As Mr. Spock famously said on the "Amok Time" episode of "Star Trek": "After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true."

Spocky nailed human nature on that one, even though he was only hapa-human.

In 2004, people were sneaking away from work, calling in sick, going in teams, bringing food and water and extra medication, all to get their hands on the delectable little cream puff from Japan called Beard Papa. Offices were buzzing about the crisp, pie-crust-like shell and the opulent vanilla filling. If you got to taste, just taste, a corner of a Beard Papa (shared with three other cubicle-mates), wow, were you lucky. Not since the lines for Cabbage Patch Kids in the 1980s had there been such a frenzy to buy something.

The cream puffs were really good, but what took the experience to the next level was the element of competition, the perception of scarceness, the knowledge that it was a limited engagement for the puffs, and that after a week or two, they'd be gone.

A team of three bakers from Osaka set up shop upstairs in Shirokiya Ala Moana and the lines went around and around the store, down the escalator, around stanchions and up and down aisles like there were tickets to the Sugar Bowl. People waited for hours.

Now, Beard Papa is yours for the having without all the waiting. In fact, those crusty little gems are there waiting on YOU.

The Sullivans, owners of Foodland, purchased the franchise and opened up Beard Papa counters in Hawai'i Kai, Pearl City, Waikiki, Salt Lake, Ward Centre, Ala Moana and 'Ewa Beach.

At the Hawai'i Kai Foodland, the pastry puffs sit behind glass, a golden-brown pile of potential. When you place your order, the puffs are filled with your choice of filling: the standard vanilla-puddingesque creme called "custard" which is blessedly much less eggy than your standard-issue custard, or chocolate, strawberry, caramel, even green tea or coffee creme. There are savory fillings to be had as well, including chicken salad and Asian seafood salad.

Will Beard Papa ever be as ubiquitous at local parties as the plastic vat of Zippy's chili or the box of Liliha Bakery coco puffs with the vaguely Rorschach-looking splat of grease and condensation on the top? Will they become the thing to haul through airport security and cradle tenderly on your lap on interisland flights like Chun Wah Kam manapua or Krispy Kremes from Maui? Or do we miss them being so hard-to-get?

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.