b sweet

los angeles, ca

website

this is my latest dessert addiction. bread pudding in all different flavors. pictured is my absolute favorite flavor - the bread pudding made from chocolate chip banana bread topped with gooey caramel. lightly sweet banana flavor pairs perfectly with rich bittersweet chocolate and super sweet caramel. derek's favorite flavor is glazed donut. yes, you read that correctly, they make bread pudding out of DONUTS. genius. derek gets it with a scoop of ice cream on top. it's such an intense dessert that i can usually only finish half in one sitting. but it freezes nicely and after a minute in the microwave, it tastes just as moist and amazing as a fresh serving.

sweet rose creamery

los angeles, ca

website

i've never tried an artisan ice cream shop that i didn't like. extra creamy. quality ingredients. i usually get some crazy flavor - sweet rose creamery doesn't get as crazy as coolhaus- but they'll still have something unique. but this time at sweet rose creamery in brentwood country mart, i was pretty boring: a scoop of strawberry and a scoop of chocolate - all in a waffle cone. still tasty.

coolhaus

culver city, ca

website

jenny in LA! when jenny and i get together, there's a lot of good eating. this time we went to lukshon, a fancy asian restaurant from sang yoon - the father's office guy. (forgot to take a picture!)

when cindy c heard that we would be in culver city, she told us to go to coolhaus. and jenny and i generally do everything that cindy c tells us to do. so we walked down the street from lukshon, past a gelato shop, past a lot of closed shops, and eventually found the brightly lit coolhaus. very interesting flavors. with jenny, i got a scoop of the fried chicken and waffle ice cream. weird, but a nice salty sweet mix with flecks of fried chicken skin and chunks of maple waffles. when i brought derek, we split an ice cream sandwich made with a double chocolate chip cookie, a smores cookie, and coffee and donut ice cream. everything is very sweet, so half of an ice cream sandwich was the perfect size. yum.

blockhead's shavery

los angeles, ca

website

i love shaved ice. my sister, brother, and i used to make shaved ice with our snoopy sno cone machine when we were kids. even better is the taiwanese-style shaved ice covered with condensed milk, red beans, lychees, and other assorted fruits and jellies that you can get at oasis tea zone or even din tai fung in seattle. but the taiwanese-style shaved ice at blockheads is the absolute creme de la creme. literally. they refer to it as "snow cream" - its a blend of ice cream and shaved ice - feels like fluffy ice when it first hits your tongue, but then it melts into a smooth cream. amazing.

it comes in various flavors - original, green tea, strawberry, and sesame. you can also get non-traditional toppings like chocolate and nuts. if i lived in LA, i would definitely come here often enough to try every possible combination. but since i only make it to LA every now and then, i prefer to stick with tradition. pictured is cindy c's recipe - original, condensed milk, rice cakes, strawberries, and lychee. so good. this is an absolute must-visit whenever i'm in LA.

buck's of woodside

woodside, ca

website

we were hoping to finally try the famous burger at the village pub, which has been highly recommended by rajesh, but unfortunately it was closed on saturday. instead we went to an upscale strip mall nearby and found buck's. from the outside, it looks like a standard diner. from the inside, it looks like ye olde curiosity shop. there's all sorts of strange things hanging on the walls - like a narwhale tusk and a model ship. there's a lot to look at while you wait for your food.

derek ordered a burger, per usual, which was solid. i really enjoyed my club sandwich (although the waitress was baffled when i asked to leave out the avocado). the coleslaw on the side wasn't very good, but skipping the sides allowed me to save room for dessert. the highlight was definitely the dessert - a delicious and massive strawberry shortcake. homemade whipped cream, perfectly sweet strawberries, all sandwiched in a delicious crumbly biscuit. amazing.

kowloon tong dessert cafe

san francisco, ca

link to yelp

jason took all of us to this hong kong-inspired dessert cafe located in inner richmond (which is apparently where all the REAL chinese food can be found in san francisco - forget chinatown). after starting the evening at mums, this was a good place for jason, the steves, derek, and me to settle down and sober up before the drive home. it can get quite crowded on a saturday night, so we had about a 10 minute wait for a table.

standard hong kong desserts. the egg puffs were my favorite - like mini waffle balls. they clearly do waffles well here. the ice cream waffle sandwich was free because we checked in on facebook (another instance where derek's iphone triumphed over my blackberry). the waffle was appropriately thin and crispy and the ice cream sufficiently chilled - derek devoured these sandwiches. another one to add to the short list of desserts that derek enjoys.

extraordinary desserts

san diego, ca

website

wow. this place really lives up to its name. this is a favorite of cindy and ryan, former san diegans, and they make a trip here whenever they're in town. this time derek and i went with cindy, ryan, and the kids. the table was filled with sweets - strawberry napoleon (pictured), strawberry pie, truffe framboise (raspberry chocolate cake), and i think we also had a brownie but the sugar overload may have affected my memory. each dessert was artistically presented, showered with flower petals. beautiful and delicious, truly extraordinary.

before driving up to disneyland, we all went one more time for breakfast. i ordered the chocolate coffee cake, which turned out to have molten chocolate liquid in the center. cindy ordered the chocolate strudel. an intense breakfast, to be sure, and neither of us could finish. ryan had the brilliant idea of boxing up our leftovers and bringing them into disneyland. it was the perfect dessert after our (surprisingly good) meal of pasta and salad at the pizza port.