Around New Year's, all inquiring food-centric minds wanted to know: what will be the top food trends in 2011? Or in other words, what's the next cupcake?

Well, are we allowed to vote? Because if so, we'd really like to see bread pudding take off, and Schulzies Bread Pudding & Coffee seems to be on a mission to make it happen.

Schulzies sprung up in Venice late last year by way of a little service window off the boardwalk. Out of this (literal) hole in the wall, owner Sarah Schulz and crew serves a rotating menu of 10 flavors of bread pudding, plucked daily from her massive roster of 108 recipes.

108? Yes, Schulz is a woman obsessed, but it seems to be working for her. As she developed these recipes at home she found she never tired of consuming it.

On the day we visited, playfully-named flavors S'more for Me!; Pear & Cranberry Pecan; Fun, Fun, Funfetti!; Gracious Grasshopper Cookie; and Millie Vanillie Bean were all on the menu, the last of which is named after Schulz's daughter.

Schulz won't reveal the bread she uses as the base of each recipe: the “magic bread” is one of the trade secrets, she says. Every one is robust and distinct, and in many cases, such as with the Funfetti and Grasshopper, strikingly close to the original.

Though each flavor contrasts the next, the texture is consistent. Each bite delivers the density you'd expect, coupled with a cool, moist burst, especially if the bread is doused with one of Schulzies' sweet sauces. And speaking of cool, though it can be eaten warm, Schulz serves her bread pudding cold, as she believes it does the dessert better justice.

Schulzies also serves an array of pastries and a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches, in case you're looking to grab lunch before delving into dessert. All of this, along with Oakland's own Blue Bottle coffee, can be enjoyed just outside the storefront at one of their umbrella-ed picnic tables.

If you're nowhere near the west side, fret not. Bread pudding food trucks are on the way, Schulz tells us. You can, of course, follow her on Twitter.

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