Bäckerei en Masse

One of the most surprising (and totally awesome) parts of Berlin to me was the plethora of "back" shops. At first we were confused that there was such a huge demand for Tempurpedic mattress stores, but then we discovered that it was short for bäckerei, the German word for bakery.

Even more prevalent than McD's or Starbucks in America, it seemed like there was literally at least one bakery per block, usually multiple if you counted the millions of sidewalk cafes which all hosted a selection of yummy looking breads and sweets.

I guess Germany is well known for their breads and when you looked in the shops it was quite apparent. Along with wide varieties of normal rolls they also hosted adorable shaped items like Easter bunny loaves. Unfortunately, I never got to try any because of the whole touring with 6 people plus baby thing :p

I tried a bunch of different items from many shops. They ranged from sweet breads to donuts to cheesecakes. I have to say my very favorite was the Berliner. This may sound kind of cliché since it's the stereotypical pastry, but it was REALLY good. It's essentially just a jelly donut, but the filling won me over. The strawberry jam was so tasty... Like the kind you get in mini jars from cheese baskets at christmas time :D

Other donuts I tried included quark puffs which were like giant, air filled donut holes. I also tried a variety of fruity pastries with himbeer (raspberry) and cherry. Both seemed to be the fruits of baked good choice. I also tried a "Milka" choco donut. All were good, but none particularly stand out.

I thought the cheesecakes were very interesting in Berlin because the majority were made with quark (Oakdale cheese farm ftw!!!!!!). The one I had just seemed lighter than a normal cheesecake, and I didn't find the flavor that great

As for savory baked goods, I of course partook in some awesome "brezel" action. Pretzels were, as expected, widely available. I had my first from a chain, Ditsch, which was fresh and delicious out of the oven. In general, it seemed like the pretzels were slightly lighter than the American counterparts. Me gusta

Other items included a lot of pastries filled with meats and ham. Ok but not my thing

I was a bit disappointed in general. With the wide amount of bakeries I thought the stuff would be outstanding, but I find I much prefer American and Asian pastries

In-N-Out Bakery

cute storefront

Eugi and I have had a long list of restaurants to check out for months now, and we are finally back on track getting them crossed off. I just noticed that Arizmendi Bakery, a popular local chain on our list, had a location very close to us in the inner sunset, so on Saturday we checked it out. I highly enjoy being "local" and walking to food whilst staring at my beloved Mr. Sutro. :D

We got there around 1:30 pm and you could tell we had missed the lunchtime rush. It's a small cafe on a bustling street in the sunset. Inside, there are a bunch of cabinets filled with savory & sweet baked goods, and a steady flowing line of customers. I was actually a bit overwhelmed as a first-timer. I had read about their amazing, daily-flavor pizza, but I didn't know how to order it. Also, when I am in a new bakery, I like to really look around and make an educated decision on what to select. With the rush of people behind me trying to get in the cabinets, I didn't feel like I could take too much time. 

cookie shelf

sweets cabinet

From what I could quickly gather, the baked goods seemed rather European of various sorts. A wide variety of savory items with cheeses and vegetables. All very bread-based. They looked quite delicious and it was a hard decision to make on the fly. I ended up grabbing a focaccia with asiago and tomato, and a sea-salt cheddar bread stick. Being Sharon, I really wanted to try one of the sweet foods, but I was stressed and ended up going straight to the register. Their dessert selection seemed to focus a lot on weird flavored scones and other similarly shaped items. 

picked over by the time we got there

The guy at the register was very nice, and noticed me taking pictures. I was highly embarrassed but had to tell him the name of my blog. Luckily, I think the mass is so low that there is no way he will be able to find it via search.

I was out within 5 minutes. I want to visit again and order a real pizza at the counter. The flavors sound so delicious and odd. If nothing else, I will 100% be back for a dessert pastry :)

focaccia con tomato & cheese

cheese "bread stick"

We ate our baked goods on our walk back home. Both of mine were very tasty! They reminded me of bagels a bit, and had a good combo of flavoring and salt. I really like the tomato focaccia. The "bread stick" confused me because it was circular and I think wheat.They were surprisingly filling, and I was glad that I had the mini hills in the walk back to try to mitigate the damage

Donut Rush

Alright! random backblog:

Psycho Donuts!! I can't even remember where I heard about these, but I totally freaked out. Psycho Donuts is a cafe (or few cafes) in San Jo that are all S&M snarky in-your-face sugar rush delicious themed. Sadly, I've never actually been in one :( I'm fortunate enough to have my awesome Gee Unit who picks them up for the team on the way to work. If you check the Yelp pics though, the place looks like a blast

so much variety! my favorites here are the heart and the hello panda

Basically, they make the most absurd donuts they can come up with and sell them at a premium. Menu is located here, but some highlights are:

-Cereal Killer: glazed donut topped with frosting and crunch berries

-Hamburger: Jelly filled, maple butter glazed donuts with bacon in the middle

-Comfortably Numb: Baby shaped cream filled donut

Beyond that, there are just tons of fun varieties with creative shapes and toppings like: pocky, hello pandas, green tea, coconut, raspberry custard, butterfingers, oreos............. etc :). Really yummy

note the bacon filled donut on the far right. gross! love the presentation :)

They are super rich, and don't last well. So best advice is to get a dozen to split with a big group so you can try a bunch of flavors. At around ~$20 a dozen, they are a fun occasional novelty.

Pies: the Cupcakes of 2011

At least according to Yelp! And we all know that the social collective-conscious does not lie. Either way, I'm all about jumping on board with the bizarrely flavored baked good trends. So I started my pie experience at the highly appealing looking Mission Pie.

sign is a lot cuter in the sun

pie counter

Jess and I arrived around 4pm on a chilly yet clear Sunday, and I was amazed at the crowd! It's a small, cute, homey atmosphere with mismatched wooden tables and chairs. Every seat was taken, many by people idling away on their laptops and drinking coffee. I was really excited at the counter because of the plethora of savory and sweet pies. I wasn't too hungry, so I settled on the "blueberry custard" slice. I was super tempted by the potato, nettle and leek quiche, but just didn't have room today.

We ended up having to sit at kind of a group table, squashed in between noisey friends and some dude trying to browse the news (Facebook) on his tablet-esque device. Not sure if it was a small iPad clone or a large smart phone... but he was definitely taking up more this his share of the table. Luckily the group left so the poor guy didn't have to be subjected to a full 30 mins of our guy gossiping (although it was quite entertaining ;D).

SNAIL ART!

The pie itself was sadly not that exciting. It was alright... but nothing to write home about. What confused me was the consistency and flavor of the custard. In my book, custard is like thick pudding, but this pie was almost like omelet texture with a sweet egg taste. At the bottom was some canned blueberry paste. It wasn't bad, it just was not what I was hoping for or expecting. The crust was amazing though :) so I will try to give this place another chance with a diff flavor of pie. 

 Mission Pie? More like Epic Pie! (had to blow this up for full-on chiaroscuroed awesome)

It was definitely pleasant, but not something I'd repeat ASAP