via flickr

Japan’s world famous Beard Papa Cream Puff’s have now come stateside with a location in the food court in Seattle’s popular Uwajimaya Asian market. Flavored cream puffs are old hat. Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, yawn. Such offerings alone do not fit one such as Beard Papa.

Beard Papa, whose wisdom is clear by the snowy whiteness of his manly whiskers, has an expanded line up for his North American yuujin. The flavors include coffee, Earl Gray tea, eclair, pumpkin, and Green tea. We tried the Green Tea and the original vanilla. The vanilla was just as awesome as you would expect, chock full of vanilla beany goodness. The green tea flavor was clever. It was a lot like eating green tea ice cream versus drinking the sugar water you get at SBUX or in a bottle at the A&P.

I admit that Beard Papa-sama is kind of odd. Unlike Colonel Sanders or Ronald McDonald, food icons imbued with power relative to the cred that comes with their rank, name, and clowniness, Beard Papa has no name. The truth is that Beard Papa needs no name. With a lush beard and cob pipe like your Granddad used to smoke before the emphysema took him, Beard Papa happily brings his puffy goodness to our Pacific shores.

For more information on Beard Papa, click here.
For information on the Seattle Uwajimaya location, click here.