Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Beard Papa's - Monterey Park


How many engineers does it take to run the best Beard Papa's franchise in California?

Answer: Two. And they're both friends of mine.

Kenny (who handles the business side of things) and Bonnie (who handles the day-to-day) and I go way back. We went to UCI Engineering together, but after graduation we took different paths.

Kenny went into insurance. Bonnie went to design jets for Northrop and then to culinary school. Now they're working together, here at the Beard Papa's shop underneath Ocean Star in Monterey Park.

But it's Bonnie--previously the sous chef at the much-lauded The Spice Table--who has made this Beard Papa's shop unlike any other I've ever visited. To complement the usual cream puffs with those crackle-crusted shells and cool vanilla cream fillings, she's added meticulously crafted drinks that uses ice cream, custard pudding, and syrup that she makes all herself, from scratch.

Why is she putting all this thought and effort when her competitors are using powders and squirts of high fructose corn syrup? Because that's the Bonnie I've always known.

It's also why you should visit!

Besides, where else can you buy a cream puff and wash it down with a drink made by a Le Cordon Bleu grad who used to work on fighter planes?

Beard Papa's
141 N Atlantic Blvd
Monterey Park, CA 91754
https://www.instagram.com/beardpapa_mpk/

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2 Comments:

At 10:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Same thing happened to owners of Lovebirds (sandwich place) in Alhambra. The brothers left their science degree jobs. Perhaps we should all first major in business before anything else!

 
At 8:14 AM, Blogger elmomonster said...

Yeah! So true! No matter where we start off, we always end up wishing we learned how to run a business!

 

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