Seabold Ginger Beer: When in LA, you may stumble across a glass bottle of ginger beer with a hand-written expiration date less than a month away. It feels hefty, matching its $7.50 price tag, with a misty yellow hue. Its packaging instructs you to invert and gently mix, enabling the ginger sediments disperse throughout. The drink is balanced – not too sweet with a good dose of lemon juice and a decent level of spice that fades as quickly as it arrives. It's not quite as good as the absolute best ginger beer ... (read more) 4.5/5.0
exceptional drinks gingerbeer soda losangeles seabold ginger beer 4.5
Burma Superstar Lotus Root Chips: I ate at Burma Superstar in Richmond 6 years ago, so I instantly recognized their branding when I saw this bag of lotus chips on the shelves at Berkeley Bowl. Thinly sliced lotus root is deep fried and lightly tossed with nori, cayenne, and sesame. Oil saturates the rings, leaving your fingers coated in a thin layer of grease and speckles of seaweed. No serving size indicated on the packaging, but they lasted two days at work. 3.5/5.0
berkeleybowl veggie recommended burmasuperstar lotus root chips 3.5
Berkeley Bowl Yogurt Pretzels: Berkeley Bowl's bulk section has a colorful assortment of yogurt-covered pretzels. I got a mix (the beauty of getting bulk), which are all priced at $7/lb. Clockwise from the top left is their peanut butter, blueberry, lemon, and raspberry pretzel. The fruit pretzels are all quite tart and acidic, and the peanut butter one has a more expected yet still satisfying flavor. They have a surprising amount of fat given that it's yogurt and not chocolate, and they're all sweet enough that I nev... (read more) 3.0/5.0
raspberry blueberry peanutbutter lemon berkeleybowl yogurt pretzels 3.0
Wat Mongkolratanaram Khanom Krok: My first exposure to this Thai street food was at Wat Mongkolratanaram, a buddhist temple in Berkeley right around the corner from Berkeley Bowl. Every Sunday, they host an outdoor market serving a variety of dishes, including pad thai, thai iced tea, curry, and beef noodle soup (a non-vegetarian buddhist meal). Along with these entrees are two desserts: mango sticky rice and khanom krok, the latter of which is $6 for 8 pieces. Khanom krok are a mash up of pancakes and rice pudding served... (read more) 2.5/5.0
thai pudding coconut berkeley watmongkolratanaram khanom krok 2.5
Milton's Gluten Free Cheddar Cheese Snack Crackers: Made with brown rice flour and oats, this gluten-free snack has a tangy cheddar flavor slightly reminiscent of cheddar and sour cream flavored Ruffles, but much healthier. I got through the 4.5 serving bag in an embarrassingly short amount of time. The packaging suggests pairing the crackers with various dips, but they're a great snack on their own – and they're reasonably priced. 4.0/5.0
recommended berkeleybowl miltons gluten free cheddar cheese snack crackers 4.0
Uji Black sesame soft serve: The best sesame soft serve I've ever had was at a small tea shop at the Mitsuwa in Edgewater, NJ. Whenever I see black sesame ice cream on a menu, I will typically order it to see how it compares, and the one at Uji comes really close. Uji is a small Japanese sweets shop on Telegraph in Berkeley whose menu includes soft serve (matcha, tofu, black sesame), mochi ice cream, and taiyaki. I ordered a cone of black sesame soft serve which comes in a generous portion and can be optionally ordered ... (read more) 4.5/5.0
exceptional uji black sesame soft serve 4.5 ujitime