I had the assignment of finding the best Kouign Amann in Los Angeles. I knew where to get excellent ones, but they have all closed. Wildflour Bakery/Restaurant in the Philippines came to mind. The last two times I was there, we dined there several times. I remembered how I enjoyed their pastries and food (lunch). That said, I thought it would be a good time to check out Republique in Los Angeles. It's a restaurant/bakery, and the pastries are baked by none other than Margarita Manzke.
I ordered 6 of the Kouign Amann's the night before, and I talked Sandi into going with me to pick them up, and since we had to drive the distance, it only made sense for us to have breakfast there. We were overwhelmed when we walked into the restaurant. So many pastries, and they all looked delicious. We picked a few to try before we ordered breakfast. We ordered one Salted Caramel Donut, Banana-Poppyseed muffin, a Scone, and the Crème Brȗlée Bomboloni; custard inside and topped with bruléed sugar which was my absolute favorite. I also ordered an Empanada, which they called BBQ Chicken Hand Pie to try at dinner time as an appetizer. And while thinking of dinner, I had to order the Chocolate Cake for dessert.
As we sampled the pastries while making sounds like animals in ecstasy, our breakfast dishes were delivered to our table. Sandi's Avocado Toast looked too beautiful to eat. It really was picture-perfect. It had loads of avocado slices. She loved it. She almost didn't finish it, but she talked herself into eating the whole thing. I was torn between the Brioche French Toast and the Potato Pancake with Smoked Salmon. I first had to ask if the pancake was thin, and he said yes, so I immediately made up my mind to have that. It was another picture-perfect dish, and by gosh, it was heavenly. One bite, and I thought I was in heaven though I was too busy to look for angels! Our thoughts were: it's too bad they are not close to our area. Then again, maybe that is a blessing because we would both be super fat in no time. To describe our feeling after this outing; Comatose.
On our way home, we pondered about dinner. We were too full that we agreed to postpone any dinner plans. Mind you, we were there at 8:00 a.m. By 2:00 p.m., we both were still too full to think of even eating anything else. We usually have our dinner from 3:30-4:00. Since we still had to try the Chicken Pie and chocolate cake, we decided to have those items for dinner. We split the Chicken Pie and the Chocolate Cake. We both loved the pie, which reminded me of Philippine Empanada, which has more flavor than the Mexican one. This pie was so flaky and was loaded with wonderful flavors of the different veggies that went well with the chicken. Our first thought was...we should have bought 2! The Chocolate Cake was also wonderful. The caramel in between the layers made it! It was not too sweet.
My son had the Kouign Amann that evening and he loved it. I saved mine for the following day for breakfast because I really wanted to enjoy it. I didn't even bother to heat it up. I just ate it as is. OMG, it was perfection! I can finally say I have a new friend and her name is Kouigny.
I can't wait to go back to Republique. They are located at 624 South La Brea Ave. in Los Angeles. I got to meet Margarita, the pasty Chef, and owner. She was a delight. Margarita, will you open a Restaurant/Bakery in Rolling Hills or in Torrance?
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