It's in this stripmall a few lights from the Newport Ave exit...
I'd read about Kolaches in one of my food books ("500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late") and didn't know there was a kolache place in here until I looked up Tustin bakeries on that four lettered site. I admit I use to to see what's nearby. It's useful in those ways. The reviews, on the other hand (in general, not this particular place) are another story. You either get people who are either shills or totally disgruntled haters.
Anyhow, we wanted to try a kolache,r which originated as a sweet wedding dessert from Central Europe. The word kolache comes from the Slavonic word, 'kolo' meaning 'wheel'. Popular in the mid-West and parts of Texas, kolaches We didn't really want any sweet kolaches since we already had goodies from Cream Pan. Savory kolaches were what we wanted that morning...
Instead of a pastry with a dollop of fruit in the middle (which they do offer and as seen on their menu board), their savory kolache offerings held a multitude of fillings such as beef, chicken, ham/egg/cheeese, Italian and Mexican-tinged fillings, and so on. These were Czech pastries with an American twist. The larger sized kolaches, which we ordered, were $2.99 each.
TC had a meatless kolache (eggs, cheese) while Bert had the sausage, jalapeno and cheese. Mine had the sausage, egg and cheese. I wasn't particularly fond of the dough because it looked undercooked and kind of soft. Not having ever had a kolache before, I'm not sure if that was how they were supposed to look and feel like. The lady who served us warmed up our meat pies which we ate outside in the cool, brisk morning air.
Kolache Factory is a chain and I believe this is the only one in Southern California. Here is a short video (there are a million parts, but I chose Part 1 so you could get the jist)....
I believe this is a more recent video from a local OC station...
It was worth giving this place a try.
Reviews & articles:
"Kolache Factory brings a little bit of Texas to Tustin". OrangeCoast.com, October 2013 + GriffinEats"'s review
"Kolache Factory is Czech-Mex", OC Weekly, November 21, 2013
"Pastries at the Kolache Factory in Tustin". OrangeCounty Eats, November 2013
Kolache Factory
14091 Newport Ave
Tustin, CA 92780
(714) 730-2253
www.kolachefactory.com plus their FB page
The dough was too soft for my liking and I kind of wished this was fried or something to give it some texture. Me no like soft things. That being said, the fillings were pretty tasty and I liked their variety and they do make good hand held snacks. Maybe next time we will try their sweet kolaches.
Of course, right next door was another place I just had to check out...
3 comments:
How interesting! They kind of just look like buns, like the Asian ones, but not really. Was the outer part sweet or just like soft normal bread? You say it's really soft so I'm imagining like, Wonder Bread. Hah!
Tbh I didn't really like the dough. It wasn't as soft as wonder bread but it was not firm enough for me liking. The bread was plain,not really sweet.
I bookmarked this place to try, but haven't gotten around to it since I'm hardly ever in OC. I didn't know they made savory kolaches!
When I was in Prague at McD's, I bought a sweet one with a dark filling. The cashier said it wasn't chocolate, but didn't know the word in English. I bought it anyway. It was prunes! :P
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