Our first stop was Tustin...
But first, we had to pass
We didn't leave super early (as in "it's still dark early") like we usually do for our road trips. If you're not a morning person, 5:45 am might be considered "early". Since we were going to Tustin, I had three places in mind (two of which are represented by these coupons/thank you Orange County version of the Entertainment Value book).
Of course, the FIRST stop for any of our roadtrips was at Cream Pan. And look, they already have Christmas wreaths up!
TC was still sleeping in the car so I went in solo and picked up a few things including this item we hadn't tried before, the Milk Cream Stick. This was a long baguette sliced lengthwise and filled with a milky/creamy filling. It was delicious (we had it towards the end of the day).
along with this box of goodies which would serve as breakfast and snacks for later.
Salmon onigiri for TC's snack, hot dog bun for us to share, almond croissant for Bert to consume soon, a chocolate croissant for us and a chocolate orange pastry which unfortunately wasn't so good this time. It was smaller than I remembered and tasted on the overly baked side.
Not even one minute away from Cream Pan was THH (Tan Hoang Huong) Sandwiches on Newport. It's just a few doors away from the Kolache Factory. Kill two birds with one stone time.
Usually Bert gets his morning coffee at the Starbucks off the Red Hill exit. They open at 4:30 am. To change it up, we got our coffee here instead. THH opens at 5 am plus they have Vietnamese takeout to boot.
They had fried egg rolls (didn't get), two kinds of pate chaud (pork in round pastry and chicken in square), rolled wafers (boxed) and packaged spring rolls including a variety pack (Chinese sausage, pork, and shrimp).
I liked their iced coffee the last time, so Bert and I each got one while TC got a Thai tea boba (which she said was one of the best she's ever had).
As we waited for our drinks, we watched the ladies make the banh mi sandwiches. They were quite busy since some folks had called in their orders. Lots of people came in and some walked away with big trays full of banh mi this early in the morning.
I love that they used lots of crushed ice with their cafe sua da. This was also pretty potent and ready made. They have the ratios of milk to coffee just right here. Some places make it too milky. This still had that caffeine kick.
Our drinks plus snacks for now and later.
TC had one of the shrimp rolls while Bert and I tried the pork roll. It was on the bland side. The peanut sauce (which had hoisin and a chili sauce in it) had too much going on. Their pickled vegetables didn't taste too pickled either. The spring roll packs were $3.95 and we used the coupon for that. The rolls were kind od bland and the meats were on the skimpy side.
The pate chaud on the other hand were quite good and less expensive that I thought they would be. At K Sandwiches (sniff, we miss K sandwiches, please rebuild!), they are $1.25. Here, the pork pate chaud was .75! What! And the chicken was .85! Double what!
Look how beautiful they look. Little bites of goodness we snacked on before we made the final stretch to LA. Both had juicy fillings and tender flaky crust. Now that I know how good they are, I'm going to get more than just one each next time we visit.
Bert ate the Cream Pan almond croissant that I snuck in. It didn't seem like they would have cared that we brought it in since we had other food items we bought there. Unlike my chocolate orange pastry, the almond croissant was on point.
It looks kind of burnt on the outside and smaller too. I was disappointed with this one. I only had a few bites before putting it away. Normally, I would have inhaled this.
Our last stop was at the Kolache Factory. Bert used the coupon and got two kolaches to go. We would end up having it later for dinner. One was filled with sausage, cheese and egg, the other with potato, egg and cheese.
They look like siapao but with different dough. I liked the filling more than the dough which was too soft (I think I said the same thing for our first visit). The dough was just too...doughy. The filling was also on the bland side.
The coupon kind of sucked in that it was a two for one for up to $5 off. The most expensive kolache was $2.99 so the value isn't really maximized in my opinion. These were warm when they were bagged but we had to put them in the cooler so they wouldn't spoil.
Previous visits to these three places from our President's Day weekend road trip earlier this year (Feb 2015):
Cream Pan
Kolache Factory
THH
Done, done and done...Now it was onwards to Hi-Fi in LA for our holiday photos...
2 comments:
So funny that The Mister and I never explored the neighborhood when stopping at Cream Pan. I guess we've always been in a hurry. But, you know...decorating days are coming soon.
I hope you were able to check out THH this morning! :)
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