Infamous Sprinkles Cupcakes!

 

For those of you who haven't heard of Sprinkles Cupcakes, the original gourmet cupcake bakery, you are missing out!  But don't worry, I actually didn't know anything about it until a few months ago after my lovely birthday lunch with Lisa at the Tea Rose Garden.  We were in the car driving around Pasadena when all of a sudden Lisa suggests going to Sprinkles Cupcakes.  She was surprised I've never heard of it and off we

 went to find a Sprinkles location!  Sadly, we couldn't find the it and decided we'll save our trip to there another day.

 

I'm actually glad we didn't go because the following week, Erica (best friend) surprised me with a gift certificate to Sprinkles as a birthday gift!  It's as if she read my mind!  Thanks Erica if you are reading this!  What's really freaky is that I have never once mentioned Sprinkles to her AND that was the second time I've ever heard anyone talk about this place in one week!  Talk about a coincidence, right?

For weeks on end I've been wanting to try Sprinkles and I was finally able to this past weekend by accident!  We were roaming around The Grove, which by the way is a great place to go to over on the weekends, and we came across the mini bakery that was hidden between a restaurant and a parking garage!

 

The cupcakes alone are $3.50 each so be prepared to break your piggy bank for a dozen of these babies!  Just kidding, but I have to admit, they're pretty expensive cupcakes!  I think it's worth it if you get the right flavors.  For example, we ended up getting the Banana, Strawberry, Coconut, and their Irish cupcake.  I liked all of them except for their seasonal Irish cupcake--the least moist cupcake and you can barely taste the Bailey's.  I think my absolute favorite would have to be the Banana because it was evenly balanced.  The strawberry was delicious except for the fact that the sweetness over-empowered after the third bite.  Coconut is great too but the Banana beat them all!

Can't wait to go back to Sprinkles again!

<3 Lina Chen

189 The Grove Dr.,  Los Angeles, CA 90036

323.931.4498.   http://www.sprinkles.com

SNOOZE (Revisited)

It was great to be home for the holidays.  A week or two week extension would have been nice but of course life back in Cali had to resume sometime or another.

Putting aside time to get together with people was hard to manage since it seemed like the days had zipped by so quickly, but I was able to see some of my oldest and bestest friends while I was back home.  It seemed like we never grew up.  To this day it amazes me at how much we've grown so much these past few years.  On my last day in Denver, me and my girlfriends had brunch at Snooze.  This is actually my second post about it but feel free to read about my review the first time I've ever had it by clicking here!

The great thing about eating with friends is that everyone can order something different and try individual dishes without spending a whole lot.  Me and my friends ended up ordering the pancake of the day to share--buttermilk pancakes with chocolate chips and a creamy pineapple frosting on top with coconut shavings on the side to accommodate the girls who dislike the coconut flavor.  Personally, the coconut complimented the pineapple; the chocolate chips complimented the buttermilk taste.  Snooze definitely has perfected their art of making pancakes!  Yummy!

My dish, the Harvest Hash "welcome(s) fall with a hearty hash of butternut squash, gala apples, red chard, leeks and parsnips served atop roasted garlic Ciabatta with poached eggs, cream cheese hollandaise and friend capers."  Couldn't have said it any better myself.  I thought the apples and the squash were pretty tasteless and the Ciabatta bread a bit soggy since everything is so moisture and wet.  I usually like my breads pretty toasty and crunchy and so when it gets all soggy, it's not really appealing perhaps the sole reason why this entree was just okay to me.  I'd rather get the Upstream Benny which is no longer on their menu or the Breakfast Pot Pie (quite appetizing to say the least)!

In addition to the few locations that they have in Colorado, Snooze has opened a restaurant out around the Hillcrest neighborhood in San Diego, California. 

<3 Lina Chen

700 N. Colorado Blvd, Denver, CO 80206

303.736.6200  www.snoozeeater.com