Porto's Bakery & Cafe, Part Two: This is Why I Don't Live With My Parents

I called my parents today when I got home from work. In typical Asian parent style, they asked me if I had eaten dinner already. I said yes. Lie #1. They asked me what I ate. I said rice. Lie #2. They asked "Rice and what?" I said chicken. Lie #3. All lies I tell you! Because #1, I hadn't eaten yet, #2, I wasn't going to eat rice, and #3, I wasn't going to eat chicken. So what, pray tell, did I have for dinner???

I decided that tonight, I was going to eat the rest of the Porto's food that I brought home yesterday--the Potato Balls and Meat Pies that I was too full to eat, and bites of all the little deserts from their bakery. Now you tell me, would any parents be OK hearing that you ate that for dinner? I don't even know if I'm OK with it myself, but hey, I'm an adult and I can do what I want right? I might regret it one day, but...

Anyways, my 7-course meal tonight consisted of:

- 2 Potato Balls. These are simply amazing, even heated back up in the oven. No party is complete with out these yummy lumps of seasoned ground beef surrounded by fried mashed potatoes. I loooooove these.

-1 Meat Pie. Same ground beef as the potato balls but instead it's surrounded by a flaky pastry shell. I don't like these as much as the potato balls but they're still pretty damn good.


Meat Pie and Potato Balls

-1 Guava & Cheese Streudel aka Refugiado. I'm not a big guava fan, but you don't get too much "tropical fruit" taste in this pastry. It also balances nicely with the cream cheese filling. There's a good balance of flaky pastry and filling in this one.


Guava & Cheese Struedel

-A couple bites of Tiramisu. One of the reasons I like Portos so much is that their deserts aren't overly sweet. Their tiramisu is a perfect example. You've got thin layers of espresso-soaked sponge cake with marscapone mousse in between. It's topped off with a layer of cream and glaze that also dons a cool looking grid design.


Tiramisu

-A couple bites of Mango Mousse. This was my first time trying this one and it was really good! A layer of yellow sponge cake is surrounded by a dome of light and creamy mango mousse. Kind of looks like a boob from the outside since it's a little dome shaped guy with a little raspberry "nipple" on top. I'm not a huge mango fan either, but this was delicious!


A Boob or Mango Mousse?

-A couple bites of Bocado de Principe. Yummy. Sponge cake soaked in rum, topped with custard and cinnamon. The custard is light and, well, custard-y, and the cinnamon goes perfectly with the whole thing.


Bocado De Principe

-A mini fruit tart. These guys really know how to do a fruit tart. The flaky shell is perfect all around. No patches of hardness anywhere. The vanilla custard filling is creamy and sweet, but not too sweet. And the fruit. The fruit. Always fresh; a good mixture of textures and flavors with berries, mandarin oranges, apples and grapes. The yummy glaze holds everything together in its cute little package.


A Perfect Mini Fruit Tart!

So yeah, I'll probably have a sugar high later and crash from all the starch and sugar. And I do feel a little guilty for lying. But my parents still wish I lived at home (even though I'm over 30) and I'd never be able to do stuff like this. Ever. So every once in a while, I'll eat unorthodox stuff for dinner. Because I can.

In case you didn't get it in Part One:
Porto's Bakery and Cafe
315 N. Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91203
(818) 956-5996
www.portosbakery.com