Bulgarini Gelato's Olive Oil

April 4, 2014
Probably one of the best frozen treats that can be found in L.A.County is Bulgarini Gelato, especially their specialty dish, olive oil gelato. As you can see, it is a white gelato that is tangy like a greek yogurt, somewhat salty and drizzled over with olive oil. The best way to try to describe it is kind of like plain greek yogurt, but much more complex with an explosion of sweetness and sourness that is only enhanced by the chilly temperatures.
If you're ever in Pasadena or surrounds it is very much worth the sidetrip to visit and taste the offerings of this hidden gem.

East Coasting 2013 Part VI... Mister Ed's Elephant Museum!

May 2013

Mister Ed's Elephant Museum is a place I've visited several times in my life and it is fun and interesting every time. Mister Ed apparently really loved elephants and started collecting them, figurines and photos and such, not the real ones. So there's the elephant museum where you can see thousands of elephant things on display. I don't know if Mr. Ed also loved candy, or if it was a subsequent owner who opened the candy emporium, but it is there and full of all kinds of candy including retro candy, homemade fudge, saltwater taffy and other snackie yum yums. 

The grounds around the museum are also very pretty and have cute little elephant touches and a giant talking elephant. 

When I visited Pennsylvania this past June, my aunt said the current owners are trying to sell and might end up closing Mr. Ed's. I thought it was important to post this, just in case. 

East Coasting 2013 Part V... Utz Potato Chip Factory!

May 2013

This was kind of a dream come true. I'm into snacks, hence this blog, and I've always wanted to go to a food factory. So when I found out the plant for my favorite chips was not very far from where I was staying in PA I  knew I had the perfect opportunity. 

The Utz Tour Gallery is completely self-guided. You get a history of the company and then you get to walk down a corridor with windows to view the factory and the different stages of production. Fascinating! Yes, it is old and the decor outdated, but that is so secondary to the awesomeness of seeing Utz being made. 

After you're done watching how the chips are made, you drive to the secondary location for the Utz Factory Outlet Store, where you can dance around a room full of every potato chip flavor and Utz product known to man. You can leave with a car full of Utz products, or you can have them shipped to you! They also had every flavor from Zapp's and Dirty Brand potato chips. I highly recommend these places for every potato chip fan.

East Coasting 2013 Part IV... Beer!

Ah yeah! This was a good paddle from Good-Ta-Go, the beer-lover's store and tap room in Chamberburg, PA. I had my first sour, Monk's Sour Flemish Ale, which tasted a little like vinegar, but then that's a taste I like. See part I of my East Coast 2013 posts to see my first shandy. Here I tasted my second: Shock Top Lemon Shandy, which wasn't as good as Leinenkugel's. I can't remember anything about the other two.

East Coasting 2013 Part III... Other snackie yum yums

The above are photos from snackie yum yum experiences i had while traveling around the East Coast in 2013.

• Antietam Dairy consistently serves me the best ice cream I've ever had. That's double scoop of chocolate chip at dusk. 
• I also drove around Lancaster County and found myself in Lititz, PA. That's a town with a great snackie history. I visited the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery. Sturgis boasts being the oldest pretzel bakery in the United States. There's a giant pretzel to prove it. Also in Litiz I visited the Wilbur Chocolate Candy Americana Museum and Candy Store. At the time there was a view into the Wilbur Chocolate Plant, but that is no more. It closed in January 2016.

Catching up...East Coasting 2013 Part II

The above are photos of random chip experiences from my East Coast trip in 2013.

• The chip aisle at Walmart in Chambersburg, PA. 
• Middleswarth Potato Chips. 
• Beet chips  and a hibiscus beverage from the Chalsty's Cafe in the Museum of the City of New York.
• Wise All Natural Potato Chips: Delicious! Plain crisps and lightly salted but with a potato-y aftertaste which is appropriate for potato chips. There's a little bit of an oily feel, but again, that's what is expected from a potato chip. These are great just potato- potato chips. (05/26/2013)
• Grandma Utz' Handcooked Potato Chips: I missed Utz so the first single serving bag I came across I bought. I actually almost bought all the varieties they had available, but sensibility won over and I ended up with Grandma Utz's Handcooked,  original Utz, and BBQ flavored. At the commissary they were only 27 cents. So I was trying to remember and I thought that I really liked the hand cooked, but my taste buds must've changed because the bag I just ate wasn't pleasant. They left an odd aftertaste like they used a different oil or something. But I did like the texture. They felt like they were in the middle between the hard crunch of kettle-cooked and the light crispy of regular-cooked. (05/26/2013)

Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy East Coasting 2013 Part I

My original photo from hanging with the aunts in 2013

May 27, 2013
Went with three of my aunts to one of the nicer local bars, Break Away, to hang out. We ordered a lot of food and beer and the Lemon Shandy was my second. It's really light, very lemony, almost a natural lemonade as in lemon juice and water. There's no body at first sip but then after you move it around your tongue a bit it blossoms in your mouth and you can taste the wheat behind the lemonade. Definitely perfect for a summer afternoon. Love the lemony flavor and the smooth feel. 

July 4, 2016
I'm a lazy bum and that's why it has taken me so long to post the above. Just to add an addendum, I had a Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy at a gathering yesterday and it is still just as delicious and refreshing as when I first tasted it in 2013, and I think it is the perfect alcoholic beverage for the summer (I didn't copy that from their website, I believe it!). 

A shandy is a beer mixed with another, usually non-alcoholic beverage. Summer Shandy, according to the Leinenkugel's website, is a blend between a weiss beer and natural lemonade flavor. 

Nutty Brewnette at BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse

I went out with a couple of my old co-workers just to get together and celebrate a few things at once. I've always had really good experiences at BJ's and obviously like brewhouses, so, despite the fact that the particular location they wanted to go to was in a mall, and this is the holiday season, I was excited to go and see these folks. Plus, I remembered that this BJ's had an outside entrance so I didn't have to actually go into the mall. Yay!

Jeremiah Red and Nutty Brewnette

 I normally order their house-made Hefeweizen, which is where I discovered that Hef is actually really great by itself, sans the added squeeze of citrus.  But, I felt like I should try something new and different. I couldn't decide and the server was too busy to help, so I ordered a sample of BJ's Jeremiah Red Irish-Style Ale and the Nutty Brewnette American-Style Brown Ale. If they failed, I'd just get a pint of Hef and call it a night. But the server proved to be so busy he forgot my order. First he brought me a strawberry lemonade. Then, he brought me a full pint of the Brewnette and said he'd be right back with a sample of Hef. I took a quick sip, and told him to forget the Hef. The Brewnette seemed to be fine.

Nutty Brewnette: Not a blonde!

I took a minute to taste it and it was actually really nice. It was flat and mouthcoating. It had a very distinct and strong flavor of caramel, but it wasn't salty or too sweet. There was also hints of sweet spices such as cloves and cinammon, as well as a pecans. It had elements that can be sweet, but the ale itself was not sugary in any way. 

My experience with darker beers is that their flavor is usually lost or severely distorted by most food, but I must've chosen a good pairing in the Mediterranean Pizza, because the beer and the pie were delicious together.  

A fun night with people I miss seeing on a daily, a yummy pizza and a great dark beer.  

Last Night the Music Killed My Taste Test

This evening, Dante and I stopped at Mendocino Farms for dinner before I dropped him off at work for the graveyard shift. They have really interesting and delicious sandwiches there, if you've never gone, I highly recommend ordering a familiar sounding sandwich because more than likely, there will be some ingredient that gives you a little pleasant kick in the tongue, as has been my experience. And their spicy dijon potato salad is truly divine.

Mendocino Farms also has baskets full of chip varieties you just don't find too many other places if at all. Well, Dante and I got our sanwiches, sides and chips and sat down to enjoy them. We were going to start by recording a chip tasting of the Sour Cream N Chive and Barbeque flavors of Route 11 Potato Chips, but almost right before we started, this mind-scrambling music started playing overhead and it totally threw me off my chip-tasting-game. My crazy response to the music influenced Dante and there we have the perfect storm of bad taste tests. It is funny nonetheless. Enjoy.

Oh, the music festival I refer to is the Moogfest, and if you go to the Live In Concert from All Songs Considered site, you will see some Moogfest concerts available so you can experience them for yourself. That's just not my kind of music.

Beer & Pizza in Jingletown: An Audio Tasting

Watch/listen to this, another audio tasting, done with my friend, Aram, while we were in Jingletown, an arts district in the Bay Area, for its biannual artwalk.

The beer you see in the slide show that we refer to as Steelhead, isn't one of the Steelhead Fine Ales, but made by a former Steelhead brewmaster named Larry Lesterud. So we should have probably called it Lesterud's Suds, at least that is what I'm going to call it from now on! Lesterud is also a fantastic photographer. That's how we came to meet him. While perusing the galleries and workspaces that were participating in the artwalk, I found an awesome print of some graffiti that spelled out my name (Crazy serendipity!). I bought it and we got to talking with the photographer. I asked him for a card or something and he gave me one of his old brewmaster business cards, which got Aram to asking questions. Turns out he brewed a special beer just for the occasion and well, we just couldn't keep ourselves from trying it.

The pizza you see in the pictures is from Fist of Flour Pizza Company. Owned and operation by a really awesome master of pizzas named James Whitehead. Other artwalk goers, Aram and I stood around and talked with him and his assistant in front of his mobile wood-fired pizza oven for a while. The pizza, by the way was Freakin' Delicious. I had 3 slices of veggie and 1 slice of Margherita. All the slices as you might be able to tell from the slide show, were a quarter size of the whole pie. Whitehead uses a distinct sauce that set all other toppings off beautifully. It was the perfect combination of spicy, sweet and tangy tomato. The veggie had arugula and some type of mushroom on it from what I could tell. And the crust was like a soft cracker, a bit lavash-like,  charred at the edges. It wasn't like any thin crust I've tried, but I'm no pizza expert.

I would highly recommend attending the Jingletown Artwalk, if not to experience great original works, but to at least sample Lesterud's Suds and grab a slice. 

Drake's Hefeweizen at Elevation 66 Brewing Company

Norm and Cliff welcomed me.

I went up to the bay area for family event and thought it was the perfect time to hang out with my friend, Aram, who was talking about leaving the country for a few months, if not longer. First thing we did was to meet up at his favorite bar, Elevation 66, a modern looking joint, with half its seating at the bar, and beer tanks behind the bartender. Aram knew almost all of the brewpub's crew, but also a lot of the customers walking in, out and sitting around us. It was like an episode of Cheers and I was guest starring! Ha!

Bad picture. Good beer.

Elevation 66 obviously has their own house brews, but I ended up with a glass of Drake's Hefeweizen, one of the bar's guest beers. And I couldn't have been happier. Drake's had a really beautiful, almost floral mulling spice flavor. It was flat like all hefs. And didn't leave my mouth with any unpleasantness.
I was pretty hungry when I got there, and so along with the beer, I ordered cod and crab cake sliders, a side of chips and housemade pickles. It was like a festival of things I love!

Fries, sliders, chips, pickles and aioli. 

As far as the seafood sliders, I wish they would have had a little more seasoning, but I wonder if the food is prepared with the idea that you'll be drinking beer with it. In that case, it was perfectly seasoned not to throw one's tongue off of the beer's flavor. Plus, the sliders enlivened when a little curry aioli was smeared on them. The pickles couldn't have made me happier. They're the perfect accompaniment to beer and a great palate resetter. The chips were great for pub chips. They're not what I'll be coming back to this place for, but I will order them again....with the pickles! Aram ordered french fries, which were yummy, too.

This place is great. I love the care and attention they pay to everything they serve. The people were pretty cool, too. Thanks, Aram!

Beer Sampling at Pyramid's Berkeley Alehouse

A friend and I did a magically silly turn-around trip to the bay area. We drove up, ate, drank and changed clothes at Pyramid's, went around the corner to dance the night away at Havana Nights, then drove back, all in the same day. We were exhausted, but we had such a good time and I really enjoy how well you get to know people on road trips. Our friendship was truly strengthened.

But on to the beer!

One of the samples I got was Mactarnahan's Amber Ale. Funny how I find myself at a brewhouse, but end up with a guest beer. The Mac is a light lager and very piney. Very. I had a similar beer once at Father's Office. It was called pine beer. I do have to say, that our awesomely knowledgeable server, Cesar, warned me about the pineyness, but I figured it was only a sample. I didn't like it. Just wasn't my kind of beer.

Red Wheat, Apricot, Mac and Chai pint.

Another sample was Pyramid's Apricot Ale, which was a house beer. I'm pretty sure that I've had this out of a bottle before, either that or on tap at bar somewhere. But when I tried it at the alehouse, I found it not to my liking. the apricot ale was too sweet and watery like someone poured in some apricot juice into a beer. I like beers with distinct flavors but not overly sweet.
The house's Red Wheat with Fig is a really great beer. Its a pretty-to-look at medium-dark with a red tint. and had a nice dynamic flavor, although I wouldn't recommend drinking it while eating. I found the flavor of the beer was lost when the taste buds were distracted.  This beer made me want to strike up a bonfire and have a bunch of friends sitting around talking.
The winner of this tasting, and the beer I ended up with a full pint of, was Pyramid's Chai Wheat Ale. It presented a subtle yet distinct (if that's possible) chai flavor in a lightly carbonated ale. Maybe that's what ale is: not quite as smooth as a hef but not as bubble as a lager? I'm just guessing from what I know so far. It was a delicious beer that I wanted to take home and drink along with a plate of curry and roti at least once a week. But it's a limited release of this ale house and therefore not bottled for transport. But....according to the Pyramid website, it is bottled and I know its at least available as a part of the Winter Variety Pack. 

Where's the Beer?

I know. I've been slacking in my beer drinking and reviewing. That should be a good thing, but its not because the blog is about beer, too. I should be downing a sixer a week and posting review blogs while intoxicated, sloughing my phrases about. Just kidding! No, I haven't had anything to drink this morning except some liver-wake-up lemon water (A great liver starter tip for you beer drinkers).
So where are all the beer reviews? I have to be honest, folks. I don't really feel like I'm in a beer mood this summer.
I've had a couple that I didn't take the time to review, such as the summer staple, Sam Adams' Summer Ale, which I think is the best Sam Adams beer. Then Mr. Brown brought a sixer of Trader Joe's Summer Brew, which was nice and light.
Dante and I went to Stout in Hollywood and had burgers, fries and beers.I think we ordered three different beers and I tasted all three and drank one. Thanks, Dante!

Later, during the hot weeks of summer, Mr. Brown and I went to
The Stand and split a big cup of their house Honey Blonde Draft Ale.
Nice and smooth. I think there was an Asahi at a sushi place sometime,
but I wasn't taking note.

I type this post as I watch Ken Burns' Prohibition and after a quick trip to Ralph's where I discovered that Sam Adams' Summer Ale has already been replaced with the Oktoberfest selections and the Halloween candy aisle is already in full swing. Where have the summer beer-drinking months gone? I know now that I've let them slip by, while crunching heartily upon mostly potato snacky yum yums.

So what's my point? I don't really have one and I like to wax poetic. I just was trying to give a good excuse as to why there aren't many beer reviews as of yet on the Potato Chips and Beer blog.
Either way, I hope you keep reading.

Lotus Root Chips at Burma Superstar

I just got back from a weekend in California’s bay area and I had a blast! Did lots of dancing and came across some amazing tastes as well. One notable place in Oakland is Burma Superstar, specializing in Burmese cuisine, which is a mix of neighbor’s influences (i.e. India, China, Laos, and Thailand).



For an appetizer, I shared lotus root chips with my friend (Terrible picture, I know, but its what I got!). Thinly sliced lotus roots, which look like uncooked chicharones de harina, are fried until they turn a golden burnt orange, then seasoned to perfection with chili and salt. Delicious, simple and amazing! You can’t just have 5 or 6 of these chips because with the large holes in the root, you have to eat at 20 to equal a heaping handful of regular potato chips.

We also ordered the Burma Cooler: Ginger and lemon mixed into beer. At first we found all those bitter tastes too much for our palate. In fact, the Burma Cooler was bordering on unpleasant, but I’m not one to waste beer so I was drinking it anyway. After we started on our entrees and adding all the tangy, sweet, salty flavors to our tongue, and especially after the yummy garlic sautéed pea leaves (Say what? Yeah.), the Burma Cooler’s bitterness melted into a yummy, smooth palate cleanser. It was like a ginger-lemon wine cooler, easy to drink and flavorful, but not overpowering.

The rest of the food was great, too. They don’t have a huge selection of beers on their list, but a few microbrews and I don’t remember seeing any of the major brands available.

Burma Superstar!
4721 Telegraph Avenue
Oakland, CA 94609
510-652-2900
burmasuperstar.com

Sudsy Joints: Village Idiot

Village Idiot

7383 Melrose Avenue, 90046

villageidiotla.com (Beer list on website)

I’ve eaten at Village Idiot a couple times, but it wasn’t until recently that I paid attention to their beer menu. They have an interesting selection in bottles and on tap. The only typical beers are Guinness, Pacifico, Bud and Beck’s, but they are the outliers on a list full of microbrews and imports. That makes me happy. You can go to the corner store and get a Miller, Bud or Heineken, but I think sudsy joints, are the places you can go to find beers that are harder to find, full of interesting flavor and mixing different styles, and ingredients to create a-typical brews.

Other than their interesting selection, Village Idiot also has a list of Mixed Suds. I want to try a few different things on this list, but in warmer weather, sitting by the restaurant’s very large windows looking out at the fashion victims and fashionistas of Melrose, I have found myself ordering the light, sweet, refreshing combination called the Snake Bite, 1903 lager and Woodchuck Amber cider. Ahhhh!