Bay Food

900 Grayson - Berkeley - 3.5/4 stars

2007-08-15T20:41:00.000-07:00

Visited on:
Several times, last visit on August 13, 2007.

Experience:
This is the fun part of Emeryville area. Artists live here by the galore, artisan shops open here by the bundle, cute little restaurants operate around tiny corners, everything is quite low key, but great if you know where to find them. 900 Grayson is such a place. Even the name is very unassuming: if you know the name, you know where to find it. And that's how I identify with the food they present here - laid-back and easy.

Tons of people come here for brunch on the weekends. I don't think they take reservations, so if you bring 5 of your closest friends with you, you'll end up waiting for more than an hour. During brunch they serve a lot of breakfast items and some lunch items. Plenty of organic ingredients and sustainable farmed produce.

This is what we started with on this day: Potter Creek.

I have no idea if it is related to Harry Potter or not, though probably not. It's simple breakfast fare with great execution. The scrambled eggs is among the best I've ever had, creamy and slightly sagging in the middle, beautifully yellow and yielding on the outside. Light herbs bring out an enticing aroma that you shall not kill with ketchup.

Acme toasts are lightly buttered then grilled. Note that hash brown - the menu said clearly that they do not serve diner food. No ma'am, this is gourmet version of hash brown with Idaho potatoes, crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. Easy on the palate, even for the most adamant breakfast rejecters.

Then, we got a bit more adventuresome: Miss Piggy and the General

Again, I have no idea who that General is, but I can sure tell you, that bun is sooooooooooooooo soft. Really soft. It looks like ciabatta, but nooooo. It is very soft, soaking up the homemade barbecue sauce easily while slurping in the juice from homemade slaw. The pork is tender, very well accompanied by the caramelized onion. I wouldn't call it authentic pulled pork by any means, but I think it serves its purpose well here - a soft sandwich that's easy to chew. It might be a bit sweet for some, I personally don't mind sweetness. This is one of the interesting dishes that the different ingredients don't really stand well on its own. You need to take a big bite and mull over how the different pieces work together as a dish. This is more than a team effort - it's synergy. The fries are a bit uneven, some are over fried, but on principle alone, no one should finish that much fries either.

On yet another day, we had the waffle.

This is one seriously good waffle, though not exactly Belgian. I would say that it is a pancake with texture, because usually waffles are a lot thicker. This place serves them thin and light, using the grids to add to the texture of the hot cakes. Even without that glob of butter I would say it is fantastic. With that...even better.

If there is a good-for-you version of corned beef, this must be it.
The Tomboy.

You can see the beef, but you can't taste it, because both taste and texture are very nicely wrapped up by potatoes and the gooey egg yolk flowing from the poached egg. Parsnip is very refreshing, though I would like to have more fuji apple in there. But then, it wouldn't be corned beef, would it?

Then a large cup of chai...very sweet.

900 Grayson doesn't really hit you with gastronomic meteors, but when you wake up in the morning and just want to treat your mouth to something light and breezy, this is the place to go.

Basic information:
900 Grayson
Telephone: 510 704 9900
Business hours: Mon - Fri - 8am - 3:30pm
Sat - 8am - 2:30pm

Bouchon - Yountville - 5 stars

2007-08-15T15:20:00.001-07:00

Visited on:
August 11, 2007.

Experience:
My first visit to Bouchon was way back when Venetian just opened, and I stepped in Bouchon Las Vegas for a brunch. I remember the lobster buffet, but that was about it. Nothing that impressed me very much. For the past few years, I never got up enough interest to try Bouchon Yountville, simply because I really couldn’t remember anything interesting from my previous visit to its sibling.

Then, along came Michelin. I trust the Michelin guide in several areas, mainly French, Italian, Mediterranean, etc...The European cuisines, so to speak. (On a side note: NEVER trust Michelin for Chinese/Asian cuisine if you have some basic understanding of what these things should taste like.) While their 2 star choices sometimes left me baffled – I didn’t really enjoy my Guy Savoy visit – I found their 1 star and 3 star choices to be more than satisfactory. So, when the occasion rose, I planned the trip to Bouchon. Booking 2 weeks ahead of time scored me a table at 5:45. I’m pretty certain this is the first round of seating for the evening. So be warned: book early!

Yountville is this quaint little town that is imbibed with flavorful smells, either from the kitchens or from the sun-baked grape leaves. There are several delightful hotels there, like the Villagio, and a bunch of Michelin stars clustered around. Not too far from its 1-star mate - Bistro Jeanty – sits Bouchon, unassuming red canvas with a nice little patio area, kind of like the bistro that you’d walk into for a quick bite down in the Provence.

Not so for the interior décor – alabaster white high ceilings with fresco, golden gilded mirrors, discreet golden lamp fixtures, it looked just like a poster Parisian café, like le Grand Café or Café des Fleurs. The only part that baffled me a lot was the indoor plant. I still cannot understand the need for the tall, green, leafy thing in there. Maybe that’s where Paris meets California.

This is how they provide you with the menu there – around the napkin.

I personally think it is cute, hope they use biodegradable paper. The menu presents a very nice round of popular Parisien café food, though of different…categories, shall we say. Normally you don’t find Plat de Fruits de la Mer appearing on the same menu with Croque Madam AND ris de veau. But again, you normally don’t find a $16 Croque Madam either. All in all, I’d say that the menu at Bouchon tries to collect as many French café/bistro favorites in one menu as possible. A true something-for-everybody. Which of course, tempted us to order beyond our normal capacity.

Fanny Bay Oysters from British Columbia ($16 approx)

Do you see how clean the shells are? How even the sizes are? This is what you get when you pay $16/half dozen vs $8/half dozen – the handpick process. Normally I wouldn’t go for Fanny Bay, because they are too “fat” for my taste, but I make an exception in summer. I wasn’t disappointed. Slightly briny in taste, but the sweetness flowing out from the white bulbous body more than make up for the brininess, esp. coupled with the wine vinegar. Bouchon’s recipe departs from the original of red wine vinegar + raw onion by adding a lot of black pepper. I won’t know how it would work on the lighter variety of Pacific oysters, like Sweetwater or Kumamoto, but it works well with Fanny Bay.

Ris de Veau ($15 approx)

Or sweetbread, as it is known. I won’t go into specifics about where that came from, you can find out more here, but it’s perfectly okay if you don’t read up about it. The only thing that one needs to know about sweetbread, is that it can either be great or horrible, depending on how talented the chef is. In this case, Bouchon scored a 100 in my score card. It is soft, but not mushy, offering that essential resistance to your bite which is the mark of fresh and healthy organs. I’d compare it with a nice, silky tofu, only the tofu dissolves more cleanly, while the sweetbread tends to linger and curl around your taste buds. The mustard sauce is lightly sweet, flavorful enough to enhance the natural sweetness of the sweetbread, removing any trace of gaminess, but does not take away its earthy undertone. Amazing cherry tomatoes, exquisite bundle of tartness and sweetness. Perfect for refreshing the palate. I thought I would’ve hated the lettuce leaves, because they looked so forlorn and squishy, but to my great surprise, it was crunchy!! Almost like a salad!! I personally prefer cooked lettuce, because it removes the grassy taste, leaving only the nice sweet juices, but it’s so hard to do it well. Bouchon excelled right here. A fabulous start of a meal.

Soup of the day – Corn with fresh cream and fried onion strings

Drinking the soup is like drinking liquefied organic corn, fully ripened to its prime maturity, all starchiness gone, offering up a clarity bright as sunshine. Fresh cream adds a bit more smoothness to the liquid with sauteed onion strings to add a crunchy texture to the soup. This is when I realized why I loved the dishes here so much – somehow, they manage to extract that elixir of taste from every ingredient and magnified it to encompass the entire plate. Just like parfum is the most exquisite nuance of flower fragrance, devoid of any impurity that distorts it essence, so are Bouchon’s dishes, yet the flavor and texture profile is distinctly French. The perfect, perfect marriage of French cuisine with the Californian cuisine spirit.

Salade de Chevre Chaud ($9.50)

This is not really the Chevre Chaud I expected, though I have had chevre chaud like this before in Paris. Slightly heated, not quite melted, herb encrusted – mostly rosemary. The salad leaves are only slightly flavored, no more than EVOO, salt, and a bit of vinegar. So the cheese became the dressing for the salad. Nice use of ingredients, but that’s not all. The point of amazement here is the size of the leaves. This is a poster child case of how perfect technique and understanding of the eating action enhances natural flavors. My friend said that eating salad reminds her of being a cow, because you chew and chew. No matter how fresh salad leaves are, they are still a kind of grass, so eventually you would taste that underlying bitterness + rough fibers that make up their leaves before you can swallow. Not so in Bouchon. The size of the individual leaves is just enough so that within 2 quick bites you can swallow, BEFORE you had time to feel the grittiness of the fibers. Truly amazing salad experience.

Aile de Raie ($26?)

Raie = ray. Aile = wings. So: Wing of Ray. Don’t you get the sense that those ray fins should taste really, really good when you go into an aquarium? Yes, they do taste really, really good. Tender and smooth long muscles, good firm texture but never dry because of the glucose from the soft bones, it is just about my favorite fish, but it is not that easy to cook. For some reason, a lot of restaurants over-grill the fin, so it would become a dry and chewy mess. I think it is because they remove the bones before grilling. Bouchon leaves the bone in to grill, then removes the bones at the table. I so wanted to break decorum and ask the server to leave me the soft bones to gnaw for a bit, but I restrained myself. The ray is baked with a slice of lemon with a bunch of thyme balanced on top. That’s not for decoration – I could really taste a slight ting from the lemon, mellowed by the thyme on the skin. Underneath the fish piled caramelized onions. Again, full, strong flavor, nice resisting texture, a really good juxtaposition to the silkiness of the fish. Loved the olive oil + olive tapenade sauce. Just the right balance between saltiness and sweetness, a nice Mediterranean interpretation.

Lamb shank ($32)

It is good. Lamb is not too soft and I like my lean meat to have a bit more of fight remaining in it. Otherwise, all nice juice/flavor would leak out. The interesting thing about the lamb is that it has a hint of smokiness, like…hickory, maybe. Perhaps that’s the wood they used to grill the lamb? In any case, lamb was very good – part easily at the point of the nice, a substantial texture to bit into, very little work required for chewing. The shredded carrots were both sweet and sour, offsetting the nice smokiness of the meat. But all of the above was as expected. I’d be an idiot not to realize by now that Bouchon would serve up a great dish. What took me by surprise was how a component of this dish exceeded great. It was sublime. It was mind-blowing. It was a revelation. The component is: the humble, everyday staple starch – mashed potatoes. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of it!!!! You probably wouldn’t believe me, but I really almost cried when I first tasted the mashed potatoes. First was the texture – so silky, so soft, so “melting”…so beyond my imagination of how potatoes could taste. Second was the taste. I thought I had tried all variety of organic potatoes available to me through the major markets, vendors, farmer’s market, you name it. Nothing EVER came close to the cleanness of the gentle and warm potato sweetness presented in this dish. Corn soup realization once again. It might sound melodramatic, but some dishes really could touch your heart deeply because of the amount of care and attention poured into it by the chef, the careful thought and consideration that went into the devising and delivery of the dish, and the idea that someone took so much time and effort in preparing something so simple for your 5 minute enjoyment. I guess this is why cuisine art touches me so much, because it is so very personal.

Shoestring French Fries

I think I saw this on Antony Bourdain’s show in which he declared that Bounchon had the best shoestring French Fries ever. Don't know about that, but definitely very good fries. Crispy exterior fracture with the slightest pressure, potato goodness oozing out from the break. A tad of oregano. Who needs ketchup???

Profiteroles with mint and vanilla ice cream

Even though I couldn’t manage any more, I managed this. Great crispy choux, minty minty mint ice cream and creamy creamy vanilla ice cream. Loved the dark chocolate sauce. A very satisfactory finish to the meal.

All in all, a perfect evening. I’ll be back, most assuredly!
This also gave me a great boost of enthusiasm for French Laundry. I'll make it there yet!

Basic information:

Bouchon

Phone: (707) 944-8037

Hours of Operation: 11:30am - 12:30am daily

Wood Tavern - Rockridge - 4 stars

2007-07-10T15:03:00.000-07:00

Visited on:

June 15, 2007

Comments:

Great new restaurant, very delicious, excellent addition to the Oakland Rockridge community.

Experience:

That night we just decided to go to a new restaurant to try something new. The new Wooden Tavern seems to be the perfect choice. Replacing the vegetarian Grasshopper, it is located next to one of the best chocolateries in the Bay Area. We called ahead to inquire about availability and was informed that we might just make the last walk-in table. True to the hostess's word, when we arrived, we had the perfect cozy table ready for us. Lots of great ambiance too, with the wooden beams and beautiful abstract landscape paintings. And onto the dinner.

We started with a wonderful salad with shaved parmiggiano and caramelized sweet bell peppers. Now, I don't know what those seed-like...seeds are, not sesame, but they have a really good texture! Kind of like tomato seeds, actually. Very delicately flavored, nice citrusy contrast with the sweet caramelized bell peppers.

But what blew my mind was the lamb carpaccio. I knew it was a risk when I ordered it, but I went ahead with it anyway. The worst scenario was that it could be inedible, no big deal, but this time, I scored big. Move out of the way, beef carpaccio. Lamb carpaccio is the only way to go! Soft, tender, snowflake meltiness, so much better than beef with same amount of fat, because lamb is by nature more silky. Then there's that hint of lamb taste. It was not gamey. It was very elegant, if I were to describe it in colors, I would say that it is a rich and earthy orange with a vein of dark red running through, strong, exciting, yet sophisticated. Shaved parmesan cheese, watercress, and whole black pepper + EVOO just enhanced the entire dish. Seriously yummy.

For the main dish, we debated between pork chop and duck, but picked pork chop because it looked so good going to other people's table. We were not disappointed either. Pork chop was beautifully pinkish in the middle, soft and juicy all the way, extremely tender. Fresh corn and peas bring a summer sweetness to the overall dish. Mouthwateringly good...

I had the Wicked Fish Stew, I have to admit that I was very attracted by the name "wicked". It was right! I especially loved the monk fish in it: soft but spongy at the same time, the ideal characteristics of the fish. Really sweet shrimps, really fresh clams and mussels, but my, the soup is sooooooooooo spicy!! The reason is because of the spicy sausages in there, but the sausages were among the most memorable ingredients of the evening. After a few mouthfuls, strangely, the spiciness would grow on you and you would just keep drinking even though it burned in your mouth. Huh...like opium?? Just can't give it up!

Unfortunately, the desserts did not look very inspiring, so we skipped it.

More duck breasts made its way past us...must try it next time.

Basic information:

6317 College Avenue, Oakland, CA 94620

(510) 654-6607

Grand Cafe - San Francisco - 3 stars

2007-07-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

Visited on:

June 8, 2007

Comments:

Very impressive looking restaurant, why so few people for breakfast?

Experience:

That day was a day of accidents. Canteen isn't open on weekdays, Slow Club isn't open on Monday, but I wanted breakfast in the city, so we went to Grand Cafe. Very beautiful interior with two floor high sculptures and Muscha posters, stain glass windows everywhere. Very art deco in style. I only wanted a light breakfast, so ordered two items with my friend.

This is a tarte tartine with egg salad and caviar. Now, anyone who has had a regular tarte tartine knows that this should only be a piece of baguette smeared with butter and maybe jam. (Which reminds me of my first experience of tarte tartine: I just arrived in Paris and went to this cafe for breakfast. Being new there and to the French language, I totally confused tarte tartine with tarte tatin - reveresed apple pie. So imagine my surprise when I saw this! *Huh...this looked nothing like the tarte tatin that I had last night....*) Grand Cafe indeed serves up a grand tarte tartine. Tastes very good too. Egg salad is not too sour with just the right amount of mayonnaise and the baby spinach leaves were nicely mixed with the salad so you don't get a raw leaf stained with mayo taste. Shredded raw beets is a nice touch that compliments the mustard undertone in French mayo very well. There was more caviar than I expected, I think it is farmed Oestra - all the better. Wild caviar should be left the way it is: wild. The sharp saltiness of the caviar mixed with egg salad and spinach made it all the better.

My friend had an egg benedict. Which is good, but of course cannot compare to Canteen's, but what could? Lots of meaty mushrooms and ham underneath that contrasted nicely with tomatoes. Good enough on a regular day.

One thing that is worth mentioning: the orange juice is very good, but they just pour for you before you could see that it was 4.25 a wineglass glass. So, just be mindful of this. Apart from that, nice decor, great ambiance, totally friendly personnel. Nice breakfast experience in all.

Basic information:
501 Geary Street (between Shannon St & Taylor St), SF

(415) 292-0101

www.grandcafe-sf.com

Canteen - San Francisco - 5 stars

2007-07-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

Visited on:
Many times, latest on July 1, 2007.

Comments:
Five stars, best breakfast restaurant in SF, best egg Benedict anywhere. Best pancake ever tasted, though it is not exactly an American pancake.

Experience:
The restaurant itself is very small, adjacent to the now Academy of Arts student houses. It is kind of hard to tell from the outside, but if you see lots of people crammed inside a small space, that is Canteen. However, I've been there around 12, 12:30 a couple of times and I never had to wait. Brunch hours are the busiest for sure.

So today we started with their brioche. It is sometimes off the menu, so need to ask. Each small fluffy lump is about 3 inches high, about 1/3 of the size of a regular loaf of brioche. Golden top, soft powder sugar, melting bread warm from the oven. Hmm...who needs those extra 2/3 of a loaf?

Brioche

The next dish to come up is a tomato and prawn cold soup. Imagine our surprise when it was "white"! The first taste made us all gasp in surprise - it does taste like nothing but tomatoes, but such clarity in the texture! Refreshingly crisp with shredded basil, just like waking up on a sea cliff and draw in your first deep breathe of the morning with a hint of seafood on the sea breeze. If that air could be had for breakfast, it would taste something like this soup. Prawns are very juicy and sweet. There are 5 of them, quite generous!

Tomato and prawn soup

Next is fish hash, which is truffles compared to your regular button mushroom of a hash. Nice chunky pieces of soft fish with even creamier potatoes in a light but savory saffrony sauce. Then add in that poached egg...so incredibly yummy.

Then of course la piece de resistance - Egg Benedicte. There was an unfortunate accident today: one of the eggs was broken when served. Quel horreur! When I showed it to the chef, he immediately tossed that egg into the trash and offered me another plate on him. How could I turn him down? When the second plate arrived, I could tell that the first plate was done by sous-chef, because this time it was as my memory: the white splits open at the lightest pressure of the knife, warm yolk runneth down along the grilled ham and muffin...a mouthful is a moment of bliss in culinary paradise. And did I mention the sauce? Amazing, amazing hollandaise...so light in texture that it was like the foam of regular hollandaise but with the full flavor and body of a much thicker sauce. We had no trouble finishing plus moping up the second plate, no sir!
Egg Benedict - first plate: see egg on upper corner broken?

Egg Benedict - second plate: must be done by the chef himself

The night before, I was watching Iron Chef "pork chop", so I was seized with an unreasonable longing for pork chop, as many fans of the shows would have experienced frequently. And guess what? Pork chop showed up in Canteen's daily changing menu that day! What can I say...must be dharma. Of course I had to order it, and this beautiful piece of pork arrived. Where there was fat, there was the perfect melding of fat and lean meat, soft as a ripe peach. Where there was only lean meat, it was perfectly pinkish in the middle with a nice firm but yielding texture, dripping with juice. The white beans added the un-needed but much appreciated extra protein. Honey mustard sauce gave an extra kick that saves the dish from being to heavy for a breakfast item. Now, this is what I call a breakfast steak!

Pork chop

Finally, the dessert. Think of a thick slice of really great crepe with fresh strawberry compote hidden underneath, then you have an idea of what the pancake is like. It has a strong taste of egg, and high quality eggs too, no mistake about that. It is like the homemade crepes that my mom used to make me for breakfast, so I feel nostalgic about the dish. My friend who went there for the first time was totally stunned by her first bite that she couldn't speak for a long time. Later, she told us that she could feel tears welling to her eyes. Now she's been called one of the most stoic, expressionless people you could ever meet, so this is high compliments indeed from her. Warm, actually hot pancake, thin in the middle to accommodate the compote, thick on the edges to add extra chewiness to a slice so you can taste the dough as well as the compote. Sour cream sauce again light as a dream, brown sugar syrup is only a dark shadow of sweetness that highlighted the slight tang of fresh strawberries. I cannot think of a more perfect pancake dish than this.

Strawberry pancake with sour cream and brown sugar syrup

Four people, absolutely full, about $65 for all dishes (I added in the price of the egg benedict) and one orange juice, one latte, tip not included. Very satisfactory as usual, love Canteen, can't wait to come back, say...next week.:p

Basic information:
http://www.sfcanteen.com/

817 Sutter Street, SF

415 928 8870

They also serve lunch and dinner, brunch on weekends only. They recently changed their business hours, so call ahead to ask and reserve for dinner.

My experience with Michael Bauer's Bay Area 100, 2007- well, 19 of them anyway.

2007-06-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

My response to Michael Bauer's Bay Area 100. Many restaurants I haven't tried yet. Must make an effort. Here are the ones I have tried: 19 out of a hundred.

Canteen
Excellent, exceptional choice. Not only the food is good, but also really amazing creativity. Egg Benedicte is the most amazing poached egg to be had anywhere – how could egg white melt in your mouth like snow?!?! Sauce hollandaise is more foam than cream, so you get all the flavor without the stickiness. Fantastic strawberry pancake too. A more soft, dewy, eggy concoction than the usual version, slightly thicker at the edges so you can better appreciate the texture and butter/egg perfection, thinner toward the middle for a great marriage with strawberry compote. As for the meat dishes…did the chef make his vocation to ensure that everything melts in your morning-tired mouth? The halibut fades away like a dream with the slightest jaw pressure, leaving the lasting sweetness of fish flesh. Lamb is delicately flavorful, very appropriate for breakfast dish. And have I mentioned the fantastic French toast and out-of-the-world brioche? In all, a must of the musts.

Tartine Bakery
Tartine is a pilgrimage. Standing in the line is a part of the ritual. You worship the fruit tart that you managed to obtain before the person behind you, but you envy the banana cream tart the person in front of you snitched. You want to be a cow here – four stomachs, but you can’t, so you always leave with longing eyes. The croques are nothing short of a meal in itself, very satisfying and delicious. I have never managed to buy a loaf of bread here. Somehow, the universe always conspired against me so it was always sold out 10 minutes before I got there. Good. Then I get more reasons to keep trying.

Bay Wolf (Oakland)
Great winter restaurant. Pretty good summer restaurant too if you want something heavier and richer, or if you just want good food that feels very right to your palate, like an old friend. They make very good cold charcuterie and pates, always serve up huge portions, so beware of that. The décor is really traditional and most of the clientele are older people in 50s+, but who cares. Retro is the new edgy.

Koi Palace (Daly City)
I wouldn’t frequent this place if I were you. You’d be force-fed: ppl placing dim sum on your table then stamp the sheet without even asking for your approval. You might get involved in a gun fight: a shuttle driver told me how he had to stop his friend from pulling a gun out after grappling with another guy in the restaurant over “whose table is that.” A family member had an $800 dinner there – the restaurant just said: we have good fish and good crab today. Care to try? There are better choices out there for dim sum.

Yank Sing
Speaking of better choices for dim sum, this is not one of them. When you see glass tea pots in a Chinese restaurant, you know this is a place that satisfies the fantasy of non-Asians while serving mediocre food in beautiful dishes.

Bistro Jeanty (Yountville)
Oh…how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. You serve authentic bistro food that I miss so much about France. You have this fun communal table at which I grabbed the bread of my neighbors by mistake, but they offered it to me anyway. Your portions are satisfying, so when my friend and I finished 3 appetizers, 2 main dishes, 2 side dishes, and started to attack the half-foot tall rice pudding, my neighbor couldn’t restraint themselves from commenting: my, you surely could eat! Pig trotters, sweetbread, escargots, great lamb, all choices are good, the more exotic “organs” a dish has, the better. San Francisco location is not so good. 20% decrease in food-wow.

Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton
Top notch fine dining experience. Friendly but highly trained servers. Fantastic tasting menu. I have a posting in the blog somewhere. Check it out.

Vik's Chaat Corner (Berkeley)
They serve a lot of things here, they taste pretty good, but I guess I’m not the best judge.

Delfina
When I want to impress on visitors what California cuisine and San Francisco dining experience is like, I take them to Delfina. Oh, and Delfina Pizzeria is not to be missed too. You could even throw in a visit to next-door Tartine, then grab some late night snack from the other next-door Bi-Rite. A gourmet street, 18^th street is.

Oliveto (Oakland)
Best pasta place in town – hands down. The effort spent on each pasta dish is very laudatory, plain presentation, but the smell, the taste, the oomph of the sauce! Like the one time I had salt-packed mullet roe tagliatelle, or the nettle fettucine, and let’s not forget the Bolognaise paparadelle…I’m drooling. Previous part-owner went to open Fra Mani – my favorite salami brand now.

Pizzaiolo (Oakland)
I went there on a bad night – my pizza was burnt. Can’t comment rightly, but I’d be very surprised if it could be better than Delfina Pizzeria.

A Cote (Oakland)
Great drinks, great little dishes, a bit on the heavy and oily side, but very good nonetheless. My favorite tapas place. My only complaint is: why so many people know about this place?!?!?! The wait without reservation is a nightmare…

Chez Panisse (Berkeley)
Ever since my unfortunate experience at Chez Panisse on a Monday night, I stopped going. I prefer its café, but to me, it is still nothing too exceptional. Good, but not something that I get a craving for – unlike Oliveto, Delfina, Tartine, even Dining Room.

Zuni Cafe
Burger heaven…you have to get the burger…read my lips: you have to get the burger. Granted, the other dishes are good, because this is a very good restaurant, but the burger blows out your mind, it reveals a whole new chapter about burger that you never knew, it enlightens your comprehension of patty between bread, it is epiphany. Do you know how a good aioli and bread combination could draw out the finer undertones of minced meat so all the fragrance, fat, and flavor of the meat rushes at you, tastes so much better than just having the meat alone? Just like the right cheese with the right wine. That’s how good the burger is – perfect vintage of a perfect year.

Limon
Grilled foie gras and scallops at a Peruvian restaurant. How unexpected. How mouthwatering good. I tried 80% of their menu already and everything has been good. My only complaint is that I wish they’d change their menu more often. My previous review.

Hog Island Oyster Co.
This is not my favorite oyster company, and definitely not my favorite locale for getting oyster. Nothing beats Tamales Bay in winter months.

Swan Oyster Depot
Crab. Lots of crab. For those who want Dungeness but can’t be bothered to peel, this is the right place. But eating cold seafood at 10am in the morning in November with that howling wind at your back, sitting on a cold stainless steel chair at a stainless steel bar…Well, that’s the only way you can get in. My review from August 2006.

Cesar (Berkeley)
I like this place, but the portions are quite small. Room is small too. Good tapas, a bit different from A Cote: lighter in fare. Nice place to have a drink with friends.

Zarzuela
I haven’t been here after its change in ownership, but before, their paella was amazing and it was the top tapas Spanish tapas place for me in the city. Period. I should go back again.

Away for a while....

2006-10-17T00:30:00.000-07:00

For work and for trying out new food.

So, stay tuned until I come back with exotic food tales from Taiwan!

Tied House - Mountain View - 3 stars

2006-10-12T08:57:00.000-07:00

Visited on: Sep. 29, 2006

Comments: Average -> Recommended

Ordered items:
Blackened catfish

Garlic fries

Fried calamari

Beers

Bread

General description:
Came here with colleagues for happy hour drinking. $2 a beer, half off selected appetizers. We ordered them all. The natchos is not outstanding, but the garlic tossed French fries are rather fine, fried calamari is also plenty, goes well with the beer. The blacked fish is, however, a bit small, there’s only about six pieces of fish in one dish. Could have hoped for more, but tastes pretty good, surprisingly spicy in its flavoring, and the fish is still juicy. Beer variety is also pretty good, but nothing as spectacular as some of the Irish pubs in Mountain View. I probably would choose somewhere else for happy hour gathering for a party of 8 or less. For more people, however, the airy barn feeling with its nice patio filled with gorgeous morning glories should be a good choice. The menu looks very adventurous, featuring New Orleans specialties like alligator sausage and wild boar sausage, and it has a weekly rotation of wild game burger – buffalo, elk, wild boar, and a couple others. My colleague said that the wild game burger is good. I need to try it some other time.

Basic information:
http://www.tiedhouse.com/

Maruichi - Milpitas - 4 stars

2006-10-12T08:40:00.000-07:00

Visited on: Often, last visited on Oct. 3, 2006

Comments: Recommended

Ordered items: All ramens on the menu.
Kuro ramen

Maruichi special with pork-chicken bone broth

Cold ramen

General description:
There are many types of broth based soup in Asia. However, I suppose ramen holds a special place among all the others, for it is unique in its complexity within its own breed. For chow fun, you get beef or chicken, taste pretty much the same, but when you get a pork-bone broth ramen and soy bean sauce broth ramen, the only similarity is as if you say you look like your next door neighbor. Aside from the fact that you are both humans and share the same feature components, you are nothing like each other. Same goes for ramen. The broth base is everything, but the noodles and the accompaniments are what make the broth base divine.

Maruichi Milpitas is a branch of the Mountain View original. I’ve never been to Maruichi Mountain View before, but I can honestly say that Maruichi Milpitas has came a long way since it just opened. Now, the kuro/black ramen based on black sesame oil is no longer greasy but found its broth/oil balance, miso ramen is fully comforting in its warmth and that delightful miso blend of mellowness/sharpness, and the Maruichi special with its abundant accompaniments serves up both taste and value. I like the char siu, the roasted poark, a lot better now, more tender and firm to the bite. When I immerse the soft boiled egg with its semi-ripe, sunset golden yolk into the broth and taste a bite, let the broth melt the yolk in your mouth, a moment of content washes over me. The thin and al-dented ramen noodles trap the soup within its curls very well, and order an extra portion of mentaiko to kick it up a notch. Or you can simply order the special, when you get to choose from pork-bone soup base or kuro soup base, and comes with roasted pork, buro pork (three layer, slow stewed lean/fat/lean cut), scallions, bean sprouts, black fungus, mentaiko, and dryed seawood. A very satisfying meal in itself.

For summer its has cold ramen, prepared cold and dry, and you can add broth to it from a small sake bottle. It is also good, because it comes with crunchy and heat-dispelling accompaniments like cucumber and chilled bean sprouts.

In any case, needs to either come early or come late, since many people are seeking comfort from work or weather in this small restaurant.

Basic information:
530 Barber Lane Milpitas, CA 95035
(408) 434-5991

Beef Noodle Soup (牛肉麵) from my colleague

2006-10-06T14:04:00.000-07:00

This beef noodle soup (牛肉麵) was made by my colleague and his wife. The recipe they used is said to be from Taipei Yuanshan Hotel (台北圓山飯店)’s chef. It was definitely very different from the taste of other beef noodle soup/牛肉麵that I had before. For one thing, it used a special ingredient: Chinese barbeque XaCha sauce, 沙茶醬. The brand? Of course red bull’s 牛頭牌沙茶醬. The usage of the xacha sauce gave the noodle soup an underlying level of complexity that is hard to achieve through regular stock. This is unsurprising, as xacha sauce itself is a blend of sweetness, spiciness, and soy bean sauce-like taste. However, xacha is usually eaten as a dipping sauce for hot pot or used to stir fry things. I was very surprised when I heard about the ingredient’s importance in the recipe, but once I tasted the broth, I realized that it made total sense. The beef in the soup came from boneless spare ribs, and the mixture of fat and lean in the spare ribs gave the broth its substantiality without turning it to an oily, clinging mess. The fat also kept the beef from drying up in its 3 hours long cooking process. I was informed that the “3 hour rule” must be followed utterly with full respect, otherwise the beef will fail. I have no doubt that this is how it should be.

Okra was served as a side, drizzled with thick soy bean sauce(醬油膏), a type of sauce that is thicker in texture with more profoundness in flavor than regular soy bean sauce. The other side dish is bean curd with thousand year preserved eggs and shredded roasted pork (肉鬆皮蛋豆腐). There are two schools of thought on how this dish should be eaten: eat the tofu, and get a bite of preserved eggs to go with it; or mash everything up together and eat it. To me, the second way is the “right” way. Glad to know that colleague’s wife thinks so too. The photo is from before it was mashed up.

Excellent meal all around, big thanks to my colleague and his lovely wife. Hope that we’ll be invited back again when he sees this blog.

Better Bento - Sunnyvale - 3 stars

2006-10-06T11:40:00.000-07:00

Visited on: Often

Comments: Recommended for lunch

Ordered items:
Teriyaki chicken
Oyako don
Tofu don
Daily special
Onigiri
Curry with katsu / chicken katsu

General description:
Japanese home cooking in a box. You can get the combo, which is a pretty good deal, for you get to pick two items out of three, or you can order different kinds of curry and different kinds of don. I like their chicken katsu curry and oyako don very much. For vegetarians, there is tofu don, but you might want to ask about that broth, it could be bonito stock. What I like the best, though, is their onigiri. It is nothing special, just white rice wrapping some pan fried salmon inside with a piece of nori on the outside, but it just tastes very very comforting. If you can’t finish it, leave it for the next morning, add tea or hot water to it, then you’ll have yourself a bowl of chazuke for breakfast. Their daily special is also a good deal, usually with one grilled and one fried main items in the box, with additional side dieshes. Most appetizing.

Basic information:
550 Lakeside Dr Ste 1
Sunnyvale, CA 94085
(408) 720-8889
M-F 11am-2:30pm
M, T, F: 5-8pm
Lunch/ Dinner box: $5.75 - $7.25

Windows on the Water - Morro Bay - 3.5 stars

2006-10-03T20:26:00.000-07:00

Visited on: August 4, 2006

Comments: Recommended

Ordered items:
Ocean Rose Abalone – Locally Raised
Japanese Cucumber & Seaweed Salad, Wasabi and Yuzu Tobikos, Sweet Soya $14

Roman Style" Artichokes
Lemon Aioli, Roasted Garlic Puree, Fresh Herbs $9

Pacific Bouillabaisse
Clams, Calamari, Prawns, Mussels, Pacific Fish, Crab, Saffron Infused Broth, Spicy Rouille $25

Fried local sand dabs with mashed potatoes

Lamb braised in pancetta, rabbit, and duck with spring vegetables.

General description:
I saw this restaurant from Rachel Ray’s program, and thought it is worth a visit. The town itself is beautiful, filled with adorable little shops selling everything from postcards to exquisite jewelry from Israel. If you visit the restaurant, don’t forget to visit a shell store at the end of the street. The most complete collection of shells and corals I’ve ever seen in California is ranged there. I almost bought myself a fan of bewitching pink coral. Back to the restaurant. All the windows literally open towards the water and Morro Rock, and you can see boats and seals, both bobbing up and down on the water, ignoring the raucous seagulls. On weekends, the restaurant has musicians and a singer singing old favorites. Locals would visit there, and get up and dance to the music. A homey kind of romantic.

Dishes are very well executed. Abalone surprised me a little bit with its tempura skin, but enjoyably tender. Artichoke hearts were a little to the bitter side, and I wish there were two more of them. I enjoyed the bouillabaisse very much, although to me it is more like a cioppino. Shell fish especially clams are featured to great effect. Deep fried sand dabs are also very well done, crispiness matching well with the creamier sauce. The star of the evening, however, is undoubtedly the lamb, braised in pancetta, duck, and rabbit, garnished with baby spring vegetables. Totally decadent, utterly delicious. The lamb is tender and the juicy, not only from its own juice, but also the juice cooked from mixing three types of meats together: saltiness and greasiness from the pancetta, intense darkness from the duck, and wild gamey flavors from the rabbit. What’s amazing is that you can still taste small chunks of duck, rabbit, and pancetta within the sauce, making it an interesting mix with the main lamb slices and spring vegetables. Definitely a dish that reminds me of a roman repast.

Basic information:
Windows on the Water
699 Embarcadero
Morro Bay, Ca 93442
805-772-0677
Open Daily 5:00 P.M.
http://www.windowsonthewater.net

Restaurant O opening again

2006-10-02T17:06:00.000-07:00

Read about this on the newspaper: Restaurant O's chef Justin Perez is reopening his restaurant at the same location in Campbell. Expect NY swanky decor and items like fettucine with fire roasted Dungeness crab, or pizza with wild boar and chanterelle. Looking at its website, I see past offerings include elk, rabbits, foie gras, wild boar, and other kinds of seasonal games. Seems like the chef intents to continue his original line of cuisine.

What intrigues me is that the chef's main business seems to be in catering rather than dining. It would be interesting to try this place, and figure our how the chef's background influences the cuisine style, either positively or negatively.

Some basic information:
http://www.restaurant-o.com
2081 South Winchester Boulevard | Campbell, CA 95008
restaurant . 408.871.3135

The restaurant is said to open in late autumn.

The Spice Islands Cafe - Mountain View - 3.5 starsMalaysian and Singaporea

2006-10-01T18:38:00.000-07:00

Visited on: Sep. 22, 2006

Comments: Recommended

Ordered items:
Mustard spinach stirred fried with shrimp sauce

Pork curry

Pineapple rice

Hainan chicken

Katong laksa

Roti prata

General description:
I’ve been looking for a good Malaysian and Singaporean place for ages, and I seem to have found a rather good one in Spice Islands. It has many Malaysian dishes, with some Singaporean favorites like roti prata and Hainan chicken rice. The mustard spinach stirred fried with shrimp sauce (馬來風光?) is really good, the restaurant is not timid about lathering on the pungent seasoning, so the dish is memorable instead of bland. That bowl of Kantong laksa is huge. There were six of us, and we each could get one full small bowl out of it. Pineapple fried rice is definitely not a staple in either Malaysian or Singaporean cuisine, but hey, I like it. The only weak point is the pork curry, and even that is good, just not what I expected. It was like a mild version of its Thai or Burmese cousin. Hainan chicken rice is generous with the chicken, which is tender, moist, and sweet. On a par with the Hainan chicken rice of Prima Taste. A good spot for lunch. Next time I’ll have to try their ice kachang. I haven’t gone back to Singapore for a while, so I’m definitely missing that. Ah, the land of perpetual summer…

Basic information:
210 Hope St. (corner of Villa St. and Hope St.)
(650) 961-0628
Hours:
Lunch: Sun-Fri 11am-3pm
Dinner: Sun-Thu 5pm-9:30pm, Fri-Sat 5pm-10:30pm
Laksa around $8, most dishes around $10 - $12.

Michelin Guide Bay Area: Star Restaurants

2006-10-01T12:30:00.000-07:00

The Michelin Guide result just came out, on Oct. 4, 2006. Not many surprises.
I think it is pretty fair, based on my experience in Chez Panisse, Bistro Jeanty, and the Dining Room, and my previous experiences with 1 and 2 star restaurants in France.

I personally think that it is fair that Chez Panisse does not get more than 1 star, Bistro Jeanty deserves its 1 star, and the Dining Room should be more than 1 star, but maybe not quite up to 2 stars. If there is 1.5 star, it should get one.

So, 2006 winners are as following:

ONE STAR

Fleur de Lys	San Francisco	Financial District
Rubicon	San Francisco	Financial District
Bushi-Tei	San Francisco	Marina District
Quince	San Francisco	Marina District
Range	San Francisco	Mission District
Acquerello	San Francisco	Nob Hill
La Folie	San Francisco	Nob Hill
Masa's	San Francisco	Nob Hill
Ritz-Carlton Dining Room	San Francisco	Nob Hill
Gary Danko	San Francisco	North Beach
Boulevard	San Francisco	South of Market
Fifth Floor	San Francisco	South of Market
Chez Panisse	Berkeley	East of San Francisco
Sushi-Ran	Sausalito	North of San Francisco
Chez TJ	Mountain View	South of San Francisco
Auberge du Soleil	Rutherford	Napa Valley
Bistro Jeanty	Yountville	Napa Valley
Bouchon	Yountville	Napa Valley
La Toque	Rutherford	Napa Valley
Terra	St. Helena	Napa Valley
Dry Creek Kitchen	Healdsburg	Russian River Valley
Farmhouse Inn & Restaurant	Forestville	Russian River Valley
K & L Bistro	Sebastopol	Russian River Valley

TWO STARS

Aqua	San Francisco	Financial District
Michael Mina	San Francisco	Financial District
Manresa	Los Gatos	South of San Francisco
Cyrus	Healdsburg	Russian River Valley

THREE STARS

The French Laundry

Yountville

Napa Valley

Fentons Creamery & Restaurant - Oakland -3.5 stars

2006-10-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

Visited on: Sep. 18, 2006

Comments: Recommended, go for portion and decent ice cream. Pretty good pie too!

Ordered items:
Banana boat, the big one

Blueberry pie a la mode with light coconut pineapple ice cream

General description:
A huge, huge ice cream parlor, with many many types of ice creams, and rich rich creations that are downright decadent and messy. Everything overflows: the topping, the scoops, the syrup, the fudge...It is an awesome show of sugar addiction and guaranteed to satisfy kids' ice cream craving. If you like creamy ice cream, this place is for you. I won't say that it is the best ice cream that really showcases the flavors, but it is definitely very nostalgic, the way strawberry ice cream tasted before someone came up with the idea of only using real fruits and organic ones at that. There is a certain charm for artificial flavoring, just like that moment of epiphany of tea-dipped madeleine on the tongue. Might not be the best of tastes, but certainly memory invoking.

Four of us managed to finish the large banana boat and the nice, warm blueberry pie with berry-filled fillings and soft pie crust that melts with the fillings. Fenton's is the ultimate self-indulgences, and I'll be sure come back to indulge myself more.

Basic information:
Fentons Creamery & Restaurant
4226 Piedmont Avenue in Oakland, California
11am to 11pm everyday of the week, and on Friday and Saturday open until midnight
Phone: 510-658-7000
http://www.fentonscreamery.com/

Hyde Street Bistro - San Francisco - 3 stars

2006-10-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

Visited on:Sep. 22, 2006

Comments: A little bit less than recommended because of uneveness in quality, but not without its own merits, especially the margret de canard. That is one outstanding dish.

Ordered items:
Terrine de lapin

Chevre chaud

Escargot

Bouillabasse

Margret de canard

General description:
Small and crowded, just like a bistro in Paris, serving similar foods as well, so I was really excited upon seeing its menu. However, the uneven execution put a damper on my enthusiasm. I like the terrine, but I think it was done too greasy, so instead of a solid mouthful that you get to chew on and mull over the strong dark flavors, you get too much greasiness that you just want to wash away soon. Escargots is lacking in flavor, and a slight bitterness of sloppy cleaning of the snail entrails. Sauce is very good, though. Chevre chaud is too stingy, really unable to appreciate the chevre with such thing slices, and since it is wrapped in filo, makes it even harder as your tongue is not in direct contact with the cheese. How I miss the Parisien cafes where they served up a complete piece of chevre, wonderfully cooked…

On the other hand, the restaurant really shone in its main dishes, a very pleasant surprise. The bouillabaisse has many ingredients in it, shell fish well cooked, fish slightly overdone. The taste is there, but texture wise, it is actually more like a ciopino. I’d want it to be even thicker and creamier, like La Provence’s version. The margret de canard, on the other hand, is a poster child of margret de canard. Succulent, thick pieces of dark meat, drizzled in fruity sauce, every chew brings out more juice from the meat, and the texture is like burnt velvet, lingering, tenacious, and bold, yet tender to swallow.

The servers, however, are a fun bunch. Celebrate a birthday there. I won’t give away the surprise, but it is definitely a lot more than just bringing a cake to your table. The familiar “bah ouai…” brings back many nostalgic memories to be savored along with my duck.

Basic information:
1521 Hyde Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 292-4415
$19 - $26 for main dishes, $8-$11 for appetizers

Pizzeria Delfina - San Francisco - 5 stars

2006-10-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

Visited on: Sep. 21, 2006

Comments: Highly recommended for pies

Ordered items:
Cherry tomato, ricotta, and basil pie

Don't the tomatoes look delicious?

Create your own burst of flavors!

Homemade sausages

An interesting dessert that we did not try - baked apples

General description:
Delfina is one restaurant I enjoy very much in San Francisco, but I’ve never been to Delfina Pizzeria before. I definitely missed out! It is really small, which only added to the homey and warm feeling of a neighborhood spot. Appetizers look delicious from the counter, but we decided to save our stomach for the pie and the daily special: sausage. The cherry tomatoes, ricotta, and basil pie we ordered was wonderful. The crust is as thin as the ones I had in Naples in Italy, and perfect for the fold-and-eat style favored by the pizza originators. Intensely flavorful cherry tomatoes paired with ricotta plays a beautiful symphony on the tongue, all flavor, no grease. Add a sprinkled of fresh grated Grana Padano cheese, or crush your own stem of oregano over the pie, and add a sprinkling of red pepper flakes, and the flavor becomes as sharp or as mellow as you’d like. Even the crust rim, which I usually leave aside because of undercooking/overcooking/greasiness or simple futile attempts to assuage my diet guilt, was consumed gustily. That’s where you taste the dough, and it has that whiff of fresh, clear bread fragrance that just brings a sense of overall wellbeing.

I also like the homemade sausages. Very meaty but again, never greasy. The sauerkraute piled on top cleared away the remaining oiliness that enabled me to finish my portion even after eating half of a pie.

The staff is fun, and seeing them dancing in the kitchen while tossing/making/baking the pie made you feel like you are also a part of the action, which made it not only a delicious experience, but also a very fun experience.

Basic information:
3611 18th Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 437-6800
www.pizzeriadelfina.com
Hours:
Mon 5:30 p.m.-10:00 p.m.
Tue-Thu 11:30 a.m.-10:00 p.m.
Fri 11:30 a.m.-11:00 p.m.
Sat 12:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m.
Sun 12:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m.
Around $12-$18 per pie.

Little Sheep - Union City - Unknown

2006-10-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

Updates:
Recent visits by friends informed me that the soup quality has lowered.
Reduced from highly recommended to unknown.

Visited on: Often. Latest visit: Sep. 23, 2006

Comments: Highly recommended

Ordered items:
Premium lamb, beef, intestines, winter melon, bead curds, frozen bean curds, assorted vegetables
This is the basic broths: red and white. Have a taste of the white before you put anything in it.

Order as many items as you like, and put the thinly sliced meat into water.

A few seconds later, ready to eat!

Everything else goes into the pot, doesn't that look yummy!

General description:
This is one legendary hot pot place, originated from China, one of the most popular hot pot chains there. With good reason, too. The soup base consists of dozens of herbs, which not only gave it a distinct flavor that is aromatic and earthily powerful, but also has holistic medicinal quality that balances the body and nourishes the ki. The hot pot has two types of soups: white and red. Just in Little Sheep’s case, red does not come from hot pepper oil, like so many inferior hot pots, but from spices. The result is that the spiciness only stays in your mouth without going to the stomach that made your next bathroom visit a truly interesting experience. The herbs also help with digestion, so even if you eat a lot, you don’t feel bloated.

The way to eat a Little Sheep hot pot is to do it like a shabu-shabu with the thinly sliced meats – take a slice of meat, dip it into water, wave it around until it is cooked in mere seconds, and just eat it. Everything else should be put into the pot until fully cooked. However, remember that ingredients will absorb the broth, so if you are not sure about your palate toughness, do not things in the spicy section of the pot for long, or just order a plain white pot (though you'd been missing out if you do that). What’s special about Little Sheep’s broth is that it is fully flavored, so they’ll not give you any dipping sauce, making it an anomaly of Chinese hot pots, but in a very good way. Thinly sliced lamb is very tender, better than beef, and their frozen bean curd is a must try, most excellent and goes very well with the broth. If you see the broth running low, ask for more broth.

This Little Sheep is the first direct operated Little Sheep in the US, other franchise spots are in the LA area. I like the one in Monterey Par, CA very much. The Union City Little Sheep is slightly different in the cuts of meat it uses and presentation is a lot better, but all these are reflected on the price. Call to reserve before you go, otherwise it is going to be one long wait.

Basic information:
34396 Alvarado Niles Road
Union City, CA 94587
(510) 675-9919
Hot pot items from $3.50 and above

Kaita - San Jose - 3 stars

2006-10-01T08:48:00.000-07:00

Visited on: Often. Latest visit: Sep. 25, 2006

Comments: Recommended for lunch and dinner.

Ordered items:
Grilled beef tongue

Japanese hamburger

Miso marinated tuna with Kaitan soup and sashimi

Salmon-ikura don

General description:
Kaita is in the middle of San Jose Japantown, a good place to get some nice Japanese dishes. Although on the expensive size, Kaita turns out a pretty good array of daily specials that are always quite interesting. A small selection of fish is available for sushi, quality is not bad. Read the daily board and pick from there. The only items I’d avoid are the udon that goes with the daily menu, and hamburger meat. They said they use flat udon, but frankly speaking, I have yet to have any udon that should be as soft, squishy, and breaks apart when I try to lift it from the soup. Either it is bad quality flat udon, or their cooking ruined it. Hamburger meat was really, really dense, and not a bit of juice in sight.

Basic information:

From Kaita

215 Jackson StreetSan Jose, CA 95112
(408) 287-5551
$7.00 and upwards for set meal
Has small izakaya style dishes in the evening

Crustacean - San Francisco - 2.5/3stars

2006-09-30T10:09:00.000-07:00

Date visited: Sep. 2, 2006

Type of cuisine: Asian fusion / Vietnamese

Comments: Average

Ordered dishes:
Lobster salad with mango salsa: $18
Roasted crab: Under $40
Garlic noodles: $9.50

General impressions:
A trying-hard-to-impress restaurant with dress code.
Vietnamese fusion cuisine, known for its roasted crabs.Good service. Very hard to park.Very fresh lobster, okay mango salsa. Could be better.Interesting crab, but the crab is quite thin and not really meaty. Too early in the season, perhaps. Cuisine style does not really bring out all the sweetness and characteristic of a Dungeness crab.Garlic noodles: good first impression, full garlic flavor with sweetness. Firm, chewy noodles. When cold, became greasy.
Note:Would go to PPQ instead.

Basic info:
1475 Polk StSan Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 776-2722Mon-Thu 5pm-9:30pm; Fri-Sat 11:30am-3:30pm, 5pm-10:30pm; Sun 11:30am-3:30pm, 5pm-9:30pm Crab: Under $40