Week 159: January 18th-24th, 2026 Okay, I thought there would be more time between trying Finjan Coffee last week and trying Tahini, but I actually went to Tahini the next day. While I am a CAVA enthusiast (I achieved CAVA's highest loyalty rewards tier of "Sun" status immediately when they first released the rewards program), I love pretty much any Mediterranean or Middle Eastern food and was intrigued by Tahini after visiting their sister coffee shop, Finjan. Due to havi

Week 158: January 11th-17th, 2026 This week I got to try Finjan Coffee in Mission Valley. It shares a parking lot with Food4Less, so I witnessed its journey from when it was under construction to opening. Each time I would go get cheap groceries, I would see gradual changes to the space that used to be Fig Tree Cafe's Mission Valley location, and soon it became Tahini and Finjan Coffee! From their website, it says that " Finjan, meaning coffee cup in Arabic...is our way of p

Week 157: January 4th-10th, 2026 As many of you know, a good jingle or catchy commercial will stick with me for years. I am a walking regurgitated advertisement. Marketing works on me exactly how the corporate goons want. I parrot a slogan almost as easily as I recite my birthdate or my middle name. Growing up in the Bay Area, specifically in the city of Berkeley, meant I was not subjected to chain restaurants like Applebee's (See Week 118 !), Texas Roadhouse, or Chili's, etc