Review: 85° C Bakery Cafe, Irvine

This luscious red-bean filled bun was only $1.00. The whole concept of the Taiwan-based 85° C Bakery Cafe is assembly-line: you enter, grab a tray and tongs, file through the bakery area and fill your tray with baked goods all between $1 and $2, then wait in the long (but efficient) line while they bag your goodies and rush you out.

Maybe some who are more cultured in Asian bakeries would scoff at this chain, as coffee connoisseurs scoff at Starbucks-wielding ignoramuses. But to me, it was a whole new concept, and everything was just so cheap.

They also have heavenly brioche ($1.20, below), beautiful little cakes that look like works of art, and their specialty: sea-salt coffee. The tomato basil bread, above, was only $1.20.

But I digress. $1.00, folks. One. Dollar. Try it at least once.

85° C Bakery Cafe

Diamond Jamboree Shopping Center
2700 Alton Parkway, St.# 123 Irvine, CA, 92606
949-553 -8585
http://www.85cafe.us/

-- Kelsey Ramos

Related:
Review: Julian Pie Company
More Frugal Nosh bakery reviews
More Frugal Nosh cafe reviews

Review: Hill Street Cafe, Oceanside

When I rolled in to the Hill Street Café & Gallery with a friend, it was at the tail-end of our San Diego speedy weekend road trip, and we were tired. After all, this was the same trip we went to Julian to visit Julian Pie Company's famous apple pie, among other classic SD landmarks.

What cheered me right up was Hill Street Café ’s vegan chili ($2.95/bowl), a scrumptious hybrid of minestrone and the traditional meaty spicy stew that is chili. But it was chunky and fresh, not greasy, and laden with fresh squash, carrots, beans, and other seasonal vegetables, topped with fresh cilantro and coarsely-chopped red onions. A big hunk of starchy cornbread comes served on the side, to sop up all the vegan chili goodness at the end.

It was a very filling start to the meal, an avocado burrito loaded with fresh avocado, pinto beans, brown rice, the perfect amount of salty cheese, and fresh, cool salsa on the side. There was a cute little slice of watermelon and orange on the side to wash it all down.

My friend ordered the minestrone soup ($2.95/bowl), a lighter tomato-based soup, veggie-laden like mine, and a tuna salad sandwich, which was fresh, and very hearty and filling as well. They also have non-vegetarian foods, but the vegetarian ones look very delicious.

Most of the Yelp reviews relate pretty positive experiences, though it seems customers' biggest complaint is the service. The service is very laid back, and I kept running from our table in the front patio back in to the counter to check if they were coming with our drinks, our order, our check because it was unusually slow.

Come to Hill Street Cafe when you can take your time eating - the weather is usually beautiful and it's fun to watch the people bustling in and out of the sushi place next door. We kept seeing the busboys from our restaurant running across the patio with oranges, or a plate or some food item in bulk and then disappearing behind the sushi restaurant's door curtain - they would reappear without their wares and holding a plate of sushi instead. Perhaps the owners are the same for both restaurants?

This was one of the best meals we had all weekend. Next time you're in Oceanside, I recommend you grab a table on the patio and hunker down with your food for people-watching.

Hill Street Cafe & Gallery
524 S. Coast Hwy (between Minnesota Ave & Sportfisher Dr)
Oceanside, CA 92054
760-966-0985
yelp.com/biz/hill-street-cafe-and-gallery-oceanside

Film Bites: Food Inc.

"Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here." -foodincmovie.com

Finally got around to seeing the film Food Inc., and while I'm still an omnivore, I am a more conscious one now. The film raised a number of alarming questions - some that I've never thought about and some I've thought about quite a lot - like: where does my food come from? How are the government agencies involved in food production motivated? How are our workers in the meat-packing industry treated? Why do strains of E. coli bacteria appear in our produce seemingly every time we catch our breath from the last outbreak?

I won't try to answer all those questions: you really must see the film. But a lot of them will blow you away with their severity, particularly in the ways farmers are treated under the few monopolizing corporations in power, the conflicts of interest in government regulatory agencies, and the treatment of meat production workers. This is not solely some liberal ranting or child's play argument - the numbers are pretty convincing.

The best part about this film for me was two-fold. Firstly, it didn't focus strictly on vegetarianizing the entire country (though it definitely gave reason to consider it). It broke my heart to see the little cows and chickens and pigs in some terrible farming conditions, but I am glad that that wasn't filmmaker Robert Kenner's main point. If there was vegetarianism-persuasion involved, it was only a side effect of the education of the nation's food industry. (But seriously, think about what you're eating the next time you're at the market. Try vegetarian.)

Secondly, it was a very well made film. The website said it took Kenner over six years to bring Food Inc. to the screen, and it shows. The many issues it covers are well organized, easy to follow, and quite detailed. The interviews within the film are tasteful, well-edited and poignant, particularly the ones with Michael Pollan (author of The Omnivore's Dilemma), and Joel Salatin (owner/farmer of a Virginia farm, where he feeds his livestock grass - the way nature intended). There are little jabs at the people/corporations the film believes are responsible for the issues, but it isn't one side of a playground back-and-forth bully fight. Kenner just presents the issues, says who is responsible, and moves on.

Now, I'm no film critic, but I would get out of your chairs and pay to see this in the theatre, if only to laugh at the vegetarians in the audience. You will end up learning something new and it will be interesting.

If you do see it, leave a comment and let us know what you thought of it.

-- Kelsey Ramos


Photo used with permission from Flickr user allaboutgeorge.

"Julie and Julia"

After watching "Julie and Julia," I feel possessed to bake and cook and eat to an extent far surpassing my normal routine.

While I haven't run out to purchase Mastering the Art of French Cooking yet (though I've been very tempted, even in my sweats and unshowered state), I woke up - and most importantly got up - this morning promptly with my alarm at 7:15am, feeling refreshed and energized like I haven't really felt for the past two months. And I started making a peach cobbler.

To be fair, I had been planning on making said cobbler before I even saw the film yesterday afternoon. I had a flat of peaches that I have been unable to consume as fast as rot and spoilage, and wanted to use them up before the fruit flies did. Enter: delicious dessert.

This is a big step - the cobbler and the waking up early part. I haven't written on here for awhile and when I have, it has been very detached and more obligatory than fun. It's difficult to describe why my energy has flown, leaving me behind in its exhausted no-desire-to-blog wake, but all of a sudden, I feel better. Thank you Julie and Julia?

Anyway, cobbler is baking right now, and it smelled darn good when I was simmering the peaches with sugar and a little water. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Have you seen the film? What did you think?