A food festival dedicated entirely to avocados?! You know I'm in. A few weeks ago Mark and I were in San Francisco with only one thing planned for our Sunday afternoon, Avocado Con! 20 food vendors, countless avocados, and as many bites and bits as I could eat. Our strategy was to order the most unique and exciting dishes, with each vendor coming up with their own avocado creation. At Avocado Con, there was guacamole, poke bowls, and other familiar avocado dishes but I really wanted to find the one-of-a-kind avocado dishes that you can't find anywhere else. And we came to the right place because I found some of the best avocado dishes in San Francisco!
I started my avocado exploration with Jackrabbit's tempura fried avocado topped with 'firecracker' spicy aioli, fried shallots, and cilantro. It was heaven. Everything you would expect a deep friend avocado to be and the aioli setting it over the edge. The dish had little crunch, with a lot of full, creamy flavors. How they were able to fry an avocado and still keep it vibrant green is beyond me. Witchcraft or culinary magic? Whatever the answer, it was the perfect first dish!
Our next Avocado Con dish was from DOUGHP with a thick, sticky, and indulgent avocadough. Yes, vegan avocado cookie dough! After two spoonfuls, I was almost knocked out with its richness. In this dish, the avocado played a different role than other festival dishes. The avocado was used more as the vegan cookie dough binder than its flavor. Clever!
This next dish from Lobo's Ice Cream was my favorite, an avocado ice cream with all the toppings! The ice cream was so creamy and sweet with hints of avocado. I was a little afraid of the toppings but agreed to let them give my ice cream the works! Lobo's topped my avocado ice cream with a squeeze of lime, a sweet and spicy red sauce, and a dash of Tajin. All the flavors together took this avocado ice cream to another level!
Our final festival bite was an avocado empinada by Nucha Empinada. It was flakey, doughy, and stuffed with avocado, tomatoes, and queso fresco. It was exactly what I needed to cut all the sweetness from the last two dishes.
This avocado lover had a blast the San Francisco Avocado Con! Ending my festival with two savory and two sweet avocado dishes, I would say I covered all the bases. So many bites surprised me and I would happily try everything again, and again, and again. Especially that avocado ice cream, it was avocado-licious!
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