There was certainly nothing going to come between us – Mayeth and I – and our desserts, as she (Mayeth) wound through the streets with an F1 driver’s dexterity and calmness. Reservation was at 930pm, but, running late, we would reach Pop at 945.
Pop is a champagne and dessert place over on Union Street at Old Pasadena. Housed at an old, historic building, it featured, I learnt, its original brick walls, plank walls, and high-beam ceiling. For interior decor, empty bottles of champagne have been turned into vases for golden rods imitating champagne bursting from the bottles that lined the windows at the entrance. This eight-year-old dessert haven pairs luscious desserts with champagnes, and also offers warm meals of which the last order taken is at 930pm.
“Welcome. Our bar is still open and our desserts are still available. But our kitchen is already closed for dinner,” explained the staff who met us at the door.
“That’s alright. We are good with desserts,” answered Mayeth.
Waiting patiently behind Mayeth, I mumbled to myself: “Dessert can be dinner, too.”
Showed to a table near the entrance, it was a sweet but difficult task of perusing the menu given the variety of dessert dishes which, by the way, are made in house. The dessert menu is heralded by souffle du jour, Pop’s signature dish, which I glossed over (I can’t say why) for the vanilla creme brûlée with fresh berries and chantilly cream instead.
That was followed by the mixed berry nutella crepe swirled with caramel, sprinkled with graham crackers, and completed with the ‘Dessert Special – “Coffee and Donuts”‘, a gargantuan mug filled with buttermilk choco and vanilla donut holes, a scoop of ice cream, and chocolate- covered espresso beans.
The heady triumvirate of desserts and exquisite champagne makes missing the hot meals more than fine. Actually, having just desserts at Pop Champagne and Dessert Bar is perfect. Go ahead- you can faint now.
Simplify and Breathe 