I have always known about Cinnaholic because my vegan friend Alexis showed me this place. She makes a special trip from the City just to get her fill of these cinnamon buns.
Cinnanolic is located right across from the UC Berkeley campus. It is one of the many eclectic stores on Oxford St: chic boutique, Starbucks, Afghan buffet restaurant, print shop, etc.
The store is spartan like a small ice cream shop with nothing but white walls and a counter. There is a huge menu board that features the frostings and the toppings. 3 garden tables are outside if you want to devour your rolls before leaving the store.
http://www.viewmenu.com/cinnaholic/menu?ref=google
The choices and combination were too daunting that I was staring at the board like Bambi caught in front of headlights. They can customize the rolls according to your heart's desire like Elvis with his PB and Banana, Rocky Road, Pina Colada and Coconut, etc.
After ~ 3 minutes of being in catatonic state, I finally chose:
1. PUMPKIN SPICE WITH GINGERSNAP COOKIES for me.
2. BUTTERSCOTCH WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS for Enrique.
TOTAL: $10.50 for two cinnamon rolls
Cinnaholic rolls are gourmet VEGAN cinnamon rolls that are slightly different from the ones grandma bakes unless your granny is hip, vegan and from Berkeley. The roll itself was a little bit denser than the melt in your mouth rolls like hot Pillsbury that's right out of the oven. (How dare I make such scandalous comparison?!!) It did taste like something was missing.
I did not tell Enrique that they were vegan. He devoured his butterscotch cinnamon rolls and told me that he they were good and rich. He liked them. I did reveal that they were vegan after he finished the roll. We both agree that the frostings were the best part while the bread itself was dry. However, Cinnaholics rolls were good nonetheless.
Despite the above observations and being on the pricey side of ~$5 a piece, I enjoyed my cinnamon roll so much that I licked the plate clean. Well, only my cat was my sole witness to such barbaric act.
Although I would have liked the bread to have been softer, the frosting was bursting with the pumpkin and spices flavors of Fall although it was a blazing hot summer day in the Bay Area. The flavors were just plain lovely. The fact that they were vegan just sweeten the deal for me eventhough I devour animal products.
I usually wait until I have made at least a couple of visits before I write a review but since I have changed my lifestyle to eating "angel (good) carbs" only, it will be awhile before I would have the pleasure of enjoying a Cinnaholic again.
Not the best cinnamon rolls ever but on a beautiful quiet sunny day like today, over a hot cup of coffee, Cinnaholic is one of life's simple pleasures.
(And the staff were as equally lovely.)
*Dreaming of my next Cinnaholic........*
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