This morning I met a friend for coffee. But as it turns out, I was ravenous, so we turned coffee into breakfast. Our first choice was closed, so we walked a few blocks to Joan’s on Third.
Joan’s has long been a source for gourmet foods, and now they have a large deli counter and breakfast service. We opted for oatmeal with brown sugar, bananas, and steamed milk (delicious) and a breakfast sandwich of scrambled eggs, bacon, and jack cheese (reportedly also delicious). Since we were there, each of us bought some splurgy gourmet items as well. I picked up a jar of almond butter, which I keep reading about in nutrition and diet articles; a bag of artisanal (yes) marshmallows with toasted coconut; and a bag of those fruit-flavored sugary things that I recall loving as a child (you know, the ones that were shaped like little orange segments, etc). Verdict: I still love fruit-flavored sugary things, but the marshmallows are a bit underwhelming. They’re lighter than store-bought, but they’re not as special as I hoped. If I want to upgrade my smores, I’ll focus on the chocolate.
Due to some rather dramatic freeway congestion, I wound up driving home along surface streets. That took me past Taqueria Juanito’s, which I’ve been meaning to try for some time. Although the restaurant has a name which I find confusing grammatically, it is home to some really delicious asada tacos–tender and flavorful, but not so hot that you miss the flavors of the spices. Two of those and a small horchata, and I was out the door for under $5. That’s not splurgy, but it sure was good.