe at 8:35 a.m. that they were already done for the day with sugar croissant doughnuts but who am I to argue?  I paid for my 1 sugar pastry and my pre-ordered 6 filled pastry.  And after I paid, out came 3 cinnamon sugar and 3 sugar croissant doughnuts.  I looked at the counter staff woman with a slack jaw of shock and disappointment.  She grimaced sheepishly and said "Oh I didn't know."  I wanted to ask her why she hated me.  I could hear people in line barking to try to claim the pastry in the case, but I was still in front of the register so I said "One more sugar one then!"  

The line of people were all grousing as if it was their God-given, constitutional right to get a cronut-style pastry.  The atmosphere building up around the waiting customers was definitely like Game of Croissant Doughnuts - I was waiting for someone to come up and decapitate me in the name of Winterfell.  I wonder if they served cronut-style pastries at the Game of Thrones' Red Wedding?

After paying for my pre-ordered croissant doughnuts, I went to sit down and wait for my egg, cheese and bacon baguette and afore-mentioned cronuts.  I was quite smug (OK extremely smug) watching the angry line of customers foam at the mouth and shout about the lack of pastry.  The remaining 5 croissant doughnuts that had come out from the kitchen were quickly bought up.  

The poor counter staff tried to explain how you could only buy a croissant doughnut if it was in the case and now said that they could not give any time estimate when any pastry would be ready.    

They apologized that this was only the second day they had this cronut-like pastry and they hadn't anticipated the frenzy.  (When Tampa Bay Times Food Critic Laura Reiley talks, everyone listens!)  The fact that they could not even estimate a general time window of when cronuts would be available was like throwing a Molatov cocktail on the dried wood branches of the waiting customers.  More fury, more bitchy comments to the counter staff.  A lot of ugliness for a bakery on a Sunday morning.

I watched two separate customers walk out in a huff.  This was a recipe for disaster, bad service and a bad reputation.  I surely hoped these croissant doughnuts were worth all the insanity!

To be fair, one of the customers who walked out wearing his huffiest of huffy pants had yelled "YOU SHOULD HAVE MADE FIVE HUNDRED!"  Like seriously, sir?  How about this-- you pre-order and pay for five hundred and I am sure Piquant would be glad to make them for you.  Let's be a little realistic with our zaniness.  Please!

As I sat waiting for my pastry, my bacon, egg and cheese baguette came out- a vision of loveliness on a crusty but easy to eat plank of French bread.  Delicious - I highly recommend it.  The bacon alone is worth the price of the sandwich.  Sooo smoky good - a thick slab of heaven.

Piquant's Bacon, Egg and Cheese Baguette at Sand Key Beach - check out all that BACON!

Then from the back comes two raspberry-filled croissant doughnuts on a board.  The woman sells them to the two men who had been waiting ahead of me who were not allowed to pre-buy them.  I could have been a colossal douchebag and demanded them because I had already paid, but I really didn't want to die at the hands of a pastry-loving mob.

The two gentlemen each bought a filled croissant doughnut and left but were still disgruntled and making comments on their way out the door.  

One of the counter staff comes over to me and asked me my name.  I said "Lily" and she jumped back and said her name was Lily too.  I was hoping sharing the same name would mean speedy pastry service.  BUT NO!

And side note - is this a ploy to make me feel better about the situation?  Had I said my name was Beulah, would the Piquant employee be named Beulah too?  I may need to test this theory.  I need a wig, fake glasses with a nose on them and a mustache ... and three chihuahuas.  Don't ask why. 

"The Other Lily" told me that she wasn't sure when my six cronuts would be ready and that the cronuts would "probably" be ready before they closed at 3 p.m. but if I gave them my telephone number that they would call me when the croissant doughnut were done.  I was shocked and asked "Just how long does it take to fill a pastry with raspberry preserves?"  

"The Other Lily" said it would take time to proof the pastry.  Now I am not a baker, but even I know that PROOFING a pastry means waiting for the dough to rise.  You don't fill a croissant doughnut before it is baked.  What happened to the ones they were supposedly filling in the back?  

"The Other Lily" said that the recently filled ones were going to the glass case to be sold to customers in line.  That pre-orders took second place.  WELL HELLO YOU DIDN'T SAY THAT WHEN I WAS IN LINE!  Grrrr ... disgruntled I was!  I didn't want to be like Mr. Huffy "Make 500 Croissant Doughnuts" Guy, but I was getting close to that level of rudeness.  (First world problems, I know, I know.) 

I thought I had beat the system by securing a claim to croissant doughnuts by purchasing half a dozen as prescribed ... but no, I had been suckered.  I should have brought a tent and just camped out in front of the bakery case.  What was it going to take to get a raspberry-filled croissant doughnut?   

Before I could set up a tent community of "Occupy Piquant," my look of murderous cronut wanting-induced rage sent "The Other Lily" scurrying back to the kitchen to double-check with the Chefs if there was anything they could do.  I was heading out for a beach day and could not be back before 3 p.m. to pick up croissant doughnuts that may or may not be available.  Really Piquant?  You expect me to sit by the phone and wait for your phone call?  Are you my next inconsiderate boyfriend?  Are you going to next try to borrow my convertible and ask me to do your laundry?  

By some miracle, "The Other Lily" came out with two boxes for me.  She looked embarrassed and said "I didn't know they were already done for you."  I was so happy to see the boxes that I just let my snarkiness over being jerked around for pastry go.  Just call me Deepak Chopra!  

Now let me tell you, with the exception of the older staff member who had taken one look at me and walked away without saying a word - the two younger counter staff members were as polite and courteous as they could be while trying hopelessly to explain and enforce a riot-inducing croissant doughnut policy.  So I am not going to kill the messenger and honestly neither should any guest.  The poor young ladies are just trying to do their job.  I thanked them both as I skipped out with bags of pastry and breakfast food from Piquant.  

But here's the thing - there was no longer a line when I left.  The croissant doughnut policy was making enemies and instilling bad feelings left and right.  Not a good public relations move for Piquant.  

(Although P.S. Piquant sold out of all their croissant doughnuts at noon according to a Tweet they sent me, so like a bad boy boyfriend who treats us poorly - evidently we just can't stay away from Piquant!  So maybe they don't need my pearls of wisdom on how to run their business!)  

Piquant's cronuts - the most delicious pastry that you MUST try!

    
Next to the inevitable question - was Piquant's raspberry-filled homage to cronut-style pastry worth all the ruckus, commotion and negative energy on a Sunday morning?  

Oh yessssssss.  

Still warm, crusty sugary outside, flaky layers inside with an amazingly fresh tasting raspberry filling, Piquant's version of a croissant doughnut was well worth the aggravation.  And like climbing to the top of Mount Everest, the intensity of the journey made me appreciate the sweet reward of the pastry even more.

Later as I sat at Sand Key beach working on my glorious tan, my friend and I ate sugar coated and raspberry-filled croissant doughnuts.  Talk about decadence by the seashore!  My friend nodded appreciation- she agreed the madcap adventures were worth the reward of the croissant doughnut and thanked me for retrieving them from Old Hyde Park Village.  

If you go to Piquant in search of a croissant doughnut, find your inner happy spot and get zen so you don't go ballistic and postal on the poor young ladies working the counter.  Please!  Their jobs must be hard enough working around such great food and not devouring it every minute of the work day.

(Side Note: at the time I didn't realize Piquant gave me an assortment of filled croissant doughnuts - I had vanilla custard filled, chocolate filled as well as raspberry filled cronuts in the box above.  My favorite?  Vanilla custard!  With flecks of vanilla bean, luscious custardy mouthfeel against the crunchy, sugary croissant dough - amazingly tasty!)

I will absolutely be back to Piquant not only for their croissant doughnuts but for the rest of their menu as well.  

Thank you to the Chefs of Piquant for bringing this New York Trend to Tampa, but please please please for the love of your customers and your counter staff could you come up with a better croissant doughnut purchasing policy?  South Tampa and all of Tampa Bay will be happier!

Even Chibby Kitten wants in on the cronut action!

P.S. Piquant tweeted me and thanked me for the constructive criticism and said they have taken it to heart.  What more can one ask?  (Free croissant doughnut?  Hahahhahaha!)  Do check out the pastry at Piquant, your belly will be happy you did!

P.P.S.  The next day Piquant offered me a free croissant doughnut!  LOVE!  But because of the high demand, I didn't want to be the selfish croissant doughnut lover bogarting all the top Tampa pastry - so I declined their very generous offer.  Thanks Piquant!  I'll be back to try your lunch menu!

Piquant Epicure and Cuisine
1633 W Snow Ave, Tampa, FL 33606
http://piquanthydepark.com

Can you go home again? The Hot Fish Shop - Rochester, Minnesota

I was born in a small city in Southern Minnesota, USA.  My paternal grandmother was a first generation American - her parents emigrated from Poland.  She lived her entire life in the house she was born in.  The now 120+ year old home still belongs to a cousin.  I could not imagine spending my entire life in one house - from cradle to grave.  I suppose there is something romantic to the notion, but I appreciate that I have lived in five states in the US, as well as lived for short periods of time in Taiwan, Switzerland, Australia and Malaysia.  I do miss the neighborhood aspect of my Grandmother's home (read about the not so charming neighbors in another one of my blog posts entitled: Cadavers, Adultery, The Butterfly Effect and Why I Have Been Missing In Action.)  I miss the local ladies who would can food straight from their garden.  I miss my chain-smoking, gruff but lovable Grandmother and I miss my Velveeta-cheese eating and TV wrestling match watching Grandfather.

When I was little, a fancy night out with my relatives would be dinner at The Hot Fish Shop restaurant in Winona, Minnesota.  The owners were Polish and I remember being very happy to get a large button that said "Proud to be Polish" and the red and white "Solidarity" buttons too.  I have never been to Poland (yet) and at the time had no clue who Lech Walesa was, but I felt connected to a cause bigger when I saw such buttons.  

My two cousins and I all have first names that start with L.  I am the youngest, so I guess I am L Number 3.  As a child, L Number 1 - the oldest, was the blond, sassy, very outspoken grandchild.  She adored shrimp - so much so that she wore a white fluffy bathrobe with a big pink shrimp on the back of it.  When we go to The Hot Fish Shop, she would of course order the batter-fried shrimp.  I did not care for the shrimp and didn't start liking it until college when I tasted shrimp properly cooked and not rubbery.  My cousin L Number 2 and I - both dark-haired, would order the batter-fried torsk at the Hot Fish Shop.  I didn't know then and honestly didn't know until I did some research for this blog post (yeah, I actually do research for this blog, can you believe it??) that "torsk" is just a Norwegian word for cod.  All this time I believed my childhood was filled with fluffy, flaky, mystical fish.  Nope, just cod.

I loved The Hot Fish Shop.  It first opened Christmas night in 1931.  The Kowalewski Family ran the restaurant.  It was a Winona, Minnesota institution.  Families had been dining there for generations and I was happy to be part of one of those families.  The restaurant was dark with wood paneling and in my small town youth was all I knew of a family-style supper club.  For a poor kid who didn't get to go out to dinner much, it was a grand saloon.  

My Uncle would let us kids order Shirley Temples (read about my love of Shirley Temples here) and we felt very fancy indeed.  Pickled beets would be served as an appetizer (which honestly every restaurant should just give you pickled beets the minute you walk through the door - it is a moral imperative.  It is also why I love Lenny's Restaurant in Clearwater, Florida.  If you go there for breakfast you get a danish basket per person and for lunch, pickled beets.  My dream is to have a neighbor who gives me jars and jars of canned pickled beets.  But I digress ... ahhh beets ...)

In addition to their fabulous beets, The Hot Fish Shop's tartar sauce was one of its top draws.  The Hot Fish Shop had a small seafood market attached where you could buy the best smoked fish and jars of the tartar sauce to take home.  Years later, I would buy my Mom fresh and smoked fish from the The Hot Fish Shop Market - and one time I even bought her frog legs, just to see what she would do with them.  (She cooked them and ate them!  Eeeew!)  

When my little sister Squidge was seven years old, my aforementioned oldest cousin L Number 1 was getting married to a man who turned out to be husband number 1.  We returned to Winona, Minnesota for the wedding festivities.  Before driving back to Minneapolis after the wedding weekend, I contemplated whether we should take an hour and have lunch at The Hot Fish Shop before going home.  I was in a rush to get back to the city, but Squidge had never dined at The Hot Fish Shop and those pickled beets were calling.

I had my usual - fluffy and crisp batter-fried torsk, French fries, coleslaw, heaping spoonful of homemade tartar sauce and of course those Hot Fish Shop pickled beets.  Except this time, Squidge was the one getting the Shirley Temple.

I was glad that I had stopped to have lunch at The Hot Fish Shop because less than two years later in 1999, after almost seventy years in business The Hot Fish Shop closed - with the current owner citing extensive overhead as the reason for the closure in the Winona Daily News.  That lunch was my last meal at The Hot Fish Shop.  Every time I am in Winona, I am still saddened that it is no longer there.  I miss both the food as well as the memories of dinners with my Grandparents.  

(Side Note:  I am glad that Bloedow's Bakery - a bakery in business since 1924 - where I would visit with my Grandmother and get the best doughnuts with chocolate glaze - is still open and running in Winona, Minnesota.  Raised in the city, this was the first time I ever saw unsliced bread being sold.  I remember being in awe that the bread wasn't sliced!  I was a very sheltered kid, evidently! In 2012, Bloedow's Bakery was named best doughnut shop in Minnesota - obviously all of Minnesota agrees with my opinion.  If you are ever in Winona, Minnesota, get yourself over to Bloedow's Bakery first thing in the morning - your stomach will be ever so happy that you did.)

One night, I was searching the internet and I stumbled upon the Winona Daily News article that The Hot Fish Shop was re-opening - by the grandson-in-law of The Hot Fish Shop's owner but that this time the restaurant would be in Rochester, Minnesota instead of Winona.  Would it be like The Hot Fish Shop of my youth?  I knew that the next time I was in Minnesota, I would have to check it out.

In October of this year, I went to visit my sister Squidge- in her first "adult" apartment after graduating college.  I told her about The Hot Fish Shop opening in Rochester, Minnesota and she agreed to accompany me for dinner to check it out.  I must state for the record that Squidge doesn't really remember The Hot Fish Shop and her one lunch there when she was seven years old, but I still felt like we were going back in time and bonding over the family's generational link with the restaurant.

The new Hot Fish Shop in Rochester, Minnesota; does not look like the old Hot Fish Shop (see a postcard of the old Hot Fish Shop here).  The new Hot Fish Shop is in a strip mall across the parking lot from a very fancy looking movie theater.  

There may or may not be a Squidge in this picture

But the logo on the menu was 100% old school Hot Fish Shop.  I hate to admit this but I got a little giddy just seeing the wacky old logo.  I half-expected my deceased Grandmother to sit down next to me.

The decor was also not like the old supper club-style Hot Fish Shop, but if the food was like it was - who cares about decor?

I was happy to see the Kowalewski Family Flag flying in the restaurant.

There were also pictures and news articles from the original Hot Fish Shop.  I liked being able to feel the history in the new restaurant.

The menu no longer said "torsk" - but it did have the less exotic sounding cod.  :)

My sister and I both ordered the batter-fried cod with baked potatoes.  In honor of my cousin L Number 1, I also ordered a side of batter-fried shrimp.  And of course, we started with pickled beets.  

My sister and I must have dug into the pickled beets so fast that I didn't get a picture of them, but they are also for sale (as well as the tartar sauce and fish batter) at the restaurant.

The beets were as good as I remembered.  Crisp, tart and delicious.  This was a good first start.  The batter-fried cod arrived next.  

Batter-fried cod (aka torsk), a shrimp, baked potato, cole slaw and Squidge's finger.

My dinner without Squidge's finger - pickled beets in the background

Squidge showcasing the coleslaw

The Hot Fish Shop coleslaw

The coleslaw and tartar sauce were exactly like I remembered it.  (By the way, the best coleslaw I have ever eaten is from Mabel's Lobster Claw in Kennebunkport, Maine.)  The Hot Fish Shop tartar sauce is still amazing - and I wish they sold it in Tampa Bay.  The baked potato was fluffy and lovely.  The batter-fried cod was crisp with a tempura-style batter.  Unfortunately, it was really greasy.  It needed to be drained on paper toweling for a minute before being served.  But had the fish been properly drained it would have been very similar to the same crisp, pillowy, fluffy, flaky fish of my youth.  I remember the planks of fish being much larger when I was little, but I was also a lot smaller when I was little - so that might have been a matter of perspective versus fish size.

The shrimp was also how I remembered it - in other words, after all these years I still didn't care for The Hot Fish Shop's shrimp.  But that's OK, there were plenty of things I did enjoy there.

I don't remember ever eating dessert at the original Hot Fish Shop.  But my sister and I saw a large slab of tiramisu in the glass case that was calling our name.

When you think Southern Minnesota family-style seafood restaurant, you probably don't think "tiramisu" but wow, I have to say this was some of the best tiramisu I have ever had.  It was creamy with just the right punch of espresso and rum flavors.  In trying to go home again, I not only found the tartar sauce of my childhood but a creamy, rich dessert that I was not expecting to find.  I would recommend going to the new Hot Fish Shop just for their tiramisu (but stay for the fish, tartar sauce and pickled beets!)  

I miss my Grandparents and I miss The Hot Fish Shop of my youth, but I was glad to be able to have dinner with my beautiful sister Squidge and reminisce about childhood memories at the new Hot Fish Shop over some batter-fried fish and pickled beets.  If you're in the Rochester, Minnesota area, check it out and make sure you have some tiramisu too!

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