Popcorn Indiana

Sometimes, you just want a bag of something satisfying to munch on while you sit on the couch.  For me, popcorn, or ideally, kettlecorn, ranks very high on my list of munchie favorites.  Nothing beats fresh popped popcorn, or the amazing kettlecorn from the farmer's market in my hometown, but I keep trying packaged varieties hoping to find one that is a good substitute, for when I'm too lazy to pop my own ...

Popcorn Indiana makes a wide range of popcorn products, starting with a slew of "classic" popcorns, ranging from simple (butter, salt), to savory (white cheddar, american cheese, bacon ranch), to sweet (classic kettle corn, cinnamon and sugar).  Then they have some "exclusive" flavors like sriracha or hot cinnamon.  They also make a healthier "fit" line, or the complete opposite, several caramel flavors and "drizzlecorn".  And they also make popcorn chips in a variety of flavors.

Everything I've tried has been good, but I won't generally go out of my way for it.

Kettle Corn

Sweet & Salty Kettle Corn.

• Original Kettlecorn: Meh, not sweet enough. [ This is kettle corn, not caramel corn, so it isn’t that sweet.  But it also doesn’t have much salt either.  Mediocre. Not enough sweet & salty to keep it addictive. ] [ Not bad.  Salt level is very low though, more just like likely glazed popcorn.  Some pieces have lot more sugar than others. Its ok, but not great.  Better frozen. *** ]
• Cinnamon Sugar Kettlecorn: Decent cinnamon flavor, slightly caramelized pieces from the sugar, not bad.
• Hot Cinnamon: Sugary coating, like a red hot candy melted onto popcorn.  Good cinnamon flavor.

Chip'ins

I like popcorn.  I like chips. And I was pretty into Popcorners, a cross between chips and popcorn.  So when I saw that Popcorn Indiana had a similar product, I wanted to try some out.  Available only in savory flavors, like Jalapeño Ranch or Hot Buffalo Wing.

White Cheddar Chip'ins.

Close up of a White Cheddar Chip'ins.

These were exactly like Popcorners.  I would never be able to distinguish between them.  Decent white cheddar flavor, nice crunchy chip, slight popcorn taste.  I again liked the form factor.

Not bad, not great.

Drizzlecorn

And, I saved the best for last.  The ever-so-decadent drizzlecorn!  This is their base kettlecorn, already a bit sweet and salty, then drizzled with even more goodness, like dark or white chocolate, peanut butter, and other delicious things.

Dark Fudge Peppermint Drizzlecorn.

Ok, this sounded downright amazing: "rich, dark, chocolaty fudge that’s been sprinkled with the perfect amount of natural, cool, refreshing, peppermint".  Even if I didn't love the kettlecorn on its own, this sounded VERY promising.

Unfortunately, it sounded better than it was.  It was very one-dimensional.  It was kettlecorn, and it was drizzled with dark chocolate, and there were little bits of peppermint, all as promised, but the flavors just didn't pop.  It was sweet, but not sweet enough to be a real sweet treat.  The chocolate was indulgent, but there wasn't enough.  And really, what I wanted, was some salty counterpoint to balance it.

It did have the strange effect of being *almost* good, so that I kept eating it, strangely addicted to wanting to find a good bite of it.  So, at some level, they did make an addicting product ...

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Out The Door

Last week, I had an interesting problem.  I needed to get a little bit more food to supplement a dinner we were having at work (long story!)  I had to be able to pick the food up a few hours in advance, and didn't have facilities for re-heating it, but I could store things in a refrigerator.  So I needed cold items that could hold up for a few hours.  And ideally, I didn't want to go far to get it.

I quickly settled on Out The Door, in the nearby Ferry Building.  They are the casual takeout spin-off of the Slanted Door, known for having pretty good Vietnamesse food.  I've been many times, and although I've never raved about it, it has always been pretty reliable, and I knew I could ask to have the salads undressed so I could mix them at serving time, and figured things like spring rolls would hold up well.

There are several other Out The Doors too - one in Pacific Heights that was really awful last time I was there, but where I'd gotten decent take-out before, and a now closed one in the Westfield Mall that I used to love.  The Ferry Building outpost I've mostly used just for their cooking kits and baked goods, but I've always been a fan of them.

The food pretty much met my expectations.  All solid, decently priced, and certainly filled my needs.  Nothing was amazing, but nothing was bad.  I'd go again in a situation like this.

Taro Milk Boba.  $3.50.

While I was waiting, I got really excited when I noticed that they had taro milk boba! Unfortunately, I hated it.  The tapioca was decent, not gloopy or anything, but the taro milk part was really bad tasting.  I love the taste of taro, so it wasn't just me not liking taro.  It was also a strange thickness, presumably from the taro?

Sadly, I prefer the fake version from Quickly much more, and I wouldn't get another.

Fresh Spring Rolls. $8.00.

The non-vegetarian spring rolls are filled with gulf shrimp, pork, mint, lettuce, and vermicelli.  I ordered mine without the pork, as I don't like it.  The rice paper wrapper was fresh and had a good chew to it.  There wasn't too much of the vermicelli noodles (I hate it when rolls are 90% noodles!).  There were plentiful greens, that were fresh, crisp, and really made the rolls feel light and refreshing.  The shrimp was disappointing however, fairly fishy tasting.  Overall, a well executed roll, but I didn't love it.  They held up fine for a few hours.

The vegetarian version came filled with tofu, shiitake, cabbage, and mint.  They were likewise fairly well executed, but unremarkable.

The peanut sauce, which I was hoping to love, was just thick and gloopy, and I didn't care for it at all.

Overall, I just didn't like these much.  $8 is a fair price for rolls of this size, they are $12 in the restaurant.

Niman Ranch Beef Salad.  $9.50.

The salad gave no details on the menu, just that it was a Niman Ranch Beef Salad with oranges.  I'm not quite sure what I expected, but sounded better than it was.  It was basically just a mixed greens salad, with some slices of valencia orange, red onion, and crispy taro root.  I liked the crispy taro strips, but the rest of it, besides the beef, was fairly standard, and the red onion very harsh and a strange pairing with the sweet orange.  The beef was good: thinly sliced, with a really nice crust on it, well seasoned.

Overall: meh.  Would not get again, and didn't really seem worth the $9.50 price tag, particularly compared to prices of the other dishes.

Green Papaya Salad. $8.00

When I lived in Sydney, I got hooked on papaya salad.  Some places there made ridiculously good versions!  This was good, but fairly standard.  It contained shredded green papaya, shredded carrot, fried tofu strips, crispy shallots, roasted peanuts.  But not a whole lot of flavor, even with the dressing.  Fresh tasting ingredients, and I liked the crunch from the peanuts and crispy shallots, but still, fairly unremarkable.

I had some left over, and ate it the next day at lunch, and actually enjoyed it more.  The tofu and shallots were no longer crispy, which clearly wasn't as good, but the papaya soaked up the delicious dressing.

$8 was a good price for a large salad, normally $12 at the restaurant.

White Chocolate Mousse with Strawberry Gelee and Cookie Crumble, Salted Caramel Pot De Crème .  $5 each.

And finally ... desserts!  They offered four types of puddings, each layered, served in little jars.  You know how much I love puddings, so it was really hard to pick just two!

The first was my favorite.  The main layer was a creamy white chocolate mousse.  It was intensely white chocolate flavored.  So often things claim to be "white chocolate" and are really just fakely sweet.  This was actually very identifiable as white chocolate.  The bottom layer was strawberry gelee.  It was sweet, and a good flavor paired with the white chocolate.  The cookie crumble on top was I think a sugar cookie, and added a nice textural element.  This dish reminded me of cheesecake in many ways, creamy and rich, with fruit and cookie components somewhat mimicking crust and topping.  It was a bit hard to get a bite with all three layers since the jar was fairly narrow.  Overall, successful, and I'd eat it again, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it.

The next was the salted caramel pot de crème.  It was basically a sweet pudding, with a layer of very runny salted caramel, with whipped cream on top.  The overall consistency was too thin for my liking, a bit hard to eat, particularly the middle layer.  It was also too sweet.  I think it may have paired really well with a black coffee, but on its own, it was a bit over the top.  The salted caramel flavor was good though, and I did enjoy it, but probably wouldn't get again.

$5 was a fine price for desserts of this size, and the desserts were definitely the highlight of the meal.

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Scharffen Berger Chocolate

The first time my mother and sister came to visit me in the Bay Area, I lived in Sunnyvale.  I was working a zillion hours a day and had barely even been to San Francisco myself.  My world basically consisted of  apartment, my office, and the route between them.  I had no idea what to do with tourists.

Somehow, we found our way to the Scharffen Berger factory, to go on a tour.  It was my first chocolate factory tour, so it was somewhat interesting.  I know they are our local chocolate maker, so I feel like I should be loyal, but I don't really love their products.  They aren't bad, but really aren't that great.  Maybe they were better before being acquired by Hershey?

I've had a lot of Scharffen Berger over the past few years, but I didn't take notes previously.  I recently received a sampler pack including a milk, bittersweet, and extra dark variety, so we tasted them as a flight.

• 41%: This was very creamy, very smooth, nice mouthfeel, but a milk chocolate obviously, and not something we normally go for.  One fellow taster said: "not bad for milk chocolate ... just really really sweet!"
• 70%: Very bitter, not smooth/refined/balanced flavor at all. One fellow taster said "That is a lot better than the 36%".  [ hmm, now I like it, although very bitter for sure, like the bitterness ] [ Decent snap to it, fairly bitter, but not that balanced ]  
• 82%: More bitter, but still not smooth or refined.  One fellow taster remarked that it was "really fruity.  Doesn't have the best texture".  None of us really liked it.  Noted that it was good for baking.

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Gone Nuts!

As part of my recent snack foods addiction, I haven't just been gorging on chips and popcorn.  Ok, I kinda have, but every once in a while I also go for nuts, in attempt to have some protein.  I still haven't found any nuts I love as much as the Hail Merry ones, but these weren't bad.

Gone Nuts! makes a large variety of mixes, including all types of nuts and seeds: walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, brazil nuts, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, pepitas, and more.  The flavor variety is equally vast, ranging from spicy cajun lemon pepper to savory spinach pesto to balanced thai curry to sweeter varieties with chocolate and dried fruit.  Of course the sweet ones caught my eye.

The nuts are all either raw or sprouted, never roasted.  They are organic.  Sweetened with agave.  Those things don't matter as much to me as taste, but they are all positive attributes.

These didn't blow me away, but I'd consider trying some of their other varieties.

White Chocolate Cashews, Almonds & Cacao Nibs.

Of course these were the ones I went for.   Described as "Reminiscent of a white chocolate chip cookie" or a "decedent sweet and creamy flavor of raw cashews and sprouted almonds coated with premium clear agave nectar, coconut powder, cacao butter and mesquite pod meal."

There is nothing about these that reminded me of a white chocolate chip cookie.  They weren't bad, but I'd never imagine them that way.

The mix was primarily cashews, which I was disappointed by.  I don't hate cashews, but I don't love them.  I would guess that it was 80% cashews, with only a few almonds in my entire bag.  The nuts were all coated in a slightly sweet agave coating, but it was really minimally sweet.  The rest of the flavors were pretty interesting; I liked the coconut flavor, and the subtle cocoa flavor.  The crunch from the cocoa nibs added a little more texture.  But I really struggled to find any "white chocolate" flavor.

These really weren't anything like I was expecting, and I really hated them at first.  "Where is my white chocolate?" I thought, followed by, "Meh, cashews". I pretty quickly threw them into Ojan's snack pile.  But a few days later, they were still sitting there, so I tried them again.  And once I accepted them for what they were, I liked them much more.  And moved them back to my own pile belly.

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Macarons from Sugarie

You know how much I love baked goods.  And I eat a lot of cookies.  Yet somehow, macarons have never been my favorite.  Not that I dislike them, but I usually would prefer something else, and I've never really understood why people obsess about them.

Until that is, I discovered Sugarie, at my local Williams-Sonoma's artisan's market.  These are by far the best macarons I've ever had in my life.  Far better than the much publicized ones from Top Chef: Just Dessert's winner Yigit Pura's Tout Sweet.  Better than the ones from the slew of La Boulange cafes all over the city.  But ... they are located in San Mateo, and don't have a storefront.  Luckily, I found out they are also sold at Cako in San Francisco.

Go get them.  Now.

Assorted Macarons.

These are the best macarons I've ever had.  In every variety I tried, the cookies were very good, the texture just right, delicate.  And all of the fillings are intensely flavorful.

• Blueberry Champagne: Nice sweet filling, great blueberry flavor.
• Black Sesame Banana: Strong banana flavor, sweet, good, nice pairing against the black sesame. [ Great banana flavor, not something I ever thought I'd want in a macaron, but perfect pairing. ]
• Dark Chocolate Peppermint: Great mint flavor, nice dark chocolate.
• Pecan Maple: Absolutely amazing flavor.  I love pecan pie.  I love maple syrup.  I was raised on those things :)  And this had all of those familiar flavors, packaged up into a perfect little bite.  So delicious.  My favorite.
• Salted Caramel: Tons of salt, really great caramel flavor, very good.

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Axis Cafe

Almost two years ago, I attended a friend's wedding reception at Axis Cafe.  Then I promptly completly forgot about the venue, until I saw that they were listed on LevelUp.  They operate as a regular cafe during the week, and are open for brunch on weekends, but then offer a private event space on weekend nights.

The space is fairly memorable, particularly the outdoor back garden.  A large area, complete with heat lamps, fairly unique in San Francisco.  They also have interesting seating inside, with a fireplace in the middle of the room, surrounded by couches.  On one visit, there were no tables available, so they seated us on the couches.  It was slightly awkward to eat at the couches, but a really fun, casual, atmosphere, almost like being in a friend's living room.

The LevelUp experience however was not good.  Their phone was not charged, and so we had to wait at least 5 minutes while they charged it up, powered it on, etc.  Had it been one of my first times using LevelUp, I would not be a repeat customer.  It is too bad, because it is not LevelUp's fault that businesses handle it so poorly.

Anyway.  The food wasn't very good at the wedding, nor on my other visits.  I won't be going back.

Mac & Cheese, side order,  take out. $4.

This was incredibly unremarkable mac and cheese.  Perhaps remarkable in how banal it was.  The macaroni was cooked well enough, a little over, but that seems more acceptable in mac and cheese than in a regular pasta dish.  There was melted orange (cheddar?) cheese on top, and the sauce was creamy and white.  It looked so promising.  But, there was no flavor to it at all.  There was clearly cheese there, but I honestly didn't taste it.  There was also no seasoning.  And no breadcrumbs or anything.  Totally and completely banal.

A decent portion size for $4, but I would not get this again.

Almond French Toast, Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese, Roasted Yellow Peach, Vermont Syrup. $10.

On another occasion, we chose to dine-in.

I'm a sucker for good french toast, but so often am disappointed   I want it to be thick slices, eggy and custardy on the inside, caramelized and crispy on the outside.  And bonus points for delicious compotes, sauces, fruits, nuts, etc to go with.  The most memorable version I've ever had still comes from Baker & Banker: a french toast bread pudding with stewed apples and quince, crème fraîche whipped cream, and candied pecans.  ZOMG that was good stuff.

Anyway, 7x7 recently published an article about the top 7 french toasts in San Francisco, and the Axis Cafe version was on there.  So I had to try it.

It was better than it looked, but not that great.

The bread was brioche, my favorite choice for french toast.  And it was thick slices, another winning point.  However, it wasn't very eggy and not at all custardy.  There was some subtle cinnamon spicing. It did have a lovely caramelized seared crust on the bottom, a good touch.

It was coated in almond slivers, which added some crunch and nice flavor. Then there were thin slices of roasted peaches.  They were soft and might have been nice, but were completely flavorless.  Peaches are not in season.  Why is anyone serving peaches in November?  They should have been switched out for pears, persimmons, or apple compote months ago.

Next was the vanilla bean cream cheese.  I wasn't a fan.  I love a cream component with my french toast.  Whipped cream, crème fraîche, crème anglaise ... bring it.  And I like cream cheese, and often lament that it is strangely reserved for bagels most of the time.  I use flavored cream cheeses on waffles all the time.  And cream cheese stuffed french toast can be pretty tasty.  But this just didn't work for me.  Perhaps it would be better if it was a whipped variety?  It just had a strange mouthfeel, no real vanilla flavor.  I think the dish would have been far more successful with something else in its place.

We were also provided with a little pitcher of real maple syrup.  Not high quality, but at least distinguishable from corn syrup based pancake syrup.

Overall, not horrible, but not worth getting again.  $10 price was fine.

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Jamba Juice

A few years ago, for health reasons, I was forced onto a liquids-only diet for several months.  Let's just say I consumed a LOT of smoothies.  As a result, I kinda hate them.

Of course, during my time, I tried a bunch from the most famous smoothie chain around: Jamba Juice.  I didn't really like any, but, I also was pretty seriously hating on smoothies by that point.  I'm not sure I can give an unbiased opinion on this one ...

Peanut Butter Moo'd.  $4.45.

This is from the "Creamy Treats" section of the menu, made with vanilla frozen yogurt, chocolate, bananas, soy milk, and peanut butter.  Perhaps one of the most indulgent things on the menu, so of course it is what jumped out at me!

The consistency was decent, like a slightly-more-blended-than-usual milk shake.  It didn't separate or get weird as time passed.  It had a slight chocolate flavor, balanced out by some banana flavor, and some peanut butter than came through on the finish.  Overall though, the flavors didn't pop.  I really wanted to taste the chocolate, or the peanut butter, or even the banana more, they all just somewhat masked each other.

I got this as a "Last Days of Summer" promotion where all smoothies were $1, so that was very good price.  $4.45 seems a little pricy, but in line with all of their other drinks.  I wouldn't get this again.

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Smoothies:

• Banana Berry: "Bananas, Nonfat Frozen Yogurt, Blueberries, Raspberry Sherbet" :  Tasting notes: too sweet, too yogurty, too thick (with soy protein boost) [ Not too much banana, fairly refreshing, not bad ]
• Berry Bitten (Special for Twilight promotion).  "Mixed berry juice, raspberry sherbet, strawberries, blueberries, frozen yogurt, ice."  Tasting notes: This was nicely balanced, sweet and tart, and fairly refreshing!
• Mango Mantra Light: Tasting notes: My mom got this one, I tried a taste.  It was not as sweet as the others, kinda ok.  They seem to have discontinued it.
• Orange Dream Machine: "Nonfat Frozen Yogurt, Soymilk, Orange sherbet."  Tasting notes: best so far, not a classic smoothie though (aka, no fruit, just juice/soy/yogurt/sherbet - indulgent!)  More of a dessert, for sure.  It was even decent put in cooler and finished later.  Reminded me of a creamsicle.
• Peach Pleasure: "Orange Sherbert, Peaches, Bananas." Tasting notes: way too sweet, like most of their drinks. Do not like. [ Sweet, but not too sweet.  Decent flavors.  ]
• Pomegranate Pick Me Up: "Blueberries, strawberries, pomegranate juice concentrate, raspberries, greek yogurt." Tasting notes: nice tarness to balance out the sweetness. [ Really nicely blended and icy, but way too sweet. ]
• Pumpkin Smash (Seasonal).  "Real pumpkin blended with frozen yogurt and a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg".  Tasting notes: nicely blended, subtle pumpkin flavor, subtle soy.  Nutmeg really came through.  Not something I'd really want a full drink of, but tasty for a few sips.

Packaged Drinks

• Tropical Mango O.N.E. Coconut Water: Tasting notes: blech. Do not like the mango flavor at all, can't taste the coconut water!

Foods

• Brie, Apple & Sweet Fig Sandwich: "Brie Cheese, Apple Pieces and Fig Spread on Sliced Raisin Bread".  Tasting notes: The bread was mushy, and the brie was somehow flavorless.  I didn't taste the fig spread.  The apple was soft and the only part that tasted decent.

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