After a long day, I need boba the way some people need a hard drink. (This is not to say I don’t occasionally need that hard drink too.) When I’m in San Francisco, the only place I go for my boba is a spot called Wonderful Foods in the Sunset. You’ll know it because they’ve got a new sign painted on the window that says: “BEST TAPIOCA IN TOWN.” Believe them. There may be a half dozen boba shops on that stretch of Irving where Wonderful Foods is, but you’re never going to find the same perfectly chewy boba or the same fresh-from-the-peel banana or avocado or mango fruit smoothies at the rest. Get any of those or the red bean or taro smoothies, or the oatmeal milk tea. Okay or the almond or coconut milk tea. That or the fresh watermelon juice. I’ll stop.
There’s been something of a boba renaissance in the last few years in San Francisco, especially since the frozen yogurt craze finally quieted down. Boba has reclaimed its title as the most popular Asian dessert on this part of what I call Asian Irving. And all around the city, new, more hip versions of boba are being sold. But I actually really like that through the years Wonderful Foods has never tried to reinvent itself. It just is the best tapioca in town.