Olive oil on Ice cream and Pastrami on a Bun.

By Parry

My first trip to San Francisco of 2011 (back in January) proved to be a productive one , and a good refresher. I went with a couple friends who have not frequented the city too often and were tight on cash, so I took them to Tommy's Joynt. I got the Pastrami sandwich, which is what I always get. It never fails to deliver. It was about $6 for the sandwich, which is simply meat on a bun. The meat is great and the bun is pretty good too. The mustard and horseradish is spicy and delicious. I also got a side of spaghetti for $3. It was basically cafeteria spaghetti, but it was an entire plateful. I forgot that one of the key points of Tommy's Joynt is that it is cheap, which means that not everything tastes fantastic, but at least its cheap. Can't argue with that. The girls I went with were raving about it, so I think they liked it. The key point of Tommy's is to try their meat, otherwise don't bother going. Oh, and take cash, they don't accept plastic.

Pastrami Sandwhich

After Tommy's I took my friends over to Bi-Rite creamery, which also doesn't disappoint. After its appearance on the Food Network I had to try their Sam's Sundae. It is a chocolate Sundae with salt, olive oil, and home made whip cream. The verdict? It was good, but next time I'm going to get the Lavender Ice cream again. In fact, if you only go once, go for that first. Don't get me wrong, from the ground up Sam's Sundae was impressive. They used decent coarse salt, the olive oil had flavor (they were using the right stuff, whatever it was the were using), the whip cream was extra thick (Just how I like it!) and tasted great on its own. The Ice cream was delicious, and I was impressed with the serving size. For $5 you get a pretty decent amount and each scoop is totally and completely packed with flavor. I would say Sam's Sundae was one of those “experiences” that's fun to have, and can be left at that, unless you are the type that just really likes olive oil over everything. That really conjures up some funny images in my head, I mean, just think about it....

Sam's Sundae was one of those things you do to say you did it, or try to say you tried it, but probably isn't necessary, although isn't necessarily bad.

As for the Lavender ice cream, it feels like you are eating a smooth creamy flower. Maybe that sounds a little off, but it tastes just right...so go for it!