after dinner sneeze

This was not one of those hipstery, artisanal donut shops.  No “crazy” flavors, no cutesy decor, no ironically tatooed  beards behind the register.  Just donuts [and lotto tickets].  I ventured the chocolate covered buttermilk donut  which was absolutely amaze-balls (it tasted more like a classic sour cream donut with a dark chocolate glaze).  I got a raspberry jelly-filled glazed for g, who liked the texture of the donut, but found the jelly to be a little “meh” – so that one might have been less successful of a donut.  Next up for me: Kruller and Apple Fritter – I’ll have to pace myself to avoid coronary atherosclerosis … I’ll let you know how they go.

On a separate occasion, we met up with a friend of one of g’s cousins who lives/works in Oakland.  He’s kind-of-a-big-deal, but we don’t want to divulge his true identity so we can protect his big-deal-ness – maybe sometime in the future, we’ll introduce you!  In any case, he suggested we try out Portal in Oakland, for which we were more than happy to trek across the bridge!  The above is a ricotta-caamelized-banana-and-pear French Toast.  It was absolutely crazy.  I ate it all.  Seriously.  I haven’t demolished an entire stuffed French Toast dish in ages (e.g. not even Sabrina’s).  The outside had a crisp sugary-cinnamon coating, while the inside was as light as a cloud, with chunks of the aforementioned cooked fruit.  The blackberries were a bit of an afterthought, but the pomegranate was a nice punch to keep things lively.

The chilaquiles were a bit different than we had ad in he past – it was more like “breakfast nachos” than the egg-dominated chilaquiles with which we were familiar.  g still showed it a thing or two, but maybe it could have used a bit more egg …

The place was SO nondescript that I actually had difficulty finding the sign to take a picture of it.  This is Bakesale Betty.  It has apparently been there for years, but being that we’re new here, it was my first time.  They sell some baked goods (scones and cookies), as well as friend chicken sandwiches with coleslaw …

… that look like this!  The shells was super-crispy, and the chicken was nice and tender.  Actually – the above picutre is a sham – it’s the buttermilk fried tofu sandwich!  Somehow they got the perfect fried chicken exterior on the outside of the tofu – beautiful texture with a slightest spicy kick in there.  The cole slaw was fresh and zippy.  And the bread was spot-on (I actually think g loved the bread most!).  Sure the scone and cookie were fine (it ain’t no Talula’s Table/Daily scone), but the chicken sandwich was the real winner.