Jerry’s Famous Coffee Shop
Sourdough Bread
Cinnamon Roll with Cream Cheese Icing
Cream Cheese Danish
Blum’s Famous Coffee Crunch Cake
Milk Cake
Jamaica Tres Leches Cake with Yellow Cake layered with Jamaica Cream
Butterfinger Bundt Cake
“Nascar Cake” with Cheesecake, Red Velvet, Chocolate and Vanilla Cake layered with Chocolate Mousse
Nutella Cheesecake
In a city where tourism is the name of the game and South Las Vegas Boulevard thus reigns supreme there are occasional instances where a Chef who moved past the hustle and bustle has continued to push the envelope, the latest former B&B Pastry Chef Douglas Taylor who has taken the reins at Jerry’s Nugget and turned its “Famous Coffee Shop” and Bakery into a destination for those seeking the sort of Cakes and Pastries sold elsewhere at nearly twice the price and in less variety.
Not new to Jerry’s Nugget, a 2014 trip to sample a slice of Cake celebrating fifty years of business even then showing the Bakery to be far better than most would guess, it was around 2:00pm that two guests entered the aged Casino’s front doors where one armed bandits keep watch, the Coffee Shop perhaps one quarter full with a group in back celebrating a birthday and the Cake and Pie cases up front fully stacked.
Enticed by Chef Taylor’s social media stream, something the folks handling Jerry’s Public Relations would be wise to harness as it seems their attempt to bait “influencers” at Contento fell flat despite good word of mouth, it is by a vast array of colors and designs that eyes are greeted when peering at Cake after Cake and Pie after Pastry, the servers all pleasant and accommodating with surprisingly strong knowledge of items including those listed as weekly or even daily specials.
Charging $5-6 per slice and additionally offering housemade Loaves of Bread it was upon making tough decisions that nine items were carefully boxed and subsequently bagged, most surviving the twelve mile trip home unscathed and bites of an untoasted Sourdough slice showing good technique while the first Pastry sampled was a heavily frosted Cinnamon Roll with caramelized bits at the center and soft curls that improved from good to great when heated.
Moving next to another Breakfast Pastry, the Cream Cheese Filling of Doug’s Danish unsweetened and cooked like Custard inside a laminated Bun awash with Butter, it would be hard to say where a better Danish might be found in Las Vegas aside from perhaps Bouchon at twice the cost while a slice of Cake inspired by Chef Taylor’s recent trip to Southern California also worked in subtle ways with delicate Cream and Cake featuring a soft crumb juxtaposing crunchy housemade Honeycomb.
Attempting to move light to heavy, the “Milk Cake” baked like a Bundt visually judged correctly to be not far from Tres Leches with intentionally burnt Sugar Glaze overlying a sopping wet sponge, it was next the special actually labeled “Tres Leches” which was less moist but equally delicious that tickled the palate, three actual “Milks” not counted but made irrelevant by virtually weightless Frosting perfumed with Hibiscus.
Charged $45 including tax and tip for the lot, not “cheap” but certainly not overpriced compared to Freed’s or Peridot Sweets for what amounted to almost an entire Cake, it was beneath Ganache with a shiny surface that “Nascar Cake” offered four layers divided by Milk Chocolate Mousse, the flavors all marrying nicely with two bites never the same while a second Bundt chock-a-block full of Butterfinger chunks and topped with melted crumbs of similar tasted precisely as childhood recalls of the Candy Bar but with less intense sweetness.
Taking the position that Coffee is a far better palate refresher than Milk during the tasting, a stance not shared by others involved, it was with thick Nutella Cheesecake atop a crumbly Chocolate Crust that all stood smiling at the end, many bites left for later that evening and the fact that this Cheesecake was entirely different in terms of weight and richness from that in the Nascar showing Chef Taylor is not taking shortcuts even though the average Coffee Shop patron might not be all that critical or discerning.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS: Marred only by location and a Casino that is in need of a serious ventilation upgrade the quality of Douglas Taylor’s Cakes are on par with any in Sin City while an obvious drive to do new things offers plenty of impetus for return visits as often as one may be in the mood for something sweet.
RECOMMENDED: Cream Cheese Danish, Milk Cake, Nascar Cake, Jamaica Tres Leches Cake, Butterfinger Bundt Cake, Nutella Cheesecake.
AVOID: Getting expectations up for specific items listed online as selections change daily.
TIP: Follow @douglas.taylor4 on Instagram for daily temptation and even occasional videos on technique, or visit Jerry’s Famous Coffee Shop 24/7 to see what is new.
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: 5 World Class, 4 Excellent, 3 Good, 2 Fair, 1 Poor.
www.jerrysnugget.com/dining/jerrys-famous-coffee-shop
