La Bou (Sacramento)
food: 5/5
experience: 5/5
overall: 5/5
Tl;dr come for the muffins.
With about fifteen locations scattered throughout the greater Sactown area, La Bou is as much of a staple as Temple Coffee (but definitely a lot better). There is nothing like a big fat La Bou muffin top to start the morning off right. Muffins = bomb best in Sac. Only one I didn't like is peach bran. Weird combo but it looks like they don't sell that anymore and replaced it pumpkin. Which by the way is fucking amazing and sold year-round now hells ja.
Blueberry bran: 5/5
Somehow this unexpected combo works. Blueberry muffins are delicious. Bran muffins are delicious. Put them together, boom. Weirdly enough (or perhaps not - old people like their bran) this one is consistently sold out.
Raspberry lemon 5/5
Raspberry and lemon really complement each other here. It's got crystal granules on top making it even sweeter. Very cake-y and amazing. This was a regular for me in eighth grade.
Mixed berry: 4.5/5
Similar to the raspberry but no lemon-y undertone, just a basic muffin flavor with berries - strawberries, blueberries berries, raspberries. For some reason it doesn't have that "crisp" texture the others do. It's decent but it's a little lacking in oomph. If you want a berry muffin I highly suggest the raspberry instead.
Apple cinnamon bran: 5/5
Apple cinnamon is a winning classic flavor. Tastes very autumnal. And bran is just the bee's knees.
Banana nut: 5/5
This was my go-to in elementary school. Banana nut. It's hearty and it's another time-tested flavor that works.
Pumpkin cinnamon: 4.5/5
A rich pumpkin flavor but not really on the sweet side. It's topped with cinnamon sugar and walnuts, and they threw some raisins in there. Not the best pumpkin I've had but it's La Bou so it's still good.
As you can see, (almost) all winners. Next up: the croissants. Everybody can appreciate a simple, well-made croissant and La Bou bakes exactly that.
Cinnamon nut: 4/5
More like a cinnamon roll than a croissant. It's just a sticky croissant with nuts basically. If you warm it up it's pretty bomb but no rival to the muffin.
Raspberry: 5/5
Their croissants are nice and thick. The cashier recommended this one so I got it and it pulled through. Raspberry is delicious. They also have apricot and apple, both of which are probably equally delicious. But raspberry always wins in my heart.
Chocolate: 4.5/5
Chocolate on chop, chocolate chips inside. Melt it for more eating pleasure.
Raisin custard: 4.5/5
Another cinnamon roll-shaped pastry (see above). I didn't detect much custard but it's still a delicious La Bou croissant so I'll give it a pass.
Almond: 5/5
Almond croissants are underrated. Mostly by me. Now I'm a fan. This is like a bear claw except wrapped in a delicious chunky La Bou croissant.
They also have hot-baked croissants for breakfast with cream cheese and stuff in them. Those sound guuuud.
Scones are the best part of the muffin, essentially. The top. I'm a fan of scones. These sell fast (faster than the muffins) so get there early. Especially if you want the fruit ones.
Raspberry: 5/5
Tastes exactly like the raspberry muffin except you're only getting a huge muffin top. Score.
Cranberry almond: 1/5
Okay there's a reason this is always still out at the end of the day. It's bad and people know it. It just tastes kind of bitter somehow.
Wheat raisin: 5/5
Delicious bran scone which is dusted with plenty of cinnamon sugar. Not as popular as the other scones but it's still a winner.
Apricot: 4.5/5
Pretty good, tastes like apricot.
Blueberry: 4/5
Pretty good, tastes like blueberries.
Ever the cookie monster, I of course tried all of those too.
Chocolate chip: 5/5
Crisp yet chewy. Tastes like a chewy-style Chips Ahoy but better. This is a very good thing.
Oatmeal raisin: 5/5
Everything you'd want in an oatmeal raisin. Even distribution of oats and raisins but still a solid cookie base with an oat-y flavor. It's not pure oatmeal like some cookies out there.
Peanut butter: 5/5
The perfect combo of nutty and sweet, these taste like the kind you make from a baking mix in the best possible way.
Snickerdoodle: 5/5
I'm a big fan of snickerdoodles but I've been burned before so I was skeptical. Well I should never have doubted the genius of La Bou's pastry chef because these are soft, sweet and delectable.
Ginger: 3.5/5
At first I thought this wasn't sweet enough but it's actually just the right amount of sweet, and the ginger flavor isn't overpowering. Tastes like a chewy ginger snap.
Chocolate coconut macadamia: 5/5
It's got chocolate. It's got macadamia. It's got coconut. It's perfect.
White chocolate macadamia: 4.5/5
The cookie base tastes like a soft, sweet butter cookie and it's got crunchy white chocolate chips and macadamias. Pretty good. I like the previous macadamia better but this one's still good stuff.
Some more miscellaneous pastries...
Mini cherry strudel: 4/5
It's decent, just got a cherry filling but still your standard flaky strudel.
Apple strudel: 4.5/5
Again it's just a strudel with an apple filling, but this one is better because the apple cinnamon is a more "complex" flavor, not just one-note like cherry.
Bread pudding: 4.5/5
New and available at the Fruitridge location! If this had been my first bread pudding ever I'd rate it 5/5. But it's just a little lacking in flavor. Just a little. It's got apples and blueberries in it which are delicious, but I dunno. It's missing something.
They have a lot of salads. The spinach one is your best bet if you're doing keto/low-cal. Spinach, bacon (mmmm), boiled egg, cucumber, tomato. It's decent I s'pose but that egg is sure hard to eat with a fork.
Oddly a lot of their salads have soy or soy dressing so that eliminates several possibilities for me.
Sandwiches, they also got sandwiches. You can get some of them by the half with a side salad, small soup, and fruit (spring/summer only).
La Bou has this amazing concoction called a turkey cranberry cream cheese panini. As if paninis weren't already good enough as is. It's exactly what it sounds like.
Used to get their Spicy Thai Chicken soup regularly as a kid, hella good and spicy too.
Get it with a whole baguette in a bag. This is the best baguette you'll ever taste, at least in this country.
Or just get the whole damn soup inside the bread itself.
Breakfast sandwiches are definitely a thing here! Unfortunately their sandwiches are ten freaking dollars. So yeah. None for me. Howe Ave. has a yummy looking pear gruyere sandwich though. And they also have breakfast entrees there! Like omelets and breakfast plates. They have a 3-day French toast I had to try. I like my French toast and I like my carbs.
Definitely get the sourdough over the wheat. It's nice and thick-cut. Their toast is super moist and eggy. It's not the best French toast you'll ever have but it's pretty damn good, especially given it costs only ten bucks and change.
More good news about Howe: they also have brick-oven pizzas! Pizza, my heart... Unfortunately they stopped doing happy hour and now close at 4pm so you have to get it for lunch.
Seriously though? Don't come to La Bou for pizza. It's a bakery and that's what they're good at. Yes you do technically bake pizza dough but no. There's better elsewhere and you can get it for freaking dinner instead of in the middle of the day like a glutton. Actually depending on the day they may not even have it, and a lot of the cashiers aren't even aware they serve it, is how little it's ordered. So ya know. Don't bother. Get a sammich instead. Same basic components.
How could I forget their coffee? Being a cafe obviously they also have coffee and it's a helluva lot better than Starbucks. The Howe location only serves Peet's though so don't go there. La Bou original coffee is way better.
They also have a small selection of tea. Iced tea-wise, mixed berry is the best flavor in my humble opinion.
I'm not sure if other locations have this but South Land Park has freezes! (Good news: so does Elk Grove, not sure about elsewhere.) They are basically frappuccinos. They have several flavors. I tried a couple of the best options.
So there's two kinds of mocha (left): regular and white. I couldn't decide so they said they could do a swirl. Well it just tasted like regular mocha all around. It's good, just not a strong coffee presence in the flavor. The chai (right) is delicious though. I just love chai anyway but if you haven't tried chai before this one will get you hooked. The freezes also come in fruit flavors but I can get that at Jamba Juice.
At the Land Park location (not sure about everywhere else) you can sign up for rewards with your phone number. I think every fifty bucks spent means two bucks off. Much better than the "deal" you get for being loyal to Mikuni.
For some reason different locations have different pricing. Lame. If you come often enough you can set up a rewards account and get two bucks off every fifty spent. Come later in the day if you want some cheap dollar-fitty pastries. You won't regret it until your pants stop fitting.
experience: 5/5
overall: 5/5
Tl;dr come for the muffins.
With about fifteen locations scattered throughout the greater Sactown area, La Bou is as much of a staple as Temple Coffee (but definitely a lot better). There is nothing like a big fat La Bou muffin top to start the morning off right. Muffins = bomb best in Sac. Only one I didn't like is peach bran. Weird combo but it looks like they don't sell that anymore and replaced it pumpkin. Which by the way is fucking amazing and sold year-round now hells ja.
Blueberry bran: 5/5
Somehow this unexpected combo works. Blueberry muffins are delicious. Bran muffins are delicious. Put them together, boom. Weirdly enough (or perhaps not - old people like their bran) this one is consistently sold out.
Raspberry lemon 5/5
Raspberry and lemon really complement each other here. It's got crystal granules on top making it even sweeter. Very cake-y and amazing. This was a regular for me in eighth grade.
Mixed berry: 4.5/5
Similar to the raspberry but no lemon-y undertone, just a basic muffin flavor with berries - strawberries, blueberries berries, raspberries. For some reason it doesn't have that "crisp" texture the others do. It's decent but it's a little lacking in oomph. If you want a berry muffin I highly suggest the raspberry instead.
Apple cinnamon bran: 5/5
Apple cinnamon is a winning classic flavor. Tastes very autumnal. And bran is just the bee's knees.
Banana nut: 5/5
This was my go-to in elementary school. Banana nut. It's hearty and it's another time-tested flavor that works.
Pumpkin cinnamon: 4.5/5
A rich pumpkin flavor but not really on the sweet side. It's topped with cinnamon sugar and walnuts, and they threw some raisins in there. Not the best pumpkin I've had but it's La Bou so it's still good.
As you can see, (almost) all winners. Next up: the croissants. Everybody can appreciate a simple, well-made croissant and La Bou bakes exactly that.
Cinnamon nut: 4/5
More like a cinnamon roll than a croissant. It's just a sticky croissant with nuts basically. If you warm it up it's pretty bomb but no rival to the muffin.
Raspberry: 5/5
Their croissants are nice and thick. The cashier recommended this one so I got it and it pulled through. Raspberry is delicious. They also have apricot and apple, both of which are probably equally delicious. But raspberry always wins in my heart.
Chocolate: 4.5/5
Chocolate on chop, chocolate chips inside. Melt it for more eating pleasure.
Raisin custard: 4.5/5
Another cinnamon roll-shaped pastry (see above). I didn't detect much custard but it's still a delicious La Bou croissant so I'll give it a pass.
Almond: 5/5
Almond croissants are underrated. Mostly by me. Now I'm a fan. This is like a bear claw except wrapped in a delicious chunky La Bou croissant.
They also have hot-baked croissants for breakfast with cream cheese and stuff in them. Those sound guuuud.
Scones are the best part of the muffin, essentially. The top. I'm a fan of scones. These sell fast (faster than the muffins) so get there early. Especially if you want the fruit ones.
Raspberry: 5/5
Tastes exactly like the raspberry muffin except you're only getting a huge muffin top. Score.
Cranberry almond: 1/5
Okay there's a reason this is always still out at the end of the day. It's bad and people know it. It just tastes kind of bitter somehow.
Wheat raisin: 5/5
Delicious bran scone which is dusted with plenty of cinnamon sugar. Not as popular as the other scones but it's still a winner.
Apricot: 4.5/5
Pretty good, tastes like apricot.
Blueberry: 4/5
Pretty good, tastes like blueberries.
Ever the cookie monster, I of course tried all of those too.
Chocolate chip: 5/5
Crisp yet chewy. Tastes like a chewy-style Chips Ahoy but better. This is a very good thing.
Oatmeal raisin: 5/5
Everything you'd want in an oatmeal raisin. Even distribution of oats and raisins but still a solid cookie base with an oat-y flavor. It's not pure oatmeal like some cookies out there.
Peanut butter: 5/5
The perfect combo of nutty and sweet, these taste like the kind you make from a baking mix in the best possible way.
Snickerdoodle: 5/5
I'm a big fan of snickerdoodles but I've been burned before so I was skeptical. Well I should never have doubted the genius of La Bou's pastry chef because these are soft, sweet and delectable.
Ginger: 3.5/5
At first I thought this wasn't sweet enough but it's actually just the right amount of sweet, and the ginger flavor isn't overpowering. Tastes like a chewy ginger snap.
Chocolate coconut macadamia: 5/5
It's got chocolate. It's got macadamia. It's got coconut. It's perfect.
White chocolate macadamia: 4.5/5
The cookie base tastes like a soft, sweet butter cookie and it's got crunchy white chocolate chips and macadamias. Pretty good. I like the previous macadamia better but this one's still good stuff.
Some more miscellaneous pastries...
Mini cherry strudel: 4/5
It's decent, just got a cherry filling but still your standard flaky strudel.
Apple strudel: 4.5/5
Again it's just a strudel with an apple filling, but this one is better because the apple cinnamon is a more "complex" flavor, not just one-note like cherry.
Bread pudding: 4.5/5
New and available at the Fruitridge location! If this had been my first bread pudding ever I'd rate it 5/5. But it's just a little lacking in flavor. Just a little. It's got apples and blueberries in it which are delicious, but I dunno. It's missing something.
They have a lot of salads. The spinach one is your best bet if you're doing keto/low-cal. Spinach, bacon (mmmm), boiled egg, cucumber, tomato. It's decent I s'pose but that egg is sure hard to eat with a fork.
Oddly a lot of their salads have soy or soy dressing so that eliminates several possibilities for me.
Sandwiches, they also got sandwiches. You can get some of them by the half with a side salad, small soup, and fruit (spring/summer only).
La Bou has this amazing concoction called a turkey cranberry cream cheese panini. As if paninis weren't already good enough as is. It's exactly what it sounds like.
Used to get their Spicy Thai Chicken soup regularly as a kid, hella good and spicy too.
Get it with a whole baguette in a bag. This is the best baguette you'll ever taste, at least in this country.
Or just get the whole damn soup inside the bread itself.
Breakfast sandwiches are definitely a thing here! Unfortunately their sandwiches are ten freaking dollars. So yeah. None for me. Howe Ave. has a yummy looking pear gruyere sandwich though. And they also have breakfast entrees there! Like omelets and breakfast plates. They have a 3-day French toast I had to try. I like my French toast and I like my carbs.
Definitely get the sourdough over the wheat. It's nice and thick-cut. Their toast is super moist and eggy. It's not the best French toast you'll ever have but it's pretty damn good, especially given it costs only ten bucks and change.
More good news about Howe: they also have brick-oven pizzas! Pizza, my heart... Unfortunately they stopped doing happy hour and now close at 4pm so you have to get it for lunch.
Seriously though? Don't come to La Bou for pizza. It's a bakery and that's what they're good at. Yes you do technically bake pizza dough but no. There's better elsewhere and you can get it for freaking dinner instead of in the middle of the day like a glutton. Actually depending on the day they may not even have it, and a lot of the cashiers aren't even aware they serve it, is how little it's ordered. So ya know. Don't bother. Get a sammich instead. Same basic components.
How could I forget their coffee? Being a cafe obviously they also have coffee and it's a helluva lot better than Starbucks. The Howe location only serves Peet's though so don't go there. La Bou original coffee is way better.
They also have a small selection of tea. Iced tea-wise, mixed berry is the best flavor in my humble opinion.
I'm not sure if other locations have this but South Land Park has freezes! (Good news: so does Elk Grove, not sure about elsewhere.) They are basically frappuccinos. They have several flavors. I tried a couple of the best options.
So there's two kinds of mocha (left): regular and white. I couldn't decide so they said they could do a swirl. Well it just tasted like regular mocha all around. It's good, just not a strong coffee presence in the flavor. The chai (right) is delicious though. I just love chai anyway but if you haven't tried chai before this one will get you hooked. The freezes also come in fruit flavors but I can get that at Jamba Juice.
At the Land Park location (not sure about everywhere else) you can sign up for rewards with your phone number. I think every fifty bucks spent means two bucks off. Much better than the "deal" you get for being loyal to Mikuni.
For some reason different locations have different pricing. Lame. If you come often enough you can set up a rewards account and get two bucks off every fifty spent. Come later in the day if you want some cheap dollar-fitty pastries. You won't regret it until your pants stop fitting.
Comments
Post a Comment