california food log

SoCal:
Jamba Juice - Aloha Pineapple!
Jack in the Box - Grilled Chicken Sourdough Jack
Sprinkles (Beverly Hills) - Red Velvet and Coconut cupcakes!
Denny's - Extreme Slam

Bay Area/Stanford:
Punkins (Pittsburg)
Del Taco
Crepes A-go-go - House special with avocado. Condiment of choice? Rooster Sauce!
Pluto's (Palo Alto) -Farmer's Salad with grilled flank steak and slice of herb slab focaccia. Why can't salads be this tasty in Boston?
The Tree House - Grilled Chicken Quesadilla with pico de gallo and guacamole. Tastes like college.
Jamba Juice - Bright-eyed and blueberry. Creamy and delicious!
Cafe Verde - Black frothy milk tea, no pearls. Classic. Frothy. Yummy.
Rose and Crown - Basket of fish and chips with a tall glass of Stella.

Expensive Cupcakes

http://www.sprinklescupcakes.com/
per Jennifer's suggestion, Eddie and I made the Trek to Beverly Hills to find the Red Velvet cupcake from Sprinkles. It was pretty darn good, especially for being over 3 bucks for a normal sized cupcake.

note to self

one heaping table spoon (a spoon for cereal) is just shy of 50 grams.

Cheap Bar Food

McCormick & Schmick's is a national seafood chain. I've actually never dined in the dining room, but I've been many a time to the bar during the after work $1.95 happy "hour." During these magical hours (about 3:30 - 6:30 and 9:30?) you can get a quarter pound cheese burger with fries, quesadilla, etc. I usually spring for a plate of mussels for an extra three bucks. Not surprisingly, since it's a seafood restaurant, the mussels are almost always plump and steamed to perfection.

Sam Adams Summer Ale is a nice compliment.

Two Boston Locations.

Out of Control Cupcakes!!!

Today was our office manager's birthday, and you know what that means? Mandatory birthday cake. I was given the charge of finding birthday cupcakes in under two hours. I turned to a bakery I've been hearing lots of buzz about, Lulu's Bake Shoppe. Lulu's is probably the North End's no-canoli establishment. Instead they serve outstanding cupcakes. Chocolate and vanilla cake and butter cream frosting may sound boring, but when executed well are pretty darn amazing! Most of the office people couldn't believe something so tasty wasn't homemade.

The frosting doesn't look like "regular" frosting. It has a translucent quality that's no where near as opaque as regular stuff. I suspect this is because the frosting uses only butter and absolutely no shortening!!! The taste is surprisingly great, but that's what you'd expect of pure butter. It's rich and sweet, but is still very enjoyable. The absence of shortening makes it easier to consume frosting, although not having a very strong sweet tooth, I ended up "wiping off" most of my frosting. I'd recommend trying a chocolate cupcake.

I'll definitely go back. Why? The S'more Cupcake...

Bottom line. Lulu's makes a super addition to my list of under 2 dollar treats, but I'm not leaving Beard Papa's chocolate fondant anytime soon.

Rodan - Bar serving Asian and/or South American food

Brian took me to Rodan when I visited him in Chicago. The most outstanding display of taters I've had in two years was a plate of wasabi tempura battered fries served with spicy peanut and honey wasabi sauces. I don't normally enjoy anything wasabi but these made a pleasant exception in my book.

COLOR - Fine Korean Cuisine

Way too tasty Korean food in Allston on Harvard Ave., one block north of the Harvard Ave. stop on the B-Line.

A plate of the sweet, spicy, deep-fried signature dish - the Chef's Special Chicken - is worth a trip by itself. One thing that stands out as truly Korean is the bottomless roasted corn tea (hot, but you can request cold) served at every table. Other things that stand out are the little girl bedroom decor, dum dums with your check, and the closed-on-Sundays policy.

Thai restaurant fulfills smoothie craving

Went to Montien's Inman Square location (www.montiencambridge.com) last night with Drea. It's a new second location for the highly-rated Boston Thai joint. I really like their curries, so it was a little dissapointing when the food wasn't as spicy as it was when we ordered takeout, but all in all it was pretty good. Though perhaps a little lack luster.

Great things.
Pineapple Smoothie - taller than a pilsner glass of what is almost a pineapple lassi
Decor is full of rich reds and dark hardwood

Good things.
Thai Calamari served with sesame- ginger soy sauce (though it could not compete in portion size to anything an North End restaurant might serve)
Honey Banana - reminded me of mini-turon

Not so great things.
The Pla Kra Pow(Fried Fish Filet Basil) tasted fishy
The Pad Thai (chicken n shrimp) tasted fishy
The ice water had a strange lemon/metallic/minerally finish