House of Delights

 

Are you fluent in French – pastries?  I admit it, my French is rusty but the meaning of “Aux Delices” (“all the delicious things in life”) flooded back to me when I tasted one of their scrumptious pastries at the Art Deco-styled Old Pasadena bakery the other day.

The shop, which looks and feels straight out of pre-war Paris, is small but quite smart and filled with smells and sights to delight. The strongest testament to the sheer deliciousness offered up by owners George and Elizabeth Babakhanian is the shop’s longevity: over 20 years on Colorado Boulevard just west of Fair Oaks Avenue, in the city’s most demanding shopping district.

“It’s a family business, and we are always in our business, me and my wife and our kids also help us,” says George Babakhanian. I’m sure that’s a big part of his success, but I think it’s more. Aux Delices strikes just the right tone, with its quaint atmosphere, family-owner level of customer care and concern, and just plain tastiness.

 

Aux Delices serves up baked goods to carry out, gorgeous and tasty cakes, sandwiches and soups (take away and sit down, if you’re lucky enough to snag one of the 23 seats inside and plein air, à la Paris) and catering for “any occasion,” as the Babakhanians say.

For those of us who have lived here for ages, Aux Delices has always been a delightful place to pop into, impulsively, and experience pastry rapture. What I didn’t realize is that it is one of the best breakfast spots around (Pasadena’s Achille’s heel.)

For me, it’s the Delices Omelet (eggs, sautéed ham, tomato, bell pepper, onion, served with cheese & avocado) which at $6.95 is tasty and perfectly priced. Plan B? The Apple Walnut Cheese Omelet (eggs, fresh apples sautéed with cinnamon and walnuts), also $6.95.  And of course, Aux Delices serves French crêpes (starting at $5.75).

The bakery also serves lunch in a bustling routine that sees bagel and croissant sandwiches, soups and even pizza snatched up by both shoppers and locals (“we have lots of regulars who come daily,” George says).

The sandwiches, too, are reasonably priced and hearty: $5.75 for a half sandwich, and $8.25 for a full sandwich, served on  French bread, Sourdough, Multigrain, Wheat or white toast and backed up by fruit and the salad of the day.

The heart of the matter, of course, is the bakery, the original raison d’etre of Aux Delices. It’s dessert time all day in this happy place, with tempting cakes (Dark Chocolate Raspberry Mousse, Chocolate Mousse, Strawberry Shortcake, “Domino” Cake, Black Forest Cake), tarts piled high with fruit, pastries (Eclair, Creme Brulee, Napoleon, Cream Puffs, Truffles, and Chocolate Brulee Domes) beckoning from under the curved glass.

They say we often overlook what’s right before us, and I admit, sheepishly, that I’ve discovered that Aux Delices is a treasure I ought to have been enjoying more thoroughly. I think you’ll agree.

AUX DELICES
16 West Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena (cross street is Fair Oaks)
Telephone: (626) 796-1630.
http://www.auxdelicespasadena.com/index.htm