Best of 2003: Best Bean-Based Pastries

Crown Bakery
4690 Convoy Street, Suite 104, Kearny Mesa
858-499-0067

Every morning, Korean-owned Crown Bakery produces the city's freshest and tastiest green, red, and white bean paste buns at its Convoy Street storefront. Bean paste buns? You enjoy baked beans. And baked beans are simply beans that have been sweetened. What, then, could be wrong with taking green, white, or red beans, grinding them to a paste with some sugar, and tucking the paste inside delicious airy donut-like dough? Nothing. Asians have enjoyed sweetened bean paste for centuries. Crown Bakery's buns cost less than a buck each and make wonderful treats for finicky children of all nationalities.