Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Foodie Report: Citizen Cake Patisserie and Bouchon Bakery

If you follow my blogs, you know I'm a big fan of TV, makeup, and running. You know what else I love? Baked goods! I am a sweet tooth freak. Cookies are my favorite with cupcakes being a close second.

So I'm going to do a slightly different post this time with my very first Foodie Report.

While my friend Pam (remember her from the smokey eye look?) was in town, we visited some amazing bakeries and they were both delicious experiences!

First stop:


Citizen Cake Patisserie
San Francisco, CA
Chef Elizabeth Falkner

We were both familiar with this place from Chef Faulkner's appearances on the foodie shows. Most recently, Pam and I caught her on an episode of Top Chef Master's.

On a side note, the first time I visited Citizen Cake was with my friend Kirby where we had cupcakes and coffee at the bar. Chef Faulkner made an appearance while we were there - with a camera crew! I think they may have been shooting background footage for the Top Chef show. Just a guess. Alas, we did not make the final cut.

Anyway, check out our feast! We shared two delicious cupcakes with our Cafe Au Laits.



Signature cupcake:


Rocky Road cupcake:


Both were very yummy but I think we agreed that the chocolate cake in the Signature Cupcake was better - more rich and moist, I think. Although the marshmallows in the Rocky Road cupcake were heavenly, as well.


Later that weekend, we found ourselves in wine country and through Pam's clever research, we discovered this place.



Bouchon Bakery
Yountville, CA (near Napa)
Chef Thomas Keller

Now I won't pretend to have known who Thomas Keller is, however I had heard of his fancy schmancy restaurant, The French Laundry. So naturally we were excited to go to one of his places that we could actually get into - haha.



It's a cute place however no seating area inside. I felt like a kid in the candy store though... everything looked so wonderful and I just couldn't choose. I just randomly started picking out things when it was my turn to order.

Some of my goodies: Hazelnut Macaron, Madeleine, TKO (which I think stands for Thomas Keller Oreo)


And an eclair!


The TKO seemed to be a popular treat as I overheard a lot of other customers order it as well. I thought it was just OK. It was kind of dry, which I suppose is like an Oreo. The Madeleine was also good but I think I actually prefer the much lighter kinds you get in those 3-packs from Starbucks. (Is that blasphemy?) The hazelnut macaron and the eclair were my favorites - just perfect!

I loved both places - check them out if you are in the area!

5 fascinating comment(s) from my friends:

Runner Leana said...

OK, so now I'm hungry! Those cupcakes look amazing!

Julianne said...

I loooove Bouchon bakery! Looks like you got all the right stuff from there! :-)

joyRuN said...

I want one of those bakeries near me - those look sooo yummy!

Unknown said...

Um - why didn't we ever think about doing this while we had time in CA? THat would be a perfect road trip idea - visit all the best bakeries!!

E said...

Thanks for these tips. Now I know where to go when I'm back in your area!