I have a thing for bakeries. Maybe part of the problem is I just love carbs too much (noodles, anyone? how about rice?). But I also love the smell of baking pies, cakes, all those delicious things that are baked at bakeries. So even though I might walk into a bakery with the best of intentions, I rarely walk out empty-handed.
When I paid a visit to the Korean French bakery Tous Les Jours (뚜레쥬르) I honestly tried. I exerted all my willpower, but I just didn’t have quite enough. I still found myself walking out with two pastries. One was a tart type thing filled with jam and heavy cream (yum) and the other was a twist pastry with some kind of banana cream crumbs on the outside (it works, trust me on this). The fact that I paid a total of $2.50 for both of them might have something to do with my deciding it was okay to indulge. I don’t know what the fat content was, and I probably don’t want to know.
I was initially expecting the filled pastry to be cake-like, which I think it would have been if it were produced by an American bakery. But we’re talking Korean French here, so it was more bread-like. After the initial surprise, I actually preferred the bread-like consistency because it meant the pastry wasn’t overwhelmingly sweet. Some baked goods can be so sweet they become cloying after the first few bites. I don’t recall the consistency of the twist pastry (I devoured them both shortly after I got home since, you know, they might not be as good the second day), but the crumbs on the outside were delicious. And again, not overpoweringly sweet.
Tous Les Jours also offers beautifully decorated cakes and has just added frozen yogurt to their repertoire.
Now, how does Tous Les Jours stack up against my other fave Korean French bakery, Paris Baguette? The answer is that it’s hard to answer that. You can’t really compare unless you sample the same items both places, and I didn’t. Tous Les Jours wasn’t as crowded, but they both offer beautiful cakes and a variety of pastries. Price-wise they were about comparable, I think: both very reasonable. Tous Les Jours offers frozen yogurt and frozen pops, which Paris Baguette doesn’t, but on the other hand at Tous Les Jours I didn’t spot the hot sandwiches and other hot savory pastries that Paris Baguette sells. I think Paris Baguette has a more streamlined sales procedure (you grab a box, fill it with the pastries you want, and at the register they just put the top on, whereas at Tous Les Jours you use a basket and at the register they wrap each pastry individually for you, which takes longer). But it’s possible that Tous Les Jours’ method will keep the pastries fresh longer, since each pastry ends up in its own plastic packet.
Tous Les Jours
2736 W. Olympic Blvd
(about 1 block west of Vermont)
Los Angeles, CA 90006