K Tea Cafe, Sunnyvale

I had my first ever Jianbing at Joe's Steam Rice Roll in New York, and found it fascinating.  When I returned to the Bay Area, I decided to seek it out.

My destination? K Tea Cafe.

"We are a locally owned family-friendly cafe. Our menu features milk teas, hot tea lattes, infused teas, and more! All of our tea and coffee drinks are made to order and freshly brewed in front of our customers. We proudly does not use any powders or high fructose corn syrup in our personally made drinks.

We also serve a variety of street foods including our specialty Jianbing - a traditional Chinese savory crepe cooked to perfection! Other items on our menu include crispy chicken, takoyaki, bento boxes and other street foods!"

I was additionally drawn in of course by the promise of milk teas (including those with cheese foam!), and fun things like takoyaki.

K Tea Feast.

Our group shared several dishes, so I was able to sample a range from the menu.

Setting

Store Front.

My quest lead me to K Tea Cafe, located in downtown Sunnyvale, the perfect destination when I had some co-workers in town for a conference.

Prep Area.

K Tea is a casual setup, order at a register, and your order is called out when ready.  Most of the food prep happens right behind the counter.

Crepe Station!

Just like Joe's Steam Rice Noodle, the jianbing making station was front and center, and I loved watching them being made.

Condiments.

I appreciated the DIY condiment station, with all the tasty sauces.

Cuisine

Main Menu.

The menu at K Tea Cafe is ... extensive.  And hard to define.  It is Korean.  Japanese.  Chinese.  Vietnamese.  Um, #allTheAsian.  But, with a bit of American pub food sprinkled in too?  But not really fusion.  So. Many. Choices.

One of my guests lauded K Tea in just owning up to the fact that they serve dishes from a slew of different cultures, and just pick the best of every one.   They don't try to be authentic to one region or another.

Still, it really was amusing, and slightly overwhelming, to have a menu to pick from for our main dish that ranged from Vietnamese bahn mi, to Chinese jianbing, to Korean rice bowls, to fusion bao ... with street foods from around the world as snacks.

And that doesn't even get into the beverage lineup, a full array of milk tea, fruit tea, coffee drinks, and more toppings than even places that specialize in *just* the drinks.  And ... new Hong Kong desserts were just added, although their waffle machine was broken.

Kinda something for everyone here, with many protein options, beef, pork belly, chicken, and tofu too.  The only thing I didn't see represented was seafood, besides octopus in one dish.  Oh, and, uh, anything vaguely healthy or vegetable focused.  Very, very few vegetables on the menu, only used as garnish.  Not much freshness here.

Noodle Menu.

Another menu board listed out all the options for building your own stir fry noodle dish, again with a range of options, and I don't just mean the type of noodle (egg, rice,whole wheat), or the protein (chicken, tofu, pork belly, beef), or the toppings (too many to list out here).  No, I mean, spanning ... all the cuisines.  The sauce choices were named like "Malaysia", which featured a sweet soy sauce, "Saigon" for garlic and black pepper, "Seoul" for gochujiang, etc, etc.  Tokyo, szechuan, bangkok were all options too.

So many choices.

Street Food

The street food menu had a slew of things we wanted to try, but since we weren't that hungry, we settled on only 3: sweet potato fries, because they were what I wanted the most, takoyaki because most people had never had them, and one of the fried crispy chicken options, so there was enough protein in the meal.  Yes, here we had an American item, a Japanese items, and a Korean one.

That meant we had to look past the garlic fries (good, but less delicious to me than sweet potato fries), and the corn nuggets (which I totally would have ordered if the topic of takoyaki hadn't come up), and the more standard items like potstickers or spring rolls.

The street food items all came served in cardboard boxes, even though we were dining in, with little skewers with which to stab and eat them, true street food style. 

All were served in generous portions, so big that even though we got 3 sides and 2 mains for 4 people, we had far too much extra food.  I gladly saved all the leftover sweet potato fries, and enjoyed them a day later (they crisped up perfectly in the toaster oven), and my companion really enjoyed the leftover crispy chicken, but we easily could have ordered just 1 side, or 1 fewer entree.

Original Crispy Chicken. $6.75.

For the chicken (e.g. responsible protein), we could pick from "original", lemon pepper, garlic, or spicy.

Since it was our first time, we went for the original to try the basic version.

It was ... fine.  It was indeed crispy, but the coating was not really a style I like.  Seemed to be mostly dark, a bit tough, chicken.

I did like the whole cloves of garlic that were mixed in, although, we did wonder why we had those, given that ordered the original, not garlic, version.  Was the garlic one ... more garlic?

One diner liked this, particularly when dipped in sweet chili sauce from the condiments table.

Takoyaki. $6.75.

The takoyaki we ordered a bit on a whim, mostly because in discussing the menu we realized the others were not familiar with takoyaki.  

Neither myself, nor the other guest who was familiar, had any particular great experiences with takoyaki before though, so we didn't particularly expect it to be good.  We went to what is supposed to be some of the best in Tokyo, Gindaco High Ball Sakaba, and, as you may recall, we were not impressed.  The best I have ever had was still just at a random catered reception in Tokyo.

This however, was definitely good.  Served hot and fresh, so hot of course that it burnt the mouth of the person who dove in right away.

The texture of the balls was really what was spectacular, crispy on the very exterior, but soft and slightly chewy and almost even mochi-like inside.  I really enjoyed the texture of the balls.  The bits of octopus inside were a bit chewy, as it fairly common I think.

On top, a decent coating of sweeter takoyaki sauce and a drizzle of spicy mayo.  I of course loved the sauces.

I was pretty surprised by how good these were, and the other person who was familiar with takoyaki agreed it was better than he'd had in Tokyo too.  The others weren't as impressed, lamenting the chewy octopus.  I'm glad we tried these, and I'd get them again.

Sweet Potato Fries. $5.75.

I'm not going to lie.  I partially picked K Tea Cafe because I was really craving sweet potato fries, and I had read that they had good ones.

And ... well, they did.  Even the person who said he wasn't into sweet potato fries, and doesn't normally like them, was pleased with these, and he ate far more than anticipated.  He praised them even.

Like everything, they were quite hot and fresh, and super crispy.  I loved the good sweet potato flavor, the assorted sizes and shapes, and they even almost seemed battered, just slightly.

Very, very good sweet potato fries, but I found myself really needing a sauce.  Well, I always am all about sauces, but for these, I really wanted something to dip them in, and the spicy sauces, or even the banana ketchup or sweet chili, just weren't doing it for me.

At some point, I discovered that I could dip them into the sauces in with the takoyaki, and kinda loved them that way.  The sweet sauce and creamy mayo ... a good combo with the sweet potato fries.

Side of Spicy Mayo.

So ... I went up and asked for a side of the spicy mayo of course!

It greatly, greatly improved my already good experience of eating the sweet potato fries.  The mix with the sweet takoyaki definitely worked too, in a different way, but I found mixing it with the spicy chili was even better, just more of a rare flavor combination.

Jianbing

The main reason we were at K Tea Cafe however, was to try the jianbing, a dish I had only discovered a few weeks prior in New York, at Joe's Rice Noodle Rolls, in the Canal Street Market.   I found it really unique, tasty, and something I wanted to try more of.  It also happens to be the signature dish of K Tea Cafe.

If you are unfamiliar, jianbing is a savory crepe, usually eaten as breakfast in China, sold as street food.  They come with different fillings and sauces, but usually have baocui (crispy fried crackers), some kind of protein, scallions, and a chili or hoisin sauce inside.  They are folded and served to be eaten with the hands.

All jianbing come with egg, crispy fried wonton, green onion, cilantro, black sesame, and spicy and sweet black bean sauce.  From there, you can pick your protein (chicken teriyaki, bulgogi beef, pork belly, tofu, or, classic, with nothing else added).  From there, you can add chili oil, lettuce, dried pork, and preserved mustard for free, and cheese or ham for $1.50 more.

We ordered two to split between the 4 of us, as we were ordering other things, and, because we had been eating all day at our conference, and weren't that hungry.  It turned out to be plenty, as these are quite sizable items.  Both were made fresh to order, and well timed to be ready at the same time as our other foods.  They cook quickly.

Classic Jianbing. $8.75. All free toppings.

"Chinese Savory Crepe with egg, crispy fried wonton, green onion, cilantro and black sesame. Topped with garlic chile and sweet bean sauce!"

For the first jianbing, I wanted to just go classic, mostly because none of the fillings actually called out to me.  I was sad that they didn't have crab or sausage as options, like Joe's had.  We opted for all the free add-ons (pork floss, preserved mustard, chili oil, lettuce). 

The crepe style was a bit different from what I had at Joe's, in that it came as one large (VERY large) crepe.  I think it would have been quite hard to eat this way, and suddenly appreciated that Joe's had cut it into two chunks, and that Joe's had rolled it differently, more folds, but far more portable and easy to eat.  Since we were splitting it though, we had to cut it up anyway, so that didn't matter.

The crepe base was good, I liked how well distributed the green onions and sesame seeds were, and it wasn't too eggy (always a concern for me).  I did wish it was a bit crispier though.  It was brushed lightly inside with the sauce, but it was quite lost, even with few fillings.  I'm not sure why they menu said it would come topped with sauce, as, it didn't.  The pork floss, lettuce, and mustard though I didn't taste at all, and I really wanted to, as they were the parts that sounded flavorful and interesting.  I did like the generous portion of crispy wonton.

Overall though, it was quite boring.  Just, not as flavorful nor interesting as what I had in New York.

At Joe's though, part of what made the jianbing was the sauces.  Oh the sauces.  I adored that peanut sauce, and the other mixes I came up with.  K Tea however didn't have nearly as exciting of sauces.  Soy sauce, sweet chili, a little spicy chili ... it worked, it added something, but it certainly didn't leave me wanting more. 

I ended up using the extra spicy mayo I had added on for the sweet potato fries, and I liked that, but, it wasn't quite appropriate. 

I wouldn't get this again, and the others felt it was interesting to try, but weren't really thrilled either.

Bulgogi Beef Jianbing. $10.75. All free toppings + cheese ($1).

For the second jianbing, they picked bulgogi beef, and we decided to add cheese to this one too.

I didn't try it, as I was far too happy with just feasting on sweet potato fries and takoyaki, but they said it was more flavorful.

Black Sesame Latte, Iced, Soy, No Sweet
with Egg Pudding, Aloe Vera, Lychee Popping Boba,
Krema (on the side).

For my beverage, er, dessert, I went for a black sesame latte, but, customized it heavily.  They had sooo many choices for me to make.

This was a very random choice for me, not one I had pre-planned.  But I realized I didn't want just another standard bubble tea, and when I saw black sesame as an option for a latte, I decided to just turn it into a bubble tea, basically.

The latte is available iced or hot, I went for iced, as it was hot out.  Milk choices were extensive: almond, cream, organic milk, soy, or oat.  Given my love of soy milk, that was an easy option, and it was nice they didn't charge extra for it (only for oat milk).

Sweetness options of regular (100%), less (60%), extra lite (30%), or No Sweet (0%).  I went for No Sweet, since I often find that even the lightest sweet option results in a very sweet drink, particularly when I add all the mix-ins. 

I wanted many many mix-ins, and the person taking my order told me that if I got more than two (I had selected 5), it really winds up as a cup of mix-ins, and not a beverage.  I assured him this was fine, but reduced my order to only 3 mix-ins (egg pudding, lychee popping boba, aloe vera), and ... krema, but on the side, so I could use it as I pleased.

The base of this turned out to be ... well, not sweet.  My fears of an overly sweet creation were unfounded, as they seemed to really just use black sesame that ... wasn't a crazy sweet powder to start.  So often you start with a sweet powder, then they add additional sweet, so, this started out actually not sweet.  And the soy milk used seemed unsweetened too. 

It was an interesting base, the black sesame didn't really dissolve, again, they seemed to use real black sesame, and for a cold drink, this resulted in lots of bits of ground up black sesame seeds throughout.  It had a light sesame flavor, and I liked the black sesame with the soy milk, but if you were expecting a sweet, powder based, very strong black sesame flavor, this certainly was not it.  One of my companions tried a sip and was like "that is not sweet enough for me!".

I thought it was nice to sip on alongside my spicier food, but it didn't meet my dessert needs either, and I ended up going out for cheesecake instead, and mostly saving this for later.  I may or may not have repurposed the soy sesame milk for my granola the next morning, with some of the mix-ins too, and really, really enjoyed it.  I need to use bubble tea milk for cereal more often!

I really liked their version of krema.  Fluffy in the right way, savory, and quite salty.  I was glad to have it on the side, so I could use it on other things.  Definitely one of the highlights of the meal.

Mix-Ins: Egg Pudding, Aloe Vera, Lychee Popping Boba.

Now, for the rest of the mix-ins.

I had many, many choices, including 7 types of boba (honey, brown sugar, mango bursting, strawberry bursting, passion fruit bursting, lychee bursting, crystal), 4 types of jellies (coffee, rainbow, lychee, grass), puddings, red or mung beans, aloe vera, and more.

Narrowing down to just 3 was hard, but I decided on egg pudding (in case I wanted to extract it as a dessert), lychee bursting boba (for sweetness and complimentary flavor), and aloe vera, my recent new discovery that I like to add.  It was hard to pass up the jellies and more of their house made boba though.

The pudding was very average, clearly from a can, big chunks.  It had ... virtually no flavor, even when I singled it out and just ate it alone, and thus provided little other than texture (it was firm and slimy, in a good way, but the taste was non-existent).  I'd skip this in the future.

The aloe vera was fine, I appreciate having that more crispy texture compared to boba, and it was refreshing.  Fairly standard.

The lychee popping boba were my favorite mix-in, quite sweet, nice bursts of juiciness.  But, much like the pudding, these clearly weren't made in house, or anything special, just, generic from a supplier mass produced juicy boba.

My mix-ins were fine, but, I think in the future I'd likely go for the honey or crystal boba, since they seem to make those in-house, and probably the rainbow or lychee jellies, since I do tend to love those.

Read More...

Elephant and Castle, Boston

Elephant and Castle.  Two items I don't normally put together.  Why is there an elephant with the castle?  I have no idea, but I do know that Elephant and Castle is a chain of British inspired pubs (ok, I do know, it is a neighborhood in London that they named it after).

"Get your Brit on."

Yes, that is really their slogan.  The menu at Elephant and Castle is pretty much what you'd expect from a British pub: sausage rolls, meat pies, wings, bangers & mash, burgers, fish & chips, even the Sunday roast, plus, uh, hummus and veggies and a veggie wrap.  To satisfy the non meat eaters.

I tried a few items, and was ... highly underwhelmed.  On the plus side though, the staff were really quite friendly, even remembering me by name the second time I visited!

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!

• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup 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 ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

I placed my orders in advance on Seamless, and they were ready in <5 minutes each time.  Very prompt.

Setting

I visited the Boston location.

Bar.

Since I visited for takeout only, so I didn't get the full pub experience, but it is a large space, with plenty of bar seating and regular tables, and seemed to be a decent place to gather over a pint, if that is your thing.  +1 point for ambiance.

Outdoor Seating.

They also had outdoor seating, I think makeshift because Covid, as it didn't exactly have the pub ambiance of inside ...

Cuisine

Mashed Potatoes.  $3.50.

"with fried onion garnish."

Well, this wasn't quite what I was expecting.  I was in the mood for creamy, smooth, yellow, mashed potatoes, and these were skin-on, hunky, red skinned mash.  At least I knew it wasn't instant?

My order was ready in ... literally one minute, so clearly just scooped into a container to go.  The mash was cold, lumpy, not creamy ... just, really not very good at all.  It had some garlic in it.

The crispy onion pieces I was excited for, but, uh, they were soft, and tasted kinda stale, and were clearly not freshly fried crispy onions, but rather, something from a package.  They looked so promising!

And finally, the gravy.  Also cold.  Also not the consistency I wanted ... just kinda thick and congealed.  No real flavor.

So, meh, meh, triple meh.  Nothing really positive to say about these.

*, I'll give credit for having the topping and gravy included for only $3.50 ...

Onion Rings.  Side.  $4.

"Panko crusted onion rings. served with chipotle aioli."

I was excited to see that the onion rings, like the sweet potato fries, came with a chipotle aioli.  Unlike the potatoes, they were freshly cooked, hot, and crispy.

But, uh, not panko crusted as advertised, rather they were crispy battered.  Kinda greasy.  All a thinner style than I like.  Highly mediocre.

The chipotle aioli was nothing special either, likely just from a Sysco bottle.

The onion rings are available as a side for $4, or a share plate for $8, presumably the difference is just portion size.  

**+, nothing exactly wrong with them, but, just not very good either.

Read More...

Dig, Boston

Dig.  Formerly known as Dig Inn, a chain of fast food restaurants with locations in Boston, New York, and Philly, that takes a healthy spin on things, works directly with farmers, sources locally, yadda yadda yadda.  (Side note; they now partner with JetBlue to provide dishes for the new London routes ...).

The concept is build-a-bowl, with a greens or grains base, protein, "market sides", and sauce, or pick from their curated bowls.  Some of the sides and bases are hot, others are chilled.  The menu has some staples, but also adds seasonal offerings every few months. 

Service is assembly line style, everything is pre-made and held in hot steam trays (or cold well), and your bowl is passed down the line with things added.  You can also opt to get any of the market sides as a la carte items.  Service is fast and quite efficient.

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!

• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup 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 ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

I ordered online in advance to skip the line, and it was ready promptly.

Jasper Hill Mac & Cheese.

"Jasper Hill three-cheese blend, Ithaca milk, whole-wheat pasta, crispy panko breadcrumbs."

The mac and cheese is their most popular menu item.  It gets rave reviews.  Mac and cheese lends itself well to that kind of heat and hold serving style, so, I was excited to try it.  It looked great too, creamy, good amount of crispy panko breadcrumb on top.

But ... eh. It was almost too cheesy, if that makes any sense.  Just, too strong in the cheese, and not nearly as creamy as it looked.  And the pasta was mushy (and eh, whole wheat?).

**+, not sure why people love this so much (then again, I'm partial to my totally low end Krispy Krunchy Chicken mac and cheese!).

Coconut Roasted Eggplant (Seasonal).  $3.27.

"Eggplant roasted with coconut oil, confit garlic, toasted coconut, parsley, mint, and lime."

I was going through a serious eggplant phase, so I was excited to see eggplant among the seasonal summer offerings.  And with confit garlic?  It sounded great.

Just a note - this dish is served cold, so, warning if you are expecting a hot item.

I ... didn't really like this either.  The eggplant was quite bitter.  I didn't taste coconut, not that I really wanted to, but the "coconut roasted" element certainly didn't come through.  The garlic wasn't nearly as strong as I hoped either.

It wasn't horrible, but, eh.

**+.

Kitchen Sink Cookie. $1.87.

"Spiced oat cookie with flaxseed, grated carrot, raisins, and chocolate chips."

I threw a cookie on to my order, on complete whim, as I was kinda going through a cookie phase.  And you know I need to have dessert.  But, um, a healthy flaxseed cookie?  I don't know what I was thinking (ok, I do know.  I wasn't going to have it that night really, but rather, uh, save it for breakfast.  Flaxseed, carrots, raisins, chocolate chips?  Sounds like breakfast to me!

I'm glad I got it.  Shockingly.  It was soft, with a slight chew.  It tasted healthy, but, in a way I wanted.  Sorta like carrot cake.  Lightly spiced. Sooo much texture from the flax and sunflower seeds, moist ... just, well, good.  And yes, it worked great for breakfast.

****.

Read More...

Recchiuti Confections

If you've ever been to the Ferry Building, you've probably seen Recchiuti Confections.  It is a chocolate shop, offering up an assortment of truffles, bars, and other treats.  If you are lucky, as you pass by, they'll offer a sample of their chocolate fudge or caramel sauces.  When they ask, "chocolate or caramel?" the correct answer is "yes".  Their goods are also sold all over town.

Their products certainly aren't bad, but they also just aren't that great.  I know some of my friends will seriously disagree with me here, as they love the place.  The chocolate is quality, sourced from E. Guittard, El Rey, and Valrhona.  Their combinations range from really creative, to higher quality takes on classics like Whoppers and York Peppermint Patties.  I always really want to like their stuff, but somehow, it never impresses, certainly not worth the cost.

Truffles

Star Anise & Pink Peppercorn.

“Fragrant star anise and crushed pink peppercorn infused in semi-sweet chocolate ganache. Enrobed in pure milk chocolate and tipped with Venezuelan white chocolate.”

Yup, this tasted like pink peppercorn.  Different for sure, but really just not what I want in my chocolate.

Spring Jasmine Tea.

“Delicate jasmine blossoms and green tea leaves infused in extra-bitter chocolate ganache. Enrobed in pure milk chocolate and marbleized with 65% bittersweet chocolate.”

This one was really interesting. The dark chocolate ganache was creamy and intense, yet it was balanced by a very lovely jasmine flavor. I didn’t taste the green tea, but the jasmine was most certainly present.  Not overbearing.  A very fascinating, successful, combination.

Burnt Caramel.

"Michael Recchiuti’s signature piece. Dark, smoky caramel blended with 70% dark chocolate ganache. Enrobed in our semisweet chocolate."

This is their signature item, but to me, it is just another dark chocolate with caramel ganache.  Nothing stood out in particular - the dark chocolate coating is fine, but not particularly flavorful or bitter.  The filling is smooth, but the burnt caramel flavor is pretty subtle, particularly the “burnt” part.  Would not purchase.  

Update Reviews: [ Again, do not really taste the caramel.  Chocolate is nice and smooth. ] [ Again, unremarkable.  Not bad, not good. ]

Burnt Caramel.

"Michael Recchiuti’s signature piece. Dark, smoky caramel blended with 70% dark chocolate ganache. Enrobed in our semisweet chocolate."

I've had this chocolate many times, as it is their signature piece, and I never quite know how to feel about it.

On one hand, its not a bad piece.  The chocolate shell is really quite smooth, dark, although a touch sweet.

But the filling is never what I expect it to be.  Because the caramel is a dark caramel, and it is blended with the 70% dark chocolate ganache, it is hard to recognize it as what I think of as "caramel".  That doesn't mean it is bad, just, that my brain never quite understands what is going on.  The filling is very, very smooth, it is thick, and it is sweet, but not in a caramel way, if that makes sense.

So it is fine, fairly unique I guess, but I don't find myself wanting more of these.

Burnt Caramel.

"Michael Recchiuti’s signature piece. Dark, smoky caramel blended with 70% dark chocolate ganache. Enrobed in our semisweet chocolate."

I've had this chocolate many times, as it is their signature piece, and I never quite know how to feel about it.

On one hand, its not a bad piece.  The chocolate shell is really quite smooth, dark, although a touch sweet.

But the filling is never what I expect it to be.  Because the caramel is a dark caramel, and it is blended with the 70% dark chocolate ganache, it is hard to recognize it as what I think of as "caramel".  That doesn't mean it is bad, just, that my brain never quite understands what is going on.  The filling is very, very smooth, it is thick, and it is sweet, but not in a caramel way, if that makes sense.

So it is fine, fairly unique I guess, but I don't find myself wanting more of these.

Cacao Nib and Fleur de Sel Mendiant.

"A little salty, a little sweet and a whole lot of crunch and snap! We've reinvented a traditional European confection with our Cacao Nib and Fleur de Sel Mendiants. Our custom semisweet chocolate blend is topped with crunchy caramelized cacao nibs and finished with a touch of fleur de sel."

This is simple piece, but actually my favorite.

Very smooth dark chocolate.  Touch of crunch from the nibs on top.  Hint of sea salt to amp it up.

Simple, classic, but well executed.

[ No Photos ]

• Honeycomb Malt: “Organic barley malt infusion, blended in a white chocolate ganache and highlighted with the sweet smokiness of house-made honeycomb. “ Tasting notes: The white chocolate was not too sweet at all (often a problem with white chocolates, they tend to just be sweet and have nothing more to them).  The honeycomb was a good flavor and left a very enjoyable honey flavored sweet aftertaste.  I wouldn’t purchase this, but it was good for what it was.
• Lemon Verbena: “Fresh lemon verbena infusion blended in extra-bitter chocolate ganache. Enrobed in pure bittersweet chocolate.”  Tasting notes: The chocolate was decently dark, but I didn’t taste the lemon verbena infusion.
• Force Noir: “Silky 70% extra-bitter chocolate ganache infused with whole vanilla bean. Enrobed in pure bittersweet chocolate.”  Tasting notes: Very creamy filling, quite good.

Bars

• Semisweet: Tasting notes: just dark chocolate, nothing standout.

Fruits

Key Lime Pear.

"Delicately tart Key lime juice kisses each pear crisp bathed in smooth, dark chocolate."

I didn't really taste the lime in here.  The pear was super thinly sliced, and I loved the crunch.  High quality dark chocolate.  I liked this quite a bit and easily polished off the box.

Candied Orange Peel.

"Fresh orange peel is candied in-house and painstakingly cut by hand before being enrobed in smooth semisweet chocolate."

Unlike the limes, this had a very strong orange flavor.  It was also soft, rather than crispy.  I think would pair beautifully with a glass of scotch!

[ No Photo ]

Chocolate Covered Dried Cherry

"Dried Michigan tart cherries drenched in dark chocolate with a light dusting of cocoa powder. "

Very flavorful tart cherry inside.  Good quality bitter dark chocolate.  Both the cherry and chocolate flavors come through really nicely, neither overpowers, really good ratio of chocolate/fruit. Yum yum yum!

My favorite of their pieces.

Snacks

• Malted Revolution: "Crunchy malted cookie center, hand coated with layers of our custom dark milk chocolate blend. An accent of Fleur de Sel is added before a final revolution of chocolate." Tasting notes: The center is much more crisp than a Whooper.  Likewise, it didn't dissolve on the tongue in the fun way a Whooper does.  The center was far more malty than a Whooper.  The dark chocolate is obviously higher quality than the chocolate on a Whooper, but it actually doesn’t work as well.  I didn’t pick up on the fluer de sel at all.  This piece was lost on me, even though I really wanted to like it.
• Peppermint Thin: “Organic Willamette Valley peppermint drenched in our custom blend of 64% semisweet chocolate.”.  Tasting notes: This was very thin, with about an equal amount of chocolate as filling.  As a result, it wasn’t minty enough for me.  The majority flavor was the chocolate, with the filling giving a nice creaminess  but not much more.  I haven’t had a York peppermint patty in years, so I can’t compare, but I remember them having much more filling and being more minty.
• Peanut Butter Pearls: “Pearls of creamy organic peanut butter and dark milk chocolate with a crispy center. ”. Tasting notes: The milk chocolate was nice and creamy, but there wasn’t much peanut butter flavor.  Or at least, not nearly enough for me!

Sweets

• Pear-Lime Pâtes de Fruits: Covered in large amount of sugar.  Decent flavor, nice consistency.  I don’t love pâtes de fruits in general, but this was good for what it was.

Read More...

Sirabella Cheesecake

Cheesecake.  Not exactly the item that comes to mind when you think "vegan", yet, vegan cheesecake has become more and more of a thing lately, like that made by Sirabella.  

“We taste tested non-vegan and non-lactose intolerant consumers.  They could not tell the difference between our dairy free cheesecake and regular cheesecake.  Our Italian bakery will still provide that rich creamy filling with the golden brown graham cracker bottom.”

I was told by members of our catering team, who had tried this cheesecake before, that it was good.  I didn't really believe them, and never ordered it for my team.  And then one day, the vendor was doing a pop-up event at my office, and had samples.  Now that I was willing to try,  As a dessert lover, I'll admit that I was kinda a jerk and did not believe the claim, and just wanted to "prove it".

Sirabella makes many flavors, mostly based on a classic New York, with assorted fruity toppings.  They don't have a bakery storefront, but ship nationwide, and are found at many grocery stores and the like, available wholesale as well.  We only had the classic New York.

Vegan New York.

"Vegan, Dairy Free, New York cheesecake, direct from New York."

I was really, really pleasantly surprised.  Did it taste like standard cheesecake?  No, not at all.  But, it was a good product.

The texture and consistency were right - smooth, creamy but firm.  The crust was not a throwaway, not mush nor too hard, rather, a slightly caramely soft-firm base, better than most cheesecakes.  And the cheesecake itself?  It had a interesting flavor, a bit hard to describe, not soy forward, not plastic-y ... just, different.

If you wanted classic cream cheese flavor, you wouldn't' find it here, but for a nice, sweet, creamy, vegan treat, this truly was tasty.

Read More...

Joe's Steam Rice Roll, NYC

When one is in New York, there are obviously countless options for dining, from high end to hot dogs from a cart, and everything in-between.  While I certainly have sought out well known higher end and mid-range restaurants, sometimes I just want something simple, tasty, and convenient, so when I was traveling, and worn out my first night in town, I consulted my handy list and Joe's Steam Rice Roll jumped out at me.  Ok, perhaps because it was literally right around the corner from my hotel, but, my notes promised me that people adore the place.

Don't expect to learn much about Joe's Steam Rice Roll though - they have no website, no phone number even.

Tasty Meal.

Joe's Steam Rice Roll is known mostly for one item: the namesake rice noodle rolls, Cantonese-style cheong fun, which, uh, I didn't get.  I like rice noodle rolls, usually something I get at dim sum, but the crepe-like jianbing is what drew me in, even though it was a new item to me.

I enjoyed the entire experience, and was pleased with my pick.

Setting

Joe's Rice Noodle Rolls has two locations, one in Queens, and then the one I visited, located inside the Canal Street Market.

Simplicity.

I appreciated the simplicity of the signage for Canal Street Market. 

Joe's Stand.

Inside is a food court basically, with multiple vendors around the edges of the area.

Standing Table.

There are some standing tables, for quick consumption, but most people seemed to grab their items to-go.

Menu

Menu.

The Joe's menu isn't large, but it had more items than I expected, obviously the rice rolls in several varieties, but also things like curry fish balls.

Crepe Menu.

And then of course, what I got, the Chinese crepe-like pancakes - jianbing.

Crepe Making.

Every item is made to order, and although each one doesn't take that long to prepare, the constant flow of people did result in a bit of a wait, since the crepe making space only fits one at a time.  I enjoyed watching all the action.

Food

As I mentioned, the jianbing was an entirely new food item for me.  Which, was quite exciting.  It also meant I had no idea what to expect.

The wait was agonizing.  Partially because I was starving, but also, because it took far longer than I expected.  Crepes were made one by one, so, well, it took a while, as there were many orders ahead of me (I wasn't the only one not getting the signature rice noodle rolls, although, those were certainly more common).  Most people seemed to be in groups, sharing some of each.

My order came handed over with a set of ... plastic gloves.  Huh?  And, unlike the people I saw picking up rice noodle rolls, I wasn't given containers for sauces.  Utensils only consisted of forks and spoons (or chopsticks), so, clearly I wasn't supposed to coat this in sauce and cut it up with a knife.  Was I supposed to go sauceless?  Should I dunk it?  Why did I need gloves? I had no idea what I was doing, clearly.

Sauce Station: Peanut butter and sesame sauce, chili oil, hoisin, soy, siracha.

I had read so much about Joe's sauces though, particularly the spicy chili oil (in the plastic bucket in back) and the peanut sesame sauce.  I really wanted to try them, so I asked for containers anyway, and filled them with the spicy chile, the hoisin, and the peanut sauce.  Just in case.

The spicy chile oil was indeed spicy, and I loved the heat it added, although it was oily (it is oil after all ...).

The peanut sauce was thick and rich, nutty, and something I'd certainly love in some context, but it didn't go great with my crepe.

The hoisin was fairly standard hoisin.

Joe's Crepe (crab stick and pork floss). Spicy mayo version. $7. 

"Lettuce, egg, scallion, cilantro, spicy sauce."

For my crepe, I had the choice of crab stick, pork floss, or sausage.  I couldn't decide between the two, as I love crab stick (yes, really) but pork floss also has its place.  I asked the server which he recommended, and he said that the pork floss was definitely the most popular.  I asked if I could do a combo of both, and he said that was no problem.  I was not charged extra.

The next decision I had to make was spicy or not.  I said spicy.  And then I had to decide between a spicy mayo, or sriracha.  Duh.  Of course I wanted spicy mayo.

The crepe shell was fascinating to me, very unlike anything I've had before.  It was much thinner than it looked, and softer.  For some reason, I thought it would be thicker and crispier.  It was quite pliable, and had a nice flavor from the sesame seeds sprinkled in.  It was rather oily, which, if I was picking it up as street food, which I think I was supposed to be doing, it would have been messy.  Hence the gloves?

Some bites tasted more eggy than I liked, but that is just me not really liking eggs.

Oh, it was also quite large.  I expected something half this size.  No wonder most people were splitting them.

Joe's Crepe: Side View.

The inside though was even more fascinating, here you can see a cross section, with the crepe folds on the outside.

I knew it would have crab stick, pork floss, and mayo, since I selected those.  I knew from the description that all crepes have lettuce, scallion, and parsley.  But ... when I bit in, something crunchy came falling out.

Crunch?!  This turns out to be normal in Chinese style crepes, it was a baocui, a fried cracker.  Super thin, crispy, and I loved the crunch.

Joe's Crepe: Inside.

I pulled back the crepe to get a glimpse of the rest of the fillings.  I had no idea what other surprises lie inside.  Spoiler: no other surprises.

The lettuce was juicy and slightly wilty, and something I do like.  Cooked lettuce has its place.  I would have even liked more, to cut the oil a bit.  The crab stick was pretty average, and didn't have much flavor.  It was nice with the spicy mayo, but there was barely any of that.  I was sad by how little spicy mayo I found.  The pork floss was salty and tasty, and I'm glad I selected it too.

Overall, this took a little getting used to.  I couldn't decide how I felt about it at first, picking it up as a sandwich, then tasting components individually.  But in teh end, I did cut it up, and I did add tons of hoisin and chile oil, and really enjoyed it.  It grew on me, quickly.  But I think I wasn't supposed to add sauces, and certainly wasn't supposed to be cutting it up (I had to get a knife from another vendor).

I enjoyed this, but I'm not sure I'd get another.  It was unique to me, and fun, but maybe I should go for the signature item next time?

Read More...

Shrewd Food

Snacks.  I love them.  I'm a snacker.  Mid-morning, afternoon, and night.  I love my snacks.  While sometimes I feel inspired to snack healthy (fruits, veggies, nuts, etc), most of the time ... I'm all for the crispy, crunchy, munchable, packaged products, and you know I adore my popcorn.  

"We are a family of snackers who want to share our nutritious and delicious snacks with the world. We are a family of creators who have developed the crunchiest, healthiest, shrewdest snacks around. We are a family of friends who honestly care about you and your mindful decision to snack more nutritiously for your benefit. You’ll love our high protein low carb snacks. We are your Shrewd Food family. We are here for you."

Shrewd Foods thus appeals pretty well to me - adding some protein into my snacking sounds great.  Shrewd Foods makes 5 lines of products, ranging from their original product, protein puffs, to their newest line, Keto dippers, with cookies and croutons somewhere in-between.  All are perfectly munchable items, and free from #allTheThings (soy-free, nut-free, egg-free, gluten-free, etc, etc).

Protein Puffs

The first product I tried is their original offering, protein puffs.  These are sorta like a a puffy chip.  Chips are a particular category of snack, and strangely, I rarely want them in-between meals, but I love them paired with my lunch.  Which is exactly why the protein puffs appealed to me - replace my chips and add protein?

"Are you following a gluten free, peanut free, tree nut free, soy free or egg free diet? You’re safe to snack on our protein Puffs. Our Puffs are also free from corn syrup, artificial flavors, colors and preservatives for a guilt free snack. 

WE LIKE TO CALL THIS OUR 3, 2, 1 GO! 3g of fat, 2g of Carbs and 1g of Sugar with plenty of Go from 14g of Protein. Get baked guilt-free!"

Like all the products, the signature Protein Puffs are high protein, low carb, gluten-free, low calorie, etc, etc.  They are made from ...  milk protein isolate, shaped into balls, baked, and then coated in seasonings.

Protein Puffs come in 7 flavors, mostly savory and cheese focused (e.g. cheese puffs): baked cheddar, brick oven pizza, nacho cheese, sriracha cheddar, and sour cream & onion, plus two sweet versions: strawberries & cream and cookies & cream.

I was able to try two kinds of savory, and one sweet.

Individual Bags.

The protein puffs come in handy single serve bags, each containing a few handfuls of puffs (not quite as full as the bag kinda looks), but plenty to make up a good snack. I found I didn't ever want more by the end of a bag.  They also offer some varieties in family size bags.

Each individual bag has only 90 calories, quite decent for snack food, yet has 14 grams of protein.  They seem ... kinda awesome, if that kind of macro tracking maters to you.

The first flavor I tried was the "Brick Oven Pizza", which had quite a tasty looking pizza on the front.  The packaging was kinda funny to me, with such a stunning pizza (which wouldn't that make health focused folks look away?) but also it looked a lot like, well, a health food, with "PROTEIN PUFFS" in such huge letters.  They kinda look like trying to catch the eyes of two very different demographics, and I'm curious how well that works.

Brick Oven Pizza.

"Imagine if pizza was the healthiest snack you could eat. Well… now it is! Our Brick Oven Pizza Protein Puffs to deliver that great cheesy flavor, crisp crunch, and rich Italian pizza spices!"

They did, indeed, look like cheese balls.

The first flavor I tried was the "Brick Oven Pizza", the milk protein isolate based balls, coated in "natural pizza seasoning", a mix of cheddar cheese powder, tomato, onion, and garlic powders, salt, sugar, and paprika.  Well, basically pizza although who uses cheddar on their pizza?

I'll admit they were not nearly as bad as I feared.  The crunch factor was good.  The popular cheese ball shape was fun.  The texture didn't quite melt in your mouth and wasn't as airy as normal cheese puffs, but it wasn't bad.

But I wasn't really into the pizza flavor, as I expected.  Much like "nacho cheese" and other similar items, just, not what I really like.  It was zesty, it was savory, it was ... slightly cheesy, fairly tomato-y.

If you do like the flavor, I think they'd work as standard finger food snack, but also perhaps as a salad topping, or perhaps even sprinkled on top of tomato soup?

Baked Cheddar.

"Our protein puffs deliver super cheesy flavor and crispy crunch."

Next I went for the *actual* cheese balls.

I didn't hate the flavor at least, they were, uh, "fake cheesy", but otherwise were the same puffy kinda odd milk protein isolate balls that I can't say are particularly delightful - they are close, crispy, almost nice, but, they kinda crunch in a strange way.

Better flavor for me, and nice to have a protein filled snack but ... they still fall short from something I'd want to purchase.

Cookies & Cream.

"Craving something sweet and chocolatey? Our Cookies & Cream Puffs are sure to satisfy your sweet tooth and the crunch you desire, while providing 14g of protein and only 90 calories."

And finally, a ... dessert flavor?  I was extremely skeptical, but the idea of incorporating some protein into my numerous daily desserts was certainly appealing.  I'm a *responsible* indulger after all ...

The first time I tried them was actually with my breakfast.  I was making a platter of a warm maple glazed buttermilk donut, some fresh fruit, dark chocolate ... and I felt a bit guilty for not having any protein on my plate.   Rather than add some yogurt and granola to my fruit, or get some nuts, etc, I thought, "hey, why not try those chocolate protein puffs ..."

And they were actually pretty decent as part of my breakfast platter.  They really weren't that bad.  And they *did* taste like cookies & cream ... the milk protein isolate that makes the base finally found a proper pairing: chocolate!  Yes, they were light, fluffy, Oreo balls.  Decently munchable.

I tried some a few days later as cereal, which, uh, I made with chocolate milk.  Now that was fun too, and shockingly, they didn't really get soft, at all.  Super crispy Oreo cereal in chocolate milk, that is high protein and decently healthy? Topped with some strawberries and I felt, well, quite pleased with myself.

I won't go out to buy them myself, but, the cookies and cream flavor was there, and they had a nice crunch.  I'll gladly finish off the bag.  I appreciated that the bag had ~3 servings, 32 puffs each, and each serving was a full 14g of protein.

Still that strange form factor of course.

Croutons

Another product line is croutons.  However, only one variety exists.  Rather than a side snack, these are intended to be used like, well, croutons.  Tossed onto a salad, mostly, but the packaging also suggests crumbling and using on top of mac and cheese, casseroles, and the like.

Protein Croutons.

They come in a resealable bag, with 5 servings per bag (suggested).

Like the protein puffs, they use a milk protein base, are high protein, low carb, gluten free, low calorie, keto friendly, etc, etc, etc.

Parmesan Herb Croutons.

"We’ve reinvented the crouton! Our protein croutons deliver big time tasty flavor and crispy crunch without all the carbs, calories and fat. This is the crunch your salad has been missing."

My first reaction, as I opened the bag of protein croutons, was surprise.  They ... were definitely not what I was expecting to see.  They look ... the same as the puffs.   I was expecting  to see something more standard crouton-shaped.  I actually double checked the package to make sure I had grabbed the right bag from the pantry, a bit confused.

Once I got past the form factor though, I was pleasantly surprised.  They actually are fine.  The base texture and flavor is identical to the puffs, which makes sense, they are the same thing.  The parmesan herb flavor to these was actually really good, quite strong, very savory, very herby.  Nice seasoning, a mix of parmesan cheese, garlic powder, spices, and, lol, powdered sugar?!  Very flavorful croutons.  You could just snack on them too I suppose, if you wanted a savory snack of that flavor.

They did have the same mouthfeel as the puffs, and ate in the same way, which was not exactly the same as a regular crouton, but the airy crunch worked.  They held up well against dressing, even with time, retaining crunch and absorbing a touch of dressing.

I'm always throwing extra protein into my salads (nuts, seeds, crispy quinoa, etc) and I always throw extra crunchy things in (rarely actual croutons, but often wonton strips, flavored chex mixes, flavored pretzels, wasabi peas, corn nuts, etc, etc), so these are a product I have a ton of use use for.  With as much protein per serving as a pretty standard salad size serve of things like tofu, beans, and the like, or 3 eggs, 40 almonds, etc, they really are nice to have on hand instead, as, well, I don't like those other things :)

I'd probably get these again.

Read More...