Gastronomical Exploration: Mrs. Backer's Pastry Shop

I've passed by this place many times but never bothered to go in. I think it was mainly the somewhat gawdy, pink exterior that deterred me away. But I've heard some really good reviews about this place, so I decided to pay a visit. That and it was my birthday, and the shop's website said that they'll email me a coupon for a free birthday cupcake. :)

Well, I guess they were having some technical difficulties, because I never got the coupon. But I went anyway; even if I didn't get a free cupcake, I can still check on their other pastries.

Wow. Such fancy decor! But just glancing at the pastries, I was starting to wonder if this shop is like one of those 'gorgeous-on-the-outside-but-dull-and-uninteresting-personality (or lack thereof) on-the-inside' girls?

Case in point. When I asked about the flavor of the ladybug and the flower cupcakes, the cashier said that they're both the same, vanilla flavored, just decorated differently.

I got a cupcake and an eclair. Usually those are the two pastries to sample when assessing the overall quality of a pastry shop. If the cupcake is good, then chances are, the rest of their cakes are good. Eclairs can be tedious/difficult to prepare, so if they have both the choux and the cream filling nailed, then the rest of their stuff is pretty legit.

Back at home, I carefully cut the cupcake...wow... So moist and fine-textured! And the frosting, although was an American buttercream, was soft, smooth and not grainy at all. It was the typical old-fashioned cupcake that people grew up on, the way grandma used to make...yes, this cupcake was very good.

The eclair was OK, in my opinion. The glaze was too sugary, the choux was mediocre, and the cream was awfully buttery for a pastry cream. I wonder if they whipped butter into the pastry cream?

So Mrs. Backer's is a great place for old-fashioned, classical pastries. Their cakes are very good--but if you're like me, and love to try out new flavors, this place will quickly become boring.

Gastronomical Exploration: So Cupcakes

So Cupcakes.... I've had a few minor negative experience with this place. The first time I went, it was Monday and they were closed. The second time, it was late in the day...and they were sold out of cupcakes!

Finally made it to their business hours. They have their own cupcake truck--I believe they do deliveries too. What little girl wouldn't want a pink truck loaded with cupcakes arrive at her door on her birthday?

It was a little past 10am when I got there, so I figured there will be plenty of choices.

There were quite a few. There were the basics, the chocolates and the vanilla, and then mint-chocolate, coconut...then there was the bacon. The cashier told me that it's maple-bacon cupcake, something that I've seen and heard of only around the online community of foodie bloggers. The conservative palate of Salt Lake City certainly would find this little stud too exotic and intimidating. So I picked him. And the Chocolate Mousse cupcake.

Then my eyes caught...macarons! Unlike the bumpy, unsightly bivalve at Sweet Tooth Fairy, these were smooth-shelled, and perfectly domed. I got a pistachio and a coffee flavor.

The Maple-Bacon cupcake and the Chocolate Mousse Cupcake. When I bit into the Maple-Bacon, all I could taste was maple. A good maple flavor. The bacon doesn't come in until after chewing on it. Both the cake and the frosting had the right amount of sweetness and again, great maple flavor. The bacon was just there for the accent, albeit a nice one. The bacon was a little chewy from sitting on the frosting though. Then I cut into the Chocolate Mousse...

It was filled with chocolate mousse. It looks delicious...but the texture of the mousse was a bit off. It had the raw cocoa powder taste to it and wasn't as smooth as I had hoped. The frosting was the typical American buttercream rich and sweet. And what's up with the white stuff suspended in it?? The cake was nice and moist though, not too sweet, unlike the sugar-laden Sweet Tooth Fairy's.

...So that was my lunch. Hope my mother doesn't mind that my meals have been replaced by cupcakes and pastries instead of real food.

Then onto my 'dessert', the macarons...

The lovely smooth shell. To test it out, I carefully cut into it with a serrated-edge knife....

OMGoodness....perfect macarons! No holes, soft/chewy interior, crisp shell, great flavor on the fillings....I mean, the pistachio one actually tasted like pistachios, unlike the bland, almost-sandy macarons at Les Madeleine's. I would come back here just for the macarons. They actually make theirs right.

Gastronomical Exploration: Sweet Tooth Fairy

For my summer break, I've decided to go bakery-hopping; sampling pastries from bakeries all over Salt Lake City. There quite a few places I've never been to, and I'm pretty stoked about the possibility of finding a good pastry shop. Besides, it's always good to know what flavors, textures, and sweetness are considered the 'average' or the 'norm', and what I'll be competing against. All I need to do is make pastries that taste better than theirs, right? ;)

The first shop I visited was the Sweet Tooth Fairy.

A very cute little shop nestled amongst other retail stores in the Foothill Shopping center. As soon as I entered, the smell of baked goods, vanilla, and something sweet wafted out.

Then I spotted these guys--macarons! There was another place in Salt Lake other than Les Madeleine's or Grand America hotel that sells them! I quickly picked this one, and a cupcake--Coconut-Mango, one of their Flavor-of-the-Month special, and one that I've never seen in other shops before.

OK, first up, the Coconut-Mango cupcake. The cake itself felt soft and moist, but just by touching the frosting, I can already tell that it's no smooth, fluffy buttercreams at Diva's. It had that crusty surface charasteric of those shortening + powder sugar frostings on so many grocery store-caliber cupcakes.

Already dismayed, I carefully cut into the cupcake. I was quite impressed by how tender the cake was.

The cross-section. The cake was, again, very soft, tender, fine crumbed--texturally, it was excellent. But the flavor? The frosting had a nice, obviously mango and coconutty flavor; but it was over-the-top sweet. It felt like I was about to go into a diabetic coma, without having diabetes. Not only was the frosting unbearably sweet, but the cake was too sweet to for such a frosting; one should balance out the other. I couldn't finish it, and had to toss it out. At least it's cheaper than Diva's (Diva's cupscake is $2.50 for a regular. Sweet Tooth Fairy is at $2.35). But for a cupcake that tastes just like the ones at grocery store, not worth the price.

Now, on to the macaron...

...yet another hollow one. But I was still impressed by the fact that this Raspberry macaron tasted like...raspberry. It definitely lived up to its name. But so cloyingly sweet! The filling was some sort of a buttercream, I wasn't sure if the cream itself was flavored or not.

Hmmm...appearance-wise, I've made the exact same macarons. I actually feel relieved/encouraged by this...

A la Carte Kitchen Week 11: Lunch at the Metropolitan

For our last week of class, we went out on lunch at Metropolitan, an upscale New American cuisine restaurant.

We all got the Chef's menu, where we got to choose from the selected entree and desserts.

Appetizer plate: Pumpernickle bread, hummus, and housemade pickles (with Italian seasoning) the pickles were pretty good.

Soup: Shrimp Bisque. Well seasoned, great shrimp flavor! It was delicious.

For the entree, I got the Smoked mussels and Paprika potatoes with thyme-cream sauce and green olives. It was interesting combination, but very good. I liked the thyme-cream sauce, but those people with more conservative palates may find this a bit too strong.

For dessert, I got the Chef's choice sorbet trio: from left, Pomegranate-Margarita, Lime, Guava. The pomegranate was too sweet, the lime was really strong and tart, but the guava was SO GOOD!

Another person on my table got the churros. He's a big churros fan, but these turned out soggy--it should've been crispy on the outside, and moist on the inside. He was disappointed, but textures aside, he thought the flavor was really good.

A la Carte Kitchen Week 11: The Last Supper

Week 11 Last Supper!
On Day 1, all of us went out to lunch at Metropolitan, a New American cuisine restaurant. We got the chef's menu for a really cheap price. I'll talk about the food there in another post.

This week's menu:
Amuse: Borage soy-wrapper sushi
Bread: Grilled Paratha Roti
Soup: Molecular Gazpacho
Salad: Octopus Salad
Pasta: Black Garlic Pasta
Entree: Duck Confit
Dessert: Carnival Dessert

Amuse: Soy-wrapper sushi with borage flowers. It was actually pretty good. I think it was stuffed with shrimp.

Bread: Grilled Paratha Roti. My partner and I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what parath roti even was. Turned out it was a type of Indian flatbread, almost like a tortilla, except it's buttery and more flakey. We served it with romesco sauce and cukes pickled with plum vinegar.

Soup: Molecular Gazpacho. What's so 'molecular' about it? A bit of molecular gastronomy has taken place here: the mozzarella is pureed with cream, then solidified into a sphere in sodium alginate bath. The result is a jelly-coated creamy ball of cheese.

Salad: Octopus Salad. With polenta croutons. I think they overcooked the octopus--it was pretty rubbery.

Pasta: Black Garlic Pasta. With summer squash, tomatoes, and cream sauce. It was OK, didn't like it too much.

Entree: Duck Confit. With dates, fingerling potatoes, and sunchoke chips. The duck itself looks pretty gross, but it was quite tasty.

Dessert: Carnival-Theme Dessert. Funnel cakes, pavlova, passionfruit curd, cotton candy, Merlot-cherry granita. Very festive, the granita was pretty good, strong wine flavor. Funnel cakes tasted good only when freshly made...

So that was our last dinner service. I had fun and learned a lot about fine dining plating and concepts!

Yet another cupcake flavor from Diva's Cafe

The summer break has begun! I'll post the recap on the Week 11 the Last Supper as soon as I get the motivation to :P Right now I just wanna relax and welcome the long-awaited hot weather.
I've been experimenting with Swiss buttercreams. There are tons of different recipes out there for it, but the main ingredients are nothing much more than egg whites, sugar, and butter. The ratio is 1:2:3. So for 1 oz of egg whites, you need 2 oz of sugar and 3 oz of butter. Simple enough.

Unfortunately, with my ten-year-old hand mixer (that locks up when the speed is increased above medium), my ability to whip things properly was rather crippled. So I generally end up with a somewhat dense buttercream, not like the fluffy, creamy kind that Diva's cupcakes are crowned with. It was the last straw when the mixer locked up on me three times while whipping a buttercream. We finally went and bought a new one.

I tried it out the next day, on another Swiss buttercream. Holy cow. This thing was powerful. And loud. Next time, I gotta remember to wear ear plugs.

So I made the buttercream, put that in the fridge...and then went to Diva's.

I wanted to see if they had any new flavors out and also how their buttercream compared to mine. I entered the store and ventured toward their display case. I spotted a variety I haven't seen before... Yogurt-Kiwi (gluten-free). Compared to the other ordinary-looking cupcakes, this one stood out like a green-and-black poison arrow frog amidst an army of brown frogs. Curious-looking would be the best way to describe it.

And I myself was curious enough to try it. As I paid for the cake, I asked the cashier what they used to make it gluten-free. He said that they used almond flour, a common ingredient used to make many gluten-free baked goods.

Here it is...Yogurt-Kiwi Cupcake (gluten-free). First of all, the buttercream. I wanted to double check on the texture of it, and also of this yogurt-kiwi flavor. The texture was, as usual, perfect. Absolutely smooth, melt-in-your-mouth, buttery but not greasy, not too sweet...but the flavor that it indicated was almost absent. I could taste the yogurt, but no kiwi. Kiwis are a difficult fruit flavor to bring out, since it's so subtle and delicate. It was more like yogurt buttercream. And the cake? Meh. The texture was coarse, and it had this 'interesting' aftertaste that didn't taste like almond. I savored the last morsel to try to figure out what that taste was. It tasted so familiar....then it hit me. .....Tofu...??? Wait, no...soybeans! This cake contained soybean flour! Unfortunately, the soybean flavor and yogurt (and maybe kiwi) didn't go together too well. Even my dad, who has a horrible sweet tooth, said that he didn't like it much.

Later, I softened my Swiss buttercream and tried it on a tiny piece of banana bread. OMGoodness. I got it! Thank you new mixer, and thank you Mom for buying it for me! :)

A la Carte Kitchen Week 10

A la Carte Kitchen Week 10

We're almost done! This week, we had a few specialty ingredients: "Bacon" Avocado, Halibut cheeks and alligator. "Bacon" Avocado doesn't actually taste like bacon, but does have a higher fat content than a regular avocado. Hence, it's smoother, creamier and richer in taste and texture. Halibut cheeks are literally, the fleshy portion right below the eyes on halibut. It has all the flavor, but scallop-like texture. It's very expensive, since the yield from a single halibut is very small. Alligator came already seasoned, in a vacuum-sealed pack. Chef decided to make a confit out of it. Here's the menu for this week...

Amuse: Cherry & Plum Canape

Bread: Molasses-Cherry Beer Bread

Soup: Mango-Shiso/Opal Basil Soup

Salad: Alligator Confit Salad

Pasta: Thomas Keller's Squid Ink Pasta

Entree: Halibut Cheek Duo

Dessert: Creamsicle, Banana Split, Doughnut

Amuse: Cherry & Plum Canape. Fresh plums, Merlot-macerated cherries, bacon and port salut cheese on puff pastry. Very cute!

Bread: Molasses-Cherry Beer Bread. With hazelnut butter, merlot-vanilla cherries, and mascarpone-cream cheese. It was a fancy spin-off of PB&J. The bread was delicious! I think I'll try making it with different kinds of beer in the future.

Soup: Mango-Shiso/Opal Basil Soup. With bacon avocado, basil yogurt, port wine sauce, and shiso-basil dust. My partner and I made this--we added ginger, buttermilk, orange, and ramp; thinned with pineapple juice. It was a spin-off of mango lassi. We thought it tasted pretty good, and apparently, one of the guests wanted to lick the plate (according to Chef), but there was no mention of it on the comment card. Same with the dinner service, the guests complimented on every dish except the soup, which got me kinda worried. At least no one complained about it...

Salad: Alligator Confit Salad. With roasted asparagus and fingerling potato, tomatillo aioli. So what did this alligator confit taste like? Like ham. Seriously. One would expect some funky/cool/interesting flavor from such an exotic ingredient, but no, alligator confit tastes like ham. Sorry to disappoint.

Pasta: Thomas Keller's Squid Ink Pasta. With crab and fresh pea slaw, and coconu-miso sauce. The slaw was delicious! The squid ink pasta itself didn't have a particular flavor (it did taste slightly different from a regular pasta), but definitely adds a great color contrast to the plate!

Entree: Halibut Cheek Duo. It's a 'duo' because one portion is sous vide in lemon and butter, while the other portion was sauteed with chipotle aioli. Served with creamed hominy with habanero-cheddar.

Dessert: Creamsicle, Banana Split, Doughnut. We had some problems with the dessert. This was the very first presentation. As you can see, very meager portion :( Chef wasn't very happy with this, so for Wednesday night service, we had a major dessert makeover...

...A much better dessert. We added chocolate sauce, strawberry with blueberry fizz, and cotton candy. People who came in to dine later during service left good comments about the dessert (those who came in earlier did mention about the small portion of the dessert).

Next week...the Last Supper!

Gastronomical Exploration: Millcreek Cafe & Eggworks

A few days ago, my mom's molar started hurting. She called her dentist, who was nice enough to see her first thing at eight o'clock Monday morning. She got it pulled, and thank goodness it won't be bothering her again. Since it was rare for us to be out and about this early in the morning, we decided to go out for a breakfast--a true rarity indeed. I chose Millcreek Cafe & Eggworks (that's the entire name of the restaurant), a local diner with good reviews--supposedly one of the best breakfast places in Salt Lake City.

When we got there, we got seated promptly by a friendly staff.

The decor was clean and modern, with paintings from local artists adorning the walls. Behind me were huge windows that overlooked the street, and provided great lighting. A modern metal and stone sculpture sits on their lawn. This place is quite lovely.

Mom didn't order anything (since she just got her tooth pulled), but Dad ordered the Classic, which comes with two eggs, two meats (choice of ham, bacon, or sausage links), hash browns, and a bread (choice of toast or English muffin). I ordered the Veggie Egg White Scramble, which was a special for that day--I've never had an egg white egg dish at a restaurant, so I was excited.

Our server was very attentive and nice, but the food took quite a while. It was a slow, Monday morning, and there was only one other table besides us, so I didn't know what was taking them so long.

We waited maybe 15 minutes--finally, our food arrives.

Dad's food looked decent. Mine?

Looks fine on the outside. The hash browns were golden and crispy. But the scrambled eggs? I was envisioning a mound of fluffy, cooked-just-right egg whites interlaced with chopped sauteed veggies. This was a wet, soggy, greasy mess, with consistency of cottage cheese. And it was lukewarm. See the pile of shredded Parmesan on top? Yep, the food wasn't hot enough to melt it. I lost my appetite immediately and couldn't even finish half of it.

I don't know if other dishes on their menu is better, but I'm afraid of coming back here now.

Update: So I ended up taking 3/4 of it home, thinking maybe it'll be palatable if it's served nice and hot. I put the eggs out on a plate, gently reheated it at the lowest possible power in the microwave. Both mom and I tasted it again--it had a decent flavor, but we both agreed that it was way too greasy and didn't eat it. After letting it sit for a bit, I was about to scrape it into the garbage--and this is what happened.

It stuck to the plate. Did I mention it was greasy??

Recent Gastronomical Exploration

I firmly believe that in order to make good food, one must eat them first. That's how the palate learns to discern what tastes good and what doesn't; so when you're cooking, you know what flavor works with what. That's the main reason why I go out to eat...that and it's a good excuse to indulge....

Dolcetti Gelato, again. Every time we go to this place, they always have at least one flavor we haven't tried.

Clockwise from the top (the yellow gelato): Passionfruit, Mixed fruit, Nutella, Lavender-Honey. The Mixed Fruit one tasted like...a mixture of fruit, literally. I tasted cantaloupe, mango, and peach, but it was delicious. The lavender-honey had a subtle lavender scent, not overpowering, but still there, just a perfect balance.

Next up...La Bonne Vie, at Grand America Hotel, revisited. We liked their macarons, and their Orange Mousse was good...but I doubt I'll get it again. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was a high-end pastry, not cloyingly sweet with sophisticated flavors, and very good; but it wasn't good enough to make me want to go buy it repeatedly.

This time, I went in the early afternoon, so there were more selections to choose from. After sampling their gelato selections--one of which was Lavender-Honey, which tasted suspiciously like the aforementioned one at Dolcetti Gelato--I looked over at the display case of pastries. I spotted the Matcha/Green Tea Gateau and immediately picked that one. I then chose two macarons--Ginger-Apple and Red Velvet. The rose macaron we got the last time were texturally close to perfect, with soft center, although lacking in the rose flavor. When the cashier girl went to package it, she accidentally smashed in the delicate shell of the Ginger-Apple macaron--which actually shouldn't happen if the macaron wasn't hollow. She apologized profusely and offered a replacement, so I got the Lemon flavor. That was so nice of her!

I love their packaging....

Here they are: Lemon, Red Velvet, (smashed) Ginger-Apple, and Matcha/Green Tea Gateau.

The closeup of the Matcha Gateau. The chocolate decoration partially melted on the way home. Green tea genoise layered with milk chocolate ganache. Great green tea flavor, the milk chocolate gave it a nice accent and added sweetness to the not-too-sweet genoise.

The smashed Ginger-Apple. Great flavor on the ginger filling--I think it's like a curd or a jelly made of ginger and apple juice. Although it was hollow, the inside was still soft. The Lemon also had good lemony flavor, but couldn't really discern the taste of Red Velvet. Granted, the cake version itself has sort of an ambiguous vanilla-chocolate hybrid taste. And I wasn't sure what was in the filling either. I was expecting cream cheese, but that wasn't the case.

I'll definitely come back here for more macaron flavor selection...since this is the only place other than Les Madeleine that sells macarons here. Maybe I'll open a macaron boutique in the future...??