Beard Papa Strawberry Cream Puff with Vanilla Cream: As far as I know, the Westfield mall in SF is a no-mans land as far as snackable foods go. Not wanting to spend much money and not willing to walk all the way to Chinatown, I purchased a strawberry-flavored cream puff from Beard Papa, located in the mall's foodcourt. The strawberry icing is sweet and tart – a bit like strawberry Pocky but with a less waxy mouthfeel. The puff itself was slightly crispy but generally light, while the vanilla flavored custard was quite rich and just a little... (read more) 3.0/5.0
pastries desserts beardpapa strawberry cream puff vanilla 3.0
John's Ube Ice Cream: Neighboring the Berkeley Bike Station is a small ice cream shop named John's with barely enough room for two sets of freezers and a single-file queue that regularly extends well past the doors. Given the size of the establishment, it wouldn't be inaccurate to credit these lines simply to space limitation rather than the quality of John's products. But a comic-sans printed sign outside the door advertises what is likely the biggest draw: $1.50 scoops (the $0.50 handwritten and appended to t... (read more) 2.5/5.0
berkeley icecream longreadsunday johns ube ice cream 2.5
Tara's Organic Ice Cream Jasmine green tea ice cream: On the northern edge of the Elmwood district, at the border of Oakland and Berkeley, is a small ice cream shop called Tara's Organic Ice Cream. They feature a rotating menu of ice creams and sorbet. I was hoping they would have black sesame ice cream, but I was out of luck on the day I went and got a scoop of jasmine green tea instead. The texture was not as smooth as it could be, but the subtle herbal flavor was unique - clean but also very creamy. The type of ice cream that needs to be acc... (read more) 3.0/5.0
icecream berkeley tea dessert sesame tarasorganicicecream jasmine green ice cream 3.0
Good Crisps Sour cream and onion potato crisps: Blatantly mimicking a popular product whose heyday likely passed in the late 90s, this tube of potato crisps takes a gmo- and artificial-flavors-free approach to junk food. It's a less salty but otherwise uncannily familiar flavor, down to the curved shape, crispy texture, and classic sour cream and onion flavor. You would think there might be patents to cover these signature attributes, but Good Crisps has somehow gotten away with it. The result is a product that has a 1.5x markup from its ... (read more) 3.5/5.0
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Pocky Strawberry Cream Covered Biscuit Sticks: In a special (what I presume to be) Valentine's Day edition, Pocky tweaks its round biscuit shape to produce a heart-shaped cross section. The heart is most visible on the biscuit end, though it looks more like a 45-degree bracket than a heart. On the strawberry-coating end, the heart is nearly impossible to make out. With an impressively long list of ingredients (largely to do with the coating), these Pocky biscuits actually taste no different than the normal strawberry ones. The coatin... (read more) 3.0/5.0
heart pocky strawberry cream covered biscuit sticks 3.0 japanese
Trader Joe's Joe Joe's 'n Cream Ice Cream: Available year round, Trader Joe's version of cookies and cream tastes very much like any other cookies and cream ice cream you might buy, with a classic combination of vanilla ice cream and chocolate cookies. It likely uses full-fat milk (as the amount of saturated fat is high) and has generous chunks of softened chocolate crumbs throughout. I generally stay away from rich ice cream, especially quart-sized containers, unless it's to be shared among a group, which was the case in this inst... (read more) 3.0/5.0
icecream cookies traderjoes cream ice 3.0