Wild Plum Bakery and Cafe

On Saturday two of my friends from San Jose were in town. Sarah and Brian drove down the night before for their pal's housewarming party. We decided to meet up for lunch and it was my task to find a "cute spot" to blog about! I'm glad Sarah keeps me accountable.


But where to go? Little known sandwich spot? Somewhere on Alvarado? Hit up the municipal wharf?








A few weeks ago, my friend Maren wrote a review of Wild Plum Cafe and Bakery after she had lunch there with her bf Max. I hadn't ever seen the Wild Plum Cafe, hadn't heard about it, but oh man - based on her pictures, I definitely had to file it away in my "gotta try" list. So, when I met up with Sarah and Brian for lunch, the Wild Plum was the place to go!


I'm a big fan of Yelp. I don't really ever write reviews, but I love reading them. Before texting Sarah and Kyle (yep - he met us there) the address, I quickly looked at what Yelpers had to say.  Cons: unprofessional, stressed owner, understaffed. Oh Phooey! They don't know anything.


Check out that one ^^ "Yum. Lunch." My thoughts exactly.

Wild Plum Cafe is right behind Denny's (I think) and has a couple of outdoor tables. We went on a rainy day, and were lucky that an inside table opened up right as we walked in the door. Our waiter brought coffee and water as soon as we sat down. 
We grabbed our menus but didn't look closely look at them for another 10 minutes or so. Our waiter returned probably once every 2 minutes to see if we were ready to order. That means that we had to apologize about 5 times for not being ready to order. Can you blame us though? We had to catch up!!

So 10 minutes later, we had made the HARD decision and each figured out what we wanted to order. Of course, that's when Kyle walked in and he had about 10 seconds to make his mind up... 

I chose the 1/2 sandwich (veggie sandwich) 1/2 salad (sesame chicken) option. So effin good - the bread started crumbling apart, but it was covered in avocado and pesto and who cares if I need to attack my sandwich with a fork? Not me, and not when it's this good!




Brian picked the 1/2 sandwich (grilled chicken sandwich) and 1/2 soup (...soup of the day?). Kyle picked the same sandwich, but the full size. I had a bite and it was warm and cheesy - highly recommend.

Sarah went with the full sesame chicken salad.

Everything was delicious! There were about 5 or 6 things on the menu that I still want to try, so I'll have to come back someday.


MMM food & friends FTW! (I just learned that means For The Win and now I can't stop saying it in my head). We talked about lots of stuff - jobs, challenges facing the educators of America, secret clearances, wedding parties, and... my impending MOVE. Dun Dun Dunnnn... Yup, I decided to move back to San Jose to be closer with the ones I love: family, friends, Jan Hagel, Valley Fair, Orange Leaf frozen yogurt... 
As I write this it's easy to see why moving is the right thing for me. I LOVE Monterey. It's a beautiful town, has lots of charm, and is great to explore with people who make you happy. However, I'm a numbers girl, and the numbers point to San Jose. I am eager to be back in a city that has a higher percentage of people I can go out and experience life with. Let's bring back the kickball games, the random mall trips, and MOM time :) I'm going to miss living here, miss my roommates, but there's absolutely nothing stopping me from future weekend trips.....

Berkeley Eats and Sweets

Saturday I went with Katie and Nick to Berkeley to explore College Ave and eat our way over Shattuck.

After a pit-stop in Belmont at Nick's, we drove across the bridge and up the East Bay and in to Berkeley. We parked at the Rockridge BART station (free on weekends!) and began walking towards Cal, stopping in cute shops along the way.

For lunch, we ate at Manpuku (2977 College Ave, Berkeley). We ordered five different rolls, and the total after tax was under $21! Super cheap... and the sushi was good too! We got an imitation crab CA roll, a roll with eel and mango, a shitake mushroom and spinach roll, a spicy white tuna roll, and the fancier one was... um... I forget. But it had lots of avocado on top!

Grabbing hot tea and water

Check out the tuna!



Mixin in the wasabi - a must!



$20 bucks never looked so tasty.

We walked up the street and found this cute candy shop! (Sweet Dreams)

We enjoyed looking at their scocks and tasting fudge!

Next stop was Ici Ice Cream, a must-try in Berkeley's cold dessert arena.

Ici is a self-proclaimed "one of a kind ice cream shop." They make their ice cream, sorbets, candies and cookies in the shop in small batches. They pride themselves on their local/fresh/quality ingredients. (ie. all dairy is certified organic, fruits/nuts/chocolate exceed organic standards, no artificial preservatives, etc). Mary Canales, former pastry chef at Chez Panisse (ONE DAY KATIE!) left her 9-year tenure and opened Ici a little over 4 years ago. We had our choice of 11 flavors of ice creams/sorbets/sherbets: Pear Ginger Sorbet, Earl Grey, Kirsch Cherry-Fudge Swirl, Vanilla, Lemon Vanilla, Meyer Lemon Sherbert, Chocolate, Brown Sugar-Porcini, Brandied Allspice, Coconut-Rum, Candied Cacao Nib.

Ice cream elves in the back of the shop doing their small-batch thang

The three of us decided to enjoy our picks in Ici's hand rolled, chocolate-filled-tip, cones. Seriously, don't even consider going with a cup. The cones were soooooo good. It tasted like a cookie.

After Nick reassured me Candied Cacao Nib would be tasty, I chose a scoop of that!

I ordered one of their peanut butter bon bons too. I thought the inside was deliciously peanut buttery, but the hand-dipped, bittersweet chocolate casing was a little too rich for my tastes. Gimme that milk chocolate haha...

We went into a lot of shops.... Including this Hat Shop ;)

After we went up and down College Avenue we decided to go to Shattuck area, specifically to check out a highly-recommended cupcakery. Apparently Nick and Katie had been here before and remembered that it was sort of in an off-the-beaten path upstairs building thing. It makes sense when you see it. (1510 Walnut Street Suite G, Berkeley).

Such a cute shop! I like how open it is

Chocolates and Vanillas... standard.

Here's the good stuff. What would you choose between Sweet Potato, Cookies and Cream, and Peanut Butter Cup??!?

I went with PB Cup... of course. That frosting is SOO AMMMAZZINNNGG.

We continued walking around and ended up at The Cheeseboard Pizza Collective (1512 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley). So it has 1647 reviews. But why you might ask? From their website I learned that The Cheese Board (not the pizza part - yet) was founded on November 6, 1967 by two people as a privately owned business. In an effort to treat customers in a way that they would want to be treated, the owners decided to let all workers having equal power, as well as equal wages (= pay cut for owners). "The Cheese Board began making pizza on Tuesdays for lunch in 1985. Gradually this expanded to Wednesday lunch and Friday evening. In 1986 the Cheese Board acquired the space vacated by Pig by the Tail Charcuterie... This space was used to create and sell pizza three week day lunches (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) and Friday Evening. On Saturdays this space was used as a bread outlet for the main Cheese Board. Some Collective members worked at both sites." They serve one type of (vegetarian) pizza a day. $2.50/slice or $20/whole pie. QUALITY ingredients. "In 1990 six members of the Cheese Board Collective formed a committee to seek out new members to form another collective–The Cheese Board Pizza Collective–which would allow the pizza operation to run full time...Pizza eventually brought in new members, expanded its hours and now is open six lunches and five evenings each week. The Cheese Board Pizza Collective is run as its own business, but Pizza and the Cheese Board are under the same financial umbrella and operate under the identical corporate by-laws." While Katie and Nick went to the bathroom I watched the assembly line. These collective people were fast! One man was handling all the pizza ovens, another was slicing and adding "finishing touches," and a girl was acting as cashier and boxer-upper.

The line might be reeeeally long, but it moves quickly!

Our time in Berkeley was really fun! Usually I avoid Berkeley because I got lost driving there once and the East Bay really confuses me. I hate being lost. However, I'm glad I gave it another shot because after all the walking around we did, I definitely saw spots that I want to come back too... Ici that means you. (And Chez Panisse - for a known-in-advance (?) special occasion OBVIOUSLY).

We headed back to the car and drove south to San Jose. We split for about 45 mins to prepare for a pretty amazing, quickly thrown together, Harry Potter Party (watched the 6th movie in anticipation for the 7th on 11/19!)

Fishwife, Seaside

On Saturday, July 17th, my mom, sister, and I ate at Fishwife (789 Trinity Ave, Seaside). We drove there after the scary, slightly dangerous Toyota Camry ride through Fort Ord's mountain bike trails (NOT recommended). I chose this place because it's on my "Best Of" list. Fishwife won the title of "Best Restaurant in Seaside." I beg to differ.

Yelp

The three of us decided to each order a plate and share. I don't get why people don't do that everywhere.... obviously a better idea to try three things instead of just one. We chose:
1. Line caught Sea Bass ($14) grilled, with sauteed spinach & tomato on a bed of rice on a bed of pineapple cream sauce - really? on two beds?
2. Fishwife's Combo Wrap served with a small salad ($13) with sauteed scallops, shrimp, and crab in a lobster sauce rice and beans; wrapped in a flour tortilla
3. Fish/Calamari n' Chips ($?) - their lunch menu won't download on their website so can't get you the info about this dish.

The Monterey County Weekly boasts that locals can get their fix of "the true gift from the Pacific - seafood" at Fishwife. They laud the fish sandwiches, gumbo, chowder, and seafood salads. As you can see, we did not order any of those. Instead, my pick - the fish n chips - was probably worse than a boxed, frozen, back-of-the-supermarket-shelf-variety! My mom's sea bass was delicious, and Nicole really liked the sauteed spinach. I thought the spinach tasted like BOOZE. Maybe that's why Nicole liked it? JK Coley.... She also really enjoyed her seafood wrap. I liked it a lot too, but it was basically a $13 seafood burrito. Hope that means it's loaded with REAL crab. AHEM. Oh, and tip: get it with the Turtle Bay Taqueria hot sauce (their sister restaurant is right next door and stocks the good hot stuff).

I want to give Fishwife another try, maybe for dinner? It won best Seaside restaurant for a reason.  Yup, there was good service (only two occupied tables at the time though), but I just don't think their lunch menu really delivered.

Monterey County's Herald newspaper notes that Fishwife's cuisine has a "Caribbean accent featuring fresh seafood and pasta." Supposedly the daily specials highlight "local fresh catch and seasonal fish including sanddabs, wild caught salmon, mahi mahi, halibut, and swordfish. The chef uses only the freshest produce from the Salinas Valley and offers delicious housemade desserts daily." - Same info is listed on the company's website.

Considering it is in Seaside, this restaurant has a lot of potential. After looking at the menu a little bit further, I'd probably choose an appetizer and one of the Fisherman's Bowls (daily special of fresh catch served in a bowl of rice, black beans, Caribbean cabbage drizzled with a ginger sesame vinaigrette and garnished with fresh vegetable, fresh salsas and golden-fried tortilla spears) - and split both with a friend because the bowls are all $16 - $19. 

Have you ever seen fish n chips breaded like this??
It's a cornmeal breading - not what I was hoping for....

Calamari - best part of my dish!

Buckshot, how I love thee.

On the subject of weekend nights spent in San Francisco, I would like to recap Saturday, June 19th.

First and foremost, I spent the day with my sister, Dad, Lauretta, and Katie at Great America. We went on Top Gun, Drop Zone, and got a $6 coffee smaller that a tall from Starbucks! It was really nice getting time to hangout with my dad the day before Father's Day. He told me about Monty Python's silly walks and my dad and I started doing these kinds of walks around the amusement park.... Nicole wasn't happy.

After a late picnic lunch in the Great America parking lot, I dropped Nicole off at our mom's and then drove up to Palo Alto.



Kyle, Jeremy, Kim and I carpooled to San Francisco and found parking a few streets from Union Square. We took an elevator up the giant Macy's building to the 6th floor to join Jessica's birthday party at Burger Bar (251 Geary Street, San Francisco).

I ordered Burger Bar's turkey burger - "freshly ground free range Shelton turkey."

FYI: because I like to google things - Shelton's Turkey Ranch started in 1924 with one hen and one tom...

WHO KNEW that male turkey's are called TOMS? I always thought they were called Jan Hagels. Hmm.

Shelton's evolved into a champion breeding facility that received many awards for body conformation and feather color. As an offshoot of the trophy breeding business, the Shelton family began growing holiday turkeys for the folks in the Pomona Valley of Southern California...

Kyle ordered cupcakes for Jessica's 25th birthday! How thoughtful of him, huh? He chose a devil's food cake with oreo chunks folded in, topped with cookies and cream ice cream and a half oreo.

After we ate our burgers and cupcakes we drove down Geary to Buckshot. As soon as we walked in I fell in love with the place. It was still early, so we were basically the first people there. The bartender was chewing on a red vine. Our conversation went like this:

Me: Is that a red vine?
Him: Yup, do you want one?
Me: Yes please!
Him: They are a little old...
Me: Even better! That's how I like em!

(they are better when old - harder and chewier!)

Buckshot (3848 Geary Blvd, San Francisco). Just go to their website. Seriously. Right click that link and open it up in a new tab. Read their intro page and then return to this blog post.

Do do doo..... okay, so now that you've read that, do you see why this place is so amazing?? I will recap in case you did not read it (I am using more polite language) SKEE BALL, SHUFFLEBOARD, POOL TABLE, PHOTO BOOTH, DARTS, PICNIC TABLES, $2 PBR, the list goes on!


What really made the night one to remember was a game introduced to us by Ed a few weekends back in SLO. Don't let the name scare you - it's called Kill Your Friends. For every drink you buy for your friend, you get to tell them how they must "die." Then they act it out. Look below for an example...

Somebody bought Kevin a PBR. They told him to pretend the edge of the picnic table was a plank (like on a pirate ship) and he had to jump off of it. Problem was that the bouncers were NOT playing and did not appreciate somebody standing on the table, jumping off, and lying motionless on the ground.

Er... oh well! Another good one that got us all was when Kyle bought a round. He chose death by the following: I got to shoot at the other guys with the pretend gun attached to the video game BIG BUCK HUNTER, Call of the Wild. They were scattered all over the bar and started dropping like flies. Then I turned the pretend gun on myself. Seconds later we all stood up! Fun FUN Fun FUNnNNNnnNn

I also loved the decor! Reminds me of a bar I'd find in Illinois or a better version of Bull's in SLO. Before we left, when the clock struck midnight, the DJ played a song honoring Jess and we danced around her, bowing.

Happy Birthday Jess!!