My friend used to bring me back a tin from Lebanon every year and they were the perfect combination. Well cooked so the pastry was browned, not overly sweet and very nice nutty filling. I know I probably won’t find anything that good here but where should I try?
I’ve tried Sarkis and La Mirage Pastries in Anaheim and Assal Bakery in Irvine. La Mirage is the closest place off the freeway on Brookhurst but their baklava was eh. Sarkis is well known but their baklava is very sweet and undercooked for my liking. The baklava at Assal Bakery were very sweet and I threw away my whole container after eating 1/2 of one. The best ones I’ve found so far are at Wholesome Choice which isn’t saying much.
Best baklava I’ve ever had in OC was at the St. Paul’s (Irvine) Greek Orthodox Festival (usually held in June every year) - the yiayia’s make them the best.
I’m not sure if the dates have been set for this year’s festival - keep checking the interwebs, I suppose…
After trying many places in Anaheim I’ve decided Chee Sweets is my favorite. Owned by the same brothers that own Zait n Zataar. They have a lot of great stuff and I always buy too much but it seems to disappear. My personal favorite ones are the round and square pistachio ones. They have cashew ones too but I prefer pistachio. There are ~12 different types of Turkish delight, a bunch of other Lebanese desserts I’m not familiar with and the knafe seems to be very popular. The few pieces of Turkish delight I bought ere definitely not enough. The berry flavored with pistachio covered in coconut was outstanding.
