Vegas Part II: Bread and Butter

Good evening, my loves!  Alrighty, as promised...today's post is about the second half of my Vegas trip.  I know, you're probably thinking, huh...only two parts to an extended Vegas weekend?  And to boot, the first part was all about cupcakes?!  Yep!!  Well, the whole Vegas trip pretty much amounted to cupcakes and this fabulous brunch place!  Don't get me wrong...plenty was done in Vegas (like the fabulous Wicked Spoon buffet at The Cosmopolitan (so YUM!), and a super cool cirque show (La Reve!)) But overall, I can easily sum Vegas to cupcakes and brunch!  So, Bread and Butter...what was so good about it?  Everything.  No, I'm pretty serious.  The food was beyond fresh and tasty and the service was just fantastic (I would give it a Michelin star if I could...it was definitely better than the one Michelin star restaurant we had dined in for dinner!)  Oh, let's not forget about their coffee too...it's local and just delicious!  Let's start off with some pictures to get your imaginations going:

Ok, so Bread and Butter is not on the strip...or anywhere near it.  It's not too far, but it's definitely not a touristy place.  We had found out about this place because I needed to go to one of my favorite chef supplies store, Chef Rubber.  What happened was, I didn't know that Chef Rubber didn't do walk ins anymore...they only do will-call orders.  But luckily, someone inside was loading up an order and we flagged her down and asked if there was any possible way we could take a looksie inside!  The people in there were super nice.  They opened up their building and let me look til my heart's content!  And then I made them look half the day for their 25 pound box of almond flour (yep, tons of macarons on the way!).  I got what I was looking for from Chef Rubber, and it happened to be about lunch time, so we asked what's good.  Beau, the young man who helped us, recommended Bread and Butter.  He said that all the chefs from there always eats there and they gave it two thumbs ups!  Oooh, we thought...must try!  And boy, am I glad we did.  I mean, look what we walked into!  Those gigantic cinnamon rolls were the very first to greet us!!  And then those giant oatmeal cookies.  All the baked goods looked so good, they almost brought tears to my eyes!  I seriously wanted to sample everything!  However, I didn't want to be a pig, so settled with this:

(I forgot the oatmeal cookies...yep, got one of them too!)  My loves, this was one of the best brunchy foods I've had in a good long while.  Bread and Butter is the sole reason why I want, no, need to go to Vegas again.  NEED, I says!!  You notice all that bready stuff I got there?  Oh, it was delicious.  Ok, so this is what was ordered:  Breakfast bagel with scrambled eggs, tomatoes, red onions, grilled asparagus, and goat cheese!  Turkey (with real, I repeat, real turkey meat) sandwich on a bagel.  Each came with a small side salad with some kind of vinaigrette dressing.  Then we were talked into their super yummy pretzel bread (ok, they didn't really have to talk me that hard into a pretzel bread...once they said smeared with home-made strawberry jam and butter, I was sold.  In fact, they could have just stopped at pretzel bread and I would've jumped on the wagon already!)  And yes, it was THAT amazing (FYI, my mouth is watering just rehashing all this food!)  We also got a red velvet bagel with cream cheese.  I was expecting something a little more tastier, but the red velvet bagel was just ok.  No worries though, everything else made up for that red velvet bagel!  The best part of this meal wasn't just the tasty food.  No, the bill was pretty great too.  Compared to extraordinary amount of money we paid on the strip for Fatburgers, this meal was beyond cheap (especially when the quality of the food was amazing!)

That was round one of Bread and Butter.  Oh, yeah...come on now...You don't think one trip was enough did you?  No way!  I had to have Bread and Butter again before we headed back home to CA! Yep, two Bread and Butter trips!  And the second time was just as enjoyable, if not more!  This time, because it was a Sunday, there were more people, but we were still able to snag a comfy place to sit.  I ordered their bomb coffee (free refills!  And the "waiter" actually gets coffee for you too, even though it's self serve!)  I was going to get the same bagel I had previously, since I'm a creature of habit, but the owners cousin came out and chatted with us and recommended the waffle sandwich.  Wait, waffle sandwich...and it was their claim to fame?  I'm all in!!!  You know, thinking back, if it was up to me, I probably would've gotten that waffle sandwich and my veggie bagel.  Yup, true oinker over here!  Anyways, I behaved and got the waffle sandwich and the hubs got the salmon pizza.  I know right?  Salmon pizza!  YUM!  And no, that wasn't all we got.  I also persisted on that maple bacon sticky bun, a cinnamon roll, and some kind of custard Danish thing.  OH, and we got their last four pretzel bread, to go!  I even asked for some fresh strawberry jam for my to-go breads, and the cousin came out with a twelve ounce cup, fitted with a lid and everything!  Ahh, did I mention the service was impeccable here??  Let's see the food!

Do you see that maple bacon sticky bun?  It was absolutely heavenly!  And get this, there was actually bacon throughout the sticky bun...not just on top!  I should have bought another one to take home!  Next, you'll see my waffle sandwich.  It was so, so, sooo good!  And right below, is the salmon pizza.  The dough on this pizza was super tasty!  Everything tasted fresh and of quality.  In fact, these chefs and helpers inside Bread and Butter had also been at The Venetian too!  No wonder why the food is so awesome!  But really, what made this place such a gem was the stellar service.  Even if their food was mediocre, I would still come back for their great service!  Good thing the food and the service rocks!  In fact, it rocks so much, I'm contemplating a trip out just for Bread and Butter!! (and those pretzel breads!)  Whoever is going into Vegas soon, please bring some back for me!! ;)

Vegas Part I: Cupcake Tasting!

I'm baaack!  Sorry for the long sojourn, dear readers!  But so much has been going on in this life of mine...I'm finally catching my breath and figuring everything out!  Anyways, on top of the many little things going on, on the side of life, I was also on vacation...in Sin City!  I've been back for a week now, but you know how it is...always need a vacation from your vacation!  So, I'm slowly coming back to life!  Anyways, for today's post, I thought it'd be fun to share some of my experience out there.  I did quite a lot and ate more than I should!  But that's the charm of that city right?

Ok, let's go.  So, I stayed at the Monte Carlo for this trip.  I love Monte Carlo...it still has that old school elegance and is one of the older casinos but can still stand up to all those posh new ones popping up.  Well, little did I know, there was a cupcake shop in there!  It was called The Cupcakery!  I was told that they had a location in Las Vegas where they baked all their goodies and then delivered to whichever other locations they had around the city.  I was a touch disappointed to hear that, but hey, if the cupcakes were still good, I guess I don't mind..quite..as..much...Want to check out the cupcakes?

Sorry for the terrible picture...I actually posted this picture to my Facebook and the idea of doing cupcake "research" didn't come to me until after I had already ate one cupcake...so I have to make do with this picture!  Ok, so the cupcakes were about normal price...$3.75 each (I kind of expected that, seeing as it's in a casino).  There's a break when you buy 4...I was really only going to buy 4, as I thought it was crazy to spend that kind of money on cupcakes when I bake cupcakes myself!  But darn it, the pretty case full of sparkly, colorful cupcakes made me impulsively buy a half dozen instead...$20.  So, at least I got a little break on pricing...Anyways, overall, these cupcakes were not too bad.  There was one in there that was definitely day old, or getting to be day old, or just plain overbaked.  It was super dry...that chocolate one in the corner.  Which was weird because most chocolate cakes are pretty moist.  Anyways, I thought the cakes on these cupcakes were pretty good.  They weren't too sweet, but had a nice crumb and texture.  It was pleasantly dense but not tooo dense.  Kind of like a middle ground between a chiffon cake and a regular cake.  Very good.  The only problem was there wasn't a lot of flavor in the actual cake itself.  The majority of the flavor was in the frosting...but the frosting was super sweet.  It's definitely a lot sweeter than I would have liked, which detracted from the overall experience of the cupcake.  However, the cupcakes were beautiful and full of shimmer.  We had one while walking around before dinner and saved the other five for later.  Later came the next morning!  Since I was on vacation, I decided that cupcakes for breakfast was ok...

I had truly meant to take one bite out of each flavor.  Really, I was!  However, my bites started off a bit too ambitious (which is why the first two cupcakes were totally eaten)...and as you can see, I truly enjoyed the cake itself more than the frosting.  Oh, the other problem I had with this was the packaging.  The box it came in was actually very nice, the insert very standard.  However, because the cupcakes were so top heavy, they all toppled to the side upon opening the box that morning.  The only one that stayed put was that dry chocolate one.  And we were pretty careful about holding the cupcake too.  Anyways, I thought I was done with this cupcake store, seeing as I had quite a few cupcakes from them already.  However, the next day, when I strolled pass the store, I noticed they had a few different flavors from the night before.  Of course I bought more!  I mean, this is research!

See what I mean about sparkly and beautiful?  And even though I have a problem with ingesting such colorful goods, I couldn't help it...I was instantly drawn to these colorful beauties!  The left is a lemon cake with blueberry frosting and the one on the right is a strawberry cupcake.  Strawberry has been kind of hard for me to do since the flavor is so subtle...I thought I'd sample theirs and see what I can learn!  Once again, the cakes were fabulous, frosting...not so much.  And on that strawberry cupcake, I didn't taste any strawberry in the cake itself...only in the frosting.  No worries, I still polished off both cupcakes anyways (and this was before our Wicked Spoon buffet!)

I also had a chance to try a vanilla cupcake from Sweet Surrenders at the Wynn hotel.  We were waiting for our La Reve show, so I had more than enough time to polish off another cupcake.  The price was $3.50, so not too bad.  The cupcake:

Their cupcake case wasn't as impressive as The Cupcakery's but Sweet Surrenders did offer candy and other sweet confections.  Ok, on to the cupcake.  As you can see, the cupcakes weren't as impressive as The Cupcakery's either.  The cake itself was similar to a cake box mix, so not as tasty.  What was nice was the frosting.  It really looks like a big blob of frosting, but it wasn't too sweet.  And I thought those were sugar pearls on top of the frosting (they were pretty big and I was scared I might break a tooth)..but they were actually pearly krispy dots.  Very tasty!  And a different alternative to those hard pearls, but just as pretty!

We had also walked around either The Venetian or The Palazzo when I encountered this cupcake case:

I had wanted to sample some flavors they offered but the cost of the cupcakes were definitely too rich for my blood!  Can you believe it??  $1.95 for a mini (yes, mini!!) cupcake!  Their regular sized cupcakes were like $4.50!  That was getting to be a touch ridiculous, so I took a pass.  They were super cute though.

And that, folks, concludes my cupcake tasting while in Vegas!  I'm sure there were plenty more I could have sampled, but boy, between the buffets and snacks, and delish food in general, I was stuffed the whole weekend.  In fact, I had to make myself eat those cupcakes! ;)  Until the next cupcake research! In the meanwhile, look out for Vegas Part II: Bread and Butter!  Trust me, you do not want to miss that post!!

Vanilla Bean Flan

Well,  let's talk flan today!  Ok, so, shame on me...I've actually never had flan before.  I've always been more of a creme brulee kind of gal...However, in my defense, I did order one when I was at Porto's Bakery a few weeks ago.  They just forgot to pack it for me... must've forgotten in their attempt to pack my dozens of cheese rolls.  Forgivable...but still...puts me into a dilemma.  So, I did attempt to try one...Anyways, I went on to make flan, since it was a request and also a dessert I have yet to try my hands at.  And for those who know me best, you know how I love to please y'alls!  So keep them coming!  Here's to flan!

I had some trouble getting the flan to come out clean...this was as good as it was going to get that day!  In fact, I had ruined about half a dozen flans, just to go back and use the first one I dug out.   Not too terrible, but it could definitely be better.  I know it doesn't change the taste of the flan, but it still bothered the OCD side of me.  Anyways, don't you just love the scatters of vanilla beans specks??  I just think vanilla bean specks elevate anything to a new level.  There is just a subtle elegance to vanilla. Love!  So, overall, I thought this flan tasted ok.  I still need to go sample flans from other bakeries to get a feel for the texture and taste...but this one was almost like a firm, heavier creme brulee...it certainly had similar ingredients!  I've always thought flan, traditionally, was made with condense milk and evaporated milk.  So, I did change the ingredients to include evaporated milk.  Not sure if that did anything for my flan...but it ended up tasting ok.  At least I thought so!  Guinea pigs, feel free to chime in!

Thanks for stopping by!  Look out for my apple galette with salted caramel post...coming soon!

Mini Peach Pies

Happy Labor Day everyone!  I hope everyone is having a fun and safe holiday weekend!  As for this laborer...I still have to work!  How unfortunate, right?  However, the best part of this Sunday is having the time to blog about peach pies!!  I don't know if you know this, but I love (like seriously love) peaches.  You know how everyone has a birthstone that coordinates with their birth month?  I'm beginning to think that there should be a birth fruit too...and peaches are my birth fruit!  Well, I kind of take that back...I love peaches and nectarines...but I tend to go for nectarines because they don't have the fuzz..but very similar in taste...yummm!  I'm not sure what it is about peaches and nectarines...I definitely love the flavor...and that slightly tart but more sweet taste...when it's juicy and not mealy.  And pretty much when it gives that fresh, fruity, peachy smell!!  In a way, I also think it's the coloring of this fruit.  See, I tend to pick up orangey colored drinks too.  For some reason, they  just really appeal to me!  Same goes for jams...my hands itch to pick peach jams!  Anyways, I haven't had any peaches this whole summer.  But as luck would have it, the day I went into my favorite local Mexican market, the peaches were on sale!  And you know the problem with fruits (especially your favorite fruit!) on sale right?  Of course I end up buying like ten pounds of peaches...and of course I can't eat ten pounds of peaches before it becomes super ripe.  So what do I do?  Make peach pie of course...my most favorite kind of pie!...the best kind of pie out there, in my opinion!  And of course I can't make any ole regular pie...I just had to make mini ones!  OH, and what's pie without it's partner in crime?  You know, good ole vanilla ice cream.  From scratch, of course!  So, here we go...mini peach pies with home-made vanilla bean ice cream!

This was my first time doing a lattice top on pies.  I usually like crumble topped pies more so than crust topped pies.  However, I adored the thought of mini latticed topped pies...so mini lattice it was!  Oh, and the other difference in these pies...I decided to go the puff pastry route instead of traditional pie crust.  Originally, I was going to make some pate brisee, but laziness got the better of me...I know, I know..pie crust isn't too hard to make, I admit it...but hey, I'm allowed a lazy day every so often right?? I already had puff pastry in the freezer...and I needed a way to use it all up...so puff pastry peach pie it was!  Anyways, after making twenty four mini lattice peach pies...I now know exactly why I love crumbled topped pies more.  Crumbled tops are certainly a lot less work!  These lattice tops took forever and a day to finish up!!  Oh, the bright ideas I have sometimes....My new motto should be "anything for the charm of cuteness."

In my mind...twenty four super mini peach pies is so not enough pie!  So, I made twenty four more.  But now that I know how long it took to do mini lattice tops...I decided to just make regular round tops for these extra twenty four.  Notice how they are kind of puffy...yep, those were puff pastry pies too...
Oh, where's the vanilla ice cream you ask?  No fear, I won't forget about them!  Come on now...they're partners in crime, after all!

Yum...can you see the vanilla beans in my ice cream?  I used Tahitian vanilla beans.  It gave off a slight floraly vanilla flavor.  There is just something about those black specks that just elevates vanilla ice cream to a new level.  The ice cream went perfectly with these mini peach pies.  I decreased the sugar in the peach pie because I'm deathly afraid of overly sweet pies.  And what ended up happening was my peaches were still a tad tart, so extra sugar would've been welcomed.  However, with that vanilla bean ice cream.  Sheer perfection.  Yep, I said it.  Perfection!

Have a great holiday dear readers!