A lot of American food businesses are the story of immigrants. Greeks came and opened diners...here in California, they went into the burger stand business although we still have a bunch of Greek diners, too. Tommy's, Farmer Boys, Jim's...those are all classic Greek burger stands in our area.
Chinese restaurants, Italian restaurants and pizza parlors, the ubiquitous Mexican restaurants...the food business is a common stepping stone for immigrants into the United States economy.
When the Cambodians came after the Vietnam War, it was no different. Instead of bringing their homeland's cuisine, they went into the donut business.
Go into just about any donut shop in Southern California and you'll find a Cambodian...or sometimes Laotian...family running it. They are also doing it very, very well.
(As an aside, the world famous and justly popular Donut Man in Glendora is owned by a Japanese American...it is also one of the best, especially their fresh strawberry and peach donuts served in their respective seasons but since it makes just about every other list, we'll just link to it and go on.)
The donuts in this area are superb. Here are some of our favorites.
Miss Donuts, on the corner of Bonita and D Street in La Verne is perfectly situated to give the students and professors of the University of La Verne a good sugar rush on those late nights in the study hall.
I'm not sure if they're a chain, but there are a few Miss Donuts around, including another one in this city up on Foothill Boulevard. The one by the college is a cut above, though.
Cooking up fresh crullers, twists, raised, and plain donuts pretty much all day, you'll find the freshest donuts in their large display case.
Tim and I will usually go with a glazed twist and a chocolate bar but sometimes I'll shake it up with one of their delicious cinnamon rolls. Whatever we get, it'll be soft, like that kind of softness you get with a just-cooked donut. It'll have just the right amount of moistness...not dry but not the kind that makes the donut dissolve in your hand. And it will be sweet and tasty. Oh, so tasty!
While they would hold their own with any expensive gourmet donut out there, they're still under a dollar. What great cheap eats (and don't forget the donut holes)!
In addition to donuts, they bake bagels. No, they won't be as good at the bagels you'll get in Brooklyn but they're about the best you'll get on this coast. Their sourdough bagel, which they run out of very early each day, is a yeasty heaven. Slap a little cream cheese on a slightly toasted one and you'll be in sour, cheesy bagel heaven.
Speaking of cinnamon rolls, it'd be a shame to not mention Sweet Jill's in Seal Beach (there's another location in nearby Belmont Shore in Long Beach, too). Just a few feet up Main Street from the Seal Beach pier, this bakery specializes in them and always has a tray of fresh baked rolls sitting right next to the cash register. Get 'em hot and have them pour that delicious glaze on it just before you take it outside to eat.
The thick squares of cinnamon flavored dough are in a big tray, just out of the oven, like your grandma would make. Pick the best looking square and dig in.
In addition, Sweet Jill's is a full-service (if tiny) bakery. You'll also see cookies, cupcakes, lemon bars, slices from a variety of delicious cakes. They're all very, very good.
We'll frequently eat dinner among the many fine restaurants here and pass on dessert so we can walk over to Jill's and take some sweet treats over to the pier for a waterfront happy ending.
If you live in the Los Angeles Area and haven't heard of Porto's Bakery, you're either a newcomer or living under a rock. Consider them the In 'n Out of baked goods. The Porto family immigrated from Cuba in 1960 after being thrown out of work for asking to immigrate. With nothing to their name, the mom started baking while the dad delivered the cakes at night after his daytime shift working as a mechanic.
The cakes became popular so the family opened up a small bakery and the rest is history. The main store in Glendale is huge. Still, block long lines form outside for people waiting to get in to buy some of their treats. And, oh, what treats they are.
Being a cinnamon roll lover, I love their weekday version (only available Monday through Friday) but will gladly take one of their tarts or lemon bars on the weekends.
My workday is made when a coworker puts a box with the Porto's logo on the lunchroom table for us to pick through. It's a vast baking empire inside each of the chain's three locations (Glendale, Burbank and Downey). Another long awaited location is to materialize on the location of a former strip club next to the West Covina mall. We are drooling over the prospect.
Let's not forget those hot summer days. Forget the donuts, cakes, and rolls...you want an ice cream and while any local can rhapsodize about Thrifty's Ice Cream (now available at Rite Aid drugstores, soon to be a Walgreen's company), we head out to Claremont for our favorite.
On the corner of Yale and Bonita Avenue in the heart of the Claremont Village, you'll find Bert and Rocky's pumping out over two dozen flavors of ice cream everyday. Not to mention a healthy variety of sugar free ice cream, too.
We'll head here after a dinner of delicious burgers from Eureka! for dessert. A scoop of caramel pecan, mint 'n chip, cookies and cream along with their ever expanding custom flavors created in house.
It's delicious, cheap, and a fun way to end up not only dinner but this post.
While there are many worthy bakeries and donut shops in the region, these are the ones that stand out for us. If you've got a couple of bucks and a sweet tooth, these stellar shops will fit the bill.
Darryl Musick
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