Sunday, June 25, 2006

Hotcakes Bakery in Mar Vista


I tried a brand spanking new bakery in Mar Vista the other day called Hotcakes, located at 4119 Centinela Blvd, just south of Culver Blvd. They have a combination of French and American pastries, and sandwiches as well. The most beautiful items being their macaroons, in various flavors including pistachio, lemon and raspberry. I was delighted to see they make canelle, little chewy French cakes baked in a special fluted mold. A rare find in Los Angeles. Their pain au chocolate was very nice as well, not too big like most American croissants.

Some of their American pastries included a nice chewy chocolate chip cookie, coffee cake and cupcakes. I was slightly disappointed with the chocolate cupcake I tried. The frosting was a wonderful buttery, not-too-sweet buttercream, but the cake was too dry. It would be fabulous if they perfected their cupcake so we can have a cupcake spot on the westside (I mean west-westside - Sprinkles in Beverly Hills is too far east for this Mar Vista-ite!).

7 comments:

Oberon said...

......b.c......like a betty crocker.

Anonymous said...

I always drive past that place and am curious how it is, thanks for the write up! Also, I think that those are called "macarons" (one "o") and are a bit different than macaroons.

Ellen Bloom said...

The macaroons are JUST EXACTLY LIKE the ones at the very fancy Boule Bakery in West Hollywood, but Hotcakes sells them and 1/2 the price! Thanks for the tip!

AlistairJ said...

Looks like a good place. Thanks for reviewing recent additions to the Mar Vista area. I'm adding them to a compilation of useful and interesting news about Mar Vista at Mar Vista Metro.

http://marvistametro.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Hello...

A very late comment this is... I visited Hotcakes bakery a few times now. I have to say that either they've gone down in quality or just not getting too many business. My main interest was the canele. Tried them 3 different times within 3 months and they've all been disappointing. The outer layer is not crisp and the inside aren't custardy enough, I do love the colors. One of my purchase even tasted somewhat stale. I asked if they resell some of their goods for the next day and was told no but in a very vague terms. It sounded like they do for most of the items. Have you found any alternative to canele?

Btw, love your coverage on local eateries, keep them coming!

TaraMetBlog said...

I live nearby thanks for the review, i'll have to take my cupcakes group there.

Jetsetergirl said...

I drove by there many times. Today I had a longing for cupcakes. I pulled up around 9am and they were still closed...ok Sprinkles opens at nine! I could see the cupcakes from the window they just didn't hold justice to Sprinkles. I was hopping I could find someone who has tried this place. Anyways I went to Ralphs and went home and made my own scrumptous cupcakes :)