Description
The bakery is the first OC outlet of a Belgian brand that has penetrated every corner of the world and just about every neighborhood in LA that can afford it. It figures it chose deep-pocketed Newport Beach for its seminal location, even if the tony outdoor mall already has bakery with Pain in the name. Le Pain Quotidien also thumbs its nose at La Brea Bakery, which does business directly across the courtyard. It doesn't seem to worry about the competition nor care its prices could be considered expensive for what amounts to the Eurozone version of a Corner Bakery. The almond meringue-- oval-shaped and resembling a Nerf football, with the same foamy lightness--crumbles to dust just by looking at it. A Belgian brownie, as rich as a regular ol' American one but not as cloyingly sweet, gets baked into the shape of a tart and melts with the consistency of fudge. A chocolate chip cookie shares the width of a Frisbee and is uniformly thin--as crispy and buttery on the edges as it is at the center. And yes, the pain au chocolate is decadently filled and the croissants crackle as they should beneath the teeth. It would be best, however, to forget, if for a moment, what income bracket you belong to when you come.
