How Far Is Too Far?

I'm a city girl through and through. I pride myself in knowing all about San Francisco...the sights, sounds, people. If there's an argument about which city is best, I will jump in and fight to prove that SF is best.

As a city gal, I don't have a car, and find myself a little limited when it comes to how far I can venture. Sure, there's BART and trains and ferries, etc. but when you take into consideration the schedules, the longer commute time, the pain of carrying everything I'm traveling with in a bag on my shoulder, and the 'characters' I tend to run into, I limit my excursions out of the city.

So last week, when my friend Michelle invited me to a Friends & Family meal at Miss Pearl's Jam House, a relatively high profile new restaurant with Chef Joey Altman at the helm, I had to think twice about going. But only because, the restaurant is in Oakland.

I'm usually not a gal to pass up any opportunity, much less the opportunity to check out a new restaurant. But a Friday night trek to Oakland? I wasn't so sure. I've heard New Yorkers talk like this...why would a Manhattan dweller trek unnecessarily to Brooklyn?

For those of you not familiar with the Bay Area, you won't know really just how silly this is. Oakland is only maybe 30 min away. Probably even closer and quicker without traffic. Literally just across a bridge. And it's true, a lot of people that work in SF do live in Oakland, or even further. And in terms of public transportation, the ferry really isn't a bad way to go.

Of course, in the end, I said yes. I'm always up for an adventure, even if it was an adventure in Oakland. I was told that taking the ferry was easy. People commuted on it all the time, and there was even a bar on board!

I think the day of the Big Trek, everyone I talked to heard about my plans for the night. And of course each time I asked someone if they had taken the ferry to Oakland, I'd get a look. And when I asked my friend Bryan, a fellow city dweller, if he'd want to join us, I got the 'Why would I go to Oakland?'

I wonder, if it was any other restaurant project, would they have gotten this type of turn out from San Francisco residents? It helped that there was a local 'celebrity chef' at the helm (what does that term mean anymore?) Michael Bauer recently reviewed Camino, a restaurant in Oakland. He gave it 3 stars. The reaction from many of my friends? Huh. Never heard of it. Or oh, never made the trip out there. Yea. Sad but true. Probably a fine restaurant. Will I ever check it out? Probably not. Any future treks will be saved for Chez Panisse or The Cheese Board, or even a strawberry cupcake at Love At First Bite.

The most delicious fresh strawberry cupcakes ever!

When there's an abundance of restaurants right here in your own city, why leave? Why bother looking up Ferry schedules and BART maps? All for a dinner? Better be a damn good dinner. Isn't it easier to just get there on your own timeline, and at the end of the meal, hop out and catch a cab home? I know. Very snobby of this San Franciscian.

In the end?

A fun meal. The decor wasn't really my cup of tea, but the food was good, Chef Joey Altman was a awesome and totally working the room (always great to see a chef talking to the customers!) and I even had the pleasant surprise of running into some other industry friends that had made the trek.

Me and the gals at the bar before dinner! Who couldn't have fun with this group?

Oh. And the ferry ride? I missed the boat. I ended up taking BART and a cab to get there.

Good vs Bad – Bad Meal in San Diego

Although I love making sweets, I’m not the biggest fan of eating sweets. However, a do appreciate a good cupcake and am even more excited by interesting flavor combinations. My friend Jonathan told me about a place, Eclipse Chocolat, that we just had to check out. He had recently heard that they had a bacon/chocolate cupcake! It was definitely worth the trek to check it out!


To my disappointment, the night we went, the bacon/chocolate cupcake was not available. We settled for a mixed box of goodies.

We ended up picking :
- Kentucky Bourbon and Pecan Cupcake
- Lemon Dulce du Leche Cupcake
- Macadamia and Toasted Marshmallow Cupcake
- Macademia and Ginger Brownie
- Masala Chai Brownie
- Espresso Truffle
- Lavender and Sea Salt Caramel

I was really excited about the bourbon cupcake as well as the marshmallow one. The chai brownie was my pick as was the lavender and sea salt caramel.

Imagine my disappointment when we got home and started cutting into them…just to find the cupcake flavor combos weird, and the cupcake itself super dry. I’ve had a lot of good cupcakes in my time (Kara’s Cupcakes in San Francisco, Miette Cakes in the Ferry Building, Berkeley's Love at First Bite Bakery, Saint Cupcake in Portland), and these were probably some of the worst ones I’ve ever had. I'm no professional baker, but mine are even better!

I really wanted to like them. The brownies were generally better than the cupcakes. And of all of the cupcakes, the marshmallow one was ok--probably because the fluffy marshmallow in the center at least gave the cupcake some moisture.

Goes to show...don't try and be so clever with the original flavor combinations. Stick with the basics and be sure to perfect your basic cupcake before venturing out.