On Dreams, Pups, and Bread: Con Pane Bakery

I wrote this post 6 months ago with the intention of publishing it then, but life, school, and a new computer got in the way. Clearly, I'm not writing much currently. At times, there wasn't much to say, and most times, there was no time to say anything. My story has changed so much in the latter half of 2013. Here's how it started...

Five weeks and counting. The committee usually meets weekly on Wednesdays. Online forums were filling up with information about acceptances and they were coming in like clockwork. It was Thursday morning and I'd just arrived home from class. Bear woke up from his nap and I let him outside to do his thing.

Resist the urge to check. Resist the urge to check. Don't call the admissions office. Don't be that kid.

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Cayucos: Brown Butter Cookie Company

Yes, go in for a sample. Sample everything, buy a ton, and leave happy. That's my strategy whenever I'm in Cayucos, which is too infrequent for my liking.

When I decided to change the blog's name to Meandering Eats, it was partly because I write about my travels. You know, I'd... meander. Thanks to my stint as a born-again student (about which I'll talk more later), I haven't done much meandering lately.

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PubCakes and Treehouse Coffee

Eeeks... it's been a while since the launch of Meandering Eats and nothing but crickets from me. Truth be told, I haven't felt like posting lately. Life occasionally turns into an avalanche and I do what needs to be done, then wait out the storm. Midterms. Finals (damned 10-week quarters still pass as quickly as I remember). Volunteering. Receiving news that I will have to go through another application cycle. Work. Reminders from friends, family, and even my boss, that my tunnel-vision towards medical school doesn't mean they don't matter. And then there's all that is happening in the world... writing about eating seemed trivial in comparison.

So, I walked away for a little bit and took my time on this post. Lest you think I wasn't enthusiastic about it, it's actually that I'm too crazy about it. The pictures took nearly a week to put together. The writing needed to be good and, at the time, I knew the it wasn't where I wanted it to be.

It's a post about new beginning, of partnership, and of deliciousness. I wanted it to be Meandering Eats' first post. Without further ado... let's talk about three of my favorite things: cupcakes, beer, and coffee.

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Elizabethan Desserts: A Revisit... Finally.

D. and I are trying harder to get our Christmas shopping act together. We've done the last-minute bit a few times and we never really had a problem, but we just don't want to deal with the stress of scurrying from one crowded mall to another trying to make sure we have our bases covered. This year, we started with a run to the outlet mall in Carlsbad. Of course, that includes a stop at Elizabethan Desserts in Encinitas.

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Moo Moment: The Valentine Post

I was receiving PR emails about when I "consider my editorial content for Valentine's Day". I chuckle to myself, since I'm mildly flattered that anyone assumes that I have my shit together enough to actually plan content for anything. Nah, it's not that organized. I go about my life and write about whatever pops up.

D. and I usually don't celebrate Valentine's Day, largely because we don't like the overwhelming commercial aspect of it. We decided to forgo the pressure and expense years ago.

However, this year, we brought it back a little bit. Some of the effort, none of the pressure. Part of it is that it's our 9th Valentine's Day together and we're one month away from our 10 year anniversary. Time for a little mushiness, a little reflection. We've been together for nearly 10 years, married for a little over 6 months, and it's fair to say that we grew up together.

Back in college, D. was frustrated with the high cost of flowers at Valentine's Day. Being practical to the bone, he decided that Costco was the only way to go and rounded up a group of friends to pool their resources for several of the large Costco bunches that they could divvy up and give to their respective dates. A decade later, Costco still rocks when it comes to flowers.

I wanted to take him out for his favorite potstickers and to one of the main stops on our rotation of restaurants: Dumpling Inn. Serving Northern Chinese cuisine that isn't perfect, but very comforting. They make great potstickers with a fabulous crust.

We also really like their spicy eggplant with ground pork. Fantastic wok hei on this dish, making it perfect in taste and texture.

Apologies for the starkness of the photos... the bright white energy-saving bulbs didn't work too well with the iPhone's camera.

D. loves eclairs, so I made a quick run to St. Tropez Bakery in Hillcrest. Picked up some eclairs, meringue cookies, and a napoleon. As Darlene mentions in her latest post, those layers go soggy fast. The pastry cream was tasty and so were the eclairs. The meringues had great texture, but were a little bland.

As I slog through pile after pile of practice problems, D. does things like making sure that I eat, have clean clothes to wear, and do not generally self-destruct. I'm pursuing a very old dream, one that I gave up once upon a time. I just couldn't let the dream go and I'm grateful that D. sees that living with the dissatisfaction of having never tried is worse than the crazy schedule a medical career will likely entail. And with his quiet and unwavering support, I can only take a moment this Valentine's weekend to marvel at how very, very lucky I am.

On that note, hope everyone had a great weekend and a fun V-day if you celebrate it. Lastly, gung hai fat choi and a prosperous year of the Tiger to all!

Dumpling Inn

4619 Convoy Street, Suite F
San Diego, CA 92111

St. Tropez Bakery & Bistro (Hillcrest Location)

3805 5th Avenue

San Diego CA, 92103

New York City: King 5 Noodle, William Greenberg Jr. Desserts

The heat wave thankfully broke on Wednesday, but it was still pretty warm for our trip out to Flushing. We decided that we had to have some Chinese food in Flushing, so we took the 7 train from end-to-end.

To start, the view from our hotel room:

The obligatory shot of Times Square, just before we arrived at the subway station:

On Chowhound, I read that King 5 Noodle has a good Taiwanese breakfast.

It's been ages since I've had a proper Taiwanese breakfast of fried crullers (you tiao), sweet soy milk, and these lovely bundles of rice (fan tuan) filled with dried shredded pork, the aforementioned cruller, and little pieces of pickles.

And the cruller:

In addition, D. had a bowl of niu rou mien or beef noodle soup. J.L. and I ordered scallion pancakes on top of the breakfast feast.

We were too stuffed to eat any more, which proved to be a tactical error. On Chowhound, there is a revered food court at 41-28 Main Street. For one thing, I didn't realize the food court was in the basement. The other thing was that it was tiny. I don't know why, but I expected something more expansive. Imagine a short and low-ceilinged hallway lined with 8 food stalls. We were way too full to stop for food, but it was a shame we didn't. The last stall we saw had a woman rolling out dough for dumpling wrappers.

Yum... that's definitely a stop the next time we're in New York.

Heading back to Manhattan, we decided to visit Central Park and stopped at William Greenberg Jr. Desserts for black-and-white cookies. Wow, these were the best b-n-w cookies I'd ever had. The cookie was moist and almost cakey, topped with a rich chocolate and sweet white icing. I was in heaven. D. had the delightful idea of buying two cookies and saving one for our flight from Philly to Pittsburgh, which was a great way to extend the fabulousness that was this cookie.

After walking through the park, we headed to Penn Station to catch our bus back to Philly.

Next up: One of our best meals in Philly.

King 5 Noodle
3907 Prince St., Suite 1G
Flushing, NY 11354

William Greenberg Jr. Desserts
1100 Madison Ave.
New York, NY 10028

New York City: Amy's Bread, Babbo, Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory

After 1 1/2 days in Philly, D., J.L., and I boarded a bus and headed to New York City. On the agenda: eating well and trying not to die in the sweltering heat. When we arrived in NYC, it was in the high 90's, but with tons of concrete and humidity, it felt a lot hotter. After settling into our hotel in Hell's Kitchen, we decided to head to Amy's Bread for a quick lunch.

Amy's has three locations in the city and it's a charming little bakery with a small sitting area and a powerful air conditioner. We bought small sandwiches (mine had brie and tomato) along with some desserts. D.'s yellow cake with fudge frosting was very good and my red velvet cupcake was yummy. One thing that was lacking in the cupcake, however, was cream cheese frosting. It was topped with regular buttercream instead.

We had a few hours to kill before our reservation at Babbo, so we headed to the New York Public Library for a tour. This is definitely a gem in sightseeing terms. For one thing, the library is incredibly lovely, with a variety of detailed ceilings in many rooms. In addition to the books/reference part of the library, there were several exhibits. We saw the first Gutenberg Bible to arrive at the United States, the tattered stuffed animals that inspired the characters of Winnie the Pooh, and an intriguing photography exhibition called "Eminent Domain," featuring photo essays on the city and its changes.

Afterwards, we spiffied up and headed to Greenwich Village for our long-awaited reservation at Babbo. Since they take reservations one month ahead, with respect to calendar day, starting at 10am, I woke up at 7am on May 10 in San Diego to call. It took almost half an hour to get through, but I was able to secure a 6pm reservation.

We arrived and noticed that there isn't a lot of room to wait. It was hot as Hades outside, so no one wanted to wait out there. The bar area was already packed with walk-in diners and those of us waiting. After 20 minutes of waiting around (we arrived a little early), they seated us. Unfortunately, that's when they dropped the bomb.

The air conditioner was broken.

In all honesty, we might have considered leaving if that little tidbit was dropped when we checked-in. However, we were there, they were about to seat us, and it's Babbo, for goodness' sake.

Y'all, I kid you not, it was 90-ish degrees up there. Maybe more than that. The lovely upstairs dining area was filled with skylights and big windows. The radiant energy shining into the room might have increased the temperature. Plus, with no air circulation whatsoever, the room was humid. Still, it was packed with diners and most seemed to be enjoying their meals. We were literally dripping sweat, so we started with a cold white wine and pondered our meal.

The amuse bouche, crostini topped with a lovely chickpea bruschetta:

We decided to go with one antipasti, two primi, and each person ordering a secondi. In retrospect, we thought we should have ordered more primis, which are typically pasta dishes, because we liked the pastas more.

Our antipasti, the Babbo salumi platter with "cipolle modenese," a deliciously sweet pile of caramelized onions or shallots (in the middle, topped by olives and pickled fennel):

Clockwise from top, pork loin, salami, tongue, lardo (the white strips and my favorite part), and prosciutto. Everything was delicate and paper-thin with lots of flavor. However, we felt that it was a smidge too pricey ($15), despite the various cured parts.

The pasta was universally enjoyed, with the black spaghetti split into three servings. I could have eaten a full plate of it and not feel the least bit full, even though it was pasta topped with rock shrimp, salami calabrese, and green chiles.

D. liked the pasta special, a fettuccine topped with crisped pancetta and asparagus.

My secondi was the fennel-dusted sweetbreads. This dish received unanimous rave reviews all over the interweb and I figure it was worth a try. Plus, I'd never had sweetbreads before, so why not have the first time be one of the best preparations I can find?

The fennel, the crispy orange rind, and the duck bacon were amazing touches. The vinegar broth had a couple of wilted scallion stalks in it and the fritters were drizzed with a lovely orange sauce. It's a very rich dish with a slightly unusual texture, but it was incredible. Despite the three small fritters, I was stuffed after this dish.

D. and J.L. weren't too pleased with their entrees. J.L.'s spicy two-minute calamari was basically a spicy soup and nothing special. D.'s skirt steak arrived sliced and on a bed of their salsa verde. Our server described it as pureed Italian parsley with capers and anchovies. I'll be honest and say that I'm not sure where they're going with this, but it tasted like grass. Italian parsley is incredibly overpowering and there was a hint of saltiness from the capers/anchovies, but it tasted the way freshly-mowed grass smells.

The sweltering room definitely marred our experience and we were ready to leave after the secondis. With our check, they brought a small cookie platter, consisting of almond baci, hazelnut biscotti, and chocolate baci. The baci were fluffy and delicate. I have Dolce Italiano, Babbo's dessert cookbook, so I plan on trying the baci recipe one of these days.

D. feels that something should have been offered to those sitting in the blazing upper dining area, whether it was dessert on the house or a break on the check. Once we walked downstairs, we realized the diners on the first floor were sitting in relative comfort. It was dark and fairly cool, which I admit to resenting slightly. Ok, more than slightly.

Service was brisk and efficient, which is worth applauding, considering the conditions. I enjoyed the food, but I'd focus more on the pastas. All in all, I'd say I was "whelmed". Neither overwhelmed nor underwhelmed... I was in a pretty neutral position after our meal. I wouldn't rush back nor would I refuse to return.

To cool off, we headed to Chinatown to the Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. I finally tried the dan tat, or egg custard tart, ice cream, which was a beautiful eggy custard cream.

Day two in NYC: a trip to Flushing and the best black and white cookie ever!

Amy's Bread (Hell's Kitchen location)
672 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10036

Babbo Ristorante
110 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011

Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
65 Bayard St.
New York, NY 10013

Visit to LA: Banh xeo and Kee Wah Bakery

Some tidbits from our recent visit to LA. Mom made banh xeo again (yay!) and, this time, sent some batter home with me. I don't know why she wouldn't just tell me how to make the stuff, but maybe this is a test to see if I can fry the suckers up correctly. Now, these pictures are from Mom's, but I will post on how mine turned out after I've had a chance to make them.

The key to a perfect crust, she insists, is using a few drops of oil on a very hot pan. Too much makes the banh xeo greasy, too little probably would lead to an overly brittle shell that would break upon folding.

Another highlight of our visit was Kee Wah Bakery in Monterey Park. I love this little Hong Kong-style bakery and its selection of buns and cakes. During the Moon Festival, they make mooncakes, too. Yum.

The bun cases:


My favorite buns, custard and the "piggy buns" (pictured), although Kee Wah's have a milk powder custard instead of coconut.

If only we had bakeries like these in San Diego.

Kee Wah Bakery
729 W. Garvey Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91755

Exploring San Francisco

When it comes to food in San Francisco, it's hardly the tip of the iceberg, but we managed to hit 4 eateries in 3 hours. Thank you to Kirkleton for planning an awesome outing. We started with breakfast at Chow (the Church St. location), which serves traditional and simple dishes. It was a ridiculously good deal, as I had a full meal for $8, including tax and gratuity.

I ordered eggs, sunny-side up, rye toast, and home fries. Everything was great, especially the home fries. Kirkleton had a spinach omelette with toast and home fries, while Krazo had the blueberry pancakes.

We'll start off wtih my breakfast. I can't get enough of rye toast. Chow's wasn't bad at all, but I like mine with a bit more punch from the caraway seeds.


Krazo says that she orders blueberry pancakes every time she has breakfast with me. These look delicious... probably a touch better than the ones she ordered from The Mission in North Park, where we last had breakfast.

After breakfast, we headed out to to Dolores Park, where the Mission, Castro, and Noe Valley neighborhoods meet. Lots of dogs, which I always enjoy. It was a blazing hot day, so Kirkleton suggested a stop at Bi-Rite Creamery. Using organic and local ingredients whenever possible, the creamery produces amazing ice creams. The flavors are great and accompanied by richness not found in other ice creams. The "cream flavor" is very distinct and I believe it has to do with the quality of the ingredients used.


I had a single scoop with two flavors: Salted Caramel and "Ritual" Coffee Toffee. It was incredible and perfect for the weather.

When we headed out to Dolores Park, our original intention was to stop by Tartine Bakery. Even though we had an unplanned pit stop for ice cream, I strongly believe that there can never be enough dessert, so we had ice cream and pastries by noon. Hehe.

We lucked out and managed to beat the crowds to the bakery. When we had paid for our items and walked out, the line was starting to wrap around the corner and continue down the block.

I had to have a croissant, but I couldn't pass up the delicious offerings in the case. So, I also purchased a slice of lemon meringue cake. The photo of the case has the cake on the bottom. I have to say that I wasn't blown away by the lemon meringue cake. It was good, especially for a warm spring day, but the cake was a tad dry and the filling a bit too sour. Notice "a tad" and "a bit". It's not enough to ruin the cake, but just enough to be noticeable.

On the other hand, I bowed to the greatness of the croissant. This is the closest I have ever found, in the United States, to the croissants I experienced in Paris. Yum. Buttery, flaky, light, and not with gigantic air pockets, this was perfect. Heaven.

Our last stop had been planned for nearly a month. While at work one morning, Kirkleton surprised me with a phone call saying that he was by Blue Bottle Coffee Co. and he thought of me. Awww, so sweet. In addition to serving my major vice, Blue Bottle has coffee siphons.

On our trek around SF, we saved the best for last. Braving the insane crowds in Union Square, we detoured south into SOMA and stopped by Blue Bottle. Yes, it was really warm and, yes, we stopped for a hot pot of coffee. Two hot pots, actually.

The siphon works on a very fundamental principle: vapor pressure. Anyone who has taken a first-year chemistry course has the three physical states (solid, liquid, gas) rammed down their throats. Part of "gas" is learning about vapor pressure. The coffee siphon applies it like this... the water at the bottom is boiled and when it reaches its boiling temperature, it transitions from a liquid to a gas. As more vapor builds up, it expands, ultimately pushing the liquid up the tube into the upper filter, where the coffee grounds are. After the coffee is finished brewing, the lower chamber is cooled with a washcloth. As the water vapor cools, it contracts, creating a vacuum and sucking the coffee back into the chamber.

Cool, huh?

The result is very much like coffee from a French press, smoother and without any acridity from over-extraction. We had Ethopian yirgacheffe, which was incredible, and their 100% Yemen, which was ok.

They also had this crazy contraption, making what they called Kyoto-style coffee. It literally drips water one drop at a time into the grounds, resulting in a gradual, all-day drip cold coffee. Sounds kind of gross? Yeah, it's a little gross. Our kindly barista gave us a sample and the coffee was more like syrup. It packed a huge punch, but Kirkleton and I thought it would make a great iced coffee, which is how they serve it (we think).

Fantastic day and I can't wait for my next trip to SF. So many eateries, so little time.

Cupcakes Squared

Thanks to Nessy from Chowhound for giving a heads-up on a new San Diego cupcakery! It's supposed to open this Friday. I know cupcakes are a fad and not always done well, but I'm a sucker for them. Why? The high ratio of frosting-to-cake. Yum. Plus, Cupcakes Squared wins points for a clever name. Hehe.

Cupcakes Squared

Bread and Breakfast

D. and I are picky about bread. Sometimes, it can make or break a meal. In the last few days, we've brought back some delicious bread from two San Diego bakeries. Bread & Cie has a retail location in Hillcrest, but they also supply bread to local branches of Ralph's and have a stand at the Hillcrest farmer's market on Sundays from 9am-1pm. Bread on Market is located in Downtown San Diego with a similar menu of sandwiches, soups, and several savory dishes.

Bread on Market's rustic country bread is a smooth and soft white bread that looks and tastes like it contains a small portion of wheat flour. The crust is surprisingly pliable and this bread is good as a side or for sandwiches. As mentioned in my previous post, it's great dipped in citrus olive oil mixed with a little honey.

I love rye bread and word on Chowhound (thanks, Josh!) was that Bread & Cie made some of the best rye in town. One of my favorite breakfast dishes is sunny-side-up eggs with rye toast. I made a run to the Hillcrest location to pick up a loaf.

It's corn-based with caraway seeds. Yum. I love caraway's pungent licorice flavor and it's especially good with strawberry jam. I know, sounds weird, but it's a very good combination. My breakfast this morning, along with espresso.

While I was there and dealing with the hellish parking in Hillcrest, I decided to pick up a loaf of their country levain. It's a wheat sourdough loaf that's a little lighter and less sour than classic sourdough.

It's good as a side or for paninis. Since it's quite crusty, the crust has to be trimmed for panini grilling.

Moo Moment: D. and Moo's Anniversary with Outback Steakhouse and Sage French Cake

I know, I know, first Cheesecake Factory, now Outback Steakhouse? Sheesh, right? Well, Outback is a tradition for us. Back in the day, we realized our first anniversary (March 20) fell during finals week. Obviously, there was no time or energy to enjoy a fancy meal, yet we wanted something that was a little more than our usual fare. Outback, with its steak-dominant menu, was still reasonably-priced, but with a little more fanfare. Hey, we were college students on a budget!

Today, Outback is no longer "fancy," but as D. pointed out, "It's still a tad expensive." More like overpriced. We eat there once a year on our anniversary and, while we've bandied around the idea of changing venues, it's not the same without the Bloomin' Onion. Speaking of...

In the past year, they've revamped their menu to offer a variety of different portions. My usual prime rib now comes in three weights, so I opted for the 8-ounce. Perfect for me. I'm not eating a lot of meat nowadays, so excessive protein tends to sit like a brick in my gut.

Part of the meal was two choices of sides, instead of the old salad-or-soup-plus-one-side. I chose the Asian chopped salad, which must have originally been called the Wasabi chopped salad because our waitress called it that. Guess wasabi didn't appeal to their customers. It was a mayonnaise-y and slightly spicy mix of chopped iceberg lettuce and the occasional cucumber. It wasn't very good.

For dessert, I picked up some goodies from Sage French Cake. It's a great bakery in Kearny Mesa, but the two times I've been there, they've run out of pastries long before closing time. I find that to be excellent, actually. That means they don't make more than they need and the pastries are always fresh. The first time, the case was completely empty by 7:15pm. This time, we were down to a handful of cake slices, so I picked three: strawberry shortcake, chocolate raspberry mousse, and caramel mousse.

The strawberry shortcake was the classic Asian interpretation with eggy and moist sponge cake with fresh whipped cream and strawberries. It was fantastic.

D. loves raspberries, but the chocolate raspberry mousse cake wasn't quite what we'd hoped for. The flavors weren't balanced very well, so it was tart and bitter at the same time and not in a good way.

The caramel mousse cake was really good. It had a burnt sugar crust a la creme brulee.

One last thing... when we arrived home from dinner, we were greeted by Bear playing the St. Bernard stereotype. Interesting bit of useless trivia... the classic image of a St. Bernard isn't true, they never carried brandy around their necks. Well, Bear did have something around his neck.

It looks like D. is going to become Mr. Moo! It is 2008, after all. Hehe.