Spudsy Sweet Potato Puffs

"Spudsy Sweet Potato Puffs help you snack smarter. Choose these savory or sweet Spudsy snacks for a vegan, non-GMO, kosher and gluten-free alternative to chips and less-healthy snacks - and feel great about rescuing imperfect taters from a wasteful fate!"

As an avid snacker, I am always eager to try new snack foods.  I love chips alongside my lunch, but, the majority of my snacking is throughout the day, filled with every kind of flavored and coated popcorn imaginable, chex mixes, dried fruits and nuts, that sort of thing, so I'm always happy to try another product that is slightly less unhealthy to munch on all afternoon (or evening!) long.  "Snack smarter"?  Sure!

The Spudsy products are all vegan (even the cheesy varieties), gluten-free, kosher, free of major allergens, etc, etc too if any of those dimensions matter to you.

"Spudsy delivers guilt-free snacking that just might save the world. Discover the savory-sweet satisfaction of Spudsy Sweet Potato Puffs and Sweet Potato Fries made from upcycled sweet potatoes we've rescued from a wasteful fate!"

But Spudsy takes it up a notch from your basic mantra of healthier snacks, no bad crap in them, etc - the products are made from upcycled ingredients.  That is, produce (sweet potatoes) that were destined for the trash, but they use to make the sweet potato flour base for their snacks.  So now you are double doing good by snacking on their products.

Spudsy makes two product lines: puffs or fries, both made from the (upcycled) sweet potato base, both available in a variety of flavors, both sweet and savory. 

Sweet Potato Puffs

"Indulge your savory or sweet yearnings with vegan, gluten-free, kosher, non-GMO Sweet Potato Puffs. Spudsy transforms less-than-perfect taters into little bites of awesomeness that pair beautifully with sandwiches, snack time and sustainable practices." 

The Puffs come in 6 flavors, 5 savory (vegan cheesy cheddar, vegan sour cream & onion, bangin' bar-b-q, spicy buffalo, and vegan buffalo ranch), and one sweet (cinnamon churro).  All use the same "spudsy base blend" of rice flour, sweet potato flavor, pea protein isolate and tapioca starch, and are fried in sunflower oil.

Cinnamon Churro.

"Coated with sweet cinnamon sugar and made from upcycled sweet potatoes, our Cinnamon Churro Sweet Potato Puffs are the perfect blend of sweet and spice, for everyone nice. Perfect for everyday snacking or even as your favorite dessert topping, our Cinnamon Churro puffs are sure to bring a little extra sweetness to your life...without the guilt, of course. "

I started with the sweet ones, as an evening snack, just by the handful.

I liked them, almost loved them.  The form factor was great - super crispy, crunchy, definitely satisfying to grab and munch.  They were well coated in cinnamon sugar coating, and the sweet potato and cinnamon sugar flavors definitely combined well.  The coating on these is not just cinnamon and regular white sugar, but they also use brown sugar, a touch of sea salt, and of course, "natural flavors".

They were good.  Enjoyable.  But still not amazing.  I think the compact, crispy style wasn't quite for me - I wanted them puffier, which to me is more crave-worthy.  And there was a slight odd taste to them, they did taste, even under all the sweet coating, healthy.

I was inspired by the idea they suggest to use as a dessert topping, but also, they reminded me sooo much of Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros cereal (which, by the way, I totally adored, particularly the chocolate version), and although the Spudsy marketing never suggests it, I was very tempted to have as cereal.  In a bowl.  With milk.  I had no idea how'd they stand up, as clearly not intended to be soaked in milk, but ... once I get an idea to potentially transform a product, I can't NOT try it.

It ... almost worked.  But, as I somewhat feared, the puffs really weren't designed to be submersed in liquid and got soggy nearly instantly.  Turns out, cereal likely is formulated very specifically, and even cereals that I think get soggy too fast still help up beautifully compared to this.

Alas.  Not great for cereal, but still an enjoyable ice cream topping.

***.

Spicy Vegan Buffalo Ranch.

"This take on a classic combo is sure to have your mouth watering! Spudsy’s Vegan Buffalo Ranch will be a new fan favorite among healthy snackers looking for a fun twist and a little HEAT."

Next I went savory, drawn in by the buffalo aspect of these, although wary of the ranch.  I don't particularly like ranch, and grew up with a sister who loved it, adding copious amounts to basically everything (like, everything.  Not just salads, veggies, pizza ... everything. Mac and cheese?  Dump on a cup of ranch!), and always had horribly smelly Cool Ranch Doritos around.  So I kinda shutter at the thought of ranch sometimes.

The sweet potato base worked better in the savory application, the hearty style matched the seasoning a bit better.  And I still liked the form factor. But, yeah, they tasted like ranch, and I just wans't into that.

**+.

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Smitten Ice Cream

Update Reviews October 2021

To bond while still working from home, a group from work decided to hold an ice cream social, and ship us all ice cream (and toppings!) from Smitten Ice Cream, to enjoy from our own homes, while we socialized over the video conference.  We had our pick of 2 pints and 2 toppings, from a restricted line up.

Ice Cream

American Pie.

"Luscious summer berry ice cream laced with buttery pie dough crumbles. This beloved flavor transforms the classic ‘berry crisp a-la-mode’ into the perfect summer bowl of cold deliciousness!"

My first pick was easy - "buttery pie dough crumbles"?  I was in!  And, of course, I'm definitely all about "berry crisp a-la-mode", although, usually the crisp needs to be warm ... and, uh, if it is channeling a fruit crisp, then why does it have pie dough?  Shouldn't it be crisp topping?

Anyway, I was surprised when I opened the pint to see the stunning blue color.  Somehow I was picturing a vanilla base, with the pie crumbles and berries throughout ... but I realize it *did* say "berry ice cream".  The ice cream was quite fruity, from strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.  Fairly unique actually, particularly for me, as I don't normally pick a fruity ice cream (e.g. I NEVER get strawberry ice cream, and this was like a sophisticated version of that).  The flavor was complex, and interesting.  I still don't gravitate towards a fruity base, but, this was original at least.

The pie crumbles were exactly as I hoped, decent size hunks, recognizable as pie crust.  They added another fairly unique touch, and good texture.

This ice cream however was a strange consistency.  It froze very hard, crumbly almost, and even when I allowed it an excruciatingly long time to warm up, it never got nicely soft and melty.  It was odd, really.   I know that higher fat percentage usually yields harder ice cream, and more flavor, etc, and less air also means harder ice cream.  Hard ice cream is usually a sign of quality, but this ... really just seemed off.  It just didn't soften nicely, even with time. I wonder if something happened to it in the shipping process?

Overall, this did deliver on what it set out to, it really was like a berry crisp a la mode (ok, a berry PIE a la mode), but I never really enjoyed it.  Something about the texture just really put me off, no matter how much I tried to like it.  It was better with whipped cream and fresh fruit to round it out, but still, just, somehow wasn't quite right.

**+.

Cookie Dough w/ Pretzels & Chocolate Chips.

"Hand-chopped pretzels add a salty crunch to made-from-scratch (egg free) cookie dough pieces studded with teensy Guittard Chocolate chips.  These buttery chunks of cookie dough are then mixed into a malted brown sugar ice cream base.  Churned FRESH."

My second pick was also pretty easy, as this one was loaded with many great sounding things.  This was not your average generic cookie dough pint.  Buttery cookie dough and quality Guittard chocolate chips?  A fascinating malted brown sugar base? Yes, please!

This pint also was very, very hard, but did soften a bit better with time.   Again, I know that is a sign of premium ice cream, but, it again seemed just odd.  Maybe liquid nitrogen flash freezing doesn't translate as well to our home freezers?

Anyway, the base flavor was interesting, a kinda complex sweetness (from the brown sugar?) with a nice hit of maltiness.  Definitely a unique base, and I appreciated not having just plain vanilla, even with all the mix-ins.  The base flavor is what kept drawing me back to this pint, I found myself craving the malty flavor.

The chocolate chips really were "teensy" as described, cute little mini chips.  I sorta wanted them bigger, so I could get more hits of quality chocolate, but they worked well given the size of the other mix-ins.   The pretzel pieces were also very small, just little broken up bits, which I was glad to see, as pretzels often don't work well in ice cream, they come out soggy (at least in so many Ben & Jerry's flavors!).  

What is most interesting about this flavor though is the cookie dough.  I left them for last for a reason: they were the least noticeable part of this pint.  This is not the kind of pint you are unable to put down, digging through seeking out another big gob of cookie dough.  There are no big gobs.  In fact, I had to re-read the pint info several times at first, thinking I was mistaken as I didn't see any cookie dough hunks.  I finally found them, but they were sooo tiny, just as small as the mini chips, and given their blond color, they blended right in with the pretzel bits and the base flavor.  They did perhaps add a bit of texture, but really, this is not a cookie dough forward flavor, which was quite unexpected, given the name

Overall, I enjoyed this far more than it probably sounds - I really did like the malty base flavor, and the little itty bits of mix-ins did work.  I found the malty flavor paired really well with many desserts, something I never expected.

This pint was easily finished, and I'd consider getting another, I just wish it stayed a bit softer in my freezer, scooping it was always the biggest deterrent!

***+ ... borderline ****.

Toppings

For toppings, Smitten offers sauces (chocolate, strawberry, or brown sugar caramel), "healthy things" (toasted almonds, spiced oat crumble), and crowd pleasers (cookie dough chunks, chocolate crispies, rainbow sprinkles).  I decided to try the cookie dough chunks as they sounded the most fun, and the crumble, as I knew I'd be able to use it in others ways too (like on my morning breakfast fruit and yogurt parfait!).  

Spiced Oat Crumble.

I was a bit nervous about the oat crumble, due to one key word: "spiced".  I like spices, don't get me wrong, but spiced crumble I feared could be like many seasonal offerings that spring up in the fall, with just far too much nutmeg.  Luckily, there was no nutmeg in the spicing, the spicing was just cinnamon and ginger.

The crumble was ... fine.  The chunks fairly large, and mostly just reminded me of Nature Valley crunchy granola bars, which I don't really care for.  Just oats-butter-sugar, and light spicing.

Fine, but not exciting, and not the crumble I was expecting ... I thought it would be more like a fruit crisp or crumble topping, not granola bar.

**+.

Cookie Dough Chunks.

The cookie dough chunks are the same as those used in the Cookie Dough with Pretzels & Chocolate Chips ice cream, so they include bits of pretzel, in addition to the expected (mini) chips.  The big difference, compared to the ice cream, of course is the size.  These are real chunks.

The chunks were ... fine?  Large size, soft enough, some slightly interesting sweetness from the use of brown sugar (in addition to regular sugar).  They seemed out of place as a topping with this size though, kinda large to throw on a sundae, but weren't really quite right to just eat as finger food.

***.

Original Review, July 2014

I eat a lot of ice cream.  For the most part, I don't blog about it.  Most of it is just standard ice cream, from a pint in a grocery store, or, more often, soft serve from the machine at my office.  I've also tried most of the quirky, unique San Francisco ice cream shops, offering up non-mainstream flavors, but it isn't a scene I've really gotten into.  Ok, ok, I admit it, I do love Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous, but Bi-Rite?  I really don't understand the hype, nor the willingness of folks to wait in ridiculously long lines on freezing cold days for it.  Or, Humphrey Slocombe?  Sure, the flavors are novel, but ... meh.

Given all this, it makes sense that it took me a few years to get to Smitten Ice Cream.  Yes, I like ice cream, but it seemed like yet another San Francisco trend, always with ridiculous lines.  The San Francisco location is in a parklet in Hayes Valley, in a shop crafted out of a shipping container.  They also now have a location in Oakland, and one down in Los Altos as well.  The shipping container houses the area where the ice cream is made, and an awning extends out over a few benches for seating.  But most people take their ice cream to the sunny park across the street, and mingle with the folks sipping juice from the juice shop, or coffee from the coffee shop (both popup style), or pizza from a food truck. So. Trendy.  I wanted to hate everything about this place.

But the shipping container isn't even the trendy part.  The ice cream is prepared, batch at a time, using liquid nitrogen.  The claim is that since it can freeze ridiculously quickly, you wind up with a much smoother product, and you don't need to add any chemicals or stabilizers, since it doesn't need to have any shelf life.  You can create a premium product, made from all "real" ingredients.  They use only organic milk and cream, source the fruit from local farms, the chocolate from a local chocolate candy.  And, they price it accordingly.  This is just the dessert version of $4 toast.

Shipping Container Turned into Ice Cream Shop ...

On my first visit, I was apparently not unique in my seeking out ice cream on a reasonably hot San Francisco Saturday afternoon.  I wondered if the long line was really going to be worth it, as it certainly wasn't moving quickly.  As in, it was barely moving.  The line was just to order, once you ordered, your ice cream still had to be made, and there was a wait after that too.

I'll admit, I was a bit grumpy by the time I got my ice cream.  25 minutes elapsed between the time I took this photo of the line, and the time I took the photo when I got my ice cream.  I think my total wait time was closer to 30 minutes, since I didn't snap this photo immediately.  San Franciscans love to wait in lines ...  I hated that I was one of them.

Inside, each machine makes one flavor.

Each batch of ice cream is made individually in a machine dedicated to that flavor.  Since they have only 4 machines, this means they exactly 4 flavors on any given day.  They always have classic vanilla and chocolate (60.5% TCHO), along with a monthly flavor (on my first visit in February it was earl gray with chocolate chips), and one other (alternating between salted caramel, mint chip, and brown sugar cinnamon).

Each machine is staffed by an single worker, who completes a batch, pulls the container off the machine, and then immediately starts another batch churning.  Once it starts up, he or she turns their attention back to the completed batch, and begins filling orders, one by one, until it runs out.  A batch seems to produce about 5 scoops.  Depending on what the people in front of you have ordered, this can take a while.

Besides the base flavors, you can add toppings.  Sauces are available for 50 cents each (updated: now 75 cents), and include TCHO chocolate sauce and 3 types of caramel (spicy, brown sugar, or malt).  In all the orders I saw, the sauces always amounted to a tiny drizzle, so I'd recommend doubling up on the sauces.  I'm really not sure why they apply so little.

Or, you can splurge for a crunchy topping for 75 cents, and pick from toasted walnuts, TCHO crispies, cinnamon shortbread, housemade brittles (peanut, pistachio, almond), or fresh whipped cream.  Unlike the sauces, these seem to be applied in generous amounts.

The menu is rounded out by vegan popsicles and a few bottled drinks, neither of which I tried.

Munchkin Vanilla with Brown Sugar Cinnamon Caramel and Peanut Brittle.  $4.25.

As I said, I was a bit grumpy by the time I finally received my ice cream.  Was it really worth a 30 minute wait?  I'd actually avoided going to Smitten for several years because it sounded so hyped.

But ... damn it was good.  A few bites, and I immediately stopped caring about how long I'd been waiting.  Yes, indeed, it was worth it.

The texture of the ice cream was unlike anything I'd ever had before.  It was fluffy, yet dense.  Insanely creamy.  Very, very rich.  Wow, ok, so the nitrogen thing isn't just a gimmick, it produces amazing results.

None of the flavors that day really jumped out at me - I didn't want the caffeine from chocolate or the seasonal earl gray, so I was left with vanilla or salted caramel.  I would never normally order vanilla, except that I wanted to try out the toppings, as I was really in an ice cream sundae sort of mood, and I didn't think putting caramel on caramel ice cream would make sense.  So, I was boring, and got vanilla.  It wasn't the most intense vanilla flavor, in fact, the vanilla was barely noticeable, but the toppings made up for it.

I wanted a sauce, and my choices were three types of caramel: spicy, malt, or brown sugar cinnamon.  I didn't really know what was different about them, so asked for a recommendation, and the person taking my order suggested the brown sugar cinnamon.  So I went for it.  It was sweet, a bit cinnamony, not bad.  But there was very, very little of it.  Just a tiny drizzle.  Toppings cost the same no matter what size you get, so if I'd had a bigger ice cream, I think I would have wound up with only 2 bites with sauce.  It was not hot, and was a bit thick, but just a tiny tiny drizzle.  I'd gladly pay double for more, as this wasn't sufficient.

I also wanted a crunchy topping, so went for the housemade peanut brittle.  I was hoping it would add a crunch, obviously, but also a sweet and salty component.  Unfortunately, it didn't really have any salt to it, not in the peanuts, not in the brittle.  But, it was crunchy, it was sweet, and I enjoyed it.  Definitely a premium topping, and that was applied in generous amounts.  ***+.

The ice cream didn't melt too quickly, and I loved the even smoother consistency it got as it melted slightly.  I tried to stop devouring it to let it melt a little, but ... it was too hard to resist.  Seriously, so good. ****.

Besides the small amount of caramel, the only other complaint I have is with the spoon.  It was an obnoxious little gelato spoon, so hard to take big bites.  But, moreover, it was one of those potato spoons, so it was too flexible, and bent easily, making it even more difficult to eat.  Yes, I'm complaining that the spoon was too small to shovel ice cream into my mouth fast enough, and that its bio-degradable nature made that even worse ...

Smitten isn't a cheap place, as a small, without toppings, is $4.75.  I knew a secret though - it isn't listed anywhere on the menu, but you can get a "munchkin", a single scoop, for $3.  I saw several smalls come out ahead of mine, and I really didn't think my munchkin was that much smaller.  It wasn't a huge ice cream, but it was plenty satisfying as an after-meal treat.  I think my munchkin plus two toppings was a better deal than a plain small.

I really enjoyed my ice cream, and I'd go back, even if there is a long line.  I'd love to try their homemade waffle cones ($1), which smelt amazing, and perhaps the shortbread cookies as a mix-in ... mmm...

Munchkin Rhubarb Crisp with Toasted Walnuts and Whipped Cream. $5.

So, I went back.  This time my choices were again vanilla, chocolate, and salted caramel, along with the seasonal flavor for April: Rhubarb Crisp.  Due to its more complicated mix-ins, the rhubarb crisp carried a $0.50 premium.

I'm not sure if I've ever written about my distaste for rhubarb before, but, let's just say I sorta have a vendetta against rhubarb, due to its sneaking into my mom's homemade strawberry jam when I was a child.  Even as an adult, I haven't gotten over it.  But ... fruit crisp and ice cream is one of my most favorite things on earth.  I liked the vanilla on my first visit, but I wasn't super excited about getting it again, and I still didn't want the chocolate or salted caramel for the same reasons as my previous visit.  So ... I went for the rhubarb, against my better judgement.

Like the vanilla, the ice cream was incredibly smooth and creamy.  It didn't melt too quickly.  The rhubarb was added as mostly a liquid, so it was entirely integrated into the ice cream, no chunks.  It was tart.  Rhubarb-y.  Certainly not my favorite flavor, but I did appreciate that the ice cream wasn't super sweet.  The crisp part of the "rhubarb crisp" was streusel pieces, all very tiny, well mixed in.  They added texture, but I would have liked bigger chunks so I could actually taste them.  ***.

The base ice cream wasn't turning out to be the fruit crisp I was striving for, but I hoped my topping choices would enhance it.  I always love cold ice cream with my hot fruit crisps/crumbles/pies, but, in reality, I also always want whipped cream.  So, I added it to my creation.  The whipped cream was very fluffy, lightly sweetened, fresh whipped cream out of a dispenser with Co2 cartridge, not canned stuff.  I got a generous amount for the additional $0.75 charge. ***+.

I also wanted to make sure it was crunchy and reminded me of a crisp, so I added the toasted walnuts.  They were ... just walnuts.  Not quite sure what I was expecting, but there wasn't anything remarkable about these.  I got a generous spoonful of nuts for my $0.75.  ***.

Overall, I didn't love this, but I only blame myself.  I ordered a flavor I know I don't like, and I wanted it to be a fruit crisp and ice cream, which it wasn't.  I think that flavor with a sauce might have worked better, to compliment the tart rhubarb with something more sweet.  And the cinnamon shortbread cookies would have worked for a better crunchy, crisp-like topping than the nuts.  For next time ...

Munchkin Fresh Mint Chip with TCHO Chocolate Sauce, Malt Syrup, and Peanut Brittle. $4.75. 

Finally, I visited when the famous mint chip was being made!  It is part of the standard rotation, yet somehow I kept missing it.  I’d read great things about it, and had been hoping to run into it for ages.

Like all of the ice cream from Smitten, I liked the texture, so smooth and creamy, although, it seemed less rich than some of the other flavors.  Maybe I’m just used to it by now, or maybe it is due to the mix-ins?  Anyway, the remarkable thing about this flavor was how intense the mint was, and, that it was real mint.  Not mint flavor, but mint.  It tasted like eating leaves of mint.  I can honestly say I’ve never had any mint product taste so legitimately minty.  I actually didn’t love that flavor, but, I was impressed.

The chocolate wasn’t actually chips, rather, large flecks of dark chocolate.  A generous amount of chocolate, all high quality.  Given that they use TCHO for their sauces and toppings, I imagine it is TCHO as well.  ***.

Speaking of the sauces, I went for a duo this time, since I have felt in the past that they didn’t put enough on.  Rather than doubling up on one, I decided to ask for two, the chocolate sauce and the malt sauce.  I really had no idea what to expect from a malt sauce, but I didn’t want to have caramel with mint chip, as that just sounded odd, so malt was my only other choice.  The chocolate sauce was a thin style, and good enough, but it was very lost when mixed together with the malt, which, really just tasted sweet.  It wasn’t the right topping for the mint chip.  ***.

I also added peanut brittle, just because I wanted something crunchy, and they were out of the TCHO crispies I would have liked to add.  Peanut brittle was also not the right thing to add, it was just sweet, and super strange with the mint.  Good on its own, but not in this combo.

So, overall, I didn’t create a winner here.  I still enjoyed the toppings, and I enjoyed the ice cream, but they didn’t combine very well.  And, although I really was impressed by the minty flavor of the Mint Chip, I wouldn’t go for it again.

Update: Ojan got this flavor on a subsequent visit, with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.  I again felt like it was crazy minty, like real mint leaves, and again just didn't care for it much.

Munchkin Nectarine with Brown Sugar Caramel and Cinnamon Shortbread.  $5.

Seasonal Flavor for July, nectarine: "Ripened by the hot sun overhead, stone fruits from local orchards are juiciest and most plentiful throughout July."

The nectarine was recommended with brown sugar caramel, so I choose that as one topping.  Inspired by the thought of a fruit crisp, I also added cinnamon shortbreads, since I thought the cookie crumbles would be a bit like a crisp topping.

The nectarine ice cream was tasty, same good texture and density as all of their other ice cream.  It had some very small pieces of nectarine inside.  Very seasonal and fresh tasting.  ***+.

The brown sugar caramel didn't go with it at all.  I was really shocking by what a poor pairing it was.  nectarines with brown sugar sounded good, but the caramel was just too sweet, and masked the nice flavor of the nectarines.  In the past, I've mentioned that I only received a tiny drizzle of the sauce, and this time, there was tons of it.  Doh.  (Sauces also increased to $0.75 from $0.50, so maybe they are intentionally giving a bit more now?)

The cinnamon shortbreads were also a fail.  I didn't taste cinnamon at all, and they were just dried out and boring.  Not very buttery.  I appreciated the generous amount and the crumble sizes, but, I really didn't like them.  **.

A munchkin base price is $3, but nectarine was an additional $0.50, and both toppings were $0.75 each, making this a $5 investment.  Normal for Smitten, but pretty pricy for such a small treat.

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Ozumu, SF

Ozumo is a Japanese restaurant located right near my office that I've somehow walked by more times that I could possibly count (as, literally, my offices are located on either side of it, and I go back and forth between the buildings daily).  It has been open for ages (ok, since 2001, but, that is ages in the neighborhood!).  They have a sister establishment down in San Jose.  It has won awards.  It has a solid reputation.  And yet ... I never visited, until May and June 2022.  I honestly don't know why.  I think because I knew it was pretty pricy, and, although decent quality, not the best sushi in town?  And same with the wagyu - they definitely have premium cuts, but, Alexander's is still my goto for high end beef.  

Anyway, I finally visited, once just to get takeout, and once with a coworker for Happy Hour.  Happy Hour is a nice deal - modestly priced dishes, large happy hour menu, and walk-in seating at tables in the sizable lounge, at the bar, or outside.  Service was attentive, food and drinks were both ready quite quickly, and really it does seem like a solid, but $$, choice.

Drinks

Ozumo has a large drink selection, full of Japanese whiskies, sake, beer, etc, along with a number of special cocktails, and basic wine and spirits.  The Happy Hour menu has a decent selection of all of the above, but I opted for a cocktail from the full cocktail menu instead.

Yakuza. $17.

"Legent whiskey, amaro nonimo, cynar 70, muddled grape, candied grapefruit peel."

I was really craving a strong, whiskey cocktail.  And that is exactly what I got.  This was booze forward, with good bitters, and not really much sweetness.  Really, exactly what I wanted.  I'm not sure if there was actually muddled grape as I didn't taste it distinctly, but, my drink did come garnished with a grape.

Overall, a well balanced cocktail that entirely matched my mood.  I'd get it again if I was in the mood for a whiskey cocktail.

****.

Savory

The menu at Ozumo is broken down into distinct sections, featuring appetizers, sushi, vegetables, and entree style cooked seafood and high end beef.  We skipped the later, as our visit was during Happy Hour, and we mostly just were eating light.

Starters

As a Japanese restaurant, Ozumo has all the expected appetizers (miso soup, edamame, seaweed salad, agadashi tofu, gyoza, tempura), plus a few other more interesting items.  Some are available at a reduced price or portion size on the Happy Hour menu.

Our starter came very quickly after ordering.

TUNA TARTARE ($9 during Happy Hour).

"Spicy tuna tartare with taro chips." 

My dining companion wanted one of the spicy tuna options on the menu (there is this tartare, a version perched on top of crispy rice, and of course standard rolls).  I quickly voiced my vote for the tartare, not because I cared about the tuna, but, for the taro chips.  <3 taro chips!

The taro chips were exactly what I wanted them to be, crispy, well, taro chips.  Nice to scoop up the tartar, but also just tasty to eat on their own, or, as I did, with the sesame cream from the asparagus.  I don't think they were house made, but tasted fresh enough.

The tartare was a bit boring. It said "spicy tuna", but, this was not traditional spicy tuna laden with mayo and spicy sauce (which is fine) but I still am not quite sure where the spicy really was supposed to be.  It was really just ... tuna tartare?  Good knife cuts of little cubes of tuna, fresh tasting, but, certainly no element of spice that I found.  I liked the little pop from tobiko on top.

A version of this is available on the dinner menu as well, for $22, and it has an avocado layer.  Since I'm allergic, clearly the Happy Hour version was a better match for me.  The $9 price during Happy Hour was decent for the portion.

***.

Yasai (Vegetable)

The veggie section of the menu at Ozumu all sounds fantastic.  Roasted king trumpet mushrooms (my favorite kind of mushroom) with brown butter miso that people rave about.  Robata griled eggplant with great toppings.  Seasonal robata grilled asparagus (with furikake!!).  Even the potatoes with togarashi and nori pesto sound good, and people rave about.  So even though I was at a sushi plan, it was the vegetables that I was most eager to eat.

Several of these were available on the Happy Hour menu, so we took advantage of the reduced pricing.  These dishes arrived moments after the starter.

ASPARAGUS/ASUPARAGASU $14 ($8 during Happy Hour).

"Robata grilled asparagus with wadaman black sesame & furikake."

My first pick, seasonal asparagus.  Let's just say I was going through an asparagus phase.  It started right when asparagus came into season in San Francisco (like when I had it at Boulevard), and was furthered when I went to Munich and white asparagus was *everywhere* (like the version I had at Buffet Kull Bar).  I came back, still wanted all the asparagus, like a few days prior at One Market.  So when I saw this on the menu, it was a no brainer.

The asparagus was nicely grilled, quite visible grill marks.  Mostly only tips, which I thought was a bit sad ... where did the rest go?  I hope it was used in rolls or something ...  It was a thin style, fairly standard asparagus, not quite as glorious as the larger pieces highlighted at other places.

The black sesame cream on the side was quite tasty, very flavorful, and, well, creamy.  I didn't necessarily think it went all that well with the asparagus exactly, but it was very tasty, and I gladly used leftover taro chips to polish it off.  It was sprinkled quite generously with furikake, my all time favorite condiment, so, I was quite pleased with that.

Overall, the asparagus was fine but average, sesame sauce tasty, but not the most cohesive dish, I likely wouldn't get it again.

***+.

Kinoko. $14. ($7 during Happy Hour).

"Roasted king trumpet mushrooms with brown butter miso & chives."

Next up, perhaps the most raved about dish on the menu (besides the black cod).  Yup, the mushrooms.  Not just any mushrooms, large, earthy, king trumpets, which, I do love in general, but, what people love about these is the brown butter miso.

The mushrooms were cooked well, slightly chewy, quite savory and meaty.  And absolutely infused wiht the brown butter miso.  Soooo much flavor, and sooo much added fat from this sauce.  The mushrooms tasted decadent, which, I can honestly say is not something I've ever said about mushrooms before.  

They were tasty, absolutely, but I also found a bit odd as a standalone dish ... I, uh, wanted some mashed potatoes to go with them.  I know, odd craving, but it is what made sense in my head.

***+.

Sushi Bar

Of course, Ozumu is known for the sushi.  They have a pretty large range of traditional sushi available as nigiri or sashimi, classic rolls, and then a bunch of house special rolls with a slew of ingredients.

We ordered a few basic pieces.  These followed our other dishes by a few minutes, but all of our food arrived in a 10 minute time span.

Sashimi: Hamachi ($15) Wild Salmon ($14).

My dining companion opted for a few pieces of nigiri.  I think this was the hamachi and wild salmon (several types of salmon are available).  

It came very attractively presented, the salmon perched on top of a half an orange, and plentiful garnish.

He didn't seem into all the garnishes, which I gladly enjoyed - a little bit of assorted seaweed salad, lots of thinly spiraled diakon, fresh crisp shiso leaf, pickled radish.  I made a nice little salad out of the garnishes, and enjoyed with my nigiri.

Nigiri: Unagi $13, Local Uni $24, Ikura $12.

For my sushi, I opted for unagi and uni.  Both local uni and Japanese were available, the later more expensive of course.  My companion also ordered the ikura.

The nigiri was good.  Not particularly notable really.  The unagi lightly sauced, sadly not very warm.  Uni was 3 lobes per piece, no funk whatsoever to it, creamy.  Sushi rice well formed.  The only accompaniment on this platter was ginger and wasabi, but of which I utilized.

I enjoyed my pieces, but I can't say they were particularly better than any decent sushi restaurant.

***+.

Desserts

Ozumo has a fairly interesting dessert menu.  Of course they have some kind of crowd pleasing warm chocolate cake, and the requisite Japanese mochi ice cream, but they also have a chocolate fondue (with fruit, etc to dunk in), a posset (yay pudding! but, eh, mandarin), and, what I had my eyes on, a Japanese style cheesecake.  Yup, fluffy, light souffle cheesecake!

I didn't get this to dine in, as I got it during a different visit, and just got it as takeout.

Hakata Cheesecake. $12.

"Japanese souffle cheesecake with yuzu & strawberries."

While I did shay away slightly from the yuzu (just not a citrus dessert girl), I still couldn't resist, as I like cheesecake, but also, light and fluffy Japanese style cheesecake isn't as easy to come by.

My petite round cheesecake came topped with yuzu curd, fresh sliced strawberries, chiffon basil, and had a little container on the side (strawberry syrup?) to pour over.

The cheesecake was light and fluffy, just like a Japanese style cheesecake should be.  Very mild cream cheese flavor, definitely dominated by bright citrus notes.  The yuzu curd on top further accented the tangy citrus flavors.  For me, the citrus level was too high as I prefer other flavors, but, if you like citrus, I think this would be a delight.  The strawberry on top was fresh and flavorful, and a nice component to balance the richer cheesecake.

The cheesecake was crustless, and, although I don't love standard cheesecake crusts, I did find myself wanting for a bit of crunch or other texture.  A nut based crust perhaps?  Or a little crumble?  The syrup was sweet and fruity, and I appreciated to balance out the stronger citrus flavor.

Overall, a nicely made item, but not the flavor I'd go for normally.

This serving size was small (for a restaurant) but actually a perfect amount of one person to eat.  If you planned to share though, it might be a bit too small.  Price was a touch high, but also, appropriate for the quality of item.

***+.

Matcha Ice Cream $6.

Ozumo makes their own ice cream, and the day I went they had two flavors: whiskey banana and matcha.  While the former sounded interesting, I don't tend to love banana, so I went with the matcha.  It was served with a little chocolate "soil" in the cup.

The ice cream was good - very strong green tea flavor, reasonably creamy.  $6 for a small scoop felt a bit high, but, it did seem to be pretty legit in the matcha department.

***+.

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Tavernetta, Munich

When in Munich, go to an Italian restaurant?  Yup, for the meals that I picked on this trip, I was mostly not going to traditional Bavarian places, as all the meals I wasn't planning were bringing me to exactly those, and, well, this girl only wants so much beer, pretzels, meat, and potatoes (although, I'm more than happy to have all the kasiserschmarn!).

Anyway, after a ok-but-not-great meal at Buffet Kul Bar, we went to Tavernetta, an Italian place I read great reviews about.  Great Italian food I don't have often, and with the proximity to Italy, I hoped it might be better than what I'm used to.

It was a pretty lackluster experience.  Service wasn't particularly friendly, and was really, really, really slow.  The food was lower end mediocre.  After several hours of being there, we left before getting desserts, and opted to just go get kaiserschmarrn instead (at  Zum Dürnbräu - just as glorious as I remembered!).  German, heavy carb dessert may not make any sense after an Italian carby meal, but, hey, we were very ready to leave there.  I wouldn't go back.

Setting

Sidewalk Seating.

The restaurant is located down a side street, and has a few tables outside.  We had the choice to sit inside or out, and I wished we had picked out, but, the forecast was predicting rain, so we went in.

Indoor Dining.

Since there was a threat of rain, we chose to sit inside, where there were a few tables.  The one for 4 people (our group size) was occupied by a young teenager sprawled out with her tablet.  The host/server asked her to move, and she, um, didn't.  He asked her again, and again, and eventually she rolled her eyes, gave attitude, and moved.  It wasn't exactly the most welcoming environment.

We were the only ones inside for the first hour, which was nice, until a large party came in and joined us.

Bar.

Adjacent to the seating was the bar area, but it wasn't a bar where people sat at, and instead was just an area that waitstaff used.

Food

We were first presented with menus in Italian.  We asked for English menus, and were given a couple. I appreciated the authenticity of Italian first!

In addition to their regular menu, they have a truffle menu, and, a weekly menu, the later of which was only provided in Italian/German.  I had scoped out the menu in advance online, and had a good idea of exactly what I wanted to order, but, alas, the weekly menu, the one with the items I most wanted, was very out of date.  Doh.

Still, I picked it for the seasonal asparagus and there were still several choices featuring it, and, well, for what I hoped would be better Italian food than we have in most of the US.

Starters: Veal with tuna sauce and capers,
beef tartar with purple potatoes, crayfish with white asparagus.

We started with a trio of appetizers, one from the regular menu, and two specials.  I was pretty sad that the online specials menu was out of date, as I really wanted those, but, alas, I was happy enough with these choices.

Our starters came presented on one large platter, which was kinda fun.  There was also some mixed greens on the platter, which, given how few vegetables I tend to have when in Munich, I appreciated, and took most of.

I didn't have the beef tartar since that isn't really my thing (but did try the purple potato mush on top ... eh).  Everything else was fine, very average.

It took quite a while for this to arrive, which was surprising for all cold dishes and the restaurant was empty.

Special: Crayfish with white asparagus salad.

This was probably my favorite dish, but that isn't actually saying too much.  The crayfish was light and refreshing, not fishy, much like a slightly less flavorful crab.  I haven't had much crayfish, particularly chilled, so this was nice for something different.

The white asparagus was also nice, not too soft.  

It was all dressed in a viniagrette.

Overall, a fine dish, but, I thought it needed a touch of fresh acidity (lemon juice?) or a creamy component.

***.

Veal with tuna sauce and Pantelleria capers.

I remember the first (and only other!) time I had vitello tonnato.  My mind was blown.  Note: this was just a few years ago.  The idea of a tuna cream was just fascinating.  And, I think I'd only had veal maybe 2-3 times ever .  I loved the dish - I remember the veal being so tender, and, zomg, that tuna cream.  So when I saw this on the menu, it was a no brainer.  Behind the asparagus that I obviously wanted, this was my other must order.

It was ... underwelming, but, it would take a lot to live up to that memory.  The veal was sliced thin and tender, served cold, and, well, "fine".  I liked the big caperberries on top (and, one diner had never had them before, so that was fun for him).  

But the tuna sauce, the part I remember loving when I had it elsewhere, just didn't have much flavor.  Sadness.

Again, another dish that was "fine", nothing wrong with it, but nothing that made it stand out.

***.

Bread.

A bit after our starters, some bread showed up.  I didn't try it. I saw the server cut it with his hand on the bread and after touching many other things.  Also, just room temp, and, others thought it might be sourdough.

Special: Beef in parmesan crust with gratin white asparagus.

After another long wait, our main dishes arrived.

The others really wanted beef, and I wanted asparagus, so this was a natural choice.

The white asparagus was fine, not too soft, large pieces, with a bit of cheese baked on, which seemed a bit unnecessary, and masked really getting to taste the fresh asparagus.  

The beef, which we asked for medium-rare, was actually medium-rare, something we all appreciated.  Decent sear.  Decently done, but I like a sauce with my beef.

On top was i think mashed potato with parmesan, more cheese.  It was kinda gloopy.

Overall, yup, another dish that was "fine", but I really wanted the asparagus to shine more.  The others seemed happy enough with it.

**+.

Tavernetta Pizza. Tomato sauce, mozzarella, Parma ham, rocket, Parmesan flakes.

For our pizza, we picked the namesake one, which came with parma ham, fresh rocket and parmesan on top.

It actually was pretty good.  The crust had a good chew, was otherwise crispy, slight char.  The sauce was flavorful, the mozzarella cheese well distributed and perfectly melted.  The ham really did seem to be high quality, and I enjoyed it more than the other proteins in our meal.  The fresh rocket and parmesan just rounded it out nicely with freshness and salt.

I'm glad we got a pizza, definitely the best of the main dishes, and the only thing I'd really recommend.

***+.

Truffle Special: Tagliolini with truffle.

From the special truffle menu, I wanted something.  And it seemed like we should get a fresh pasta since Tavernetta is known for the fresh pasta.  Put two and two together, and, yup, we got the fresh pasta with truffle.

It was underwhelming.  Just, well, pasta in butter/oil with very mild white truffle shaved on top.  Just not much flavor going on here, and the pasta itself also didn't have any particular flavor.

No one was into this.

**+.

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RustiCucina, San Diego

I grew up eating a lot of Italian food.

Ok, correction, I grew up eating a lot of ... extremely American Italian food.  By which I mean, we ate a lot of pizza (my father's favorite food), and a lot of basic spaghetti & jarred red sauce, sometimes frozen ravioli in jarred sauce.  Baked ziti or lasagna when mom was really cooking.  And no, I'm not talking anything remotely authentic.  When we went out to dinner, it was either to 1) Subway, 2) Del Taco, or 3) Papa Ginos, Little Ceasars, or the local pizza place, so even then, I wasn't really exposed to much real Italian.  There was one decent restaurant in town, that was a real sit down place and thus not somewhere my family went, but it was place I sometimes got invited for birthday parties, and it had decent enough Italian, with an actual wood fired grill, fresh pasta, imported tomatoes from Italy, etc.  College meant dining halls, and more very basic pasta and sauce.  I certainly didn't have exposure growing up.  I've still never been to Italy.

Anyway.  During my recent trip to San Diego, I did a little restaurant research, and one place, RustiCucina kept popping up.  It seemed like a casual, neighborhood Italian place, reasonably authentic, well regarded.  In particular, they do a tableside pasta cooked in a cheese wheel, that you know people go nuts for.  Oh, and deep fried, breaded burrata.  

I didn't actually ever make it there, nor did I even get to try the savory cuisine, but one night in my hotel, after a lackluster dinner, I wanted a nice cocktail and I wanted a great dessert.  RustiCucina came to mind because I knew they delivered, and had a huge cocktail menu.  It is hard to find a good delivery cocktail!

And thus, DoorDash it was, for literally just a cocktail and dessert.  I can't tell you anything about the restaurant itself.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

My delivery was fairly fast, the food nicely packaged, my Dasher friendly.  

Cocktails

So, yeah.  The cocktails.  I really, really wanted a strong, whiskey cocktail.  I had a glass of red wine with dinner, and it was eh, and, well, I just wanted something with bit more ooph to it.  RustiCucina has an extensive cocktail menu for delivery, plus a slew of specialty cocktails.  It was exactly what I was looking for.

Il Fumoso. $16.

'Smoked bourbon, sweet vermouth, angostura bitters.' 

For my cocktail, I was tempted by many of the classics that I do like, such as a Negroni, Manhattan, or Old Fashioned, but, opted instead for one of their signature cocktails.

This was ... ok.  Very boozy, and bitter, just not really what I wanted it turned out.  I did greatly enjoy the boozy soaked cocktail cherries though.

i think it was a fine drink, just, not what I wanted in the end.  Oops.

***.

Dessert

Besides the cocktail, my main reason for ordering was to get dessert.  And, although alone, I doubled down.

The desert menu at RustiCucina is full of Italian classic: Cannoli. Tiramisu.  Limoncello Cake.  Creme Brulée. Pistachio Semifreddo.  Molten Lava Cake.  

Mostly all things I like, and seldom have.  This seemed like a good chance to indulge in classic Italian.  Reviews claim the tiramisu is the best folks have ever had.  I needed to try that, right?  The problem is, I don't have caffeine at night, so I couldn't actually eat it fresh, but hoped it would still be tasty the next day after lunch.  And, since I was saving that, I needed to pick another to eat right then.  Had I been dining in, the pistachio semifreddo likely would be my pick, but for delivery, I was a bit worried about a melty mess.

Tiramisu. $12.

I was impressed when I opened first box.  Even for takeout, they did garnish it fairly attractively with a chocolate sauce drizzle, whipped cream, and mint.

The tiramisu almost seemed like it was made to order, and was certainly a standalone individual item, not a slice from a layer pan.  I'm not sure I've seen it done this way?  It still had the classic components of ladyfingers lightly soaked in espresso, a thick rich cream, and lots of cocoa powder, but, the  ladyfingers were very nicely laid out, and the pastry cream in between layers was piped on it a pattern, not just a layer.  

Anyway, construction aside, it was ... underwhelming.  If it was freshly made, I think that detracted from it.  The ladyfingers didn't really have much soak or moisture, and were kinda dry.  The cream wasn't particularly mascarpone flavored.  Overall, it was just ... lower end mediocre.  I've had considerably better mass produced frozen versions before, and really, no tiramisu lives up to that from Tricolore Cafe.

The chocolate sauce mostly just served for looks, it was very thin, watery, I suspect just Hershey?  

But the whipped cream?  It was not fluffy whipped cream from a can, nor even housemade whipped cream.  Nope, it was the kind that comes on pre-made grocery store cakes, not really whipped cream, more like sweet stable fluffy frosting, and, um, I kinda loved it.  I'm a sucker for that stuff.  So, <3 the sweet whipped topping!  Definitely the best part of the dish.

**+.

Creme Brulée. $12.

People also rave about the creme brulée.  And, you know me, I love a good pudding, and adore a good creme brulée (there is a reason my blog has labels for each!).  Even though I knew it wouldn't be quite as awesome delivered (no hot top and cool base, if freshly bruléed to order), I hoped it would still work.

It too came with a drizzle of chocolate sauce in the box, whipped cream, and mint.  And, um, a real creme brulée dish.  Usually for takeout they use foil ones!  

It didn't look like the top was nicely caramelized, no layer to crack, but, actually it was.  Really decent caramelization.  The dish was pretty shallow, but the custard was rich, and this was plenty.  The texture was good, but it didn't have much flavor - no vanilla bean or anything like that.  

Also on top was what seemed to be blueberry compote?  Or at least, cooked down blueberries.  And there was sauce on it, that at first I thought was chocolate sauce (which did NOT please me as I avoid caffeine at night), but, I didn't actually taste chocolate.  I think actually that this was just the brulee top, sorta weepy, as it had a slight caramel taste to it.  It certainly didn't seem to be fruity or chocolate, both of which were my original guesses.

So, overall, it was a fine, but rather boring, creme brulée.  I would have liked more vanilla bean or flavor to the custard itself.  I loved the sweet whipped topping with this one too though.

***.

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