Linkstew

For the love of pho / We scour S.F.'s Little Saigon to find the best Vietnamese beef noodle soup - Reading this article is a lot more effective than just wandering around the Tenderloin trying to pick a Pho joint after Google Local SMS suggests "Pesticide Action Network North" in response to "vietnamese, san francisco, ca."

Well that's a real bummer. It looks like Cafe Evolution is making way for some intelligent design. Um, not to say that Vegans have anything to do with creationism, but the joke was just begging to be made. That place was pretty awesome. I'd recommend you check it out before it's too late, but then you'll just be bummed when it's gone.

We went to a nearly invisible Togo's on El Camino for lunch the other day, and everything about the experience was bizarre. From the five employees more than ready to help us (one of whose job was apparently just to ask us if we wanted the lunch combo), to the apparently real side salad on display in the line, I was more than a little off guard.

And then, there was the "club card." How many problems can you find? Sorry it's hard to read, but be sure to read the fine print.

Here's a closeup of the fine print.

Yes, apparently all I have to write about these days are my lunch adventures.

Not Fooling Anybody

In Berkeley last night, we saw a former Taco Bell with the banner "Flaky Creme Donuts coming soon." Sure sounds like an adult video store.

Low-Carb Diets Affecting Krispy Kreme

It's alarming that such an environmentally irresponsible diet advocating eating so many non-renewable foods is actually having this big of an impact on the food industry.

Not all fun and games - Police called 40 times this year to Chuck E. Cheese on Blue Mound Road

It's amazing what you find when trying to answer the question "Does Chuck E Cheese serve beer?" For the record: "Beer and wine are served at the majority of the 460 Chuck E. Cheese restaurants in the United States."

Taco Bell cashes in on recall fervor

Okay, this is just insanity, but in this case, it's probably going to be about as accurate as the "real" polls. There's just too much going on to actually try to predict what's going to happen, I think. Also, someone ought to try instant run-off polls, to see if it would provide any data in support of instant run-off voting.

The first time I ate at Sufficient Grounds was on March 24, 2001. Now before you think I'm totally insane, let me clarify that I don't remember that date because it was the first day I ate at Sufficient Grounds --Rather, I remember the date because it was the day that Mac OS X was released. Since I was introduced to them on that day, I've eaten there so often that one of the cashier's said hi to me when I ran into him at the bank one day.

Sure, they're a little more expensive than most of the other cafes around, but that doesn't make me love them any less. Here are the top five reasons I like the place:

1. Honestly, how could I not like a place with such a humble name? Contrast this with Royal Grounds, which despite being on the same block I live on, is not only my least favorite cafe in all of Berkeley because of its awful coffee, but also because of its arrogant name.
2. Not only do they bake their own bread, but their focaccia is killer.
3. It's in a pretty prime location for people watching.
4. Not only did they win the Iced Mocha Monday taste test, but they're also my favorite place for an iced mocha.
5. They're across the walkway from Yogurt Park (and if you don't know why this is a good thing, I'm not going to tell you).

I'm sure going to miss that place when I'm gone.

I'm a Dr. Pepper fan, and in Berkeley, Dr. Pepper is a Pepsi product. The problem is that most of campus sold its soul to Coke long ago, and so when I'm on campus, it's far easier to find a coke vending machine than a Pepsi vending machine, and so I'm forced to resort to a Coke to fill my to fulfill my carbonated beverage needs. I don't mind Coke, I just far prefer Dr. Pepper.

For the last three years, though, there was a Pepsi machine in Evans hall serving my Dr. Pepper needs. Until this August, when I went into Evans and found my faithful Dr. Pepper dispensing machine replaced with yet another big red Coke machine. I have yet to check on the Pepsi machines in Wheeler and Soda (hall, that is) to see if they've survived Coke's onslaught, but the outlook is bleak. (The word on the grapevine (being the grapevine associated with my job, not student transmitted rumors) is that the campus cut even more of an exclusive contract with Coke). So now to have a Dr. Pepper during class, I have to plan more ahead and pick it up before I'm on campus.

"What does he get if he gets them all right?"
"An iced mocha."
-- two of my co-workers

And with that began the "Iced Mocha tour of Berkeley" in the office today. Six of us went forth and each acquired an Iced Mochas from a local coffee house. This endeaver was inspired by the fact that R., our resident Iced Mocha expert, was leaving for Grad School at the end of the week.

Iced Mocha expert? Yeah, you see, R. averages about three Iced Mochas a day, and even owns iced-mocha.net. When he travels, he always comes back with a report about the availability of Iced Mochas. Really, R. and Iced Mocha are pretty much synonymous.

So the purpose of the Iced Mocha tour was actually two-fold. First, it was an attempt to spread around some of R.'s knowledge of local coffee shops in general, and Iced Mochas in particular. And Second, it was an opportunity to see how well R. knows his Iced Mochas in a little blind taste test.

So we gathered our Iced Mochas, returned to the office, poured each Iced Mocha into an anonymous cup, and let R. try his mouth at the cups. R., unfortunately, only went 1/2 for 6. The Iced Mochas were:

A. International House
B. Strada
C. Coffee Source
D. Wall Berlin
E. Sufficient Grounds
G. Intermezzo (R. picked the first five, and this last one was chosen as a "mystery mocha" to stump the expert)

It's important to note that random anomalies frequently occur with coffee, and sometimes you just get a bad mocha. R. most frequently gets his Iced Mochas from Strada, Coffee Source, and Wall Berlin, and amazingly, our samples from both Strada and Coffee Source were sufficiently bad to throw off R.'s taste buds. (I drink Iced Mochas pretty regularly, and I agree that they were both ... abnormal)

This, unfortunately, totally threw off R.'s ability to pidgeonhole which mocha was which, because he couldn't identify the mochas he drinks most often. So in the end, the only mocha he (half) identified was the Mystery Mocha, though he guessed that it was from Espresso Experience rather than Intermezzo. R.'s first, and pretty much only, comment on that Intermezzo Mocha before declaring it "bad" was "Ilch!"

In the end, the assembled tasted ranked our Iced Mochas in the following order:

1. Sufficient Grounds - This is one of my favorites even on a normal day, but today's sample was unusually milky and sweet, which made for an especially pleasing experience for all the non-regular mocha drinkers in the office.
2. Wall Berlin - They tend towards sweeter, but very strong, Mochas. Todays was actually a little less strong than usual, which I didn't personally mind.
3. International House - I'd never had an Iced Mocha from here, but it was pretty typical for what I expect from an Iced Mocha.
4. Coffee Source/Strada - Once again, I note that these were both "bad blends," and should not be discounted just based on this one bad experience.
5. Intermezzo - Christo this one was bad. Ilch indeed. But Intermezzo is more of a salad/sandwich place than a coffee house, so I can't complain too much.

For reference, my favorite three Mochas on a normal day are Sufficient Grounds, Coffee Source, and Wall Berlin. I don't get up to Strada very often to drink there enough to develop a taste for it. From todays taste tests, though, I realized that I actually like my Iced Mochas slightly watered down (or less strong, if you prefer looking at it that way), but definitely Iced. Cold cold cold is a must.

Lessons learned? If we do this again, we should get two samples from each coffee shop, remove the ice and add it back right before tasting (to keep them from getting watered down until the samples are poured), and mix vigourously before the taste tests begin.

The final verdict on the Iced Mocha Tour?

"I think drinking iced mochas like this is like drinking several different kinds of hard liquor."
-- R., on "that funny feeling in our stomachs"

Oh, and here are a couple pictures.

"Who's trying to open the door," I wondered when I heard a key jiggling in the front door. "Albert's in his room..." And then my other other other roommate Michael got home. "Oh yeah, Him."

Which was really convenient, because Saturday when I was cleaning up from dinner, I noticed a pot on the stove. "Hey, I wonder what's in that pot?" So I looked, and there I saw what was once pasta, along with a lot of what definitely was no longer pasta. *blink* *blink* I quickly put the lid back on the pan and decided I'd deal with it later. It'd been sitting there since Michael left, so I figured a few more days couldn't hurt it. But conveniently, he's back.

When he left? Oh yeah, he left on September 1st to visit the DC area, and then Missouri, and then New York. So that Pasta had been sitting there for at least two weeks. It's not a pretty sight.

*blink* *blink* New York?

Yeah, it's funny you should mention that. I got home on the evening of Thursday the 13th, and there was a phone message from one of those airlines saying "Your flight has been canceled." And I thought to myself "That's funny, I didn't have a flight... Oh yeah, Michael! Wait a second... Wasn't he supposed to be in... New York? Hmm..." So I mailed Keith (who Michael was visiting in Missouri) and got an update and Michael was safe and sound.

Which is good, because that means he can clean his pot of stuff formerly known as pasta.