Beard Papa's is bringing its sweet cream puffs to Concord's Salvio Pacheco Square. (Courtesy Beard Papa's) Beard Papa cream puffs feature a unique shell made of two different types of dough. The filling is a blend of whipped cream and vanilla custard. (Muginoho USA)
Beard Papa’s, maker of Japanese-style cream puffs, has found its way to Alameda County.
The new Castro Valley Marketplace shop started filling crispy shells with that ethereal custard and whipped cream blend this week. On Saturday, Aug. 5, the official grand opening day festivities will start at 10 a.m. with gifts for the first 100 customers and promotions and gift card sweepstakes all day.
Crowds flocked to San Francisco in 2006 when the Osaka-based franchise opened its first California cream puff kiosk at the Westfield Centre. Back then, the puffs created by founder Yuji Hirota — the white-bearded icon — came in only chocolate or vanilla. Today there are several shell flavors (Original, Chocolate Eclair, Green Tea Eclair, Honey Butter, Crispy Almond, Oreo Cookie Crumble Eclair, Strawberry Eclair and S’mores Eclair) and filling choices of chocolate, vanilla and green tea.
(However, the Castro Valley selection will be limited on grand opening day and for a few weeks after that, the company says.)
Today, there are 425 Beard Papa locations around the world, including Bay Area shops in Cupertino, San Mateo and Concord.
Details: Hours, days of operation to be determined for the new shop at 3295 Castro Valley Blvd., Castro Valley. www.beardpapas.com
Originally published at Linda Zavoral