Hot Saturday in the City

Back in August, we were enjoying a heat wave in the Bay Area. I spent a whole day in San Francisco, eating and hanging out with friends and testing out my 50mm lens (it’s fancy!). My day started off with brunch at Absinthe in Hayes Valley with L&T. The restaurant is a favorite among foodies, and part of its notoriety stems from the fact that their executive chef is Jamie Lauren from season 5 of Top Chef.

The bar at Absinthe. I want to come back and try all of their fancy bourbon cocktails.

I was immediately wowed by the artful decor and the impressively long cocktail list. I ordered the Seelbach Cocktail: bourbon, curaçao, Peychauds, Angostura bitters, topped with champagne and an orange twist. It was delicious.

Seelbach: better than your average brunch mimosa.

I bullied the group into ordering Absinthe’s famous deviled eggs, with smoked trout and caviar. It was divine.

Best deviled eggs ever.

I ordered the heirloom tomato BLT, since I was on a heirloom tomato kick. It was good but not the most outstanding dish. On the other hand, what can you really expect from a BLT? L ordered a summer squash and corn flatbread with pecorino, onions and roasted garlic, and T had a duck confit hash topped with poached eggs. Both of their dishes looked awesome.

Next on the agenda: Buena Vista Café in Fisherman’s Wharf, famous for their Irish coffee since 1952. I was meeting up with some ladies from the NorCal Jezebels (formerly SF Jezebels), who are always a fun bunch. For a historic bar in a touristy neighborhood, I was expecting each coffee to cost $10+ but I was pleasantly surprised that their Irish coffee, like all of their cocktails, were very affordable at $6-$7.  I’m glad I already ate because their menu is ginormous and I would’ve never been able to decide what to eat!

After our coffees, we sauntered across the street Jacks Cannery Bar. We scored an outside table, which was nice except for the terrible live music coming from down the alley. Fast forward a few hours… for dinner, I ended up at Yummy Yummy in the Inner Sunset with SB and JB, but you’ve already heard that story before. Exhausted and full, I headed home to Berkeley.

An Insider Tip

Greetings from the suburbs of Washington DC!  I’m here visiting family and friends for a week, so I’ll be blogging about the culinary delights of the DC/Maryland area. My first meal was pho, but since I’ve already talked about it before, I won’t write a repeat post.

My next meal was at Asia Taste.  An insider tip from my sister and my niece, both bubble tea fiends, guaranteed that they serve the best bubble tea in the area.  I was also excited about the Taiwanese specialties, such as the beef noodle soup that I ended up ordering.  Even though it was slightly oily, the noodles had a good al dente bite and the soup was flavorful.  We also got the child-friendly beef, egg, and tomato rice dish that was fairly decent.

Delicious beef noodles

Tomatoes, egg, and beef on rice -- a big hit with my 2 year old nephew

And of course, we couldn’t leave without ordering bubble tea.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, bubble tea is tea with large tapioca balls (sometimes called “pearls” or “boba”) at the bottom.  The drink was created in Taiwan, where people are obsessed with the chewy texture of things.  This chewy texture even has its own terminology: “Q.”  For example, something very “Q” is very chewy.  The original bubble tea is milk tea (black tea with lots of non-dairy creamer or half and half), but now you can get everything from green tea bubble tea to mango bubble tea, which is what my sister and niece ordered.  So that I could judge this place properly, I got the original milk tea flavor.

My verdict?  It’s probably the best bubble tea I’ve had in the States.  A lot of places mess up the pearls by overcooking them, or not adjusting the tea to the right level of sweetness or creaminess.  Asia Taste, which serves the Jumbo Jumbo “brand” of bubble tea, gets everything just right.  Highly recommended!

Another happy bubble tea customer