5 Questions With... Sprinkles' Candace Nelson

Time and time again, the press goes out of their way to claim the "Cupcake Craze" "over." Well, maybe someone should tell Sprinkles because the world's first cupcake bakery, which opened its doors in Beverly Hills in April 2005, just bowed store location number ten -- in the Large Apple of all places. Upon the NYC launch, UE caught up with Sprinkles' founder and "Cupcake Wars" judge, Candace Nelson, and threw some questions in her general direction...

1. Starting off with a journalistic hard-hitter... How many Sprinkles and "Cupcake War" cupcakes would you estimate you eat a year?

CN: Usually I eat one Sprinkles Cupcake each day, except during store openings when I take my quality control seriously and I taste all day long. When filming “Cupcake Wars,” I taste 13 cupcakes for every single episode! With the 26 episodes we filmed in the past year, I suppose that would bring my year to date cupcake tally to 703!

2. You recently opened your first Sprinkles in New York. What was that like - finally opening in the same city as your long-perceived rival, Magnolia Bakery? And what has the reception been for 'LA cupcakes' in NYC?

CN: Sprinkles New York is off to a great start. New York has a very well established cupcake scene which inspires us to bake and be our best everyday. However, in spite of all the bakeries in NYC, I believe Sprinkles offers something unique.

3. Are there any non-Sprinkles cupcakes you like in Los Angeles?

CN: Yes, I opened a cupcake bakery because I love all kinds of cupcakes! There are some great bakeries in the area and I admire the ones that use high quality ingredients and bake fresh daily. Joan’s on Third makes delicious cupcakes!

4. Can dudes eat cupcakes comfortably? For example, I like the Chai Latte. A CHAI LATTE CUPCAKE. Can I look myself in the mirror with confidence (if I happen to remember which day you guys have Chai Latte - I always forget)?

CN: Yes, Mike, you can come into our bakery every Friday and enjoy a Chai Latte comfortably. We purposefully designed our store and product to spotlight the ingredients and handcrafted nature of our cupcakes rather than embellishing it with doilies and flowers. Our minimal design means you can leave still feeling like a man!

5. On a serious note, have you ever met anyone stupid enough not to like cupcakes? If so, what would you say to such a person?
CN: I occasionally come across people who say cupcakes aren’t for them, but this usually stems from a lack of sweet tooth (i'm convinced it's a missing gene). I am usually able to win them over with one of our less sweet cupcakes like cinnamon sugar (no frosting) or chocolate marshmallow! More commonly, people can’t eat our cupcakes for dietary reasons which inspired me to begin offering gluten free and vegan cupcakes. I’m currently working on a sugar-free option as well!

Drunk Kitchen Does Cookies

My new favorite baker.

5 Questions With... Santa Monica's Wick's Chicago Pizza

At a birthday party a few months back a friend pulled me aside and whispered, "There's a great deep dish pizza available in Santa Monica." "WHAT?!?" "Shh... it's sort of on the d.l. I'll email you the info. We never had this conversation."

Okay, maybe my buddy wasn't that covert about Wick's Chicago Pizza, but I like to think he was about this very welcomed -- albeit somewhat underground -- addition to the beachside pizza scene. The ordering process is simple: email Wick's (wickschicagopizza@gmail.com), 24 hours in advance, order a sausage, pepperoni, cheese or combo of the aforementioned, meet owner Christian Bove in front of his Santa Monica apartment, hand over $20 for a gigantic, half-baked Chicago deep dish, take home, place on a pizza stone or baking sheet, let it cook for 25-20 minutes and BAM, a beautiful, piping hot, Chicago deep dish pizza sans the wind and the annual disappointment that is the Cubs.

An instant fan, I just needed to talk to Christian and find out what Wick's was all about...

1. Tell me about the founding of Wicks Chicago Pizza. Where did the idea come from/how did it come about?

Christian: Wick's all came from the craving for a great deep dish pizza. I'd been living in LA for six years and was jonesing for a real Chicago deep dish pizza. I went to the places that said they had deep dish but it just wasn't the same. So, I spent a year and a half perfecting a dough. I started making them for friends till one day my buddy Troy (who was a little hungover) said he'd pay me to make him a pizza, I figured why not and it just grew from there. What is different about my pizza is the crust. It's sweeter than a normal Chicago pizza crust. Unlike most deep dish pizzas that have a thick crust mine is more like a thin crust in a deep dish pan just topped with a lot of fillings. I'm not a big crust guy so I just made one that I'd eat. One thing lead to another, people started ordering and then I started making them for O'brien's on Main for the Bears games. They've been compared to crack which I take as a good thing.

2. You a Chicago native? Or just a deep dish lover?

Christian: I grew up just north of Chicago eating deep dish pizza. It was amazing being surrounded by all these great pizza places. You just get use to all of it. I was fortunate enough that when I moved to Florida the pizza place I grew up loving had a shop in the same town and then in Arizona there was a great deep dish place but moving to LA not so much.

3. What's the ultimate goal with Wicks?

Christian: The goal of Wicks is to have a really small 10-15 table place on the Westside that just serves deep dish pizza and salads. The concept is simple, no matter how close you are to you favorite pizza place by the time you get home, get all your drinks, find something to watch on tv, and get everyone together the pizza starts to get cold. The take out pizzas are all half baked. You put it in the oven for 15-20 minutes and you have a fresh Chicago deep dish pizza. The pizzas can be in your refrigerator for up to two days.

4. Any deep dish pizza in LA you like? How about any pizza places in general?

Christian: No real places I like for deep dish but in Chicago I'm a Lou's or Giordano's fan or a great little place called The Art of Pizza [editor note: I adore AoP as well.]. There are a bunch of great pizza places in LA, Joe's of Bleeker, Mozza, Abbot's, and there are great wood fire places. That's the beauty of pizza, everyone has their own style or favorite.

5. Ever met someone stupid enough not to like deep dish? What would you tell such a person?

Christian: Yes, there are people that don't like deep dish. Some say it's too big (three pieces and you're in a food coma) or just too far away from NY pizza. Everyone likes what they like and as long as they like pizza I'm cool with it. But, for those that like deep dish they're going to really like my pizza.

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Wick's Chicago Pizza

Santa Monica

Order by emailing Christian at wickschicagopizza@gmail.com

Best Sunday Supper Deals in LA

Sunday nights can be perplexing. On one side, it's still the weekend. On the other, it's almost Monday morning. So I recommend you squeeze every last drop out of the evening at one of these four delicious, bargain Sunday Suppers listed over at Dealpop.

A Burger You Should Know About If Guy Fieri Didn't Already Tell You About It

"The Fuego" Burger at North End Caffe (as featured on "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives") - 9 oz 80/20 beef patty with pepper jack, cheddar, bacon, avocado, chipotle mojo and red salsa. Comes with a side of the best fries in Los Angeles.

Video from Triple-D:

Note: N.E. Caffe is all-around awesome and I stop there almost every time I'm in the Manhattan Beach vicinity. They also earn the distinguished honor of housing the best breakfast potatoes in town.

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North End Caffe

3421 Highland Avenue, Manhattan Beach

310-546-4782

Derby Eats

Fried Twinkie at South in Santa Monica.

The Best Salad on the Westside

The Squash Salad (arugula, butternut squash, Niman Ranch bacon, feta & pumpkin seeds with a red wine vinaigrette) from Huckleberry.