RADICCHIO ROUNDUP! 8/24/25

Welcome to the RADICCHIO ROUNDUP!, a bi(weekly) roundup of things we’re currently enjoying. Here goes:

Snap Pea Dumplings from The Happy Crane, SF

The Happy Crane is a new Chinese restaurant from a sexy chef who looks like both Neo and Trinity. The dumpling skin is deliciously bouncy, pea foam on top is jam-packed with pea flavor, and summer squash and shitake mushrooms compliment the peas inside – overall a very pea-ness-y dish. Each dumpling is $7, but what else are you going to spend $7 on? Let me know how they pair with the sparkling rose.

This beef shank situation on the bottom left is also fire.

Pizza from Tartine Manufactory, SF

In a city full of great pizza in a region that’s also full of great pizza, the pizza at Tartine Manufactory in Mission (or Mission Creek now?) is criminally under talked-about. Sourdough crust is robust but balanced, card-stock thin with a crispy-crunchy crust. Toppings and sauces are carefully curated, combined into classics we know and love. They also have ranch, if you’re so inclined.

Pineapple belongs on pizza, you stupid bitch.

Capuccino from Stereoscope Coffee, LA

Stereoscope Coffee has multiple locations, but only one of them is in the influencer-laden apartment complex that your mother lives in. The milk in a cappuccino should amplify existing notes in the espresso its made with, I guess – in this case limoncello and fruit cereal. This is a cappuccino to be savored in a warm cup “for here,” brought to your seat by a friendly barista.

I know it looks normal but trust me, it’s not.

$9 Latte

Stop edging us and make it $10 already, a girl can only take so much.

Having an Existential Momemnt of Panic in the Afternoon

And if a double decker bus, crashes into us….

I mean, this did kind of slap tbh. The homemade espresso martini with tequila and cold brew hit the spot, as did the candy cigarette. The children yearn to be sad…

Pinkberry

Pinkberry is probably the only thing us Millennials can be proud to call our own, really – even if it was started by a Gen Xer at the time. How do they get the air to smell cold in there? My go-to is a single scoop of Original Tart with Cap’n Crunch topping, which you can say is in conversation with Milk Bar, if you’re so inclined.

If you’re so inclined.

Skates on the Bay, Berkeley

Like Musso’s or John’s Grill, Skates on the Bay is the kind of place they don’t make anymore, that may still be around in another hundred years. An add-on of poached shrimp elevates a fine, bibb lettuce salad, even if one of them wasn’t deveined completely. There are only two shrimp here because Chris and I shared and they actually split the salad for us onto two separate plates. Lobster bisque is exceptionally boozy. And, of course, you can’t beat the Bay view.

This makes me happy.