Beard Papa's "World's Best Cream Puffs" - Not In This World

I’ve heard that Beard Papa’s Cream Puffs are to die for, that they are the best ones out there.  I’ve tried cream puffs from local bakeries. To be completely honest, some of the best ones I’ve tried so far are the ones that were in the bakery section at Costco. Beard Papa’s claims to be the home of the “World’s Best Cream Puffs.” WOW, talk about being confident. I knew where the closest one to me was, so after dinner one night, we decided to take a trip.

The closest Beard Papa's to me is in the City of Industry, inside the Puente Hills Mall. Not the greatest of malls, but a mall is a mall and I have yet to meet a mall that I haven’t walked out of empty handed. Ok, that’s beside the point. Let me move on because I can talk to no end about shopping too. Beard Papa's has a little store with not much to it.  A small glass case with their pastries and it appears as if only one person worked there.  Mind you, this is the ONLY one I’ve ever been to or seen, so I’m assuming that this is a little one in comparison to the one at The Americana or at the Hollywood & Highland Shopping Center.

The glass containing all of their products looked a little sad and to tell you the truth, quite unappealing. Yet, my thought of food is “don’t knock it ‘til you've tried it.” When I asked the one employee which flavors were available, he said Original Vanilla only. The only other flavor they had was green tea, which they ran out of. Ok, so their flavor choices were a little dreary but I was ok with that. If they’ve mastered the original flavor then the other flavors were going to be worth trying.

I took a bite and the “puff” part of the cream puff was a little crispier than what I recollect from other cream puffs I’ve tried. Also, when I bit into it creamy custard oozed into my mouth. After rolling it around my mouth, I couldn’t taste anything. I wasn’t expecting the puff pastry to be too sweet, but it tasted a little blander than toast. The custard, well, it tasted like thick and creamy water with a little bit of sugar substitute. Although the texture was perfect, I didn’t get that sweet creamy taste. Their website says that they use fresh vanilla bean. I didn’t see any specks of vanilla nor did it taste anything like it. I was wishing the custard tasted like crème brule. I would have even taken vanilla pudding.

From the puff pastry not being sweet to the warm custard not being sweet, it was just bland filled with bland which equaled.... you guessed it BLAND.  Obviously I was really disappointed with these “World’s Best Cream Puffs.”  I mean if these are “World’s Best” than I wouldn’t want to eat another cream puff from any other place ever again. In their defense, they do have other locations and this one might’ve been the black sheep of the bunch. I wouldn’t give this location a second thought to retry.  If someone brought me one telling me that I just had a bad experience and that they are truly “World’s Best,” I would try it. Other than that, I cannot see myself forking out the cash to buy another one, let alone waste the gas to drive out to their shop at the Puente Hills Mall.