E & Drink 3x plus a Tale of Two Tarts

A few weeks ago, I went out with my neighbor (hereafter referred to as MN). The girls were supposed to go, but her oldest was sick, so TC stayed back with the younger one and the husband.

I wanted MN to try the Hot Pot n Ranch 99. She's pretty game to try anything, which makes her the ideal lunch companion (ha ha)...

We took a quick look through the hot pot choices

and I saw that this was available...

Our hot pot came with tea, so MN chose the cold green tea. These mugs are so big! How can anyone finish one of these plus chow down on a hot pot lunch? Think of all that liquid sloshing around inside. Well, that's what I think about, heh.

She wanted to try the Seafood Hot Pot (which TC and I had earlier that month). My watermelon drink was really good. It reminded me of those aguas frescas you can get at the Mexican markets. The rice noodles were already in the hot pot, not like last time when it was on the side and we had to put it in ourselves. I liked that they put it in this time.

One thing about the service here. It's really spotty. The girl who served us our food didn't even give us bowls. We were given bowls (duh) previously. I mean, there were TWO of us.  Maybe she thought we would just eat straight from the big pot? Another thing, it takes forever to get your check, unless you flag down the server or the man who seems to be the owner. I thought it was obvious that we were done  but no one approached us.

Aside from the lack of attention from the server for our basic needs (bowls, napkins), we both really enjoyed our hot pot meal.  It was topped with fresh spinach (which wasn't included last time) and again, chock full of seafood, plus an egg and tofu strips.

I took MN on a quick tour of Ranch 99. I didn't realize that they redid the bakery section. They also have a take out section  of various Chinese and Vietnamese foods (very nice!).  This set up was much better than the older one, which was near the meat department in the back. We took a quick peek into this bakery...

We saw this sign for Portuguese Egg Tarts above the case and MN (who is married to a Portuguese) bought a few for us to sample.

Looking at it, she could already tell that the crust was not the same type of flaky dough that is typical of the authentic egg tarts sold in Portugal. In Portuguese, they are referred to as Pastel de Nata (pasteis de nata is the plural form); in Lisbon, they are also referred to as Pastel de Belem. For more info on this pastry, click here. You can also check out Kirk's recent posts on Portugal (Day 1 and Day 2) which include photos of these tarts.

So many bread and pastry choices here...

There's that take out place next to the bakery. They were doing brisk business. We may just have to go back there for lunch one day.

MN and I headed up the street to nearby Zion, which still hadn't had it's grand opening yet (It already happened on Saturday, June 29th).

I told her there was a version of the egg tart at Paris Baguette, so perhaps we could do a comparison.

The first time TC and I went to Paris Baguette, the lights were dim in the back. Looks like the lights are up and running now.  I remember not wanting to sit in the back because it was too dark to take decent photos.

I like it when it's not crowded. See the doors on the right? Those are bathrooms! Nice and clean too.

Here were the pastries we would sample: a Cannele, an egg tart, and a blueberry tart. These were all from Paris Baguette.

Now this is the PB tart on top of the tarts from Desir Bakery from Ranch 99. No, we didn't eat all four. The others were saved for MN's family.

Once more, our four little bites.

First up, the Cannele which is spelled with two "n's" (plus an acent over the second 'e'). I read somewhere that only patisseries from Bordeaux who make it according to certain standards can use the spelling with one "n".  I'll have to update this bit later. It's in one of my books on French pastries.

This was a tiny dessert that was caramelized all over, with the bottom seeming burnt, but I read that is how they are supposed to look. The inside is a dense cake flavored with vanilla and rum, although I couldn't really taste the rum.

It was okay, but perhaps I should try another one from another bakery to make a better comparison.

Below, a tiny blueberry tart filled with an egg custard. The pastry shell was nice and flaky with a satisfying light crunch which contrasted with the creamy interior. MN said the Portuguese egg tarts should have had this type of pastry shell.

This little dessert was the best out of the four.

Now this was the "egg tart" from Paris Baguette. The dough was not flaky. It was more like a soft pie crust dough. There was no caramelization on the top. MN said a good Pastel de nata should have a "skin" on top a nd that it should not look this yellow. The brownish stuff on top didn't really look like caramelization to me. I'm not sure if someting was brushed on top of this. This tart was very eggy and too soft.

This was one of the tarts from Desire bakery. There was more caramalization on the top, but not skin. The dough was also not flaky. This may be because the Chinese in overseas Portuguese colonies adapted the recipe to their liking and the recipe was tweaked over the years in the different countries (Hong Kong and Taiwan included).

Unfortunately, this version was too oily and greasy. We didn't like this one at all.

Despite her disappointment at the tarts, we both felt it was good to do the taste test. I think more "research" is in order here, heh heh!

Previous visit to E & Drink here along with Paris Baguette - here and here.

MN and her family just left for Portugal and she said she would, to the chagrin of her husband (who feels that pastel de nata should not be transported because it won't be fresh), bring us back some real pasteis de nata! OMG, now that would be the best. She said that they sell them at the airport so she'd bring us back a box! Waiting the next four weeks for their return will be torture !