One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Where To Find The Best Cronut In L.A.
For those of you who have been living in a cave for the last few months, cronuts are a hybrid of a doughnut and a croissant created by pastry chef Dominique Ansel that have taken New York by storm. There are epic long lines to procure the deep fried delights, with some people even trading sex for said sweets.
So it's only natural that shops all over the country would capitalize on this food trend, attempting to create edible knockoffs for the masses.
Pastry chef Roxana Jullapat made an attempt over at Cook's County which we got to sample, but she decided the effort to make the fried sweets just wasn't worth it. Other bakeries didn't seem to have a problem ripping off the idea though. Sixteen of them in L.A. alone did so, in fact. (Sadly none of our ice cream purveyors have ripped off the idea of a cronut concrete a la Shake Shack. We're looking at you, Top Round.)
Betty Hallock of the L.A. Times, who also happens to have tried the original version in NYC, took it upon herself to try every single version of the hybrid donuts at each shop, some of which carried up to 6 flavors. That's quite the noble effort. One we're glad wasn't bestowed upon us, might we add. Thank you news gods.
Members of our staff have admittedly enjoyed the crullants at Semi Sweet Bakery in Downtown L.A., which made it to third place on Hallock's list. So who has the best, in her opinion? Forage. Their riff makes fun of the zeitgeisty item, naming it the "croissant doughnut #trending." And it's appropriately priced at a hipster-friendly $5.50.
Says the Times:
Forage calls its version "croissant doughnut #trending," a name made up by one of the servers, according to pastry chef Kristin Ferguson Smith. (On the receipt, it says "Crowe-Gnut.") Ferguson Smith's are nothing like Ansel's Cronut, but they are things of beauty in their own right: big, rustic, with a flakiness that's almost shaggy. Her croissant dough contains sourdough starter, which adds depth of flavor, and lately she has been making them in knot shapes (rather than traditional doughnut rings), their centers filled entirely with pastry cream and the whole thing sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar.
Sponsored message
Now if only someone could hack Ansel's magic souflee here in L.A. That's some research we'd be down for.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
