Revival Ice Cream Pear sorbet: Ultra-creative yet accessible homemade ice cream from a James-Beard nominated pastry chef. Based in Monterey, Revival has about a dozen seasonal flavors, the most popular of which is one called the Beesknees, an ice cream studded with bits of honeycomb, broken into small enough pieces to add texture (both crunchy and soft). It's sweet but also has a slightly burnt flavor that's just a touch bitter to balance it out. I had their pear sorbet, which combines pear with celery juice. This is not ... (read more) 4.5/5.0
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La Super-Rica Horchata: A quick stop for lunch turned into a 2.5 hour detour, with extremely long lines at the Santa Barbara favorite La Super-Rica. Food-wise, while some tacos were excellent, it wasn't worth the wait, but the most worthwhile offerings were their fantastic drinks. The horchata was eye-opening, with a creamy mixture of spices and nuts and smooth consistency. Its styrofoam cup belied its complex and noteworthy flavor. If I came here again, I would request to skip the line and just get a cup of their ... (read more) 4.5/5.0
exceptional drinks santabarbara lasuperrica horchata 4.5
Trader Joe's Coconut Water: Single-serving container of coconut water. Hydrating. At some point, coconut waters all begin to taste the same. This one is a bit better than average. 3.5/5.0
coconutwater drinks traderjoes coconut water 3.5
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
JJ Bakery Peanut Mochi: Generously sized chewy and sweet mochi coated with peanut powder and filled with a sweet, textured peanut paste. Mochi is glistening on the inside. Holds up well in the fridge (I had it a day after it was purchased, and it was still delicious). 4.0/5.0
recommended japanese jjbakery peanut mochi 4.0
JJ Bakery Strawberry Shortcake Mochi: From the Taiwanese sweets shop JJ Bakery in LA, this plump ball of strawberry shortbread is about twice the size of a normal piece of mochi and contains a whole strawberry nested in rich cream and moist cake. The mochi skin is impressively thin and elastic, and as a result, plays a supporting role to the western cake on the inside. Ripe, deep red strawberry is sweet and fresh. Cream is not for the faint of heart (there's a lot of it), so this snack may be best shared among friends. (I at... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended losangeles cake jjbakery strawberry shortcake mochi 3.5