Restaurant Review #238: Bread Basket, Camarillo

Bread Basket is a well-known Ventura County bakery that creates sandwiches, breads, pastries, and cakes, including wedding cakes. It was the search for the perfect wedding cake that sent us there after everyone we mentioned wedding cakes to asked us if we had been to Bread Basket.

Bread Basket is known in particular for its fresh fruit cakes that use blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries in the middle layer of filling and on top of the cake. Their fruit basket cake is especially popular, though personally I don't care much for fresh fruit in or on my cake.

It seems like the store is always very busy and crowded. Each of the five or so times we've been, there have been a steady stream of customers, no matter the time of day or day of the week. Part of the reason the store always feels crowded though is because it is so small. Besides having a small space, the store has placed large baskets of bread on the floor, making it difficult to walk all the way up to the counter. Bread Basket also has devoted a corner of the store to selling shelf-stable gourmet foods, which further clutters the space. If you want to enjoy your food there, the only tables are outdoors, facing the parking lot.

All of these things are annoyances, but the cake is so good that they're worth putting up with.

If it's a wedding cake you're looking for, Bread Basket's selection of cake fillings is smaller than most wedding cake vendors. Here are their choices:

Cake flavors: white, chocolate, lemon, carrot, red velvet, banana

Fillings: fruit basket (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, french whipped cream), fresh raspberries and raspberry cream, fresh strawberries and french whipped cream, fresh banana and banana cream, lemon cream, mocha cream, hazelnut cream, german chocolate, vanilla mousse (with optional raspberry puree), chocolate mousse (with optional raspberry puree), amaretto and french whipped cream, Bailey's Irish cream and chocolate mousse, Kahlua with chocolate mousse or mocha cream, dark Myer's rum with choice of french whipped cream or banana and banana cream

They also have cheesecakes, but we didn't try them.

My absolute favorite is the chocolate mousse filling with raspberry puree (photo below). The chocolate mousse filling is has delicate shavings of chocolate that give it some texture and combine a deeper, more bitter chocolate taste with a lighter, creamier chocolate taste. The cake itself doesn't offer anything special in terms of flavor, but it is very moist, unlike many other wedding cakes we sampled.


Chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and raspberry puree filling and buttercream frosting with a white chocolate wrap

The banana cream filling (we opted to leave out the fresh bananas it normally comes with) with dark Meyer's rum it also delicious, but unfortunately it's only available for wedding cakes.

The cakes Bread Basket offers on a daily basis are essentially the same as their wedding cakes. The differences are that there are a few more flavor options for wedding cakes, the wedding cakes have two layers of filling and three layers of cake instead of one layer of filling and two layers of cake, and the wedding cakes must have a special outer coating to keep the cake fresh and intact while it's on display for hours during the wedding reception.

For the outer layer, you can choose fondant (which I didn't like, but then, I never do) or a chocolate or white chocolate wrap. The white chocolate wrap can be made in either ivory or white. Whatever design you want can be piped onto the outside (and yes, it will stick to the chocolate wraps without sliding off). Underneath the outer layer, which only coats the vertical surfaces of the cake, not the horizontal ones, is a thin layer of buttercream frosting. They say that the ivory and white buttercream taste the same, but to me the ivory buttercream had more of a true butter-based buttercream flavor and the white had a more sugary, fake butter flavor. Both were good, but since I don't like super-sweet things, I preferred the ivory buttercream. In fact, one of the selling points of Bread Basket for me was that their cakes aren't super sweet.

At our initial consultation we received, for free, four generous full-sized pieces of cake to taste (which would have cost $20 if we had walked in to buy them). These were the four flavors that they normally carry and sell out of the display case daily--if you want something special from their wedding cake flavor list, you'll need to place a special order well ahead of your consultation. We did feel rushed on the two times we went to Bread Basket to discuss our wedding cake with them--the store is always so busy that it seems like the employees don't have the time to really sit down and discuss cakes with you. After we got a quote for our wedding cake, we surreptitiously ordered a small sample cake a few days later. We wanted to make sure they could get our order right before we committed to a wedding cake.

Bread Basket did get our small order correct. (The two other places we tested made significant mistakes, which was a deal killer.) After a second consultation and lots of questions, we decided to order our wedding cake from them. You don't have to commit until two weeks before the wedding date, and full payment is due at that time. Also, unlike other bakeries, there didn't seem to be any issue with our wedding date filling up with too many orders, so there was no pressure to make a decision quickly.

The wedding cake itself was prepared and delivered according to our order. It ended up costing about $6 per person, which seems to be a pretty average price for the area. We felt that it was a good value for the price because the cake was so good and the serving sizes were generous. We had quite a bit of leftover cake, which we happily took home and ate over the next week. We received numerous compliments from our guests on how good the cake was, including one from our friend's wife who months later got pregnant and said she was craving our wedding cake.

In addition to their generous tasting samples and reasonable prices, if you bring them a photo of your wedding cake on your first anniversary, they will give you a small cake, worth about $30, for free. This means that you don't have to freeze the top layer of your cake if you want to eat your wedding cake on your one-year anniversary--you can get a nice, fresh cake instead.

Bread Basket has an excellent reputation and is always busy for a reason. Their cake is my favorite cake anywhere. It's probably a good thing that I don't live closer to the store or I'd be eating cake every day.

Bread Basket

83 E Daily Dr.
Camarillo, CA 93010
805.482.1337
Closed Sunday and Monday
Bread Basket website

Restaurant Review #235: Skiff's Cakes, Simi Valley

Cupcakes

Skiff's is a small, family-owned bakery in Simi Valley that sells cupcakes and special-order cakes.

The cupcakes come in numerous flavors and are all filled in the middle with wedding cake fillings. Most have chocolate or vanilla buttercream icing. Cake and filling combinations include red velvet with cream cheese, white cake with strawberry mousse, vanilla cake with vanilla bavarian cream, chocolate cake with chocolate bavarian cream, carrot cake with cream cheese, lemon poppyseed with lemon chiffon, and more. Ordering the cupcakes was a bit of a challenge--since it's such a small bakery, there are no display cases and, while there is a list of all the cake flavors and fillings available for special-order cakes, there is no list of which flavors have been combined into the cupcakes. I was presented with a tray of perhaps fifteen flavors of cupcakes that were available and a girl behind the counter pointed and recited all the flavors to me. It was difficult to keep track of the flavors I wanted to order and the girl didn't seem particularly patient.

When I got the cupcakes home, I was disappointed in them for two reasons. First, the amount of filling inside each cupcake was miniscule--barely enough to get a taste of it. Second, the flavors I had didn't match up with what I thought I had ordered. I'm not sure if I pointed at the wrong cupcakes on the tray, if the person who made the cupcakes didn't put the correct fillings in them, or if the girl behind the counter didn't recite all the flavors correctly. It didn't really matter what the reason was--the important thing was that I didn't get everything I wanted, and for $3 a cupcake, that was annoying. Also, I found the cake to be dry and the vanilla buttercream icing to be overly sugary (but I think most icing is too sugary). The chocolate buttercream icing tastes like fudge and is quite good.

Based on the reviews I've read online and the word-of-mouth recommendations I've received, Skiff's seems to be popular and well-liked for its custom cakes. The owner, Steve, is a very laid back, straightforward, down-to-earth guy who will make you feel confident that he and his wife, the cake baker and decorator, will do a fantastic job with your order. Custom cake prices are reasonable and middle-of-the-road as far as area bakeries go, and their website has numerous beautiful photos of their creations and plenty of information about their cake flavors and policies. But my experience with the cupcakes gave me doubts about how good the actual cakes would be. I don't doubt that for many people, Skiff's is a great choice, but I will gladly drive the extra miles to go to Bread Basket in Camarillo.

Skiff's Cakes

2355 Tapo Street, Ste 14
Simi Valley, CA 93063
805-582-4882
Skiff's Menu
Skiff's Website

Restaurant Review #211: Porto's, Glendale

Assorted pastries. From back left to front right: guava strudel, almond danish, croissant, coconut glazed, coconut strudel, apple empanada

Though Porto's is a Los Angeles legend, it's possible to not know about it, especially if you live on the Westside. In an attempt to avoid the crowds, we visited late on a Saturday afternoon, but despite primarily being a bakery, the place was a madhouse. As we waited in line, we crained our necks around the throngs ordering at the counter trying to pick out which goodies we wanted. Few items are labeled, so unless you're a regular, you'll just have to point. Printed and posted menus curiously don't list all the items.


Assorted savory pastries. From back left to front right: pastel de carne (meat pie), chorizo pie, chicken empanada, ham croquettes, potato balls

Porto's serves both sweet and savory pastries with a Cuban influence. With so many delicious options, you can feel the pounds piling on before you even start eating. While there are really no bad dishes, in the savory category, you won't want to miss the pastel de carne (puff pastry filled with seasoned ground beef), chicken empanada (filled with moist, shredded chicken and peppers), or potato balls (mashed potato wrapped around seasoned ground beef, breaded and deep fried). In the sweet category, be sure to try the mango empanadas, cheese danish, and coconut strudel.


Medianoche sandwich

In addition to its pastries, Porto's offers a selection of sandwiches. The medianoche (midnight) sandwich, a concoction of ham, roasted pork, swiss cheese, pickles, mustard, and mayonnaise on a toasted sweet roll, is tastier than its simple appearance implies. The grilled chicken sandwich is basic but juicy and tender.


Grilled chicken sandwich

Porto's prices are stunningly low--and they create and delivery large orders for parties. Imagine how many people you could feed on the cheap when a dense, filling empanada costs just 95 cents? Most savory pastries are under $1.00 to start with and are even cheaper when you buy them 50 pieces at a time. The sweet pastries are equally inexpensive. If you're looking for something more sophisticated, Porto's also has a large selection of French-style cakes and mousses and they also do elaborate wedding cakes.

Porto's
315 N. Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91203
818.956.5996
Porto's website (very informative)

Restaurant Review #204: Sprinkles Cupcakes, Beverly Hills

I have to admit, I'm not a fan of the cupcake craze. I can't believe it's not over yet. I just think it's all rather ridiculous. I can make an entire batch of twelve cupcakes for about $5, no special skills required except the ability to follow a Duncan Hines recipe, so why would I go to a place that charges me $3 or more for a single cupcake, even if it is dense, moist, and abundantly frosted? In the time it would take me to drive to a cupcake store, park, wait in line, and drive back, I could bake and generously frost twelve cupcakes myself and save $31. Sprinkles' cupcakes are $3.25 each, or $36 a dozen.

Were I to actually make it to Sprinkles myself instead of having a cupcake randomly bestowed upon me by an office party, I'd probably try cinnamon sugar and chai latte. Most of the other eighteen flavors I could easily make at home. Actually, I could probably make the cinnamon and the chai, too, with a little trial and error. As it was, I had a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. For the record, I think red velvet is a really strange concept. Who wants to eat that much food coloring in one sitting?

If you're wondering about the mysterious dot on the top, it indicates the cupcake's flavor. I think I would hate working there. "Is red velvet the light blue on red dot, or red on light blue dot?" Not every flavor is available every day, but you can check their website for a day/flavor grid. In addition to Sprinkles' regular flavors, there are also seasonal flavors, like vanilla peppermint, chocolate peppermint, and eggnog spice.



Sprinkles Cupcakes
9635 Santa Monica Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
310.274,8765
Sprinkles Website
(All ranting aside, their website is a wonderful example of what all web design should be: easy to navigate, gorgeous, and highly informative.)