Seal Beach
Foodies: OMG CUPCAKES!! at Sweet Jill's, Seal Beach
Submitted by Steven on 27 July, 2009 - 9:00am
To continue our explorations of Seal Beach, Carolen and I saundered around until we encountered a cute little bake shop: Sweet Jill's!
Cupcake shops are hugely popular in Orange County, and I can see why: their shop features rows and rows of eye-poppingly HUGE cupcakes in different varieties, all at a pretty good price ($3.50). Not only that, but they offered freshly baked goodies out of the oven: muffins, croissants, and cinammon rolls. In fact, the latter seems to be a specialty at this shop: they serve piping hot cinammon rolls drenched in syrup.
I decided to try their red velvet cake with fudge frosting. It was as I expected — tasty, sweet, and generous portions. However, I felt like the cake wasn't as moist as I would like. I still would love to try that cinammon bun, though, and the mountains of other things they've got there, and 20 other Yelp! reviewers agree too (Sweet Jill's gets 4 stars on Yelp!): read more→
Foodies: Crema Café's delicious breakfasts and morning treats a big draw in Seal Beach
Submitted by Steven on 20 July, 2009 - 11:33am
Seal Beach... what a delight! And so many ways to get there, via Long Beach Transit or OCTA's 1 and 42.
This was Carolen's and my first time in downtown Seal Beach, a quaint, pedestrian-friendly (and surfer-friendly) community lined with shops and cafés and restaurants. It's a delightful, brief stroll that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway to the edge of the ocean.
Our first stop was Crema Café. Since we came on a weekend, it was packed to the gills with patrons and bicyclists, so it felt like we waited for 20 minutes before we finally got to the cashier and ordered. Afterwards, we sat at a small table inside the store.
The café serves pastries, sandwiches, crêpes, and omelettes. We treated ourselves to a special pesto omelette with slices of proscuitto, and the taste blew us away. Their breakfasts, though in the $9-$11 range, were very flavorful, fresh, and high-quality. The eggs weren't greasy at all, and I hardly had to douse my food with ketchup and Tapatío. :)
As we ate, more and more people continued filing in:
As far as portion sizes go, it was very filling. We ordered just one dish, but they kindly split it for us at no charge! So what you see on the left is actually one whole meal.
Delicious, high-quality meals, though a little cramped and crowded because of its popularity. Give them a call before going, since they aren't open on Mondays.
Crema Cafe
www.thecremacafe.com
322 Main St # 7
Seal Beach, CA 90740-6350
(562) 493-2501
