Kirbie's Cravings

Sogo Bakery

Sogo Bakery
1600 South De Anza Blvd.
San Jose, CA 95129
http://www.sogo-bakery.com/

There's been a couple Sogo bakeries popping up in the Bay Area.  In addition to having their own stores, a lot of the Ranch 99 bakeries have been taken over by Sogo.  I was pretty sad to see Sogo take over a lot of the Ranch 99 bakeries because the Sogo products cost a lot more and I don't think they are that much better.

After lunch with my mom, we passed by a Sogo Bakery.  I can't resist browsing chinese bakeries, so of course I had to take a look.  It was your usual array of chinese breads and cakes.  Baby Bro seemed really impressed with the cakes and kept taking pictures.  He thought the fact that the tiramisu cake actually says "tiramisu" was so clever.

They had some egg tarts that were on special for $1, so I picked up two. I had hoped to take pictures when I got home, but I brought them back to San Diego and they got smashed.  They tasted alright, but they didn't have the egg tart shell that I prefer.

However, when I saw these panda cookies, I was so excited.  A small box of panda cookies were being sold for $2.50.  My mom didn't understand my excitement.  These panda cookies were so adorable!  The cutest panda-shaped foods I have ever seen.  I could eat these all day.

This is what the package looks like.  The package is packed with cookies.  Mine is already opened with several cookies missing.

The cookies are basically a vanilla and chocolate butter cookie.  I'm not sure how the made these cookies.  I'm used to panda shaped baked goods being blobs of chocolate dough strategically placed to make a panda face shape.  However the details of these pandas make it seem like the eyes and such were drawn on.  However, the black chocolate cookie portions go all the way through the entire cookie.

I would love to get my hand on more of these adorable cookies. Unfortunately, no sogo bakeries in San Diego.

Ranch 99 Irvine

Ranch 99
15333 Culver Dr, #800
Irvine, CA 92604

Whenever I visit Ranch 99 in Irvine, I get a bit of Ranch envy.  The bigger Ranch 99 in Irvine (there are two locations), is only about an hour away from San Diego, has the same circular ad, seems to carry almost all the same items, and yet it is so much better!

Cleaner, fresher produce for one.  Cheaper items (local in store specials) And better food!  Their bakery carries almost all the same products, but their baked goods are made by a company called Desir.  The prices on some of my favorite breads like pineapple bun or taro bun are only $.69, whereas they are usually over $1. They also taste so much better.  I used to get my bakery breads from J J Bakery, but the Ranch 99's ones are cheaper and taste just as good in my opinion.  I don't like the pineapple bun, taro bun or other individual breads at Ranch 99 San Diego at all, but I really love the ones in Irvine.

The Ranch 99 Irvine also offers a cooked food section.  In the morning, they serve traditional chinese breakfast items like fried cruller (yu tiao), hot soybean milk, chive pockets, green onion pancakes, rice rolls, etc. I've tried the breakfast items at the San Diego Ranch and I don't enjoy them at all.  The yu tiao isn't crispy, and the rice roll...there are so many things wrong with the rice roll. 

I really like the breakfast food at the Ranch 99 Irvine.  The yu tiao is crispy, not too oily and tastes really good. One of my favorite places to get yu tiao.  And the rice roll is really good too.  The rice is sticky, the yu tiao inside is crispy and not stale, and there is just the right amount of filling.

On this occasion I also picked up a chive pocket.  The chive pockets are really big.  Kind of soggy though. 

During lunch, Ranch 99 Irvine offers different cooked foods.  And it is do it yourself!  You can either choose two items, or mixed combo (which costs about $1 more).  You can fill and stuff your container as much as you want with food.  The food items change often.  On this occasion, I got some stir fried long beans and chicken wings.  I really enjoyed the chicken wings.  They were crispy and slightly sweet.

Here's hoping the Ranch 99 in San Diego will become more like the one in Irvine soon.

Tasty Bakery

Tasty Bakery
4344 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 278-2866

I discovered Tasty Bakery a few years ago when trying to find a chinese bakery in San Diego outside of the one inside Ranch 99.  I was a bit disappointed though because they offered almost all the same goods at Ranch 99, and tasted about the same or worse, with prices slightly higher than Ranch 99.

The other weekend I found myself in the plaza, and decided to go inside and browse around.

I bought a couple of heart shaped pineapple cakes.  I'd forgotten that they sell these here.  I love how they are heart shaped.  I haven't seen them this shape in any other bakery.

I also picked up these spiral cookies.  I thought they would be sweet but they weren't.  They were crispy with sesames on top and salty.  After getting used to the initial surprise that it wasn't sweet, I ended up liking the taste.

I also got a pineapple bun with taro paste filling.

The bakery was tastier than I remembered.