Speaking of reaching people deeply, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. At the Beverly Hills Beignet, the humble doughnut has been given a Beverly Hills makeover with savoury fillings transforming them from sugary treats into mouth-watering meals.
Roasted artichoke, a delicious addition to a salad or perfect for a side dish, but at this cafe in Beverly Hills it's the latest filling for their doughnuts.
Beverly Hills Beignet is a glamorous new speciality shop, where the doughnut, or beignet, as it is known here, has been given a new twist.
Beverly Hills Beignet is a glamorous new speciality shop, where the doughnut, or beignet, as it is known here, has been given a new twist.
"Well I just got back from Europe and usually the beignets are all sweet and I didn't know that here they were going to have savoury ones too so I tried the artichoke which is just the season right now. It's the artichoke season in Europe. It was really, really good and after that I really wanted to try a sweet one kind of like as a dessert," said Carol Deleon, Doughnut fan.
Beignets were traditionally a square fried doughnut sold on the streets of New Orleans, but were generally filled with sugar and cinnamon. But here the likes of smoked ham, bacon and cheese now fill their centres and they're even served up with dipping sauces.
The aim is to make them more of a meal than a sugary treat as part of the 'combo' dessert trend.
"We will be adding a lot of other things to the menu, like basically a caprese salad, but inside of a beignet you really get that savoury so you feel like you're eating a meal. You can sit down with your friends and it's not like let's go have a sweet. I don't want people to think that oh this is like a sweet spot, this is where we want to come and only have dessert, it's not that," said Maggie Finneran, CEO of Beverly Hills Beignet.
Each doughnut is carefully prepared in very small batches and monitored from start to finish.
Head pastry chef D.J. Boran uses a special cutter to size the doughnuts. He says a lot of work went into perfecting the combinations.
"We feel with the quality of the ingredients we're using and all the time we spent working on it, the right amount of yeast, the right amount of flour, right about of liquid ingredients, we've got that perfect balance that creates a light airy beignet that holds together and can be stuffed with incredible ingredients," said D. J. Boran, head pastry chief of Beverly Hills Beignet.
These special doughnuts cost between 7 and 9 dollars for an order of three.
