Bucket Update

Last year I added a bucket list page purely to help keep track of all the eating and drinking establishments that I would like to visit. The idea was to cross off and add places on an ongoing basis, but it had been a while since any of that happened. I just updated it and seem to have been to more places than I added, so yay? Though I’m sure I’ll remember several new ones after posting this.

Some highlights:

Fried chicken, zeppelo, salted honey, parm reg, and an americano.

Barbaro in San Antonio is fresh on the mind because I had brunch there this morning with a couple of friends. This is the first time I didn’t get pizza, which is their main focus. The lunch special is excellent because you can get a salad (I love the arugula) and a pizza for $10, which is basically half off the dinner prices. I hear they have a similar special on Monday nights.

Eggplant soup, smoked blue gill risotto, epazote quail, and a chocolate fig pie with lime sorbet.

Probably the best dinner I’ve had so far this year was at Lenoir. My lovely cousin, Audrey, happens to work there and spontaneously invited me to dine with her one evening in July. They use locally-sourced, seasonal ingredients, so their menu is always changing. Of course everything tasted super fresh, but the flavors of each dish were deliciously unexpected. I mean, chocolate, fig, and lime? Totally works. Also, the whole place is dreamy inside and out.

Sweet corn and blackberries pistachio, mascarpone and figs pistachio.

PSA: Dolce Neve is outstanding. These folks are from Italy, so their gelato is the real deal, yeah? All I know is that ice cream is my favorite, and what they make is the best ice cream-ish thing I’ve put in my mouth. The flavors are creamy and vibrant, and their shop is just darling. Tip: if you’re into affogatos, get one with their signature flavor, Dolce Neve (lemon zest-y). Also, I had one of their gelato pops and wasn’t into it as much as the straight up scoops simply because the gelato wasn’t as creamy. But still, I don’t think you could go wrong with anything here.

I might try to be better about keeping the list up to date, but then again, it was pretty satisfying to cross a bunch off at once.