Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, we try out some boba products at TJ’s and eat our first beer queso. Check out past posts here, and please follow my Instagram @fivethingsiate.
Lonestar Beer Queso at Yellow Rose
102 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10003
Astrology may be ~over~ but as a messy air sign (although I am less messy these days! I am tired! My bills are too high! I have experienced too much trauma!) I love reading angry comments on a recipe. Many people I’ve been around have described me as a calming and quirky force, which I think I usually am, but as soon as I stumble upon an ~Internet Controversy Recipe~ I enter full Energy Vampire mode. And you know what’s even more exciting? When I sit down at a restaurant and realize that one of the items on the menu has been dunked on before. Sadly, I can’t remember where the Lonestar Beer Queso was ripped to shreds by the masses as I have the memory of a goldfish but believe me it has been. I would remember a good shady comment anywhere. I’m no authority on Tex Mex – I’ve never been to Texas – and the only queso I’ve had has come out of a jar. So this Beer Queso surprised me by tasting of neither beer nor queso. In fact, it’s just like a salty slurry. The most prominent taste to me was the chili crisp (subtly Asian?!) and cilantro they topped it off with. For a controversial recipe, this was disappointingly milquetoast.
* Do you remember seeing this recipe dunked on somewhere? Send it to me!!
Sherry cherry coke at Yellow Rose
102 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10003
Dunking aside, I really love Yellow Rose! Tex Mex is definitely not one of my usual cuisines, but this restaurant changed my mind a little. I knew I was in for a good time when I learned there was a wait for a table midweek. Despite being so popular, it feels very very cozy and charming, like eating at a local bar you’re a regular at. Not only is the food tasty, they have a pretty fun drinks menu. When I saw that they had a cocktail based on cherry Coke, I had to order it. I love cherry Coke, the best flavored Coke. I was worried the drink would be a little too sweet, but it’s actually very well balanced and not too sweet at all (ultimate Asian compliment). In fact, I wouldn’t have necessarily known that it was made with cherry cola. You taste the sour cherry much more – there’s sour cherry compote or jam at the bottom and you get a bit in each sip. I really enjoyed this beverage, but I imagine if you’re not a fan of chunky drinks you may dislike it. However, I am well-versed in the land of boba (see below), so I don’t mind one bit.
Steak quesadilla at Yellow Rose
102 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10003
The steak quesadilla at Yellow Rose was so good, it left me wondering, have I really even ever had a quesadilla before?! I didn’t realize that you could make it so crispy on the outside. Even though it was filled with steak, which I normally associate with quite a bit of chew, it was texturally very well constructed. I love a food that’s cut into little wedges for you (making it much more fun to eat), and this not only comes in little wedges, it comes with not one but two little dipping sauces, one of them being guacamole and the other some kind of creamy sauce. I will have to investigate more into quesadilla construction techniques, because there appeared to be some crispy cheese coating the tortillas. I’ll have to try to replicate it at home.
Black Tea and Boba Coconut Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert at Trader Joe’s
At your local Trader Joe’s.
Non dairy ice cream has really come a long way! I avoided locking eyes with the boba (for brevity’s sake, it’s essentially ice cream) at Trader Joe’s for a long time because I feared it would be icy. Also, for some odd reason the sans serif font on the packaging turned me off a little bit. But, thanks to the recommendation of a friend, I decided to finally try it out. It’s very creamy and delicious, with a strong tea flavor! The “ice cream” has a really nice soft texture if you let it sit out for a minute or two. I dunno what kind of witchcraft they do on the boba in this ice cream to stay soft, but it’s very soft! In fact, my biggest gripe about most boba tea is that the boba sucks and tastes like hard hockey pucks of starch. Somehow, these remain softer than most boba you can get at most chains. It sort of reminds me of those Korean brown sugar boba popsicles that went viral for a bit during lockdown. 10/10 would buy again.
Instant boba kit at Trader Joe’s
At your local Trader Joe’s.
I felt slightly duped by this boba item but it is entirely not Trader Joe’s fault. See, boba refers to the bubbles in boba tea, those starchy pearls, and not the drink itself. However, “boba” has now become a shorthand for “boba tea.” So, this instant boba kit, which you can find in the freezer section at Trader Joe’s, contains only boba, not the rest of the ingredients needed to make a boba drink. If you want to make a drink, you’ll have to make a milk tea and then add one of these little packets. Each individual serving does come with a nice dose of brown sugar syrup, though, so you won’t really need to fuss too much about making your drink. Just make a double strength dose of black tea or Earl Grey and add creamer or milk. That being said, I’m not sure I’d buy this item again – while the pearls are nice and chewy after being microwaved, and it is a very cute concept, it feels like an awful lot of packaging for just boba pearls, which you can buy in a bag at HMart and just flash boil and add some brown sugar to.
Enjoy the weather!
Soph
P.S. If you can afford it, please consider a paid subscription to Five Things I Ate. This newsletter is a labor of love, and my continued production of it is based on your subscriptions. Subscriptions are currently only $30 per year, and you gain access to all recipes in the archives, including my famous Pineapple Buns and Mama’s Scallion Pancakes.