Coming up With the Goods in Carlsbad

 The Goods

2965 State Street

Carlsbad, CA 92008

This is a little added bonus Carlsbad restaurant review. Usually, when we pick up a birthday present for Katie, we eat at a restaurant and head back up the 5 Freeway home. This time, however, we did not eat dessert at the restaurant where we celebrated her birthday, so we both craved something sweet. A quick Yelp search yielded many results, but one stuck out a bit and was within walking distance. After a nearly six-minute walk, we found ourselves at The Goods. 

The Goods is an artisan doughnut shop smack dab in the middle of Carlsbad Village. They have been around since 2017 and serve what I term fancy doughnuts. These are places like Sidecar Doughnuts, Oliboli, and JD Flannel Donuts in San Juan Capistrano, where a dozen doughnuts can set you back at least $30 or more. Conversely, Old-school donut places can be found in every neighborhood, and they serve very straightforward, no-nonsense donuts. I love both, although I have a soft spot for the old-school donuts I grew up with. I appreciate the finer doughnuts on occasion when my wallet allows them. 

We arrived at The Goods just before 2 p.m., which is usually when bakeries are selling off their remaining inventory and shutting down for the day. Although they listed their closing time as 4 p.m., they still had a good amount of stuff in their case when we walked into their small storefront. Doughnuts are priced in the $4 range, other pastries are $7, and they have a slew of coffee beverages that go for an average of $5. No coffee for me, as I was all about the baked goods. 

Here's a quick overview of what we ordered while at The Goods. We got them boxed to go, but we did have a doughnut and cookie here for research purposes only. Katie also got an Americano, which she enjoyed on the way home. In total, we spent just shy of $40. Let's take a closer look at everything we had. 

It's a doughnut spot, so of course, I'll start with the Cinnamon Roll ($7). This roll was about the size of my outstretched hand and featured cream cheese frosting. I liked this but had wished it had more cinnamon inside, as it lacked the gooeyness of other cinnamon rolls. The icing struck the right balance of cream cheese to sugar ratio, making people who like cream cheese frosting and those who don't both happy. The base was sturdy and well-made and got a little softer when heated. 

I'm always a sucker for cookies, so I got their Chocolate Chip Cookie ($3) as well. I liked this cookie more than the cinnamon roll. It had the perfect amount of chocolate chips spread evenly through the cookie, and the light touch of sea salt added a nice touch. The outside edge had an excellent crunch, while the center was chewy. The way a chocolate chip cookie should be. I ate this before heading home and should have gotten one for the road to heat it up in the microwave for that just-out-of-the-oven feel. Next time, for sure. 

Katie picked our first two doughnuts. She almost always veers towards fruit-flavored doughnuts. Her first pick was this Seasonal Berry Jam ($4.50). It's a yeast-raised doughnut with berry icing and filled with a jam made up of three seasonal berries. I'm guessing the three berries used were blackberry, boysenberry, and strawberry, but I'm unsure. The doughnut part was soft and had a slight chew to it, the icing was not overly sugary sweet, and the jam inside was a little too tart for my tastes. This was a grown-up version of the jelly donut you can get at your neighborhood donut spot. Very high quality. 

Next up was the Strawberry Shortcake ($4.75). Again, this was a yeast-raised doughnut with strawberry glaze topped with mascarpone, graham cracker crumbs, and a sliced strawberry. Like the doughnut above, this was not overly sweet, but the strawberry flavor was loud and clear. I'm not that big of a fan of mascarpone, so I left most of this doughnut for Katie, who liked this one the best.

The best doughnut I had at The Goods was this Brown Butter Doughnut ($4.25). It was a cake doughnut with a slight crunch when bitten into, a toasted brown butter glaze, and a touch of sea salt. I could have just had this one thing and left very happy. I'll have to try more of their cake doughnuts next time. They are delicious and satisfying. 

This simple Chocolate Ganache ($3.65) was another yeast doughnut dipped into a plain-tasting chocolate ganache. The chocolate on this was too muted for me, and after a few bites, I was bored by it. It was not awful, but I want it to be sweeter if I have a doughnut and the calories to go along with it. 

The Goods truly does make good doughnuts. After a few bites, you can tell they are crafted well and utilize high-quality ingredients. It might have been because we got here late in the afternoon, and they were out of the better doughnuts, but only the brown butter doughnut really popped for me and made me take notice. If we had gotten here closer to their opening, I would have liked to try their apple fritter, Boston cream, Nutella buttercream, or the churro cruller on my next visit. The girls working the counter were lovely and answered all of the questions we had about the doughnuts. Are these the best doughnuts in Carlsbad? We will have to wait until next year for Katie's birthday to find out. 

Out of five creatures (because the city of Carlsbad is home to three lagoons, sadly, none of them include a creature like in the 1954 3-D monster movie Creature from the Black Lagoon), five being best and zero being worst, The Goods gets three creatures. 

For more information about The Goods, head to their website by clicking here: https://www.thegoodsdoughnuts.com/

Welcome to the West Coast Levain Bakery

 Levain Bakery

227 North Larchmont Blvd. 

Los Angeles, CA 90004

Wrapping up our day trip to LA, we needed something sweet to end our adventures in the City of Angels. Los Angeles has some iconic desserts to choose from; Churros from Olvera Street, Hot Fudge Cake from Bob's Big Boy in Burbank, a slice of pie from either Pie N' Burger or Apple Pan, or a scoop of ice cream from Fosselman's. So naturally, with all these great options, we decided to try an NYC transplant, Levain Bakery. 

Levain is an iconic bakery in New York and across the country. They have so many accolades that this could quickly become one of my longest posts if I listed them all. They have been named the best cookie in the US numerous times. Almost all the food people I follow on Instagram have made a pilgrimage to their bakery when visiting the Big Apple. 

Two friends started this business by selling bread to some of the best restaurants in New York City. They opened their first storefront on West 74th Street in 1995, which is still open for business. At first, they sold just their bread, rolls, and loaves. They made a chocolate walnut cookie as a test batch, and they flew off the shelf. People began talking, and soon, they had lines outside waiting for their cookies. They now have nine locations in NYC, along with storefronts in Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, Chicago, and their first on the West Coast, in Larchmont Village. 

We arrived just before 4 p.m. and were met by a small line of about three people. When they first opened almost a year ago, people waited for hours. Luckily, the lines have diminished, and we were in and out within 15 minutes. Parking can be tricky around here, but we parked in the Wells Fargo lot next to the bakery and told the security guard, Reggie, that we were just getting cookies, and he allowed us to park there. We got him a cookie for letting us park there. He probably goes home with a dozen cookies every day. A good gig. 

Before we got to the cookies, Katie wanted to sample their Sour Cream Coffee Cake ($4.75) and Blueberry Muffin ($4.75) first. I liked both of these. They were both sweet but not overly so. I believe the sour cream in the coffee cake suppressed the usual sweetness you would get with a typical coffee cake. I would have liked the cinnamon crumble to be more distributed throughout instead of concentrated on the bottom of the slice. 

The blueberry muffin was studded with plenty of fresh blueberries throughout the muffin. It had a nice crystalized sugar top and was buttery and flavorful at its base. It was way better than any muffin we have had in recent memory. 

For the main event, most people visit Levain Bakery because of the cookies. We got the Two-Chip Chocolate Chip Cookie ($5) and the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie ($5). These hefty cookies are probably best to share, so you can try more than one variety. The two-chip cookie was loaded with chocolate chips, so you get a lot of chocolate in each bite. The outer cookie had a good crunch, while the inside portion was a tad underbaked for my liking. Still, it was terrific, and I microwaved this for about ten seconds to replicate that fresh, out-of-the-oven feel. 

The chocolate peanut butter cookie was my jam. It was delicious. Again, this cookie had a nice crunchy outer shell, but this one was baked a bit more inside, which I appreciated. It had the consistency of a gooey brownie, and the numerous peanut butter chips added a nice savoriness to the cookie. Really, well done, and writing this has got my mouth watering. 

Levain Bakery really lived up to the hype. Their baked goods are top-notch; hopefully, they will come to OC someday. I can't help but compare these cookies to my favorite OC bakery, Paderia Bakehouse. I'd give the nod to Paderia for their chocolate chip cookie, but the peanut butter chocolate chip cookie is better at Levain. In my opinion, these two bakeries are on par with each other. I'm happy we got to try Levain and did not have to travel all the way to NYC. They fit right in with the other great desserts available in LA.   

Out of five streetcars (because this spot is in Larchmont Village, which became a streetcar suburb of Los Angeles in the 1920s), five being best to zero being worst, Levain Bakery gets 4 streetcars. 

For more information about Levain Bakery, head to their website by clicking here: https://levainbakery.com/

An Afternoon Adventure in Auburn

Ikeda's

13500 Lincoln Way 

Auburn, CA 95603

This is the start of our three-part adventure away for a quick weekend with Katie's work family. For me, working in the grocery industry for the last 33 years, the idea that a company would spring for a bonding experience to share their appreciation for all the hard work that their employees do is kind of a shock to my system. My workplace sometimes gets Dominos Pizza for a work party, we can receive a five-dollar gift card if our store has a clean safety record for a full year, and once we are employed by our company for twenty years, we get invited to an awards dinner every five years to receive our pin. Not exactly on par with an all-expenses-paid trip to a resort in Lake Tahoe, but I digress. 

We flew into Sacramento on a Thursday morning, grabbed our rental car, and headed out for the two-hour drive to Lake Tahoe. Since we skipped the obligatory McDonald's breakfast at the airport, I picked a place to eat and stretch our legs on our way to the resort. Ikeda's in Auburn felt like it would fit that bill. They possess a four-star rating on Yelp with over 1.200 reviews, so I felt pretty good about my selection. 

Ikeda's started as a small fruit stand on the side of the road. As the years went by, they expanded into a market and a restaurant. This is still a family-run business, going on their third generation of helping preserve their family legacy. Ikeda's has also expanded to Davis, California, which is 15 miles to the west of Sacramento. For longtime OC residents, Ikeda's reminded me a bit of the original Knowlwood's that was located off Imperial Highway many years ago. 

Much like Knowlwoods, Ikeda's is known for their hamburgers, but with their beginnings as a fruit stand, they are also famous for their pies, whether they are fruit, cream, or pot pies. The menu also features plenty in the way of sandwiches, including a crab sandwich which sounded pretty interesting to me. Ordering is done at the counter, and then your number is called out to claim your food. For a Thursday afternoon, it was pretty busy at Ikeda's. We had to wait only about ten minutes for our food, which was not too bad. Let's see if this restaurant was a wise place to stop on our way up to Lake Tahoe. 

Katie and I decided we would order two things and split them, a divide and conquer effort. The first being the Bacon Burger ($12.99). This burger came dressed with lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, sauce, and two slices of bacon on a brioche bun. I should have opted to get this burger with cheese, which would have probably moistened things up a bit here. The yellow sauce that they use was tangy, and kind of resembled a thinner hollandaise sauce. I wish they had added a little extra to our burger because I like things saucy. The one-third-pound patty was fresh, cooked well, and went nicely with the excellent bacon. Included in the price are a drink and the fries above. The fries were solid, but there were so many, I kind of got bored with them as time went by. I'd definitely upgrade to curly, parmesan, or truffle fries next time I visit, and I'd ask for a side of ranch dressing.  

Part two of our meal was this Chicken Pot Pie ($9.99). This good-sized pot pie came out steaming and cooled down after a very long wait. Puncturing the crust revealed a good amount of shredded chicken, carrots, and other veggies. I usually like a saucier pot pie, but this one was a very nice effort. I kind of enjoyed that the chicken was shredded, and not in chunks. It made it easier to eat and incorporated the veggies easier. Very good sized for ten dollars, and it kept me full well past when we arrived in Lake Tahoe. 

Just like our meals, Katie and I split two slices of pie. We went with the Dutch Apple ($4.99) and the Chocolate Cream ($5.99). I enjoyed the rich chocolate cream one the best, although there was way too much cream topping this one. It detracted from the wonderful chocolate underneath. The apple was nicely done with plenty of crumbly goodness topping it, and it would have been made even better if we had gotten this one with ice cream perched on top, but we were trying to be good, even though we were on our mini-vacation. Maybe next time. 

Ikeda's is definitely a great place to stop on the way to Lake Tahoe, or even if you are just in the area. I'd like a do-over with my meal choices, like adding cheese to my burger and ice cream to my pie, but even though I missed out on these things, I was still pretty satisfied with our visit. This is classic travel food, and it makes me nostalgic for road trips with my parents growing up. There's also a pretty impressive little market here where you can stretch your legs before completing your road trip. On to our next adventure. 

Out of five running shoes, (because with so many endurance races taking place in the city of Auburn, many participants will go through plenty of running shoes in some of these events), five being best to zero being worst, Ikeda's gets 3 running shoes. 

For more information about Ikeda's, head to their website by clicking here: https://www.ikedas.com/

Banana Pudding Bonanza at Magnolia Bakery

Magnolia Bakery

8389 West Third Street

Los Angeles, CA 90048

Never underestimate the power of pictures. I'm sure most of you don't really read the drivel that I write on these blog pages. Blogging is so 2009, but I still like to express my thoughts on restaurants, for the three of you that still read my reviews. Even my mom doesn't read this anymore, and the only way I know this is that she hasn't said a word about my poor grammar in a few years now, and I know I haven't all of the sudden become a punctuation wizard. 

I bring this up because pictures can be quite persuasive. I have been stalking Magnolia Bakey for years on their Instagram page. I find myself salivating over the pictures of their different versions of banana pudding and other baked goods a lot of the time. I finally decided a trip up to LA was needed to find out if Magnolia Bakey is just a collection of beautiful pictures or if their stuff is as delicious as what is depicted in those pictures. 

Magnolia Bakery opened for business in 1996 in New York City. They are a scratch bakery, and everything here is made on the premises daily. In 2007 there was a change of ownership, which resulted in a pretty aggressive expansion, including spots in Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and India. Domestically there are seven NYC locations, along with one in Chicago and this one in LA, which opened back in 2010.  

The number of offerings at Magnolia Bakery is a little overwhelming. They have plenty of cupcakes and cakes to choose from, along with pies, mini cheesecakes, brownies, cookies, muffins, scones, icebox desserts, and of course their famous banana pudding. There's also monthly specials and weekly cupcakes to consider as well. Way too much for someone like me that wants to try everything. 

I enlisted my boss Melissa and her husband Kyle to meet us up in LA. After a very good meal at a nearby barbecue spot, we walked the three blocks to Magnolia Bakery. Due to covid restrictions Magnolia Bakery limited the number of people inside at one time, and there were no onsite places to eat what we ordered, so we decided to part ways and try our goodies at home instead and compare notes. I admit it was very hard not digging in while we drove south on the 5 freeway, but my lack of eating utensils helped to keep me from having everything finished by the time I got home. Let's take a closer look. 

I'm not sure where I first had Hummingbird Cake ($7), but every time since, I'm compelled to try it when it's offered. For those of you that are not aware, hummingbird cake is a cake very popular in the south. It's a banana-pineapple spice cake, which I'd describe as carrot cake, but without the carrot and sweeter. This version at Magnolia was first-rate. Little bursts of sweetness from the pineapple, but not too sugary. It was a very light and moist cake, almost falling apart as I dug my fork in for each bite. Their cream cheese frosting was wonderful also. 

Now for the real reason, most people come to Magnolia Bakery, including myself. I started off my banana pudding binge with the Large Classic Banana Pudding ($7.50). The classic comes with sliced bananas and pockets of vanilla wafer encased in the lighter than I expected banana pudding. This is not a dense pudding, but light and fluffy. The banana flavor was present but did not overwhelm. Each spoonful was a surprise as to what I was going to get since there was no rhyme or reason to the layering in this, which was an added bonus. Definitely the best banana pudding I've had, but I had two more to try as you will see as you continue reading. 

Magnolia Bakery rotates their special flavors I think monthly. When we visited last month their special pudding was the Gone Bananas Pudding ($6.25). This was actually vanilla pudding with banana chocolate chip bread, Nutella, and sliced bananas in it. I liked this one too, even though I was skeptical about the bread being in here because I thought it was going to be all mushy. This was not the case. It held together nicely over the two days that this managed to hang around. This was a bit heavier than the regular banana pudding I had above, but that's probably due to the bread being in here. They could have added a bit more Nutella, but I'd still get this one again. 

Now for my favorite version of the Magnolia Bakery pudding on this trip, the Chocolate Banana Pudding ($6.25). Full disclosure, I'm a big fan of chocolate, so that might be why I liked this one best. The chocolate pudding was rich but light enough to allow the chocolate wafer crumbs and sliced bananas to be showcased. Each bite was a delight and I was actually sad when I had finished this medium-sized version way quicker than I intended to. I'll definitely get a larger size on my next visit, and I've already been online trying to find copycat recipes so I can make it on my own in the meantime. 

I'd say that Magnolia Bakery really lived up to the hype that I had built up for it. My go-to for banana pudding had been the one from Paderia Bakehouse in Irvine, which is good, but Magnolia's version is better in my book. It's a little sweeter, and I like that they have different versions. Prices were pretty fair when you consider how popular Magnolia Bakery is. I was expecting prices to be in the double digits, but that was not the case here. Service was very good, as the woman helping us answered all of my questions and indecision like a pro. I'm glad the pictures on their Instagram feed finally prompted me to make the trip up to LA. Well worth it. 

Out of five beetles, (because Magnolia flowers are pollinated by beetles and not bees like so many other flowers), five being best to zero being worst, Magnolia Bakery gets 4 beetles.  

For more information about Magnolia Bakery, head to their website here: https://www.magnoliabakery.com/

Dipping into Poqet Donuts - CLOSED

Poqet Donuts

17655 Harvard Ave. 

Irvine, CA 92614

Ever since I was a little kid, I have loved donuts. Not only are they delicious, but they were part of my morning ritual with my dad while growing up. My mom and sister always slept in, so it would just be my dad, and I left to fend for ourselves for breakfast. Sometimes, he would make pancakes, but because he made so much noise, he would usually opt to just head to Winchell's or any other local donut shop to buy a dozen for us and my sleeping mom and sister.

He always let me pick out the dozen. I felt like a kid in a candy store (okay, a donut store would be more precise). I knew all of my family's favorites. My mom was partial to the crumb, my dad enjoyed the chocolate long john, and my sister liked the rainbow sprinkle, even though she only ate the top portion with the frosting and sprinkles. I loved every donut. I swear I could have eaten the whole dozen by myself, but my dad limited me to three, which usually meant the crumb, devil's food, and the buttermilk bar would be my choices before I was cut off for my own good.

My point is that I still have a deep-rooted love for donuts to this day. As the years have gone by, my tastes in donuts have also evolved. I'm no longer satisfied with the donuts offered in the supermarket's bakery section. With the exception of an occasional Entenmann's, I don't get my donuts on the bread aisle anymore, either. I do, however, perk up when I see someone at work bring in a pink box from one of the neighborhood donut shops.

In recent years, I have become a big fan of the gourmet donut genre that has sprung up. It started when Sidecar Doughnuts opened up in Costa Mesa in late 2012. These are the gold standard of donuts I have tried, and I've had them numerous times in the six years they have been around, and they just keep improving. Not that I have dismissed others. We briefly had the Donut Bar in Fountain Valley, which turned into Crafted Donuts, which I have yet to try, but I've heard good things. Just like I had heard good things about the shop I had chosen to visit on this day, Poqet Donuts in Irvine.

Poqet, pronounced like "pocket," has been around for three years. My friend Danny and I had eaten lunch nearby and wanted to try this place. I was a little nervous because I know that as the day goes on in a donut shop or bakery, things get picked over and are less fresh.  I knew we were pushing it to show up here at close to 2 pm, but we were met by a full display case featuring a good assortment of their most popular flavors.

Poqet Donuts differs from its competitors because it allows you to customize your donuts. You build your own donut masterpiece by picking the kind of donut you want to use and adding your favorite fillings and toppings to finish it off. It would be cool to try this, but for now, Danny and I just picked the donuts we wanted from behind the case, some for here and some for his family waiting patiently at home.

Here's a quick overview of what we got. The top picture shows the ones Danny was going to bring home to his family. The bottom picture shows the ones we were going to try out in front of their shop. Let's take a closer look at each and our thoughts on it.

First out of the box for us was this Oreo Cookies and Cream ($3). This used a slightly glazed donut as its base, which was then topped with plenty of Oreo cookie crumbs and finished off with piped cream over half of the doughnut. This was not as sweet as I expected and did not convey the Oreo cookie vibe I had hoped it would. The problem was that the cream was only over half the donut, so there were only half the bites that resembled America's favorite cookie. A more spread-out cream would have made this more enjoyable.

As I stated above, one of my favorite donuts growing up was the crumb, so we had to try this Vanilla Coffee Cake Donut ($2.75). Glad we did. This was a good rendition of one of my favorite donuts growing up. There was plenty of cinnamon crumb topping, a nice crunch to the outward donut portion, and it was soft and moist on the inside. The sweetness was toned down by the cinnamon, a nice touch. It is one of the better versions we experienced this afternoon.
 

A little more elaborate than your normal donut, this is the Apple Pie ($3.75). This was a glazed donut with apple pie filling in the hole portion, with graham cracker crumbs, a caramel drizzle, and a dollop of cream topping this visually appealing donut. It was good, but there was not enough apple on this to really make it stand out. It was a very sweet donut, but I'd probably pass on it the next time I was here.

Lastly, one of the most popular donuts at legendary M and M Donuts in Anaheim, which you do not have to wait in line for at ten o'clock at night here at Poqet Donuts, was their version of a Blueberry Donut ($3). I actually liked the simplicity of this donut. It had a fair amount of blueberry specks in the cake portion of the donut, and the icing had a nice mellow flavor. Very well done.

Even though we had shown up at an awkward hour for a donut shop, our trip to Poqet Donuts this afternoon was solid. Yes, the donuts did not blow us away like Sidecar, but they are better quality than many mom-and-pop donut shops in almost any shopping center. You can tell they use high-quality products, resulting in a lighter, less greasy product than many competitors. I liked the simpler donuts we ordered rather than the more outrageous ones we indulged in. Service was pleasant enough, especially since we were here about an hour before closing. The three-dollar price per donut is a little exorbitant, but these are more like special occasion donuts. A donut for when you want to pamper yourself. Or think back to a particular time you experienced as a kid with your dad. You can't put a price on memories that bring you back to those great times. 

Out of five computers (because one of the first portable computers available to the public was the Poqet PC, which sold for $2000 back in 1989), five being best to zero being worst, Poqet Donuts gets 3 computers.

For more information about Poqet Donuts, head to their website here: http://poqetdonuts.com/

Hoping Chimney Cakes Isn't Just a Smoke Screen

House of Chimney Cakes

173 West Center Steet Promenade

Anaheim, CA 92805

After meeting my parents for an epic lunch nearby, we did not want the good times to end, so I did a quick search of nearby dessert places on Yelp and turned up a bunch of results. One of the most promising was about ten minutes away, so we hopped in our cars and headed to the House of Chimney Cakes.

I had not been to this part of Anaheim for quite some time. The closest I have gotten was the Anaheim Packing House, but this Center Street Promenade area, which is situated across the street from the Anaheim City Hall had a pretty cool, big city vibe going for it. There were some restaurants I have wanted to try here; Pour Vida Latin Flavor, Cervantes Mexican Kitchen, and others, but those would have to wait for another day since we had just eaten a big lunch. This trip was all about itching those sweet cravings we were having.

I had never heard of chimney cakes before this afternoon. Looking at the pictures on Yelp, they kind of looked like the cones were made like churros, with ice cream inside of them, and crazy toppings making them Instagram-worthy. After arriving at this small shop I learned that these are not churros, but a Hungarian sweet bread, traditionally called a kurtoskalacs, which is cylindrical in shape, with a crunchy outer shell and a softer inner core. Their website claims that the chimney cake is like a cross between a donut and a churro. I was intrigued.

Opened since November of last year, the House of Chimney Cakes is owned and operated by a Szandra Szabo, a Hungarian fashion model, who moved to the US to share her love of chimney cakes with the foodies in Southern California. Along with her business partner, she serves as founder, CEO, and head pastry chef at the House of Chimney Cakes.

We arrived here at the awkward hour of 2pm on a recent Tuesday, found parking right away in the adjacent parking structure, and ordered our chimney cakes. The menu here features seven signature creations, which are ready-made options like Oreo Overload, Matcha Madness, Apple Pie, and others. These are perfect for people that don't want to come up with their own creations. You can also build your own chimney cake with the ice cream, toppings, and sauces that you desire. You also have the option of forgoing the chimney cake altogether and getting the soft serve in a cup, like my mom ended up doing. Katie and I wanted the full experience, so let's see how our first chimney cake encounter went over.

Katie went pretty basic here, with her Build Your Own Chimney Cake ($7). She opted for the chocolate soft serve ice cream, a cinnamon-sugar chimney cake cone, and some coconut flakes sprinkled on top. She felt this was good, but not great. She liked that it was not overly sweet, and the soft serve ice cream was of a better quality than most she's had. A pretty basic ice cream treat.

I went a little more crazy, getting their Oreo Overload ($7.95). This signature creation starts with a chimney cake rolled in Oreo cookie crumbs and is filled with vanilla and chocolate soft serve, then more Oreo cookie crumbs are added and then finished off with chocolate sauce and an Oreo cookie. This was just okay, as I was expecting a bit more. Truth be told, I'm not really partial to soft serve ice cream, as I like real deal ice cream better. This was better than average soft serve though. The chimney cone was not what I was expecting either. The outside was crunchy, and I thought the inside was going to be softer, but maybe because the ice cream made it too cold, it was a little harder than I imagined it was going to be. The Oreo experience was lessened even more because they do not have cookies and cream ice cream, which might have helped this out a bit. Thanks for the hand modeling mom.

Much like a lot of these Instagram-worthy foods, the Chimney Cakes were very photogenic, but when it comes to eating them, they do not live up to the hype. These were not awful, but this is more of a place you come once, post your pictures online, and then probably don't return to, unless you are in the area again and want to get some extra likes for your IG account. The chimney cake needed to be sweeter, and with more ice cream flavors available. Very decorative, but not much else going on here.

Out of five falcons, (because the Saker falcon is the official bird of Hungary, the country where chimney cakes originated), five being best to zero being worst, the House of Chimney Cakes gets 2.5 falcons.

For more information about the House of Chimney Cakes, head to their website here: https://www.thehouseofchimneycakes.com/