Pig Dogs and Purse Cakes

There is a bakery on Glenoaks called Paradise Pastry and Cafe. It is a land of wonder, with a hot deli, cold deli. meat market, and import shop. If you need foie gras, veal sweetbreads, back bacon or yogurt soda, this is the place to go. In the Armenian bakery you can get nazook still warm from the oven and a huge assortment of French pastries.

The most amazing thing about Paradise Bakery for me is their cake styling. The two most popular cakes are purses and a little cuddly creature who may be a dog, but has piglike features. To me he will always be the pig dog.







And what is this? A guinea piglet?





And then every once in a while they really go ouside the box.







And some of their cakes are really beautiful

Seattle Thursday: Hey Macrina!

Thursday we had the entire morning and afternoon before we were scheduled to pick up my nephew Justin. At my friend Wathana's recomendation, we went looking for the Macrina Bakery. It was only blocks from our hotel. It really was a fantastic location. We picked up some pastries for the road.



Macrina has a wide selection of breads, all formed by hand, including

Macrina Casera
“Of This House”
1.5 lb Loaf ~ $3.55
This bread is leavened with a natural wild starter made from organic grapes, coarse whole wheat and unbleached flours. Designed for any meal. It has a mild sour flavor.

Giuseppe
1.5 lb Loaf ~ $3.55 • 2.5 oz Roll ~ $0.65
1.75 lb Sliced Loaf ~ $4.15
8 oz Panini ~ $1.65
Our classic, crusty Italian loaf. Leavened with biga (traditional sponge starter) and unbleached flour. Lighter in salt and perfect for dipping in your favorite olive oil.



Olivetta
1 lb Loaf ~ $4.05 • 2.5 oz Roll ~ $0.65
Similar in texture to our focaccia, this moist and savory loaf is packed with whole green olives and fresh oregano. Baked on semolina and brushed with extra virgin olive oil.

and the fascinating

Vollkorn
1.25 lb Loaf ~ $4.05 • 2.5 oz Roll ~ $0.65
A German-style, 6-grain seed bread. This beautiful loaf is leavened with a beer starter and sweetened with a touch of honey and molasses. Its braided design makes it perfect for breaking with friends.

Their antique pastry case has been offering up goodies since 1993. Like the Roly-Poly, "our homage to the classic cinnamon roll, enhanced with coconut, raisins and walnuts".






Macrina's Fresh Fruit Coffeecake

For September, we are featuring our Fresh Fruit Coffeecake. To make the best possible cake, use freshly picked berries at the height of their growing season. Usually, berries are at their best in September. Pick blackberries, raspberries, blueberries or huckleberries (perfect in mid-September) and toss them in the batter.

Makes 1 bundt cake

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups ripe fruit (whole berries or fruit cut into 1/2 inch pieces)
12 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups buttermilk
Edible flowers and powdered sugar for garnish (optional)


Preheat oven to 350º F. Oil a 12-cup Bundt pan.

Sift flour, baking soda and salt into a large bowl and toss with your hands to combine. Remove 1/4 cup of the flour mixture and set bowl aside.

In a separate medium bowl, combine fruit and the reserved 1/4 cup of flour mixture. Toss until fruit is evenly coated and set aside. Tossing the fruit in flour helps keep it from sinking to the bottom of the coffeecake – a true disaster!

Combine butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Mix with the paddle attachment for 5 to 8 minutes on medium speed. The mixture will become smooth and pale in color. Add eggs, one at a time, making sure the first egg is fully mixed into the batter before adding the other. After the second egg is incorporated, add vanilla extract and mix for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and mix for another 30 seconds to make sure all of the ingredients are fully incorporated. Remove the bowl from the mixer.

Alternately add small amounts of flour mixture and buttermilk to the batter mixing with a wooden spoon just until all dry ingredients are incorporated. Gently fold in the flour coated fruit making sure the fruit is evenly distributed through the batter. Spoon batter into the prepared Bundt pan filling two-thirds of the pan.

Bake on the center rack of the oven for 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until top is golden brown. Check the center of the coffeecake with a skewer. It will come out clean when the cake is done. Let cool in a pan for 45 minutes.

Loosen the sides of the cake with a sharp knife. Place a serving plate upside-down on top of the cooled Bundt pan and invert the pan to remove the cake.

This delicious coffeecake is perfect just the way it is, but I like to jazz up the presentation with a few fresh, edible flowers and a dusting of powdered sugar.

The Teacake Wars

This story begins with the graveyard shift. The Coral Cafe on Magnolia is the only place in Burbank that delivers at 3am. I have eaten their mediocre food on many a desperate occasion. And I always thought it was strange that amongst their boring menu items was one star - an amazing teacake. It isn't like the southern teacakes I bake, which are giant, cake-like cookies. This one is a buttermilk sponge-cake with a glazed sugar icing, which resembles a little petit-four.

Then one day I was in Bob's Big Boy, and hey, they had the exact same teacake. I asked their supplier, and they told me it was Martino's. My friend Lisa had already recommended their location on Verdugo to me. And Lisa knows all of the best bakeries, in spite of being my skinniest friend. Luckily for me, a few months later a flower shop nearby on Victory became the new home to Martino's.

Every once in a while I stop into their shiny, clean bakery for a box of teacakes on my way home. They are much better fresh, so moist and delicious. In addition to the buttermilk, they also have blueberry, cranberry, and bran. The blueberry teacakes have a layer of blueberry filling topped with a crumbly streusel, so they are almost like a little tiny cobbler.

When I started to write this blog, I thought I would do a quick internet search and get a little background info before swooning over the teacakes in annoying detail. Martino's website turned out to be kind of confusing. It talks about how the bakery started in the Martinos' garage back in 1926, then when Campbell's Soup was going to close it down in 1994, the employees started a stock option to take over the company. Then it vaguely states, "Through all of its ups and downs it has been able to keep its recipes in tack (sic)." I'm not even going to start in on the "In tack" thing. It also mentions that Amerio Corradi is part owner.

In an article for the "Senior Bulldog News" (Of which I am sure you are all faithful readers), Herb Vincent trumpets the opening of the Martino's on Victory in 2006. It says Amerio Corradi, an employee and school chum of the Martinos' son, bought the bakery in 1948 with his partner, Vic. The business was sold to Campbells Soup's Pepperidge Farm division in 1980. Then it clearly states, "Vic and Amerio both continued on with Campbell’s as a part of the sales agreement, Vic for one year and Amerio for almost five." So that puts Amerio out the door in 1984.

The article goes on to state that Amerio opened a small bakery on Verdugo near Olive...with no mention of the name of the bakery or the date. The last reference point we have is Campbell's buying the place in 1980 and sending Amerio out the door just under five years later. In an article on the employee buyout from 1998, Amerio is quoted as an outside source. So when could he have gotten involved in the "new" Martinos? The next thing you know, the article is talking about the current location on Victory. And there is a photo of Amerio, smiling and posing out front on opening day.

The two stories were just the bakery's own self-promotion and a local fluff piece, but even they couldn't synch up? So I went over to Chowhound, where people have definite opinions, and certainly know their stuff. This is a direct quote from popular poster, UBERGEEK, "United Bakery on Flower St. in Burbank -- remember Martino's teacakes? Well, Martino's reopened on Victory different ownership and the teacakes at the "new" Martino's are disgusting -- but United Bakery bought the original recipe and they're true copies of the delicious original. Most unlikely place for a bakery in the history of history -- north of Alameda, in a disgusting warehouse section of Burbank."

Well, I don't think the "new" Martino's teacakes are "disgusting", but maybe he uses the term loosely, because the warehouse section wasn't that disgusting either. But he was definitely on to something. Here was the lead I'd been waiting for. So today I decided to head straight to the source. Keeping this blog is sure requiring a lot more investigative journalism than I had anticipated.

United Bakery is definitely in a deserted industrial area just off of the 5 freeway and Alameda, practically under a bridge. It seemed like a good place to dump a body. Other than the signs advertising pumpkin pie and a welcoming OPEN sign, I might have passed the plain building without a second glance.

It was clearly an industrial bakery with just a small front counter for walk-ins. It reminded me of the little back-alley bakeries of Chinatown. There were the infamous tea cakes - buttermilk only, pan dulces (elote conches only), hot cross buns and some pies. Definitely not the same overwhelming array of goods as in the shiny "new Martino's". What struck me the most were the faded old demo cakes lining the top edge of the walls, which took me back to the 70s when my mom used to decorate cakes.

I picked up some hot cross buns for Easter, and the tea cakes. I was marvelling at their striking similarity to the "other" teacakes. A guy passed by carrying a big tray and asked how I was doing. Walk-ins don't seem to be a common sight and he was curious. I said, "I'm confused about the difference between this place and Martinos." His voice grew tense. "Completely different."

"So you both used to work for Martino's and split to open different bakeries?"

"THEY never worked for Martino's"

"I read on the internet that the employees bought Martino's from Campbell's"

"The employees bought it and ran it straight into the ground. Straight into bankruptcy."

"So then you opened this place."

"Yeah. They came to me looking for jobs, and we trained them. We trained them and (he makes a hand gesture that can mean "off they went" but seemed to mean "they just fucked off and betrayed us.)"

"So they never had any connection to Martino's?"

"They just bought the name."

"Wait. You trained them, and taught them your trade secrets, then they left, and bought the name Martino's and opened up as Martino's?"

"Yes."

I had so many more questions, but he was seething by now. I had opened old wounds, freshened I'm sure by the shiny new bakery counter of the Martino's on Victory. It was time to grab my baked goods and beat a hasty exit.

When I got home, I was able to dredge up an article online about the employees bankrupting the original Martino's. But I still don't get the connection with Amerio. Maybe he sold them the name and poses as part of the deal. Maybe he is an original owner and it really is his place and something weird went down with United bakery. I still don't know who the guy is at United bakery. Though he intimated that he worked at the original Martino's, it was never stated explicitly. And as I said, I wore out my welcome before I got to the introductions.

I tend to root for the underdog, and I really wanted United's teacakes to blow Martino's out of the water. But they were just like Martino's, maybe just a little denser, just a little stickier. I'm not sure I have the full story here. I may need to buy some more teacakes. I may need to go deep undercover.

http://www.martinosbakery.com/index.html

http://www.wesclark.com/burbank/martinos.html

http://www.inc.com/magazine/19980901/991.html

United Bakery 727 South Flower St Burbank CA 91502

Martino's Bakery 335 North Victory Burbank 91502

The Glory That is Burbank: Porto's

6. EVERYBODY LOVES PORTO'S!!

True, Porto's has been a Glendale institution for over 35 years, but last year saw the grand opening of its Burbank location. And we greeted them with open arms! The Portos family began their tradition of baking back in Cuba, and the second generation is now helping to run the business.

You enter the large bakery's corner entrance facing the barista. On your right is a long bakery case with a line snaking back and forth two or three rows deep, depending on the time of day. That is the line for cakes, and a wide assortment of breads and pastries. To your left is a shorter, single line and bakery case. Choose this line for sandwiches, and a smaller selection of pastries and breads. It is an "express line" for people who aren't ordering a large quantity of baked goods. If you order sandwiches or cafe con leche you are given a number. You wait for the cafe in front of the barista, and you wait for the sandwiches in the far left corner. In the far right corner is a special counter for custom ordering sheet cakes and wedding cakes. Learn the system, and you can be in and out surprisingly quickly, considering the crowds.

Porto's has too many selections for me to list, and even the list of specialties is extensive. They are famous for their potato croquettes and pastries with guava filling. But if I had to pick one item that is Porto's claim to fame, it would be the pastel de carne, the little meat pie. Savory ground beef is enclosed by a flaky crust that is a cross between a puff pastry and a pie crust. The top is brushed with a sweet glaze, which makes the pies unusual yet addictive. They make an excellent party appetizer, a steal at 50 meat pies for 25 dollars.

For my wedding cake, and for most of my birthday cakes, I have ordered the Cuban cake: Yellow sponge cake soaked in a light brandy syrup, with a guava filling. Be forewarned: the darker icings use an intense food coloring that turns everyone's mouths bright blue, or black, for the rest of the party. Sometimes this is kind of a fun thing to do on purpose.

I often stop by early in the morning for Cuban sandwiches - roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, mustard and pickles layered on French bread still warm from the oven. No matter how early it is, the staff are always friendly and energetic. As soon as I started to take a picture of the bakery case, everyone started laughing and posing for my camera. The people who work at Porto's love their jobs; they are having a good time. Their happiness is highly contagious and often has me walking to my car, sandwiches and pastries in hand, with an extra little bounce in my step. 3614 W Magnolia. .http://www.portosbakery.com/home.htm

The Glory That is Burbank: Doughnut Hut

5. DOUGHNUT HUT

For years my friends have been urging me to visit the Doughnut Hut. It is apparantly some kind of mecca for cinnamon roll affecianados. I managed to resist the urge, because I do avoid doughnuts unless they suddenly pounce upon me when I am weak and unsuspecting. Another reason is the Doughnut Hut's sign - it is just plain cheesy. What's missing? U! But then one morning, my husband brought home a bag of the lightest, softest doughnuts, risen to have the perfect crumb. They are larger than the average doughnut that is cranked out by cookie-cutter (doughnut cutter?) chains, but they are so fresh that it's impossible to pick one up without leaving a noticable dent. The Doughnut Hut still follows the charming tradition of the "baker's dozen", even tossing an extra doughnut into the pink box when I only order a half-dozen. Now I am a fan and a convert. I love the Doughnut Hut. There goes my girlish figure. 10544 Magnolia Boulevard, Burbank.