Kolache Factory

CZECH REPUBLIC 🇨🇿

COVID-19 UPDATE: The store is fully open, all orders are for takeaway.

📍 6502 Bolsa Avenue, Huntington Beach, Orange County

While there will probably never be branches of Kolache Factory opening up in the Czech Republic anytime soon, the Texas-born chain is worth talking about here for their interpretations and evolutions of the namesake pastry. A koláč in its birth home is always a sweet treat using fruits, usually eaten for breakfast, and comes from the Bohemian word for circle or wheel.

Many Czech immigrants started to settle in Texas in the late 1800's and of course brought their cuisines with them. Around 150 years later the products may be indistinguishable from there traditional counterparts in Central and Eastern Europe, but Kolache Factory is happy to offer its Czech American products and has recently expanded to a second location in Orange County.

The shop has some selections they call traditional ($2.05, above), and are indeed shaped like a wheel as is custom. Offerings on any day usually include a few fruits like apples, peaches, cherries, and strawberries. Or you can get one with sweetened cream cheese. February's special ($2.50) was a combination of cream cheese, cherries, and Nutella.

What have become the shop's best sellers are what are actually called klobásník, possibly the origin of pigs in a blanket. These take the same sweet pastry dough and wrap it around fillings to create an easily held ball. These were originally filled with a simple sausage, but as you will see Kolache Factory has just about anything you could imagine stuffed inside of their pastries like Philly cheese steak, pepperoni pizza, and sausage and gravy.

The ones that work the best are the breakfast options filled with scrambled eggs and other ingredients. This sausage egg and cheese kolache ($3.95, above, Kolache Factory does not distinguish between koláč and klobásník) was great for a quick bite to ward off that morning anger you might feel when you start getting hungry.

The sweetened bread works pretty well for all the breakfast options and others, but probably should be enjoyed within a few hours. Reheating later the same night or the next day was not as successful.

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