Huckleberry

Sweet delights beckon.

It may not be fair to write a review after only visiting a restaurant once but first impressions usually don’t lie. Zoe Nathan’s Huckleberry bakery/café makes a good impression on your tongue but a sour reception on everything else. Huckleberry’s layout is quite consistent with the newer bakeries and cafes you will find today, almost to a fault. Polished cement floors surrounded by white walls with a variety of photographs hung around the place felt cramped, cold, and confused, not what I look forward to when going out for brunch. Zoe had an opportunity to make something her own, a complete bakery/café with personal touches not only in the food she creates (which she most certainly does) but the world that exists inside the glass doors. Instead I found a burgeoning upscale “Starbucks” that caters to the bourgeoisie of West LA.


Bakery/Cafe, or...


Thunderdome?

Unfortunately my brunch partner, Sascha and I showed up late for brunch and were forced to choose from the lunch menu, and deli items. It is a sad moment to find that a restaurant decides when you can and cannot have breakfast, foodie fascism that needs to be stopped. I went with the fried egg sandwich with bacon and alfalfa to satisfy my morning appetite and was pleasantly surprised to find everything cooked to perfection. Each bite transported me back to the kitchen of a farmhouse but the incessant typing of the woman next to me or the growing volume of conversations that were taking place in this packed feed barn rudely awakened me from my breakfast dreams. The collection of salads that Sascha decided on looked to have potential. After a few bites, it became clear that these had sat for some time in the display case and could have been fresher.


Fried Egg Sandwich with Bacon and Alfalfa.


Collection of Deli Items.

We were not ready to give up on Huckleberry just yet though; we saved room for desert and had tough choices to make from the pastry displays that tempted us from the moment we step foot inside. We went with the pumpkin pie, coconut macaroon, and mini chocolate cupcake. The macaroon and cupcake were top notch, taken down with such speed that you were left debating whether to go another round. The macaroon packed a powerful punch with a crispy outer shell and warm, soft middle combo that floored you from the first bite. Don’t let the mini chocolate cupcake deceive you either. The size of a featherweight but with the flavor of a heavyweight, this contender plays with your taste buds while doing work on your midsection. The pumpkin pie suffered from an identity crisis, it didn’t know if it wanted to be pumpkin pie or something new. There wasn’t much pumpkin in the pie to work with, bullied by the other ingredients but the crest came to the rescue and could have been a dessert on its own. Though it did not taste like a traditional pumpkin pie, Zoe may have created a new desert all her own that was up to the challenge of satisfying any sweet tooth. Tysonesque sweets that have you throwing in the towel before you know it.


Resistance is futile.

Going to a bakery/café should never be a fight; you should never have to fight for position in line, for a table, or for your food. Huckleberry’s lack of efficient use of space and staff creates a Thunderdome that saw two enter and two leave, hitting the road in search of comfort and character.

-Jesse