Off the Map: Departing San Francisco by Way of the Cheap Happy Hour

Indonesian Corn Fritters -- E&O Asian Kitchen, San Francisco, CA
E&O Asian Kitchen

Well, we have made it: three days in San Francisco, eighteen (!!!) Best Thing I Ever Ate locations, innumerable hills, copious lines, and enough cocktails to keep us relatively sassy.  And so here we are -- the final "meal."

Which just happens to be the cheapest happy hour on the planet.  We stumble upon greatness even when we don't mean to.

When It Comes to Bars, We Strive for Excellence. And Cheapness

Apparently, E&O Asian Kitchen's happy hour not only features $6 glasses of wine, but the Indonesian corn fritters, which Brian Boitano had insisted we taste on the CRUNCHY episode of the show, are $3.50.

This place should be called the E&O Bargain Basement.

It Is Also Their GINGER Month, So Someone Feels Right at Home

We saddle up to a high top table next to the bar, and Ginger begins regaling Vodka about her wish to "go sailing, but not be responsible for anything.  Like, I just want to sit on the boat and sail around the island."

"What island?!"

"The one we live on."

Maybe - Just Maybe - All of This Wine Is Making Us Dumber

It seems that our 72 hours of continuous eating has begun to impact our brain waves, which is why it is a good thing that E&O's service is about as fast as their prices are low.

Feed Us Quickly, and We Might Not Fall Off Our Bar Stools

We cheers our final west coast meal and take a gander at the corn fritters, which are not even remotely what we had been expecting.  

Fritta-rific

Being that they were on the CRUNCHY program, we had feared that we would be served some sort of rice cake-deep-fried patty.  

For the Record, We're Opposed to the "Rice Cake" Portion of That Description. Not the "Deep-Fried"

Instead, these fritters are more the texture of a chunky scallion pancake -- crisp on the outside but chewy on the inside.  They are missing the gluten-type components of actual scallion pancakes, but the comparison is there.

Okay, These Look NOTHING Like Scallion Pancakes, but Trust Us Here

We chomp through these corn, scallion, celery (and a thousand other ingredients which we don't recognize) creations, and while we are not blown away, we are satisfied.  

And After 18 San Francisco Dishes, What More Do You Want From Us?

The sauce that comes along with the fritters is especially tasty, mostly because it tastes like an even saltier soy sauce, and overall, it is a completely respectable, if not delectable, way to end our trip.  

What Do We Want for $3.50?

Before we trudge to the airport to fly back to our homeland, Ginger begins assembling a map out of hunks of her second fritter.  You see, we have some "interesting" news to share, news that might seem unbelievable to anyone who has read enough of this blog's entries: Ginger is moving to Brooklyn.

BROOKLYN.

WE MAY NEVER HEAR FROM HER AGAIN

You know, that place that we have mostly avoided because we find it confusing and large and the subway goes outside?  Yep, Ginger will soon be a resident of that very borough.  Which is why she is now giving Vodka a cartography lesson as to where she will soon be able to find her.

This Is Ginger's Version of a "Map"

While we had no more than a month ago claimed that we more easily make it across the country than we do the East River, let's hope for Ginger's sake that this tale does not prove to be a true one.  But for now, we have to say goodbye to San Francisco's Best Thing I Ever Ate...

...and hello to Brooklyn's.

Brooklyn Area Rapid Transit, Here We Come

E&O Asian Kitchen's Indonesian Corn Fritters: 3 stars