Eating Out in Palo Alto. At the Lakeside Cafe, she’s been able to spread her creative wings, she said. In addition to producing the daily “staples” — croissants (plain and chocolate), scones (cherry almond and chocolate orange), muffins (blueberry and pecan-sourcream) and cinnamon buns — she follows her culinary whims. Diners at the café might also find fresh strawberry cheesecake, delicate crème brûlée, slices of apple pie or the decadent chocolate-croissant bread pudding in the cafe’s glass cases. Jacobs has her sights on introducing patrons to lamingtons, a bite-size Australian treat made of white cake coated in chocolate and coconut. “They’re delicious,” she said. Her creativity extends to catering, which Ferrari said makes up more than one third of the café’s business. In mid-August, Jacobs helped cater a 1,600-guest, carnival-themed Google event, producing 500 candied apples and 500 cupcakes decorated in Google colors. To prepare for the assignment, she experimented over the weekend at her house, making batches of the apples to test the caramel coating, she said. “You don’t want it so hard that people can’t bite through it. But you don’t want it so soft that the caramel falls off,” she said. Then she and an assistant pulled an all-nighter, working from 7 p.m. till noon the next day to meet the deadline. But those hours hardly faze her. Like Ferrari, Jacobs has a personal passion for pastries, an enthusiasm sparked by baking chocolate cakes as a child in her mother’s kitchen. s She started a career in high-tech, working with engineers and suppliers. But on weekends and weeknights, she would make wedding cakes and cupcakes for parties. She soon admitted the split life wasn’t for her. “Doing something just for the money is really not worth it in the long run,” she said. “I felt like I was slowly dying.” So she took the plunge, enrolling in the Cambridge School and studying under a master French pastry chef Delphin Gomes and chef Sha-
ron Donovan. “I love being able to produce something that is beautiful. ... Even now when I make a perfect croissant, I’m still, like, ‘Wow!’ every single time,” she said. “It’s still like magic to me. “I just get excited by that.” Peggy Asher, a Los Altos resident, is a regular at the café and has been similarly enthusiastic about the freshly baked pastries. “Everything’s been excellent,” Asher said, listing off the items she’s tasted: the blueberry and the pecan-sour-cream muffins, the brioches and the apple tart. “A lot of times people, when they come in for a beverage, I’ll share that the chocolate brioche is delicious, and they either look at the pastries and purchase one, or — if they’re trying to lose weight — they plug their ears and run out screaming because they look so good, they’re afraid they’re going to go off their diet,” she said, laughing. Ferrari occasionally joins Jacobs in the kitchen and said she plans addition changes for the café, starting with overhauling its daily menus. As an avid traveler whose destinations have included India and Mongolia as well as Europe, Ferrari said she’s always looking to bring new ideas and dishes to share with Shoreline’s diverse visitors. She also envisions offering more dishes around seasonal ingredients. Jacobs wants to add savory baked goods to the brunch menu, such as French puff pastries filled with ingredients — “mushrooms and onions and Gruyère, something like that,” she said. So with all the changes afoot, what about the park-goer who just craves a hot dog? Ferrari said the Lakeside Café caters to those taste buds as well. “Even our hot dogs are delicious,” she said. “We have sourced the childhood memory I’ve had, to find the hot dog that, if you’re going to have a hot dog, it’s going to be pretty darned tasty here, whether it’s on a brioche bun or something else.” N Editor Jocelyn Dong can be emailed at jdong@paweekly.com.
Lakeside Café at Shoreline Park 3160 N. Shoreline Blvd, Mountain View 650-965-1745 Hours: Mon.-Thu. 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.; Fri. Alcohol: beer and wine 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sat. and Sun. 8:30 a.m.- #HILDREN YES s 4AKEOUT YES 7:30 p.m. #ATERING YES s /UTDOOR DINING YES 2ESERVATIONS NO s #REDIT CARDS YES 0ARTY FACILITIES YES s .OISE LEVEL FINE Parking: lot Bathroom cleanliness: fine
ShopTalk 3G’S OPENS ... On Aug. 29, the new 3G’s Cafe opened at 456 Cambridge Ave. in Palo Alto, with its owners eager to serve menu items with a Bolivian twist. Sisters and co-owners Gloria and Fatima Justiniano said they designed their new business with the ambition to share their culture by focusing around the traditional siesta. “In Bolivia, it’s a daily routine
to take a siesta (nap) and have coffee and a pastry when you wake up,” Gloria said. She added that 3G’s most popular item thus far is the salteña, a Bolivian meatstuffed treat, along with yerba maté green tea.
— Janelle Eastman Heard a rumor about your favorite store or business moving out, or in, down the block or across town? Shop Talk will check it out. Email shoptalk@ paweekly.com.
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