Food in the Patio of the States

Over a year ago, Lorenzo told me of a magical baked good found in his homeland of Texas, strawberry cream filled churros. Since then, I have long yearned to try the lone star delicacy. Lucky for me, GameStop decided to move their manager's conference to San Antonio from its previous locale of Vegas!

For some reason, my checkin at the Hyatt took forever so I got to chat up the workers. I told them of my mission and they thought I was some combination of crazy and hilarious, so they pointed me to their favorite local mexican bakery, Mi Tierra.

A mile each way in the humid heat, and i found the place. As cool as the Riverwalk seemed, I'm always glad to get out of the tourist centers. When I got in this place people were hardcore staring at my teal hair and pink sequined True Religion jeans, a good sign of local-ness. I am a big enthusiast of the San Antonio decor, very mexican inspired with lots of bright colors and sombreros! (I just wish they all played the mexican hat dance like my salsa bowl back in utah.....)

The entrance to this place was no exception.

I was super excited to enter and find a ticket dispenser. Growing up in Utah, it was sadly rare to go to a place that had one (chains don't normally have such novelties), but I have fond memories of using them back in the good ole days of ZCMI and their in-store bakery :). Man, I wish I was 5. 

Luckily there was a bit of a line because I was overwhelmed with the selection. As much of a baked good officienado as I am, I actually am quite incompetant with mexican pastries. Beyond my and Damien's forever joke of the Holiday concha bread, I have no idea what's what. So that means I had to buy a lot <:D. I had already ordered three items before I realized I had forgotten the churro I quested so wholly for. Turns out they only serve them on weekends anyways, so no loss. Plus, let's be honest, I've been to xooro.... anything will be underwhelming after that!! (guess that should be my next back blog)

one of three sections of baked awesomeness!

fresh tortillas <3

I ended up getting a toasted coconut cookie, a caramel empanada, and a tres leches cake. Since I hadn't eaten, I also grabbed some enchiladas to go. 20 mins, a whole lot of sweat, and a melting food bag later, I was in my hotel and ready to pig out. The enchiladas were good, definitely authentic tasting. The highlight was the pile of 4 fresh tortillas they included :) eating tortillas makes me think of Disneyland and the Mission Factory <3

I'm proud that this was all I bought

On to the important part, DESSERT!!! I started out with innocent intents, I'd try a little of each, and save the rest for dessert/my 6 am flight tomorrow. Ha.

I started with tres leches since I had been craving that lately. Holy. Freaking. Crap. it was so so sooooo good. I think there were at least 2 cans of condensed milk alone in that thing... and the fruit was so fresh and juicy :) :) :) eeeeeek. So I  started planning on eating 1/4, to 1/2 to... yeah. I ate the whole freaking cake.

Look at the ridic amount of leches oozing from the cake. it's totally consuming the fork. SO GOOD

In my very limited defense, I was having some hardcore work crises. Of course this is normal with my job, but being Sharon, I tend to freak out. Luckily I am a simple creature and can only freak out about one thing at a time. I also stress eat with the best. Combine the two and we have me eating the entire cake in a sitting. The good news was that once I was stressing about how hugefat and sick I was from eating it all, I was able to approach my work with a clear and logical mind and block some of the shiz from hitting the fan.

I have since sampled the other items. Both were quite tasty but overly sweet. Not sure if that's typical of mexican baked fare. Either way, it ended my San Antonio food adventures. I can only consume so much.

Back to the Bay in the morn!

My Favorite Food on Earth

I have such a love-hate relationship with trade shows. On the one hand, I am overjoyed and eternally grateful for having, to me, the coolest possible job and getting to travel to all sorts of weird places. On the other, I swear I'm alwayyyyys alone and so there is a disturbingly depressing pattern of me wandering around cities starving because I'm too snooty to go to a chain yet too embarrassed to go in to a sit down place (even for takeout) when everyone else is there 20 deep having a party night.

Thus, I'm sitting in the super swanky Grand Hyatt in San Antonio right now, minutes away from the famous Riverwalk, tons of bars and restaurants, and like 10 thousand people in the video game industry... and I am about to write a blog post. My plan is to play my DS late in to the night so I can stumble in tomorrow exhausted, and blend in with the masses who are out getting trashed right now. It's easier that way- avoids questions :P

Hardcore digression!! ANYWAYS- I can't believe this is my 18th post and my first mention of froyo?! Froyo is totally my thing. I love all food, but this is the only category I will claim mastery at :). So, fittingly I'll start with my absolute favorite: Yogurtland. 

Yogurtland is, in fact, the best froyo chain out there. The first visit I had was in LA last fall when they were doing the tokidoki promo (my favvvvv brand) and I was instantly hooked. From the adorable Japanese fusion decor, to the ridiculously unbeatably low price of 30 cents an ounce to the plethora of flavors and toppings, this place can not be topped (PUN). Not to mention: BEST TART EVER!!!!

the usual. tart, mochi, all berries, cap' n crunch, yogurt chips, condensed milk

I don't know what else to say... basically they have at least 14 flavors per store and like 30 or 40 toppings (all sorts of fruit, candies, mochimochi, condensed milk, etc.). The only bad part is that the closest one is in freaking Cupertino. That said, according to my foursquare, I've been 18 times since April... AND I'm not even the mayor! It's that good. Seriously. 

OMFH I JUST LOOKED AT THEIR WEBSITE AND ONE OPENED IN WEST JORDAN, UTAH!!!! GOGOGOGOGO!!!!

i want to marry an archaeologist

ha- my nerdiness and love for 8 bit video games and the dagger of amon ra will never allow me to make any sort of reference to flappers, the 20s, or speakeasy's without alluding to that song. I MISS YOU SIERRA OF THE 90S!!

if you hadn't guessed, tonight after zero zero, we hit up Bourbon and Branch, SF's local speakeasy :). Since it was a last minute plan on a Saturday night, we had to go in the "library" room. The other side is the two-story lounge that you need a password to get in to. Still super awesome tho, the walls were covered in filled bookshelves and the bartenders definitely dressed the part. I really want to make a reservation so I can see the lounge side. I only had a hint at it tonight when someone from the other side pushed the secret passage bookshelf open for a split second. so intriguing!! I think we are going to throw our 20s party, year 2 there, so stay tuned for details next month. 

The drinks were expensive, but very cool and made with love. I even ended up getting a "pomegranate ginger" which was really delicious sans vodka.

had to sneak the picture, they are anti modern technologies!

Super cool place, total Disneyland feeling, i would highly recommend it for a group night out!

Gold Medal Pizza

So stoked. I had the best dinner tonight :D. I hit up Zero Zero, the super trendy new italian/pizza joint in SOMA. You can tell from the outside this place is hopping. It's got a great atmosphere, all mood lit and two stories & two bars. It's definitely got the swanky- I'm cool & I know it vibe. The entire meal i was fixated on a bizzare picture that covered the back wall with a Pinocchio-esque puppet stuck to a pizza. If that doesn't scream hip, i don't know what does.

Anyways, FOOD!! Seriously, so great. For an appetizer, eugi and I split ricotta stuffed fried butternut squash in pesto w/ tomatoes. Quite good, it was tempura-ey and the tomatoes were an awesome pallet cleanser from the bold flavors of the squash. Only complaint was that the bowl had three. wtf. there are two of us!! Couldn't you at least give us an even number?? It's like when you go to dinner with 4 people and they give you 5 breads, someone's gotta be the douche and take the last piece.

Pizza Filer!

But the pizza completely outshone that. For the record, outshone is apparently a word because there's no red squiggle action going on. Bizarre. I knew we were in for a treat when our waiter brought the "pizza filer" to our table :). There was quite a nice menu. I got a white pizza with rosemary oil, mozzarella, parmesan, and potatoes and eugi got margherrita. mmmmm so freaking tasty!!! It was so light (meaning i didn't feel like crap when i horked my entire pie) and the flavors were so potent and fresh! Mine was incredible with some red pepper flakes to spice up the flavor and eugi's was classic amazing.

Up close and personal pizza

As if this wasn't good enough, Zero Zero is also known for their soft serve ice cream!! It's even build-your-own, so the waiter brings you a paper and pencil and you mark off what you want (unfortunately no fried egg). I got vanilla w/ caramel and toffee. The softserve was so insanely creamy <3 a very pleasant experience. they also had some neat "bases" for their ice cream like cinnamon waffle, but i'm too cheap to pay an extra $4 for one. Great great place. I'll be back to try more!

giant soft serve

P.S. the joke in the name is that the menu said "zero zero is the flour used in italy to make dough." so i asked eugi if it was fancy and he scoffed and said no, its the most generic brand there is. then i fantasized about there being an american restaurant named "gold medal" in italy :) hilarious to me and prolly me only

Fried Makes Everything Better

I am completely in love with Butter bar on 11th and Harrison (SOMA near Mission). It is totally dive, proudly "white trash" themed, and such a great place to bring a group and hang-out. They are only open on the weekends, but Sunday is karaoke night which makes it all ok. (don't be intimidated, they are eminem, dream on, and g-pop friendly!!) The crowd is bizarre (my hair is the tamest there), but all very eclecticly fun. There is a combo of goth, hipster, and then old people who wear shirts with realistic animals they bought at national parks.

karaoke w/ bill the pimp

mmmmm

but who cares! cuz it's allllll about the food <:D. Not only do they keep you content by offering unlimited free popcorn, but they also serve the most comforting-comfort food you will find. Fried everything! I've been twice and gotten: White Castle sliders, mo-sticks, fried Uncrustable (yepppp PB&J, fried, topped with whipped cream, choco sauce, sprinkles and marshmallows), chili cheese tater tots, and my new favorite: FRIED MACARONI AND CHEESE! i don't even get how it works?! ok, i kind of do... they are little bread-fried nuggets filled with mac & cheese goodness. the science behind it is beyond me.

Also- pretending you drink more than diet coke, they have a cool selection of beverages. Lots of fruity yummy looking selections that can get you trashed fast.

winnebago!

PS: the manager Dennis is all about video games, so EA people, you can get free drinks if you bring him games!! :)

groupon ftw

It pisses me off to no avail how you always see the groupon banner ads with pictures of cupcakes, macaroons, and froyo and claims of 90% off. Then i get the email every day and it's like "$150 for $350 worth of upholstery cleaning in Berkeley!" f.t.s.

One day a couple of months ago I did score though, $15 for 2 dozen gourmet, delivered cupcakes from Cupcakes on the Go. This Fremont operated bakery offers a great selection of gourmet flavored treats. I ordered "Peach Pie" which consisted of: peach cupcake, whipped frosting, peaches, and a cinnamon crust cookie. Needless to say they were delicious :)

Asian Paradise

i'm starving and waiting to go to dinner... so i think i'll start doing random backlog reviews. last month, i was in long beach for a dragon boat race, naturally this means the most important thing i can possibly do is call up mr. michael j last minute, and heckle him in to driving me to yummy asian food and/or disneyland. this fateful night, i somehow scored both :D! by recommendation of Dennis, we headed out to Irvine to this crazy-amazing strip mall: the Diamond Jamboree Shopping Center. and boy, what a jamboree it was! this place had like every type of awesome asian dessert ever! i didnt even look twice at the Yogurtland since there was so much else : | there. we found our destination, 85C, by the line of like 30 people out the door. it moved fast though, and it was very worth it. apparently 85C is a massively popular chain store in Taiwan, and this is the only US location. They have an amazing selection of pastries, breads, cakes, and of course, extra sugary and delicious bubble tea. i think this picture (of just one section of the store) speaks for itself. i had a strawberry cream cake and it was amazing. presentation was even better :). and i highly enjoyed my large, caramel milk tea. definitely check out next time you are in SoCal! 

so hard to decide! of course Ishii got one of everything

oh... and in case you were wondering. we ended up going to Disneyland after, arriving at midnight (close time) and watching "Salt" (terrible movie) in downtown disney. I LOVE ISHII AND WANT TO MARRY HIM (when we are both 40 and desperate)