A+ Picnic: A-Frame

Last month, insomniac and MissAshleyG accompanied me on a modern picnic at A-Frame. "Modern picnic" is not my term. It's what A-Frame calls itself on its website, and it's not a bad description, as plates are meant to be shared in the casual setting.

Girls, be advised that much of the seating is on communal benches, so consider this before you come in a skirt like I did. I had to ask everybody sitting on the bench to get up and move the bench, so I could wriggle my way out.

Ting Jamaican grapefruit soda ($4).

I loved my Ting. Why doesn't American soda have bite like this?

A-Frame is kind of a blogger's nightmare with its dim lighting and patterned plates. Luckily, the food is fab and helps you forget your photographic frustration. Well, at least until you pull up your photos for your blog and groan at your odd focusing.

The Classic -- grilled pencil asparagus, crispy pancetta lardons, fried egg, shaved Parmesan Reggiano, and lemon ($10).

Asparagus never tasted so good. Of course, having pig parts strewn about didn't hurt.

Kitchen fries -- purple Okinawan sweet potato, yam, and Korean sweet potato with kimchi sour cream and sea salt ($6).

It's a deconstructed fried carb log cabin! Honestly, I didn't know which fries were which, but I knew I liked one kind much better than the other two. Too bad I can't identify it for you!

Cracklin' Beer Can Chicken, kimchi, century egg, salsa roja and verde ($11 for half).

Yummeh! Get this. Everybody in your party will like it. Unless they are crazy.

Grilled Berkshire pork chop, fresh citrus, pickled scallion, polenta cakes ($21).

Pork chops are often prone to being dry because of the fear of undercooking. Not these! We loved every juicy bite! The polenta cakes were great, too!

Thick Ass Ice Cream Sandwich -- black pepper Szechuan ice cream and salted chocolate cookie ($6).

Aptly named. Rich and creamy and not too sweet. You can taste the pepper. You can taste the salt. Great flavor combo.

Chu-Don't-Know-Mang -- pound cake cinnamon churros with malted chocolate milk and vanilla ice cream ($7).

You have to order this just so you can sound ridiculous when you say it. These are not your usual churros. Remember SAT analogies? Well, here's what I think of these in SAT analogy form:

Fried donuts : cake donuts :: churros : Chu-Don't-Know-Mang

I prefer the fried version myself, but these hot, dense, sweet sticks inspired insomniac to make a return visit to A-Frame only a few days later. Yeah, they were good.

A-Frame's food is interesting and well-executed, and the service is lovely, even if your server may sometimes be too busy bopping around to '80s music to refill your water glass.

But that's ok. You'll still be smiling because you'll be having a blast, too.