Paleo Ranch

"Our Paleo friendly, protein snacks are delicious, nutritious options for athletes, runners, yogis, CrossFitters, Paleo followers, parents, kids, anyone on the go, and everyone in-between."

I ... am not the target audience here, at all.  I fully acknowledge that.  But, I'm always interested in trying new products, particularly bars I can throw in my bag for when I'm out and about, particularly when they have protein but *not* whey protein (my body doesn't seem to care for it).  So Paleo Ranch was quasi interesting to me.

If you care about the Paleo part, yes, all the products are paleo.  And as for the Ranch, the beef is from free range cattle, the eggs from free range chickens, etc and of course there are no antibiotics, steroids, or growth hormones used.

Paleo Ranch makes two main products: jerky (bacon and beef) and bars ("skinny" or "mega"), all in a variety of flavors.  The Skinny bars are <200 calories, with 10 grams of protein, the Mega are not really that mega, but come in at ~300 calories, 15 grams of protein.  I tried a skinny bar, drawn in by the fact that they boast a decent amount of protein, from egg protein, rather than whey.

I have no interest in trying more.

Cherry Apple Walnut Skinny Bar.

"Apple pie or Cherry pie? Why not both! This protein-packed Skinny bar has apples, cherries – and pecans for good measure – keeping your taste buds percolating with pleasure and your body a finely tuned machine. OK, that last bit was a bit much…"
Ok, I had hope for this.

Cherry pie? Apple pie? Pecans?  NOT whey protein isolate?  Hope, I had hope.  And the bar really was a reasonable 190 calories, with 10 grams of protein.  If I could like this, it could be a fabulous thing to throw in my bag for a satisfying snack.

Once I opened it though, my hope started quickly dissipating.  It looked shiny and odd.  Like the kind of bar I don't like.  But I still gave it a try.

The texture was unpleasant.  Kinda chewy, but firm.  Like a really thick fruit bar.  Which is what it tasted like too, very fruity, not cherry as expected though given the name.  The strong flavor was dates and apple, which makes sense, as dates are the first ingredient.  I didn't taste any pecans, nor the namesake walnuts, nor the sunflower seeds, although there was a bit of texture from what was likely ground nuts and seeds, and a bit of bitterness. At least the egg white protein didn't taste funky?

Overall, this was clearly not for me - it was a healthy nutrition bar, just one with a description and ingredient lineup that sounds a bit better than most.

Polly Ann Ice Cream

The Outer Sunset.  A neighborhood of San Francisco I ... very rarely visit.  Same with the Inner Sunset really (except for dry fried chicken at San Tung!) or the Richmond (good dim sum but ...), or anywhere that far away.  Honestly, its like being in another city.  So, although I've known about Polly Ann Ice Cream for a few years (it gets such amazing reviews!), and I've had it bookmarked to try out, its taken me this long to get to it, since Polly Ann has only one location, and it is there.  Still, the unique flavor lineup, and my undying love of ice cream, finally drew me in.

I will now admit that I didn't actually travel "all the way" to the Outer Sunset to enjoy my treats.  I discovered that you can get the pints delivered via Caviar.  A few caveats though - you obviously can't sample the ice cream first, only pints are available (e.g. no scoops, no cones, no toppings), but, the worst part: the flavor list is not accurate.  It contains less than half the options, and ... doesn't reflect what they have in reality anyway (I think because Polly Ann changes flavors often, so only list the most common ones on Caviar?)  If you want a particular flavor, I'd recommend calling first to see if it is there, and including this in your notes.  And definitely add in fallback options.

I can't say that getting ice cream delivered from the other side of the city is, um, an economical choice: the delivery charge all the way across the city is $6.99, so if you were just going to get a single scoop ($3.75) at the shop, you've clearly exceeded your ice cream budget.  But if you get a couple pints ($8.99 each), and consider the pint holds say 4 scoops, that would price at $10.50 (2 doubles) or $15 (4 singles) for a pint's worth of ice cream ... it isn't as crazy, really.

But still why would you order pints, or venture to that far side of the city, in the first place?  Yes, there is quality ice cream elsewhere in San Francisco.  And there are unique flavors elsewhere (e.g. Humphrey Slocombe).  But Polly Ann nails not only the quality and unique (ridiculously extensive, really) flavor list, they have flavors I really, really wanted to try.

On any given day, Polly Ann offers about 50 flavors.  With this many flavors, there really, truly is something for everyone who eats ice cream - all the classics but also, the ones that drew me in, the more asian inspired flavors: durian. Taro. Black Sesame. Red Bean. Lychee.  Meanwhile, your child can have Gummi Bear, Oreo Cookie, or Star Wars if they wish.  Your tea loving friend can pick from Green Tea, Jasmine Tea, or Thai Thea.  Etc, etc.  They have a couple yogurts, and sherbet, but, the non-dairy options are not really there.

We ordered two pints, durian and taro, but sadly, the durian was not available.  Luckily I had the foresight to specify a fallback (black sesame), and it was subbed instead.  Both flavors were amazing, and I'd gladly try many more (and really do want to try that durian sometime!).

Pint!  $8.99.

The moment I stuck a spoon into the ice cream pints I could tell we were in for a treat.  It was so smooth and creamy, and perfectly slightly soft yet not too melty.  Good job, delivery man.

All flavors I tried were extremely highly quality, just absolute perfect texture and consistency, and they *nailed* the flavors.

Black Sesame. 

I fell in love with black sesame soft serve in Sydney (where, you can get a $2 cone at Rice Workshop in the mall that is fantastic!).  Besides Rice Workshop, and other places in Sydney though, I haven't had much black sesame ice cream.  It isn't exactly super common.

But even with my limited experience, I can tell you, this was fantastic black sesame ice cream.  The flavor was quite intense, nutty, and clearly a dessert, sweet, but not too sweet at all.  I ... loved it.  It would be great made into any kind of creation with a little drizzle of coconut milk perhaps, but honestly, it didn't need anything.  Perfect as it.

I'd gladly get this again.

Taro.

As much as I loved, truly loved, the black sesame, I might have loved the taro even more.

It had a slight purple hue, more lavender than purple, and I was thrilled when I saw tiny bits of real taro in it.  This was legit taro ice cream.

Taro ice cream is another flavor I discovered in Sydney, in soft serve form.  I've had some fabulous taro soft serve there over the years, like the incredibly creamy but not super intense version from Aqua S, or the downright amazing taro milk tea sundae from Devon Cafe (review coming soon).  I've also had regular hard serve taro ice cream in Southern California, like in bingsu with Fosselman's taro ice cream at Milke & Snowie in Pasadena, or in a sundae at Confetti Italian Ice Cream in Costa Mesa, both of which were quite fabulous.

But this ... may have been the best.  Obviously without having them side-by-side I can't be 100% sure, but, this was pretty fabulous.  Again, not even taking the high quality ice cream base into account, with amazing consistency, it was the taro flavor that just shined.  Clearly real taro, so clearly an expertly crafted recipe, not too sweet.

This one too could easily pair with some toppings, but it didn't need them.  It also did go great side by side with the black sesame. I'd gladly get this again too.

Trailblazer Tavern

Michael Mina is chef who I learned about early on in my time exploring San Francisco's dining scene, when I went to his flagship restaurant (back when it was on Union Square), and loved it.  Sadly, the newer location let me down in 2012, as did the Farewell to Foie Gras dinner we attended there later that year.

Still, I've kept an eye on Micheal Mina as he's opened a slew of different concepts around town, including a wine bar, RN74, which has since closed and changed concepts, but I really was impressed when I attended several special events there (swoon, that butterscotch pudding, still memorable!).  I've also attended a number of food festivals with goodies from Pabu and Ramen Bar, his Japanese concepts, and loved the addicting spin on spicy soy cured deviled eggs, topped with crispy ramen, and some classic hand rolls and bubble tea.

His restaurant portfolio is fairly huge at this point, with 10 in the Bay Area alone, plus locations in Hawaii, Seattle, Boston, Pheonix, Washington DC, Chicago, Houston, Miami, Nashville, Los Angeles, San Diego ... and then internationally in Dubai.

Anyway.  Why do I tell you all this?  Because Micheal Mina is the restauranteur behind Trailblazer Tavern, newly opened in San Francisco this year, and honestly the most exciting sounding concept of his so far: Hawaiian!  He teamed up with two James Beard nominated Hawaiian chefs to open a high concept Hawaiian restaurant, nearby my office.

I've wanted to go basically since I saw the first menus published, not only for the desserts (which, ZOMG, sound amazing, such as a haupia tapioa pudding with dragonfruit that I want to try *right now*), but also for the savory (think: maitake mushroom tempura with yuzu mousseline, dungeness crab lumpia, miso glazed butterfish ...   So when a co-worker came to me asking for a lunch recommendation for a team lunch, I put Trailblazer at the top of my recommendations list, of course with the caveat that I hadn't yet been myself.  I may have secretly planned to change teams before their lunch date arrived, but, alas, that plan didn't work out.

However, I didn't miss out entirely.  Because ...

#leftovers

Yup, they brought me their leftovers!

Now, of course this isn't what I would have ordered exactly, and it wasn't fresh food.  I can't pretend otherwise.  I won't pretend otherwise.  But I will tell you, that even the *leftovers* were delicious, and everyone who attended the lunch raved about it.

They brought me poke (which, sadly had avocado on it so I couldn't try it), fries, and spam, and I was thrilled with everything I had.  I absolutely cannot wait to go myself.

S.P.A.M. MUSUBI. $15.

"Mochi-Crusted Smoked Pork Arabiki Meatloaf."

Fanciest spam musubi ever!

I was pleased that they brought me a bunch of what is basically the signature dish, or at least the most Instagrammed: the SPAM Musubi.

Of course the "spam" is homemade pork sausage loaf.  That you'd expect given the chefs involved.  But rather than being served on a block of rice, it ... is coated in mochi tempura.  And a little fried quail egg is perched on top for good measure (and Instagram worthiness).

As one who doesn't really eat rice generally (besides rice pudding), this was a glorious innovation.  And I love tempura, so, this was all awesome to me.  I loved the crunch and the glutinous texture from the mochi crust.

The "spam" was great too, a thin grilled slice of clearly high quality processed pork product, super juicy.  I love things like bologna, breakfast sausage, and mortadella, so this was right up my alley.

I didn't need the quail egg, or want it really, but I see how it made the dish even more novel.

The best part, besides the novelty and quality components, was the seasoning and spices.  It was drizzled with a flavorful sauce, and definitely had my favorite condiment of all time (furikake) all over it.

A very fun item, worth a try, and they all loved it.

TOGARASHI-GARLIC FRIES. $6.

They also brought me their leftover fries.

I wanted to try one right away, even though they were cold and likely soggy.  And ... they were even delicious this way!  The togarashi coating was spicy, the fries were actually fairly crispy.  I could tell that these would be amazing fresh.

I reheated some in the toaster oven, dunked them in my own sauce, and loved them.  Really loved them.  Leftover fries.

These are served on the side with sandwiches at lunch, or are available during Happy Hour as a small plate with furikake aioli to dunk them in (!).  I wish I had that aioli, but I made due with leftover mustard sauce from Wahlburgers, actually.