(Link to all 2015-April San Francisco / Berkeley trip blog posts)
Back to the Inn and my old friend now living in Berkeley, CA swung by with her two young kids. We parked near Trader Joe's in El Cerrito, then walked to Off The Grid at San Pablo Avenue and Fairmount -- a food cart fest featuring a rotation of 10 food trucks. We started with garlic and feta fries from Gyro Stop Kebab while we figured out what we wanted. We ended up trying Drewski's Hot Rod Kitchen, and finished with dessert from The Creme Brûlée Cart.
There were just a so-so amount of fries with an okay amount of feta in Gyro Stop Kebab's garlic and feta fries for $5 -- and that is taking into consideration that food carts typically charge a bit more than comparable restaurant menu items but with the consumer advantage of not having to tip. Lots of chopped garlic, which is helpful because a lot of it will fall off the fries. Fries are OK but this item could be much more convenient to eat and more worth $5 if they were perfectly done and if the garlic could somehow be more securely pasted on the fries, maybe with a bit of sauce of some kind.
After the light dinner at Off The Grid, my friend bought a dinner to go for her husband, we dropped off the kids at her place, then headed grocery shopping. Back to Trader Joe's, and then Target to have a peek at what a proper Target looks like since all of the Target stores in Canada were closing.
I think my best move ever on the trip was to buy a big bag of Josie's Seedless Mandarin oranges from Trader Joe's. 5 lbs for $5.99. Thirsty? Peckish? Just eat a few. And you want the seedless ones to have minimal fuss.
In search for "strange drinks", I also bought some bottled drinks to chill in the fridge. Nothing too special here except a 4-pack of non-alcoholic ginger beer with good bite to it. I'm pretty sure it was Reed's Extra Ginger Beer.
For some reason I was disappointed by Trader Joe's. Maybe I was expecting more unique products. Or maybe the whole concept of it being so interesting to Canadians that Pirate Joe's sprang up on West 4th gave it an unwarranted mystique.
As for Target, it looked like Target in Canada. Hmm.
After having had a really early start to my first day I slept early, waking up pretty cold several times in the night but at that point not having spotted the thermostat yet (hidden behind the TV in the Inn room!). I set my rented cellphone (a primitive Motorola Razr) alarm app for an early start.
Back to the Inn and my old friend now living in Berkeley, CA swung by with her two young kids. We parked near Trader Joe's in El Cerrito, then walked to Off The Grid at San Pablo Avenue and Fairmount -- a food cart fest featuring a rotation of 10 food trucks. We started with garlic and feta fries from Gyro Stop Kebab while we figured out what we wanted. We ended up trying Drewski's Hot Rod Kitchen, and finished with dessert from The Creme Brûlée Cart.
There were just a so-so amount of fries with an okay amount of feta in Gyro Stop Kebab's garlic and feta fries for $5 -- and that is taking into consideration that food carts typically charge a bit more than comparable restaurant menu items but with the consumer advantage of not having to tip. Lots of chopped garlic, which is helpful because a lot of it will fall off the fries. Fries are OK but this item could be much more convenient to eat and more worth $5 if they were perfectly done and if the garlic could somehow be more securely pasted on the fries, maybe with a bit of sauce of some kind.
After the light dinner at Off The Grid, my friend bought a dinner to go for her husband, we dropped off the kids at her place, then headed grocery shopping. Back to Trader Joe's, and then Target to have a peek at what a proper Target looks like since all of the Target stores in Canada were closing.
I think my best move ever on the trip was to buy a big bag of Josie's Seedless Mandarin oranges from Trader Joe's. 5 lbs for $5.99. Thirsty? Peckish? Just eat a few. And you want the seedless ones to have minimal fuss.
In search for "strange drinks", I also bought some bottled drinks to chill in the fridge. Nothing too special here except a 4-pack of non-alcoholic ginger beer with good bite to it. I'm pretty sure it was Reed's Extra Ginger Beer.
For some reason I was disappointed by Trader Joe's. Maybe I was expecting more unique products. Or maybe the whole concept of it being so interesting to Canadians that Pirate Joe's sprang up on West 4th gave it an unwarranted mystique.
As for Target, it looked like Target in Canada. Hmm.
After having had a really early start to my first day I slept early, waking up pretty cold several times in the night but at that point not having spotted the thermostat yet (hidden behind the TV in the Inn room!). I set my rented cellphone (a primitive Motorola Razr) alarm app for an early start.
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