A chocolate doughnut topped with chocolate fudge icing. Stopped by Starbucks in Banning on the drive back to San Francisco. This mini donut is the exactly the small sugary snack I needed to get me through the morning drive. $0.95
Starbucks, Banning CA
Skinny caramel macchiato.
Happy Sushi Ro Ba Ta, Palm Springs
FAIL!!! This has possibly been my worst dining experience to date, no joke! We arrived a little after 5 on a Saturday and there were 3 tables taken outside and a few people at the sushi bar. Regardless, after getting our drinks and the extremely sad Dynamite Bites, it still took 45 minutes to finally get our sushi! Way too long!
Some food highlights:
The Dynamite Bites ($5) are billed as crabmeat baked with dynamite sauce. Sounds delicious, right? Wrong! In actuality, this abomination is a pile of imitation crabmeat on a scrap of aluminum foil with an indistinguishable sauce on top. They do provide some lemon wedges with it, no doubt to kill any lingering bacteria on this laughable heap!
The spicy tuna roll ($6 happy hour) is huge! Awesome, right? Wrong! No one wants to eat more of a crappy roll. There was enough rice on this thing to feed a small Japanese prefecture! And the tuna wasn’t spicy at all, but it was mutilated to the consistency of Whiskas cat food.
And how about some avian bird flu with your sushi?!!! The outside tables are conveniently situated under an eave where a menagerie of feathery locals hang out to take their dumps. Once we heard the rain of bird poop showering the hibiscus plant beside our table, and saw well-aimed poo bombs land on our table and splatter onto our food and my arm, we called it quits!
And no, our food was NOT comped! I wanna barf just recalling that catastrophic experience.
Note: Although they overtly display a happy hour checklist menu at the front, they sneakily hand you a normal checklist when you’re seated. So be sure to request a happy hour list.
Or save yourself some time and bird flu vaccination costs and don’t go there at all!
Other forgettable dishes:
Samurai Rock sake cocktail. $5
Albacore nigiri. Surprise, it comes seared! No doubt to kill anything on the outside of this not-so-fresh cut of fishy fish. $3.95 happy hour
Mackerel nigiri. I’ll admit that this wasn’t bad. $3.75 happy hour
Eel and avocado roll. Tasted ok until it was splattered with bird poo! $8 happy hour
Edamame. $3
Asahi beer. $4.50
With nuts and coconut. $2.75
Koffi, Palm Springs
I know you can’t tell from the photo, but this is a monster cookie. There’s no way I could have finished this cookie by myself, nor would I have wanted to (since I do have bouts of health conciousness, hehe). So I made David eat it with me, of course. It was delicious!
Iced coffee. Summers in Palm Springs are definitely hot so iced coffees are a must!
Steamed and served with drawn butter and lemon wedge, seasonal vegetables, rice pilaf and homemade sweet cabbage. $21.95
The Lobster House, Palm Springs
I think that you can probably already see in this pic that the lobster is WAY overcooked. Why, why, why!? This was another sad plate at The Lobster House. I just checked on Yelp and this place only has 2 stars. I should have checked before we dined here! The sides were throw-away items that did nothing to save the butchered lobster tail.
The (cajun) shrimp is served with seasonal vegetables, rice pilaf and sweet cabbage. $19.95
The Lobster House, Palm Springs
Omg! These shrimp were SO overcooked! This plate made me more than a little sad. Everything on it was poorly cooked and/or drenched in butter to try and cover up the bad quality of the ingredients. I couldn’t taste much of the cajun flavor on the shrimp since the overcooked taste overpowered everything. Sadly, this was a meal I can’t take back. 😦
Hahn Estate, pinot noir, Monterey. $8
Main Street, cabernet sauvignon, California. $7
The Lobster House, Palm Springs
In keeping up with the mediocre food at The Lobster House, they also serve mediocre wine. I’m still kicking myself that we settled for this place after our original choice was booked.
Dinner roll with butter. It’s sad when the best part of you meal is the complimentary bread and butter, but that was truly the case at this restaurant.
When I saw this bun in the display case, I thought it would be SO gooey and sticky sweet! The healthy part of me was glad that is wasn’t nearly as decadent, but the other part was somewhat disappointed. Isn’t that why you order a sticky bun in the first place? Although it was pretty good, I wish it was a little more sinful, lol! $2.95
Koffi, Palm Springs
With pumpkin, almonds and granola, drizzled with a sugar glaze. $2.95
Koffi, Palm Springs
Somehow, this muffin didn’t taste absurdly unhealthy. Maybe it’s the granola? Perhaps I think that since it has granola, it’s somehow healthier. Regardless, this muffin did help to fill me up before we took the Aerial Tramway up and hiked to the top of Mt. San Jacinto. It was a great day, and perhaps the granola helped make the hike a little easier. Hehe!
Latte
Crispy spring rolls with chicken and vegetables, served with crispy wonton chips and sweet & sour sauce. Garnished with lettuce and orange slice. $6.50
Go Bistro, San Francisco (SFO)
I guess you really can’t mess up spring rolls unless they’re super greasy, so these were just fine. Nothing special about them, but sometimes you just need something hot and fried to tie you over before boarding an airplane.
Sierra Nevada pale ale. $6.79
I also think that it’s also a safe bet to have a beer (or cocktail) before a flight. It loosens you up in case you’re seated by annoying passengers. 🙂
Served with pickled paper-thin cucumbers, spicy carrots, and chopped parsley. $3.25
Chairman Bao Truck, San Francisco
So I’m a big fan of The Chairman Bao truck and I’ve been slowly trying all the buns whenever I see the truck on my way home from the gym (great way to lose weight, right?). Although the pork belly bun is still my favorite, this chicken bun was also very good. It had great flavor and I love the thin cucumber slices. The chicken was tender and they certainly put plenty of toppings on the bun. Go Bao!
7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2014
Deep fried sweet potato wedges dusted with cayenne salt, topped with chopped parsley and served with garlic aioli. $5 for happy hour
Farmerbrown, San Francisco
This was my favorite snack of the night! They were cooked perfectly (not greasy at all) and they came out hot and fluffy. The aioli was a great accompaniment for the slightly sweet fries. I could eat another plate of these right now!
1/2 pound of house ground chuck with garlic aioli and onions on a brioche roll, served with chips. $10 for happy hour, $1 extra for cheddar cheese
Farmerbrown, San Francisco
Wow, this was absolutely delicious! Yet another one of those burgers that practically melts in your mouth. Part of this is the super tender patty, and the other part is from the super soft and fluffy brioche bun. I’m glad I got opted for the cheddar cheese add-on. The fries were also very good.
Vittle Monster 