Pix: entremets from a 24-hour vending machine

In a red building at 2225 East Burnside in Kerns, a longtime dessert favorite has found a new way to sell its sweets. When Cheryl Wakerhauser stepped back from running the full dining room, people on East Burnside wondered what would happen to Pix, and the answer is that the entremets are still being made at the same address, and a refurbished Shoppertron vending machine now works as a 24-hour pastry case. Wakerhauser trained in southern France, started Pix at the farmers market in 2001, and built the Burnside shop as a French pastry shop with Champagne, movies at dusk and a sense of humor. The dining room has gone through phases (tapas, a big sparkling wine list, a ten-year build-out she retired right on schedule), and the desserts have been there the whole time. Of all the mousses and macarons in the machine, the chocolate tart is the one to come back for, with the Amélie a close second.

The Pix-O-Matic is a refrigerated Shoppertron 431 on the sidewalk, stocked every day with individual desserts in small brown boxes, plus macarons, and the carousel also turns up the occasional rubber chicken, French beret, tin of smoked fish or Golden Girls mug. It runs around the clock except for a restock between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., and in 2026 a Zoltar fortune-teller joined it, taking a contactless dollar and handing back a paper ticket. The machine is at its most fun late at night, after a dinner that skipped dessert, when every other bakery in the neighborhood has closed. You swipe, wait your turn on the sidewalk and take the box.

The chocolate tart is dark and glossy and tastes like chocolate. Devotees of the shop will point you to the Amélie, though, which is orange-vanilla crème brûlée on top of a glazed chocolate mousse with caramelized hazelnuts, a praline crisp and Cointreau génoise, made in a cameo-shaped mold. Look for opera cake too, the layered almond-and-coffee cake that's a good test of any French pastry shop, and Jane Avril, Shazams and seasonal mousses rotate through the machine as well. A single macaron isn't worth the trip, but a small box is a sweet add-on if you're already there.

The inside of the building is still in use. Can Bar has taken over part of the dining area and the patio Thursday through Saturday from 4 to 10 p.m., so you can buy a dessert from the Pix-O-Matic and sit down with tinned seafood and a drink. Special-order cakes can be picked up seven days a week starting at 8 a.m. The shop is also moving toward classes and private events, so check whether Can Bar is open before you go, or plan on just the sidewalk machine.

You won't find morning buns or country loaves at Pix, and it has never tried to sell them. Come for dessert, especially late at night when it's the only bakery open in Kerns, and order the chocolate tart, plus the Amélie if it's in the machine.

The essentials are on the Pix Patisserie page.