No piece of cake, this Curtis Park baker got the Paul Hollywood handshake for bread

Dyana O’Brien has earned plenty of compliments for her baking over the years. Yet it’s hard to imagine any topping a “Hollywood handshake.”

A Curtis Park resident, O’Brien stars in the fifth season of “The Great American Baking Show,” which began streaming May 5 on The Roku Channel.

A spin-off of “The Great British Bake Off,” the show is judged by Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith, longtime appraisers of the U.K. version. Hosts are actors Ellie Kemper (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “The Office”) and Zach Cherry (“Severance,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”).

O’Brien’s Sacramento ties are first mentioned in the show’s second episode, where the narrator briefly references her job with PG&E. She brought baked goods into the office nearly every day prior to the pandemic (check out her Instagram page and moniker, “the rockabillybaker”), earning her manager’s approval to take eight weeks off to for the show in England last summer when the opportunity arose.

The contestants arrived in England amid a heat wave, and the baking tent was so hot that they’d strap ice packs to their stools while waiting for judges to review their creations, O’Brien said. The sugar from the first bake also attracted wasps to the baking tent, flummoxing O’Brien.

But she persevered to reach Bread Week, then pulled out a Showstopper bake that wowed the judges.

O’Brien made a grown-up swan version of the “The Ugly Duckling” fairy tale, using chocolate-orange milk bread for the body, a New York-style-bagel head with a black sesame seed beak, sage and sea salt fougasse wings and little ducklings of steamed buns stuffed with a family recipe tomato-basil filling.

The avian creation earned top marks and a much-desired handshake from Hollywood, who’s known for his bread wizardry. O’Brien, who normally bakes sweets, was told it was perhaps the first Bread Week howstopper to earn a “Hollywood handshake.”

“I pretty much dropped to my knees and started crying. It was definitely the best moment of my experience there,” O’Brien said.

Earlier seasons of “The Great American Baking Show” on other networks had been criticized for stale content and a sexual harassment scandal, and the show last aired in 2020. But the six-episode 2023 reboot has been widely praised as an easy, fun watch that gets back to “Bake-Off” basics.

Contestants gathered in a green room each day to share each others’ finished bakes after judging, O’Brien said. Though taping wrapped last September, their WhatsApp group is still filled with messages each day.

“With a lot of American cooking competitions, it’s very cutthroat. And reason I love the British version so much is it’s so peaceful,” O’Brien said. “It’s an incredible experience (to compete), and if you’re a baker, it’s a great show to watch.”

What I’m Eating

No Sacramento-area restaurant embraces and celebrates Filipino food like Fiesta Philippines. Rancho Cordova restaurant, in business for six months, is owned by Merben David, Alfonso Lojera Jr., Joel De Vera, Reimar Gacusan and John Carlo Javier. It covers its walls with color, faux thatched roofs and cheerful Tagalog phrases.

Spain colonized the Philippines in the 1500s and held that occupation until 1898, when the United States took control for nearly 50 more years. Filipino food has influences from both powers as a result; you’ll see items on Fiesta’s menu such as paella Española ($25 for a medium pan, $35 for a large) or sweet Filipino spaghetti ($19) with hot dog slices.

Kare-kare ($23), a bright orange peanut stew with oxtails, tripe and vegetables, was more distinctly Filipino. Typically served over rice — we chose chicken adobo rice ($12), which was delicious but a little excessive — its rich, savory flavor was cut somewhat by a side tamarind paste.

Lumpia Shanghai ($12) made for a delightfully snackable, shareable starter. Sixteen miniature rolls were stuffed with copious ground pork and vegetables (there’s an all-veggie option for $8 as well), then deep-fried to perfect crispiness and served with a sweet chili dipping sauce.

How many adjectives can one use to describe laing ($17), a black-ish mixture of shredded taro leaves cooked with fried pork, shrimp and ginger in coconut cream? It was earthy, chewy, funky, creamy, crunchy at times and even a little spicy — my favorite dish I tried at Fiesta.

Fiesta Philippines

Address: 11088 Olson Drive, Suite A, Rancho Cordova.

Hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday.

Phone number: (916) 909-8880.

Website: https://www.fiestaphilippines.restaurant/

Drinks: Beer, wine and American and Filipino sodas, plus juices and shakes.

Animal-free options: A few, including a section of the menu dedicated to vegetable dishes. But buyer beware: even some of those have shrimp paste or pork bits.

Noise level: Medium.

Openings & Closings

• Korean restaurant and pub Pocha House opened last Friday at 1910 Q St. in midtown Sacramento, formerly home to Highwater. Daniel Ngo and Judy Han’s neon-lit concept offers creative bar bites such as Hot Cheetos corn cheese and kimchi carbonara, plus cocktails such as the Seoul Sour (whiskey, grapefruit soju, lime juice, ginger, egg white and orange bitters).

• Pho Bistro’s soft opening at 7440 Laguna Blvd., Suite 111 in Elk Grove begins this coming Sunday. The Vietnamese restaurant’s second location will have limited hours and drinks until June 3.

• Leatherby’s new Folsom location will open on Monday at 2455 Iron Point Road. It’s the longtime local ice cream parlor and restaurant’s fifth location, joining others in Arden Arcade, Citrus Heights, Elk Grove and Lincoln.

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