Vegan, it conjures up so many images where food is concerned, sometimes not in a good way. Particularly for me where desserts are concerned. I want my eggs, butter and what not to make things all yummy, tasty, creamy, whatever. There are a few places in town that cater to all things vegan and several do dessert foods, though I usually just roll the eyes and think if I'm gonna eat sweets I'm gonna go all in. One such place that has a location in the Ferry Building is Peeples Donuts. I've walked by it on numerous occasions but just kept on going. I couldn't bring myself to try them. Then one day I find myself in Rainbow Grocery (don't ask) and see they have a selection of things from Peeples. I shrug and think WTF, why not get some and try it. At $2.25 a pop (kind of expensive for a donut to me) I survey the goods and try to get the biggest one they have (that doesn't have coconut on it) and zero in on what appears to be a lemon poppy seed as the labeling at the store was a bit off. It feels pretty heavy and dense and the bright yellow you see in the pic is exactly the day-glow color it was to the eye. I cut it open (see below) and it is a very dense, cakey donut. The lemon poppy seed flavor is only found in the icing on top, which immediately comes off when you bite into it. The lemon flavor is tangy but not very lemony, almost tastes fake, and the poppy seeds add nothing at all as they are too few to make a difference. As for the the donut itself, it had a nice crunchy outside, but the inside borders slightly on the dry side. Plus for some reason, when I first bit into it, the first flavor that came to my taste buds minds was cornbread. Can't tell you why, but that is the flavor profile I got. Not unpleasant mind you, just unexpected in a donut. Texture wise it was denser than an old fashioned, which is about as dense a donut as you'll find. It wasn't terrible, just a bit off. It was more like I was eating a biscuit as opposed to a donut and I would need a touch of a mind re-set to enjoy it. Maybe if the flavors had been infused through the thing I might feel differently, as is, not sure this would be something I'd get again since for the cost it didn't knock my dessert socks off. Alas, I was undaunted though as I did get another of Peeples treats to try and I'll review it in next weeks food news.
- Combating the problem of noisy Bay Area restaurants--the East Bay way.
- Because burgers in this city don't cost enough, here's a foie gras one.
- Sprig is expanding to the peninsula and it seems they are becoming like all San Francisco restaurants as they are now offering---brunch! Will we still have to wait in line?
- Le Bauer says these are 5 ways to improve restaurants. I would think serving really good food would be the first step.
- Foie Gras is legal again in California! Grab some hard toast and get it before another judge changes their mind.
- And these new laws loosely associated with food are now legal in California.
- Parts of Blue Bottle Coffee at Ferry Building are closing for remodeling. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
- There's an app for rating your server in a kinder, gentler way. It's called Grate. (as in grating?)
- Zagat says to be on the lookout for these new places in 2015.
- Something called Californios opened in the Mission. They have no menus, it's kind of Mexican "inspired", it's tasting menu only, there's $40 reservation cancellation fee, the front windows are frosted over so you can't see in or out and the chef is said to be avant garde. It all means you'll drop a load of dough and still leave hungry and confused about what you ate.
- What some are calling the 'NorCal Eataly' is finally opening this month on Market Street.
