Befco Scallop bakauke rice crackers: Shaped like mini boomerangs, these individually wrapped pairs of Japanese rice crackers come in a variety of flavors. This time, I purchased their scallop version from Sunrise Market in NYC, which was about $0.25 more expensive than their classic soy variety. The scallop crackers have a very strong salty and briny flavor that I wouldn’t necessarily identify with scallop but tastes of seafood more generally. It has a strong odor I couldn’t quite place until I suddenly realized they smelled ki... (read more) 2.5/5.0
japanese befco scallop bakauke rice crackers 2.5 Sunrisemart
Van Leeuwen Passion fruit ice cream: I ginormous scoop of ice cream so large that it took multiple tries to balance it on a cone. What struck me about this ice cream shop was the strong buttery smell upon entering. I personally prefer lighter, more subtle flavors and found the richness of the passion fruit ice cream to be somewhat overwhelming. Mixed in with the ice cream were oddly dry pieces of cake - what they had to do with passion fruit ice cream I’ll never know. Expensive at almost $6 a scoop. They also don’t mix two flav... (read more) 2.5/5.0
nyc icecream dessert vanleeuwen passion fruit ice cream 2.5
Utopia Bagels Mini Everything Bagel with Lox Spread: I never once had a decent bagel when I lived in the Bay Area, so I'm relieved to now have an abundance of options back in NYC. One popular bagel shop I had yet to try was Utopia Bagels, located all the way in Whitestone Queens. Arriving at around 11:30am, the queue to order snaked around the entryway, and for a New York institution, the pace was extremely slow; from getting in line to leaving with food in-hand took about 45 minutes. Not being too hungry, I ordered their snackable mini bag... (read more) 2.5/5.0
bagels nyc bread lox creamcheese queens utopiabagels mini everything bagel spread 2.5
&pizza Rose and champagne cotton candy: This is a 2-serving-size cotton candy snack from &Pizza, available in two different flavors: rose and champagne. They taste slightly different from one another, but neither are particularly close to their intended flavor—the Rose is more mild than the champagne, but both taste of pure sugar. Not particularly distinguishable from standard carnival cotton candy. Expensive, at $5 each. 2.5/5.0
sugar dessert pizza rose champagne cotton candy 2.5
Fentons Creamery Strawberry Sorbet: Before I left the East Bay, I wanted to try the ice cream at Fentons Creamery, an Oakland institution that opened its doors back in 1894. It's a classic family-friendly diner, like what you would imagine Friendly's was like before it became a national franchise. The ice cream flavors are, for the most part, traditional Americana, with flavors like heath bar, cookies 'n cream, and rocky road. Sitting down with my cup of raspberry sorbet, I overheard another patron, cone-in-hand, reprimandi... (read more) 2.5/5.0
oakland sf icecream fentonscreamery strawberry sorbet 2.5
Yogurt Pump Red Raspberry Frozen Yogurt: During my visit to Chapel Hill, I tried to seek out local ice cream shops and found the independently-owned Yogurt Pump among Ben and Jerry's and Coldstone Creamery. On offer was about 8 different flavors, ranging from salted caramel to red velvet cake. After sampling the strawberry lemonade (which was extremely sweet), I asked what the least sweet options were, to which the response was Vanilla or Oreo. That was worrisome. But I ultimately decided to order a small serving of the red ras... (read more) 2.5/5.0
froyo chapelhill yogurtpump red raspberry frozen yogurt 2.5