Lillie's of Charleston Gullah Pop

Regular readers of my blog will know how much I adore snacks, in particular, popcorn.  I'm always eager to try more brands, particularly ones with interesting flavors.  My seeking out of interesting popcorn lead me to Lillie's of Charleston.

Lillie's of Charleston isn't primarily a popcorn distributor, but rather, they make hot sauces, BBQ sauces, and spice mixes.  The use their spice mixed however to create a line of 3 popcorns, known as "Gullah Pop".

"Get ready to experience the taste of the South with Gullah Pop's gourmet popcorns. These tasty treats are made with organic and non-GMO popcorn that's popped to perfection in pure coconut oil. The popcorn is then coated in our 100% natural seasoning blends to create a unique and irresistible flavor explosion that'll leave you wanting more."

You can only buy the Gullah Pop as a trio of flavors, so, I tried them all.  I was highly underwhelmed by them all -  the flavors were muted, the popcorn mediocre.  I wouldn't get these again, but did finish all my bags with no problem.

Savory Flavor: Ho-Lotta Hissy Fit.

"For a spicy kick."

First up, the spicy one: Ho-Latta Hissy Fit.

This was ok, but not great.  The popcorn itself wasn't remarkable, pretty average size kernels, average texture.  The seasoning wasn't as strong as I'd like, which is sad as it was flavorful enough seasoning, but, even though some pieces looked pretty coated, it didn't have much flavor.

I'm not quite sure what the seasoning was, as the ingredients just say "spice" and "salt", along with popcorn and coconut oil, but the flavor was lightly bbq flavored, more mild than most bbq chips.  A faint hint of something spicy.

So, overall, average popcorn, mild seasoning.  Eh.  No reason to get this again.  Low ***.

Haut Pimento Cheese.

"For some cheesy goodness." 

Next up, "haut" pimento cheese.  I felt much the same way about this as the previous.  It was ok, but not actually anything worth getting again.  The popcorn was unremarkable, the seasoning was medium-strong on some pieces, but lacking on many.  It was very vaguely cheesy, and I didn't taste anything "haut" or pimento about it, although I guess it had paprika.  

Just very mild average popcorn. **+.

Lemon Peppa.

"For a zesty twist."

The last flavor I tried was the one I was least excited for, Lemon Peppa.  It turned out to be the only one that actually delivered much flavor.  That said, I didn't particularly like the flavor.

It was very ... vibrant?  Lots of zing/zest, which I could somewhat imagine saying was lemon-like.  A bit of pepper too.  And, it was the only one of the trio that I could really taste the coconut oil used.  If you like lemon, pepper, and coconut oil, this one at least really did have some flavor to it.  The popcorn itself was average, but, zing it did have.

Still just a **+ for me as the flavors weren't ones I really care for, but, better than the others in actually having flavor.

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Monteleone Pasticceria, Brooklyn

When in New York, there are plenty of iconic things you should consume.  Yes, of course, pizza.  Probably bagels.  Perhaps whatever the ridiculous dessert trend that has gone viral of the moment is.  Maybe some Michelin star dining.  The list goes on and on.  But at some point, you should indulge in baked goods from a classic Italian bakery.  I did just that at Veniero's earlier on in my recent visit (swoon, that cheesecake!), and a few days later, lucked out to find a pastry box in the communal kitchen area of my office, filled with goodies from Monteleone Pasticceria, a Brooklyn based traditional Italian bakery.

Classic Box.

I haven't visited myself, but, my quick research shoes that they make all the standard classics, a large lineup of cookies, pastries, cake, and gelato.  They don't seem to have a website, and aren't actually that old (only been around since 2011), but still do get generally good reviews.

I went straight for two classics: cannoli, and, because I was in NY, a black and white.

Cannoli (Half-n-half).

Monteleone makes several types of cannoli: classic ricotta filled (which can be dark chocolate covered if you please), chocolate ricotta filled, or half-n-half, with one side with regular sweetened ricotta filling, the other with the chocolate filling, and one end dipped in chocolate.  Since I hate making decisions, this clearly was the answer for me.  You get it all.

I am not usually all that excited by cannoli, but this was a remarkably good one.  The shell was clearly fried, and a touch dark, but it was very crisp and a nice thickness.  That it held up so well was impressive.  Far better than average shell, nicely blistered too.

The fillings were both above average as well.  Sweet but not cloying, great ricotta flavor and texture.  The dark chocolate dipped end was my favorite, as the dark chocolate was clearly high quality.

Overall, one of the best cannolis I've ever had.  ****.

Black & White Cookie.

A black and white seems like a classic NY thing I needed to get while there, even though not high on my list of things I care about.

It was a good, albeit sweet, treat.  The cookie was soft and lightly cake-like, nice texture, not crumbly.  Good mild sweetness level in the base cookie.  

The coatings were thick and where all the sweetness came in, the white chocolate was really quite sweet.  Just like the cannoli dip, the dark chocolate was clearly a nice quality.  Both were applied generously.

Overall, a very good black and white, and something a bit different for me at least.  ***+.

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La Société Bar & Café

It has been a while since I've had the chance to organize a large-ish group dining event, but finally, holiday season 2023, I had the opportunity, the first time post-Covid.  I had a work group of 35 to accommodate, with all the standard dietary restrictions (vegetarian, gluten-free, etc).  Our biggest constraints were the date (we had no flexibility, and it fell *right* in the middle of busy December holiday season) and budget (fairly frugal).  When I started reaching out to restaurants months in advance, >50% were already booked, and another 30% were over budget (either due to F&B minimums or set menus with too high of a price point).  I had limited choices, and it took some effort, but I found a venue to bring my group to: La Société Bar & Café, a French restaurant located in the Hyatt.

This was my first visit to La Société, but it had been on my list for a while (in particular, for their duck liver mousse, their tarte flambeé, and other classic French dishes with great sauces (mmm, butter and cream!).  The restaurant was remarkably easy to work with, and it is clear they do large events all the time.  Securing our date was easy, group dining menus and options were clearly communicated, the service staff were adept at handling groups.  Definitely a good choice on these dimensions.

The logistics worked out well, but I'm not sure I'd go back with a large group myself.  The food was all fine but not great, a notch above standard wedding quality catering, but not particularly good.  The private room was nice as a space, but really quite loud.  Overall, I'd consider it a success, but would pick somewhere else in the future for a group.  I'm still interested in returning as a regular diner however to try the duck liver mousse and other desserts in particular. 

Private Room.

Our event was held in a large private room in the back, set with two long tables.

The tables were attractive marble, the chairs more comfortable than average.  The room had basically no noise dampening, which made it extraordinarily hard to hear even the people seated directly next to, or across from, each of us.  All hard surfaces - the floor, walls, ceiling, tables.  A nice space on some dimensions, but, wow, the noise level was extreme, and we were not a particularly noisy bunch.

La Société Classic Experience Menu. $98/pp.

Due to our budget constraints, we picked the least expensive group dining option available, the La Société Classic Experience.  

This menu offers a choice of two salads to start (but we had to pick one that everyone would get), a choice of 4 main dishes (we could pick 3 to offer), and a choice of three desserts (but again, we could only pick a single option). The printed menu came with the selections we had pre-chosen listed, along with our custom logo on top.  Salads, mains, and desserts were individually plated, the side dishes shared family style.  All dishes come from their regular menu.

Upgrades were available to this menu to offer a steak option ($15 pp for hanger or $20 for filet), or to add appetizers, but we did not add any of these things.  The "Signature Experience" is their next tier of menu, at $148 per person, that adds in more exciting starter choices, and additional course.

The restaurant handled our group very well.  There were enough servers to make sure our glasses were always refilled, be it with water or wine, and for those ordering cocktails, they were offered additional ones, or something else.  Plates were cleared efficiently between courses.  Service flowed fairly well, starting with drinks, then the bread and salad course soon after.  There was a slightly longer lag before main dishes and desserts than I'd prefer, but partially that was just because it was the end of a long day.  We had a few people leave before dessert, but the entire meal was completed in 2.5 hours.  Main dishes were served with specific silverware for each dish (e.g. sharp knife for those who ordered the pork chop, etc), and were brought out in quick succession, starting with the most common dish (pork), moving on to the next (chicken), and finishing with the vegetarian option, and then the side dishes.  I didn't see them get anyone's order wrong.

Here Figgy Figgy. $17.

"Brothers bond bourbon, fig shrub, lemon, tonic."

To get started, I ordered a cocktail off the regular menu.  I was drawn in by the bourbon and figs.  Others followed my lead and ordered the same.

It came attractively garnished with a full fig, and a sprig of ... rosemary?  It turned out more fruity than I was expecting.  I wanted to taste more bourbon, less fruit.  It was fine, and interesting, but, just not quite what I was looking for.  ***.

Interestingly, two of my co-workers who ordered the same had no fig garnish on theirs, so, consistency was a bit of an issue.

One65 Traditional Baguette / Salted French Butter. $8.

Our meal began with warm bread for the table, served soon after we had all ordered our drinks and settled in.

I was looking forward to the baguette, as One65 is well known for their quality French baked goods, but, my co-workers said it was sourdough, so I skipped it.  I still just don't like sourdough (such a bad San Franciscan!).

The presentation was lovely though, and it sounded nicely crusty as folks broke into it.

First: La Société Salad. $15.

"Radish, green apple, ricotta salata, tarragon-dijon vinaigrette."

Next up, served right after the bread, we all started with the exact same salad, their namesake salad.  It featured big uncut pieces of red leaf lettuce, a few tiny bits of radish, thinly sliced green apple, a bit of ricotta salata, and a vinaigrette.

Regular readers of my blog will know how I feel about vinaigrettes (can't stand them!), and I hoped it would come with dressing on the side, but alas, it came dressed.  I didn't want to be complicated and specifically ask for it on the side, but I wished I had.

The lettuce was crisp and fine, and I wished for far more radish and ricotta salata, and could do without the green apple, but the real issue for me was the dressing, as expected.  It did have a nice dijon tang, and wasn't necessarily overdressed, but, some pieces were pretty laden with it, and I just didn't care for it.  If you don't mind vinaigrette, I think this was a fine, basic salad, but for me it was a big "meh". 

** due to taste, probably a *** for most.

Acquerello Carnaroli Risotto. $29.

"Butternut squash, maitake mushroom, parmigiano reggiano."

Vegetarians had the token risotto dish.  It made me wish I liked risotto, as I do really like butternut squash, and the maitakes perched on top were so inviting.  The one vegetarian I asked said it was really good.

Grilled Berkshire Pork Chop. $39.

"Potato mille-feuille, spring onions, sauce charcutière."

The majority of the group went for the pork chop, which is one of La Société's most well reviewed dishes.  I was glad we were able to offer it to them, and I nearly went for it myself, having seen the photos and great reviews.  Plus, I was very drawn in to the sides.  But, although I like a few bites of pork from time to time, I'm not one to dig in to a big pork chop.  

I did get to try a bite, compliments of a co-worker who was willing to share.  I was impressed with the execution.  The pork was perfectly juicy, and really well seasoned.  It honestly didn't need the sauce, and I say this as a serious sauce person.  The sauce was fine, but tasted a bit basic.  The pork though, cooked beautifully.

I didn't get to try the potato mille-feuille, although it looked as great as I thought it would be, layers of super thin crispy potato, nor the spring onions, that looked expertly grilled.  Some diners got two portions of the spring onions, and others only one, so again, not entirely consistent.  The pork chops varied in size and thickness, although that is to be expected.

Overall, a very good dish, and everyone who got it seemed pleased.  Impressive to pull off at our group size.  **** on execution of the pork, ***+ overall as the sauce actually took it down a notch for me.

Pan Roasted Petrale Sole. $39.

"Leek cream, cauliflower mushroom, crispy kataifi, scallion oil."

Our set menu had the three choices of chicken, pork, or risotto, but I was able to order a pescatarian dish.

This dish didn't necessarily look very attractive, really quite beige, but the crispy kataifi on top were quite tasty, even if they made it look a bit messy.  They were crispy, starchy, and well seasoned.  I appreciated the salt level.  A touch annoying to eat politely with a fork, but my favorite part.

Under the mound of crispy was the fish.  A large piece, fairly mild white fish, petrale sole.  I found the texture a bit mushy, but that is generally how I feel about sole.  I'm never excited by it.  It wasn't fishy, and was seasoned fine.  

The sauce was leek cream, which seems like I'd adore it, but it had a flavor to it that I couldn't pinpoint, and didn't love.  Combined with the crispy things, it also made it overall a kinda heavy dish, which you don't expect from sole.

And finally, the cauliflower mushrooms, which I did really quite like.  Nicely sautéed, soft but with a bit of bite, and well seasoned.  And not a mushroom I see frequently anywhere really.

Overall, it was a fine dish, but not one I'd get again.  I was glad we had the additional sides, as it needed something like mashed potatoes to pair better with the sauce, and I really found myself wanting a lighter vegetable, and not just the mushrooms (even though I liked them).  ***.

Side: Pomme Purée. $12.

On the side we had classic pomme purée, or, you know, mashed potatoes.  The dish was attractively garnished with fresh chive and a drizzle of olive oil.

It was a totally acceptable version of mashed potatoes, a smooth style (pomme purée after all, not a rustic mash).  Thick but not gloopy.  Not particularly creamy, a bit rich, but, decent.  Reasonably well seasoned.  ***.

I also got a chance to try the pomme frittes, a special treat brought out for the birthday girl in our group (with a candle and everything!).  They were above average fries, a somewhat thick style, and really well seasoned.  In general, I found the salt level on everything quite appealing.  

Side: Seasonal Sautéed Vegetables. $12.

The seasonal vegetable side turned out to be just broccolini, one of my least favorite green vegetables, just because my cafe at work serves it all the time.  That said, they did a nice job with this, it was lightly smoky, had a bit of char, a touch of seasoning.  It was nicely crisp still, not too mushy.  About as good as broccolini will ever be for me.  Boring, but well executed.  ***.

Dessert: Classic Vanilla Bean Créme Brulée. $12.

"Fresh & preserved raspberries."

For group dining, we had to pick a single dessert for the group, from their selection of standard 3 desserts: classic créme brulée, warm apple tart tatin with vanilla ice cream, and a chocolate pot de créme.  As you may know, I have a label on my blog just for créme brulée, because I love it so much, but I actually advocated for the tart tatin, as I was really craving something like that.  I love a great warm dessert paired with cold ice cream.  But alas, I was overruled, and we went with the créme brulée, which truly was my second choice anyway, so I was still looking forward to it.

The créme brulée was solidly lackluster, but not bad exactly.  I think it was a decent *pudding*, and I do adore pudding, but, it wasn't a good créme brulée.  To start, the initial test of a créme brulée, the tap test.  As you can probably tell from the photo, this didn't have much of a beautiful bruléed top.  It was very very lightly torched, had no snap, and barely any caramelization.  It failed the tap test entirely.

The body of the créme brulée was smooth, creamy, well set.  Not grainy.  It lacked any particular flavor though, certainly no vanilla bean.  There were no visible specs either.  It was basically just a decent plain pudding, better than a Snack Pack certainly, but lacked any depth.

The fresh raspberries were fine, the bits of freeze dried raspberry were fine, and the mint garnish was really the most flavorful part.

So overall, yup, average pudding, not good créme brulée. **+.

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Catering by Cheese Plus

I learned about Cheese Plus early in my time living in San Francisco.   Cheese Plus is a fairly unique place, and a bit hard to describe.  It is part cheese shop, as you'd expect given the name, yes.  But it is also a small grocery store with highly curated artisanal goods, many local, but plenty imported from Italy and other countries.  I first visited when they were hosting one of their annual artisan's festivals, where they had the makers of all these nicely curated products there, doing samples, chatting with customers, etc.  Of course, the shop is fairly tiny, so this doesn't take place inside the store, but rather, up and down the sidewalks.  As someone who loves samples, and meeting and chatting with merchants, this was right up my alley.  So many cheeses, charcuterie, chutneys, jam, oils, crackers, sweet, caviar to nibble on ... yes!  It was at one of these festivals that I first was introduced to SF Cheesecakes (now, SF Cheesequakes), which I quite adore.

Anyway, in addition to being a retail grocery-ish, they also now operate a small sidewalk cafe during the day (added a few years ago), with coffee, pastries, sandwiches, and salads.  This cafe offers catering for breakfast or lunch, which is how I got to try it.  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the items I tried, and would gladly try more.

Sandwiches

"Named for our unique San Francisco neighborhoods and made to order using the highest quality meats, cheeses, house-made spreads and local artisan condiments, our sandwiches are simply delicious!"

The sandwich menu features all the "best stuff available", most of which you can purchase in the shop.  There are both cold and grilled sandwiches, vegetarian or loaded with meat.  

Since this was for catering, we got sandwich trays of assorted sandwich wedges from the lineup.  These are $95 each, and feed 6-9 people.  The selections came from their standard lineup of cold sandwiches, although all came on soft baguettes rather than the specific breads normally used for each.  If ordering individually, the sandwiches are $14-15 each.

Happy Thanksgiving.

"Zoe’s Oven Roasted Turkey, Rich Double Crème Brie Cheese, Cranberry Sauce, Butter & Arugula served on Sliced Sourdough."

I grabbed this as it was labelled "Happy Thanksgiving", I spotted very beautifully ripe brie pouring out, and hoped it would have stuffing or something fun in it.  It was less fun than I was hoping, and had sliced roast turkey which I rarely eat, but, the other fillings were still appealing: the aforementioned brie, cranberry sauce, arugula, and, uh, butter?

The portion of brie was substantial, and as you'd expect from a cheese shop, it was fantastic brie.  Perfectly ripe, perfecting oozing its slightly funky goodness.  The cranberry sauce was good, nicely tart, slightly sweet.  It went well with the brie.  Arugula added a bit of crunch and bitterness, and there was plenty of turkey, for those who actually like turkey.  I didn't distinctly find butter in it, but, there did seem to be a creamy substance that I would have thought was mayo, but, maybe it was butter?  Anyway, overall, a nice sandwich, the brie was the star, as I expected. ****+ brie,  ***+ overall.

Like all the sandwiches on our platter, this came on a soft baguette, rather than the sliced sourdough it normally comes on.  The baguette was fine, lightly chewy crust, soft style.  But, it too was sourdough, and although it wasn't super strong sourdough, it was still sourdough, and thus, I wasn't into it.

North Beach.

"Niman Ranch Smoked Ham, Pistachio Mortadella, Genoa Salame, Provolone, Sweet Peppadew Peppers, Leaf Lettuce, Fresh Tomato, Mayo & Spicy Dijon Mustard. Served on Focaccia."

Next up, one I grabbed because I saw salami and mortadella, and was immediately excited.  I truly adore mortadella.  I was less excited about the provolone (never my cheese of choice), but, it made sense with the deli meats and sweet peppers, no question.

The North Beach was a great classic Italian sandwich.  The quality of the deli meats was clearly high, the provolone was thickly sliced so it held up well against it, and the peppers were super flavorful and elevated the whole thing.  Fresh tomato, crispy lettuce, and generous slathering of mustard and mayo, and this was a very tasty sandwich, I just wanted different bread.

****.

Desserts

The catering desserts are just cookies/bars, but I of course still tried several.  My sweet tooth is always interested in trying things.

Cookie Monster Platter.

"An assortment of cookies, brownies, and sweet treats."

I'm not sure which size platter this was, as they offer it in three sizes, for $80/$115/$140.  When I got to it, it clearly had been picked through, but I snagged at least one of everything left.  The inclusion of chocolates was a unique touch, great for those who just wanted a little something to end their meal. 

From the rubble, I saw that the platter also had lemon "snacking cake" on it before.  I assume it also had their chocolate chip cookies as well.

I tried the bit of the lemon cake that was remaining, and it was moist, pleasantly sweet, and had a good lemon flavor.  Easy to see why it was clearly a crowd favorite.  ***+.

I also tried a hunk of brownie, it was fine.  Dense, heavily chocoaltely style.  ***.

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookie. $5.50.

"Sweet and creamy peanut butter, smooshed between two peanut butter cookies!"

The one I grabbed first, and then immediately grabbed another hunk of, was the peanut butter sandwich cookie.  One bite, and I thought, "ZOMG, NUTTER BUTTERS!".  While the shape was obviously different (triangle wedges rather than, uh, peanuts), the taste and texture were kinda spot on.  But, in a homemade way of course.

The cookies were soft, fairly strong peanut flavor.  Nice crumble to the.  Inside, smooth creamy sweetened peanut spread.  I hesitate to call it "peanut butter" as they do, as it was more like a peanut flavored Oreo cream filling, texture wise, if that makes sense.  Not like creamy nor crunchy peanut butter, more like peanut butter mixed with a little frosting.  Anyway, it was sweetened, creamy, and had more good peanut flavor.  Combine, yup, this was a soft cookie sandwich with creamy filling, all peanut flavored, essentially a Nutter Butter.  

This brought back great nostalgia for me, as I haven't had a Nutter Butter in many, many years, and they weren't something we had in my house growing up, but rather, they were always alongside my Dad's Oreo's in my grandmother's cookie jar.  I enjoyed it for those reasons, and I do quite like peanut butter flavored things, but, I did kinda wish it was dunked in chocolate too ...

****.

Jammies Butter Cookies - apricot.

"Sea salted butter cookies filled with apricots or raspberry jam."

The tray had two kinds of thumbprints, one with this orange hued filling, the other with something more berry looking.  I'm not sure why I grabbed this one.  I later learned it comes from Sweet Things Bakery, a local wholesale bakery that supplies many cafes, coffee shops, and small markets, which I've reviewed before.

It was actually a very good cookie, even if it looked a bit burnt around the edges.  A quite buttery shortbread.  Sweet.  Rich.  Very decadent.  

The jam was soft and fruity, nice apricot flavor.

Everything about this was just nicely done.  Perfect with an afternoon cup of tea.  ****.

Peanut Butter Cookie Flowerless. $1.75.

And finally, I grabbed one of the last cookie type on the platter, even though it didn't look my style at all, extremely crisp.  This turned out to be another very good cookie.  It had a great snap to it.  And ... it too was peanut butter!  It had little bits of peanut, and strong peanut butter flavor.  The menu lists this as "flowerless", which I assume means it is gluten-free.  A very surprising great cookie, I enjoyed dunking it in whipped cream, but it didn't really need it.  ****.

I think this is also from Sweet Things.

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