[singlepic id=195 w=320 h=240 mode=watermark float=right]Yesterday, I took a quick hour to join my BFF Lisa (and my beloved “niece” – her dog, Bindi) at the Laguna Beach restaurant, The Lumberyard. As restaurants in Laguna Beach go, we like The Lumberyard for quick lunches because they have a pretty extensive menu selection of $10 lunches (their new artichoke and mushroom panini is a solid winner), and they allow dogs to sit just outside the little wall of their patio . . . so, a dog-friendly restaurant, too.
But here’s the real story –
On my way back to work, I stopped in to pick up a quick coffee at my favorite Laguna Beach coffeehouse, Laguna Coffee . . . and there they were . . . those awesome, amazing, terrible, addicting hand-baked, secret recipe cookies that former Laguna Coffee owner, Sylvan, cooks up in his own kitchen.
Now, Sylvan is a character and style all his own and I’ll probably just write a blog entry about HIM one of these days, but suffice for this entry that he’s been a master French chef all his adult life, and every resident in town owes at least 4 pounds of unwanted body poundage directly to Sylvan’s fare. It’s all his fault.
Sylvan is forever dreaming up – and then baking – morning pastries, paninis, and cookies, all original recipes. His two trademark cookies show up whenever he feels like having them show up and you’ve got to be fast – they disappear almost as quickly as they hit the little cookie cabinet there in Laguna Coffee.
His Beachcomber cookie is my favorite and, well, yes . . . you could say it’s healthy for you, even . . . it’s a combo of 2 kinds of chocolate, walnuts, oatmeal, raisins and whatever else he feels like chucking in the mixing bowl. Sadly, those puppies had already cleared out by my early afternoon drive-by. I was, however, lucky to find 2 of his Espresso Chocolate cookies still shouldered together. These cookies are a sophisticated blend of dark chocolate and espresso, and that’s really all they need to say about themselves.
These are hefty cookies (see picture) so I actually ate half and committed to saving the other half for another day. (I trot to my refrigerator often, though, to gaze at it longingly.)
Now, I’ve talked about Laguna Beach’s best chocolate in town ( The Chocolate Soldier), Laguna’s great gelato ( Gelato Paradiso), and have mentioned (but not yet tried) the newest dessert arrival to Laguna Beach, Casey’s Cupcakes . . . I’ll rave for hours about Laguna Beach restaurant dessert fare such as K’ya’s Banana Bread Pudding, 230 Forest’s matchable Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding, or that Chocolate Souffle at French 75 . . . but no one makes COOKIES anymore! (Then again, why would anyone try when coming up against Syvlan’s cookies?)
So, if you’re lucky enough to actually see Sylvan’s Beachcomber or Espresso cookies in stock at Laguna Coffee, don’t even ask your hips or thighs their opinion. This is rare foodie fare in Laguna Beach and you deserve to be a part of the privileged few who actually get its hands on these cookies.
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