If you've been to any new boba shop or Asian drink/dessert shop lately, you've probably noticed that they like lists–Top Tens of their most popular items, to be exact. “It's Boba Time” (yes, that's the whole name), the new outlet of the drink chain that recently opened at The District in Tustin, has such a list, and when you go, you'd be foolish to choose anything outside of it. I did once and was stuck with a nearly $5 artificial-tasting and too-sweet smoothie that I had to force myself to finish.
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Now I know better. The last few trips I made, I had the so-called Coconut Strawberry, which is #9 on the countdown list. I asked the cashier as to what exactly was in it. He said ice cream, milk, ice, coconut powder and macerated strawberries. And as the list foretold, it was a glorious drink. Creamy without being too rich, sweet without being cloying, it's like having a frothier, lighter version of a shake or a frosty pina colada with strawberries on the bottom.
Next time, I might try the #1 item on their Top Ten: The Cookies-n-Cream milkshake, but then that's already in my Jack-in-the-Box Top Three (after the mystery-meat tacos and Sourdough Jack, of course).
2481 Park Ave., Tustin, CA 92782, (714) 677-2820; itsbobatime.com.
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.