Sweet Tooth: Afternoon delights

By Megan Gordon

This week, I pay homage to two very different sweet shops in two very different neighborhoods: The Mission and The Marina. Wherever you live or work, I say take advantage of the next time you need a little comfort food, sneak out of the office early, and stop by one of these places for a cookie or a cream puff and a glass of milk. Maybe you can even find someone to read you a story while you take a nap.

Pacific Puffs
Don’t get me wrong. I love a good chocolate layer cake (or a slice of it, that is) after a long day. It’s rich, reliable, and won’t let you down—three elements of daily life that I can’t say I often experience. But sometimes a basic, no-frills cream puff and a glass of milk gets a girl through the afternoon like nothing else. Enter Pacific Puffs: a relatively new Cream Puffery in the Marina, serving up a little simple satisfaction each day. And really, there’s nothing more feel-good than a few homegrown brothers starting a cream puff business in the heart of the Marina using a recipe that’s been in their family for decades.

Trent and Rhys Carvolth bake the puffs in an off-site kitchen in Bernal Heights in small batches and sell them at their Union Street location. When you visit, you’ll have an important decision to make: whipped cream or custard filling? Those who may be turned off by the cloyingly sweet cream filling of an unnamed local competitor may gravitate towards the whipped cream-filled puffs. But for the true puff-aficionado, the Classic Cream Puff is the way to go. It’s made with traditional choux pastry (a light dough consisting of butter, water, flour and eggs) and filled with a mixture of vanilla custard and whipped cream, topped with a chocolate glaze.

Much like the well-groomed Marina, everything at Pacific Puffs seems perfectly proportioned: the puffs have the right amount of filling, there aren’t too many choices on the menu, and the shop itself has a clean, modern aesthetic. Everything seems as it should. So while there may not be much you can afford in the Marina at the moment (curse the recession!), a single puff will only set you back $3 and will give you an excuse to do a little window shopping (start up that Christmas list), admire the tree-lined streets and over-priced condos, and appreciate the simplicity of a little sugar and butter. Then take some home (I did)—and cross your fingers that a location may, some day, open up next to your pad. There aren’t any immediate plans for expansion, but a girl can dream, right?

Pacific Puffs
Hours: Mon.-Sun. 11-8
2201 Union, SF
(415) 440-PUFF
www.pacificpuffs.com

Photo by lesleyk at Flickr

Anthony’s Cookies

I visited Anthony’s recently on a quiet Saturday afternoon, a little sluggish and hungry. I left with a spring in my step and a glimmer in my eye. And no, it wasn’t just because of the cookies. I think I’m on to something: the staff at Anthony’s likes the ladies. Perhaps it’s part of their shtick to offer a little side of feel-good flirting along with your oatmeal cookie. Regardless, it works. You’ll want to come back to Anthony’s for the cookies, but you’ll also want to come back because the staff look into your eyes longingly as they take your $5 bill, talk to you about your day with genuine interest, and compliment your eye color. For some of us, that adds up to one damn good Saturday afternoon.

Visiting Anthony’s requires a good walk around the Mission, as it’s pretty darn tucked away on Valencia St. I frequent the Mission a lot and still had to do a little sleuth work. Allow yourself some meandering, bench-sitting, pondering-your-next-move-in-life time. You’ll know you’ve stumbled upon it when you see the stark, airy, no-frills cookie shop between 25th and 26th streets that Anthony opened after 10 years of commercial baking. The cookies are listed on newsprint by the register; there aren’t any fancy displays or artwork—the cookies themselves aren’t even out for the public to ogle. But they still take center stage. They’re thin, buttery, chewy, and soft. And they’re small, the perfect excuse to eat two…or four. This is not one of those shops that offers cookies the size of Frisbees with odd flavor combinations, ultimately distracting from the simple beauty of cookie-dom. No, much like the Mission, where showy facades won’t get you far, Anthony’s is keeping it real. And they’re doing it with a wink and a smile.

Anthony’s Cookies
Hours: Mon.-Sat., 11-8; Sun., 11-5
1417 Valencia, SF
(415) 665-9834
www.anthonyscookies.com

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