Paris Baguette's Valentine's Day Promotion
Purchase a Valentine’s Day Cake to receive a free “I Love You” candle!
Good till February 14, 2010 (or while supplies last?)
PARIS BAGUETTE on Western Avenue
Address: 125 N Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90004
Phone Number: (323) 467-0404
Monday-Saturday 6:30 AM – 9 PM, Sunday 6:30 AM – 8:30 PM
Merry Christmas! Are you a wolf in sheep’s clothing?
You can clearly see HK Supermarket in the window’s reflection! This is Paris Baguette on Western Avenue. Newest promotion: “Are you a lamb? Or are you a wolf? ”
크리스마스에 파리바게뜨 케익을 구입하시면 “램램울쁘모자”를 선물로 드립니다. 기간 2009년12월18일-25일
Purchase a Christmas Cake and Receive a Free “Lamb-Wolf Hat” — December 18 to 25, 2009.
ADDRESS OF PARIS BAGUETTE
125 North Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90004
Across the street from HK Supermarket
Phone number: (323) 467-0404
Was waiting for the light to change so I could walk across Western Avenue when I spotted this in the window of Paris Baguette behind me.
Coffee and Croissant for A Dollar and 90 Cents!
Isn’t that a great deal? That’ll get you inside. But they do have other goodies like kastera, sweet-potato rolls and sandwiches. They even have Welch’s grape juice!
As you can see in the reflection, HK Super is right across the street. Inside the supermarket, Bosco Cake Salon has a small counter that also sells Western-style pastries like kastera, sweet-potato rolls and soboro. Slightly cheaper, but you do pay for the ambience at PB.
파리바게뜨: 125 North Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90004
Telephone Number: (323) 467-0404
Staffed in front by bilingual Korean-American teens.
Hours Open: Monday-Saturday 6:30 AM – 9 PM. Sunday 6:30 AM – 8:30 PM
Click on the picture for a closer look at the prices. The Korean bakeshop Paris Baguette’s summer theme: Cool Breeze
1. Fruit Shaved ice, 2. Green Tea Shaved Ice, 3. Iced Coffee, 4. Strawberry Smoothie, 5. Green Tea Frappe, 6. Fruit Cup Shaved Ice, 7. Green Tea Cup Shaved Ice. The smoothie and iced coffee go for around $2.50, while the frappe and shaved ice in tall plastic cups are priced at around $3.50. The large dishes of patbingsu will set you back $7.50.
What I can commend as new / novel about Paris Baguette’s offerings is the inclusion of Green Tea in the Korean ice treat (“dessert”) Patbingsoo, which traditionally consists of just shaved ice and red beans.
Technically north of Koreatown proper. It’s one block north of Wilshire Boulevard. 케익타운 가든
Inside the strip mall on the corner of 6th Street and Western Avenue
The service people here are more attentive than at Paris Baguette, but there’s nothing remarkable about the baked products at Caketown Garden. Lots of cake made to order and different variants of individually packaged slices of kastera such as honey and corn. Good for when you need an inexpensive pastry fix that will set you back just $1.50.
Address: 551 S Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90020
파리바게뜨 of the Paris-Croissant Food Company
PB Store on Western Avenue, north of Koreatown proper
Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 6:30 AM – 9 PM. Sunday 6:30 AM – 8:30 PM
Yes, this is an official store of the South Korean bakeshop chain Paris Baguette. They sell cakes, kastera (castella), bread, sandwiches, and bottled American soft drinks like Jones soda. There are tables and chairs where you can sit, but the space is small.
125 North Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90004
Across the street from HK Supermarket
Phone number: (323) 467-0404
I was at the Bosco Cake Salon counter at HK Supermarket surveying their Western-style baked products when I came across the label “Orange Cimon” with hangul 오렌지 시몬 (orenji shimon). It was a thickly flat rectangle. Something new for me to try???
Asked the seller about the name but she simply explained how that pastry’s texture was denser/stickier than that of kastera. No clue was to where the name came from. The novelty was a great excuse to buy it. Price: $2.50.
So I went home and puzzled over it until finally it dawned me that it was 시폰케이크 (shipon keikuh), which is chiffon cake. I must admit I can’t tell whether something is angel cake, chiffon cake, sponge cake or foam cake. I just eat and enjoy it if it’s good.
Bosco Cake Salon’s take on chiffon cake is sweet and delicious. But it’s the sort of food kids are forbidden to eat too much of by their parents. Orange you glad to be an adult who decides for herself what she can eat?
When I was first introduced to kastera (Hangul: 카스테라), I was told that it was the Korean version of the Japanese kasutera, which is a sponge cake that the people of Nagasaki learned how to make from the Portuguese in the 16th century. Kasutera (Japanese: カステラ) is rectangular in shape and denser than what Americans know as sponge cake.
But after actively seeking out different variants of castella in Koreatown bakeries, I’ve come to the conclusion that Koreans use “kastera” to describe almost every type of baked product that’s Western in origin. An exaggeration, but I threw my hands up when I saw the label “dry” castella at Village Bakery (a place I like a lot by the way). Some look like cupcakes, most are oblong shaped, even square.
I have spotted genuine-looking Japanese kasutera (rectangular and firm, not so spongy) being sold at bakeries such as Paris Baguette, Bosco Cake Salon and Caketown Garden at prices slightly higher than the dubious-looking kastera.
Now I have to make clear that just because most variants of Korean castella don’t look like traditional Japanese kastera doesn’t mean they don’t taste better. In fact, I would say that Americans won’t take a liking to Japanese castella at all because the sweetness is too subtle. To try it, head to HK Super and buy Keifuudou, which is imported directly from Japan.
You just can’t say you like or don’t like Korean kastera in general, because each bakeshop has its own definition of what it is. Caketown Garden has corn kastera that like cornbread-flavored sponge cake. Paris Baguette has oblong-shaped kastera at $2 (see pic) and also more expensive, Japanese-looking rectangular kastera labeled “Mini Bon Delicieux.”
My personal adventure is going to all these different Korean bakeshops and trying to see what new incarnation of kastera / castella / kasutera the Korean bakers come up with — mocha, green tea, herb, walnut, cheese… My problem though is that I eat them before I remember to take a picture for documentation. 
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