TimeOut

I have had an activity-filled weekend!  As many of you saw in an earlier post, I went hiking yesterday.  Well, it's a good thing I did, because my friends and I indulged in dessert at a local diner.  I'm a huge foodie, and always looking for new places to try in Los Angeles.  The pictures below are from a casual restaurant in downtown LA called The Nickel Diner.  The entrees are solid, but nothing extraordinary.  The desserts, however, are quite delicious and inventive to say the least.

This first one is called the "Cher" cupcake.  The menu didn't include a description, and the servers were mum on the cupcake's ingredients.

After the cupcake arrived, we were able to discern at least some of the ingredients.  The most shocking one being strawberry Pop Rocks candy.  For those of you unfamiliar with this candy, it is carbonated and explodes in your mouth with a "pop" when you eat it.  The Pop Rocks were sprinkled onto what tasted like a light chocolate ganache, which covered a buttercream, on top of a white and chocolate cake.  There may have been a few other ingredients, but the strawberry-chocolate taste was the overwhelming sensation created by this dessert.  While tasty, this was my least favorite dessert item.

The next dessert is a homemade twist on an American classic -- the Hostess Ding Dong.  All the desserts at the Nickel Diner are made on the premises, and this cream-filled cake covered in chocolate is a great testament to their pastry chefs, of which I'm informed there are three.  This was a great dessert in terms of flavor, texture, freshness, and a nostalgia factor for those of us who remember the shrink-wrapped versions from their elementary school lunchbox.

The next dessert sounds odd, but was surprisingly tasty.  It's called a Salt Peanut Cake.  It's a huge slab of moist chocolate cake layered with peanut butter cream filling and potato chips.  Yes, salted potato chips.  It sounds bizarre, but the crunch and salt of the chips is a perfect foil to the sweet cake.

Sorry the picture isn't prettier. One of my friends attacked the cake with a fork before I could get my shot!

Last but not least, was my favorite dessert of the evening, the maple-glazed bacon donut.  A raised donut, covered in sweet glaze and studded with lots, and lots of crisp bacon.  If you like pancakes and maple syrup with a side of bacon for breakfast, this one's for you.  I thought this donut was fantastic!

Phew!  That's a lot of sugar!  Tasty, tasty sugar!

Cheers,
Daos

The Nickel Diner is indeed the place for delicious sweets.

Anyone remember this urban myth:  Don't eat Pop Rocks and drink soda at the same time or you're going to explode!

I gotta hang out with you on a weekend Daos, seems like you have way too much fun.  Bacon doughnut? Hmm......

I usually don't hangout in downtown L.A. but did go to Sushi Go55 this weekend and it was delicious! 

-MW

It's always a fun place to hang out.  The bacon donut at Nickel Diner was awesome, but wait until my next experiment -- bacon cinnamon rolls!  Jed found some article about people making them, and forwarded it to me because he knows I love bacon (and anything strange).  I was going to make them this weekend, but between hiking, the movies, and watching my friends' horse shows, something had to give!  Maybe next weekend...

Cheers,
Daos

If you like bacon, then you must go to a hole-in-the-wall joint called Lou's, north of Melrose Ave on Vine.  They have a appetizer called 'Pig Candy' which is a rock sugar coated pieces of bacon.  Good stuff!

-MW

I'll have to check out Lou's!  I make a similar item by sprinkling brown sugar on bacon, but rock sugar sounds much fancier.

Yum!
Daos

Thanks Daos, I'll have to check out the Nickel Diner for desserts on my next trip to downtown LA. 
I've always wondered about the myth with the pop rocks and if it's really true that your head will explode if you eat pop rocks and drink soda at the same time LOL! 

Regards,
ED-209

...and as far as I can tell, my head is still on my shoulders!  No cranial explosions here!  This urban myth?  Busted by yours truly!  LOL!

Daos

The early Dave Cronenberg film, “Scanners” (1981) immediately comes to ‘mind’.

 

Obviously a misspent youth with plenty of bad movies thrown in.

 

OK we need a thread on B-grade movies that are so bad, they’re good!

 

A

...B-movie.  I tend to really enjoy those kinds of films.  Perhaps that says something about my low-brow nature!    Cronenberg has directed some crrrrazy (I don't mean bad, just bizarre) movies (the aforementioned Scanners and Videodrome); some films I have outright hated (like Crash), and some that I love and think are brilliant (Eastern Promises, A History of Violence, and strangely, Dead Ringers).

Cheers,
Daos

I would love to try that salt peanute cake!

Slurp,
Anthony

Awesome pictures you took!

I want one now!

We need to have a PuristS event and go hiking! I haven't been hiking for nearly years since my Boy Scout days.

After a stimulating hike, a visit to the local diner for such a dessert would be in order.

These donuts/desserts look fantastic and surprisingly complicated.

How can Texas BBQ and Tex Mex compete with that? 

I think I could learn to really like LA even though the Lakers beat the Rockets.

JerryW

...there's more to like about LA than I originally thought when I transplanted here 8 years ago.  I still miss home, but I enjoy the diversity of people, places, and ideas that seem to coalesce here.  The near-constant sunshine and bacon donuts also help! 

Come visit us soon!

Cheers,
Daos

visit for a GTG in the near future.  Will be in Lake Tahoe in a few weeks, unfortunatally it is a quick trip for business.

I had lunch at the Nickel Diner today. I've been eager to go there since I read your post. The bacon studded maple glazed doughnut sounded intriguing.

Now, I am somewhat of a doughnut aficionado. I probably even qualify as an expert. Unfortunately, the one that I received just didn't measure up to its billing. The dough was very, very tough and soggy. The maple flavor was almost indiscernible. The bacon was a bit dry. Perhaps I'll try this combination with the world's finest yeast raised dough ring. I tend to have a few of those lying around at any given time.

The Cher cupcake, on the other hand, delivered a unique taste and mouth feel sensation. I liked it a lot!

Cheers!

We should have a L.A. PuristS foodie run to Krispy Kreme!!!!!

-MW

I'll be having one (or more) of the following flavors: original, custard-filled (NOT to be confused with the whipped cream filled), sour cream, and/or cheesecake flavor. 

Hmm...maybe after I'm done with work I will go by the Burbank KK...

*salivating*

Daos

Just a plain Krispy Kreme for me!  Make sure the Hot light is on for a fresh batch of doughnuts!
-MW

That would be the BEST! 

Although, my waistline will not be thanking you!    Krispy Kreme + bacon=heaven.  BTW, Glickman, have you seen this use of the Krispy Kreme doughnut below?

Krispy Kreme Cheeseburger (courtesy of Flikr)