Baumkuchen

After reading Mimi Sheraton's chronicles of her search for Baumkuchen in the New Yorker, I was inspired to start my own quest, albeit on a much smaller scale.  Unlike the aforementioned Ms. Sheraton, I have no great history with Baumkuchen, but that is not to say that I have none.  While it may not be a fifty year saga, I have been curious about the cake since I had it in Hong Kong a few years ago (actually, it's hard to be precise about the exact location I first had the cake, because I bought it at the airport and at it on the plane probably while suspended somewhere over the Pacific).

While at the airport, I was looking for snacks at Muji, a Japanese based chain.  It had always seemed odd that my first introduction to Germany's "king of cakes" would be from a Japanese chain in a Chinese airport (Apparently Baumkuchen has been popular in Japan since 1919 because of a captured German baker who opened  bakery in Kobe).   

At Muji, they have a large selection of different flavored Baumkuchen including banana, sweet potato and corn?!  I had bought one and eaten it about midway through the flight back to Chicago.  The texture was a little more springy than a pound cake, and it had a nice mild flavor.  I spent the rest of the flight regretting not buying more and plotting ways of getting a supply to Chicago.

Los Angeles, GastroBus

Just before Thanksgiving, I was in Palm Springs for a wedding.   On the Sunday before heading back to Chicago on the red-eye, we stopped by Grace's sister, Denise's place in Los Feliz.  We arrived at her apartment around 1pm and I was hungry from the drive.  I had originally planned on hunting down the famed Kogi Taco trucks for lunch (I had signed up for a twitter account just to find them), but thanks to a twitter update I learned the fleet of Kogi trucks were on break until Tuesday.

A bit despondent, we left  Denise's place in search for some food.  As we headed out, we stopped a farmers market set up in the Los Feliz post office parking lot.  And since I can't pass up a farmer's market, we decided to explore a bite. 

As my hunger started to peak, we spotted a bright yellow food truck parked in the back of the market:  Gastrobus.  What a fabulous name!  Beside the truck was a hand written menu, consisting of seasonal item all costing around $4.

The owners of Gastrobus apparently shop at the market and develop a menu around the item they buy at the market.   We ending up trying 3 items.

 

 The roasted garlic with heirloom tomatoes and toast a nice start. The garlic was sweet with a bite of salt.  The only problem was how the tomatoes were cut mad eating a bit cumbersome.

The beans and yams came fried in a tempura with a sweet soy. The sauce was subtle and very nice and the batter was perfectly light.

Far and away, the best thing we ate was the corn flapjacks.  The flapjacks were bursting with sweet corn and topped with a smooth farmer's cheese. The cheese, which was like a nice ricotta, added a creaminess and a hint of calt to the flapjacks. 

More food trucks please!