The Cronut Craze Moves to Oakland
The Cronut is a half croissant and half donut hybrid that was developed by Chef Dominique Ansel for his bakery in New York City. From my understanding, fans are lining up for four hours to buy a Cronut. It has become so popular that Chef Ansel trademarked the name and knockoffs of this pastry are popping up all over the Country under a different name.
I was in NYC last week and I had no desire to stand in line at Dominique Ansel Bakery to try a Cronut. My friend who was traveling with me really wanted one. Luckily, we found out about the copycat Dough’Ssant from Dessert Club ChikaLicious. There was no line. My friend got the creme brûlée flavored Dough’Ssant which I got to try. I was still full from lunch. She really liked the Dough’Ssant. It was fairly light in texture and had the flakiness of a croissant. The top was carmelized and appeared to have been torched like a creme brûlée hence the name of the flavor. It was filled with a small amount of Tahitian vanilla pastry cream like the Cronut.
Why am I writing about the Cronut? Well, I found out that Stag’s Lunchette in Downtown Oakland was making their version called the Faux nut. This was going to be a Pop-Up and the shop opened at 9am this morning to offer them. My friend and I picked up some coffee beforehand and when we arrived at 9am, the line had already wrapped around the corner with about 60 people in front of us.
We had no idea how long the line would take. The weather was nice, we had our coffee, and the people in line was pleasant so the 90 minute wait was not uncomfortable. An employee passed complimentary cups of champagne which was nice.
Stag’s was offering the pastry with one of three flavored pastry creams: Tahitian vanilla, clementine orange cream, and bourbon cream. Also on the menu were Faux nut holes by the dozen. Each item was $6, a dollar more than the Cronut. I definitely wanted the bourbon cream and thought I would try the holes. They also have a two item limit per person. When it was my turn to order, they ran out of holes. I asked how long until the next batch and they told me it would be a long time so I just got the bourbon. My friend ordered the other two flavored Faux nuts.
We sat at the bar near the register and noticed the party behind me got a dozen Faux nut holes. I thought a new batch came out so I went back to the register to request the dozen I wanted. The woman at the register repeated that there were none and I asked how they got theirs when they were after me. She said something about them being saved because they were kids. I didn’t make a big deal about it and went back to my seat. The little girl was so sweet as she came over and offered us a hole. I took one to try and thanked her. Although I didn’t dip it into the side of cream it was supposed to come with, the hole was tasty. It was crispy on the outside and dense on the inside. It gave us a good idea of the dense texture of the Faux nuts we were about to enjoy.
The pastries are essentially split open and filled with one of the three fillings. My friend and I shared them all. My favorite was the bourbon and my friend’s favorite was the clementine orange. I enjoyed the Faux nut and am glad I tried them, but don’t think I will ever have the urge to pay $6 for one and stand in line for them again. I think I prefer a really good, buttery, flakey croissant and a soft pillowy donut separately. My friend actually preferred the Dough’Ssant over the Faux nut.
I have a suggestion for Stag’s. Obviously you can’t make enough holes for everyone, so why not offer everyone in line a hole to taste and skip the champagne?
