first time porto's

have i written about porto's? this is my favorite bakery in southern california.

it's this amazing cuban bakery located in glendale. they make the most amazing food from delicious pork sandwiches to beautiful desserts. the first time i had a porto's cake was at a wedding about 5 years ago. i still remember the flavor. chocolate raspberry devil's food cake. chocolate with a hint of raspberry jam. and what's even better are their prices. very reasonable.

one year for my birthday i requested this cake. i would accept nothing else. usually i never want leftover cake. but this cake, i brought home and ate it for the next few days. and it was still moist even after three days! okay, that sounds gross, but trust me. you want a slice every day.

we recently enjoyed this cake last saturday for a friend's birthday, and they let me have the leftover cake! some of us enjoyed it during the superbowl. my friend, nelson, heard of porto's but never had their desserts. he helped himself to 3 servings of the chocolate raspberry cake.

i told him that i'd take him to porto's one of these days. well that day arrived today. he let me choose all the food.

we ordered:
1 pan con lechon (pulled pork with garlic sauce on a cuban bread)
1 feta cheese sandwich with tomato
1 garden salad
6 potato balls
4 meat pies
1 quesadilla (their version of a corn cake)
2 tamales

and then came the desserts (shown in the picture going clockwise starting at 12:00)
1 lemon mousse cake
1 napoleon
1 leche napoleon
1 fruit tart
1 cappuccino mousse
1 chocolate mousse
1 pineapple cake
1 opera cake
1 cappuccino cake
1 creme brulee
1 flourless chocolate cake
1 cheesecake
1 lemon mousse
1 mango mousse (i avoided this one b/c of my mango allergy. they actually packed it in a separate box.)

my favorite is their creme brulee and their fruit tart after their chocolate raspberry cake. i love breaking the creme brulee on top. always reminds me of amelie.

nelson had a sampling of almost everything. okay, i did help him too. i was so stuffed afterwards. i sent the rest of it home with nelson so that he could finish it off which he can afford to do as he doesn't gain any weight. so jealous....

i think nelson enjoyed his first porto's experience. next time... order less desserts.

but you can never go wrong at porto's. but don't try to go late at night. they close by 7pm on weeknights and 8pm on the weekends. and no matter what there's always a line. but don't fret. the line goes pretty quickly.