in Highland Park that is.
Down Figueroa on 59th, you will see this liquor store...
proclaiming, "The coldest beer in town"...
Head a few steps down there is an older building. The line was NOT out the door when we got there (a little after 9 am). This was the second location of the popular Mr. Holmes Bakehouse (the first is in San Francisco).
When you see this Art deco building, you have arrived.
The de rigueur tiled entryway - pseudo retro since they wouldn't have tiled this "Eat Me LA" back in the 30's!
This "Instagram" ready wall.
They have really cool and thick boxes. You can only get a box if you order six or more pastries ensuring that sweets craved customers will buy AT LEAST half a dozen (like we did, ha ha). I still have my box because it's too nice to just toss unceremoniously into the trash.
I read online that they bake a limited amount of their signature item, the cruffin (a "croissant" and "muffin" hybrid). Only one flavor is offered that particular day. We happened to go at a good time, because a fresh batch was just coming out. However, ironically, for me at least, the featured flavor was...PUMPKIN. Faaaack. :(
But hey, look at all of their other shit.
Yes to the straw berry jalapeo bear claw.
I know there's only five.
Top - hidden was the onion danish, followed by the strawberry jalapeno bear claw, bread pudding, the pumpkin seed cruffin and a stuffed donut (PB).
The sixth piece was this, monkey bread topped with what looked like Chex mix.
Bert and I really enjoyed the onion and bacon danish, the lone savory item in that box. Everything else was diabetes inducing.
Too bad the flavor was pumpkin. Looks nice but I would have liked it better if the flavor was more appealing to me.
The cruffin was really messy to eat. It was difficult to bite and not make a mess. Bert liked this much better than I did. I liked the flaky layers but not the pumpkin cream filling.
The donut was chosen by TC, which was also difficult to eat without making a mess. We had ony a few bites before heading out.
Bathroom door and tile:
Cruffin innards:
Beauty shots at home - I really liked the monkey bread which was covered in a sticky caramelized glaze.
We liked the strawberry and jalapeno pairing in this bear claw. It wasn't too spicy but had a slight kick.
Here is a recent post from Kirbie; her brother gifted her a box of goodies from here:
March 3, 2017
Articles:
"Cruffins are coming to Highland Park" LAist, July 11, 2016
"Embrace the Cruffin at LA's most ambitious new bakery" Eater LA, Sept. 28, 2016
"Capturing the madness of Mr. Holmes Bakehouse" Eater LA, Oct. 26, 2016
They are even moving to Orange County:
"Mr. Holmes Bakehouse brings the legendary cruffin to Orange County" Eater LA, Feb. 1, 2017
Here is a mercifully short video:
Trivia and pop culture alert - Across the street was the warehouse filming location for Quentin Tarantino's classic "Reservoir Dogs". In fact many of the scenes in the movie were filmed in Highland Park in the early 90's. This particular location was former mortuary warehouse which has since been torn down and is where many key scenes were filmed. There is now a parking lot in its place, directly across the street from Mr. Holmes Bakehouse, a distinct vintage building.
This fan's video made last June shows the present day scene. Mr. Holmes Bakehouse appears at the 1:41 mark (a white building) and a better view (albeit a skewed angle) at the 2:05 mark. It doesn't look like the building was ready yet.
*Sorry, embedding is disabled but you can forward to the parts which depict the now present bakery:
Watch the link here.
And here's one of the most notorious scenes from the movie, the ear slicing scene.
"Stuck in the middle with you..."
Mr. Holmes Bakeshop
111 A. 59th Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90042
(323) 739-0473
mrholmesbakehouse.com/LA + reviews from foursquare and you know where.
We were considering visiting the SF location during our Spring Break trip (those posts are eventually forthcoming) but it was too "out of the way" from where we were based.
2 comments:
Well this was an interesting place. The cruffin is an interesting pastry...I enjoy plain pumpkin (Mexican bakery empanada type) but not 'pumpkin spice'...its just too overdone. The savory one would be all mine!
The shape of the cruffin was quite tall. All of the sugar on it makes it messy to eat though. I hate pumpkin spice with a vengeance. If I could have that onion/bacon danish again, I would. The onion was caramelized, very nice.
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