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
Trader Joe's Pink & Whites Cookies: Trader Joe's continues its quest to cover all bases, taking familiar cookies and adding just enough of a twist to keep them fresh. These tweaks involve amplifying the flavor of a classic (like their vanilla-concentrated Nila wafer knock offs) or giving new form to an otherwise ordinary snack (like their cat-shaped cookies). The appropriately named Pink & Whites, shortbread cookies with pink-and-white yogurt coating and colorful sprinkles, are essentially frosted animal cookies shaped as fl... (read more) 2.5/5.0
cookies traderjoes yogurt pink whites 2.5
Ruger Chocolate Flavored Wafers: Purchased from the vending machine at work, this two-serving pack of wafers is surprisingly good. Packaged in Willy-Wonka gold foil, the wafers have a great crispy texture, and the amount of chocolate feels generous. Not a very healthy snack, but certainly one of the better vending machine options out there. 3.5/5.0
recommended ruger chocolate flavored wafers 3.5
Safeway Community Market Chocolate peanut butter maltballs: Massive multilayered malted milk ball with a malted inner core surrounded by a peanut butter filling, all encased in a glossy layer of milk chocolate. A much more interesting alternative to peanut butter cups. Doesn't have the same melt in your mouth texture other malted snacks may have due to the sheer volume of it. Purchased from the impressively vast bulk section at the new Safeway Community Market (formerly Andronico's) in Berkeley. Serving size is apparently 7 pieces, but I can assure y... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended candy peanutbutter malt safewaycommunitymarket chocolate peanut butter maltballs 3.5
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
Ikedaya Mangetsu: Shrimp crackers in disc form, flavored with sesame seeds, cuttlefish, and MSG. Similarly textured to the bright pink shrimp crackers sometimes offered at American-ized Chinese restaurants, those these are a bit more dense. Not as boldly flavored as shrimp crackers, though the nori does add a new salinity to the mix. Purchased from Tokyo Fish Market in Berkeley. 2.5/5.0
japanese shrimp crackers seafood tokyofishmarket ikedaya mangetsu 2.5