Featured Restaurants

CreoLa, San Carlos

CPBA [►]

By coming here we’ve set a new record for the longest gap between a restaurant’s appearance on Check, Please! Bay Area and our first visit:  15 years.  The previous record was 13 years when we finally visited Basque Cultural Center in 2022.  Yes, that is The Pine-Sol Lady talking about CreoLa (watch video above).

The star of our meal is the oysters en brochettes (three) appetizer.  Even people who have reservations about the texture of oysters will enjoy these flash-fried, bacon-wrapped Pacific mollusks.  They’re quite tasty as is, but the accompanying remoulade is also good.  The Creole roux for the shrimp and crawfish etouffee has depth of flavor and the right consistency.  The seasoning for the blackened catfish is understated and the fillet is not burned.  A cornmeal-crusted version is also available.  The seafood gumbo features shrimp, crab, okra, and Andouille sausage; you can taste the sausage and okra.

The next two dishes have some oversalted elements that mar otherwise solid choices.  The mushroom and black garlic sauce for the Abita Turbodog ale-braised short ribs is too salty.  The rather unusual wild mushroom jambalaya features smoked tofu, sweet potato, roasted cauliflower, and eggplant puree.  The salty culprit is either the mushrooms, eggplant puree, or both.  Restaurants don’t stay in business for decades if they consistently oversalt their food, so either CreoLa has a new kitchen staff or it was just an off night.

Most of the entrees come with a choice of two sides.  Of the four traditional sides we sampled, we suggest you go with Hoppin’ John and collard greens because eating them on New Year’s Day or any day brings you good luck.  You can drink the pot liquor since the collard greens are not overly salty like some places.  The mashed potatoes and green beans are average.  The restaurant menu makes it clear you can order some entrees as sides, namely, Cajun jambalaya and wild mushroom jambalaya.  It turns out you can also order the fried chicken, catfish, and Andouille sausage as sides.

We’re glad we ordered two chicken thighs a la carte because it’s a better deal as we don’t mind skipping the basic sides.  The buttermilk-brined thighs have a crispy coating and moist meat—not the best fried chicken we’ve ever had but not greasy and not bad either.  The thing we don’t get is the gravy au jus—it tastes more like chicken stock.  Besides the ability to order more entrees as sides, we found another discrepancy between the dine-in menu and what’s posted by CreoLa’s ordering/delivery partners.  If you order through those services, you get a cornbread with most of the entrees.  But you don’t get any if you visit in-person—odd.  It’s possible they forgot about the cornbread.

For desserts try the better-than-average bread pudding.  It’s served with Frangelico or white chocolate sauce, raspberry coulis, and toasted pecans.  If you’ve never had silk pie before, give this American creation a try.  Their version has a thin layer of chocolate mousse between vanilla wafer crust and whipped cream and toasted almonds.  It’s quite light for a chocolate-based pie.

We enjoyed both drinks we sampled.  The vanilla-scented lemonade has a sharp (in a good way) flavor; the non-alcoholic pomegranate-lime cooler is equally refreshing.  They’re not overly sweet, which we appreciate.

The portions here are modest, so only you can decide if that’s an issue in this case.  The inside is smartly decorated with home furniture such as dresser and nightstand.  They don’t go overboard with NOLA decor other than some Mardi Gras beads here and there.  They sacrificed a few parking spaces in their lot when they created a parklet; there’s one-hour free parking on El Camino Real before 6 pm.  Established in 1996, CreoLa added a second location in San Francisco in 2020; unfortunately, it closed in 2024.

Nearby options:  Sirayvah Organic Thai Cuisine, El Charrito, Tamari, King Chuan, Out of the Barrel Taproom, Toot Sweet Frozen Yogurt, downtown San Carlos

Good to Eat, Emeryville | [♀] [≡]

CPBA [►]

Part 2

As much as we wanted to wait for the return of chayote shoots (September/October?), we felt confident we’d have a fine meal with or without them.  We ordered nine dishes plus one repeat and some alcohol to go.

The best thing this time is once again something unexpected.  Not crazy about lettuce wraps, we almost skipped the minced shrimp lettuce wraps until we noticed there’s crunchy cruller (youtiao) in the mix.  We expected to see sliced rings of savory donut on the plate, but instead they fried bits of it to mimic bacon bits for crunch.  We like our idea better, but it doesn’t matter because they managed to make an umami bomb out of diced shrimp.  And we’ve never seen such precisely cut lettuce leaves—nice touch.

Taiwanese minced pork rice (lu rou fan) may be having a moment since America’s Test Kitchen presented a pork chop version in 2025.  GTE’s rendition with Duroc pork meat sauce is quite comforting.  The fried assorted mushrooms are greaseless and tasty though we’re not sure what types (king oyster and?).  Mushroom lovers should also order the maitake mushroom with specialty tofu sauce noodle.  The mildly spicy Taiwanese seafood harbor-style clams are flambeed with rice wine from TTL (Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor)—Taiwan’s answer to Shaoxing wine?

We sampled three vegetable dishes this time.  The most interesting is the grilled bok choy with ginger sesame dressing.  The bok choy is sliced in half lengthwise and the cut side is nicely charred; you can always count on GTE to create some tasty dressing/sauce.  Almost as good are the stir-fried French green beans (haricot verts) with garlic and Taiwanese black vinegar.  The stir-fried water spinach (ong choy) with minced garlic is close to what Cantonese restaurants have to offer.

The pepper numbing chicken cutlet comes with a Taiwanese sweet pepper numbing sauce that fails to leave any numbing sensation (no Sichuan pepper then?).  In fact, it tastes like off balance citrus peel sauce.

We applaud any restaurant that offers alcohol to go.  It turns out GTE doesn’t have to prepare anything really.  That’s because the Kuroushi Omachi Junmai Ginjo (Black Bull Omachi Junmai Ginjo) is sold in a single-serving jar (180 ml./6.1 oz.).  We shouldn’t be surprised since Japan has a strong drinking culture.  This is a good way to sample sake without buying a whole bottle.  This type of floral and fruity sake is the closest thing to the sake equivalent of dessert wine.

Nearby options:  Los Moles, Secrets of Tiger, KYU2 Sushi, Butter Pecan Bakeshop

Past Featured Restaurants

Arsicault Bakery, San Francisco (two locations)

CPBA [►]

Part 1

After sampling kouign-amann from three bakeries in the Bay Area (you’ll find them all on this page), we were ready to try Arsicault’s version finally.  It was sold out on a Friday, but based on three of the pastries we tried, we can say Arsicault’s kouign-amann is proabably the best in the Bay Area.  The hazelnut almond blackberry croissant is indeed very flaky (all the other croissants were sold out).  Arsicault’s palmier is buttery (but light) and perfectly caramelized.  Kouign-amann is based on a laminated dough and the outside is caramelized.  The vegetable galette’s puff pastry is also impressive.  So clearly this bakery knows puff pastry.  By the way, that sliced blackberry croissant is almost like a sandwich.

The creme caramel (Parisian flan on the menu) has a firmer texture than the silky versions from Latin America and no caramel sauce; they should call it Parisian custard tart to avoid confusion.  Give Arsicault credit for offering scones, which have no French connection.  The bar-shaped savory scone is not as good as Castro Valley’s Seven Hills Baking Co.’s cheddar garlic scone.  The currant scone looks flat and does not distinguish itself from American-style scones.

Established in 2015, Arsicault’s business really took off the following year when it was named the best new bakery in the country by Bon Appetit.  It’s easy to see why the magazine was so smitten with its croissants.  We understand bakeries would rather sell out everything than have to deal with unsold products.  But when an item is gone three to four hours before the store closes in the afternoon, they should make more so that it’s sold out an hour before closing.  Just saying.

Pro tip:  While the Civic Center location does have a longer menu, stick with the original Inner Richmond location if you are the pearls-clutching type.  The McAllister address looks good on paper—and the store is very nice—but this part of Civic Center is near the intersection of the Tenderloin and Market Street.  As we drove around looking for parking, we saw a lot of people dressed like security guards (as of May 2022).  It turns out they are with a group called Urban Alchemy.  Despite SF City Hall’s efforts, we did see someone shooting up on Mission Street where we found plenty of parking.

Part 2

Taking care of unfinished business.  We had to return to Arsicault to sample its vaunted kouign-amann.  Maybe it’s because we went to the original Inner Richmond location this time or it was Saturday and not Friday or they finally decided to make more of their signature pastry, but they still had plenty of these butter cakes when we arrived around 12:45 pm.

As we correctly surmised two years ago, this is the best traditional kouign-amann we’ve tasted to date.  Spiral-shaped like American sticky bun, Arsicault’s version is light and greaseless despite all that butter.  The outside is more caramelized than the competition and the inside has a kind of Japanese milk bread mouthfeel.  We appreciate that it’s not the sweetest kouign-amann around.  As far as we know, Arsicault is the only one that favors the spiral format for its individual-sized kouign-amann (kouignette), which we imagine is the way to go when you’re making a large quantity.  Click on the Detour tab above and follow our kouign-amann tour.

We knew from our previous visit that Arsicault knows puff pastry.  The ham and cheese croissant is possibly better than their sweet croissants.  You get very good ham and cheese (Camembert or Emmental?).  The chocolate almond croissant is as tasty and substantial as the hazelnut almond blackberry croissant from last time.  We’re glad we sampled the cranberry coconut scone and can report their scone recipe has improved.

The owner pays tribute to his French ancestors by naming the bakery after his great-grandparents, who owned a bakery in Corbeil-Essonnes.  Because the Inner Richmond space is tiny, they only serve one customer inside at a time.  Yes, the line outside is long before 2 pm, but it moves quickly.  Coincidentally, this block just happens to have a wide sidewalk.  The store window at this location lets you know when an item is sold out.  There’s free parking on the residential streets nearby.

ATK (kouign-amann) [►]

Nearby options in Inner Richmond:  Chapeau, Burma Superstar, Kitchen Istanbul, Heritage, Cajun House, Le Soleil, Y & Y Vietnamese Cuisine, Lily, Mai’s Vietnamese, Cafe Bunn Mi, Pho Huynh Sang, B Star, Nakorn Thai SF, King’s Thai Cuisine, Thai Time, Lime Tree, Koja Kitchen, Zajang Grill, Mamahuhu, The Claypot House, Spices, Xiao Long Bao, Taiwan, Wing Lee BBQ, Clement BBQ, Good Luck Dim Sum, Gourmet Dim Sum and Cafe, DNM Hot Pot, Pasta Supply Co., Sewa Indian and Nepalese Cuisine, Keeva Indian Kitchen, Unco Frank’s, Wako Japanese, Moku Yakitori-Ya, Oishinbo Sushi, Shabu Club, Mokuku, Genki Crepes & Mini Mart, Taqueria Los Mayas, Richmond Republic Draught House, Giorgio’s Pizzeria, Hamburger Haven, Palmetto Superfoods, Diamond Coffee n’ Pastry, Cafe La Flore, Eats, Batches Bakehouse, Schubert’s Bakery, Wing Lee Bakery, Cherry Blossom Bakery, Toy Boat by Jane, Allstar Donuts, See’s Candies

Nearby options in Civic Center:  Golden Era, KAYMA Algerian Eatery, Jin Mi, La Bande, Himalayan Pizza and Momo, Morty’s Delicatessen, Hello Sandwich Noodle, Philz Coffee, La Cocina Municipal Marketplace

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B. Patisserie, San Francisco | [♀]

AEJourneys [►] Jenny Dang [►] KPIX | CBS News Bay Area [►]

First of all, let’s give B. Patisserie (opened in 2013) credit for making three types of kouign-amann (“butter cake”).  The plain or traditional version is sweeter and richer than previous kouignou we sampled from other places; the inside looks and feels slightly greasy.  The other two represent a missed opportunity for BP.  The chocolate one tastes like the chocolate glaze you get from a typical donut shop.  We expect ganache or something a little more refined.  The seasonal version implies some kind of seasonal fruit, but it just tastes like apricot jam from a jar.  If Dunkin’ Donuts served these kouignou, we’d be pleasantly surprised.  We want more from a place with “patisserie” in its name.

If you like chocolate croissant and banana, well, you can have both together here.  The chocolate banana almond croissant is fine.  The croissants from Oakland’s Bake Sum and San Francisco’s Rolling-Out Cafe have a cleaner flavor.  The bostock is not as good as Castro Valley’s Seven Hills Baking Co.  The exotic cheesecake has mango and two other fruits in it.  We’ve had better cheesecakes.  The lemon tart is probably the best item we sampled—except it tastes a bit oily.

This is how they make sure there’s no error with an order after they put everything you want in a box(es):  you can watch your items on the screen in front of you as they tabulate your order and then they read the whole thing back to you as extra insurance.  And you can ask for a printed copy of the same itemized receipt before you leave.

They operate a sandwich shop nearby as well.  The owners of BP are also the co-owners of Routier next-door.  There’s meterless street parking on Pine Street.  Note that there’s a five-percent “SF mandate” fee—we haven’t come across another San Francisco eatery adding the same charge.  (Since 2008, a San Francisco law requires city businesses with more than 20 employees to pay for healthcare and other benefits.)  This is a popular neighborhood bakery in Lower Pacific Heights as it was packed with dine-in customers on our visit around two in the afternoon on a Saturday.  But there was no one in line for takeout orders when we first walked in; a short line had formed by the time we left.

ATK (kouign-amann) [►] CPBA (Routier) [►]

Nearby options:  Routier, B. on the Go, Scopo Divino, My Ivy Thai, Tataki Sushi and Sake Bar, Godzilla Sushi, Dynasty Dumpling, Eliza’s, Fishbowl Bar & Grill, The City Taqueria, El Burrito Express 2, Habibi Falafel, Presidio Pizza Co., The Cheese Steak Shop, Cumaica Coffee

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Bernal Basket, San Francisco

John Montoya [►] Realtor.com [►]

Established in 2020, Bernal Bakery is one to watch.  They opened Bernal Basket, a brick-and-mortar store in the Bernal Heights District in 2024.  The star of our visit is the scallion scroll (green onion roll).  We’re glad we followed another customer’s recommendation and ordered this savory pastry.  What tastes like blue cheese near the center of the spiral-shaped puff pastry is possibly flavored cream cheese.  The biscuit is also good.  The apple cider donut is a not-too-sweet, two-bite donut.  You should definitely check out their sandwiches.  The one we sampled, prosciutto stracciatella sandwich with arugula on their own baguette, is worth reordering.  The inclusion of a bit of stone fruit gives the whole thing a touch of sweetness.  The Web site has details on all the farmers markets where they sell their goodies.

Appetizing.tv-Baking Recipes (spinach and green onion rolls) [►]

Nearby options:  3rd Cousin, Seafood Station, Vega, Go Duck Yourself, United Dumplings, Nute’s, Moki’s Sushi & Pacific Grill, Shokudou, Little Nepal Indian Cuisine, Piqueo’s, El Jacal Mexican Grill, Taco Los Altos, Moonlight Cafe, Pizza Express, Black Jet Baking Co., Chicken Dog Bagels, Progressive Grounds, Pinhole Coffee, Martha & Bros. Coffee Co.

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Black Jet Baking Co., San Francisco | [♀] [@]

KRON 4 [►]

Black Jet Baking Co. started in 2010 as a wholesale business and opened a retail store in the Bernal Heights District in 2017.  Since the founder is from New England, BJBC is known for its bulkie roll, which we didn’t try.

The most interesting item we sampled is the buckwheat financier.  By adding half a stone fruit, they turn the traditional financier into something akin to German/Austrian plum cake (zwetschgenkuchen).  The blackberry scone is fine.  We find the almond croissant to have more than a “whisper” of apricot jam, which makes it sweeter than we prefer.  The boozy bread pudding (weekends only) easily serves two and promises a strong rum (sometimes bourbon) sauce.  While it’s not the best bread pudding we’ve ever had, we appreciate the effort.

We like Neapolitan ice cream, so we decided to try a (generous) slice of the Neapolitan layer cake.  We like the concept, but we’re not sure it successfully gives the feels of that ice cream flavor.  This cake was originally created as a wedding cake.  Try it and ask yourself if you’d be happy with this as your wedding cake.

This company clearly has a sense of fun.  The Web site has a working search function—how refreshing.  The bakery is named after the founder’s beloved dog, a black lab mix.

ATK (financiers) [►]

Nearby options:  3rd Cousin, Seafood Station, Vega, Go Duck Yourself, United Dumplings, Nute’s, Moki’s Sushi & Pacific Grill, Shokudou, Little Nepal Indian Cuisine, Piqueo’s, El Jacal Mexican Grill, Taco Los Altos, Moonlight Cafe, Pizza Express, Bernal Basket, Chicken Dog Bagels, Progressive Grounds, Pinhole Coffee, Martha & Bros. Coffee Co.

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Eastern Bakery, San Francisco

ABC7 [►]

Here comes another old-timer.  Eastern Bakery, opened in 1924 (click on the OG tab above), is one of the bakeries in San Francisco that offers the coffee crunch cake made famous by Blum’s.  Their version tastes about the same as Yasukochi’s Sweet Shop (perhaps a tad less sweet).  Both bakeries charge $7 for a generous slice as of November 2024.  Since more people are aware of Yasukochi’s, their coffee crunch cake tends to sell out fast.  But we were able to score a slice at Eastern an hour before they close at 4 pm.

What else is good here?  Well, if you don’t want to wait in line for Golden Gate Bakery’s vaunted egg tart, try Eastern’s smaller and cheaper version.  At this point we should mention the family that owns GGB took over Eastern in the 1980s.  But they keep the two bakeries separate—you can’t get coffee crunch cake at GGB and you can’t buy GGB’s egg tart at Eastern.  Eastern has a Web site and GGB doesn’t.  The one thing they share is the cash-only tradition.  (The owner grew up in Lima, Peru, and speaks fluent Spanish.  Stop by and say hola to Orlando Kuan.)

We also enjoyed their sesame ball (jian dui) and winter melon (wife/sweetheart) cake (small or large).  Eastern is also known for its line of mooncakes, which are sold at Asian supermarkets in September/October.  You can buy them here year-round, and we presume they give you the ones that don’t require preservatives.  Just as Chelsea Clinton had a connection to San Bruno’s Lotus Falafel & Shawerma, her father visited Eastern in 1996 and picked up mooncakes to go (here’s a report from local media).  Some people find mooncakes a little too sweet; they should try the mooncake cookies without any filling, essentially made with the same dough as the crust for mooncake.  They’re shaped like Buddha, fish, or pig.  The last one reminds us of the pig-shaped Mexican cookie called puerquito.

Eastern sells prepacked (eight oz.) bags of Smackles, a cute name for cow ear cookies, not to be confused with palmier pastry.  They acquired this brand of crunchy cookies from another San Francisco bakery.  You know these cookies are made in the U.S. because cocoa powder is one of the ingredients along with flour, sugar, water, vegetable oil, salt, and eggs.  For comparison we purchased supermarket versions of the same product (sometimes called dragon ear or umbrella cookies).  A Chinese brand contains wheat flour, sugar, water, soybean oil, salt, and food additives (mostly leavening agents).  A Taiwanese brand uses wheat flour, palm oil, sugar, brown sugar, black sesame, spices (cinnamon, star anise, cumin, pepper, cloves), salt, and leavening agent.  You’d think the one with all the spices would taste the best...and you’d be wrong.

You can no longer walk inside Eastern—that’s another thing it has in common with GGB.  Note that the desktop version of their Web site seems to be out-of-date.  You can see the entire price list using the mobile-friendly version on your smartphone.

Martha Stewart (Blum’s coffee crunch cake) [►] NYT Cooking (Manhattan mooncakes) [►]

Nearby options (south of Jackson):  R&G Lounge, Mister Jiu’s, Empress by Boon, City View, Sam Wo, Hang Ah Tea Room, Hon’s Wun-Tun House, Hong Kong Clay Pot, New Woey Loy Goey, Great Eastern, Lucky Creation Vegetarian, Enjoy Vegetarian, Four Kings, Begoni Bistro, Z & Y, The Garden, Capital, New Fortune, San Sun, Hunan House, Sohunan of Henry’s Hunan, Spicy King, The Spicy Shrimp, Hotpot Champ, Far East Cafe, Sweetheart Cafe, Lady Luck Cafe, Yummy Dim Sum & Fast Food, J&M A-1 Cafe, Chef Hung’s, Snow Garden, Good Luck Cafe & Deli, Today Foods, Yummy Bakery & Cafe, icafe Bakery, Garden Bakery, AA Bakery & Cafe, Good Mong Kok Bakery, Napoleon Super Bakery, Golden Star Vietnamese, Golden King, Golden Flower, Latte Express, Hinodeva Ramen & Bar, Rural Ramen Bar, Tokyo Express, Sisterita, Matcha Cafe Maiko, The Coffee Movement, Magical Ice Cream, Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory

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Go Duck Yourself, San Francisco (two locations)

KTVU FOX 2 (Chinatown 2023) [►] Forest Restaurant Supply [►]

Chinatown’s OG deli Hing Lung (not to be confused with the old porridge place of the same name) has transitioned into a full-blown restaurant in the Bernal Heights District.  And so we find ourselves in this neighborhood for the first time.  We usually don’t like to visit new restaurants (under two years old) because they need time to work out the kinks.  And with such a high failure rate in this industry, anything that makes it past two years is a sign that it’s off to a good start.  We made an exception with Go Duck Yourself because of its pedigree.

We sampled four dishes from the short, one-page menu, plus one new item.  Let’s stipulate that the best roast duck is the butterflied kind.  If you’ve had chicken under a brick (pollo al mattone), then you’ll agree the same is probably true for roast chicken.  If nothing else, a butterflied turkey cooks faster and is easier to carve.  The GDY Cantonese roast duck is not the butterflied variety (not sure Hing Lung ever offered it).  Butterflied or not, the best roast duck should have crispy skin and little to no fat underneath.  Though this is quality duck meat, the skin could be crispier and there’s discernible fat.  You get half a boned duck, so that’s different.  The plum sauce is a bit better than other delis; the duck au jus is handy if you’re roasting potatoes in the oven or something.

When it comes to the BBQ pork (char siu), you get a choice of collar or spareribs.  The familiar collar cut (they ran out of spareribs) has just enough fat and the glaze is not too sweet.  It’s supposed to be served with ginger chutney, which we didn’t find in our bag.  The garlic greens are finished with a shot of whiskey for optimal caramelization.  They’re not exactly greens with wine sauce but definitely more interesting than the greens on dim sum menu.  The good ducking noodle is enough to feed two.  Though slightly greasy, the egg noodle has a nice hint of sweetness.  You get julienned duck and chicken meat—hard to tell what’s what to be honest.  We also tried a small order of the im-peck-able wings (new item), six perfectly fried flats.

Some people have commented on the difference in price between GDY and Hing Lung.  Well, GDY is a sit-down restaurant with non-family employees.  Cortland Avenue is the main commercial street in this neighborhood, a quaint two-lane road that’s made for restaurant rows.  The hilly side streets provide free parking.  If you’re coming north on US 101, the easier way to get to this location is by taking the Cesar Chavez Street exit.  The shorter but more challenging route is to follow I-280 South and then take the Alemany Blvd. exit and immediately get over to the right lane to turn right onto Ellsworth Street (we missed the turn and ended up turning onto Mission Street instead).  We didn’t try the Alemany Blvd. exit off US 101, which may not be as straightforward as the Cesar Chavez exit.  GDY’s Post Street location will reopen in December 2024.  Hing Lung’s original Stockton Street location in Chinatown has closed.

Bon Appetit (H.K. roast goose with Lucas Sin) [►] ATK (char siu) [►]

Nearby options in Bernal Heights:  3rd Cousin, Seafood Station, Vega, United Dumplings, Nute’s, Moki’s Sushi & Pacific Grill, Shokudou, Little Nepal Indian Cuisine, Piqueo’s, El Jacal Mexican Grill, Taco Los Altos, Moonlight Cafe, Pizza Express, Bernal Basket, Black Jet Baking Co., Chicken Dog Bagels, Progressive Grounds, Pinhole Coffee, Martha & Bros. Coffee Co.

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Golden Gate Bakery, San Francisco

KPIX | CBS News Bay Area [►]

Like Starbread Bakery, Golden Gate Bakery is known for one thing:  egg tart.  When we sampled GGB’s signature pastry years ago, it was a little greasy but simply the best in the Bay Area (maybe it was the grease that made it so good).  Nothing can compete with one’s food memory.  That said, we can tell the recipe is different now.  These tarts are bigger, lighter in color, greaseless, and more uniform/photogenic than what we had.  Measuring three inches in diameter and 1 1/4 inches in height, they cost $3.75 each (bakery food items not subject to sales tax) as of June 2024.  GGB’s rendition is still very good, but the one at Hayward’s Bamboo Steamer is better.

This place is so popular that someone set up a Facebook page to let people know when it’s open for business.  Before lockdown, they’d close the store for a few weeks in January.  After they finally reopened in September 2023, a new policy dictates that you place your order at the door.  The line is probably longer now than ever; plan on waiting at least 30 minutes.  They have other pastries that are worth trying, but not being able to step inside and have a look-see, most people just get the egg tart and be done with it (there’s also the cash-only factor).

Virginia (watch video above) is friendly and quite inquisitive.  She overheard our conversation about a cafe in the Sunset with the couple ahead of us and wanted to know where it was.  San Francisco Chinatown is back in business since the locals and tourists are back.  A German couple wondered what people were in line for, so we gave them a little show-and-tell.

Nearby options (north of Jackson):  China Live, Eight Tables by George Chen, Lai Hong Lounge, House of Nanking, Yuet Lee Seafood, Taishan Cuisine, Chong Qing Xiao Mian, Yin Du Wonton Noodle, House of Xian Dumpling, Fusion Dumpling, Z & Y Peking Duck, Bund Shanghai, Brandy Ho’s Hunan Food, New Moon, Cafe Broadway, Kam Po Kitchen, Dol Ho, Broadway Dim Sum Cafe, Dim Sum Bistro, Delicious Dim Sum, Wing Sing Dim Sum, Ma’s Dimsum & Cafe, My Canh, Sushi Chef, Capo’s, Mona Lisa, Cafe Zoetrope, Jamra Pizzeria & Grill, Spork Breakfast & Brunch, Sam’s Pizza & Burgers, Molinari Delicatessen, New Hollywood, Little Swan Bakery Cafe, Wong Lee Bakery, Fancy Wheat Field Bakery, The Baked Bear, My Happy Donut

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Hang Ah Tea Room, San Francisco

Eater [►] KTVU FOX 2 [►]

How’s your knowledge of really old restaurants in the Bay Area?  We thought we had a good handle on most of the classic places in San Francisco and the Bay Area in general until we came across a YouTube video last year.  Established in 1920, Hang Ah Tea Room is the second-oldest restaurant in San Francisco Chinatown (tied with Far East Cafe).  Located across from a playground in an alley with no other retail business, Hang Ah (“fragrance”) is not top of mind for locals.  On the day of our visit, we conducted an unscientific survey by asking a few SF residents if they’d heard of this restaurant, and the answer was no.

All is not lost because the dine-in customers appeared to be tourists, so at least they know about this place—except this is not a tourist trap.  We don’t know what the food was like years ago, but the current owners have done an admirable job refreshing Hang Ah’s menu.  While SFGATE, Eater, and KTVU all focused on the dim sum dishes, we were surprised to discover they serve other things as well.

Among the six dim sum items we ordered, the Hang Ah BBQ pork bun (cha siu bao) is the most unusual because they purposely replaced the standard dough for this steamed bun with one that’s closer to the type with sweet filling.  They also skipped the red food coloring for the filling used by some places.  Whether you are a fan of a certain NBA player or not, try the Curry 3 pointers—these curry puffs and wonton in special chili sauce are comparable with other dim sum houses.  We also enjoyed the dumpling with coriander (cilantro) and shrimp.  Foil-wrapped chicken is probably not a traditional dim sum item; it’s baked skinless and boneless dark meat.  The marinade usually includes soy sauce, sugar, ginger, and garlic.  It’s the kind of dish that should please everyone—unless you have a strong preference for white meat.  We’ve had some excellent versions of XO sauce pan-fried turnip cake; Hang Ah’s turnip cake tastes different and lacks the desired char.

From the Hong Kong-style street food section, we tried the saucy 3some rice noodle and salt and pepper squid.  The former is plain rice noodle roll with hoisin sauce and peanut sauce; this dish is becoming more popular in the Bay Area.  If we hadn’t loaded up on pastries from two bakeries before we stopped by Hang Ah, we would’ve tried more of their main dishes.  We would definitely reorder the salt and pepper pork chops.  The alley wings (a reference to Hang Ah’s location) pack some genuine heat courtesy of their own chili sauce, which they bottle for sale.  You get two flats and four drumettes. They also serve rice plates, fried rice and noodle dishes.

Away from the center of Chinatown, this place feels like a sanctuary.  There’s some memorabilia in the lobby and dining room as one would expect.  If someone has an old Hang Ah menu from the 1920s or later, make a copy for the owners.  As The Who would say, we won’t get fooled again—and neither should you.  So click on the OG tab above and see our list of classic Bay Area restaurants.

Hang Ah claims to be America’s oldest dim sum restaurant.  Though New York’s Nom Wah also opened in 1920, it was more of a bakery initially.  Why stop with the U.S.?  It doesn’t look like there’s anything dating to 1920 in Canada, so Hang Ah can claim the title for North America and possibly Mexico.  And if there’s nothing as old in Singapore, Malaysia, and Cuba, then it may well be the oldest dim sum restaurant outside of China.  By the way, there’s a Wikipedia page for Nom Wah (since 2020) but nada for Hang Ah.  Nom Wah has over 7,000 on-line reviews versus over 1,000 for Hang Ah.  Nom Wah has been on national TV at least a couple of times.

Where’s the oldest Chinese restaurant in America?  Until someone can prove otherwise, the honor goes to Chicago Cafe in Woodland (Yolo County), which opened in 1903.  Nitpickers will note that this place is also part-American diner.  It’s being sold in 2025, so best of luck to the new owner.  Should Chicago Cafe close in the future, Pekin Noodle Parlor (1911) in Butte, Mont., will take the title.  What about San Francisco?  Unfortunately, Sam Wo closed in 2025.

Lucky Chow (Nom Wah) [►] Fix Me a Plate (Nom Wah) [►]
PBS KVIE (Chicago Cafe) [►] ABC10 (Chicago Cafe) [►]
ABC News (Pekin Noodle Parlor) [►]

Nearby options (south of Jackson):  R&G Lounge, Mister Jiu’s, Empress by Boon, City View, Sam Wo, Hon’s Wun-Tun House, Hong Kong Clay Pot, New Woey Loy Goey, Great Eastern, Lucky Creation Vegetarian, Enjoy Vegetarian, Four Kings, Begoni Bistro, Z & Y, The Garden, Capital, New Fortune, San Sun, Hunan House, Sohunan of Henry’s Hunan, Spicy King, The Spicy Shrimp, Hotpot Champ, Far East Cafe, Sweetheart Cafe, Lady Luck Cafe, Yummy Dim Sum & Fast Food, J&M A-1 Cafe, Chef Hung’s, Snow Garden, Good Luck Cafe & Deli, Today Foods, Yummy Bakery & Cafe, Eastern Bakery, icafe Bakery, Garden Bakery, AA Bakery & Cafe, Good Mong Kok Bakery, Napoleon Super Bakery, Golden Star Vietnamese, Golden King, Golden Flower, Latte Express, Hinodeva Ramen & Bar, Rural Ramen Bar, Tokyo Express, Sisterita, Matcha Cafe Maiko, The Coffee Movement, Magical Ice Cream, Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory

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Hon’s Wun-Tun House, San Francisco (two locations) | [≡]

Wok Around the Bay [►] (make sure CC is on) KTVU FOX 2 [►]

Part 1

Three reasons for visiting Hon’s Wun-Tun House.  When we did a soup crawl last winter, we ignored old standbys such as pho, ramen, and wonton noodle soup.  Hon’s has been around since 1972 (click on the OG tab above).  And someone at SFGATE really, really loved this place.  Well, we couldn’t go to Hon’s original location on Kearny Street due to remodeling (should reopen in 2025), but the second location on Washington Street actually has a longer menu (both sites are steps from Portsmouth Square Garage).

Two visits and 13 dishes later, we can give you our impression.  We ordered the same beef brisket wonton noodle soup as SFGATE.  While the wonton dumplings are very good, the brisket is not as tender as expected.  Luckily, their signature wonton noodle soup excludes the brisket.  For some wonton aficionados the best option may be the seaweed and fried shrimp wonton soup because you get 10 dumplings with no noodles in the way.  We like these fried shrimp dumplings better than the regular kind, and seaweed is something a little different for a casual Cantonese restaurant.  The stock for these soups contains an unexpected ingredient:  monkfruit.

The chef special fried rice is too dry, but that’s not an issue with the seafood fried rice with gravy (Fukien/Fujian fried rice) since it comes with a saucy topping.  You can’t go wrong with either of the two fried noodle dishes we sampled.  They use thicker noodles for both combination chow mein and seafood noodle with garlic and butter sauce.  The former is loaded with shrimp, BBQ pork, bay scallops, fish, chicken, and cabbage (sweet).  You get shrimp, clams, fish, squid, and bay scallops with the latter.

This kitchen knows all about using baking soda and corn starch (velveting) to make the most tender beef.  Try the mushroom beef with Maggi sauce or any beef dish for that matter.  (Maggi sauce must be popular in Latin America; it’s always on sale at Cardenas Markets.)  The beef stir-fried bitter melon is fine but note that they don’t try to make the bitter melon less bitter.  The stir-fried flowering cabbage (choy sum) with garlic sauce is good; the Chinese broccoli (gai lan) with ginger sauce is even better.  The pan-fried soup dumplings are not as good as the version at Dumpling & Cajun Seafood in South San Francisco.  The bottom of the dumpling is too thick.  If you’re an offal eater, try the pork liver and kidney porridge (served until 3 pm).

Part 2

After watching Martin Yan’s tour of Hon’s above, we had to return to sample the Dungeness crab special.  We had noticed the flyer on the counter regarding this crab special weeks before the start of our local Dungeness crab season, so what they serve is probably not local.  You can have it prepared one of three ways:  ginger/green onion, black bean/pepper, or salt/pepper.  Check the price before you commit.  The one we got is so meaty that it easily serves three to four people.  When it comes to whole crab, it’s all about the tomalley inside the shell.  They recommended black bean sauce, which is well-executed by the kitchen.  The only quibble is that the meat is not as naturally sweet as expected.  Save the shell if you’re making soup or stock later.

For a place with wonton in the name, it’s surprising that half of the noodle soups don’t contain dumplings at all.  Try the beef tendon noodle soup anyway.  Like bone marrow, we’re never certain if the tendon will be adequately seasoned.  Well, this version is quite flavorful.  If you like anchovy, the salted fish chicken fried rice delivers on the right amount of salty goodness—and it’s not greasy to boot.  Since we enjoyed their preparation of Chinese broccoli last time, we decided to try the stir-fried fish ball with Chinese broccoli.  The fish cake tastes house-made.  The prawns and pumpkin with egg yolk is good, but keep in mind this kind of dish starts to get a little heavy when you reheat it the next day.

Food52 (wonton with Lucas Sin) [►] The Woks of Life (Fujian fried rice) [►]
ATK (tenderize meat with baking soda) [►] ATK (beef ho fun [velveting in action]) [►]

Nearby options (south of Jackson):  R&G Lounge, Mister Jiu’s, Empress by Boon, City View, Sam Wo, Hang Ah Tea Room, Hong Kong Clay Pot, New Woey Loy Goey, Great Eastern, Lucky Creation Vegetarian, Enjoy Vegetarian, Four Kings, Begoni Bistro, Z & Y, The Garden, Capital, New Fortune, San Sun, Hunan House, Sohunan of Henry’s Hunan, Spicy King, The Spicy Shrimp, Hotpot Champ, Far East Cafe, Sweetheart Cafe, Lady Luck Cafe, Yummy Dim Sum & Fast Food, J&M A-1 Cafe, Chef Hung’s, Snow Garden, Good Luck Cafe & Deli, Today Foods, Yummy Bakery & Cafe, Eastern Bakery, icafe Bakery, Garden Bakery, AA Bakery & Cafe, Good Mong Kok Bakery, Napoleon Super Bakery, Golden Star Vietnamese, Golden King, Golden Flower, Latte Express, Hinodeva Ramen & Bar, Rural Ramen Bar, Tokyo Express, Sisterita, Matcha Cafe Maiko, The Coffee Movement, Magical Ice Cream, Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory

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Jane the Bakery, San Francisco | [♀]

Zeene InRealLife [►]

We were able to visit Jane the Bakery twice recently, so we have a good handle on its menu, which is a good thing because this place makes sandwiches as well.  We sampled four of the seven sandwiches, and our favorite is probably the mango chicken, which turns out to be curried chicken salad with mango chutney, pepper sauce, arugula, and provolone.  It’s tasty and filling and the only one on baguette (the others are on ciabatta).  You can tell the prosciutto and burrata sandwich has quality ingredients.  The chicken shawarma is mildly spicy and includes turmeric roast chicken with sumac red onion, pickle, and herb sauce.  The muffuletta is not pressed the way they do it in New Orleans.

The baked goods here are a little different from other bakeries.  The sweet scone with raisins is not too sweet and proves once again why we love American-style scones—no two are alike.  The raspberry brioche is mildly sweet.  The black bottom cupcake is more like muffin.  It’s pitch black, not too sweet, and contains a bit of cream cheese (?).  The kouign-amann tastes closest to croissant (compared with other versions).  It’s not as sweet as some; the caramelized bottom does not stick to your teeth.  Click on the Detour tab above and follow our kouign-amann tour.

The most unusual item we sampled on our first visit is the morning glory bread, not to be confused with morning bun.  It looks and tastes like a slice of banana bread.  We suspect this bread is inspired by the morning glory muffin, which was created in 1978 at a Massachusetts cafe.  The original recipe included carrots, apples, raisins, pecans, coconut, and cinnamon.  Jane’s version has kept the raisins and some nuts.  The savory scone with mushroom Gruyere or kale parmesan is fine.  We’re not sure exactly the type of seasonal bread pudding, but it resembles a tiny panettone and has the right amount of chocolate chips.

The nomenclature is a little confusing, but Amanda Michael opened Jane on Fillmore in 2011 and then Jane on Larkin two years later (Jane is her daughter).  She opened Jane the Bakery in 2016.  We guess she didn’t call this store Jane on Geary because it’s more of a takeout-only operation than the two older locations.  Note that there’s a seven-percent employee benefit surcharge.  (Since 2008, a San Francisco law requires city businesses with more than 20 employees to pay for healthcare and other benefits.)  Located on the same block as The Fillmore, this place does have its own parking lot (enter from Geary Blvd.)—always a plus in the City.  Since this store is takeout only, you shouldn’t have to wait long for a space—except when there’s a long line of customers in the morning.  When it comes to popular bakeries, you have to show up by noon or 1 pm at the latest before everything is sold out.

To turn onto Fillmore/Webster/Steiner Streets from Geary Blvd., you have to take the right lane as you approach Webster Street (westbound) or Steiner Street (eastbound).  The two left lanes are for through traffic only.

ATK (kouign-amann) [►]

Nearby options:  Star Bird Provisions, Bansang, Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement, The Anchovy Bar, Wise Sons Jewish Deli, Happy Shabu Shabu, Fillmore Street Cafe, The Social Study, Boba Guys, Miyako Old Fashion Ice Cream, Japantown

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Jina Bakes, San Francisco | [♀]

Anna Oh [►]

Like Rolling-Out Cafe and Oakland’s Bake Sum, Jina Bakes is apt to experiment with pastries.  The standouts are the two savory hybrids.  The galbijjim croissant has a nice beef filling courtesy of Daeho Kalbijjim & Beef Soup a couple of blocks away.  The cheesy top is caramelized here the same way they do it at Daeho.  The injeolmi croissant also has nice flavor.  Both of these pastries are shaped more like Danish than croissant.  Galbijjim is Korean braised beef short ribs; injeolmi is a type of Korean rice cake.  The garlic chive scone is the perfect blend of sweet and savory with a surprise dollop of cream cheese (not needed).  If you’re into profiteroles, try the matcha cream puff and black sesame cream puff.  Their respective filling has good flavor; the choux pastry has an unusual texture and flavor (choux au craquelin?).

Their traditional kouign-amann is one of the sweeter versions, which is surprising because their chocolate kouign-amann is not as sweet as the plain version.  Indeed, this is the best chocolate version in the Bay Area (we’ve only tried two to date).  Click on the Detour tab above and follow our kouign-amann tour.  Located inside Japantown’s Kinokuniya Mall, Jina Bakes looks rather austere like a lab.  Chef/owner Jina Kim opened this bakery in 2021.

CPBA (Daeho) [►]
ATK (profiteroles) [►] ATK (choux au craquelin) [►] ATK (kouign-amann) [►]

Nearby options:  Pa’ina Restaurant & Lounge, Suzu, Marufuku Ramen, Udon Mugizo, Yakitori Edomasa, Tenroku Sushi, Beque BBQ Grill, Kissako Tea, Sophie’s Crepes, On the Bridge, Japan Center West, Japan Center East

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Juniper Cafe, San Francisco

Adrienne [►]

Like Bernal Basket, Juniper Cafe is another bakery to watch for an interesting mix of sweet and savory offerings.  The Cubano croissant is their riff on the Cuban sandwich with a filling of mojo-marinated pork, ham, and Gruyere.  They should be bold and press on the croissant just as they do in Florida; the air pocket makes eating a little awkward.  The mushroom Danish is one more savory delight filled with mushroom, onion, leek, parmesan, bechamel, and pink peppercorn (not sure we could taste the last ingredient).

This is the tenth stop on our kouign-amann tour (click on the Detour tab above), and Juniper is the first bakery to present this butter cake in two different shapes.  Although they do sprinkle sea salt on the traditional kouign-amann, it’s less heavy-handed than the other two places.  For the black sesame variation, they switch to a spiral shape like Arsicault Bakery.  The black sesame flavor is understated; this is our second favorite nontraditional kouign-amann to date.

They also make a black sesame croissant loaf (croissant dough baked in a loaf pan).  It has a similar flavor profile as their black sesame kouign-amann (we like the loaf slightly better).  Like Jina Bakes, the choux pastry for Juniper’s profiteroles is probably choux au craquelin.  Try the juniper lemon choux and caramel apple choux.  The yuzu macadamia cookie is also good.

The breakfast sandwich sells out fast, so show up before noon.  We did want to try the avocado toast, but due to their procedure for these made-to-order items, it was never delivered.  Juniper is a spin-off from Saint Frank Coffee.  Note that there’s a four-percent healthy SF surcharge.  (Since 2008, a San Francisco law requires city businesses with more than 20 employees to pay for healthcare and other benefits.)  We didn’t spot any free street parking in this part of Nob Hill, but Juniper’s not far from Limoncello.  So if you want to know where to park, read our entry for that deli.

ATK/Cook’s Country (Cuban sandwiches) [►]
ATK (kouign-amann) [►] ATK (profiteroles) [►] ATK (choux au craquelin) [►]

Nearby options:  Crustacean, Aicha Moroccan Cuisine, Se7enbuds, Ben Thai Cafe, Pho Vietnam, Wabi Sabi SF, Himalayan Cuisine, Kasa Indian Eatery, Karahi House, Victor’s Pizzeria & Italian, The Little Chihuahua, Grubstake Diner, Sammy’s Cafe, Flipper’s Gourmet Burgers, Star Bagels

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Lai Hong Lounge, San Francisco | [≡]

CPBA [►] KTVU [►]

Did you know Portsmouth Square Garage is run by a nonprofit organization?  Did you know after lockdown they offer limited free parking to welcome back visitors to San Francisco Chinatown (check the Web site every January/February)?  Having two hours of free parking gave us enough time to visit Lai Hong Lounge, which is located just outside Chinatown.  As you walk along Powell Street, turn your head and you’ll feel like you could reach out and touch the Bay Bridge.

Lai Hong is not in the same high-end league as Palette Tea House/Garden, which is part of the Koi Palace portfolio.  We sampled 11 items off the dim sum menu, focusing on dishes that are not as commonplace.  The stuffed crab claws resemble a Scotch egg with a tail.  The claw is real crab—and priced accordingly—we’re not sure what’s in all that stuffing around the little bit of claw meat (shrimp/fish paste?).  The whole thing is quite light; it’s served with a superfluous sweet/sour dipping sauce.  The coffee pork ribs’ coffee flavor is in the sauce. Sometimes you get long, meaty ribs (our case) and sometimes smaller spareribs.  We loved the coffee flavor, but the meat could be more tender.  They no longer come with whipped cream (refer to video above).

You should definitely try the pea sprouts with tofu skin, a soup-like dish we don’t often see on dim sum menu.  The garlic pea sprouts dish is also good.  The turnip (daikon) cake with XO sauce has a smooth and soft texture, so it’s probably made from powder; it’s tasty despite missing XO sauce.  Our favorite sweet item is the black sesame roll.  The two sticky rice dumplings we sampled are cute to look at and barely sweet.  The green tea balls’ black sesame filling makes them sweeter than the pear-shaped yam dumplings.  The swan durian pastry delivers strong durian flavor and aroma for durian lovers.  For parties of two, consider the dim sum sampler, which comprises partial orders of seven dishes.

The family that owns Lai Hong also operates two sister restaurants in San Francisco (Hong Kong Lounge) and Millbrae (Hong Kong Palace).

Nearby options:  Enter the Cafe, Chinatown, North Beach

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Limoncello, San Francisco (two locations)

Noraeatsgood [►] John Montoya [►] Shey Bella [►] Human_wildlife_project [►]

Just as beef Wellington is named after a Duke of Wellington, the sandwich is named after a certain Earl of Sandwich.  The truth is people have been eating sandwich-like foods long before that.  An Indiana court recently ruled that burritos and tacos qualify as sandwiches; a Massachusetts court ruled differently 18 years ago.  We can all agree nothing beats a satisfying sandwich.  Limoncello is an Italian deli that specializes in sandwiches. We sampled four of their 21 sandwiches:  Cuban, mafioso, rompiballe, and porchetta.  We would gladly reorder all of these sammies.

The rompiballe (Italian slang for cojones) is the only warm sandwich on the menu.  The meatballs are tender and moist; the Italian seasoning is balanced with no overwhelming oregano/rosemary flavor.  It’s comforting and satisfying, which is all you can ask of a meatball sandwich.  Your Italian nonna would approve.  Note that there’s a typo on an older site.  The mafioso includes prosciutto, turkey, mortadella, and bacon while the Veneziano comprises prosciutto cotto (cooked ham) and provolone.  Their version of Cuban sandwich may not taste like the kind you get in Florida, but it’s still good.  A porchetta sandwich may not be the best showcase of this pork roast.  Some of the cold cuts they serve come from Zoe’s Meats and Molinari Delicatessen.

The bread plays a key role in a sandwich.  We’re happy with the default, which is ciabatta roll (you can switch to Dutch crunch, sesame seeds, or wheat roll).  Almost nine inches in length, these ciabatta sandwiches are substantial enough to share.  Keep in mind the Dutch crunch and sesame seeds rolls may be a little shorter.  Their older site lists the top six sandwiches by demand.  The mafioso is No. 3 for what it’s worth.

They have quite an array of desserts for a deli.  The tiramisu is light.  We always prefer stronger coffee flavor and more than a hint of booze, but we understand they want something that works for everyone.  The ricotta and pistachio cake is not as good as San Jose’s Dolce Sicilia.  They also serve pizzas, pasta dishes, and 10 flavors of Mitchell’s ice cream (half gallon tubs or by the scoop).

Most neighborhoods have some free street parking if you know where to look.  The Lower Pacific Heights area is no exception.  Near Limoncello is Fern Street, an alley with one block of free parking.

ATK (porchetta) [►] ATK/Cook’s Country (Cuban sandwich) [►]

Nearby options in Lower Pacific Heights:  Akira Japanese, Cafe Pacific Plaza, Haraz Coffee House, Japantown

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Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement, San Francisco | [♀]

CPBA [►] ABC7 [►]

As far as we’re concerned, soul food is America’s national cuisine.  So as soon as we heard about Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement, we had to come check it out.  MBSM has a short menu.  We sampled the four-piece fried chicken combo with brown butter cornbread and two small sides (braised greens and house salad).  We opted for two thighs and two drumsticks.  This is not the best fried chicken we’ve ever had, but it is nicely seasoned with a slight tang.  We appreciate the generous portion for a small salad, which is served with a honey mustard-like dressing.  Though the collard greens are soft enough, the pot liquor is on the salty side.  The cornbread is a little dry.  We prefer the roasted (half) chicken with pickled vegetables, especially the accompanying sauce (peppercorn sauce with mustard?).  The pickles are mostly carrots and some cucumbers, onions, and red bell peppers (or chili peppers?).  They’re not too sweet and have a nice kick.  Too bad they only make fried catfish (basa) on Fridays.

We also tried two starters.  The wings (three flats and three drumettes) turn out to have the same flavor profile as the fried chicken.  They come with either hot honey or BBQ sauce.  The hot honey is mildly sweet with a gentle kick.  The fried mac & cheese balls (nine per order) are served with an aioli (hard to tell there’s pasta in there).  We should’ve ordered regular mac & cheese instead.  Try the banana pudding with caramelized top.  It’s not too sweet and has a very unusual texture.

MBSM started as a stall at The Public Market in Emeryville in 2018 (closed in 2024 after the opening of the San Francisco branch).  Located near the heart of the Fillmore District, it’s named after chef/owner Fernay McPherson’s grandmother and great aunt.  The inside of MBSM looks like a smaller version of Jackie’s Place in San Jose.  People who like—or don’t like—MBSM should go to JP and compare the two.  The nearby Safeway parking lot is for that strip mall’s customers.  So as long as you buy something from one of these stores (Safeway, for example), you should be okay parking there (but we could be wrong).  To turn onto Fillmore/Webster/Steiner Streets from Geary Blvd., you have to take the right lane as you approach Webster Street (westbound) or Steiner Street (eastbound). The two left lanes are for through traffic only.

Note:  The Fillmore Safeway closed in February 2025.

Nearby options:  Star Bird Provisions, The Progress, Bansang, The Anchovy Bar, Wise Sons Jewish Deli, Happy Shabu Shabu, Fillmore Street Cafe, The Social Study, Jane the Bakery, Boba Guys, Miyako Old Fashion Ice Cream, Japantown

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Rolling-Out Cafe, San Francisco

ABC Localish [►]

Oakland’s Bake Sum is not the only Bay Area bakery to have fun with laminated dough.  After Danish, the croissant was the next puff pastry to go mainstream in America when supermarkets and fast-food restaurants started selling it in the 1970s.  Will the kouign-amann be as ubiquitous as croissant in the future?  In any event, Bake Sum and Rolling-Out Cafe are simpatico.

We love what ROC has done with kouign-amann.  It looks like an open-faced kouign-amann with a generous amount of mango sticky rice filling.  The only issue is that it’s only available on weekends.  One bite of the clean-tasting mini-croissant and you know the other croissants should be good.  If you’re tired of croissant variations such as chocolate, almond, and the usual suspects, ROC gives you black sesame croissant and apple lychee croissant.

The Hawaiian sticky roll is their version of sticky bun.  The ube and matcha egg tarts are not as good as the kouign-amann and croissants.  Maybe you’ve heard of the mochi/muffin hybrid (there was that trademark controversy), well, ROC makes mochissant or mochi/croissant.  The strawberry and lychee versions we sampled could use more berry/fruit flavor.  They also make savory items such as quiche, sausage roll, and sandwiches.

Located on one of the Sunset District’s commercial streets, this cafe has the feel of a neighborhood hangout (it’s been around since 2011).  No, it doesn’t quite look like Friends’ Central Perk, which is a TV set after all.  It does have a community bulletin board, and there’s artwork from a nearby art school for kids.  As the Sunset is a large residential neighborhood, you should be able to find free parking around the block, especially on Santiago Street, where you “park at 90 degrees” in some sections.  The Sunset is where the streets are in alphabetical order (from north to south) and numerical order (from east to west).

ATK (kouign-amann) [►]

Nearby options:  Tennessee Grill, New Taraval Cafe, Grubbin’, Lou’s Cafe, Banhwich, Dumpling Specialist, Kingdom of Dumpling, Guilin Rice Noodles House, Happy Family Gourmet, Szechuan Taste, House of Pancakes, Dim Sum Club, Smile House Cafe, Fiery Hot Pot, Viet Quan Vietnamese Noodle House, King of Thai Noodle Cafe, Taraval Okazu Ya, Sushi Zen, Chalos, El Burrito Express, Obrien’s Irish Pub, Bearing West Bar & Galley, Eagle Pizzeria, Seniores Pizza, El Cafe, El Antigua Cafe, Mr Bread Bakery, STIX, Foam Tea House, Ye Ye Coconut Snacks, Milktopia

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Le Soleil, San Francisco

Chilipepper Dining [►] APA Heritage Month [►] Gourmet GPS [►]

With so many Vietnamese restaurants in the Bay Area, Le Soleil (“the sun”) is one to seek out if you want something a little different.  The menu is definitely not your typical Vietnamese fare.  The name is a nod to Vietnam’s French colonial past.

Among the dozen starters, don’t miss out on the crispy calamari.  It’s garlicky and slightly sweet, an unusual flavor profile compared with what other restaurants offer.  It’s not really spicy unless you bite into the red chilis.  The chicken lollipops (six per order) have nice flavor and appear to be a mix of Frenched flats and drumettes.  Our only issue with the lotus root salad (BBQ beef, carrot, pickled ginger, shallot, mint, onion, and fish sauce [nuoc mam]) is the missing lotus root.

The squid ink fried rice (from the seafood section) is another item you don’t find at a typical Vietnamese place.  You get shrimp, calamari, tobiko, and egg.  Our favorites are from the meat and poultry section. The clay pot rice is loaded with chicken, shrimp, Chinese sausage, and mushroom on top.  This is easily the best Vietnamese CPR we’ve ever had and rivals some of the better Cantonese versions we’ve come across in the Bay Area.  The curried short ribs have deep flavors in a yellow curry.  They also serve noodle soups and assorted vegetable dishes.

Located in the Inner Richmond District since 1993, Le Soleil is opening another branch at Stonestown Galleria by the end of 2024.  They already have a location in Hong Kong.  There’s free parking on the residential streets nearby.

Nearby options:  Chapeau, Burma Superstar, Kitchen Istanbul, Heritage, Cajun House, Y & Y Vietnamese Cuisine, Lily, Mai’s Vietnamese, Cafe Bunn Mi, Pho Huynh Sang, B Star, Nakorn Thai SF, King’s Thai Cuisine, Thai Time, Lime Tree, Koja Kitchen, Zajang Grill, Mamahuhu, The Claypot House, Spices, Xiao Long Bao, Taiwan, Wing Lee BBQ, Clement BBQ, Good Luck Dim Sum, Gourmet Dim Sum and Cafe, DNM Hot Pot, Pasta Supply Co., Sewa Indian and Nepalese Cuisine, Keeva Indian Kitchen, Unco Frank’s, Wako Japanese, Moku Yakitori-Ya, Oishinbo Sushi, Shabu Club, Mokuku, Genki Crepes & Mini Mart, Taqueria Los Mayas, Richmond Republic Draught House, Giorgio’s Pizzeria, Hamburger Haven, Palmetto Superfoods, Diamond Coffee n’ Pastry, Cafe La Flore, Eats, Arsicault Bakery, Batches Bakehouse, Schubert’s Bakery, Wing Lee Bakery, Cherry Blossom Bakery, Toy Boat by Jane, Allstar Donuts, See’s Candies

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Yasukochi’s Sweet Stop, San Francisco

KPIX [►] ABC Localish [►]

The first thing you need to know is that Yasukochi’s Sweet Stop is cash only; the second thing is that it’s located inside Super Mira, a small market just north of Japan Center in Japantown.  This bakery’s claim to fame is the recreation of Blum’s coffee crunch cake.  Their recipe came from someone who worked at Blum’s.  The cake is a nice layer yellow cake (moist with mild flavor).  The coffee candy topping is on the sweet side but the slightly bitter coffee flavor (reminiscent of burnt caramel) helps cut the sweetness.  They also make a lemon version and chocolate version.  If you grew up eating at Blum’s, this cake should give you all the feels.

If Blum’s was before your time, we suggest you try Yasukochi’s lemon cake roll (Swiss roll) as well.  It’s definitely better than bakery chains and supermarkets—small batch beats mass production once again.  It’s available in six other flavors such as strawberry, mocha, and matcha cream.  A slice of coffee crunch cake or lemon cake roll costs $7 each as of September 2024 (bakery food items not subject to sales tax).  Chinatown’s Eastern Bakery also makes a version of Blum’s cake.

The coffee crunch cake tends to sell out fast, so try to get here by 11:30 am.  Save your cash for places like Golden Gate Bakery, Eastern Bakery, and Yasukochi’s, which is still family-owned since it opened in 1974.

Martha Stewart (Blum’s coffee crunch cake) [►]

Nearby options:  Bangkok Street Thai Street Food, Hinodeya Ramen, Ramen Yamadaya, Waraku, Hikari Bullet Train Sushi & Bar, Sanppo, Kippu, Yuji, Daeho Kalbijjim & Beef Soup, YakiniQ Korean BBQ, Doobu, Fermentation Lab, Crown & Crumpet Tea Salon, Japan Center East, Japan Center West, Kinokuniya Mall

Past Featured Restaurants

Abigail’s Moroccan Cuisine, Alameda | [♀]

Congregation [►]

Since the San Francisco Bay is the second-largest bay in the U.S., there may be as many as 40 marinas in our own backyard.  As the Bay Area’s largest island, Alameda boasts more than one marina.  The Emeryville Marina has Trader Vic’s and Hong Kong East Ocean.  The Berkeley Marina has Skates on the Bay and Hana Japan Steak & Seafood.  What does the Ballena Isle Marina in Alameda have to offer?  Well, there’s something expected such as Pier 29 Waterfront and then there’s Abigail’s Moroccan Cuisine, an interesting find at this obscure marina.

The Bay Area has always had a few Moroccan restaurants, but none has views like this one.  Unlike Fisherman’s Wharf, you won’t find any tourists here—and that’s a good thing.  This family-run restaurant has been around since 2010.  The wife is the chef; it’s named after one of their daughters, who would be 19 now.  The Web site has expired as of June 2025, which is just as well since the on-line menu was out-of-date anyway.  The husband suffered a heart attack last year, so we should be thankful Abigail’s is open at all.

Like Afghan and Persian food, there’s nothing “exotic” about Moroccan cuisine.  If you like braised meats, you’ll enjoy the lamb shank and chicken tagine specials.  The lamb features caramelized plums and toasted almonds.  The chicken with tfaya is leg quarter with a hint of sweetness from the caramelized onions and raisins.  Portions are generous and they’re both served with couscous.  You can order them a la carte or with appetizer.

The saffron rice with meatballs (kefta) and caramelized onions is also satisfying.  Some say bacon makes everything taste better; we say caramelized onions do that for sure.  You can order sandwiches all day (not just during lunchtime).  The chicken Isabella sandwich got a little soggy because they didn’t place the lettuce strategically (Isabella is their other daughter).  As a result, we liked the Moroccan veggie sandwich a little more.  The sandwiches come with a small potato salad and they use 6.5-inch Dutch crunch rolls.  If you prefer a little heat, the house-made harissa is available upon request.  Note that there’s no corkage fee.

If you want dinner and a show, well, you should’ve been here years ago.  It’s not clear if belly dancing is still part of the Saturday night menu.  The food here may be halal.  Before Abigail’s, this spot used to be Ballena Bay Cafe & Deli (and Good & Plenty Cafe de Ballena before that).  So what made us look at this part of Alameda?  There was a fine-dining restaurant called Beau Rivage (1977?-1994?), and we were wondering what business is at that site today.  Well, nothing...that address, 1042 Ballena Blvd., does not exist anymore, but it would’ve been east of the tennis court.  After Beau Rivage, chef Lucien Vigney ended up at Gold Coast Grill (now The Park Street Tavern) and then Luciano’s (now Yojimbo Sushi).

ATK (fish tagine) [►] ATK (braised red-wine lamb shanks) [►] ATK (caramelized onions) [►]

Nearby options:  Pier 29 Waterfront

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Arizmendi Bakery, Oakland + Emeryville + San Francisco (two locations) + San Rafael

CPBA [►]

Part 1

It’s not surprising The Cheese Board Collective, one of the oldest worker-owned food organizations, is based in the Republic of Berkeley.  Arizmendi Bakery is kind of a spin-off that formed in 1997.  There aren’t that many co-op restaurants in the Bay Area, so check out this bakery if you can.

Like The Cheese Board, Arizmendi makes a different vegetarian pizza everyday (check the weekly pizza menu on each location’s Web site).  When we visited the Oakland branch on a recent Saturday, the pizza of the day included these ingredients:  Brussels sprouts, roasted garlic, feta, red chili flake-parmesan, lemon vinaigrette, and mozzarella.  It’s a flavorful concoction that makes you forget there’s no meat anywhere.  We assume they get their cheeses from The Cheese Board, which means quality stuff.  People who don’t like Brussels sprouts won’t have any issue because the tiny cabbages are shaved/shredded.  Since we like Brussels sprouts, we wish they’d leave some of them halved or quartered.  Other pizzas that week featured mushrooms, kale, zucchini, cauliflower, or Roma tomatoes.  What they have in common is the use of mozzarella and no red sauce.

Among the other baked goods we sampled, our favorite is the chocolate stout cake.  We could easily polish off three slices of this loaf bread in one sitting.  The scones are quite substantial and not as crumbly as other versions.  The currant scone is fine; the corn cherry scone is like a cross between cornbread and scone.  We also enjoyed the cranberry-apple muffin.  Their take on monkey bread does not resemble the traditional recipe.  We liked it better than the sweet Sally, which is their rendition of sticky bun.  The focaccia round is topped with cherry tomatoes.  They should make a sweet variation using grapes.  The ginger tonic has plenty of ginger flavor.  The sweetened version is barely sweet, so you might want to try the unsweetened version and add honey/agave/maple syrup yourself.

They also make popular cookies such as wheat-free cowgirl (a twist on cowboy cookies), wheat-free ricciarelli, chocolate chip, and oatmeal raisin.

Part 2

Since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to check out the Emeryville branch of Arizmendi.  It’s not that far from the Oakland location and is less crowded and has a parking lot in the rear.  Pixar employees must love this spot.

The pizza of the day we sampled is even better than the one we got at the Oakland store.  It includes arugula, red onion, walnut, Gorgonzola, and balsamic vinaigrette.  Gorgonzola is always a plus (no mozzarella for a change); the balsamic vinaigrette gives the pie a bright flavor.  If you want something savory for breakfast, the cheddar/Gorgonzola biscuit will do nicely.  The cowgirl cookie is quite good.  The zucchini ginger muffin is a little dry but does have strong ginger flavor.

We overheard an employee talking about a 10-percent discount.  Well, you’d have to be 65 or older to qualify.  All signs point to Arizmendi hanging around for years, so one day everybody will get that discount—just stay close to the Bay Area.

Steven and Chris (Voula Halliday’s quick focaccia)
ATK/Cook’s Country (cowboy cookies) [►]

Nearby options in Oakland:  Rico Rico Taco, Rico Rico Vegano, CANA Cuban Parlor & Cafe, Lakeshore Cafe, Dumpling Hours, Bardo Lounge & Supper Club, Shakewell, Proposition Chicken, Top Dog, Flipside Burgers, Fries and Shakes, The Cheese Steak Shop, Abba’s Hummus, Lin Jia Asian Kitchen, Colonial Donuts, Main Squeeze, Trader Joe’s, Grand Avenue

Nearby options in Emeryville:  Simurgh Bakery & Cafe, Los Cantaros Taqueria, Wally’s Cafe, Miyozen, Rob Ben’s, Lanesplitter Pizza & Pub, Ruby’s Can’t Fail Cafe, Doyle Street Cafe

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Bake Sum, Oakland | [♀]

CPBA [►]

If you’re a French national reading this, avert your eyes now.  Free from strict baking rules, American pastry chefs are more apt to experiment with laminated dough for things like croissant and Danish—and Bay Area foodies are here for it.  The cronut, cruffin, and croffle were all created outside of France.  Alas, a French bakery introduced the crookie in 2022.

The most exciting items on Bake Sum’s menu are the savory hybrids.  Their traditional croissant has such a clean flavor that you can see why it works so well in a strange and wonderful mash-up with musubi called croissubi.  It’s musubi sans rice inside a croissant.  Instead of the traditional crescent-shaped croissant (“crescent”), it bears the rectangular shape of chocolate croissant (pain au chocolat/chocolatine).  People who don’t care for nori will barely notice its presence.  You may not want to eat regular musubi again.  Another East-meets-West creation is the okonomiyaki Danish, the Japanese pancake on top of a Danish pastry.  Perhaps they should call it Dokonomiyaki.  Too bad they ran out of gochujang pull-apart on our visit.

Among the sweet items we sampled, our favorite is the pandan milk bun.  The strawberry-kinako bun is another pastry based on the croissant dough; it’s large enough for two servings.  Their chocolate croissant is also good.  Of the three mochi bites we tried, jasmine tea is the best, followed by ube and brown butter.

Less successful are the two single-serving cakes (in a jar).  The description for the ispahan cake sounds great:  “three layers of chiffon cake soaked in lychee juice and rosewater, sandwiched with a lychee-flavored whipped cream, raspberry jam and topped with dehydrated rose petals.”  We couldn’t taste any lychee flavor and the whole thing is just underwhelming.  (Watch below the French pastry chef who created ispahan.)  We had high hopes for the matchamisu or matcha-flavored tiramisu.  Baking with green tea powder is tricky (we’ve tried it at home).  Too little and you can’t taste it; too much and the tannins can dominate.  This BS creation tastes muddled and we couldn’t detect any Marsala wine flavor that’s supposed to be in their recipe.  Check the Web site for the monthly menu.

At first blush, they seem to have a good ordering system.  One person takes your order (it was the chef/owner on our visit) and another person fills your order and calls your name when it’s ready.  This certainly helps move the line along.  Unfortunately, something went awry with this process because the milk bread we ordered was charged but not delivered.  Most bakeries are basically takeout operations.  Read what we think of how they do it at San Francisco’s B. Patisserie.

It doesn’t help that BS doesn’t give you a receipt (a digital receipt is sent to your phone hours later; an itemized receipt after that).  People who don’t bother to look at a paper or digital receipt should reconsider.  That’s because this is how you find out if there’s any surcharge.  We’ve seen fees for credit card use, living wage surcharge, Dining for Justice (Oakland), SF mandate (San Francisco), “employer-mandated expenses,” “environmental packaging and employee benefits,” takeout containers/plastic bags, and mandatory tip for dine-in/takeout.  Don’t restaurant sites mention these charges?  Not always.  This should change because of the “junk fee” law passed recently.  Starting July 2025, California restaurants and other food services must display these surcharges clearly and conspicuously.

French Connections (stories behind some pastries) [►]

Nearby options:  Modigliani Cafe, Almond and Oak, Bay Leaf Indian and Himalayan Cuisine, Cafe Romanat, Qi Dumpling Lounge, Hunan Village, Neecha Thai Cuisine, Miss Saigon, Mijori, Samurai Sushi Boat, The Star on Grand, Lynn & Lu’s Escapade Cafe, The Coffee Mill, Michael’s Chocolates

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Benchmark Pizzeria, Kensington | [≡]

CPBA [►]

Kensington is the smallest (population just over 5,000) of the three small cities between Berkeley and Richmond.  Unlike Brisbane, another small town across the bay, there really aren’t that many places to eat here.  Benchmark Pizzeria gets an A for creativity.

Even for North America where we get all sorts of pizza toppings, we dare say we’ve never seen anything like Benchmark’s fried sage pizza or pistachio pizza.  What makes the former work is the combination of mozzarella, brown butter, lemon, and garlic—the sage is really just a supporting actor.  The latter is a little messy to eat because the pistachios will fall all over the place when you pick up a slice.  Our suggestion for the kitchen is to mix some of the nuts into the ricotta to begin with—except there’s not that much ricotta to work with.  Benchmark’s pizza dough is quite chewy.  We’re not the type of people who leave the crust on the plate, and we were tempted to do just that with these pizzas.  For this reason you can skip the Benchmark pizza, which is essentially their version of Margherita pizza.

Benchmark’s creativity continues with spicy carrots, an interesting mix of Calabrian chili pepper, raisins, lemon, mint, and roasted almonds.  The mildly spicy pork meatballs are tender and come with house-milled polenta.  Their version of cacio e pepe, a Roman pasta dish with few ingredients, is well executed.  The farro bowl includes an unusual ingredient:  pickled lobster mushrooms.  They should seriously think about putting huitlacoche on a pizza in the future.  We like that the chopped salad features radicchio and an egg, but the dressing is off (mostly olive oil and not much else).

Here’s something we wish more restaurants would do.  Benchmark offers four different cocktails to-go (12 oz. each).  There was a second Benchmark in Old Oakland until 2020.  Note that they now operate a takeout-only place near their flagship location.

Nearby options:  Kensington Circus Pub, Benchmark Portavia, Semifreddi’s Bakery, Solano Avenue in Berkeley and Albany

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Bhan Mae Vane, Alameda | [♀]

CPBA [►]

Since the demise of San Leandro’s Noodles Pho Me (2016-2021), we’ve been hoping for its rebirth.  Despite the cute name, the owner of NPM claimed it was the first Lao restaurant in the Bay Area.  NPM had a short menu and specialized in Lao-style noodle soups (feu) that rivaled Vietnam’s pho.  Well, in the meantime, there’s Bhan Mae Vane, which serves Lao and Thai food, and a similar spot in El Sobrante called Sue’s Kitchen.  The Famous Khmer-Lao in San Jose offers Cambodian and Lao food.  Fremont’s Green Champa Garden featured Lao, Iu Mien, and Thai food until it closed in 2020.  (Since Laotian carries French colonial baggage, Lao is the preferred term in Laos.)

BMV has the longest menu among these representatives of the Indochinese Peninsula.  As Laos is the smallest country in that part of the world, it’s perhaps not surprising that the Bay Area doesn’t have that many Lao restaurants.  There are more ethnic Lao living in neighboring Thailand than in Laos itself, so the connection between Lao cuisine and Thai food is unavoidable.  We sampled seven dishes and both desserts.

We’re fairly certain BMV is the only place where you can get the steamed tapioca balls (sakoo yat sai/sakoo sai moo).  Think of this dish as Lao/Thai dim sum.  You don’t have to love boba to enjoy these chewy dumplings, but it helps.  The filling has good flavor (ground pork, peanuts, sweet pickled radish, and shallots), and there’s just enough of the filling to leave you wanting more.  Enjoy them as a lettuce wrap or just pop them in your mouth.  We’re curious if anyone has tried making them using sticky rice flour instead of tapioca flour.  Another item from the list of specialty dishes to try is the basa mousse steamed in banana leaf (mok pa/mok pla).  This steamed curry dish is just as good as the Cambodian version (amok trei).  It packs a little bit of heat already, but they also give you a spicy Lao tomato sauce on the side if you want more heat.

Both the crab fried rice (crab khao pad) and fried flat noodles (pad see ew) are flavorful and not greasy.  The latter has a subtle sweetness from dark soy sauce.  Your protein options include chicken, pork, tofu, veggies, beef, shrimp, and shrimp/calamari.  The mildly spicy Lao curry chicken noodle soup (khao poon gai) takes us back to NPM though we must say NPM’s version had stronger coconut milk flavor, which we found appealing.  Note that you have the option of adding pork blood to your noodle soup (unlike NPM).

You’ve probably had green papaya salad before, but Laos is where this dish originated.  The Lao dressing uses shrimp paste and anchovy while the Thai dressing uses fish sauce.  Try it and compare with your past experience.  This dish is the only one for which we were asked to specify the heat level.  Note that BMV’s definition of mild is closer to medium...and medium is closer to hot (refer to video above).  The fried tofu appetizer is rather bland—well, it’s not salt and pepper tofu after all.  The accompanying Thai peanut sauce is tasty though.  The mango sticky rice is about the same as what we’ve had from other restaurants.  The purple rice with egg custard has a similar flavor profile.  The custard part is like Lao flan, so that’s a little different,

Opened in 2020, BMV has survived a little pandemic and seems to be doing very well, thank you.  The inside is inviting and tastefully decorated.  Very friendly service.

CPBA (Noodles Pho Me) [►] PBS News Hour (Lao chef) [►]

Nearby options:  Cafe Jolie, Southern Comfort Kitchen, Bucket O’Crawfish, East Ocean, Phnom Penh House, Pho Anh Dao, Dragon Village, Chef’s Wok, ALA Mediterranean Grill & Mezzes, Macondo Colombian Fusion, Canasta Kitchen, Ceron Kitchen, The Bureau 510, Wescafe, Rose’s Sandwich Shop, Signal Coffee Roasters, Donut Petit, Cookiebar Scoop Shop

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Crescent Bistro, Pleasant Hill | [@]

CPBA [►]

There’s something to be said for having a one-page menu.  It allows the kitchen to really perfect each dish—like athletes and muscle memory.  The downside is you run out of things to try quickly.  Case in point:  one visit to Crescent Bistro and we’ve already sampled a third of the menu.  We suspect it changes at least a couple of times a year.  But don’t remove the best dishes like Albany’s Juanita & Maude.  When fans go to a concert, they want to hear some of the greatest hits.

People who are watching their budget can put together a wonderful meal from CB’s salads, share plates, and snacks.  A lot of restaurants offer beet salads these days; CB’s version is one of the best—the pickled apples are an unexpected twist.  The two crab cakes may not be the biggest patties around, but the blue crab meat is so sweet and delicious.  Yes, everyone’s doing pork belly, but you’ll remember the pork belly buns here.  The honey balsamic glaze gives the crispy Brussels sprouts a nice tang.  The house-cured salmon deviled eggs (you can order three or five pieces) are quite light and tart.

If you see the pork tenderloin on the menu (weekend special on our visit), you should definitely order it before it’s sold out.  This stuffed tenderloin is not overcooked, and you get great flavor from artichoke and sun-dried tomato stuffing, whole grain mustard cream sauce, and bacon jam.  The red wine-braised short rib is tender as expected; we only wish the meat had deeper flavor.  If you’ve never had flat iron steak before, try CB’s grilled preparation.  It comes with crispy potato pave, cornmeal-crusted onion rings (the thinnest ever), and grilled broccolini.

Aside from the tenderloin, the other highlight is the blackberry bread pudding with creme anglaise.  It’s hard to get the texture of dessert bread pudding just right.  We had a fantastic version in Santa Cruz years ago; this one comes close to compete with those feelings of nostalgia.  The ricotta beignets are not your typical beignets; the banana brulee hat is a nice touch.  The caramel sauce has some complexity (lemon juice and bourbon?).

Chef/owner Brad Zeller clearly knows what he’s doing.  Fans of San Leandro’s Paradiso and Oakland’s Marica should like this place.  Located in downtown Pleasant Hill in a space that’s sort of like an outdoor mall (think Stanford Shopping Center), CB opened in 2021.  Zeller’s resume includes Traci Des Jardins’ Jardiniere; opening his first restaurant in the Bay Area must be a dream come true for him.  He went to San Ramon Valley High—go Wolves!

We may have found CB’s twin in a neighboring county...stay tuned.

ATK (grill-smoked flat iron steaks) [►]

Nearby options:  Southern Comfort Kitchen, Urban Plates, Jack’s, Cantina Jack’s, Nama k-Street Food, The Royale, Gotta Eatta Pita, Zachary’s Chicago Pizza, TOGO’s Sandwiches, Five Guys, Batter ’N Icing, Paris Baguette, Coco Swirl

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Crispian Bakery, Alameda | [♀]

The Culinary Edge TV [►]

Crispian Bakery is co-owned by two people who met while working at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery in New York.  She’s the pastry chef and he’s the bread baker.  Our favorites are the scones and croissants.  The cheddar scallion scone has strong but not overwhelming cheese flavor; the ginger scone is not too sweet and has just the right amount of crystallized ginger.  They supposedly add a bit of whole wheat flour to their croissant dough.  The almond croissant has just a hint of almond cream; the chocolate almond croissant (a daily special) is actually a combination of chocolate and raspberry and the sweeter of the two croissants.

The pear spiral is like a pear Danish.  The bottom of the kouign-amann is so caramelized that it sticks to your teeth (the first Bay Area version to do that).  Click on the Detour tab above and follow our kouign-amann tour.  The tomato sarriette is a savory tart you don’t see often (sarriette is French for savory).  This one has a layer of cheese with sliced tomatoes underneath in a puff pastry shell—perfect when you don’t feel like something sweet for breakfast/lunch.  We only sampled one bread and it’s a good one.  The black pepper Gruyere bread has just enough black pepper flavor; the cheese flavor is understated.

They also make cookies and cakes.  They mill their own flour using counter-top machines.  The name is a reference to Shakespeare’s Henry V.  Though there is a parking lot in the rear (enter from Buena Vista Avenue), it’s usually full.  But you should be able to find free street parking on the side streets.

ATK (kouign-amann) [►]

Nearby options (northeast of Santa Clara Ave.):  Fikscue Craft BBQ, Speisekammer, Tahina, The Park Street Tavern, McGee’s, Hang Ten Boiler, Monkey King at the Brewery, Chong Qing Noodles House, Genghis Khan Kitchen, Dragon Rouge Bistro, Vietnam House, Pho Nation, Yojimbo and Gallery, Sushi King, The Noodle Lover Club, Island Taqueria, Sandwich Board, A-Town Pizza & Kabob House, New York Pizza, Alameda Grill, Greens & Grains, Jim’s Coffee Shop, Beanery of Alameda, Coffee Cultures, Ole’s Waffle Shop, Feel Good Bakery, iTea, Gong Cha, Happy Lemon

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Curry Leaves Bistro, Pleasanton

CPBA [►]

We don’t have too many Malaysian restaurants in the Bay Area, so anytime a new one opens, it’s a good thing.  While Curry Leaves Bistro, established in 2021, may not be the best Malaysian spot around, it does offer some dishes we don’t see elsewhere.  Unlike other Malaysian places, CLB is halal.  Malaysia has the second-largest Muslim population in Southeast Asia after Indonesia, which boasts the largest Muslim population in the world.  Malaysian food is one of the first fusion cuisines; Chinese and Indians make up 23 percent and seven percent of the population, respectively.

Try the Penang ngo hiang/lor bak (three), which are deep-fried chicken rolls with five-spice powder.  They’re served with a sweet chili sauce.  Since the ground meat is wrapped in tofu skin, the whole thing is kind of like the tofu skin roll on dim sum menu.  This Chinese-inspired dish is normally made with pork when dietary restriction is not an issue.  The roti canai with mildly spicy chicken curry is a bit unusual because the dipping sauce contains a bone-in thigh (kudos for not using boneless breast).

The nasi lemak with lamb rendang is a mixed bag.  It comes with coconut milk rice, onion sambal, peanuts, fried anchovies (ikan bilis), cucumber, and hard-boiled egg.  The braised lamb is a bit heavy—we’ve had better—and the rice is unremarkable, but the spicy sambal has good flavor—one of the better renditions.  The only time we were asked to specify a spice level is for the two fried noodle dishes we ordered.  Your options are none, mild, medium, spicy, and extra spicy.  The Penang char kway teow includes shrimp, calamari, fish cake, and egg.  The seafood-only mee goreng is supposed to include shrimp and calamari.  If there was calamari in there, it was cut into tiny pieces, and the former noodle dish came with more shrimp than the latter.

We didn’t see otak-otak as a special or kuih as a dessert option.  So we sampled the roti kaya, which is roti filled with coconut jam (kaya).  Perhaps the kitchen was running low on kaya (it usually comes in a jar), but we couldn’t taste anything sweet really.  The bandung is a drink flavored with rose syrup (hence the pink color).  Since their version is barely sweet, it must be mostly evaporated milk and very little or no condensed milk.

We didn’t order the fried chicken because we thought we could sample it at CLB’s sister restaurant in downtown San Jose.  And so we stopped by San Jose’s Downtown Food Hall on Dia de la Madres well before 5:30.  One employee showed up around 5:20 but didn’t open at 5:30 because another employee was a no-show.  He finally opened by himself at 6:15; by then we had already ordered from another vendor at this food hall.

Nearby options:  Val-Vista Center (De La Torre’s Trattoria), The Crossroads (Truva Mediterranean Grill, Pocket Sushi, Pho Saigon, Royal Thaali, Curry Kona Fusion Food), Hopyard Village (Bill’s Cafe, The Hop Yard American Alehouse & Grill, Sato Japanese Cuisine, Chinese Szechuan, Mr. Pickles Sandwich Shop, Pizza Bello), El Rancho Grande Taqueria, Porky’s Pizza Palace, The Jelly Donut, Gene’s Fine Foods

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De La Torre’s Trattoria, Pleasanton | [≡]

CPBA [►]

We’ve heard good things about the daily specials at De La Torre’s Trattoria, so we ordered mainly from the specials menu, which included nine entrees plus one soup, one salad, and two draft beers on our visit.  The expansive list of specials is designed to appeal to all diners.

As we explained before, cooking is all about balance (click on the FAQ tab above).  Of the five special entrees we sampled, the most balanced is the jambalaya risotto.  If you like risotto and jambalaya, this dish is the best of both worlds.  You get shrimp, roasted chicken breast, and spicy sausage with a balanced tomato sauce.  It’s funny how flat iron steak seems to be the it beef cut these days.  If you’ve never had it before, the Angus petite flat iron steak would make a good introduction.  Though grilled past medium rare, the meat is still tasty.  You really can’t go wrong with balsamic glaze and red wine demi-glace.  The steak is served with mashed potatoes and vegetables (Brussels sprouts).

The pan-seared fresh petrale sole fillet (two generous pieces) is served with some sort of lemon beurre fondue (similar to beurre monte).  It comes with capellini aglio e olio.  While we appreciate that they use angel hair instead of spaghetti, we couldn’t detect any garlic flavor, which is strange because the kitchen definitely knows how to make garlic bread (more on that later).  The wild British Columbia king salmon is overcooked and a bit dry.  This is one case where we were asked to pick a side dish, and we chose vegetables.  Knowing the steak already came with Brussels sprouts, the kitchen nonetheless served the same Brussels sprouts with the salmon.  About said Brussels sprouts—when they’re over a certain size, halving them would’ve provided more surface area for charring and promoted more even cooking.

Note that each entree comes with house-made garlic bread.  Some Italian restaurants don’t even bother anymore.  They use focaccia not baguette or some Italian loaf; there’s good but not overwhelming garlic flavor.  Garlic bread is not hard to make; try one of the recipes below and you’ll never buy the greasy supermarket stuff again.

We also tried three appetizers from the regular menu.  The best turns out to be the toasted ravioli (ravioli tostati).  You can taste the cheese filling and it pairs surprisingly well with the marinara sauce (salsa pomodoro).  Yes, deep-frying ravioli does seem kind of odd, but consider that you can get deep-fried Mars bars in Scotland and deep-fried Twinkies stateside.  And don’t knock fried milk until you’ve tasted an expert version.  Try the carciofi fritti because they use fresh baby artichokes (not frozen or jarred).  It’s served with an herb aioli that recalls tartar sauce.  The calamari fritti is indeed underseasoned (watch video above), but it does come with a spicy remoulade.  It’s a good thing these three fried items each have a different coating.

For a sweet ending, try the cannoli alla Siciliana.  They nailed the shell (not too thick); the filling could use an acidic note—some lemon zest perhaps.  We’ve said earlier the texture of sweet bread pudding is hard to get right.  The Italian bread pudding (budino) has a soggy texture (fine for tres leches cake); the brown sugar-rum sauce lacks rum flavor.

Before DLT, we thought all food ordering/delivery sites were similar.  It’s true that DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, and the like charge restaurants a commission per order.  But there’s another type of service that uses a subscription model and dispenses with commissions.  They claim restaurants save money in the long run, which we presume is one reason DLT has opted to work with ChowNow.  Since these companies don’t require exclusive contracts, restaurants can and do work with more than one.  So before you place your next on-line order, you might want to ask if the owner has a preferred ordering/delivery partner.  We all want to be informed consumers, right?

Tom and Leigh De La Torre started this Northern Italian restaurant as a mom-and-pop business in 1992.  Tom was the chef and Leigh took care of everything else.  After Tom’s passing in 2013, Leigh kept the operation going and managed to survive a little pandemic to boot.  Call her the unsinkable Leigh DLT.  We’re probably not the first to suggest a DLT sandwich.  Use ’nduja, ditalini, duxelles, smoked duck, doner kebab, deviled egg, Dungeness crab, date paste, duqqa, or dulse...what else starts with the letter D?  San Francisco’s Tu Lan is another place that’s continued to thrive after the owner’s passing in 2018.

ATK (paniscia or red wine risotto) [►] ATK (grill-smoked flat iron steaks) [►]
ATK (garlic bread with Keith) [►] ATK (garlic bread with Julia) [►] ATK/Cook’s Country (garlic bread with Morgan) [►]
CPBA (Tu Lan) [►]

Nearby options:  Val-Vista Center (Curry Leaves Bistro), The Crossroads (Truva Mediterranean Grill, Pocket Sushi, Pho Saigon, Royal Thaali, Curry Kona Fusion Food), Hopyard Village (Bill’s Cafe, The Hop Yard American Alehouse & Grill, Sato Japanese Cuisine, Chinese Szechuan, Mr. Pickles Sandwich Shop, Pizza Bello), El Rancho Grande Taqueria, Porky’s Pizza Palace, The Jelly Donut, Gene’s Fine Foods

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Dim Sum Best of Taste, Alameda | [≡]

We weren’t looking specifically for another quickie dim sum place in the East Bay besides Joyful Dimsum Bistro.  But thanks to Google Maps, we stumbled across this new cafe with the awkward name.  Opened in 2024, Dim Sum Best of Taste is really a dim sum/bubble tea hybrid with a short and sweet menu.

We tested eight of the 18 dim sum items.  The highlights are the steamed dumplings.  Both shumai and har gow are plumb and flavorful; the dough for the shrimp dumplings could be slightly thinner.  We don’t order steamed chive dumplings often, but their version is one of the better ones.  For once the lotus leaf sticky rice with chicken (lo mai gai) actually contains chicken.  The deep-fried pork (sticky rice) dumplings (ham sui gok) are good.  Some pieces of turnip cake are more charred than others.  We rarely order fried wonton—the things we do for this page—but they are better than expected, which begs the question:  why don’t they serve them (unfried) in soup or noodle soup or as spicy wonton?  We’ve had better Portuguese egg tarts.

The one milk tea we tried (out of eight total), taro milk tea, is good; even better is the passion fruit green tea (out of five fruit tea items) because its flavor is more complex.  The default sweet level in both cases is fine.  You can choose less sugar (50 percent) or no sugar.  They also make five smoothies with cheese foam/cream.  This is one of those places where they seal your drinks with a film instead of a traditional lid, which makes it better for takeout orders.

Nearby options:  Cafe Jolie, Southern Comfort Kitchen, Bucket O’Crawfish, East Ocean, Phnom Penh House, Pho Anh Dao, Dragon Village, Chef’s Wok, ALA Mediterranean Grill & Mezzes, Macondo Colombian Fusion, Canasta Kitchen, Ceron Kitchen, The Bureau 510, Wescafe, Rose’s Sandwich Shop, Signal Coffee Roasters, Donut Petit, Cookiebar Scoop Shop

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Feel Good Bakery, Alameda (two locations)

Located inside the Alameda Marketplace food hall, Feel Good Bakery is perfect for folks who prefer not-too-sweet pastries, a common theme we found after sampling five items.  (Click on the Detour tab above for other food halls.)

The pumcho muffin is a pumpkin muffin with chocolate chunks.  You get a burst of flavor from each semisweet chocolate chip—it’s as if they soaked them in orange juice, but that isn’t the case because they list all the ingredients for each product on the Web site.  The kouign-amann (“butter cake”) is the least sweet of all the ones we’ve tried so far.  Click on the Detour tab above and follow our kouign-amann tour.

The Zoe bun is a pull-apart muffin made with laminated dough rolled in cinnamon sugar mix.  It’s named after a fellow student at the baking school the founder attended in South San Francisco.  The mini fruit tart is light and isn’t finished with a typical fruit glaze on top.  Perhaps we’re just not into hot cross buns.  FGB’s rendition is not much better than supermarket versions.  This is probably a seasonal item as Easter is coming in a few weeks.

After mechanical engineer Rick Kellner moved to the Bay Area from New York in 2000, he followed his bliss and opened FGB four years later.  Sadly, he passed away suddenly in 2021.

ATK (kouign-amann) [►] ATK (fresh fruit tart) [►]

Nearby options on Park (northeast of Santa Clara Ave.):  Fikscue Craft BBQ, Speisekammer, Tahina, The Park Street Tavern, McGee’s, Hang Ten Boiler, Monkey King at the Brewery, Chong Qing Noodles House, Genghis Khan Kitchen, Dragon Rouge Bistro, Vietnam House, Pho Nation, Yojimbo and Gallery, Sushi King, The Noodle Lover Club, Island Taqueria, Sandwich Board, A-Town Pizza & Kabob House, New York Pizza, Alameda Grill, Greens & Grains, Jim’s Coffee Shop, Beanery of Alameda, Coffee Cultures, Ole’s Waffle Shop, Crispian Bakery. iTea, Gong Cha, Happy Lemon, Farmstead Cheeses & Wines

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Fiery Shanghai, Pleasanton | [≡]

Luxllenium [►]

Part 1

Shanghai is the business capital of China.  Its cuisine is a part of Jiangsu, one of the major cuisines of China.  The reason this restaurant has “fiery” in its name is because it also serves Sichuan food.  Bay Area foodies should be quite familiar with Sichuan dishes, but restaurants featuring the food of Shanghai are rare.  We steered clear of anything spicy because we wanted to explore Shanghai and not Sichuan.  We love it when we stumble across an interesting find via Google Maps without the aid of TV shows, newspaper articles, or Michelin Guide.

The three dishes we ordered from the recommended section deserve that designation.  We’ve had dishes featuring salted duck egg before, but we’ve never seen it paired with puffed rice.  You must try the crispy rice with salted duck egg (the egg yolk is like grated parmesan).  We love this dish even though we’re not crazy about rice cakes or Rice Krispies Treats.  The deceptively plain stir-fried shrimp is a classic Shanghai dish.  It has a clean flavor, and the shrimp is perfectly cooked.  This style of cooking uses sugar more than other Chinese cuisines.  The mildly sweet brown sauce for the braised pork shank is proof of that.  (Note that there are two braised pork shank dishes with the same English name as of October 2023. The one we ordered is A9/C20 not A12/C21.)

We would’ve skipped the stir-fried lettuce if not for a photo on the menu, which shows that it is actually celtuce (aka asparagus lettuce or Chinese lettuce).  Though the leaves are edible, only the long stems, which have a similar texture as broccoli stems, are sold in stores.  Since celtuce is not in the brassica or cruciferous family, it doesn’t have a bitter flavor that some people are sensitive to.  If your kids don’t like broccoli or Brussels sprouts, they might like celtuce.  You can catch a glimpse of celtuce in an episode of Lucky Chow below.  The fish fillet with rice wine sauce has a subtle wine flavor.  The eggplant stuffed with meat and shrimp is another solid dish.

The salted pork and vegetable fried rice is definitely not Cantonese.  The cured pork tastes like salted fish, however.  The fried pork chop is like their version of tonkatsu.  Because American pork is lean and bland, we wish the breading is more strongly seasoned—and don’t forget to season the meat itself.  To cover all bases, FS also offers egg foo young and chop suey.  We love that they put these items in the nostalgia section.  If you grew up in the Midwest, knock yourself out.  To make their expansive menu even longer, they serve a few hot pot dishes as well.  Oh, did we mention there’s also northern-style dim sum on the menu?

Located in a relatively new strip mall in the Tri-Valley area, FS is the kind of place that we hope will be around for years to come.  Shanghai restaurants don’t have a good track record in the Bay Area; having a diversified menu could help FS beat the odds.  Some of the tables have an overhead frame that seems like a nice decorative element but may be a remnant of those lockdown days.

Part 2

Since Shanghai restaurants come and go in the Bay Area, we wanted to return to FS after last year’s visit.  We’d set our sights on eight more dishes; unfortunately, four of which were unavailable for different reasons.  For one thing, they have a new takeout menu for 2024; some sections lost a few items (the hot pot section is gone completely).  So we ended up reordering two items from our first visit.  The other six dishes we sampled this time are not as strong as our previous experience.

The best item is the Shanghai braised pork meatballs in brown sauce (lion’s head).  They are tender and moist and flavorful.  The batter for the crispy prawns has a smooth surface like the kind for fish and chips.  Once you get over not seeing the expected panko breading, the flavor is good.  The stir-fried pork kidney is one of the items missing on the new takeout menu, but it’s still listed on the illustrated menu (we assume they will update this menu album eventually).  The bottom line is we were able to order it.  In addition to the expected ginger, they also use chili pepper, which leads us to suspect this must be a Sichuan preparation.  This dish was not flagged as spicy on the old menu; Sichuan restaurants sometimes gloss over what they consider mildly spicy items.  Though we’re happy to see kidney anytime (shout-out to offal lovers out there), it’s too greasy compared with the Shanghai dishes we sampled last time.

Grease is also an issue with the two chef’s specials we ordered.  The black pepper beef cube (chili pepper shows up again) is a bit too chewy (surely this kitchen is aware of the baking soda solution).  The whole tilapia with sweet and sour sauce looks impressive enough, but the deep-fried fish is not really seasoned and the sauce rather pedestrian.  We ordered the shepherd’s purse and shredded pork New Year rice cake (nian gao) mainly because we’ve never had this vegetable before.  The sticky rice cake is on the bland side as it usually is.

According to an on-line message from the restaurant, they have one chef for the Shanghai dishes and a different chef for the Sichuan menu.  You’ll find a poster-sized list of Shanghai dishes inside the restaurant.  Our recommendation is to stick with the Shanghai items.  Note that the braised pork shank we ordered last time is now A7/C20.  The other dish with the same English name is now correctly identified as steamed ham with honey sauce on the updated menu.  The celtuce dish from our first visit has moved to the new seasonal vegetables section.  Chop suey dishes are no longer available.

Like H.L. Peninsula in Milpitas, FS has a scattered menu.  Besides the takeout and illustrated menus we already mentioned, there’s a one page (8.5” x 11”) chef’s specials menu that’s worth a look.  It lists drunken shrimp, eel fried rice, and that stuffed eggplant dish we ordered previously, among others.  They now have a different Web site.

Lucky Chow (Chinatown) [►] ATK (lion’s head meatballs) [►]

Nearby options:  CloudDish, Basil Delight, Kura Revolving Sushi Bar, Mumu Hot Pot, Top Pot, 85°C Bakery Cafe, Somisomi, Hey! I Am Yogost, Happy Lemon, Pacific Food Hall, Fallon Gateway in Dublin

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Fikscue Craft BBQ, Alameda | [♀]

CPBA [►] Fikscue (welcome) [►] Fikscue (brisket) [►] Fikscue (dino ribs) [►] Haroon Eats and Travels [►]

Part 1

What is it with Texas-style barbecue and the Bay Area?  Here comes another Texas BBQ joint—with a twist this time.  Half of Fikscue Craft BBQ’s short menu should make any Texas transplant happy.  And because the husband and wife who own Fikscue hail from Muslim-majority Indonesia, halal beef takes center stage here.  The other half of the menu contains Indonesian items that diners should be familiar with already.  He’s the pitmaster (Fik Saleh is his name); she’s in charge of the Indonesian dishes.  (We all know India, China, and the U.S. are the most populous countries.  Which country is No. 4?  Indonesia.)  Fikscue started as a catering business during lockdown in 2020 and opened this restaurant by late 2023.  Though there is a parking lot in the rear (enter from Buena Vista Avenue), it’s usually full.  But you should be able to find free street parking on the side streets.  Parking is the least of your concerns....

People who complain about the line at Golden Gate Bakery in San Francisco should forget about Fikscue—for now.  Based on prior research, we knew the wait time would be long.  But we were hoping there would be fewer customers during the Labor Day weekend.  No such luck.  We got in line around 12:30 pm (Fikscue opens at noon) and placed our order two hours and 45 minutes later.  All the main attractions were sold out by then, so they really should put a limit (by weight or unit) on how much a customer can order.  They should also place a second inventory board on the sidewalk.

Though we didn’t get to sample their signature meat dishes (smoked brisket, smoked dino beef ribs, smoked beef back ribs, smoked fried chicken, and jalapeno-cheese beef sausage), the Indonesian side of the menu reveals this kitchen knows good flavors.  We’ve been to Malaysian restaurants where they serve some of the same dishes, and Fikscue is superior.  Props to Reka Saleh.

Our favorite is the rendang plate, which is smoked brisket curry served with kale curry, spicy egg, rice, sambal, and garlic crackers/chips (krupuk bawang).  The soto padang is Sumatran beef noodle soup served with fried smoked brisket bits, glass noodles, garnishes (black “croutons” and tomatoes), potato fritter (perkedel kentang), sambal, and garlic crackers/chips.  And don’t miss the two sides we sampled.  The rujak slaw is dressed in a balanced sweet and tangy peanut sauce.  The nasi goreng is fried rice with corned beef, egg, and vegetables.

We could tell there were a lot of unhappy campers around us.  A party of three (and their dog) gave up after more than an hour in line.  A couple couldn’t take their child to a museum as planned because of the long wait.  We took it all in stride after we scored kouign-amann from a nearby bakery.  Would we return to Fikscue?  You bet...but only when the wait time is down to 30 minutes.  How can they make that happen?  Open for more than just two days.  Open for lunch and dinner.  Help is on the way; Fikscue will open a second location near Chase Center in 2025.  This should hopefully decrease the crowd size at the Alameda location.  In the meantime, get in line 30 minutes to an hour before they open.  It’s not uncommon for restaurants in Texas to serve beef ribs on weekends only.  If you want beef ribs now without the long wait, try El Halal Amigos in San Jose.

We would like to see Fikscue cook more barbecue stuff.  We don’t know how many halal beef and chicken producers are out there, but sourcing shouldn’t be an issue for a small operation like Fikscue (they get their beef from Creekstone Farms and chicken from Crescent Foods).

While we appreciate compostable containers for takeout, Fikscue needs to line them with something because the rendang stew soaks right through.  Click on the PSA tab above and see how different containers affect the environment and your health.

Part 2

We hate unfinished business, so we decided to return to Fikscue before they open a second location.  This time we got in line around 11:30 am and placed our order an hour and 40 minutes later.  The key is to avoid major holiday weekends such as Memorial Day and Labor Day.  We visited during a minor holiday weekend (Cesar Chavez Day, observed in California and a few other states).  The line was a lot shorter than last time; the parking lot was not full when we arrived.  Unlike last year, the line formed to the left of the restaurant toward Eagle Avenue and not Buena Vista Avenue.

We finally sampled four different cuts of beef—that’s some Paleo diet for you.  Compared with the other two Texas BBQ places we visited, we’d have to give a slight edge to Fikscue’s smoked brisket.  Though the smoked dino beef rib (1.10 lb. on the receipt) is much larger than the smoked beef back ribs (0.78 lb. for two), it’s actually more tender.  The brisket and ribs are moist and beefy-tasting.  Here’s something we thought we’d never say about BBQ meats:  what comes out of Fikscue’s kitchen is a little bit greasy.  We don’t know if it’s because an employee drizzled something on them before serving.  We assume they do this to make sure everything is not remotely dry, but that stuff may have some fat in it.  Like any respectable ribs, no sauce is really necessary.  But there is self-serve BBQ sauce if you want some.  They also provide a yellow sauce that tastes like spicy honey mustard—and most people like honey mustard.

The fourth cut of beef is smoked flat iron steak, a special of the month.  We’ve never had this type of steak before, but Fikscue’s version is way past medium rare.  It has the texture of beef tongue or corned beef.  Just because a steak is smoked, well-done is not the only way to go (watch video below).  They sell these beef options by weight, but only our ribs were weighed.  It’s possible the brisket and flat iron steak came out to be exactly half a pound as we requested.

You can skip the smoked fried chicken leg and jalapeno-cheese beef sausage.  Though the chicken meat itself is nicely smoked, the outside of the thigh is leathery and dry.  The sheep casing for the sausage is tough and unpleasant to eat.  They make their own sausage, so they should use a different casing.  If their smoking method is what causes the sausage skin to toughen as what happens with the chicken leg, well, we’ve no doubt they will get it right eventually the same way they perfected their brisket and ribs.

The banana pudding is average.  In the U.S., just about the only time we open a can of condensed milk is for key lime pie.  They use condensed milk in more ways around the world.  For instance, they use it to sweeten a drink called gembira in Indonesia.  The melon (honeydew?) flavor is less sweet and a little more refreshing than pink coco-pandan flavor.  They put all the BBQ items in an aluminum foil pan for takeout orders, a convenient and plastic-free way to pack up bulky things.

They’re now open for dinner on Wednesdays (since April 2025), but the brisket and dino ribs are only available on weekends.  Are the beef ribs and brisket worth the wait?  Well, beef ribs are not as commonplace as brisket, so it’s your call.  (Berkeley’s Heads & Tails Barbecue serves dino ribs on Fridays and Saturdays.)  And for people who don’t eat pork, Fikscue is a slice of beefy heaven.  Other factors to consider:  you can also stop by Crispian Bakery and Farmstead Cheeses & Wines.  We see now the bottleneck is their ordering system.  If Fikscue made room for two order stations and two employees doing the slicing and weighing in parallel, the line would move a lot faster.  By the way, they don’t work with food delivery sites or accept phone orders, which makes sense since they have too many in-person customers as it is.

ATK/Cook’s Country (Texas barbecue brisket) [►] ATK/Cook’s Country (Texas beef ribs) [►]
ATK (grill-smoked flat iron steaks) [►]

Nearby options (northeast of Santa Clara Ave.):  Speisekammer, Tahina, The Park Street Tavern, McGee’s, Hang Ten Boiler, Monkey King at the Brewery, Chong Qing Noodles House, Genghis Khan Kitchen, Dragon Rouge Bistro, Vietnam House, Pho Nation, Yojimbo and Gallery, Sushi King, The Noodle Lover Club, Island Taqueria, Sandwich Board, A-Town Pizza & Kabob House, New York Pizza, Alameda Grill, Greens & Grains, Jim’s Coffee Shop, Beanery of Alameda, Coffee Cultures, Ole’s Waffle Shop, Crispian Bakery. Feel Good Bakery, iTea, Gong Cha, Happy Lemon, Farmstead Cheeses & Wines

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Flacos, Berkeley

CPBA [►]

We’re always on the lookout for more vegetarian places.  Flacos is a vegan Mexican restaurant.  We wanted to try the entire menu—easy to do since it’s rather limited and one of the items was not available on our visit.  The huarache (with mole rojo added) and taquitos are the best things on the menu.  They warn you the hot avocado salsa packs a punch, so ask them to let you have a taste first or stick with mild.  We can’t tell you if their Mexican brown rice and spring salad are any good because they come with plates.  Despite the fact we were pointing at the plates section of the menu, the person who took our order assumed we wanted everything a la carte.  Of the two aquas frescas, horchata is better because jamaica could use a bit more sugar.

Opened in 2010 in a small structure with a pointy roof (look up when you’re inside) that’s sort of whimsical like Mark’s Hot Dogs in San Jose, Flacos is now run by the original owner’s nephew.

Nearby options:  Easy Creole, Lemat Ethiopian, Vault Cafe, El Tiny Cafe, Zing Cafe, Ada Cafe, Sweet Adeline Bakeshop, Munch India, Oakland side of Shattuck Avenue

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Golden Bay Seafood Harbor, Union City | [≡]

We first visited this restaurant in August 2021.  A new owner took over in 2022, tinkered with the name, changed the logo, and introduced a revamped menu.  What was Grand Golden Bay Seafood is now Golden Bay Seafood Harbor with a red king crab logo.  The new menu includes at least 40 items from the Grand days, so there may or may not be a new chef behind it.  (The original Grand Golden Bay Seafood in Oakland closed in 2022.)

The most interesting item we sampled on the new menu is the Chuandao sauce shrimp.  As far as we can tell, Chuandao is a town in South China; there’s also a brand of shrimp paste we found on Amazon with that name (is there anything they don’t carry?).  This dish, which comes with puffy shrimp chips, may look like honey walnut shrimp but has a different flavor profile.  We detect garlic and a hint of wasabi.  (Compare with the wasabi shrimp at Myanmar Tea Garden in Fremont.)  The chef’s specialty steak bites (French beef cubes on the old menu) is the kind of dish one used to find on Chinese American menus.  This version has an understated coffee flavor and the tender meat is still slightly pink in the center.  It’s served with egg tofu and broccoli.  They should use something other than overly al dente—undercooked—broccoli.  The same egg tofu also appears in the assorted mushrooms and Japanese tofu dish.

The chicken, salted fish and eggplant clay pot has a wonderful flavor you can only get from clay pot cooking.  The eggplant is creamy; we would like a little more chicken and stronger salted fish flavor.  Yes, we know the salted fish is meant to be in the background like anchovy.  People should add more bitter food to their diet, so give the bitter melon beef a try.  Think of the tender and tasty beef as the spoonful of sugar that helps the bitter melon go down.  If not for the old and slightly fibrous pea sprouts, the golden silver egg and pea sprouts would be first-rate.  The name refers to salted duck egg yolk (gold) and preserved egg (silver).  You can skip the ginger lobster noodles—we’ve had better.  The noodles are on the greasy side, and the sauce for the lobster could have better flavor.

We’re always on the lookout for unusual restaurants and uncommon dishes.  There are some items at this Cantonese place—baked shrimp, vanilla cod fillet, and tea shrimp, for example—that we’ve never seen elsewhere.  Note that there’s a mini version of Buddha jumps over the wall on the menu, a break for your wallet.  You can order dim sum during lunchtime.  We like to trace the “provenance” of a location.  This space used to be Mayflower Seafood and before that Lucky Palace.

CHINA LIVE (Buddha jumps over the wall) [►] Gregory Leow (Buddha jumps over the wall) [►] TaiwanPlus (Buddha jumps over the wall) [►]

Nearby options:  Fong Kee Claypot, Din Ding Dumpling House, New China, Ramen Shu, Bar Bay Grill, Mr. Kebab, Pho Mama, JenJon’s Cafe, Bakery La Mejor, Happy Lemon

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Golden Safari, Hayward | [♀] [@]

Whet AppetArt Studios [►]

How lucky are we that there are three West African restaurants in the East Bay?  Nigeria is the most populous country in West Africa and in all of Africa.  Indeed, it’s the sixth-most populous nation in the world.  Nigerian cuisine is quite varied due to the different ethnic groups.  Golden Safari serves the food of the Yoruba, the second-largest group in Nigeria.  While most American slaves came from West Africa, Yoruba slaves ended up in Cuba and Brazil.  (According to Wikipedia, the Yoruba have the highest dizygotic twinning rate in the world.)

Nigerian food can pack quite a punch like Ethiopian cuisine.  The good news is you can ask GS to make your dishes mild.  And mild means mild here—unlike some other restaurants.  So if you’re into spicy food, be sure to ask for spicy.  The most intriguing dish we sampled is the ayamase designer stew with white rice.  It kind of resembles Mexican mole and has a slight bitter flavor from possibly iru or fermented locust beans (Saveur raves about this ingredient).  It comes with mixed meat.  The egusi soup is made with green vegetables and thickened with melon seeds.  The consistency is closer to stew than soup.  You have a choice of beef, chicken, or assorted meat with this soup.  You can’t go wrong with the jollof rice plate, the ubiquitous rice dish eaten all over West Africa.  It comes with beans or vegetables.  Okra fans should note there are two okra soups on the menu.

Don’t fear the fufu, a side dish resembling a ball of dough.  Like poi, fufu is made by mashing a root vegetable.  When we visited Kendejah, the Liberian place in San Leandro, we didn’t order fufu due to less-than-enthusiastic reviews from non-African diners.  Well, we finally tried it here since it comes with the egusi soup.  This fufu is delightfully soft and light—not chewy and heavy as we’d imagined.  Think of it as drier and thickened grits.  It just goes to show the only way to tell what something tastes like is to eat it—forget the opinions of philistines.  Just as no Mexican meal is complete without tortilla, the West African table usually includes fufu. Keep in mind a starch like fufu, tortilla, rice, or bread is not supposed to be a flavor bomb. You eat it with other things such as vegetables, meat, and soup.  It’s meant to complement the rest of the meal.  Unlike Kendejah, GS makes three types of fufu.

The three appetizers we tried are all interesting.  The moin moin is a savory bean pudding that looks and cuts like pumpkin pie.  The other main ingredient is red bell pepper.  The texture reminds us of that Cambodian fish mousse (amok trei).  The beef kebab (suya) does have a beef jerky mouthfeel as advertised.  Now we’re curious what the chicken suya would be like.  Similar to mandazi, the puff-puffs are pieces of fried dough that taste better than (large) donut holes.  You can treat puff-puffs as your dessert, but you should also order the vanilla sponge cake.  With such copious amounts of custard pudding and cream, it feels like the Nigerian version of tres leches cake.  Since Nigeria was a British colony for about 75 years, this sponge cake could be a part of that legacy.  They make their own ginger beer.  It’s quite sweet, so it’s a good thing it has a strong ginger flavor.  They also serve a hibiscus drink (zobo) that you can compare with jamaica aqua fresca.

Located in downtown Hayward, this mom-and-pop restaurant has been around since 2017.  The inside is tastefully decorated like an art gallery.  You should be able to park in front of the restaurant, but if you don’t like to face the possibility of parallel parking, use the parking lot in the rear.  For some reason, Google Street View shows the back of GS and not the front—just another Google bug.  Like Mission Blvd., Jackson Street is surprisingly congested on a Saturday.  Beware if you take this exit off I-880.

The Houston Cookbook (egusi soup and fufu) [►]
ViewAfrica24 News (Nigerian food) [►] Channels Television (Nigerian restaurants around the world) [►]

Nearby options:  Chef’s Experience China Bistro, Ristorante Di Parma, Aama Kitchen, Haha Ramen Sushi, Susie Q’s Pizza, Buon Appetito, Acqua e Farina, Sapporo, Yuki Hana Sushi, Kansai, Mujiri, Istanbul Cuisine, Casa Del Toro, Los Compadres, Metro Taquero, Falafel Flare, Khao Hom, Snappy’s Cafe, Atlas Coffee & Sandwiches, Casper’s Hot Dogs, Rockit Char Grill, T4 Tea for U, Once Tea, Soheila Bakery, Max’s Cakes, Reuschelle’s Cheesecakes, J R Rice Bakery

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Good to Eat, Emeryville | [♀] [≡]

CPBA [►]

Depending on where you are on your culinary journey, different dishes will mean more or less to you than other people.  The best thing about what we do is sampling something new and tasty.  And one of the dishes at Good to Eat will have you wondering what you’ve been missing, but for people who grew up eating Taiwanese food, well, it’s probably no big deal.

The mild-tasting chayote may be popular in Latin America, but we don’t see it on Latin American menus in the Bay Area.  Imagine our surprise when we saw chayote shoots on GTE’s menu.  It turns out they like to eat the leaves of this small squash in Taiwan (“dragon-whisker vegetable” in Chinese).  GTE serves it simply with a sesame cashew mayo (more like sauce).  The shoots remind us of pea shoots except we’ve never had pea shoots prepared this way.  When the chayote shoots are in season (warmer months?), you must try this dish.  The other starter we sampled is the pickled lotus root and golden beet with red shiso.  We prefer pickles with a hint of sweetness.  If that’s not important to you, you’ll like GTE’s pickles.

The grilled whole squid is a popular street food in Taiwan.  It’s tender, flavorful, and comes with house pickles (cabbage).  The grilled tofu skin/sheet could use stronger flavor.  Anyone who loves fried chicken should try GTE’s (boneless thigh) version with fermented tofu sauce.  We would like even stronger fermented tofu flavor.  Martin Yan nailed it when he said fermented tofu is like Chinese blue cheese.  We also enjoyed the Taiwanese minced pork noodle with fermented bean paste.  The Taiwanese soy-glazed eggplant with garlic soy paste is a little too salty.

The charcoal roasted oolong tea cheesecake is not your typical cheesecake; it’s actually made with oolong tea from Taiwan (Dong Ding).  The almond tofu pudding is not custardy and delicate as it should be, but the plum compote is good.

Located in the northern part of Emeryville, GTE seems to have a devoted following.  That’s because the owners operated a pop-up inside Oakland’s Original Pattern Brewing Co. serving dumplings and buns for a few years before opening their own restaurant in 2022.  Yes, the Bay Area could use more places like this.

Wei Lun (chayote shoots) [►] Danny’s Food & Travel (grilled squid) [►]

Nearby options:  Los Moles, Secrets of Tiger, KYU2 Sushi, Rotten City Pizza, Butter Pecan Bakeshop

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Himalayan Chef Kitchen, Newark

For a long time, Cupertino’s Kathmandu West (1992-2001) was the only Nepali eatery in the Bay Area.  Now we have quite a few to choose from; we wish we could say the same about other cuisines (we’re still waiting for one Puerto Rican restaurant south of San Francisco/Oakland).  Due to its cultural diversity, Nepali cuisine is very much defined by who’s cooking in the kitchen.  This means you can expect more flavor variations among Bay Area Nepali restaurants.

Located in a long strip mall where some of the stores are unusually spacious, Himalayan Chef Kitchen opened in 2020, a memorable year.  Where applicable, you can choose among three heat levels.  Since this is our first visit, we played it safe and opted for mild, which turns out to have just a little bit of a kick.  If you’re into spicy food, you should start with medium, and if you grew up eating Indian, Thai, or Ethiopian food, go for spicy.

The Himalayan chili plate is a tomato-based dish made with chicken, seafood, beef, paneer, tofu, or vegetables such as eggplant and cauliflower.  The salmon option is the best of the three we sampled.  The curry bowl is another tomato-based dish that comes with the same options as the Himalayan chili plate.  The dal version we ordered tastes salty more than anything else.

The chicken momos (eight per order) are served with a mildly spicy tomato sauce on the side.  The chicken noodle soup (thukpa/thenthuk) has a bigger than expected kick because some of the spices didn’t completely dissolve in the broth.  The sweet yogurt with pistachio and nuts (sikarni) is better than any sweetened supermarket yogurt.

Our overall impression is that HCK uses more spices and hotter spices than Fremont’s Momo & Kebab.  In this respect, HCK is closer to Indian restaurants (the chef/owner’s resume does include Amber India and Sakoon).  Do yourself a favor and check out all the different Nepali places in the Bay Area—you will find one to your liking.

Nearby options:  Chef Cho, Special Noodle, Chopsticks Pho & Grill, Little Sichuan, Wakatobi Japanese Grill, Kong Sarang Tofu & BBQ, Spicy Kitchen, Vitality Bowls, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Hanson’s Pastry, 85°C Bakery Cafe, Simply Thai, Samraat Curry Hut, Crabby Crabby, Tasty Pot, Tao’s Fresh, Pho Nation, Good Neighbor, Fairwood Cafe, Taqueria Los Gallos, Harumi Sushi & Tofu, La Michoacana Fruits & Ice Cream, O’ Sushi, Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop, My No. 1 BBQ & Tofu, Tramy’s, IHOP, Delicious Donuts & Bagels, MandRo Teahouse

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Hong Kong East Ocean, Emeryville | [≡] [@]

HKEO3199 [►]

Part 1

Since Hong Kong East Ocean opened in 1989, it qualifies as an OG dim sum spot in the Bay Area (we recently discovered there’s one in San Francisco that dates back to 1920).  Like Alameda’s East Ocean (no relation), HKEO has managed to stay fresh and relevant after all these years.  When you look at the building from the outside, you wouldn’t think it can accommodate about 600 guests, which is a good thing because one big mess hall is rather boring (see H.L. Peninsula in Milpitas).  Seafood is their specialty and they do something with the fish tanks that other places don’t do:  they put the market price of each live fish for all to see.  (King crab is not the most expensive item; that honor goes to Australian lobster on our visit.)  They also post pictures of their chefs on the wall inside and on their site.

We don’t know if this is a trend or not, but HKEO is one of those restaurants where you can order dim sum all day.  (Digression:  We only added HKEO to our culinary tour after we noticed a few unusual items on its dim sum menu.  This is why all restaurants should have a site or at least upload the menu somewhere on the Internet.  A Facebook page is a terrible substitute.)  We ordered six items from the dim sum menu and six from the dinner menu.

There are dim sum places that try to go upscale and trendy (multi-colored dumplings and expensive ingredients).  HKEO doesn’t try to be grammable but still maintains a few tricks up its sleeve.  Anyone who’s familiar with dim sum must order the pickled bitter melon.  For one thing, you can tell all the kids in the playground you’ve had pickled bitter melon.  It’s delicious and the best part is you can still taste the bitterness.  Another unusual item is the plain rice noodle roll with hoisin sauce and peanut sauce, a street food in Hong Kong and other Asian cities.  The daikon cake (kudos for not calling it turnip) in a clay pot has more complex flavor than the typical pan-fried version; the XO sauce also gives it a little zing.  The coconut gelatin with sweet taro paste is a nice dessert because it tastes more like custard than jello.

Though HKEO’s dinner menu looks ordinary—compared with the dim sum menu—it surprises in its own way.  The dishes we sampled are Cantonese but have a slightly different flavor profile from other Bay Area restaurants.  The nobleman fried rice with seafood is a prime example of that.  Eggplant is usually braised; here it’s steamed and served with minced pork and preserved cabbage.  Unlike the more common steamed eggs with clams, the steamed egg white with seafood is kind of soupy and the egg white could be mistaken for soft tofu.  The assorted seafood with glass noodles is a comforting country dish (the squid is oh-so tender).

The waterfront location is ready for its close-up, and the Emeryville Marina is not as cold and windy as one would expect.  About the view...from the parking lot you get a good view of the Port of Oakland above all else (de cranes, de cranes).  Since the restaurant windows face west, the sun may be in your eyes anyway in the afternoon.  So come for the food and think of the view as a bonus.  Note that there may be a sister restaurant in Manila (same red logo with ocean waves).  Pixar is headquartered in Emeryville.

If you’re coming from the South Bay via I-880 and want to take the Powell Street exit off I-580, you have to use I-980.  That’s because by the time I-880 merges with I-580, it’s just past the Powell Street exit (you can take the Ashby Avenue exit and turn right onto Shellmound Street to get back to Powell).  Alternatively, if you want to avoid the MacArthur Maze of flyovers and mergers leading to the Bay Bridge, take the Broadway exit, then San Pablo Avenue and turn left onto Stanford Avenue, which becomes Powell.  It’s about five miles from Broadway exit to the restaurant.

Part 2

Every year we look forward to return to places that warrant a second look.  An issue with the front of the house and an error in the kitchen made this encore a mixed bag.  Just as we did a year ago, we ordered six items from the dim sum menu and six from the dinner menu.

The most unusual dim sum item this time is the soft tofu and preserved eggs.  It would be even better with more green onion.  After our trip to San Francisco’s Hang Ah Tea Room, we decided to order the foil-wrapped chicken to compare.  HKEO uses higher quality thigh.  The shrimp tofu skin roll is not as good as Fremont’s Joyful Dimsum but still better than average.  Only one of the five jumbo shrimp dumplings (har gow) is jumbo-sized.  The wrapper has correct texture but is a little bland; the filling is good.  When it comes to pan-fried taro cake, is it better to use whole taro or taro powder?  HKEO’s pan-fried taro, pork and shrimp paste cake is fine, but we kind of miss taro powder.  The cucumber in ginger sauce has lots of garlic, but the ginger sauce tastes more like salted water.  We had better luck with our dim sum choices last time.

The good news is HKEO’s dinner menu has a new list of chef’s recommendations (from the Special promotion drop-down menu on site).  Unfortunately, the person who took our order was still unfamiliar with the new items (our impression is he was not alone).  Even though we wanted the stir-fried scallops and asparagus with black truffle sauce, he selected the asparagus and mixed mushroom in black bean sauce on the computer screen.  We didn’t realize his mistake until it was too late.  The pan-fried lotus root patties with special sauce is not heavy despite the fact that the stuffed patties are floured and fried.  The double egg special fried rice is not particularly memorable.  We had a fantastic version of this “mystery” dish (not much info on the Internet) at a Union City restaurant once, but it’s no longer available.  We’re certain by the time you visit HKEO, the staff will be more familiar with this new section—there are other items here that look promising.

The three dishes from the old dinner menu we sampled this time are not as exciting as what we ordered last time.  The mentaiko fried rice with seafood (shrimp and bay scallops) and egg white is not dry but could use more mentaiko flavor.  We judge a dish like the crusted-custard tofu with sun-dried scallop and enoki mushroom by the quality of the egg tofu (it’s average).  The diced beef stir fry with roasted pine nuts and garlic is noteworthy because of the missing pine nuts.  We should point out our latest visit coincided with Independence Day weekend, so maybe the kitchen’s A team was on vacation.

Diana & Kenny’s VLOG (Filipino-style pickled bitter melon) [►] Hawaii’s Pickle Lady (Burmese-style bitter melon) [►]
Rack of Lam (rice noodle roll) [►] East Meets Kitchen (rice noodle roll) [►]

Nearby options:  Trader Vic’s, Powell Street Plaza, The Public Market

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iLava Hawaiian Barbecue, Oakland | [♀]

Google Street View

Sometimes the nondescript strip malls are where you find little culinary gems.  Like most other Hawaiian eateries, iLava Hawaiian Barbecue satisfies your hankering for the island’s plate lunches.  Your best bet is the kalua pork and lau lau.  This kalua pork has a slight smokey flavor; we like that they leave the lau lau part (also pork) still wrapped in taro/banana leaves.  Cooked taro leaves are edible; we first had a taste at Juanita’s Polynesian Delights in Newark.  The BBQ beef is quite tasty (we usually skip the short ribs because they are Korean-style or flanken-cut ribs, which may contain more bones than meat).  The BBQ chicken is another good choice.  The garlic shrimp is more interesting than the crispy shrimp, which is butterflied and deep-fried (the coating is probably not panko).

You won’t leave hungry with the portions here.  Each plate lunch comes with two scoops of rice, one scoop of macaroni salad, and mixed vegetables (broccoli and cabbage).  The rice and salad are above average.  They also serve loco moco, chicken cooked in other ways (katsu, teriyaki, and curry), and malasadas.  iLava is located right off International Blvd. in the Fruitvale neighborhood.

Nearby options:  Yummy Grill Afghan Kabob House, Pupusas Salvadorenas, Lee’s Donuts, Churros Guerrero, Krispy Krunchy Chicken (inside Exxon), Tacos El Gordo, Tacos Guadalajara

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Joyful Dimsum Bistro, Fremont

Anyone who loves dim sum has probably tried counter-service places around the Bay Area for a quick fix (now why aren’t there counter-service tapas spots like those tapas bars in Spain?).  Thanks to a San Francisco Chronicle article, we have found one that’s worth talking about.  Note that the paper’s new restaurant critic has just updated that article and removed Joyful Dimsum Bistro in the process, but we managed to retrieve the original copy.

To judge a dim sum menu properly, we ordered 14 dishes covering steamed, fried, baked, and what Joyful identifies as house specialties.  We also sampled one salad and one dinner special.  For items with a filling, the best must be the whole package; that is, they should be good inside and out.  The filling has to be flavorful and not skimpy, and the housing has to have a pleasant mouthfeel and not bland.  The outside is especially critical for steamed items; the wrapper can’t be too thick, too thin, or too chewy.  The same goes for the rice noodle roll.

The three steamed dumplings we sampled (shumai, har gow, and chive shrimp dumplings) are a cut above typical counter-service dim sum.  The steamed beef balls still have some texture as opposed to the completely pulverized standard.  Americans like their meatballs moist and tender but not smooth and textureless like surimi.  The sticky rice in lotus leaf (lo mai gai) contains some ingredients that even sit-down restaurants have abandoned.  The fried items yielded the biggest surprises.  The shrimp tofu skin rolls taste like mini-omelets and may be the best version we’ve ever had.  Unlike most dim sum restaurants, Joyful uses whole taro and not taro powder to make the pan-fried taro cakes—impressive for a casual place like this (it's possible powder is only used for drinks).

The preserved egg & pork porridge could be a little thicker and include more egg, but the pulled pork is plentiful and flavorful.  The egg tarts are a bit dry; maybe they’ve been sitting in the warming cabinet too long.  For a better sweet ending, you should try the black sesame dumplings (lo mai chi or tangyuan) and egg custard buns.  They also have momos, samosas, and mango lassi on the menu.  Does someone in the kitchen have a connection to Nepal or Tibet?

Dinner specials are available starting at 4 pm.  As of March 2024, they offer eight rice plates that come with egg (tea egg?), vegetable (cabbage), salad (wood ear/cucumber), and soup (seaweed egg drop soup).  The braised beef brisket is quite satisfying; the soup is also good.  Other options include chicken, pork chop, spareribs, and pork belly.  It’s a tremendous value considering the price, quantity, and quality.

Counter-service dim sum places usually cook everything in advance and keep the steamed items in large steamer baskets.  You simply point at anything that interests you.  That’s not how they do it at Joyful.  You order by marking the laminated menu.  Since they cook some things to order, be prepared to wait 30 minutes for a large order like ours.

Remember those macabre miniatures starting with the seventh season of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation?  Well, we couldn’t help but notice a miniature restaurant next to the counter.  You can get one of these models and assemble it yourself (yes, Amazon sells everything under the sun).  There is a real-life Panxi restaurant in South China.  Joyful opened in 2022 in what must be a strip mall of a certain age.  We say that because there’s a post office here—when was the last time the government opened a new post office?  Click on the Detour tab above for an interesting side trip.

ATK (har gow) [►] ATK (shumai) [►]
Miniature Land (Panxi) [►]

Nearby options:  Kitayama, Forest & Flour, Healthy Tiffin, EE Home Cooking, Umi Tea & Ramen, Cantaritos, Fan Bistro, Mission Pizza & Pub

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Juanita’s Polynesian Delights, Newark | [♀]

After two Polynesian restaurants on the Peninsula closed, Juanita’s Polynesian Delights and a place in Daly City may be the only two of their kind in the Bay Area (if you remove Hawaii from the equation).  Juanita’s opened in 2015, and if it survived lockdown, who knows what the future holds?  Chef/owner Juanita Christensen hails from Samoa, not to be confused with American Samoa.  This is a cafeteria where you pay for the food by weight.  Samoan cuisine shares some food traditions with other Polynesian cultures such as Tonga and Hawaii.

We sampled all eight items in the hot trays.  Our favorite is the braised turkey tails (muli pipi) thanks to a barbecue sauce-tasting flavor.  Like the ham hock used to flavor Southern dishes, turkey tails don’t have much meat either.  What meat there is tastes close to pulled pork.  Try to pick out a piece that contains as little fat as possible and only a small bone.  The creamed taro leaves dish (palusami) with bits of lamb or corned beef is also full of flavor.  Think of it as the Samoan version of collard greens or creamed spinach.  You can tell the corned beef (pisupo) here is not the canned variety because of its size and amount of fat—and it tastes better than canned.  The braised lamb flaps (mamoe or lu) are another safe bet.  Though the bone is long, these are not rib chops.  They are cut from the breast of lamb.  U.S. restaurants rarely serve this cut of lamb.  Jacques Pepin has made navarin with lamb breast on Essential Pepin.

Compared with all we mentioned above, the pork sausage (sosisi) has a surprisingly muted flavor.  On the plus side, it’s not rich and heavy as sausages are sometimes.  Our guess is the sausage itself is not made in-house.  The glass noodles dish (sapasui) with carrots and bits of beef or turkey tail is supposed to be the Samoan answer to chop suey.

Unripe banana contains resistant starch, which makes it better than ripe banana nutrition-wise.  Unfortunately, even slightly unripe banana is not that pleasant to eat.  But when you cook a green banana (fa’alifu fa’i), it becomes much more palatable.  The interesting thing is this Samoan-style banana looks like cooked taro in the shape of a banana.  Its mouthfeel is also like cooked taro.  Most Polynesian recipes cook green bananas with coconut milk or coconut cream.  Juanita's must use unsweetened coconut milk (or none) because the final product is a little bland (eat it anyway for the nutrition).

We like taro and root vegetables in general.  When you roast taro in the oven, it turns slightly sweet like a lot of other vegetables.  Juanita's serves taro (kalo) that’s probably steamed or boiled as it lacks any flavor.  You can skip these big chunks of taro because they only add to your bill.  They didn’t have any dessert or bread on our visit.  You should try a fruit drink made of coconut, watermelon, pineapple, and mango (vaimeleni).  It’s not overly sweet.

Turkey tails at Lineage in Hawaii
Travel & Taste (Samoan food) [►]
Homesteading in North Florida (smoked turkey tails) [►] Jacques Pepin Cooking at Home (lamb stew) [►]

Nearby options:  Newark Donuts, Neveria Costa Alegre, My Cafe, Taqueria Los Portales, Mountain Mike’s Pizza, Pupuseria y Taqueria Rosita, Mexico Tortilla Factory, La Cabana, New Ocean, Allstar Burger

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Ming’s Tasty, Oakland | [≡]

DrunkenBasterd [►]

We first took note of Ming’s Tasty in Oakland Chinatown because there’s an older (unrelated) restaurant with a similar name in San Leandro (since closed) and Sunnyvale.  In fact, we picked up a takeout menu during lockdown in 2020.  (Click on the Detour tab above and see why paper menus matter.)  After San Francisco Chronicle gave its stamp of approval last year, we decided it was time to check it out.

Let’s cut to the chase and state that our experience is not as satisfying.  Why the discrepancy?  Well, we have a theory.  When you watch an NBA game, you notice the star players don’t usually play the whole time.  It’s the same with a lot of restaurants.  The head chef is only in the kitchen for prime time, which is normally the Friday/Saturday dinner service.  In an ideal world, the food should be the same regardless of who’s in the kitchen.  Since Ming’s closes at 6 pm, we figure their prime time is the lunch service.  And when we arrived by 4:30 pm, the A team was probably no longer in the kitchen.  We suspect the person in charge of the frying station was MIA judging by the grease level of some of the dishes.  If the kitchen had used paper towels to wick away some of the oil, that would’ve made a difference.

We ordered all the dishes the newspaper recommended except for the snowy baked BBQ pork bun (sold out).  In general, everything is well-seasoned.  Among the 13 dim sum items we sampled, the most unusual is the stuffed bitter melon on iron plate.  Outside of Turkey, you don’t find too many stuffed dishes—and certainly not stuffed bitter melon.  The melon is bitter as it should be and the stuffing (pork/fish paste?) has good flavor.

We give them credit for experimenting with pumpkin.  The crispy pumpkin pastry has a flaky crust but a dry mouthfeel.  The filling tastes like roasted sweet potatoes; it might work better with less filling actually.  The deep-fried pumpkin ball is supposed to be a pumpkin twist on sesame ball (jian dui).  We’ve seen photos that show a pumpkin filling instead of lotus seed.  What we got is a flat pastry sans filling; we assume the pumpkin is in the sticky dough.  After we placed it on a paper towel to wick away all that grease on the outside, it tastes okay if a bit underwhelming.  A paper towel wouldn’t help the deep-fried tofu skin wrap with shrimp because it’s greasy inside.

The deep-fried meat (sticky rice) dumpling (ham sui gok) and thousands of fried shrimp ball are better since they’re not excessively greasy.  The har gow and shumai have well-seasoned fillings but the texture is perhaps too snappy.  It would be nice if the sticky rice and minced pork in lotus leaf (lo mai gai) had a little bit of mushroom, sausage, or salted egg yolk (or the forgotten chicken)—but we get that’s the norm these days.  The rice noodle roll with crispy shrimp is fine except the filling tastes almost like dried shrimp.  They get their deep-fried donut stick (youtiao) from a wholesaler.  This savory cruller is worth a try because it’s denser than the soft and airy versions elsewhere.

You should also try both desserts.  The taro coconut milk pear cake is custardy and mildly sweet (couldn’t detect any pear flavor though).  The palace osmanthus cake is more herbal-tasting than the osmanthus coconut gelee at Palette Tea House/Garden.  Note that they no longer offer roast duck because the BBQ person is gone (the photos sure looked good).  We did not try the porridge, noodle soup, or clay pot rice dishes because even the newspaper said they’re not Ming’s strong suit.

Despite our misgivings, you should support this mom-and-pop operation that opened in 2018.  Visit during lunchtime and if you find yourself here during off-peak hours as we did, stick to steamed and baked items.  Note that there’s a $25 minimum for credit card use.

What does the name of this place mean?  As far as we can tell, ming means name or reputation, not to be confused with the ming in Ming Dynasty (that one means bright or brilliant).  Just a case of homonym thanks to romanization.

Nearby options:  Pacific Renaissance Plaza (Peony Seafood, Gum Kuo, Sobo Ramen, Sakura Bistro Tapas & Sake Bar, Vaya Poke, i-Tea, UC Dessert), Nature Vegetarian, Shan Dong, Shooting Star Cafe, Mr Liu Noodle House, R Noodles, Tastee Steam Kitchen, Mam Hanoi, Cam Anh Deli, Poke Zone, Cafe Gabriela, Bare Knuckle Pizza, HighXII Cafe & Coffee, The Caffe by Mr. Espresso, An’s Canteen, Oakland Wonder Food Bakery, Alice Street Bakery Cafe, Boba Binge, T4, Oakland Fortune Factory

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Momo & Kebab, Fremont

Nepali Riders in California [►] Indian in USA [►] Rice and Travel [►]

When we visited a nearby eatery during lockdown, we noticed a “Coming Soon” sign for Momo & Kebab.  Well, it did open in 2021, illustrating once again what we love about living in the Bay Area—the diverse culinary scene.  We’d been to one Nepali restaurant in Cupertino years ago (the first on the West Coast?), so we’re thrilled M&K seems to be thriving, not to mention there are quite a few Bay Area food trucks pushing various Nepali dishes.  Nepal is sandwiched between two big neighbors:  India and China.  Nepali cuisine is worth seeking out because it’s familiar and different at the same time.

Every culture has some sort of dumpling.  Georgia has khinkali; Nepal has momo.  These dumplings are usually served by themselves or maybe with a sauce or soup on the side.  M&K includes one option where they serve them (eight per order) with noodles.  Close your eyes and you just might think you’re eating really good spaghetti and meatballs (we opted for chicken momo).

Now that winter’s here, we’ve been sampling some wonderful soups lately.  Besides Korean samgyetang and Latin American cocido, you can add M&K’s noodle soup (thenthuk) to the list of comforting soups.  The chicken and egg version is a winner.  The chicken tastes like it was grilled before joining the pot of soup; the strips of flat noodles remind us of the Appalachian dish chicken and slicks.

The tandoori chicken (leg quarter) is just different enough from the Indian version to make it interesting.  Sekuwa, the other clay oven dish on the menu, has a flavor profile we’ve never encountered before.  The roasted fish is perfectly cooked (they use basa/swai, a type of catfish).  Sekuwa is served with a salad whose dressing/sauce is really spicy—good thing they put it on the side.  The lamb shank is good as lamb shank dishes usually are; however, the sauce is a bit too salty.

Not every Indian restaurant serves korma dishes nowadays, so it’s fun to try M&K’s navratan korma, which, as the name suggests, is supposed to include nine ingredients (green beans, carrot, corn, peas, lentils, etc.).  If you’ve never had Indo-Chinese food before, try their take on fried rice.  You should definitely order the honey baked yogurt because it tastes like cheesecake.

Located at the front of the Artist Walk Apartments complex in the Centerville District of Fremont, M&K and other dining spots in the area certainly can’t complain about the address.

Nearby options:  A Sack of Potatoes, R&B Tea, Pav Bhaji Hut, Bun Appetit, East Bay Cafe Depot, De Afghanan Cuisine, Bismillah, El Patio Original, Taqueria “El Chavito,” Dino’s Family, Billy Roy’s Burger Co., Ox 9 Lanzhou Handpulled Noodles, Madhuram, Kiya Sushi, Kyain Kyain, Satomi Sushi, Gangnam Tofu House, Dosa Express, Suju’s Coffee

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Monkey King, Oakland + Alameda (two locations) | [≡]

CPBA [►]

The ancestors (on the wife’s side?) of the family that owns Monkey King left China for Vietnam during the 1930s.  After the Vietnam War, they were among the 200,000 people who fled to Hong Kong by boat between 1975 and 1999.  They made their way to the U.S., eventually settling in the Bay Area in the 1980s.  The family was in the food business in Texas earlier.  MK opened in Alameda in 2012; a counter-service location followed four years later.  The Oakland location opened in 2021.  The Monkey King is a character in Chinese mythology.  They opened Alameda Scoop in 2018.

The three locations of MK have slightly different menus.  The food reflects the family’s background—it’s Chinese with a slight Vietnamese accent and an adventurous spirit.  For a small retail business in Oakland, a Piedmont Avenue address is just the ticket.  Piedmont Avenue has one of the best restaurant rows in the Bay Area.  Note the repurposed redwood and Douglas fir furniture and wall panels.  Look up and you’ll see rows of paper crowns.

MK’s version of string beans and tofu is better than what you find at many Chinese restaurants.  The tasty salt and pepper fried pork chop is served on a bed of French fries.  The meat of the chicken wings (seven flats) is moist and perfectly cooked.  With 10 flavors, you should be able to find something to your liking.  The lemon pepper we selected has good lemon flavor.  You can also add tater tots and Chinese sausage to the wings.

Of the three fried rice dishes we sampled, the ginger and onion crab fried rice is a bit on the dry side.  We do appreciate the subtle ginger flavor.  The jambalaya fried rice is fine but not much of a twist on jambalaya.  The kimchi fried rice is noteworthy for what’s missing:  fermented cabbage.  The Vietnamese influence shows up in the garlic noodles a la Thanh Long/Crustacean.  The noodles and the fried rice dishes are not greasy or overseasoned.  Oh, and we must mention the generous portion size.  They also make a rice dish that’s inspired by the garlic butter shrimp served by shrimp trucks in Hawaii.

If you like to get your drink on, the MK jungle juice sounds as potent as Long Island iced tea because it contains four types of liquor.  If not, they also serve lemonade and ginger beer (house-made?).  When you’re here on Piedmont Avenue, you’re just steps away from two beautiful landmarks (click on the Detour tab above for details).

CPBA (Crustacean) [►] CPBA (Thanh Long) [►]
Tu David Phu (garlic noodles) [►] J. Kenji Lopez-Alt (garlic noodles) [►]
ATK/Cook’s Country (lemon pepper wings) [►]
Netflix (The Monkey King trailer) [►] Little Fox (Journey to the West) [►]

Nearby options in Oakland:  Commis, Pomet, Belotti Bottega, The Wolf, Cato’s Ale House, Fentons Creamery, The Saap Avenue, Ebiko, RnR Sushi & Bowls, Shimizu Cuisine, Fuji Summer, Mensho, Lo Coco’s, Mago, Pomella, Monsoon, Charm Thai Bistro, Thai Taste Kitchen, Raj Indian Cuisine, Holly’s Mandarin, Dona, Bar Cesar, Baja Taqueria, Me and Jungle Cafe, The Crepe Pan, Pizzeria Violetta, Barney’s Gourmet Hamburgers, Piedmont Cafe & Bakery, La Farine Bakery, Caffe Chiave, Blue Bottle Coffee, Dek Doi Cafe, Timeless Coffee, Mr. Green Bubble, Mr. Dewie’s Cashew Creamery, Piedmont Grocery

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Nature Vegetarian, Oakland | [≡]

Shutter Swoo [►]

Part 1

Like Hayward’s Veggie Lee, Nature Vegetarian is also allium-free (no garlic, onion, shallot, leek, or chive).  We felt quite satiated after sampling eight meatless dishes, which is not always the case when we go vegetarian.  You can start with the salt and pepper tofu appetizer.  Many non-vegetarian places offer this dish; what makes Nature’s version a little different is the addition of basil, red/green bell pepper, and whole chili peppers (for those who like more heat).  This kitchen does something to elevate the humble bell pepper—it tastes almost pickled.  So it’s a good thing it’s a recurring ingredient in some of the other dishes.

Nature’s shark fin soup tastes close to the real thing.  While we suspect Nature and Veggie Lee both use konjac as shark fin, this rendition has better flavor with bits of ham and mushroom.  If you’ve never had sea cucumber before (it’s not cheap and maybe you’re a little hesitant), try the veggie sea cucumber and mixed mushrooms with BBQ sauce.  Mushroom lovers will appreciate the use of shiitake, button, and what looks like king oyster.

The veggie cod fish steak and eggplant with BBQ sauce is another safe bet.  The fish actually looks and tastes closer to swordfish.  The surprise ingredient in this clay pot dish is snow fungus, more commonly used in soup.  Let’s stipulate that shrimp is the weakest link in the world of mock meat/seafood.  That said, you should still order the sauteed veggie prawns with pumpkin because the squash is nicely caramelized on the outside and there’s zucchini for a bit of crunch.  Lotus root is one of those underused vegetables, so give Nature credit for sauteeing it with snow peas and mushrooms including wood ear.

Singapore-style rice noodles is another dish you’ll find at most Cantonese restaurants.  Nature’s curry has more complexity than average.  It would be better if they use chicken instead of shrimp.  The fresh mushroom chow fun is full of wok hei.  We did learn from a TV show that you can mimic that charred, smoky flavor and aroma by using a combination of caramelized green onion, ginger, and shallots.

Nature is literally a mom-and-pop operation.  He is the chef and she works the front of the house.  They owned a non-vegetarian place at the same address years ago.  Even though Nature has been around since 2012, we never noticed it because it’s located near the edge of Oakland Chinatown where it’s the only eatery on the block.  They will resume dine-in service in November 2023.

Part 2

After we stumbled across this place last year, we decided to return for another look.  Though our latest experience is not as wonderful as last time—the first time is usually tough to beat—there were some pleasant surprises.  We ordered eight dishes again plus two “impulse” buys.

Our favorite is probably the spicy Thai fried rice (from the clay pot section).  It turns out to be a twofer because there’s a pile of spicy glass noodles on top.  The heat level is mild by Thai standard but a real kick by Cantonese standard.  We would prefer a more even ratio of rice to noodles.  We’re not sure how you cook fried rice in a (small) clay pot.  We can see why the veggie sesame chicken is so popular; it’s a solid dish marred only by a side of bland broccoli.  All they have to do is wok-char the broccoli or at the very least drizzle some of the sauce over it.

The deep-fried taro fish is for taro lovers who like that dim sum dish (deep-fried taro dumpling).  It’s basically deep-fried mashed taro in the shape of a fish.  Skip the extremely salty sauce.  The steamed tofu with sweet green mustard is fine but fails to stand out as much as our previous order.

The traditional health maintenance soup has a more pronounced herbal flavor than all the other herbal soups we sampled in the Bay Area.  It may be an acquired taste for some.  On the plus side, it has twice the volume of the other soups on the menu.  It includes snow fungus, mushrooms, goji berries, etc.  The wonton soup will not fool anyone, but at least we can say we tried these fake dumplings.  The broth is on the salty side.

The veggie roast pork (siu yuk) is served with hot mustard—not French’s mustard but more like horseradish/wasabi.  Bay Area restaurants have mostly done away with this condiment.  The veggie roast duck contains no fake meat and seems to be flavored with hoisin sauce or sweet bean sauce (to mimic the Peking duck experience?).  These are two fun appetizers.

The kitchen had just made some veggie BBQ pork buns (cha siu bao) and we just couldn’t resist.  They don’t really taste like the real thing but will grow on you (six per order).  This item is not on the regular menu.  We also picked up a pre-made whole turnip cake (daikon).  It’s not bad after you slice it and pan-fry each piece yourself.

Nearby options:  Imperial Soup, Peony Seafood, Cafe Gabriela, Battambang, Tay Ho, Classic Guilin Rice Noodles, Shooting Star Cafe, C&M Bistro, Shandong, New Gold Medal, UC Dessert

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Ok’s Deli, Oakland

Goutclout [►] MostlyChiken [►]

There are restaurants that practically discourage phone/on-line takeout orders because they disrupt the kitchen flow for dine-in customers (we’re looking at you, Sumika Grill), and then there are places like Ok’s Deli that thrive on advance orders.  The fact that Ok’s is a counter-service operation may be part of the reason.  When you order in-person, you may have to wait five to 10 minutes while they tend to the orders placed ahead of you (the person who takes your order is the same person who makes sure these orders are bagged and ready for pickup).  No big deal after our experience at Fikscue Craft BBQ in Alameda.

Of the five sandwiches we sampled, two are clear winners.  We’re happy to have found a place that serves tasty hot chicken.  The Sichuan hot chicken features Sichuan-spiced, Taiwanese-style fried chicken thigh with lettuce, crushed cucumber, sesame ginger vinaigrette, and house honey mustard on house sesame bun.  You can choose between mild and spicy; mild should be sufficient for most people.  Ok’s version has better flavor, better meat, and better bun than the celebrities-backed hot chicken chain (you know the one).  Equally tasty is the curry kabocha falafel wrap (10.5 inches long).  It’s a lavash wrap filled with kabocha falafel, house tofu and roasted tomato spread, house hummus, lettuce, cucumber, red onion, tomato, and lemon.  It has a slight kick thanks to the house chili oil.

The bread for the prosciutto and stracciatella sandwich is a 10-inch demi-baguette from Base Camp Bakery.  For some reason it smells and tastes burnt.  We couldn’t detect any sweet/tart flavor from the balsamic reduction; there’s also an extra salty flavor that’s not from the prosciutto.  Unlucky for Ok’s, we had a very good banh mi from 3 Bottled Fish just weeks before coming here.  Ok’s pork and pate banh mi pales in comparison.  It smells good, has generous filling but is otherwise unremarkable.

If you haven’t had an egg salad in a while, try the konbini egg salad sandwich (tamago sando).  It’s not the best egg salad we’ve ever had, but it’s their take on the egg sandwich sold at Japanese convenience stores (konbini).  When Food & Wine tried to recreate 7-Eleven’s version, they used Kewpie mayo, heavy cream, sugar, salt, black pepper, and butter spread on the bread.  We suspect Ok’s recipe is a little different.  Good for them for leaving the crust on, which means less food waste—it’s their own Japanese milk bread after all.

You should definitely try the sesame choco chip cookie (six inches in size).  It tastes freshly baked; the use of sesame (tahini?) puts a different spin on this classic cookie.  If you prefer thin and crispy cookies, this isn’t it.

Chef/owner Albert Ok (pronounced Oak) started a pop-up operation in 2021 and then opened this store the following year.  In addition to non-Western-style sandwiches, they make traditional fare such as Italian, turkey, ham and cheese, and roast beef.  The Web site displays some fun variations on local logos.

Trails to Oishii Tokyo (kabocha) [►] Zero Waste Life (bread crust brewing) [►]

Nearby options:  Smokin Woods BBQ, Daytrip, Co Nam, Seoul Gom Tang, Kaol Tofu & Korean BBQ, Hancook, Gangnam Jajang, Azit, Don Blanc, Moo Bong Ri, Pixiu Mala Hongtang, Kansai, Koryo Sushi, Burlap Coffee, Beauty’s Bagel Shop, Golden Gate Donuts

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Paradiso, San Leandro

CPBA [►]

Better late than never.  We first heard about this neighborhood restaurant from a local TV show 10 years ago.  We should’ve been here sooner because it serves many of the things we love—and generous portions to boot as we discovered.  Established in 1996, Paradiso prides itself on seasonality (though the summer menu we sampled doesn’t look that different from the spring menu) and sourcing (the provenance of seafood is identified; for example, Sea of Cortez calamari, Hokkaido scallops, etc.).

The sides can sometimes make or break a dish.  Some restaurants keep things simple by serving the same sides for every entree (boring).  While we don’t mind choosing sides from a list, it’s nice when each dish is already curated for you.  The two Paradiso classics we sampled definitely deserve your consideration.  The slow-braised short ribs have great flavor, and the creamy parmesan polenta and honey-glazed baby carrots are a great accompaniment.  The local petrale sole is light and served with olive oil mashed potatoes and Florentine sauteed baby spinach.  If you love scallops, you can make a substitution.

The seafood linguini (linguini frutti di mare) reminds us of the acqua pazza dish at La Casa Mia—except this white wine tomato broth is perfectly seasoned.  You get Gulf prawns, Dungeness crab meat, scallops, clams, mussels, calamari, and catch of the day.  We also enjoyed the three starters we ordered:  crispy parmesan polenta fries, lamb chops, and calamari fritti.  The rib chops are served with Caprese salad; the polenta comes with something similar in flavor profile.  The calamari starter is large enough to pass for a main dish.

The tiramisu is fine, but you know we always want stronger coffee/booze flavor.  If you see it on the menu, you should try the strawberry shortcake, a lovely combination of biscuit, macerated strawberries, and whipped cream.  They also serve pizzas, steaks, and pork chops.  There’s also a prime rib dinner on weekends.  When the food comes out promptly, it tells you the kitchen is not understaffed.  This is another well-run operation with friendly service as well.

Places like Paradiso and Oakland’s Marica don’t get the publicity they deserve because they’ve been around for a while and they don’t plate their food with tweezers.  And they’re not located in San Francisco.  There’s a small parking lot in the rear, but street parking should be fine.  Note that there’s a 10-percent charge for environmental packaging and employee benefits.  Speaking of packaging...we often wonder if kitchens serve smaller portions for to-go orders due to the size of available containers.  Well, you don’t have to worry about Paradiso because they use the biggest containers we’ve ever seen (58 oz.).  Another nice thing about one container per dish versus multiple boxes is you don’t have to figure out which boxes go with which dish.

ATK (strawberry shortcakes) [►]

Nearby options:  Moussaka Mediterranean Kitchen, Sistas Soul Food Kafe, Hanami, Chef Chen, Zocalo Coffeehouse, As Kneaded Bakery, Lucky Donuts

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The Park Street Tavern, Alameda

CPBA [►]

The Park Street Tavern, not to be confused with San Francisco’s Park Tavern, wouldn’t be out of place in North Beach.  It’s an old-fashioned Mediterranean restaurant with touches of Italy and Greece.  It’s a relatively new restaurant with a lived-in feel because this was the address for Gold Coast Grill from 1992 to 2017.  We suspect that restaurant’s customers are quite happy with its successor.  Like Albany’s Juanita & Maude, you face the bar as soon as you walk in.  We noticed a table in the bar area with a dedication (leftover from the days of GCG?).

Even people who aren’t sure about beets should order the beet and arugula salad.  The pieces of beet don’t taste earthy at all, and that honey lemon champagne vinaigrette is a winner.  There are some surprises among the five appetizers we sampled.  The grilled octopus is served with Greek garlic mashed potatoes (skordalia).  Their version of Sicilian arancini is moist and comes in a tomato sauce.  A touch of sweetness sets their calamari fritti apart thanks to caramelized onions (onion petals on the menu).  The Lefkas bruschetta uses Ionian anchovies that aren’t salty at all.  The pancetta-wrapped prawns have good flavor as expected but taste overcooked.

The sweetness of the sauteed shrimp in the capellini scampi pairs well with the lemon-garlic white wine sauce.  The beef short ribs need something to make this dish sing; using roasted potatoes and sauteed spinach doesn’t cut it.  The bone-in pork chop with crispy three-cheese polenta is a little more interesting.  The lemon torte (torta della nonna) is sweeter than we prefer.  The Greek yogurt with sour cherries is marred by medicinal-tasting syrup.

Note that there are two paintings (from the owner’s private collection) by a certain Oscar-winning actor known for his iconic portrayal of a Greek character.  One is a self-portrait and we didn’t get a good look at the other.  Enter the parking lot from Clement Avenue.  Beware of published hours by Google and others:  the dining room opens later than the bar (check official site).

ABC Localish (Anthony Q. Public Library) [►]

Nearby options:  Dragon Rouge Bistro, A-Town Pizza & Kabob House, Monkey King, McGee’s, Mama Judy Singapore Hawker, Jim’s Coffee Shop, Crispian Bakery, Coffee Cultures, Alameda Marketplace

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Peony Seafood, Oakland

CPBA [►]

As soon as we saw Peony Seafood on TV recently, we were intrigued because it appears they’ve upped their dim sum game since 2024.  After sampling 15 items, we can say it’s not in the top tier of dim sum places in the Bay Area, but we applaud this OG for trying.  Now there is a better reason to come to Peony and it’s not on the dim sum menu (more on that later).  Established in the 1990s as Restaurant Peony inside Pacific Renaissance Plaza, it took on a slightly different name after ownership change in 2013.

Let’s start with some clear winners.  The pan-fried daikon cake (not to be confused with the one with a similar name below) and typhoon shelter-style taro cake have good flavor and texture.  The latter is probably inspired by Hong Kong’s typhoon shelter seafood dishes.  Give them credit for putting salt and pepper custard tofu on the dim sum menu.  Their version is well-seasoned inside (egg filling) and out (tofu skin).  Though missing eye/ear/mouth details, the coconut rabbits are as wobbly as panna cotta and mildly sweet as expected.  Don’t use chopsticks to pick them up as they will not hold together; scoop them up with a spoon and use the piece of carrot as bottom support.  The black sesame rolls are also fine, but we should point out that we’ve never had disappointing black sesame rolls anywhere.

The shrimp dumpling (har gow) with cilantro lacks any cilantro flavor or smell.  The regular har gow and shumai are average.  We had high hopes for the crispy-fried daikon cake, an item we’ve not seen before, but it turns out to be on the greasy side.  The pandan mochi is likewise a little greasy and the sticky rice dough a bit too firm.  The oatmeal green tea roll is a little too chewy but is saved by surprise mango inside.  The shrimp red yeast rice noodle roll is one of the better renditions of this trendy rice noodle roll.  Note that the Web site’s dim sum menu is missing some items.

Since they refreshed their dim sum menu, we returned a week later to see if they did the same to the dinner menu.  Like H.L. Peninsula and some other larger Chinese restaurants, Peony has a scattered menu.  We ordered five dishes from the one-page daily specials.  On our visit this list included 30 items, some of which are already on an illustrated menu in a binder.

The highlight—and the reason you should come to Peony—is the beef fillet with custard tofu.  This dish only has three items on the plate:  beef cubes, egg tofu, and broccoli.  If you’re familiar with the use of baking soda and corn starch (velveting), you too can make the most tender beef.  But you might not be able to achieve the same clean flavor.  The first time we had this dish was in 2020 during lockdown; when we tried it again the following year, it was not as wonderful.  So we’re thrilled about its return to form.  The only difference between 2020 and 2025 is they make smaller cuts of beef now.

Try the steamed clams and eggs because they nailed the consistency of the steamed eggs.  The sauteed prawns and scallops with macadamia nuts comes with perfectly cooked shrimp and good-sized sea scallops; pine nuts or cashews would work better than macadamia nuts.  You don’t see flowering cauliflower on the menu often, so try the sauteed cauliflower with pork cheek.  The Cantonese-style fried rice with crispy rice and seafood is dry, not to mention shrimp seems to be the only seafood (what crispy rice?).

Note that there’s validated parking in the underground lot weekdays after 5 pm (except for banquets).  You can always count on us to give Check, Please! Bay Area and San Francisco Chronicle a reality check.

ATK (tenderize meat with baking soda) [►] ATK (beef ho fun [velveting in action]) [►]

Nearby options:  Pacific Renaissance Plaza (Ming’s Tasty, Gum Kuo, Sobo Ramen, Sakura Bistro Tapas & Sake Bar, Vaya Poke, i-Tea, UC Dessert), Nature Vegetarian, Shan Dong, Shooting Star Cafe, Mr Liu Noodle House, R Noodles, Tastee Steam Kitchen, Mam Hanoi, Cam Anh Deli, Poke Zone, Cafe Gabriela, Bare Knuckle Pizza, HighXII Cafe & Coffee, The Caffe by Mr. Espresso, An’s Canteen, Oakland Wonder Food Bakery, Alice Street Bakery Cafe, Boba Binge, T4, Oakland Fortune Factory

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La Perla Puerto Rican Cuisine, Castro Valley

Castro Valley Vibe [►] KTVU [►]

Ever since we watched Daisy Martinez on PBS, we wanted to try Puerto Rican food.  Puerto Rico being a U.S. territory since 1898, there are plenty of Puerto Rican restaurants on the East Coast.  Indeed, when it comes to Caribbean cuisines, Americans are most familiar with the food of Jamaica, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.  We know of two Boricua restaurants north of San Francisco.  We didn’t know about La Perla Puerto Rican Cuisine in Oakland until last year when the news broke that it would relocate to Castro Valley.  Though they are 760 miles apart, Cuban and Puerto Rican cuisines are similar for historical reasons.

Puerto Ricans love their plantains, so expect to see them on your plate.  Imagine a crab cake made with mashed plantains instead and you have an idea what mofongo looks like.  La Perla’s version seems to be all plantains and as a result is denser and firmer than a baked potato.  The potato comparison is apt because it really fills you up.  By contrast, the rendition we saw on Check, Please! Bay Area appears to be fluffy and airy (see below).  You can order mofongo with shrimp stew (camarones a la criolla), baked and shredded chicken (pollo encebollado), slow-roasted pork shoulder (pernil), or fried chicken cracklings (chicharrones de pollo).  Of the three options we sampled, our favorite is the pork.  The baked chicken and shrimp (you get five) are tasty as well.

We also ordered one combo plate with pasteles, Puerto Rico’s take on tamales.  You get banana leaf-wrapped masa stuffed with tender meat and veggie.  So far we’re loving all different versions of tamales.  For the two sides we chose seasoned rice and pigeon peas (arroz con gandules) and sweet plantains (maduros).  We’ve had better Latin rice dishes, but their maduros have better flavor than the Cuban maduros from America’s Test Kitchen we made at home.  Other sides include twice-fried plantains (tostones), turnover (empanadilla de carne, pollo, or veggie), bean stew (habichuelas), and white rice (arroz blanco).

Located inside one of the best food halls in the Bay Area, La Perla (“the pearl”) is a great addition to Castro Valley Marketplace.  It’s only been a few weeks since they opened this location, so we can’t wait for them to serve lobsters again.  We wish the chef/owner good health.  Here’s a snapshot of their Web site, which is currently inaccessible.  By the way, La Perla must be a popular name for restaurants.  We noticed there are quite a few places with the same name in Oakland alone.

CPBA (El Coqui) [►]
Daisy Cooks! (pernil/arroz con gandules) [►] Daisy Martinez (mofongo) [►]

Nearby options:  Slice House, Rigatoni’s, Luccas Italian Delicatessen, MOD Pizza, Canyons Barbeque, Genghix Asian Fusion, Tancho Japanese, iSushi, Akemi Sushi, 88 BaoBao, Phulkari Indian Cuisine, Nick the Greek, Portales Taqueria, Crazy George Taqueria, Don Jose’s Mexican, The Habit Burger Grill, The Cheese Steak Shop, Seven Hills Baking Co., Ones Cafe & Bakery, Always Yours Bakery Cafe, Bake It Up, The Posh Bagel, Philz Coffee, Tea So, Te’Amo Boba Tea x Mochi Donut, Knudsen’s Ice Creamery, Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard, See’s Candies

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Sabio on Main, Pleasanton

Sabio (introduction) [►]
Sabio on IG (cauliflower) [►] Sabio on IG (sliders) [►]
Sabio on IG (asparagus) [►] Sabio on IG (ravioli) [►]
Sabio on IG (halibut) [►] Sabio on IG (chicken) [►]

After our visit to Pleasant Hill’s Crescent Bistro, we found a place in Livermore that serves flat iron steak (both restaurants featured on Check, Please! Bay Area).  Since they don’t offer takeout, we decided to give Sabio on Main in downtown Pleasanton a try instead.  Its menu also includes deviled eggs and pork belly, but it’s just a coincidence that Sabio and CB are twinning in spring 2025.  We’ve seen a past menu from Sabio, and it was completely different.

Rick Steves is fond of saying travel is a political act; well, eating can be as well.  When you visit Sabio, you are indirectly supporting all the local producers they work with—see list below.  (Fifty-plus years after Chez Panisse, this should be the norm for Bay Area restaurants and not the exception.)  Sabio also features underused ingredients such as black garlic, quail egg, black rice, celery root, fennel pollen, and bottarga.

The Rose Ranch deviled eggs (three) are better than CB’s version because the cold-smoked Ora King salmon (from New Zealand) has a wonderful smokey flavor and the trout roe is the icing on top.  The wagyu bologna sliders (two) present bologna made with wagyu beef on brioche buns.  The apple mustard spread dominates the fried quail egg on top of the bologna.  Without something like gochujang, the Sweet Water Ranch pork belly (two) appetizer is heavier than CB’s pork belly buns (the strawberry salsa macha doesn’t quite cut through the fat).  Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, and beets are all having a moment.  The caramelized cauliflower’s mildly spicy sambal may not transport you to Southeast Asia, but it will grow on you nonetheless.

What elevates the Alaskan halibut—properly seasoned and cooked as it is—is the cast of supporting players including asparagus from Zuckerman’s Farm, celery root puree, and red frill mustard greens.  We don’t see such thick but not fibrous asparagus in our local stores; no wonder the same asparagus (available from February to May) shows up in two other dishes on the menu.  We didn’t know what to make of the lemon beurre fondue (similar to beurre monte) for the fish at first—it seemed a little bland and greasy.  After it solidified in the fridge, it tasted great as lemon butter on bread the next day.

The Flannery Beef flat iron steak is better than CB’s rendition because of higher quality meat.  It’s so well-seasoned that you don’t really need the bordelaise sauce.  The accompanying duchess potatoes side is something you don’t come across often.  The charred broccolini are properly charred—you can smell it and taste it.  Coppa roast is a rare cut of pork (not to be confused with the ham-like coppa), so try the dry-aged pork coppa roast.  It’s served with cherry-balsamic jus, roasted cipollini onions, and Happy Acre Farm escarole.

Of the three desserts we sampled, the clear winner is the lemon ricotta cake with poached rhubarb and vanilla whipped cream (creme Chantilly).  The chocolate profiteroles (three) with dark chocolate gelato, milk chocolate ganache, banana brulee, and candied hazelnuts will delight your kids.  You can skip the PB&J donuts (three).  They’re not sweet and neither is the peanut butter glaze (more like streusel).  On the other hand, we find the strawberry dip a little too sweet.  It’s actually J&E Family Farm’s strawberry preserves; you can go to their Brentwood farm and pick your own strawberries when they’re in season.  Cheese lovers should note that there’s a California cheese plate on the dessert menu.  (Check out our popular cheese guide.)

We appreciate how they list a recommended wine pairing for each of the six entrees on the menu:  three from Wine Country, one from Southern California, one from Oregon, and one from Italy.  Sabio is Spanish for “a wise person” or “sage.”  This restaurant might have had a Spanish touch when it opened in 2015.  Like Belmont’s Iberia and Redwood City’s Alhambra Irish House, there’s a 10-percent service fee for takeout orders.  Starting July 2025, California restaurants and other food services must display these surcharges clearly and conspicuously (the “junk fee” law).  Chef/partner Francis Hogan contributed two recipes (one of which being a cauliflower dish) to a 2019 compilation by Carolyn Jung.

Deadwood Gourmet Mushrooms, Tracy | Diane’s quail eggs, Sunol | Flannery Beef, San Rafael | Happy Acre Farm, Sunol | Iacopi Farms, Half Moon Bay | J&E Family Farm, Brentwood | Miss Bee Haven, Brentwood | Rose Ranch Eggs, Livermore | Sweet Water Farm & Ranch Co., Columbia (Tuolumne Co.) | Zuckerman’s Farm, Stockton

ATK (grill-smoked flat iron steaks) [►] ATK (duchess potato casserole) [►]

Nearby options:  Naschmarkt, Tri Valley Bistro, Bocado, Locanda Amalfi, Strizzi’s, Baci Bistro & Bar, Pastas Trattoria, Chianti’s Ristorante, Nonni’s Bistro, Lokanta Grill & Bar, Elia, Wild One Grill, Oyo, Blue Agave Club, India Garden, Frontier Spice, Experience Burma, Andy & Yu’s, Ramen 101, Beer Baron Whiskey Bar & Kitchen, Hap’s Original Steaks & Seafood, Downtown Cafe, Koffee Time, Zachary’s Chicago Pizza, New York Pizza, Le Palais Sucre, The RoyalTEA Garden, Inklings Coffee & Tea, Primrose Bakery, Meadowlark Dairy, Almare Gelato Italiano, Icicles

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Simurgh Bakery & Cafe, Emeryville | [♀]

CPBA [►]

Compared with other Turkish restaurants, Simurgh Bakery & Cafe is more casual and offers some uncommon dishes.  Take the eggs in a hole (not to be confused with egg in the basket or toad in the hole) from the all-day breakfast menu.  It's a Turkish bagel (simit) sandwich with two fried eggs, beef sausage (sujuk), and cheese.  The sujuk and simit have good flavor.  This dish is served with spring mix salad plus tomato and cucumber on the side.

We also sampled three of the lunch/dinner plates.  The Simurgh kebab includes Balkan-style kebabs over pita bread topped with ajvar sauce.  We expected the bread to be soaked with meat juices like Iskender kebab at other Turkish places but that’s not how they do it here.  This plate comes with a side of yogurt (labneh) and grilled shishito peppers.  The chicken rice pilaf bowl consists of grilled chicken, radish, cucumber, tomatoes, red cabbage, ajvar sauce and labneh sauce.  The ajvar sauce kind of dominates these two dishes.  We’re thrilled to see the Georgian cheese bread (khachapuri) on the menu.  Simurgh’s version is larger and saltier than the two Georgian places we visited in the Bay Area.  The kitchen uses a combination of Oaxaca, ricotta, feta, and Monterey Jack cheeses (too much salty feta?).  If you top the bread with the accompanying spring mix salad and tomato, each bite should feel a little less salty.

Most restaurants serve one of two kinds of baklava:  with pistachios or walnuts.  Try the chocolate baklava here (it’s not too sweet).  They make their own phyllo dough.  The honey cake with hazelnut and strawberry is drier than expected.  The icing has a cream cheese texture like carrot cake icing.  The chocolate tahini walnut cookie is disappointing.  The cookie itself lacks chocolate flavor; there’s also a soapy taste due to too much baking soda.  You get a drizzle of tahini on top of the cookie—that’s not how you bake with tahini (see below for a much better use of tahini).  The only good thing is the nice walnut bits.

Located just around the corner from the Pixar headquarters, Simurgh (a Persian mythological bird) must be popular with the employees there.  Hey, maybe Pixar’s animators could render a simurgh in the future.

Milk Street (tahini swirl brownies) [►]

Nearby options:  Arizmendi Bakery, Los Cantaros Taqueria, Wally’s Cafe, Miyozen, Rob Ben’s, Lanesplitter Pizza & Pub, Ruby’s Can’t Fail Cafe, Doyle Street Cafe

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Stay Gold Deli, Oakland

CPBA [►]

A week after we visited Capelo’s Barbecue in Redwood City, we stopped by another Central Texas-style barbecue place—and that’s the end of our barbecue tour.  Stay Gold Deli opened in West Oakland in 2016; a second location on Shattuck Avenue closed in 2021.  We sampled two of their BBQ plates.  The beef brisket has a thin layer of melt-in-your-mouth fat on top.  All our pieces look like they came from the flat cut, which is leaner than the point cut.  The meat is tender enough that we can assume they cooked it to 205°F (watch Cook’s Country video below).  We doubt anyone could find major fault with SG’s rendition.

The pork ribs are completely different from Capelo’s version.  Central Texas barbecue can’t be that diverse, can it?  For starters, SG uses baby back ribs—you know, the kind celebrated in that Chili’s TV jingle.  Baby back ribs have a small bone as opposed to the much bigger one associated with St. Louis-style spareribs.  The ribs (six pieces) are falling-off-the-bone tender.  We can taste the black pepper from SG’s dry rub while Capelo’s ribs have a “typical” barbecue flavor.  We’ll let pitmasters and Central Texas transplants debate who’s the authentic representative.  We kind of like the fact that Capelo’s and SG are so different.

To sauce or not to sauce?  Since they gave us two BBQ sauces with each plate, why not?  The mildly spicy and sweet mustard sauce (no, it’s not honey mustard) complements the brisket and ribs.  The ketchup-based red sauce is also mildly spicy.

Kudos to the kitchen for taking the bite out of the raw onions that come with the BBQ plates.  We also appreciate the old-school side of white bread.  Like Capelo’s, each plate comes with two sides of your choice.  We find the collard greens too vinegary; we do welcome the bits of meat.  The coleslaw is fine.  Though the Texas beans are a little soupy, they do have good flavor.  The mac and cheese yielded the biggest surprise:  they use conchigliette/shell instead of macaroni/elbow.  Cool.

Since this is also a deli, we opted to sample two sandwiches.  You should be happy with SG’s Reuben sandwich.  It looks deceptively small because they press it down like a panino, which makes it easier to eat.  It’s quite filling because of all that pastrami (made by a third party).  We have mixed feelings about the meatball sandwich.  One of the five meatballs has a mealy texture and tastes preserved.  Maybe its smaller size meant it got over-smoked?  The other four taste normal.  We also sampled the veggie sliders (three per order).  Because we didn’t eat them immediately, the smoked tofu got a little soggy, but the whole thing is still a nice break from all the meat.

Never judge a book by its cover.  If you are an oenophile, check out SG’s not-so-secret wine cellar.  The name of this restaurant is a reference to The Outsiders, the Francis Ford Coppola film and novel by S.E. Hinton.  The musical based on the film/novel won four Tonys in 2024, including best musical.

Somewhere South (barbecue episode trailer) [►] ATK/Cook’s Country (Texas barbecue brisket) [►] ATK (barbecued spareribs) [►]
The Outsiders (2021 trailer) [►] Stay Gold [►] Stay Gold [►]

Nearby options:  Shinmai, Plenty, Yoyo Momoss, Curry Up Now, World Famous Hotboys

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3 Bottled Fish, Oakland | [♀]

Google Street View

Part 1

In a perfect world, some of the millions of Americans who flocked to see Barbie last year would make a point to watch a few art-house pictures.  Some of the fans who attended Taylor Swift’s Eras tour would go to small venues such as The Fillmore.  And some of the people who waited in line for hours at Fikscue Craft BBQ in Alameda would visit an unassuming neighborhood cafe like 3 Bottled Fish.  We don’t like it when the culinary world feels out of balance.  But we digress....

There are Vietnamese restaurants that want to be young and hip and grammable (Phozilla, anyone?), and then there’s 3BF, where it appears chef/owner Paulette Tran is the only employee (at least during our visit).  You should probably order everything on the menu because it’s a short one.  Maybe it’s because we last had a Vietnamese sandwich quite a while ago, but the sausage and pate banh mi is simply delicious.  Since she ran out of chicken, she substituted with house-made sausage (we doubt it could’ve been better with chicken).  The rice noodle salad with sausage and wild betel leaves (bun nem nuong/la lot) is refreshing and equally tasty.  Like a salad of raw vegetables, the summer rolls (goi cuon) with shrimp and pork belly don’t have a strong flavor.  But they are the ideal starter on hot summer days.  Her version of nuoc cham, the quintessential Vietnamese dipping sauce, is the perfect combination of sweet, sour, salty, and spicy.

If you see it on the menu, try the lotus iced tea (tra da), which is brewed with lotus leaves.  Before 3BF, we’ve only seen dishes cooked in lotus leaves.  It tastes slightly bitter as tea should be.  It doesn’t taste sweetened, which is a refreshing choice when you consider all the places with sweetened teas and such.  Don’t confuse this drink with lotus-scented green tea or tra sen.  Note that the lotus is Vietnam’s national flower.  We also sampled the passion fruit spritzer, a non-alcoholic drink made with Topo Chico mineral water (not really sweet).  Does she serve any sweet drink at all?  We did notice the espresso with condensed milk on the menu, which changes weekly.  She’s made pho, porridge, and broken rice in the past.

We love unusual restaurant tchotchkes.  You’ll recall that miniature model at Joyful Dimsum Bistro in Fremont.  Well, under the mounted TV here are two IKEA art cards featuring the same Vietnamese artist.  Located on a residential street in the Fruitvale neighborhood, 3BF is only open for lunch—just like Fikscue two miles away.  You can still find 3BF on Sundays at the Stonestown farmers market in San Francisco.

Part 2

It’s good to be back at this hole-in-the-wall cafe.  Coming here is always a roll of the dice.  That’s because we don’t have an account on Instagram, which is where you find 3BF updates.  For all we knew, Tran could’ve decided to close shop that Saturday and join the millions of protesters.  Lots of folks out there love to support small, family-run businesses.  Well, the chef/owner is the only employee working in the open kitchen, so you can’t get much smaller than that.

We devoured our banh mi so fast last time that we didn’t notice she doesn’t use Vietnamese baguette, which means you should eat it right away as French baguette turns crusty and dry quickly.  The two seven-inch banh mi we sampled are not as good as last year’s sausage and pate.  The pork belly and jam does have a mildly sweet note that makes it unusual; we’ve had better chicken and pate.  The highlight of this visit is the pork with cold vermicelli (bun nem nuong).  The thin pork roll wrapped in wild betel leaf (heo/bo nuong la lot) is tasty and the rice noodles are fresh as can be.  Let’s hope there’s porridge next time.

We love how she always curates some interesting drinks.  The pennywort juice (rau ma) is grassy, slightly bitter, and surprisingly refreshing with ice cubes.  If you add a little bit of honey or agave, your kids might like it.  Of course, adventurous little diners should like it as is.  The espresso with condensed milk (ca phe sua da) is not a caffeine bomb and the condensed milk is used sparingly.  It’s not for people who love the typical dessert-sweet Vietnamese/Thai iced coffee.

We returned partly to get the ID of the artist.  His name is Nguyen Thanh Binh; the print we like is Girls With Lotus Flowers.  We doubt IKEA sells these art cards anymore since they were printed in 2006.  Talk to Tran about the books and albums on display.  In the meantime, check out Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam and Michele Bernhardt’s Colorstrology book.

ATK (goi cuon) [►] ATK (bun cha with nuoc cham) [►] Diem Nauy (bo nuong la lot) [►]
Lost in Emotion [►] Point of No Return [►] Because of You [►]

Nearby options:  Pizza Guys, Vientian Cafe, Donut Savant, CocoBreeze, Foothill Blvd., International Blvd.

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Vientian Cafe, Oakland | [♀]

Living in Oakland Calif. [►] That One Dish [►]

Vientian Cafe serves Lao, Thai, and Vietnamese food (Vientiane is the capital of Laos).  You can guess which one we’re interested in.  But since this is our first visit, we didn’t order only Lao dishes.  It turns out you can order dinner items all day, which implies you can order lunch items all day as well.  The biggest surprise is they didn’t ask us to specify the spice level for any of the nine dishes we ordered.  Well, every dish is indeed not spicy or only mildly spicy.

The most intriguing item is the fermented fish fillet with tomato sauce, ginger, and onion (som pa), a Lao dish we’ve not encountered previously.  It tastes like pickled and salted fish, which admittedly doesn’t sound very appetizing.  But if you like pickles and anchovy, give it a try.  It’s salty and tangy like Norwegian rakfisk but without the strong aroma.  Unlike other Southeast Asian restaurants,  VC prepares that banana leaf-wrapped mousse-like dish using either catfish (mok pa) or chicken (mok gai).  Fish still works best, but there’s chicken for people who don’t eat fish.  Because this steamed curry dish is molded and compacted, its small size belies the fact that you can make two servings out of it.

The deep-fried rice with ground pork and fermented pork (nam khao) is not as unusual as it seems.  Enjoy this salad with the lettuce as a wrap.  We’ve had this dish twice now, and while we like it, we don’t like it as much as mok pa or as much as San Francisco Chronicle—they devoted a whole article to it.  The Lao pork sausage (sai oua) is good as always.  You can skip the angel wings; they’re not stuffed despite the name—just some bland deep-fried flats with a sweet chili sauce.  The pumpkin curry with seafood is fine but not a standout.  VC’s take on pad thai has a pleasantly sweet note that makes it very different from the Thai standard.  The pineapple fried rice is actually not bad; it’s not the dish you find at some Americanized Asian restaurants but more like a version of Thai fried rice.  You can have your choice of protein for these last two dishes.

If VC feels extra homey, well, it occupies the first floor of a converted house in the Allendale neighborhood.  Chef/owner Chanhla Phannavong and her husband purchased the 2,800 sq. ft. corner house in 1996; they opened the restaurant six years later.  Their eldest daughter is in charge of the place now.  They probably still live upstairs.  They now have a sister restaurant in Alameda called Mekong Kitchen.  Here’s how East Bay Express talks about the history of Lao food in the East Bay (meet James Syhabout below).  To paraphrase James Brown, say it Lao.

PBS News Hour (Lao chef) [►] Lucky Chow (James Syhabout) [►]

Nearby options:  3 Bottled Fish, Pizza Guys, Donut Savant, CocoBreeze, Foothill Blvd., International Blvd.

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Yummy Grill Afghan Kabob House, Oakland | [≡]

Google Street View

We don’t believe we’ve ever been to a disappointing Afghan restaurant in the Bay Area—that makes Afghan cuisine pretty unique in our opinion.  Located in a run-of-the-mill strip mall in the Fruitvale neighborhood, Yummy Grill Afghan Kabob House offers the usual suspects.  The lamb shank pilaf (kabuli palaw) features tender and moist meat that should convert any lamb doubter.  Try the grilled salmon plate if you don’t eat meat.  The grilled eggplant plate should satisfy eggplant lovers and vegetarians.  The veggie (potato and peas) samosa appetizer (two per order) is light and greaseless and comes with a spicy green chutney.  The milk pudding (ferni) and cheesecake are fine.

For a counter-service place, they have a special table that’s decked out like an Afghan sitting room (you should probably remove your shoes).  Note that there’s a three-percent surcharge for credit card use.

Nearby options:  iLava Hawaiian Barbecue, Pupusas Salvadorenas, Lee’s Donuts, Churros Guerrero, Krispy Krunchy Chicken (inside Exxon), Tacos El Gordo, Tacos Guadalajara

Past Featured Restaurants

Al Forat Market, Sunnyvale

Sisters Forever [►]

We’ve been to at least a couple of markets where they do some cooking on the side.  Al Forat Market is the first one worth talking about.  The owner is from Iraq, and the limited menu consists of grilled chicken, beef, and some lamb.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have chicken thigh or drumsticks when we visited.  So we sampled the other two chicken items, one beef, two lamb, and some vegetables.

To our surprise the best thing is the ground chicken kebab.  This moist and flavor-packed chicken may be the best ground chicken we’ve ever had (granted, we don’t order ground chicken much).  The boneless breast (Lahori chicken tikka) is a little dry.  The lamb loin chops and New York steak are somewhat overdone—and we’re not the type into bloody meats.  The same goes for the lamb liver, which we don’t come across often (you can also order lamb kidney or heart).  The mixed veggies are properly grilled.  You get the usual tomato, onion, bell pepper, and something unexpected:  chili pepper (jalapeno or serrano).  Compared with Persian and Afghan places, Al Forat uses stronger seasoning or just more salt.

We appreciate how they put everything in one convenient aluminum tray for to-go orders.  They give you a lot of bread, some of which lines the tray and soaks up all the meat juices.  Unlike Persian and Afghan restaurants, this market does not serve any rice.  Located at the intersection of Fremont Avenue and El Camino Real, this place is kind of tucked away if you’re going north/west on El Camino Real because you can’t turn left onto Fremont.  There’s more parking in the rear.

And now for the best part...the owner is opening a sit-down restaurant with an expanded menu next-door in December 2023.  Let’s hope it’ll be the first (?) Iraqi restaurant in the South Bay.  There was an Iraqi place in San Francisco (watch below).

CPBA (Jannah) [►]

Nearby options:  Radhe Chaat, Chutneys Udupi Fusion, Chaat Bhavan, Chelokakabi, Abhiruchi, Chaat House, Sakebomb Oyster Bar & Izakaya, Sunright Tea Studio, Cold Stone Creamery

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Arepas Latin Cuisine, San Jose + San Francisco | [♀]

Pana [►]

Colombia and Venezuela are two neighbors located in the northernmost region of South America.  Arepas are popular in the cuisine of both countries.  So when you see arepas in the name of a restaurant, you can expect either Colombian or Venezuelan food.  The co-owner of Arepas Latin Cuisine is from Venezuela.  It was only a few months ago when we visited our first Honduran restaurant.  Now we can check Venezuela off the list. It’s not everyday we run across a Venezuelan place, so we ordered 10 items.

Arepas are either grilled or deep-fried; what matters most is the filling for these corn cakes (similar to gorditas).  ALC offers 15 different fillings; the braised pork (cochinita) and grilled shrimp (camaron) we sampled are both good.  Other fillings include beef, chicken, and vegetarian options.  The house fried rice (arroz de la casa) is a nice break from Spanish rice.  It’s served with French fries and you get a generous amount of shrimp, chicken, and beef.

The pastry for the turnovers (empanadas) has a hint of sweetness.  The fillings are not too salty; the best is pabellon (a mix of beef, black beans, and other ingredients?).  The fresh cheese (queso blanco) they use for the cheese sticks (tequenos) is like cheese curd—not quite melty.  They’re served with a mayo type house sauce.  The fried calamari is the only item that fails to deliver.  Maybe the kitchen was low on squid because we got mostly batter bits and not much squid.  The sweet/tart/spicy dip can only help so much when there’s no there there.  The blood sausage (morcilla) is not as good as the Portuguese version at Petiscos.

Two unexpected items on the menu are the Caesar salad and beet salad.  The latter would be better with bigger pieces of beet and a more distinct beet dressing.  The creme caramel (quesillo) is denser than Mexican flan.  More interesting is the coconut-based cake (bienmesabe), which lives up to its Spanish name (“tastes good to me”).  Their version is like tres leches cake, which is also on the menu.

ALC’s address near Willow Glen Elementary School has a taco history:  it was the site of Tacomania and Tac-Oh! before that.  Like a San Carlos place we visited recently, this kitchen is poorly ventilated.

Nearby options in San Jose:  Bill’s Cafe, El Halal Amigos, La Callejera Colombian Food, Aqui, Copita Tequileria y Comida, Taqueria El Abuelo, Puerto Azul, Bertucelli’s La Villa Gourmet, Yuki Sushi, Sushi Arashi, Tarah Thai Kitchen, Taiwan, Black Sheep Brasserie, The Table, John’s, Siena Bistro, Opa!, Nick the Greek, Crepevine, Dolce Sicilia Cafe, Vitality Bowls, Willow Street Pizza & Taproom, Jake’s, Pizza My Heart, Noah’s NY Bagels, Manley’s Donut Shop, 20twenty Cheese Bar, Philz Coffee, Lilikoi Boba, SusieCakes, Mariette Chocolates, Willow Glen Creamery, Icicles, Baskin-Robbins

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Azuma Japanese, San Jose + Cupertino

Cupertino’s Azuma Japanese Cuisine has been around since the 1980s.  Azuma Japanese Sushi is their second location inside San Jose’s Downtown Food Hall; it’s like the express version of the Cupertino flagship with a limited menu.  There was another Azuma in San Jose that closed in 2019.

Opened in 2024, Downtown Food Hall is San Jose’s third food hall after the nearby San Pedro Square Market and SoFA Market.  With some food halls all vendors have their own stalls that are visible to visitors.  With others you don’t see them at all until they come out of a ghost kitchen with your food.  This one is a hybrid because you do see three vendors and their kitchens (Azuma being one of them) and the rest are all cooking inside a shared kitchen behind a locked door.  Even though most of the DFH vendors share the same electronic ordering system, you can’t order from multiple vendors and check out with one bill.

As far as we can tell, there’s no such thing as a “standard” version of what’s called bubble bubble roll.  We presume the name implies this dish is sometimes served hot or warm.  If you like casseroles as much as we do, order Azuma’s bubble bubble roll, which is baked California roll topped with scallop and tobiko.  The whole thing, still wrapped in aluminum foil, is creamy and slightly sweet and surprisingly comforting.  We don’t keep up with sushi trends, but we hear steak sushi or cooked beef on top of rice became a thing stateside a few years ago.  Azuma’s rendition has the generic name of BBQ roll.  You get two pieces of shrimp tempura bookending a series of rolls with crab meat and cucumber topped with broiled steak (they use a butane torch to brown the meat).  The steak itself is average, but this is a good value considering the portion size.

Soft shell crab season generally runs from May through September.  We suspect most restaurants serve previously frozen specimen, especially if it appears on the menu year-round.  Try the soft shell crab tempura if you’ve never had crab without its exoskeleton.  The meat has decent flavor; the portion is more substantial than expected.  They use quality tofu for the agedashi tofu.  San Jose Tofu Co. closed in 2018, so we’d like to know where they source their tofu these days.  The last two items are served with green onion and spicy grated daikon.  The special dipping sauce for the tofu is more like a salty broth, which explains why the tofu batter is underseasoned.

We couldn’t tell if the shitake maki is made with fresh or dried mushrooms.  The end result is slightly sweet and tasty.  We expected the spicy inari to be a combination of rice and tuna; it turned out to be all tuna (not spicy and a bit too salty).  The tamago is clearly premade omelet but still good.

The lone employee does a better job with presentation than Umi Hand Roll Bar at SoFA Market.  The good news is you now have these two express places to get your sushi on in San Jose.

Nearby options in San Jose (south of Santa Clara):  Downtown Food Hall (Nippon Curry, House of Tiffins, MYSelera Bistro, Masala Pizza, El Apartamento Colombian Burgers), Elyse, The City Fish, The Club on Post, Com Ga Nam An, Tofoo Com Chay Vegetarian Cuisine, Angkor Chef, Sa By Thai, Fuji, Mezcal, Angelou’s Mexican Grill, Tostadas, Punjab Cafe, Indian Curry’s Carnival, Kali Noodles & Tea Bar, Paper Plane, Good Karma Fine Ales Food, Skewers & Brew, Scratch Cookery, Lee’s Sandwiches, City Bagels, Mountain Mike’s Pizza, The Last Round Tavern, Milk Belly Bakery, Pastelaria Adega, Insomnia Cookies, Paleta Planeta, Cream, San Pedro Square Market, SoFA Market

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BN Chicken, Santa Clara

By now you should’ve been to Oakland’s Imperial Soup to enjoy its various restorative soups.  Well, for another alternative to chicken soup, come on down to BN Chicken and sample its signature ginseng chicken soup (samgyetang).  In South Korea, they consume this soup as a way to beat the heat.  We prefer a bowl of hot soup when the temperature dips.  While a young chicken is used in this dish’s home country, U.S. restaurants often go with Cornish game hen.  The chicken is always stuffed with sticky rice.  BN offers four versions of this herbal soup, including black garlic, perilla seeds, and red ginseng.  Black garlic tastes like prune; you can eat it as a snack or cook with it.  (Try this recipe from Nerds With Knives.  We recommend adding more black garlic.  If you make your own hummus, add some black garlic next time.)

BN has a limited menu, which makes ordering a simple task.  For something other than chicken, try the seafood noodle soup (kalguksu), which contains crab, shrimp, mussel, clams, squid, and aehobak (Korean zucchini).  They use flat noodles about half the width of Chinese chow fun noodles.  Both samgyetang and kalguksu are large enough for two people to share.

Are you in camp tonkatsu or camp chicken katsu?  It doesn’t really matter because you should be happy with BN’s version of chicken katsu.  You get a generous portion that comes with salad and rice.  The two dipping sauces are good as well (one similar to Worcestershire sauce and one similar to ketchup).  Modern Korean cuisine has some Japanese influence since this country was under Japanese occupation for 35 years.

Though BN does not specialize in Korean fried chicken, its chicken wings do have good flavor.  You get three flats and three drumettes.  One quibble is they should leave the wings in the fryer a tad longer because the drumette’s bone is still red, which doesn’t necessarily mean the meat is not cooked to the proper temperature (165°F).

Since the soups here are so flavorful and comforting, you should stop by this mom-and-pop restaurant anytime of the year.  Their other specialty is a spicy chicken stew (dak-dori-tang/dak-bokkeum-tang).  Opened since 2011, this is the kind of place that we hope will be around for a while.

Eater (ginseng chicken soup) [►] Maangchi (ginseng chicken soup) [►] Korean Bapsang (ginseng chicken soup) [►]
ATK (chicken katsu) [►]

Nearby options:  Sushi O Sushi, Friendship BBQ, Malabar Coast, AappaKadai, Lee’s Kitchen, Beastea, Maiwand Market, Paradise Biryani Pointe, Choc Cookies, Truya Sushi, Mapo BBQ, ShaQ, Jang Su Jang, Paris Baguette, Brundavan, Seorai Korean BBQ, TTobongee Chicken, Chungdam, Happy Sushi, Tong Soon Garden, Shu’s Korean, Dae Bak, See’s Candies, SGD Tofu House, Teaspoon, Roll House, Honeyberry, Ulavacharu Tiffins

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La Casa Mia, Santa Clara + Milpitas

CPBA [►]

In Japan, yoshoku is food inspired by Western cooking (click on the Detour tab above for more details).  La Casa Mia is the first Bay Area restaurant devoted to itameshi, the Japanese take on Italian food.  So here’s your chance to try Italian dishes with a Japanese twist.

LCM offers a handful of pizzas. We sampled the most Japanese-sounding one on the menu.  The mentaiko mayo mochi cheese pizza is just as good as any pie we’ve had at Italian restaurants.  The salted pollock roe isn’t really spicy and works well with the tomato sauce.  The pieces of mochi give the pizza extra crunch in addition to the tasty Japanese sausage (arabiki?).  We couldn’t see or taste the potato or greens.  Their pizza oven may look like a toaster oven, but you can’t argue with the results.

There are about 10 pasta dishes to choose from; they make their own pasta (spaghetti and tagliatelle as far as we can tell).  The best part of the Wagyu meat sauce pasta with pork cutlet is the meat sauce.  The tonkatsu portion is rather bland.  This is our first time ever sampling acqua pazza, so we’re not certain how LCM’s poached seafood differs from the traditional recipe.  The sea bream, mussels, clams, and octopus are not overcooked, but the salty broth could use more white wine or acidity.

The rice croquettes in tomato sauce is their version of arancini/suppli.  The flavorful tomato sauce pulls the whole thing together, and this dish puts some Italian places to shame.  The honey mustard fried chicken is good as far as boneless fried chicken goes (they use skin-on dark meat).  It’s a cross between karaage and Hawaiian-style fried chicken.  The honey mustard could be a little less sweet and more acidic.

Don’t miss the desserts made by sister bakery Ikuka.  Our favorites are the matcha tiramisu and strawberry short cake.  The kabocha burnt Basque cheesecake has pieces of squash on top, giving an autumnal feel in the middle of spring.  Too bad they ran out of Mont Blanc.

The family that owns LCM has built quite an empire:  five restaurants in seven locations.  It started with Sumika Grill in Los Altos in 2006.  Then came Orenchi Ramen in Santa Clara four years later.  LCM opened next to Orenchi in 2022 and in Milpitas two years later.  In 2023, they added Ikuka (Imo Kuri Kabocha) and another Orenchi at State Street Market in Los Altos.  (Click on the Detour tab above for other food halls.)  The latest restaurant is Ogiku in Redwood City in 2023.  There were two Orenchi locations in San Francisco and Redwood City that opened in the 2010s and closed in 2022/2023.  Orenchi and La Casa Mia mean “my house” in Japanese and Italian, respectively.

Trails to Oishii Tokyo (mentaiko) [►] ATK (pesce all’acqua pazza) [►]
CPBA (Sumika Grill) [►]

Nearby options in Santa Clara:  Orenchi Ramen, The Stand, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, Anjappar Chettinad, Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House, JX Cuisine, ChiMek, Pho Lyfe, Tous les Jours, New Delhi Chaat, Margarita’s Taqueria, Cooking Cooking, Bay Area Pizza

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Doppio Zero, Mountain View + Campbell + Concord + San Carlos + San Francisco

CPBA [►]

Oh, they grow up so fast.  When we first visited this southern Italian restaurant, there was the original in Mountain View (2014) and a second location in Cupertino (closed in 2020).  Since then they’ve opened branches in San Francisco (2018), Concord (2020), San Carlos (2023), and Campbell (2024).

Downtown Mountain View has gone through some changes as well.  It was one of the first downtowns in the Bay Area to receive a makeover decades ago—a successful one we might add.  In 2016, the Mountain View City Council voted to close Castro Street to traffic at Central Expy.  By 2018, despite opposition from business owners, this plan gained momentum because of funding from Measure B and the fact that Caltrain tracks were due to be electrified in four years.

Nothing got things moving like a little pandemic.  Starting in June 2020, the first three blocks of Castro (from Evelyn Avenue to California Street) were closed to traffic—now with overwhelming support from businesses.  Well, the Castro Street Pedestrian Mall is here to stay.  When we visited one Saturday night (two weeks before Christmas 2023), downtown Mountain View was teeming with people like the glory days of indoor malls—and it wasn’t even 5:30 yet.  Downtown merchants must be pleased.  This new arrangement does present a roadblock for drivers (more on that later).

Doppio Zero’s menu is about the same as before (they used to have a pasta dish with bottarga).  We purposely avoided items we’d sampled years ago.  Of the nine dishes we ordered this time, our favorite is the seafood pasta (Marechiaro).  Named after a village in Naples, anything Marechiaro-style refers to a tomato-based pasta sauce for seafood.  DZ’s version is mildly spicy.  It must be the combination of roasted garlic and tomato that makes the house-made squid ink tagliolini so delicious.  The clams are perfectly cooked.

The three small plates we ordered (generous portions) are worth ordering again.  We’re a little biased when it comes to beets, but DZ’s light and refreshing beets should convert people who don’t like them.  The toasted hazelnuts and truffle stracciatella are the cherry on top.  Deep-fried calamari is a dish available everywhere in the U.S.  Before its takeover, restaurants probably served a lot of deep-fried shrimp.  Give DZ credit for serving the two together.  The grilled octopus (polpo alla griglia) is gradually taking over like calamari before it.  The octopus leg is served with what amounts to a small arugula salad.  They need to take the bite out of the raw onion.

The name of this restaurant refers to the flour they use to make pizza in Italy.  00 flour is finely ground and has a lower protein content than our all-purpose flour.  The resulting dough is tender and toothsome at the same time.  The sausage (salsiccia) pizza and mushroom (fungo) pizza are fine.  Unlike Redwood City’s Vesta, whose pizza crust is equally limp when you pick up a slice with your hand, DZ’s crust is not bland at least.  Since we didn’t grow up on Neapolitan pizzas, we don’t know if we’ll ever get used to the limp crust.

Like Holder’s Country Inn in Cupertino, DZ updates its site with daily specials.  If you see branzino on the menu, try it.  You get two pan-seared sea bass fillets with sauteed broccolini and fregula, a Sardinian pasta similar to couscous.  The ubiquitous tiramisu and cannolo are both quite good.  We would like a stronger coffee flavor for the tiramisu.

Kudos to DZ for using extra deep 32-oz. rectangular black boxes made by Food Packers (?).  And we’ve seen plenty of boxes since 2020.  For an extremely busy location, the food comes out fast and perfectly packaged.  This is clearly a well-run operation with friendly service to boot.

Compared with other pandemic-driven street closures in Redwood City and Palo Alto, downtown Mountain View feels more disruptive for drivers.  If you take the Moffett Blvd. exit off US 101, beware that you can no longer go straight into downtown as Moffett turns into Castro.  Instead you’ll have to take a detour by turning right onto Central Expy. and taking Shoreline Blvd. South.  Since Castro’s side streets are not closed to traffic, you can take Evelyn and turn onto Castro/Moffett when you leave.  We never realized how narrow the side streets are until now.  Keep that in mind if you drive a big SUV.  There’s a large parking structure (Lot 1) behind DZ on Bryant Street.

ATK/Cook’s Country (crispy fried shrimp) [►]

Nearby options in Mountain View:  Oren’s Hummus, Hummus Mediterranean Kitchen, Cafe Baklava, Mediterranean Grill House, Photochau 999, Yugen Ramen, Udon Mugizo, Mifen101, Sushi Tomi, Masa Sushi, KakaRoto, La Fontaine, Cascal, Vida Tapas y Cocteles, Vaso Azzurro, Don Giovanni, Ludwigs Biergarten, Steins Beer Garden, QBB - Quality Bourbons & Barbecue, St. Stephen’s Green, Amarin Thai Cuisine, Fu Lam Mum, Asian Box, Poke Bar, Casa Lupe, Fiesta del Mar Too, Taqueria la Espuela, Sakoon, Bay Biryanis, Sweetgreen, Blue Line Pizza, Happy Lamb Hot Pot, Superhot Hot Pot & Korean BBQ, Crepevine, Dana Street Roasting Co., 1 Oz Coffee, Olympus Caffe & Bakery, Red Rock Coffee, Ava’s Downtown Market & Deli, Alexander’s Patisserie, Maison Alyzee, Hong Kong Bakery, Paris Baguette, Gelato Classico Italian Ice Cream, Icicles

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Duc Huong Sandwiches, San Jose (four locations)

LifeOfBD [►]

You don’t have to go to a national chain for a large sandwich under $10 in 2025.  There are plenty of Vietnamese sandwich shops that offer a lot of bang for your buck.  Vietnamese baguette—banh mi refers to both the bread and the sandwich—is softer than the French original.  It also doesn’t dry out and become super crusty the next day.  Duc Huong Sandwiches is quite popular.  We can think of two reasons why:  the quality of the sandwiches and a buy-four (large)-get-one-free deal.  We don’t know about the other locations, but the Alum Rock store is takeout only.  It was busy a little after 5 pm on a Saturday and around 3 pm on a weekday.  We sampled six of their 20 sandwiches.

No. 2 - cold cuts combo (dac biet [“special”])
No. 7 - grilled pork and fried egg (trung thit nuong)
No. 8 - steamed pork loaf, Chinese sausage, and fried egg (trung lap xuong cha)
No. 14 - fish patty (cha ca)
No. 15 - grilled chicken and avocado (ga bo)
No. 18 - sardine (ca moi)

We enjoyed all of these banh mi options, so order whatever you find appealing on the menu.  The grilled chicken in this roundup has the best flavor and pairs well with the avocado.  Note that the fried egg lacks a runny yolk.  The steamed pork loaf (cha lua/cha hue) is cooked in banana leaves and then sliced (looks like thick bologna).  The cold cuts combo includes steamed pork loaf, head cheese, ham, and pate.  The meat terrine part may be an acquired taste for some.  Aspic has disappeared from the American table, so try it.  Pro tip:  The next time you visit a Vietnamese restaurant, look for the words “dac biet” on the menu.  It usually denotes something “special,” which is what they call their No. 2 banh mi.  They offer some banh mi you don’t encounter elsewhere:  No. 10 pork floss (similar to Chinese pork sung and Mexican machaca) and No. 12 spicy Korean pork (gochujang-flavored?).

Their sandwiches come in two sizes:  small or large (nine inches long).  A proper banh mi should have the right amount of pickled daikon and carrot (do chua).  By default, their filling includes seeded jalapeno chili, which is pretty mild most of the time.  You can specify what you want removed or added (go to one of those food delivery sites to get an idea).  For instance, you have the option to add a garlic butter parsley spread (trec bo toi) on top of the bread (the outside).  It sounds awfully messy, but customers seem to like this addition.

The number of your banh mi is written on each wrapper for your convenience.  Don’t panic if a number doesn’t match what you ordered because it’s probably just a clerical error.  In addition to sandwiches, they make Asian cruller (gio chao quay) and fried bread (banh tieu).  They taste about the same as Chinese cruller (youtiao) and fried bread (ham chim peng), respectively.  Look for these items on the counter if they’re not sold out.  There’s also sticky rice cake in banana leaf (banh tet).  Similar cakes/dumplings include Chinese zongzi, Japanese chimaki/akumaki, Filipino suman, and African rice fufu.  Some people refer to these things as Asian tamales.  And, of course, they sell their own baguette as well.  There may be a minimum requirement if you want to pay with credit card.

What’s with all the French and Chinese influences?  Vietnam was a French colony for 67 years.  Just as ancient Greeks and Romans dominated their part of the world, China has influenced its neighbors for centuries through the written language, food traditions, and other customs.  Furthermore, China ruled parts of Vietnam from 111 B.C. to A.D. 938.  Historically, China’s sphere of influence included the Korean Peninsula, Japan, Mongolia, Tibet, and the Indochinese Peninsula.  History often explains the food we eat.  That’s why American popovers are similar to English Yorkshire puddings.  Without the Vietnam War, we wouldn’t have so many Vietnamese restaurants in the Bay Area.  And Cambodian immigrants helped revitalize the small donut shop in California.

The Donut King [►]

Nearby options in Alum Rock:  Pho Nhy, Round Table Pizza, Yum Yum Donuts, 111 Bakery, Bobaholics, Pizza Wings, Tapioca Express

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Falafel STOP, Sunnyvale

CPBA [►]

When a restaurant name contains the word falafel, you must have a taste of the chickpea fritters (think of them as Middle Eastern hushpuppies).  You get 10 falafel balls if you order the falafel plate, which comes with Israeli salad, hummus, baba ghanoush, pickles, and sauerkraut.  It also includes a few potent chili peppers that you can easily remove.  We don’t have an issue with different items on the plate all mixed together, but falafel tastes better if it’s not dipped in hummus—so the kitchen should keep that in mind.  The crispy exterior does have good flavor.

Sabich is a fried eggplant sandwich.  We opted to try the sabich hummus plate, which is the classic hummus plate topped with fried eggplant, hard-boiled egg, and salad.  This dish is for people who don’t like eggplant because it does not taste like eggplant.  When you put aside the falafel and eggplant, what’s left on these two plates is a refreshing salad for a hot day.  It’s like a Middle Eastern version of guacamole with hummus playing the role of avocado.  Local food often reflects a region’s climate.  That’s why you don’t see cold-weather dishes such as roasted sweet potatoes and hearty stews on Middle Eastern menus.

Majaddara is a tasty combination of lentils, rice, and sauteed onions.  Try it with pargiyot (boneless chicken thigh).  You should definitely order the Bavarian cream dessert.  It’s a mildly flavored custard with a slightly grainy texture and pairs well with the nuts and chocolate sauce on top.

Though this is an Israeli-style eatery, the food is not kosher.  They serve a whole lot of chicken and some beef but no lamb.  Many people have talked about the confusing delivery system.  After you place your order, you go to one side for all the meat dishes (wait for them to call your number) and a different window for vegetarian items (anytime?).  Located in a kind of residential area of Sunnyvale near a high school (the space used to be a florist shop), Falafel STOP offers friendly counter service.  The owner has been in the food industry for years before opening this restaurant in 2012.  The dough for the pita bread is imported from Israel.  Since the owner is also the landlord, how about some lights for the parking lot?  By the way, there was a short-lived spinoff next-door; the vacant cafe still looks as it did when it closed in 2018.

Nearby options:  Chatpata India, Mom’s Biriyani, Asian Momo House, Pupusa Time, K’s Crepes & Cafe, The Gurkha Kitchen, Country Gourmet, Cup N Cone, Calibear Cyber Cafe, Zanotto’s Market, Al Forat Market

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The Famous Khmer-Lao, San Jose

Famous Lao Papaya started in 2019 as a Lao restaurant (it was a food truck before that).  When a new owner took over in 2024, he changed the name to The Famous Khmer-Lao because he wanted to shift the focus to Cambodian cuisine (the Khmer Empire was based in northern Cambodia).  We didn’t know any of this until after we’d placed our order.  It all worked out in the end since we ordered six Cambodian dishes and two Lao dishes.  It’s good to have another Cambodian place in the South Bay besides Chez Sovan.

Let’s start with the Cambodian side of the house.  If you like food bundles (tamales, for example), be sure to order the catfish cooked in banana leaf with kale.  They say you never forget your first time.  Well, the first time we tried this fish mousse (amok trei) was at Chez Sovan in Campbell.  In general, the Cambodian take on this steamed curry dish is creamier, sweeter, and less spicy than Lao/Thai versions.

There’s a lot to like about the fish soup with lotus rootlet, tomato, and pineapple (samlor machu yuon).  It’s tangy and contains quite a bit of fish and one unusual ingredient:  lotus rootlet.  While mature lotus root has the texture of jicama, lotus rootlet is usually sold in pickled form in a jar.  It’s cylindrical and resembles thinner heart of palm.  If you cut off one end, you get something that looks like rotelle pasta.  We’ve only had lotus rootlet once before at Hakka Cuisine in Fremont.  Canh chua is a similar Vietnamese soup.

The stuffed chicken wings are the Cambodian rendition of angel wings.  They are stuffed with ground pork, ground chicken, lemongrass, and makrut lime leaves.  We imagine New Yorkers would take one look and see the wing tip as a tail and think there’s one of their city’s infamous residents on the plate—it’s that big.  Eat both of them and you may not have room for much else.  This dish is served with a small green papaya salad and fluffy jasmine rice.

The next two dishes highlight the use of lemongrass paste.  We enjoyed both the stir-fried chicken with lemongrass paste and bell pepper (cha kroeung) and chicken fried rice with lemongrass paste, bell pepper, and holy basil (bai cha kroeung holy basil).  Holy basil (gra prow) is more peppery than Italian or Thai basil.  The fried catfish with tamarind sauce is like a cross between Southern fried fish and English fish and chips.  The coating and generous fish fillet portion are well-seasoned.

From the Lao part of the menu we ordered sausages and salad (not the one you’re expecting).  The Lao sausage plate comes with three good-sized pork sausages seasoned with lemongrass, makrut lime leaves, garlic, and chili.  These house-made sausages (recipe from previous owner?) are better than a lot of restaurant sausages.  We chose mild and they are indeed mild.  This dish is served with a small green papaya salad and either jasmine rice or sticky rice.  Having a small green papaya salad as an accompanying side for some of the dishes is a great idea.  We wish other Southeast Asian restaurants would do the same.

We wager you’ve never had a salad like the Lao crispy fried rice salad (nam khao).  You can eat it as a lettuce wrap or the same way you would any fried rice dish...except this is deep-fried rice balls with cured pork and roasted peanuts.  The cured pork (naem) is not ham and tastes kind of like chicharron since it’s made with ground pork and pork rind.  Very interesting texture and lime flavor.

You can expect them to add more Cambodian dishes in the future.  Except for the soup, every dish is indeed packaged in plastic-free containers for takeout.  Click on the PSA tab above and see how different containers affect the environment and your health.  This restaurant is located in a strip mall in the Evergreen area.  We can attest the parking lot is quite packed on weekends.  Here’s the Metro review of Famous Lao Papaya.

Good Eatings & Grateful Living (Famous Lao Papaya) [►]
ATK/Cook’s Country (pad gra prow) [►]

Nearby options:  Red Lobster, The Boiling Crab, Cajun Bistro 7, Tacos a la Parrilla, New Hoa Dang Vegetarian, Hue, Com Tam Thien Huong, Thien Long, Oc Cay Dua, Hai Nam, Banh Xeo Ngon, Pho Papa, Pho Y #1 Noodle House, Duc Phuong Tofu, Miyuki, Fish & Things Poke Bar, Fish Me Poke, IceyPoki, Q Pot Korean BBQ & Hotpot, New Sam Kee, Thai Elephant Express, Sizzler, Mountain Mike’s Pizza, Thien Huong Sandwiches & Bakery, Coffee Lovers, Le Creme Cafe, i-Tea, R&B Tea, Teasociety, Happy Lemon, Soyful Desserts, Bambu Desserts & Drinks, Aroma Che, Coffee & Tea, Izumi Matcha, Baskin-Robbins

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Golden Bamboo, San Jose | [≡]

Tiff & Herrick [►]

Opened in 2017, Golden Bamboo has a similar menu as Green Lotus—down to the equally tasty puffy shrimp chips that come with your order.  This Vietnamese vegetarian place has two things in its favor:  the strip mall where it’s located has a spacious parking lot and the inside is nicely decorated (must be all those artist friends).  We ordered 10 dishes plus two desserts.

Maybe it’s because we haven’t had shaking beef (bo luc lac) in a long time, but the shaking beef rice plate is surprisingly tasty and satisfying.  While it’s true that beef is one protein that’s relatively easy to imitate, the whole dish, which comes with white or brown rice, has good flavor (beef and bell pepper).  The fried calamari is a lesson in construction.  They use enoki mushroom as the arms and ham and seaweed for the body—good batter and visually appealing.  Kids will like it, especially with the tamarind dipping sauce.

Because the salt and pepper oyster mushrooms are smaller than GL’s version, you don’t quite get the oyster vibe.  The panko-like coating is similar, but the onion and bell pepper are undercooked.  The salt and pepper lotus root patties taste more like tonkatsu than lotus root, which is great for lotus root newbies.

The next two dishes are better than GL.  Though ham is the only faux meat in the crispy combination stir-fried chow mein (mi xao don thap cam), the sauce is thicker and has stronger flavor (baby bok choy is always welcome).  The fried noodles are identical to GL.  The salted fish fried rice (com chien ca man) includes tiny pieces of salted fish—looking like miniature SPAM musubi sans rice.  The brown rice wrap in lotus leaf (com goi la sen) is a bit underwhelming because we expected more fake meat besides ham and stronger herbaceous note from the lotus leaf.  The Cantonese version usually has a velvety sauce on top of the rice, which Golden Bamboo could use to make its rendition less dry.

Like GL’s menu, the pomelo salad includes glass noodles and comes with a sweet house dressing.  Again, they should just use nuoc cham as salad dressing.  There’s less mushroom in the mushroom porridge than GL; the porridge is thinner but still good.  The vegan duck with steamed buns will not convert any Peking duck lovers.  The duck tastes more like chicken nugget (where’s the crispy skin?), but we do appreciate the house-made hoisin sauce.

You can skip the mango sticky rice—we’ve had better.  You should definitely try the house-made taro dessert (che khoai mon bach qua), which is a mildly sweet soup-like drink with taro paste (khoai mon), ginkgo nuts (bach qua), goji berries/wolfberries, and jujube/red date.  Bambu is a chain that specializes in Vietnamese che.

ATK (shaking beef and red rice) [►]

Nearby options:  Haveli Kabab & Grill, Truya Sushi, Evergreen Inn & Pub, Tastea, Evergreen Plaza (The Crab Bay, Yuri Japanese, Evergreen Panda), Evergreen Valley Center (Golden Buddha, Yogurtland), Don Jose Tacos

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Green Lotus, San Jose (two locations)

Tina Tuong USA (original location) [►]

White Lotus in downtown San Jose was one of the first vegetarian restaurants; it enjoyed a good 22-year run (here’s the last time Metro reviewed it in 1996).  For a while it was the only Vietnamese vegetarian place in San Jose.  Well, it’s a different story today since San Jose is the U.S. city with the largest Vietnamese American population.  There are quite a few spots to choose from.  Green Lotus, established in 2016, is the only one with more than one location (the second opened four years later).  We opted to check out the newer branch at the intersection of Bascom Avenue and Stevens Creek Blvd./San Carlos Street, which turns out to be an interesting area considering two “colorful” neighbors.

Of the 10 dishes we sampled, the mushroom porridge is the most comforting.  You get lots of mushrooms and the flavorful porridge is thicker than what other Vietnamese restaurants offer.  They don’t market the crispy seasoning oyster mushrooms as some meat pretender, but thanks to the panko-like breading, larger cuts, and meaty texture, they could pass for fried oysters (a dash of miso on the fungus might complete the illusion).  The house-made tamarind sauce is also good.  Try the caramelized fish in clay pot because it has the texture of swordfish with fishy skin (nori) to boot.  The sauce is a bit like teriyaki.

The crispy chow mein (mi xao gion/mi xao don) is similar to Hong Kong-style pan-fried noodles.  As expected, you get vegetables, mushrooms, and meat (beef, ham, shrimp) over fried noodles.  It’s not quite like the real thing, but the noodles are greaseless and the sauce could be thicker and more seasoned.  The BBQ pork rolls (six) or nem nuong cuon are quite substantial and the grilled ham inside resembles SPAM.  They’re served with the signature sauce with an interesting flavor profile (citrus-infused?).  When we ate them the next day, the rice paper had become thick and chewy.

If you’ve never had banana flower before, try the banana flower salad.  When sliced thin, banana flower looks like fried shallots.  It’s mild in flavor; some people say it tastes like artichoke.  The lotus stalk salad features lotus rootlet—this is our second time in two months seeing this pickled ingredient on the menu (since The Famous Khmer-Lao).  The dressing for these salads is too sweet.  We don’t understand why they don’t use nuoc cham as salad dressing.

The salted fish fried rice (com chien ca man) has no pops of salty goodness anywhere.  If you’re a fan of the Cantonese version, you’ll be disappointed.  The Thai-style fried rice doesn’t scream Thai unless the use of Thai basil is enough for you.  Note that you can request no onion in all these dishes.  For people who follow an allium-free diet, this change may not be sufficient because there’s garlic to worry about as well.  Your order comes with puffy shrimp chips, which taste as good as if not better than supermarket brands.

If you don’t want to try their house-made smoothies and drinks, you can always pick up a can of young coconut juice by the counter.  These Thai sodas contain at least 50 percent coconut juice (some as high as 80) and less added sugar than Coke/Pepsi.  If you’re familiar with Green Lotus, you’ve probably been to Golden Bamboo, which has a similar menu.

Nearby options (West San Carlos):  Nick the Greek, Armando’s, Walia Ethiopian Cuisine, Taqueria Eduardo, Tacos Al Pastor, Falafel’s Drive In, Korean Palace, Antiques Row, Santana Row, Westfield Valley Fair in Santa Clara

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Gulzaar Halaal, San Jose | [♀]

Air Port [►]

As Taylor Swift would say, this one’s from the vault.  After visiting Gulzaar Halaal in December 2008, we had planned to share our thoughts on-line.  But then we made a U-turn and stopped posting (click on the FAQ tab above and see why).  The good news is they didn’t need our help because Gulzaar is still going strong 15 years later.  Initially, Gulzaar’s menu was an interesting mix of Middle Eastern and Indian with a twist.  Before Gulzaar took over in 2007, the spot was a Lebanese bakery serving manakish and shawarma, so we presumed the Middle Eastern stuff was a holdover.  And the Indian part came by way of South Africa where the owner emigrated from (his family tree goes back to India and Turkey).

At the time we wished he would add one or two South African dishes to the menu (milk tart [melktert], bunny chow, mealy pap [mielie meal], braai—anything).  Well, that will never happen because he sold his restaurant to a friend in 2012.  The second owner kept the name and added a few Afghan dishes from his own background.  If we’re not mistaken, his wife is in charge of the kitchen.  In any event, everybody ends up in the Golden State eventually.

When we returned to Gulzaar recently, we finally sampled manakish for the first time.  It’s like Middle Eastern pizza or quesadilla.  The zaatar version is classic manakish.  Unless you love this popular Middle Eastern spice blend with a lemony flavor, you’ll probably prefer the jebneh version, which is topped with a lovely soft cheese with a milky flavor (Akkawi or kashkaval?).

Like Jubba, the only Somali restaurant in the South Bay, Gulzaar’s take on samosa is different (in a good way) from the typical version at Indian establishments.  The accompanying dipping sauce tastes like spicy ketchup, and you’ll want to put it on everything.  Both the chicken and veggie samosas (one per order) are good, but we like the meat pocket just a little more.  It’s not surprising the Indian dishes here have a different flavor profile from South Asian eateries.  That’s because these recipes came from the original owner.  If you like biryani, you should be happy with either the ground beef kebab or chicken tikka (boneless breast).  Of course, we always say chicken thigh would work better than breast.

Afghanistan shares a border with Iran and Pakistan; Afghan cuisine is similar to those neighbors.  We’ve had Afghanistan’s national dish before, and Gulzaar’s lamb shank pilaf (Kabuli pulao) is one of the better versions.  The lamb is full of flavor, and the brown basmati rice is better than the biryani rice.  The raisins and mildly sweet and soft carrots add just the right amount of sweetness.  The fried eggplant dish (borani banjan) is for eggplant lovers; it pairs well with the accompanying Afghan bread or rice.

The Middle Eastern desserts are more satisfying than what we had back in 2008.  The rice pudding has just a hint of rose water.  If you’ve never had kanafeh before, Gulzaar’s version is a great introduction.

Located in a part of San Jose known as Antiques Row, Gulzaar’s neighbors across the street may have to relocate to make way for redevelopment.  Note that there’s a 3.5-percent charge for credit card use.  Click on the Lost tab above and read what we wrote about South Africa and Gandhi in 2009.  There’s more from the vault that we may unveil in the future (Swift is not the only one mining the past).  What prompted us to check out Gulzaar in the first place?  It was this Metro article from November 2008.  And here’s a review of that defunct Lebanese bakery.

ATK/Cook’s Country (mana’eesh za’atar) [►]

Nearby options:  Ethio-LunchBox, Edna Ray Chinese, Walia Ethiopian, Taqueria Eduardo, Green Lotus, Kategna Ethiopian, Yakini Q SJ, El Papucho, Got2go Pizza, Sliders Burger, Falafel’s Drive-In, Dia De Pesca, Korean Palace, Santana Row, Westfield Valley Fair in Santa Clara

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El Halal Amigos, San Jose

ABC Localish [►] KPIX | CBS News Bay Area [►] Elhalalamigosevents [►]

To celebrate Cinco de Mayo 2024, we visited a Mexican restaurant—but not just any Mexican place.  The name is a dead giveaway; El Halal Amigos is the first halal Mexican restaurant in the South Bay.  (There are halal Chinese, Indian/Pakistani, and African restaurants in the Bay Area and, of course, so are some Middle Eastern and Indonesian eateries.)  That’s good news for people who follow Islamic dietary laws, but the food has to be up to snuff for everybody else.  Well, what comes out of EHA’s kitchen rivals regular Mexican restaurants.  Indeed, it sets itself apart from the competition in several ways—not just the halal thing.

For tacos, burritos, and enchiladas, you have five options for the filling:  brisket barbacoa, carne asada, mahi-mahi, pollo al pastor (no pork since this is halal), and sweet potato/crispy kale.  You can start with the street tacos as an appetizer (tacos in Mexico are on the small side).  The sampler plate includes three tacos of your choice.  We enjoyed mahi-mahi the best, followed by sweet potato/kale (couldn’t taste the kale though) and then brisket barbacoa.  Their corn tortillas are pretty good.

We sampled three items from the plates section.  The meatless chile relleno is quite light.  The braised beef ribs (barbacoa costillas de res) is a dish we wish more Mexican restaurants would serve.  The ribs are slow-cooked in a banana leaf—think cochinita pibil with beef ribs instead.  For people who are after a lot of bang for their buck, this dish is perfect because you get two really meaty ribs.  The enchilada plate includes two enchiladas of your choice.  We selected pollo al pastor and carne asada.  Now that we’ve tried all five fillings, we’ll definitely fill one of the enchiladas with mahi-mahi next time (keep in mind the enchilada is bigger than the street taco).  We opted for the milder red sauce for the enchiladas.

No shade to refried beans, but all the plates come with either black beans or pinto beans.  We find the pinto beans to be saltier than the black beans.  The side of Spanish rice is also good.  The green salsa is mild and the orange salsa spicy.  The former doesn’t have much flavor other than tomatillo and cilantro.  If you crave more heat, the plates also come with a whole chili pepper (looks like serrano).  The horchata is sweeter than other versions.  The hibiscus (jamaica) aqua fresca is about the same as others.  They only serve birria tacos on Sundays.

EHA started as a food truck in Fremont in 2020 and then opened a brick-and-mortar location in the Willow Glen district of San Jose in 2022.  Note that they add a four-percent living wage surcharge.  They should mention it on their site (this is how a Denver restaurant explained its LWS policy).

Nearby options:  Bill’s Cafe, Arepas Latin Cuisine, La Callejera Colombian Food, Aqui, Copita Tequileria y Comida, Taqueria El Abuelo, Puerto Azul, Bertucelli’s La Villa Gourmet, Vin Santo, Yuki Sushi, Sushi Arashi, Tarah Thai Kitchen, Taiwan, Black Sheep Brasserie, Braise, The Table, John’s, Siena Bistro, Opa!, Nick the Greek, Crepevine, Dolce Sicilia Cafe, Vitality Bowls, Willow Street Pizza & Taproom, Jake’s, Pizza My Heart, Noah’s NY Bagels, Manley’s Donut Shop, 20twenty Cheese Bar, Philz Coffee, Lilikoi Boba, SusieCakes, Mariette Chocolates, Willow Glen Creamery, Icicles, Baskin-Robbins

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Holder’s Country Inn, Cupertino + Los Altos

KPIX | CBS News Bay Area [►]

Part 1

It’s not everyday you find a diner/coffee shop in a kind of upscale setting.  You see, Holder’s Country Inn’s location in Cupertino was fire-damaged in 2022, and three months later, they managed to pivot and move into the space that was once Steins Beer Garden.  Thanks to that restaurant’s vision, they inherited a green wall inside, a long bar, copper accents, and a chic and airy design overall—definitely not the typical setting for an American coffee shop.  Located at the corner of an apartment complex not far from Apple Park, Holder’s serves eggs Benedict, omelets, pancakes, burgers, and sandwiches.

We had never been to any Holder’s before even though it’s been around for decades.  Started by Jack and Anne Holder in 1957 as Uncle John’s Pancake House, Holder’s was a fixture at Town & Country Village in San Jose for over 30 years.  If you’re looking for good food in the South Bay that doesn’t require a small loan, remember AVH or Aldo’s Cafe, Mio Vicino, and Holder’s.  Like Mio Vicino, this Holder’s is owned by one of the former employees.

For a business that’s nimble enough to move operation to another location so quickly, we’re not surprised they do something so few restaurants bother:  update the list of daily specials (five entrees and two soups) on their site.  A lot of restaurants hire a third party to create their site, and they can’t maintain it in-house or don’t want to pay to make changes.

The two daily specials we tried on a Saturday are both fine.  The boneless pork chops may be mildly seasoned, but you get the perfect bite when you eat the meat with the cranberry stuffing.  The chicken carciofi comes with artichoke hearts as the name suggests.  The chicken and shrimp and not overcooked, and the lemon butter sauce is not heavy.  We’ve seen other daily specials such as chicken cordon bleu, chicken pasta pomodoro, cabbage rolls, and prime rib.

From the regular menu, we sampled two entrees that illustrate what comfort food should be.  They nailed the country gravy that smothers the chicken-fried steak dinner—it’s neither too thick nor too thin.  This breaded beef dish is like the American version of schnitzel.  Holder’s rendition of the classic liver and onions will grow on liver lovers.  You get bacon to go with two large pieces of liver.  By underseasoning this organ meat a bit, the kitchen actually allows the natural sweetness of the liver to come through.

All the entrees come with the same vegetables that are steamed, which turns out to be the perfect way to prepare Brussels sprouts.  You don’t notice much that flavor/smell that makes some people turn away from cruciferous vegetables.  Most entrees come with mashed potatoes (yes!); some with rice.  You also get a choice of soup or salad.  The mixed green salad that accompanies each entree is almost as large as stand-alone salads at some other restaurants.  The soft and earthy beans provide a nice contrast to the crisp greens and acidic dressing.  The four dressings we selected taste house-made:  honey mustard, blue cheese, ranch, and Italian.  It’s so refreshing when you can taste real mustard in anything honey mustard.

Part 2

We wanted to come back to try their eggs Benedict, one sandwich, and some soups.  Kudos to Holder’s for making sure the house salad and soups are not a boring afterthought.  The two soups of the day we sampled are both quality dishes:  beef barley and chicken tortilla.  The beef tastes like it was ground by the kitchen.  Speaking of getting the small details right...we’re not surprised the cocktail sauce for the fried calamari and the tartar sauce (for the French fries?) taste house-made just like the salad dressings.  If it turns out these condiments and dressings are made by a third party, then Holder’s has procured a worthy supplier.  The fried calamari may not be the best we’ve ever had, but it is the tenderest.

The hollandaise sauce for the eggs Benedict is lemony and the poached egg properly runny.  Let’s face it, Canadian bacon is not the most exciting meat, so it’s time for restaurants to use deli ham, smoked salmon, crab cake, pulled pork, sausage, or short ribs instead.  Until we saw them make patty melt in an episode of Cook’s Country in 2023, we never gave it much thought.  If a burger and a grilled cheese sandwich had a baby, it would be something like a patty melt.  Even though this is our first taste of this sandwich, we imagine there are better versions out there.  The onions need to be more caramelized; the make-or-break sauce (ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce) should be all over the onions (watch below).  We could barely taste the Monterey Jack and cheddar (Cook’s Country used Swiss and American cheese).  And the Angus patty lacks beefy flavor.

The one thing we noticed from our previous visit is that the protein on a plate is sometimes underseasoned.  That turns out to be the case with the ribeye steak this time.  We also had more success with the daily specials last time.  The trout Florentine with spinach, mushrooms, and lemon butter sauce is heavier than expected.  Perhaps the pan-seared fillet should not be breaded (a light dredge of flour should suffice).

We made sure to sample their desserts on this visit.  The multi-layered carrot cake is one of the better versions in the Bay Area.  The icing is not too sweet; the cake is moist and the spices not overwhelming.  Fans of Twin Peaks must order a slice of cherry pie.  The crust is good and the filling doesn’t taste like it’s from a can.  Cherry filling usually consists of frozen cherries, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch.  People who enjoy their cocktails should note that Holder’s has happy hour seven days a week and it lasts for more than a few hours each day.  So come check out the beautiful bar in Cupertino.

Part 3

Promotion pays.  Because we received a discount offer via email—the first merchant to take advantage of this feature of Square—we returned to Holder’s in Cupertino one more time (the Los Altos location handles its own promotions).

In addition to Joe’s Special, a Bay Area creation, they offer a mildly spicy variation called Spanish Joe’s.  It’s served with hash browns (good) and a choice of toast or pancakes.  If Spanish Joe’s is any indication, the other scrambled eggs on the menu should be solid.  If you must try their ribeye steak, order the version with eggs.  The meat is still as disappointing as last time, but the fried eggs help some.

We enjoyed the two daily specials we sampled on this visit.  The chicken piccata comes with a light lemon caper sauce.  The marinara sauce for the shrimp pomodoro reminds us of Chef Boyardee, but it’s still comfort food that brings back childhood memories.  They give you five good-sized and flavorful shrimp.  The chicken tortilla soup is just as good as last time; the beef barley soup tastes like supermarket ground beef this time.  If you have trouble with street parking, note that there’s a parking lot behind the store for customers.

ATK (eggs Benedict) [►] ATK/Cook’s Country (patty melt) [►] ATK (chicken piccata) [►]

Nearby options in Cupertino:  Oren’s Hummus, Cap’t Loui, KoJa Kitchen, Dough Zone Dumpling House, Kura Revolving Sushi Bar, Benihana, Haidilao Hot Pot, La Pizzeria, Pizza My Heart, Myungrang Hot Dog, Bowlmor, Nirvana Soul Coffee, 85°C Bakery Cafe, Philz Coffee, Bar Bon Mot, Somi Somi, Sul & Beans, Meet Fresh

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In-N-Out Burger, Milpitas + San Jose (four locations) + Santa Clara + Sunnyvale + Mountain View (2) + Gilroy + Morgan Hill
+ San Francisco
+ East Bay:  Fremont + Union City + San Leandro + Pleasanton + Alameda + San Ramon + Pleasant Hill + Pinole + Pittsburg + Livermore + Brentwood
+ Peninsula:  Daly City (2) + Redwood City + San Carlos + Millbrae
+ Wine Country:  Santa Rosa (2) + Napa + Petaluma + Rohnert Park
+ North Bay:  Novato + Mill Valley
+ Delta-Suisun Bay:  Vallejo + Fairfield + Vacaville

California’s Gold [►]

Sometimes we just have to check out what all the fuss is about.  Established in 1948, In-N-Out Burger has built quite a cult following.  If you grew up in Southern California—or if you live in Southern California—you probably have a special place in your heart for this institution.  Even newly minted Oscar winners like to stop by In-N-Out in recent years.  Like another Southern California icon, Trader Joe’s, In-N-Out took its time coming to the Bay Area.  If we’re not mistaken, the first Bay Area store (Gilroy?) opened by the mid-1990s.

Whether you’ve been to In-N-Out or not, you’ll get a kick out of this 2010 episode of California’s Gold above.  Other TV reporters have tried to do what the late Huell Howser and the late Jerry Graham did so effortlessly, and none has come close.  See sidebar on this page for their video obits.

Caramelized onions can elevate any dish, so we had high hopes for the animal-style cheeseburger.  Unfortunately, the grilled onions are barely-there, tiny bits of nondescript something.  The pickle chips are the main thing we could taste.  The buns do have a pleasant, sweet flavor.  We suspect the double-double burger would probably be a better choice because the double patties should make the meat stand out more.  Even die-hard fans will agree In-N-Out is not known for its French fries.  So we ordered animal fries, hoping the grilled onions and cheese would help.  Not with these same onion bits.

We used to like Neapolitan ice cream, so we were happy to discover you can order the Neapolitan shake.  In-N-Out’s shakes could be a little thicker.  The chocolate flavor doesn’t taste chocolatey; the strawberry lacks strawberry flavor.  So the vanilla is the predominant flavor.  Does this mean you should get the vanilla shake instead?  Well, it’s the sweetest of the three flavors.

We looked all over for those bible verses on In-N-Out’s packaging.  We found none under the cups and only Proverbs 24:16 under the French fries boats.  We never realized until now that outside most stores are two crisscrossing palm trees.  Note that the lone Oakland store closed in 2024 because In-N-Out felt this location was unsafe for customers and employees.  The company has made no promise to find a new location in the city.

Since we don’t know when we’ll talk about another fast-food burger joint, we’ll reveal right here the one item on McDonald’s menu we wouldn’t mind having again:  the McGriddles breakfast sandwich.  It’s the maple-flavored pancakes that seal the deal.  It’s not real maple syrup, but we still like it.  And you should try the cheese fries at Sizzling Lunch.  By the way, you don’t always have to double-fry to get the best results.  America’s Test Kitchen uses the cold-start method.  Milk Street shows you how to get there by blanching the fries first in a vinegar solution and then frying just once.

ATK (French fries) [►] Milk Street (masala-spiced French fries) [►]

Nearby options in Milpitas:  Dish N Dash, Cajun Crack’n, KoKoLo Donburi, H.L. Peninsula, Banana Leaf, OK Noodle, Ramen 101, Idly Express, Dindigul Thalappakatti, Royal Thaali, Shabuya, Taqueria Los Cunados, The Sandwich Spot, Tea Top, Big Al’s, Milpitas Square, Ulferts Center

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Jackie’s Place, San Jose (two locations) | [♀]

CPBA [►] Peninsula View (original location) [►] Country Geisha [►] Emmanuel Baptist Church [►]

Part 1

If every country has its own food traditions, what is American cuisine?  As a relatively young nation that began as a colony and experienced waves of immigration, what Americans eat today usually has roots somewhere else.  As popular as burger and fries are—most foreign countries think of them as the definition of American food (thanks to McDonald’s)—two individual dishes don’t make up a cuisine in our opinion.  We submit soul food is the closest thing we have to America’s national cuisine.  Known throughout the South (former slave states), soul food was introduced to the rest of the U.S. after the Great Migration of the last century.

Anytime we find a restaurant that offers tasty food, generous portion size, and friendly service is a good day.  The fact that family-owned Jackie’s Place serves soul food is simply icing on the cake.  If you like dark meat and gravy, the smothered chicken (leg quarter) is a must-try.  It’s nice to know the pieces of braised oxtails are toward the meaty end of the tail.  An order of the southern fried fish plate comes with three good-sized pieces of catfish (?).  The cornmeal batter is properly seasoned.  It also has the right thickness for the size of the fillet, which is perfectly moist.  The seafood gumbo is fine; we only wish there was some okra in it.  You won’t have to wait long for the food because most of the items (beef brisket, pulled pork, oxtails, and the like) are cooked in advance.

Of the four sides we sampled, rice and gravy is our favorite.  The gravy reminds us of the country gravy that smothers dishes such as chicken-fried steak (it could be the same gravy as the smothered chicken).  The black-eyed peas are also good.  The candied yams are not too sweet, so that’s a win.  The collard greens are saltier than other versions we found in the Bay Area.  As a result, we did not drink the pot liquor.  The cornbread, which seems to come with everything on the menu, is a winning recipe.  Baked in muffin pan, it straddles the line between sweet and savory.

Native Texan Jackie Jackson has been in the food business since 1998.  She operated a cupcake bakery inside Eastridge Center about 10 years ago, so we imagine all the desserts here are house-made.  You’ll find the current selection in the display case by the ordering/payment terminal.  We love that Laverne’s sweet potato pie is a five-inch mini-pie and not a slice of a whole pie.  (Watch the interview above and see how Jackson located her mother’s recipe.)  It has a bright flavor and just the right sweet level.  We made two servings out of it, which means it’s probably bigger than a typical slice from other restaurants.  The banana pudding is sweeter than we like.  We may be a little biased because we’d just made an old-fashioned lemon pudding (lemon bisque) a few weeks earlier.

Of all the times we visited the South (Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas), we don’t recall ever ordering sweet tea.  According to one Nashville transplant (see video above), JP’s version is authentic—we’ll take her word for it.  It’s definitely sweet but tastes better than expected.  Keep in mind some sweet tea contains more sugar than canned soda.  We’re thankful this is not a supersized drink; the 16-oz. cup is large enough to share.  The JuJu is their own blend of two flavors of Kool-Aid:  cherry and grape.  The flavor profile recalls the Hawaiian Punch (the red version) we had years ago.  They also serve lemonade (fresh lemons?).

JP opened in Japantown San Jose in 2018 and closed in 2020 after a fire—just what a new business needed in the midst of lockdown.  Well, trust in God and keep your powder dry.  The restaurant reopened the following year in a bigger space (formerly Bold Knight and before that a power-lunch spot called 840 North First) less than a mile from its original location.  If the main parking lot is full, there’s a second one on Second Street.  If you drive a big car, beware the main lot is rather cramped.  Like Oakland’s Rio California, JP also does catering.

Words and phrases sometimes take on new meanings over time.  The term “soul food” was coined in the 1960s around the same time R&B was labeled soul music.  Then there was Soul Train on TV in the 1970s.  While it referred to a specific type of food, we believe the term has since acquired a second definition, a more general reference to any dish that’s from the soul—humble, unpretentious, home-style cooking.  That’s why someone called feijoada Brazilian soul food.  And we like to think of Irish stew and colcannon as Irish soul food.  Note that the porridge episode of Somewhere South includes a lively discussion of soul food.

Part 2

JP proved to be such a wonderful experience that we had to come back for seconds.  We wanted to try their chicken and more sides.  Unfortunately, the BBQ chicken was not available (permanently?).  The fried chicken wings plate comes with three pieces of complete chicken wing in all its glory.  That’s right, you get the drumette, flat, and tip all connected in one piece—from the same chicken.  While the tip is not our favorite part of the wing ensemble, it’s nice to know it’s not discarded.  The meat has flavor (must be brined) and the coating is well-seasoned.  This may not be the best fried chicken we’ve ever had, but the presentation of the entire wing deserves extra credit.

We sampled four more sides this time.  Green beans are often bland and boring; their version has a nice kick and good flavor.  Some places like to tout the fact that they use multiple cheeses for their mac and cheese but under-deliver.  JP’s version is not heavy or greasy and you can taste the cheddar, which is all that matters.  The beef chili beans and coleslaw are fine.

The butter pound cake is now our second favorite dessert here.  They use canned peaches for their peach cobbler, and the inside is too soupy.  Since peaches are out of season, they didn’t make their peach lemonade.  The substitute watermelon lemonade could use stronger lemon flavor.

Part 3

To celebrate Juneteenth 2025, we returned to JP for a third time.  Our focus is their BBQ plates, the only part of the menu we didn’t explore in the past.  The three plates we sampled have different flavor profiles from different seasonings.  The boneless and skinless BBQ chicken thighs (two pieces) have good flavor.  The Uncle Greg’s pork ribs (three) have a nice smokey flavor; we only wish they were cooked a little bit longer.  You can skip the smoked beef brisket because the fat is not the melt-in-the-mouth kind.  We’ll try the smoked pulled pork next time.

Everything’s coming up roses for JP this year.  The restaurant was featured on Check, Please! Bay Area, and they opened a second location down First Street on the same block as SoFA Market.

Somewhere South (porridge episode trailer) [►]
Soul Man [►] TSOP [►]

Nearby options (older location):  LeYou Ethiopian, Karimi, Danbi Korean, Golden Catch Fish & Chips, Smoking Pig BBQ, Sourdough Eatery, TOGO’S, Japantown San Jose

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Krispy Krunchy Chicken, San Jose (two locations) + Campbell + Mountain View (2)
+ San Francisco (6)
+ East Bay:  Oakland (11) + Alameda (2) + Antioch (3) + Berkeley (2) + Byron + El Sobrante + Fremont (2) + Hayward (4) + Oakley + Pinole + Pittsburg (2) + Pleasanton + Richmond (3) + Rodeo + San Leandro + San Pablo + San Ramon
+ Peninsula:  San Mateo + Daly City (2) + South San Francisco (2)
+ Wine Country:  Santa Rosa + Petaluma (2) + Rohnert Park
+ Delta-Suisun Bay:  Fairfield (2) + Suisun City + Vallejo (4)

Krispy Krunchy Chicken [►]

Part 1

Chicken is the lowest common denominator.  Lots of people around the world don’t eat beef or pork, but as far as we know, no religion has anything against the humble bird.  Goat and lamb are popular alternatives—not so much in North America.  It behooves any U.S. restaurant to include chicken on the menu.  With cultivated or lab-grown chicken meat coming down the pipe, this ubiquitous protein is not going anywhere.  There’s a good reason why “Tastes like chicken” is such a common declaration or punchline.

Let’s talk fried chicken, the quintessential American dish.  While we haven’t visited many fast food joints that specialize in deep-fried chicken, we submit the best national chain may be the privately held Krispy Krunchy Chicken.  This fried chicken is also better than what supermarkets have to offer—though we’re not ready to say no to Safeway’s salt and vinegar wings and Lucky’s zesty wings.  It is even better than what we sampled at some slow food restaurants.  Like some of you, we’d never heard of KKC until a couple of years ago.  What makes this takeout-only location in San Jose so different is the fact that it is not inside a convenience store/mini-mart near a gas station like so many others (hence some fans refer to it as gas station chicken).  No, this one is located at North Park Plaza, a strip mall anchored by H Mart, the Korean supermarket.

As the Louisiana-based company’s official site says, “They may come for the gas, but they’ll come back for the chicken.”  KKC’s fried chicken is indeed very good.  How good?  Well, if it was just a little less salty and less greasy, it would be the ideal fried chicken.  The reason this fried chicken is so moist and flavorful is because the marinade is injected into the meat.  Brining the meat is usually the way to go.  If you like your fried chicken extra spicy (see hot chicken trend below), move along because the Cajun-spiced marinade is really mild.

The default for bone-in pieces is dark meat (thigh and drumstick); you pay extra if you want a mix of dark/white or white only.  The Krispy wings taste exactly like the dark meat; they come with a choice of two sauces (not needed).  The jambalaya is surprisingly good for a fast food place.  The tiny honey biscuit is okay—we’ve had better.  The mashed potatoes taste like they’re made from potato flakes and not whole potatoes.  The red velvet cake is light and better than the cheesecake.

Another thing that makes this San Jose location so unique is that they also serve Middle Eastern fare such as falafel, shawarma, and baba ganoush.  The only item we tried from the non-KKC part of the menu is the lamb over rice.  The hot sauce (optional?) gives the whole dish a stronger than expected kick.  This portion of the menu is probably Lebanese, Jordanian, or Palestinian.

Before you come to North Park Plaza, make sure you check out both KKC site and this operator’s own site so you know which items are KKC domain.  There are some wings, for instance, that look like they’re not from KKC’s menu.  This unusual location is a twofer:  you get KKC and more.  And let’s hope it stays that way.

According to USA Today, KKC is ranked No. 7 in a recent survey of best fast food restaurants for fried chicken (out of a field of 20 national contenders).  If you remove all the boneless meat-only places—not classic fried chicken in our book—and all the ones that don’t operate in California, then KKC is No. 2 behind Popeyes.

Don’t mess with the bird.  We recently tried one version of hot chicken that came from Southern California.  The chef who created it supposedly worked for celebrity chef Thomas Keller.  Well, whatever he learned is not reflected in the chicken.  Or perhaps hot chicken just isn’t an improvement on regular fried chicken—unless you’re a chilihead.  Another trend, locally speaking, is marinading the chicken in koji.  Of the three places we visited, only San Jose’s Paper Plane did right by its chicken.  The other two East Bay locations are disappointing (one features fried boneless chicken and the other roasted whole chicken).  So the key is what else you do with the chicken besides using koji.  And we frown on big-breasted chicken like the kind mass-produced for retail and fast food restaurants.  Don’t believe the hype and beware of trends and marketing gimmicks.

Part 2

Rumor has it the San Jose location we visited in 2023 no longer serves the same fried chicken.  Well, this operator did change the name from North Park Kitchen KKC to North Park Kitchen Chicken King (you’ll be redirected to a new Web address).  But the fried chicken tastes the same as before.  An employee explained that they would prefer to get halal chicken from KKC to go with the rest of their halal menu.  It seems they have worked out some sort of arrangement for Chicken King to stay with KKC.  They must have received orders for large parties on the day we returned because we grabbed the last pieces of fried chicken a little after 5 pm.  Let’s hope brisk business equals staying power.

They have removed some items from the Middle Eastern part of the menu (no more shawarma and baba ganoush, for example).  The lamb over rice still has the same kick.  The big boys fries are like their version of nachos.  This dish is surprisingly light and you get diced beef (not ground); big girls fries come with chicken instead.

ATK (batter-fried chicken) [►]
Trails to Oishii Tokyo (fermented foods [koji]) [►]

Nearby options in North San Jose:  California Fish Grill, bb.q Chicken, Ono Hawaiian BBQ, Baja Fresh, Chop Stop, Pizza California, Tous Les Jours, Sizzling Lunch, Flaming Ox, VN Grill, Gobi, Yoshi Sushi, Noah’s NY Bagels, Yogurtland, California Sourdough Eatery, Fairway Zone Sports Bar & Lounge, Starbird Chicken, Jersey Mike’s Subs, Sushi Pro, The Kebab Shop, New Tung Kee Noodle, Vitality Bowls, MOD Pizza, Habit Burger & Grill, Peet’s Coffee, Cauldron Ice Cream

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Layang Layang Malaysian Cuisine, Milpitas | [≡]

The David di Amerika [►] Rex Joestar [►] Franco Perez [►]

Layang Layang Malaysian Cuisine opened in San Jose in 2004; the Milpitas location opened four years later.  After they closed the original restaurant around 2018, they opened an express branch in Fremont, which closed in 2022.  They used to have a location in the Netherlands as well.  The name (pronounced lie’ong) refers to a traditional Malaysian kite (also part of the logo).  We’d visited the Milpitas LL five years ago; the menu at this family-run Malaysian place looks about the same—except for the prices, of course.  If you watched Martin Yan’s Taste of Malaysia, then you know Malaysian cuisine is an interesting fusion of Malay, Chinese, and Indian.

Of the nine dishes we sampled, the standout is the pork ribs soup (bak kut teh).  Don’t be put off by the herbal soup label.  The broth has done its job infusing the tofu, mushrooms, and pork tripe with so much flavor that they manage to upstage the pork ribs.  The coffee spareribs are as good as before—sufficient coffee flavor, not too sweet, and ribs with enough meat.  The menu includes several items featuring a fried taro nest (sarang), which turns out to be more like a ring or crown (no lattice pattern here) and the taro is probably taro powder.  The seafood option (sarang seafood) could use more squid and scallop.

The beef rendang is not too spicy.  The shrimp paste-based ong choy (kangkung belacan) is worth a try if you don’t know what the umami-rich shrimp paste tastes like.  (Curtis Stone visited an artisanal shrimp paste maker for the third season of Field Trip.  Watch below a video of the same company we found on YouTube.)  The Malaysian fried rice has a different flavor profile from the typical Chinese fried rice.  If you’ve had roti before, try the stuffed version (roti telur) for a different texture and mouthfeel.

Kudos to LL for using extra deep 32-oz. rectangular boxes made by a local company.  There aren’t too many Malaysian (or part-Malaysian) restaurants in the Bay Area, so check out LL while you can.

CNA Insider (bak kut teh) [►] Goldthread (shrimp paste makers) [►]

Nearby options:  Mil’s Diner, Pinoy BBQ ATBP, Tayyibaat, Daeho Kalbijjim & Beef Soup, Milpitas SGD Tofu House, Anh Hong Saigon, Kokoro Ramen, Pho Nguyen, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, Paris Baguette, Teaspoon

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Maya’s Cafe, San Jose | [♀] [≡]

The Nikki Medoro Show [►]

Our Latin American culinary tour continues. Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Argentina (bakery), Brazil, Cuba, and finally we can check Honduras off the list.  Most of the Central American eateries in the Bay Area are Salvadoran, so a Honduran place is a rare find.  Located in the Cambrian area of San Jose, Maya’s Cafe has actually been around since 2008.  After we talked about La Penita recently, we wanted to recommend another restaurant for cocido (since La Penita is not open for dinner), and that’s how we came across Maya’s.  This little restaurant offers cocido and so much more.

Honduran cuisine has some Caribbean touches, so expect to see plenty of fried plantains and some yuca in your food.  The Honduran kitchen also likes to cook with coconut milk.  You must try the seafood soup with coconut milk (sopa de mariscos con leche de coco).  It’s loaded with clams/mussels, shrimp, fish, crab leg, and two unexpected ingredients:  yuca and fried sweet plantain.  You get more pieces of seafood than the seafood noodle soup at Santa Clara’s BN Chicken.  The cocido (sopa de res on this menu) is just as tasty as La Penita’s.  What’s different is they use meaty short ribs and yuca here.  Both of these soups come with a side of rice, uncustomary at Mexican restaurants.  As expected, they are large enough for two to share.

Another star of our meal is the bacon-wrapped shrimp (camarones Azteca).  The key is the shrimp is not overcooked.  We also love that it has a bit of heat from jalapeno.  This is how you do bacon-wrapped shrimp—memo to The Park Street Tavern in Alameda.  The rice that comes with this dish is better than the rice for the soups.

We also sampled two other Honduran specialties:  the fried chicken leg (pollo frito pierna) and San Pedro Sula-style boneless pork chops (chuleta Sampedrana).  They have a flavor profile unlike what we’re familiar with.  These dishes come with a lot of fried green plantain chips (tajadas).  We made Cuban-style fried sweet plantains before using super ripe plantains.  Tajadas are savory as unripe plantains are sliced thin and then fried (not twice-fried like tostones).  Surprisingly, they are light and don’t fill you up the same way French fries would if you ate the same amount by volume or weight.  They’re served with a tomato sauce that’s different from the red salsa for tortilla chips at a Mexican restaurant.  You could toss your pasta with this sauce if you wanted to.

Baleada is sort of like Honduran quesadilla.  The super version with beans, cheese, eggs and avocado is quite good.  Maya’s pupusa is about the same as the Salvadoran version.  They were out of flan, so we tried the only other dessert.  Their rice pudding (arroz con leche) is one of the better versions in the Bay Area.  Their flour tortillas have more flavor than what you find at a typical Mexican place.  These tortillas seem to aspire to be like naan or roti.

Maya’s also offers Honduran-style enchiladas, tamales, and tacos.  The menu includes the usual Mexican fare such as chilaquiles, burritos, quesadillas, mole, chile relleno, flautas, fajitas, and tostadas.

Nearby options:  Nagoya Sushi, Pizza My Dear, Harbor Fish & Chips, Jane Ellen Bakery, Alams Taqueria, Ristorante da Maria, Khaosan Thai, Stevie’s Bar & Grill, ABVE the Basics, Honey Bakery & Cafe, International Food Bazaar

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Mil’s Diner, Milpitas

Google Street View

We love a good diner.  We had high hopes for the chain based in Shasta County, but it turned out to be a bust (judging by its Milpitas location).  Another nearby diner was also disappointing though we did get to sample a coulotte steak for the first time.  Thank goodness there’s Mil’s Diner to the rescue.  It’s been around since 1987, but we never paid a visit until now.  Like Holder’s Country Inn and Mio Vicino, a former employee is part of the ownership here.  The menu has a little bit of everything but is not excessively long.

If you like red meat for breakfast/lunch, try the special combo No. 4, which is a London strip steak topped with mushrooms.  The steak and mushrooms are quite flavorful—no wonder this dish is the co-owner’s favorite.  We also enjoyed the special breakfast combo No. 2, which is one skewer of chicken souvlaki, a reflection of a previous owner’s Greek heritage.  While the quality of the ribeye steak (12 oz.) breakfast is better than Holder’s, the meat still lacks flavor.  We suggest you splurge a little and order the more upscale ribeye at Tayyibaat in the same strip mall.  These breakfast items come with three eggs, hash browns or country potatoes, and toast or pancake.  Choose the country potatoes because we’re not certain the hash browns are cooked to order.

If you’re familiar with Joe’s Special, Mil’s spin is to make it in omelet form.  Even for a great-value place like this diner, we are bowled over by how much bang for the buck you get from the chicken and waffle and eggs Benedict.  Most people will not be able to finish the former in one sitting because they give you four pieces of chicken.  The combination, essentially a half chicken, is exactly what we hope for:  thigh, drumstick, wing (flat/drumette/tip belonging to one chicken), and breast to satisfy all preferences.  This is not a Southern diner, and yet Mil’s fried chicken is better than some critically acclaimed places.  If memory serves, most restaurants give you half an English muffin for your eggs Benedict.  You get two halves of a muffin here, and for a pittance, you can ditch the boring Canadian bacon and upgrade to crab cake.  This patty may not be full of fresh crab meat, but the flavor is good.  They may not consider this real crab cake in Baltimore, but we’ll take it.

If you want sandwiches, try the Monte Cristo, a kind of American croque monsieur.  Mil’s version includes ham and turkey.  The grilled onions for the patty melt are more caramelized than Holder’s, but the sauce is not piquant enough (think Thousand Island dressing).  Cook’s Country uses ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce (watch below).  The sandwiches come with one side (French fries, macaroni salad, or coleslaw).  You pay extra for onion rings, soup, dinner salad, cottage cheese, and fresh fruit.  There’s no dessert on the menu, but you can order pancakes and waffles with strawberries and lots of syrup/whipped cream.  They also serve root beer float and milkshake.  And if you want an adult beverage, there’s mimosa and champagne.  We can’t guarantee you’ll like the food here, but you’ll find no fault with the service.  We requested a side of mushrooms and they were willing to oblige.

Mil’s may not be the oldest or the most spacious diner.  But the inside doesn’t feel crammed despite the limited space; a partition down the middle of the room gives the tables a modicum of privacy.  There’s the requisite row of counter seats, and the red vinyl adds a touch of nostalgia.  Here’s to 40 more years of Mil’s.

A tale of two diner chains.  Before 2011, Milpitas was the location for a Bakers Square, which once had close to 100 branches in California.  You can still get their pies at Famous Dave’s in San Jose and Hayward.  Half a mile from this Bakers Square was the site of a Marie Callender’s, which is now down to 25 locations with only one in the Bay Area (Sunnyvale).  We do have fond memory of their fresh strawberry pie (available from March to September).  By the way, some of their frozen pies, available at Lucky, Safeway, Walmart, and Smart & Final, are quite respectable (pumpkin and cherry crunch, for example).  Anybody remember Lyon’s and Carrows?

ATK (eggs Benedict) [►] ATK/Cook’s Country (patty melt) [►]

Nearby options:  Layang Layang Malaysian Cuisine, Daeho Kalbi Jjim & Beef Soup, Jang Su Jang, SGD Tofu House, Anh Hong Saigon, Tayyibaat, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, Kokoro Ramen, Pho Nguyen, Super Potato, Milpitas Buffet, Paris Baguette, K on the Go, Teaspoon

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La Penita, San Jose | [♀]

Dreadful Talk Dom [►]

Named after La Penita de Jaltemba in Nayarit, Mexico, this restaurant has been around for 30-plus years.  What keeps customers coming back to this family-owned business is its signature beef and vegetable soup (large enough for two to share).  Cocido de res traces its roots to Europe where Spain, Portugal, and France offer something similar:  cocido, cozido, and pot-au-feu, respectively.  The beef may be the star of this dish here, but the cabbage is a great supporting player.  Note that some restaurants call this dish caldo de res or sopa de res.  If they run out of cocido, give pozole a try.  We made a green pozole at home before; La Penita prepared a red version (pozole rojo) on our recent visit.

Their other specialty is mole.  When we first sampled it years ago, we dismissed it because it didn’t have any chocolate flavor.  Well, maybe our mole palate has evolved.  We now appreciate that having strong chocolate flavor may be an act of pandering.  La Penita’s mole sauce has the right viscosity and deep flavor, and the boneless chicken breast is moist (though we always prefer dark meat).

Think of chilaquiles as nachos for breakfast.  La Penita’s rendition is slightly sweet and spicy.  We would like more cheese and eggs.  The shrimp with garlic (camarones al mojo de ajo) smells great but is otherwise overcooked.  You can skip the breaded cutlet (milanesa); the meat (beef?) has a jerky texture and lacks flavor.  We’ve had better milanesa elsewhere.

There is a parking lot behind this corner restaurant near a freeway overpass.  The owner of the lot should clean it up a little and repaint the lines.  This part of downtown has changed a lot since 2007; across Reed Street from La Penita is a swanky apartment complex, and something else is going up across First Street.  This place used to open for dinner; now it’s just breakfast and lunch.  They still own 5 Spot Chivas Grill just three blocks away (sorry, no cocido here).

Simply Mama Cooks (caldo de res) [►] ArnieTex (caldo de res) [►] Views on the Road (caldo de res) [►]

Nearby options:  5 Spot Chivas Grill, Petiscos by Adega, Mezcal, Com Ga Nam An, Good Karma, La Victoria, Original Joe’s, Whispers Cafe, Pastelaria Adega, La Lune Sucree, Holy Cannoli

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Red Lobster, San Jose + Pittsburg + San Bruno + Vallejo + Fairfield

Red Lobster (Cheddar Bay 2024) [►] Red Lobster (seafood with standards) [►]

Part 1

Just as World Wrapps turned out to be a pleasant surprise, the much larger Red Lobster chain also exceeded our expectations.  We recall enjoying the signature biscuits years ago.  And so we were cautiously optimistic because according to The Daily Meal, Red Lobster is a chain restaurant that uses quality seafood.  We followed the advice of Tasting Table and selected two seafood mains and one starter (note that some of the items mentioned in the article are not available in the Bay Area).  The seafood-stuffed mushrooms appetizer is kind of a misnomer.  This dish is more like mushroom gratin or large mushrooms topped with a browned crust of seafood and Monterey Jack cheese.  The menu doesn’t specify the type of seafood, and we couldn’t really tell.  But this starter is surprisingly light and tasty.

The salmon New Orleans (from fish section [classics on the Web]) is blackened Atlantic salmon topped with shrimp in a Cajun butter sauce.  The fish is not overly charred, and the richness of the sauce is balanced with a tomato-cilantro relish.  Yes, Paul Prudhomme would approve.  This dish comes with two sides; we opted for orzo rice and seasoned broccoli, which we suspect is cooked in butter and salt and has more flavor than the bland and undercooked broccoli you get from a lot of restaurants.  Other sides include coleslaw, Chesapeake fries, mashed potatoes, and baked potato.  If you don’t mind paying extra, you can upgrade to premium sides such as bacon mac & cheese, crispy Brussels sprouts, and salad.

The Bar Harbor lobster bake (from signature specialties & feasts section [pastas on the Web]) includes four types of seafood:  Maine lobster tails, shrimp (eight), mussels (eight), and bay scallops (a dozen) over linguini in a garlic and white wine broth.  You get one small lobster tail (cut lengthwise) and another half tail.  These tails are similar in size to the three-oz. deals Safeway offers on Fridays.  The seafood is clearly cooked separately (as it should be) from the pasta; it has good flavor and stronger flavor than the broth for the pasta (a lot of pasta).  This dish is large enough for two people, a good deal when you look at it that way.  There’s another lobster pasta dish (from lobster section [pastas on the Web]) that should be just as good.  It seems all the other lobster options on the menu are served with a side of melted butter, so the two lobster pastas may be more flavorful.

All entrees come with two of their signature Cheddar Bay biscuits (introduced in 1991/92).  They’re good for something mass-produced by a chain and small enough that they don’t ruin your appetite—eat one and save the other for the next day.  Most entrees are served with a choice of two sides (the Bar Harbor lobster bake is one exception—makes sense since it’s a lot of food already).  They offer weekday specials and weekday lunch specials.  For example, Friday’s special is fish and chips, which is lower than its regular price.

We don’t know if most Red Lobster locations share the same layout, but the one in Milpitas has a separate takeout entrance facing the parking lot, which makes it real convenient for dine-in customers as well.  Not to be outdone by “serious” seafood restaurants, we noticed a fish tank at this location (just lobsters).  By now you’ve probably heard about the endless crab/shrimp promotions in the past that proved to be too popular for the company’s bottom line.  As Red Lobster goes through restructuring in 2024, we hope all of the Bay Area locations will survive.  For what it’s worth, business was brisk at the Milpitas location on Labor Day.

Part 2

Back so soon?  Well, it was Thanksgiving weekend and we got lobster on the brain.  We also had a hunch something was about to go down.  Sure enough, when we showed up at the Milpitas location, we realized it had closed.  So we pivoted and drove to the San Jose branch about 12 miles away in the Evergreen area.  (We later discovered the Milpitas location closed right before Thanksgiving.  The employees did receive advance notice, and some were able to transfer to the remaining Bay Area stores.)

Red Lobster introduced some new dishes between Labor Day and Thanksgiving, one of which is the bacon-wrapped sea scallops served with spring mix salad.  This is another case of bacon making the whole dish taste better.  On to what we came for...the lobster lover’s duo comprises one roasted Maine tail and one Caribbean rock tail.  They serve the drawn (clarified) butter on the side, a good thing since it is extremely salty.  Now that we know what Caribbean lobster tastes like, we won’t need to order it again—Maine lobster is so much sweeter.  For the two sides we chose mashed potatoes and seasoned broccoli, which is surprisingly bland (we miss the Milpitas kitchen).

The fish and chips are average.  You get wild-caught cod with Chesapeake fries, coleslaw, and hushpuppies.  You can skip the New England clam chowder because we’ve had better.  Yes, there’s a lobster tank inside the San Jose store.

ATK/Cook’s Country (Brussels sprout gratin) [►] ATK (blackened chicken) [►]

Nearby options in San Jose:  The Boiling Crab, Cajun Bistro 7, Tacos a la Parrilla, The Famous Khmer-Lao, New Hoa Dang Vegetarian, Hue, Com Tam Thien Huong, Thien Long, Oc Cay Dua, Hai Nam, Banh Xeo Ngon, Pho Papa, Pho Y #1 Noodle House, Duc Phuong Tofu, Miyuki, Fish & Things Poke Bar, Fish Me Poke, IceyPoki, Q Pot Korean BBQ & Hotpot, New Sam Kee, Thai Elephant Express, Sizzler, Mountain Mike’s Pizza, Thien Huong Sandwiches & Bakery, Coffee Lovers, Le Creme Cafe, i-Tea, R&B Tea, Teasociety, Happy Lemon, Soyful Desserts, Bambu Desserts & Drinks, Aroma Che, Coffee & Tea, Izumi Matcha, Baskin-Robbins

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Tai Kee Wonton, San Jose | [≡]

Tai Kee Wonton (our business story) [►] Tai Kee Wonton (the legacy of TKW) [►] Franco Perez [►] feed meimei [►] eatsbyrachel [►]

It pays to travel literally off the beaten path.  We usually go to the San Jose main post office by driving north on Lundy Avenue at Hostetter Road.  When we went south on Lundy at Trade Zone Blvd. recently, we noticed a few restaurants in the midst of an office park just two blocks from the post office.  We never would’ve stumbled across this Taiwanese restaurant otherwise.  As it is often the case, Taiwanese cuisine has much to do with the island’s history and location.  Its biggest culinary export to date is bubble tea.  We’ve ruled out popcorn chicken because it was developed in parallel in America (KFC popcorn chicken).

Tai Kee Wonton has been at this address since 2014; it was previously in San Jose’s West Valley area from 2008 to 2012.  So many restaurants across the country were started by immigrants.  And like a few other places in the Bay Area—Arsicault Bakery, Lolita Artisanal Bakery, and Lotus Falafel & Shawerma—this family-run restaurant is a continuation of something in the Old Country.  The original Tai Kee started in 1928 in Hualien, Taiwan; it finally closed after almost a century in business.  (Harvey F. from San Jose visited the original TK in Taiwan about 10 years ago.)  Living in the Bay Area, we kind of take dishes such as enchilada, burrito, pho, ramen, and wonton noodle soup for granted.  When we put together a roundup of soups for cold weather the last two months, we didn’t even consider these three Asian soups.  Who makes the best wonton noodle soup today?  Not sure.

In any event, Bay Area foodies know Cantonese-style wonton noodle soup is often the only game in town.  So you must try TKW’s Taiwanese wonton noodle soup.  Their signature wonton dumplings are indeed the kind of recipe you can build a business around.  The pork filling is nicely seasoned and the wrapper—no off-the-shelf product here—silky and fluffy (wonton does mean “swallowing cloud”).  Besides the fact that Cantonese wonton is predominantly shrimp-based, this noodle soup is also different because it includes celery, which imparts a slight bitter flavor, and fried onion.  The default noodles are not the thin type.  For that you have to order the rice vermicelli version.  And if neither noodle option quite hits the spot, well, they have a soup with just wontons and no noodles.

A bigger deal in Taiwan is the beef noodle soup.  TKW’s version is mildly spicy; the beef is tender and the broth is darker and thicker than the one for wonton soup.  Note that a certain restaurant in Taiwan charges over $300 USD for a bowl (watch videos below).  The sticky rice with meat in cone (tube rice pudding) is traditionally cooked in a bamboo tube (they do this in other Asian countries as well).  Think of it as sticky rice dumpling (zongzi) without the bamboo leaves or the dim sum dish lotus leaf rice (lo mai gai) without the lotus leaf.  Instead of a sweet chili sauce, TKW uses a sweet and tangy sauce.

The Taiwanese pork belly sandwich (gua bao) is a popular street food over there.  The clamshell bun is more substantial than the steamed bun for Peking duck.  The best part is the pickled mustard greens.  The steamed spareribs with rice powder come with sweet potato.  Their rendition is barely spicy.  Like the salt and pepper tofu dish at Nature Vegetarian in Oakland, TKW adds (fried) basil to the deep-fried squid, a nice touch.  The deep-fried tofu turns out to be unusually large chunks of tofu served with a sweet and spicy sauce.  Like Korea, Taiwan was under Japanese occupation for 50 years.  The bone-in pork chop rice plate is probably inspired by tonkatsu bento.  There’s also bonito flakes (katsuobushi) on the menu.

You can order a box of 20 uncooked wontons to take home.  A wonton party?

CNN Travel (Niu Ba Ba) [►] Strictly Dumpling (the most expensive beef noodle soup) [►]
Lemon Films (bamboo tube rice meal in Taiwan) [►] Dianxi Xiaoge (bamboo tube BBQ in Yunnan) [►] Mee Living (sticky rice in bamboo tubes in the U.S.) [►]
Mark Wiens (Taiwanese pork belly sandwich) [►] Luke Martin (Taiwanese hamburger) [►] Goldthread (guabao) [►]

Nearby options:  Everest Cuisine, Pho Y #1 Noodle House, Ma’s, Kingwuu, Tokyo Sushi, Pho Thien Huong, Dough Zone Dumpling House, Shin’s Tofu House, Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt, Happiness Cafe, Gen Korean BBQ House, Boiling Point, Venus Cafe, Sharetea, Tiger Sugar, Paris Baguette

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Tayyibaat, Milpitas

Robiul [►]

For those in the know, this place clearly serves halal food.  That’s because the name is a reference to halal food in the Quran.  Established in 1999, Tayyibaat (“good” or “pure”) offered some Mexican items on the menu for a while around 2010, so it was ahead of San Jose’s El Halal Amigos.  The current menu is Afghan-inspired as it was originally.

You should be happy with the mains; the sides are more inconsistent.  If you love meat or if you enjoy quality meat on occasion, you should definitely try one of the angry butcher specials.  The 16-oz. ribeye steak has nice beefy flavor.  Unless you’re built like an NFL lineman, you won’t be able to finish this steak in one sitting.  Besides, a healthy portion of meat is about the size of a deck of cards or three to four ounces.  So do the math and the price of this steak is not too bad.  It’s served with vegetable skewer and shoestring fries.  We have no issues with the fries, but the grilled vegetables are rather lackluster.  They give you tomato (half), green bell pepper (half), and red onion (quarter).  Properly grilled vegetables can be quite tasty and satisfying; these need to be grilled longer, especially the onion.

The best value on the menu is probably the half chicken platter, which includes a good-sized half chicken, rice pilaf, and house salad.  The chicken is moist and not overseasoned; the tomato and cucumber salad is a bit watery.  The kebabs skewer plates come with bread in addition to rice pilaf and house salad.  The lamb tikka kebab we sampled is overcooked but still flavorful.  Note that you can get bacon with your burger.  The walnut baklava is not too sweet but is otherwise just average (made by a third party?).  Since Tayyibaat is also a butcher shop, you can purchase halal chicken, lamb, goat, and beef.

Situated between San Jose and Fremont, the Bay Area’s largest and fourth-largest cities, Milpitas is a good location for retail business.  It draws customers from the South Bay and the lower half of Alameda County.  While real estate is expensive all over the Bay Area, we assume Milpitas has to be less costly than, say, Palo Alto.  Trader Joe’s finally opened a store across from Great Mall in 2020.  Yes, In-N-Out Burger, El Torito, IHOP, Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse, and Black Bear Diner are all here in this city with a population of about 80K.  (A Red Lobster closed in 2024; an Applebee’s closed in 2020.)  But there’s also a slew of small ethnic restaurants like Tayyibaat.  Indeed, Metro raved about Milpitas as a dining destination years ago, but we haven’t been able to locate this article on-line.

There’s another interesting thing about the location of Milpitas.  The city’s main thoroughfares are I-880, I-680 (both running north/south), and SR 237 (running east/west), which turns into Calaveras Blvd.  SR 237/Calaveras Blvd. would be busier if not for the fact that the eastern border of Milpitas hits a dead end—there are no cities east of Milpitas, just foothills and mountains.  The portion east of I-680 could be called the quiet side of Milpitas.  Note that Trader Joe’s is not in this area; it’s located between I-680 and I-880.  Are there more cul-de-sac cities like Milpitas in the Bay Area?  Well, other cities that are adjacent to foothills and mountains include Cupertino, Saratoga, and Los Gatos.  Most of the smallish cities next to the bay also qualify:  San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Union City, Newark, Alviso, Brisbane, South San Francisco, Foster City, Redwood City, East Palo Alto, Pinole, Hercules, Rodeo, and others.  That’s today’s geography 101.

Nearby options:  Mil’s Diner, Layang Layang Malaysian Cuisine, Daeho Kalbi Jjim & Beef Soup, Jang Su Jang, SGD Tofu House, Anh Hong Saigon, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, Kokoro Ramen, Pho Nguyen, Super Potato, Milpitas Buffet, Paris Baguette, K on the Go, Teaspoon

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Teske’s Germania, San Jose

CPBA [►]

Teske’s Germania has been around since 1980 and is now owned by a different family.  Before 2000, there was another German restaurant with a similar name nearby in downtown San Jose; Ludwig’s German Table occupied that space from 2016 to 2022.  Ernst Teske used to manage Hochburg von Germania before opening his own restaurant.

We sampled four entrees, one appetizer, and two desserts.  The baked salmon with lemon caper sauce turned out to be our favorite entree.  The fillet is perfectly cooked and the outside is nice and crispy.  It’s served with rice pilaf and seasonal vegetables (broccolini that’s not fibrous).  The breaded pork cutlets with white wine mushroom sauce (jagerschnitzel) is average.  We loved the braised red cabbage (rotkohl) that accompanied the two specials we ordered.  The Swiss-style veal strips with white wine and cream (Zurcher geschnetzeltes) is fine, but the pork roll (rinderroulade) is underwhelming because the inside bacon is not crispy and there’s not much of an acidic note from the pickle.

Having just seen America’s Test Kitchen make authentic pretzels, we decided to try the Bavarian pretzels (laugenbrezeln) with obatzter, a cheese spread.  Traditional pretzels have a dark brown/mahogany color and mineral flavor thanks to a quick lye solution bath before baking (most home bakers use baking soda).  Since Teske’s pretzels come from a third party (here’s the page from Sysco), we don’t know for sure if they are the real deal.  They look dark enough, but the pretzel salt makes it hard to detect any mineral flavor.  If the only pretzels you know are the ones from Auntie Anne’s or a ballpark, give these a try.

Here’s the highlight of our meal:  Teske’s desserts.  You can’t go wrong with either the Black Forest cake or bee sting cake (bienenstich).  They also make apple strudel, Sachertorte, and Bavarian cream.

ATK (chicken schnitzel) [►] ATK (the science of perfect pretzels) [►]

Nearby options (north of Santa Clara):  Stone Stew, District, SP2, Urban Momo, The Old Wagon Saloon & Grill, La Victoria Taqueria, Olla Cocina, Nick the Greek, Rollati Ristorante, The Old Spaghetti Factory, Mommy’s Banh Mi, Hinodeya, Sushi Confidential, Freshly Baked Eatery, Ike’s Love & Sandwiches, The Farmers Union, Firehouse No. 1, Anchors Fish and Chips, The Brit, Pizza Bocca Lupo, Slice of Homage Pizza, Con Azucar Cafe, Voyager Craft Coffee, Dr.ink, Urban Ritual, Dumont Creamery & Cafe

Past Featured Restaurants

Capelo’s Barbecue, Redwood City

Sweet Travel Moments [►] Living in Oakland Calif. (food truck) [►]

Here we go again.  The social media site that publishes an annual top 100 list of “best places to eat” recently unveiled the top barbecue spots for the first time.  Capelo’s Barbecue is the only Bay Area restaurant that made the cut.  If you read what we had to say about San Bruno’s Mazra, you know what we think of these dubious rankings (click on the Detour tab above for more details).  Since we’re familiar with this part of Redwood City, we decided to check out Capelo’s.

Years ago we contemplated doing a barbecue crawl.  It’s a good thing we never did it because when you eat the same thing over and over in a short amount of time, you will get tired of it by the end.  And ever since we cooked ribs at home using a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen, we no longer hear the siren call of the cue.  Even though ATK’s ribs start on top of the stove and finish in the oven, they are better than a lot of restaurant ribs.  That’s why this is our first barbecue entry almost three years after we launched this page.  Now you know where we stand as far as barbecue is concerned.

Capelo’s specializes in Central Texas-style barbecue, which focuses on the meat and serves a sauce on the side (if any).  We sampled three barbecue plates.  The pork ribs (four pieces) are tender but still have a little chew—just what we prefer as opposed to completely falling off the bone.  They are indeed nicely sauced already.  For those who insist, they do offer self-serve BBQ sauces (made by a third party?).  The smoked chicken is either dark (leg quarter) or white meat (breast).  The dark meat we selected is moist, so we imagine the same with the breast.  We couldn’t detect much smoke flavor/aroma.  The Louisiana hot links are fine except the casing is a little on the chewy side.  If you like to get down and dirty with your barbecue food, this is not that kind of place.  The ribs and chicken are pristine-looking and perfectly sliced—as if they came off an assembly line.

Each plate comes with two sides, so we got to try six altogether.  The baked beans could be a little less sweet; they also could use bits of meat to give them more dimension.  The kale slaw may be neutral tasting but pairs well with the hot links.  The creamed corn and corn muffin are not overly sweet.  Our favorites are the potato salad (not too vinegary) and creamy coleslaw (a hint of sweet flavor).  The portion size of the mains and sides is modest.

If it’s available, you should order the tres leches cake.  Despite a rather thick layer of icing on top, the whole thing is still not too sweet.  The portion size is commensurate with the price in this case.

Since 2007, Capelo’s has built a loyal following via a catering business and a food truck all over the Bay Area.  They finally found a permanent home in Redwood City in 2019.  It’s turned into a beer and wine garden with tables and space for live music (check schedule on Web site).  The parking lot is usually full, but since most people get food to-go, you may not have to wait long for a space.  Street parking is hard to find even on a Saturday.  People who grew up in Central Texas must visit Oakland’s Stay Gold Deli and compare.

Somewhere South (barbecue episode trailer) [►] ATK (barbecued spareribs) [►]

Nearby options:  Sushinaloa, Taiwanese Eats, El Sur Empanadas, La Casita Chilanga, Cuco’s Burritos, Carnitas El Rincon, Tacos El Grullense E&E, El Grullense II, El Paisano Taqueria, San Francisco Fine Bakery, Panaderia Munguia, Panaderia Michoacan, Sigona’s Farmers Market

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Cook’s Seafood, Menlo Park + Pleasanton

Travel 2 San Francisco [►] KPIX (Pleasanton) [►]

Cook’s Seafood will celebrate its centennial birthday in 2028—just like the Oscars.  After we put together our list of Bay Area institutions (click on the OG tab above), we’ve been trying to visit some of these oldies but goodies.  The fact that this restaurant operates its own fish market probably explains why you can’t beat the seafood prices here.

If you love crab, try the crab cakes special.  The two patties are made with crab meat and not much filler.  They are flavorful enough that you don’t need the mildly spicy orange sauce (remoulade?) they give you.  The other crab options are the crab sandwich and crab Louie salad.  Most restaurants make fish and chips using cod; Cook’s Seafood also offers halibut.  The good news is you can get a combination of the two and do your own side-by-side taste test.  The surprise is the wild Atlantic cod is almost as meaty as the wild Alaskan halibut.  The steak-cut French fries are not their strong suit; the texture is a bit mealy.

From the list of entrees we ordered scallops and sand dabs.  The grilled sea scallops (about eight) are slightly overcooked but still tasty.  The deep-fried sand dabs (six pieces) are good, but we wish we were given the option to pan-fry or grill them.  These entrees come with French fries by default, but you can switch to something else such as coleslaw or sauteed vegetables.  The latter turned out to be a medley of carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower.  They did a good job bringing out the sweetness in the carrots.  They use sustainable white shrimp for their prawns and chips.  We prefer panko-style coating for shrimp; they use a similar coating as fish and chips.

If you enjoy cooking seafood at home, their adjoining fish market has a nice variety of fish and shellfish.  Bill Cook founded this business in 1928; three families have owned it in almost 100 years.  The current owner will open a second location in Pleasanton in 2025 (they’ve set up a separate Web site for it).

ATK/Cook’s Country (fish and chips) [►] ATK/Cook’s Country (crispy fried shrimp) [►]

Nearby options in Menlo Park:  Eyelan, Octopus Japanese, MP Mongolian BBQ, Mami Cheli’s, Jeffrey’s Hamburgers, Tea Friends, downtown Menlo Park

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Corner Table, Redwood City | [≡]

After Old Port Lobster Shack shuttered in 2023, the owner of next-door Sushi Plus decided to open her second restaurant.  Corner Table is a cafe with a Korean twist, offering coffee/tea, boba drinks, wine/beer, pastries (from Woodside Bakery), salads, small bites, burgers/sandwiches, flatbreads, pasta, and Korean dishes.  The food is marketed as California fusion, so the kitchen will change things up here and there.

The four Korean dishes we sampled are as good as—if not better than—what some Korean restaurants have to offer.  The kimchi fried rice is the most interesting because the rice is topped with a layer of mozzarella and then pickled daikon radish (danmuji).  The rice itself is mixed with some instant noodle (Shin Ramyun) and served inside an omelet/crepe cup resembling a mini-Dutch baby/German pancake, visually attractive and different from typical preparations in another way:  rather mild kimchi flavor.  We found some bits of scorched rice, a pleasant surprise.  The same kimchi fried rice replaces the plain rice in CT’s version of beef (bulgogi) rice bowl (bibimbap).  We also appreciate the generous amount of pickled vegetables.  The ziti-shaped rice cakes (tteokbokki) have a stronger kick than kimchi fried rice and include fish cake (eomuk) and sausage.  The slightly spicy Korean fried chicken (three drumettes and two flats) is better than some Korean fried chicken places we visited and comes with a decidedly Western coleslaw (the optional sauce for the chicken costs extra).

The beef in the loco moco is still pink in the center and sits on top of vegetable fried rice with a demi-glace (compare with Diamond Head General Store in San Bruno).  Try the beet quinoa salad.  You know it’s a well-composed salad when it tastes good even without any dressing.  The said dressing has a clean lemon flavor—better than a lot of Italian dressings out there.  The fried calamari is on the greasy side, but you also get a few pieces of fried artichoke and fried jalapeno.  Remember the cronut fad?  Well, there’s also a croissant/waffle hybrid called croffle.  The strawberry croffle is lighter than expected (the whipped cream is probably from a can or tub).

This menu will likely evolve in the next few years, but for now we give the owner kudos for the eclectic offerings.

ATK (dolsot bibimbap) [►] ATK (kimchi fried rice) [►] ATK (Korean fried chicken wings) [►]

Nearby options:  Sushi Plus, Redwood Grill, Breakers Cafe, Woodside Roadhouse, Corner Yogurt, Colombo’s Delicatessen, Diner Japonica, Redwood City Barbeque, Karakade Thai Cuisine, Vivi’s Cafe, Karlita’s Taco Place, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Chuck’s Donuts

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Diamond Head General Store by Morning Wood, San Bruno

CPBA [►] Nichi Bei Foundation [►]

Ono kine grinds (delicious food) ahead.  Some foodies follow the hottest restaurants; some follow celebrity chefs.  We follow the news, so here’s to Lahaina.  We’ve been to our share of Bay Area restaurants featuring the cuisine of Hawaii over the years, and Diamond Head General Store is the best in terms of quality and, well, quantity.  Of all the island chains and mom-and-pop places we visited, we’ve never come across such portion size.  You can make three to four servings out of most of the dishes here.  Maybe that’s how they roll in the Aloha State.  Since Hawaii is our most culturally diverse state—sorry, California—it’s the only one with a culinary melting pot that reflects all the different immigrant groups.

We would happily reorder the four plate lunches we sampled.  If you like garlic, you must try the fried mochiko chicken plate and the garlic shrimp.  Mochiko is sticky rice flour used in Japan and Hawaii.  DHGS’s mochiko chicken (boneless thigh) is like a cross between chicken karaage and chicken-fried steak.  It’s served on a bed of cabbage, which we would like more of.  There’s a Bay Area restaurant that makes its loco moco using meaty short ribs.  DHGS doesn’t go that far, but the beef is more meatloaf than hamburger patty and the gravy is a demi-glace.  The kalua pork and cabbage is one of the better renditions of kalua we’ve ever had.  Most of the plate lunches come with two scoops of rice and macaroni salad as expected.

DHGS also serves poke bowls, different types of fries, and a daily bento.  There are premade items such as onigiri, musubi, and inari.  The kimchi and SPAM onigiri is quite good; it tastes like kimchi fried rice with diced SPAM.  The crab inari makes for a quick two-bite snack.  The butter mochi cake is nice, but they didn’t make the guava chiffon cake when we visited.  And there’s shave ice with a ton of flavor options.

The couple who owns DHGS has connections to Hawaii.  This was the site of Morning Wood, a popular breakfast/brunch spot Monica and Chad Kaneshiro operated until it relocated to a bigger space in San Mateo.  So in 2021 (remember COVID?), they turned the San Bruno location into a place that resembles the type of independent store in Hawaii.  The counter-service restaurant/mini-market setup reminds us of Antipastos by DeRose (San Jose), Middle East Market (Berkeley), and Syma’s (Albany).  Monica grew up in the restaurant business.  Indeed, her mother operated Todam Tofu House, a Korean eatery specializing in tofu soup, for years at the same address until she retired in 2017.  And that’s when Todam Tofu House became Morning Wood.  Sadly, Morning Wood closed in 2023 after a year in San Mateo (that menu did include prime rib loco moco).

Did you know the people who live in Hawaii are called Hawaii residents?  That’s because the term Hawaiians is reserved for people who have indigenous roots.  When people talk about Hawaiian food, keep in mind they could be referring to native Hawaiian food or the cuisine of Hawaii.

Nearby options:  Gintei, Fat Wong’s Kitchen, Hing Lung, Pita Hub, Mid East Market, downtown San Bruno

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Dianda’s Italian American Pastry Co., San Mateo + San Francisco

MissionLocal [►] MikeLimTravel [►]

Panettone is to Christmas as colomba pasquale is to Easter.  Stop by Dianda’s Italian American Pastry Co. if you’re looking for a colomba to complete your Easter table.  They make their own colomba and sell an imported one as well.  Colomba is basically a dove-shaped panettone with a few other minor changes.  This is our first taste of colomba, and we find Dianda’s version to be drier than the average panettone.

Another distinctly Italian pastry is the zuppa inglese, which consists of layers of custard and sponge cake dipped in rum.  The Napoleon is their take on mille-feuille.  They both have a similar flavor profile and are quite substantial in size.  The amaretti and amaretti pinoli are almond-forward, chewy cookies (the latter are topped with pine nuts).  We didn’t see their “famous” almond torte or St. Honore cake during our visit.

The Dianda family started this business in 1962; three employees have continued to run the bakery since 2003.  They now offer Mexican treats such as tres leches cake and pan de muerto.  The San Mateo store is located in a quiet neighborhood next to foothills.

Nearby options in San Mateo:  Little Hunan, Rainbow Pizza, Sourdough & Co., Lily’s Creperie, Neal’s Coffee Shop

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Dumpling & Cajun Seafood, South San Francisco | [≡]

Vietnamese immigrants created Viet-Cajun cuisine in Louisiana and Texas.  We have these restaurants in the Bay Area.  Dumpling & Cajun Seafood may be inspired by that fusion—it’s kind of a mash-up of Chinese and Cajun.  The concept may be a little gimmicky, but after sampling a dozen dishes, we can say the food is surprisingly good.

Start with the shredded potato salad.  It’s refreshing, not too spicy, and tastes more like daikon than potato.  Note that this dish (No. A17) is not on the takeout menu but a photo is there.  If you like soft shell crab, you have two options:  fried soft shell crab (under appetizers) and soft shell crab tornado (under hot dishes).  The latter is the same as the appetizer with added fried onion, fried garlic, dried black beans, green onion, and bread crumbs as topping.  We enjoyed both versions.  Soft shell crab purists would probably prefer the unadorned version; the other one is for garlic lovers.  We believe the tornado twist is inspired by Hong Kong’s typhoon shelter seafood dishes.

Since they ran out of lobster tails for the seafood boil, we settled for middleneck clams (1.5 pounds) with mild Cajun sauce, which has a pretty good kick already.  This is probably the closest they come to a fusion of Chinese and Cajun.  If you like the flavor profile of enchilada, try the cumin-forward lamb on toothpick (it’s mildly spicy).

The two dumpling dishes we sampled (one steamed, one pan-fried) are good.  The shrimp shumai (four per order) has good flavor and wrapper (all-shrimp shumai is less common).  The Cajun pan-fried pork bao (six per order) is essentially a pan-fried variation on xiaolongbao.  The meat and soup filling is flavorful.  The whole thing is visually appealing because the bottom half is fried to a tan color, giving it a two-tone look.  We don’t get the Cajun part.

Their rendition of shrimp fried rice does justice to this Chinese restaurant staple.  The Cajun crab fried rice has good flavor, but we’re not sure it’s Cajun flavor profile.  You can’t go wrong with either Cajun garlic noodle or seafood garlic noodle.  The latter is supposed to include shrimp, green mussels (three), and cheese.  They used two calamari rings instead of shrimp.  Both noodle dishes have strong but not overpowering garlic flavor and are not excessively greasy.

They also make Sichuan dishes such as dandan noodles, chili oil wonton, and poached (water-boiled) beef.  Note that 10 of the appetizers are half off during happy hour.  D&C has a sister restaurant in Pleasanton with a similar name (Dumpling Meets Cajun Seafood) and shorter menu.

Nearby options:  Flavas Jamaican Grill, Sky Cafe, El Santaneco, Rockoto Peruvian Cuisine, Taqueria El Farolito, Cochinita, Andiamo In Banca, Ristorante Buon Gusto, Grill Kebabs and Gyros, Brothers Cafe, Ben Tre, Cafe Bunn Mi, Thai Satay, Izanami, Amami San, Shoryuken, Grand Palace Seafood, Hing Lung Cafe, Hawi Hawaiian BBQ

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Flavas Jamaican Grill, South San Francisco | [≡]

TasteGood TV [►]

Part 1

Among Caribbean countries, Americans are most familiar with the food of Jamaica, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.  Who hasn’t heard of Jamaica’s jerk cooking?  Even though the Scotch bonnet pepper is used in the jerk marinade, we’ve never had an issue with the heat level.  We do suspect what you get in Jamaica is probably spicier than what most restaurants serve stateside.  The Bay Area has seen its share of Jamaican eateries over the years.  Flavas Jamaican Grill is definitely one of the tastiest ones we’ve visited.  The four sides we sampled are uniformly good on their own; we can see diners wanting extras.  Based on this track record, the collard greens must be equally good.

We enjoyed both the jerk salmon and jerk chicken.  But the chicken gets bonus points because it’s dark meat (you pay extra for white)—two drumsticks, thigh, and wing (flat).  The wing is technically white meat, but it tastes more like dark.  When you cook dark meat to 190°F, it takes on the texture of braised meat.  It seems they did that.  The drumstick also packs more flavor since it has more surface area for the marinade (the jerk chicken also feels spicier than the salmon for the same reason).  There’s the braised oxtail for all the oxtail lovers out there.  Most entrees come with rice and beans, plantains, and sauteed vegetables (carrots and cabbage on our visit).  They also offer combo plates featuring any two of these proteins (jerk chicken/pork/salmon or oxtails) with the exception of salmon/oxtails pairing.  Besides the four jerk dishes, they also make barbecued chicken, curried goat, and pan-fried snapper.

They serve Jamaica’s national dish, ackee and saltfish, on Saturdays.  It comes with a fried dough called festival.  They add just enough sugar to get the perfect sweet/savory balance.  Other daily specials include curried chicken, barbecued ribs, and whole steamed snapper.  You must order the sweet potato pudding with rum raisin ice cream.  We’re biased since rum raisin is our favorite ice cream flavor.  Their version is quite good (house-made?).  If you plan to dine in, you should get the ice cream by itself.  The sweet potato pudding is nothing like our sweet potato pie.

Flavas opened in downtown South San Francisco in 2014.  A takeout-only location in San Francisco closed in 2022.  They call Chicago the Windy City.  If you exclude coastal spots, the Bay Area’s answer to Chicago may well be South City.  It’s always windy when we visit downtown SSF.  That’s not a big deal when it’s a nice sunny day.  But dress in layers in case it’s overcast here.

Part 2

When we return to a restaurant after a positive encounter, the experience is usually not as good because 1) the excitement of the new is gone and 2) it’s hard to meet expectations the second time.  Well, we’re pleased to announce we have more Flavas entrees to recommend now.

The Jamaican escovitched snapper fillet features pan-fried fillets with pickled onion and carrots.  It’s light and the batter and fish are properly seasoned.  The kick (stronger than jerk) is in the sauce.  It’s served with festival in addition to the two standard sides. The comforting ital stew is a Rastafarian dish with lentils, pumpkin, and tofu in coconut cream and spices (ital is short for “vital”).  It’s served with steamed brown rice and plantains.  Though Flavas does not specialize in barbecue ribs, the pineapple barbecued ribs (five per order) are better than what you get from chain restaurants.  The flavor profile reminds us of the recipe from America’s Test Kitchen (see below).  The ribs come with coleslaw and a choice of French fries, rice and beans, or mac and cheese.  The jerk pork is good, but we still prefer their jerk chicken.

They have made one menu change since our last visit a few months ago.  Most entrees now come with rice and beans and plantains; sauteed vegetables cost extra.  The collard greens turn out to be a little on the salty side.  We also ordered a side of festivals (four) for another taste.  The flavor is similar to ox-tongue pastry (the joy of fried dough).  And we found out their rum raisin ice cream comes from Mitchell’s.

Nearby options:  Sky Cafe, El Santaneco, Rockoto Peruvian Cuisine, Taqueria El Farolito, Cochinita, Andiamo In Banca, Ristorante Buon Gusto, Grill Kebabs and Gyros, Brothers Cafe, Ben Tre, Cafe Bunn Mi, Thai Satay, Izanami, Amami San, Shoryuken, Dumpling & Cajun Seafood, Grand Palace Seafood, Hing Lung Cafe, Hawi Hawaiian BBQ

ATK/Cook’s Country (jerk chicken) [►] ATK (barbecued spareribs) [►]

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Gao Viet Kitchen, San Mateo + San Francisco

CPBA [►]

You can thank the owner of Gao Viet Kitchen for giving the Bay Area the Phozilla and Gaozilla.  The former is a supersized pho containing 1.5 pounds of Maine lobster, beef rib, bone marrow, brisket, and filet mignon.  The latter is equally impressive with ribeye steak and oxtail in place of lobster and beef rib.  These noodle soups serve at least three to four hungry people.  While we did not sample either one, we do have a suggestion for GVK.  Since we love beef ribs, we wish they would offer these meaty ribs in a non-pho dish.  Their pho stock also shows up on the drinks menu:  pho shot (whiskey or tequila with a beef marrow broth chaser) and pho u up (tequila with beef broth and a dash of fish sauce).

We’re familiar with “ordinary” pho (compared with the above), so we opted to sample other parts of the menu.  The rice flour pancakes (banh khot) have a shrimp filling and remind us of Thai coconut pancakes (khanom krok).  The five-spice chicken garlic noodle comes with a generous portion of dark meat.  The garlic noodle 3-way comes with beef, shrimp, and imperial roll (ground pork, wood ear mushroom, clear vermicelli, carrot, taro, onion, rice paper).  All three of these dishes are served with tasty pickled carrot and daikon.  The Gao fried rice comes with BBQ shrimp, sweet sausage, and fried egg (missing).

You can skip the two clay pot dishes we ordered.  Both the mama’s clay pot and vegetarian clay pot are way overseasoned (too salty and too sweet)—even for the plain rice they’re served with.  How salty is it?  It makes the pineapple in mama’s clay pot taste like some salted and dried fruit.  Other diners have expressed similar sentiment on-line, so don’t expect the kitchen to change.

GVK in downtown San Mateo is very popular.  We didn’t notice any free parking downtown, but it is free after 6 pm and on Sundays (including eight city-owned garages/lots).  Sister restaurant Ben Tre (opened in 2008) has a more subdued menu.

Nearby options in San Mateo (central downtown):  B Street & Vine, Central Park Bistro, Vespucci, Sapore Express, SAJJ Mediterranean, Amour Amour, Pancho Villa Taqueria, Las Palomas Taqueria, Avenida, Dash Japanese Tapas and Sushi, Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ, Izakaya Ginji, Izakaya Mai, HiroNori Craft Ramen, Taishoken Ramen, Himawari, Sushi Sam’s Edomata, Sushi Yoshizumi, Hotaru, Taki Nori Hand Roll Bar, New Thai Elephant, Thonglor Thai Bistro, Chopstix & Taiwanese Bentos, Tianfu, Noodles & Things, Dough Zone Dumpling House, Happy Lamb Hot Pot, Liuyishou Hotpot, Urban Momo, Samikcha Momo, The Barrel Bistro and Wine Bar, San Mateo Prime, Potato Guys, Sweetgreen, Foreigner Cafe, M Sandwiches Cafe, Avocado Toast,, Fire Wings, Bonchon, Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria, New York Pizza, 3 Bees Coffee, Backhaus, SimplyCake, Paris Baguette, Antoine’s Cookie Shop, Sharetea, Heeretea, TP Tea, Shuyi Grass Jelly & Tea, Teaspoon, Tiger Tea & Juice, Deja Vu Organic Juice Bar, Sweet Moment

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Harry’s Hofbrau, Redwood City + San Leandro

MikeLimTravel (San Leandro) [►] Travel By N8ture (Redwood City) [►] KPIX [►]

Made in the Bay Area.  The first German-inspired hofbrau opened in San Francisco after World War II.  Notable hofbraus such as Lefty O’Doul’s and Brennan’s have closed.  Established in 1954, Harry’s Hofbrau closed its San Jose location in 2019 (a few other locations had closed before that).  Like visiting a diner, a trip to a hofbrau may fill customers with nostalgia.  We’d never set foot inside one until now though we do recall a Sam’s Hof Brau in downtown Oakland near Emporium-Capwell.  (Fun fact:  The chef/owner of Nan Yang used to work there.)

This may be cafeteria-style food, but we thought everything was good, including the humble dinner roll (white or wheat).  Harry’s specialty is turkey.  Even if you frequently cook your own turkey for Thanksgiving, we doubt you buy one with a huge leg.  So try the turkey leg dinner from the regular menu.  The leg bone measures eight to nine inches.  The meat is tender with a hint of smokey flavor.  Most entrees come with two preset sides, a dinner roll, and an additional side of your choice.  The mashed potatoes don’t appear to be made from potato flakes; the bread dressing is a little nondescript (better when we tried it again the second time).

From the list of daily specials we sampled the wiener schnitzel (the founder came from Austria after all).  The two good-sized pieces of pork cutlet are comparable to what they serve at German/Austrian restaurants in the Bay Area.  The coating may lack the undulating look, but it tastes good, which is what really matters at the end of the day.  Decline if they offer to put the turkey gravy over the breaded pork.  That’s because this “sauce” doesn’t go with this dish; besides, you want to savor the crispy breading.  The German potato salad is not overly dressed; the sauerkraut is just sour and rather one-dimensional.

The pot roast special comes with egg noodles and fresh vegetables.  The fact that they can forcefully carve the meat in front of you tells you it could be more tender, which is our only quibble.  The noodles have a pleasant tomatoey flavor.  The hand-carved boneless leg of lamb special is served with red roasted potatoes and vegetables.  The meat is past medium rare.  We wish they would add lamb shank to the menu, which requires no carving because it would be so tender (not that different from turkey leg).

Now for the side dish of your choice, you can choose from a list of 10 hot items and a list of 16 salads.  The favorite of the three sides we selected is the carrot raisin salad.  It’s slightly sweet and oh-so addictive; there's no mayo in this rendition.  When was the last time you saw this salad on the menu?  We also enjoyed the Greek salad and mushrooms, which are al dente button mushrooms (in a good way).  Other options include red cabbage, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, chicken penne pasta salad, Caesar salad, coleslaw, and green pea salad.

Don’t leave Harry’s without trying something from the extensive dessert menu, which includes pies, cream pies, cheesecakes, cakes, strawberry shortcake, rice custard, bread pudding, cookies, brownie, ice cream, and JELL-O.  The apple pie has a clean, bright flavor and looks like Milk Street’s version (Chris Kimball would approve); the carrot cake is one of the best we’ve ever had.  Since they produce their own baked goods in a building several blocks away, they really should start a wholesale bakery business or open a retail bakery in San Jose and call it Harry’s Bakery.

The address for the Redwood City location is El Camino Real, but the main entrance faces the rear parking lot, so enter from Main Street instead.  They call their operation a cafeteria/buffet hybrid.  If you’ve been to Las Vegas, you know the drill.  Dine-in and takeout customers line up and specify what you want and they put your selection on a plate with a plastic cover (nice touch) or in a takeout container.  The fact that the line is set up to be four rows deep indicates they must get a lot of customers during peak hours.  They serve an interesting mix of German and California beers (some on tap and some canned/bottled); the San Leandro location carries beers from other states and countries as well.  Check the Web site for updates.  There’s also a cocktail menu.

CPBA (Tommy’s Joynt) [►]
ATK (chicken schnitzel) [►] ATK (pressure cooker pot roast) [►] ATK (roast leg of lamb) [►]
Milk Street (turkey/mashed potatoes/apple pie) [►]

Nearby options in Redwood City:  Tacos Los Gemelos, Mariscos El Sanignacense, El Grullense, Pronto Pizza, downtown Redwood City

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Hong Kong Palace, Millbrae | [≡]

After we discovered Lai Hong Lounge has a sister restaurant in Millbrae with a similar menu, we decided it was worth exploring because this location is closer for folks who live in the South Bay and has its own parking lot (enter from Hillcrest Blvd.).  It turns out to be a lot less crowded than the flagship Lai Hong.  We also thought the prices would be lower.  Well, on that score the Millbrae location is all over the map:  some items have the same price and some are lower or higher—go figure.  In 2024, Hong Kong Palace took over the three-story building that was once Tai Wu.  If they were really ambitious, they could’ve moved into the more imposing—and a little bit gaudy—space that housed Hong Kong Flower Lounge three blocks away.

We counted 127 items on Lai Hong’s dim sum menu versus 102 at H.K. Palace.  We sampled nine items that we didn’t order at Lai Hong a week earlier.  It’s too bad the Millbrae branch does not offer a dim sum sampler.  Some people judge a pizzeria by its Margherita pizza and a sushi place by its tamago (in Japan anyway).  What’s a good test for dim sum restaurants?  Har gow and shumai would make a good indicator.  H.K. Palace’s pork and shrimp shumai is larger than average and has good flavor and texture—you don’t want your shumai to be a textureless meatball and there shouldn’t be too much pork fat.  The filling for the shrimp dumpling is also more substantial than typical, but the wrapper could be a tad thinner.  The scallop and taro dumpling includes very fragrant taro, but the diced scallop doesn’t taste like scallop.

The red rice crispy shrimp noodle roll is an attention grabber because of the red color (it doesn’t seem to impart any extra flavor).  We’ve had better fried shrimp inside such a roll, but this version almost tastes like tonkatsu.  Try the mixed grains fried rice, a Lai Hong creation.  The preserved vegetable and beef pan-fried rice noodle is the one with the bed of noodles folded over to resemble a lotus flower.  Other restaurants tend to give this dish a savory profile (black bean sauce, for example); H.K. Palace chooses to go with a pleasant sweet/sour sauce done right.

After doing some research, we’re still not sure about the origin of wor wonton soup.  What we do know is that it’s a souped-up version of wonton soup with a whole lot of other ingredients added.  In this case you get 10 dumplings, three shrimp, squid, scallop, offal (?), and mushrooms.  The dumplings and broth are average, but this filling dish would be ideal for a large party.  (Dim sum menu is meant to be a small-plate affair; wor wonton soup breaks that rule for sure.)  They use baby bok choy for the garlic bok choy, which should help you overlook the slightly bitter garlic due to overcooking.  Also try the garlic Chinese cabbage core (choy sum) with whole garlic.  The one item that’s not on Lai Hong’s menu is baked pork crisp (little chicken/phoenix cookie)—we noticed it after we left the restaurant.

On Reddit and elsewhere, people like to discuss which Bay Area city has the best fill-in-the-blank food.  Isn’t the answer wherever one’s favorite restaurant is located?  If we’re talking about a decent concentration of a particular type of restaurants in a relatively small area, we can discount big cities such as San Jose and San Francisco unless we zoom in on individual neighborhoods.  As far as smaller cities go, some people feel strongly Millbrae should be part of the discussion where Chinese food is concerned.  Others favor Cupertino.  In the past, Metro would’ve mentioned Milpitas.

CPBA (Lai Hong Lounge) [►] KTVU (Lai Hong Lounge) [►]

Nearby options:  Royal Feast, Little Chengdu, Cafe Orchid, Ipoh Garden Malaysian Cuisine, La Petite Camille, Ben Tre, Mom’s Tofu House, Hana Izumi Japanese Kaiseki Food, La Collina Italian, PPQ Dungeness Island, Peter’s Cafe, Bambu Desserts & Drinks, Tea Hut, Broadway (another restaurant cluster that runs parallel to El Camino Real)

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Ling Nam, Daly City

Eric B’s Daily Vlogs (original location) [►] Dino Rivera (original location) [►]

The Bay Area has no shortage of Filipino restaurants.  So what does Ling Nam have that the others don’t?  A supporting cast of eats.  Go next door to Starbread Bakery (see below) and get yourself a box of its signature bread.  As a Starbread franchisee since 2009, the family that runs LN has done such a good job promoting it that most people—including some journalists—mistakenly think they own the bakery chain.  And since 2023, you’ll find Krispy Krunchy Chicken at one end of LN’s dining room.  Click on the SV tab above for our thoughts on KKC.

Kudos to LN for leveraging Starbread and KKC to bolster its business and visibility.  Now let’s talk about its Filipino restaurant.  The menu has a little bit of everything like the Filipino menu at Sunnyvale’s Magic-Wok.  All we care about is that it offers S and S:  sisig and silog.  Not much of a looker, LN’s sisig may not include any pork cheeks or chicken liver but there’s a nice char on every piece of grilled pork—it’s sort of like eating jumbo pieces of bacon bits.  The garlic rice (sinangag) that comes with silog tastes properly garlicky.

Try the kare-kare even though it contains tendon and tripe in addition to oxtail; you can handle a few small pieces of tripe (it’s not the honeycomb variety).  The chicken porridge (arroz caldo) is another good dish.  You don’t see taho on the menu often, so try this soft tofu dessert with sago in a simple brown sugar syrup.  The sago’t gulaman is like Filipino bubble tea; we imagine its flavor is similar to taho (minus the tofu).

Established in 1990 as Ling Nam Noodle House about a mile away in South San Francisco, LN had to relocate when that strip mall was redeveloped (now a car service center).  LN closed in August 2020, and because of a little pandemic, the bakery didn’t reopen in Daly City until April 2021 and the restaurant about a year later.  Most of the Chinese dishes are gone except for a few buns and dumplings.  Beware that this part of Daly City can get cool and foggy while the rest of the Bay Area is nice and sunny.  Note that there’s a Ling Nam Express in Tracy (San Joaquin County).

ATK/Cook’s Country (Filipino food in Bay Area) [►]

Nearby options:  Krispy Krunchy Chicken, Tai Yuan Seafood, Pho Cafe, Starbread Bakery, New Horizons Bakery, Mr. Fong BBQ & Noodles, Classic Bowling Center, Chibog, Kamameshi House, Taste of Burma, Shine Thai Cuisine, Simple One Dessert, House of Silvanas

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Little Vietnamese Bistro, San Bruno | [≡]

Aike Zhang [►]

We have a soft spot for restaurants that are a little different from the rest.  The Bay Area is home to traditional Vietnamese restaurants and places that play up the French angle.  Established in 2021, Little Vietnamese Bistro seems to dabble in the latter (perhaps “bistro” is a giveaway).  And, of course, every restaurant represents the vision of the owner.  The couple who owns LVB is perhaps a bit iconoclastic.  We say that because the husband had worked for years as a sushi chef and ran the kitchen with a Vietnamese chef back in 2021 (not sure he’s still in the kitchen in 2025).  The point is they probably don’t care if anyone says LVB is not “authentic.”  When they opened LVB in downtown San Bruno, their goal was to keep the place affordable.  Indeed, among the 75 dishes on the menu, only two are above $20.  And they don’t skimp on portions.

We wouldn’t mind reordering most of the eight dishes we sampled.  Start with the three chef’s specials we tried.  The French-style black pepper steak cubes with tomato rice is flavorful.  Our only quibble is that a couple pieces are gristly.  The spicy satay shrimp with rice and pickled cabbage is tasty and we don’t care that we can’t quite place this dish’s origin (is it Indonesian or Malaysian?).  After an Internet search, we came to the conclusion there’s no consensus on Hanoi fried rice (one recipe features beef and pickled mustard greens).  LVB’s version includes shrimp, pork, egg, and green onions; it tastes like it’s related to Yangchow/Yangzhou fried rice.  (Since most Vietnamese in this country came from South Vietnam, they should rename this dish Saigon fried rice—just saying.)

The French tomato wine sauce oxtail rice plate is another Western-influenced dish that works.  We liked the nice char on the grilled shrimp we ordered for the garlic noodles, but the noodles could be softer and less greasy.  The five-spice chicken rolls, green papaya salad, and BBQ pork with cold vermicelli are on par with other Vietnamese restaurants.  Oh, how’s this for authenticity?  One pho option is chicken intestine; another is bull pudendum.

Note that there’s a public parking lot behind the restaurant (enter from Mastick Avenue).  City-owned lots are no longer free since 2024, but the rates are low.  You can always look for free street parking.  They let you enter the restaurant through the back door as a shortcut.  Before LVB, this was the address for a Filipino restaurant that relocated up the block.  If you like alternative Vietnamese places, check out Le Soleil in San Francisco.

In 2019, the restaurant critic for San Francisco Chronicle wrote a provocative review.  The headline said it all:  “Does a restaurant celebrating French colonialism belong in San Francisco?”  Here’s Eater SF discussing the aftermath.  It closed in 2024.

ATK (shaking beef and red rice) [►]

Nearby options (south of Sylvan):  Isla, Kuya’s Asian Cuisine, Thai Nakorn, Minari, Ming’s, Hana Hawaiian Barbeque, West Coast Cafe, Big Joe’s 8, Roma Deli, One Love Cafe, Societea, Aqua Club, Sweet Connections

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Lotus Falafel & Shawerma, San Bruno + Burlingame + Oakland | [≡]

A Ukrainian Living in Hawaii [►]

The reason we stated earlier Mazra is not the only game in town is because there’s Lotus Falafel & Shawerma (just half a mile away) and at least one other Middle Eastern eatery in San Bruno.  Lotus and Mazra may offer similar Levantine dishes, but they have different flavor profiles.

We first visited Lotus in April 2021, and the biggest change on the menu is the addition of lamb chops.  What took them so long?  We say that because lamb seems to be their specialty.  Indeed, you can order a whole or half roasted lamb—great for a party (they do catering in general).  Those rib chops are incredibly tender, and their juices make the rice pilaf underneath taste even better.  Americans should eat more lamb, so go for the lamb shank and mansaf, a popular Arab dish where the lamb is cooked in a sauce of dried yogurt.  If this is too much lamb for you, start with the lamb and beef shawarma.

The bone-in chicken is fall-off-the-bone tender; there’s also boneless thigh on the menu.  The arayes is flatbread stuffed with ground lamb and beef, a kind of hamburger similar to Persian beryan (available at San Jose’s Isfahan Kabob).  The falafel veggie is a sampler of falafel, stuffed grape leaves, hummus, mutabbal/baba ghanoush, and tabbouleh.  The rice pudding and knafeh were unavailable during our two visits, but we tried all the other desserts, and the one standout is the aish as-Saraya.

It’s unusual when an immigrant family brings their restaurant from the Old Country to America.  Lotus started in Garza in 1985.  After the Shawa family settled in California, they opened Lotus in Los Angeles in 2009, and after they moved to the Bay Area, they opened Lotus in Oakland (2014), San Bruno (2020), and Burlingame (2023).  The Oakland location has a more limited menu.  Note that there’s a three-percent charge for credit card use.  There’s a parking lot around the corner on Angus Avenue in downtown San Bruno.  They should display poster-sized photos of the original Lotus.  We’re surprised we couldn’t find any on-line photos of Chelsea Clinton when she visited Lotus in 1998 (she was only 18 then and before social media).  The next time she comes back to the Bay Area—she is a Stanford grad—she should stop by this restaurant.

This is a great time to talk about Lotus because we read that Mazra will close for a few months for remodeling after they open their second location in Redwood City in January 2024.

Nearby options in San Bruno:  Boiling Beijing, A One Kitchen, La Paloma, Aji-Ichi, K-Grill & Tofu House, Hana Hawaiian Barbeque, Big Joe’s 8, Grand Leader Market & Deli, Rico Pan Latin Pastries, Mazra, Rolling Pin Donuts

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New England Lobster Market & Eatery, Burlingame | [@]

New England Lobster Market & Eatery (Destination SF) [►] NEL (how to eat lobster) [►] NEL (menu) [►] NEL (the market) [►]

Lobster 101.  East Coast or Maine lobsters have claws; West Coast or spiny lobsters don’t.  Spiny lobsters are supposed to be sweeter, but they are mostly exported to other countries.  That’s just as well since they are more expensive than Maine lobsters.  The claw meat is softer and sweeter than the meatier tail.  Lobsters are always wild caught because farming is impractical in this case.  It’s true that lobsters did not become a luxury food until the 20th century, but the stories of lobsters as prison food before that are just urban legend.

New England Lobster started as a wholesaler in 1987; a retail business was added in 2002.  They opened the restaurant in 2012.  The building can best be described as warehouse chic.  We love it when a seafood market—or any market for that matter—operates its own kitchen.  That’s because the ingredients must be the best and the freshest from its own inventory—in theory anyway.

NEL’s lobster roll may not contain as much meat as some places in New England, but we do appreciate that the dressed option is not drowning in mayo.  You can also have it naked with butter on the side.  Bacon may make everything taste better...including lobster?  If you’re game, you can try the seasonal option with avocado and bacon on top.  They use the traditional split-top buns, which are hard to find in the Bay Area.  The lobster rolls, crab sandwiches, lobster platters, and twin tails are served with house-made chips and coleslaw.  We’re intrigued by these chips because they don’t taste or look like russet potato chips.  And with zero speck of grease anywhere, we wonder if they’re baked.  The coleslaw is lightly dressed and includes dried cranberries for a touch of sweet flavor.

The last time we had a crab sandwich was probably at Fentons Creamery in Oakland.  Since we saw local Dungeness crab on the menu, we decided to try NEL’s crab sandwich and crab slider.  The slices of sourdough bread for the sandwich are nicely toasted, and the mayo is again used with a light touch (cheese is optional).

The lobster corn chowder is the most assertively seasoned item we sampled.  It’s served with the same split-top buns and comes in three sizes (cup/bowl/quart).  The house-made blueberry cheesecake is cheesecake with a blueberry sauce on top.  We don’t care for Japanese-style cheesecake because it’s often too airy and tastes like bland whipped butter.  NEL’s cheesecake is equally light but in a good way.  The crust is unusual as it goes up the sides as well, a good thing since it tastes better than the typical graham cracker crust.

The small retail market sells live Maine lobsters, live Dungeness crabs, wild shrimp, oysters, clams, mussels, and scallops.  The restaurant does serve oysters, so perhaps they should add clam chowder and moules a la mariniere or moules-frites to the menu.  There’s a small parking lot behind NEL with additional spaces along the side of the building.  You’ll probably have better luck finding parking on the street.  NEL is close enough to the bay that you should be able to find a waterfront spot to eat on a nice day.  You won’t be alone because there will be airport watchers/planespotters like the guy who filmed the falling wheel in 2024.

For all the lobster lovers out there, we once saw Australian lobsters (no claws) in a tank at Hong Kong East Ocean in Emeryville.  Making your own lobster rolls at home is not that difficult.  Look for those $5 previously frozen tails on Fridays at Safeway; you’ll need two to three small tails per roll.  No split-top buns?  Get some King’s Hawaiian sweet bread (sweet rolls or savory butter rolls will do).  The key is to use a row of three rolls and leave them stuck together as one long bun.  If you don’t mind driving to Half Moon Bay, you can cut out the middleman and buy fresh seafood (including uni) from the boats at Pillar Point Harbor.

Let’s Dish (Maine lobster roll) [►] ATK/Cook’s Country (hot buttered lobster rolls) [►]
Martha Stewart (crab sandwich) [►]
CPBA (Pillar Point Harbor) [►]

Nearby options:  H.L. Peninsula Pearl, Grand Harbor Seafood, Benihana, Mr. Teriyaki Sushi, 3Sixty Bistro, Max’s, It’s-It Ice Cream

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Nursel, San Carlos

Nursel on TikTok [►]

Part 1

The first time we saw the Uzbek dish plov on TV was in an episode of Check, Please! Bay Area featuring Birch & Rye (they served it with duck leg confit) in early 2024.  Then later that year America’s Test Kitchen presented its version using boneless beef short ribs.  So after we came across Nursel via Google Maps and noticed plov on the menu, we just had to check it out.

Central Asia is a region where five countries share the same suffix stan (“land”).  This restaurant serves food from three of the stans:  Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan (the owner is Nursel K.).  For historical reasons and being neighbors of Russia, China, and Iran, the food of this region bears some Russian, Chinese, and Persian influences, not to mention they were also part of the Soviet Union.  These are predominantly Muslim countries; Nursel is a halal restaurant.  The food is different from the cuisine of Georgia, which is on the other side of the Caspian Sea.

The menu on the Web site is slightly outdated; they’ve added a few dishes such as salmon and sardine bruschetta and removed the carrot salad.  Since this is our first visit to a Central Asian restaurant, we ordered 10 dishes and three desserts (we got our priorities straight).

The chicken stroganoff is a nice break from the usual beef rendition; the accompanying steamed rice tastes like it's cooked in chicken stock.  The plov features lamb, which is probably how they do it in Central Asia.  The seasonings may be different, but this pilaf is definitely related to Afghanistan’s Kabuli pulao.  The baked salmon with white sauce comes with a solid salad; the fish fillet is perfectly cooked.  We appreciate that they use some slightly bitter greens and would like more of that white sauce on the side (for the salad).  The fried beef noodles (laghman) are on the greasy side, but it’s always interesting to see a different interpretation of Chinese noodles.

The Olivier salad (Olivye) may not be as well-known as Caesar salad in North America and Mexico, which is a shame because it’s now our favorite mayo-based salad.  Nursel’s version uses chicken and eggs.  The beet and walnut salad is also good.  Though we generally prefer larger pieces of beet, the diced preparation works here because beet is the main ingredient.  If you’re familiar with Slavic cuisine, you know all about borscht and pelmeni.  The flavorful borscht includes nice chunks of beef and potato quenelles; you get 10 tortellini-looking beef dumplings for a medium order of pelmeni.  We’d like to think a babushka would approve of these soups.

The turnovers are not Nursel’s strong suit.  The chicken samsa has more flavor than the spinach and cheese version; it’s also better than the beef cheburek.  We enjoyed all three pastries.  This is how you do honey cake (medovik); it’s moist and the sour cream frosting not too sweet.  The most substantial is the Napoleon cake because of all the layers of puff pastry; it’s not flaky like the French mille-feuille.  The Kyiv cake is the sweetest of the three.  Their TikTok videos make it clear they produce their own pastries, giving some San Francisco bakeries a run for their money.  The cold berry kompot tea is sort of like aqua fresca (think jamaica).

Separated from downtown San Carlos by Caltrain tracks, Nursel is located in a residential neighborhood.  It’s not an ideal site for a restaurant in a small city, but it does have a small parking lot in the back (enter from San Carlos Avenue).  And it’s convenient for Caltrain riders.  The Bay Area is lucky to have two Georgian restaurants and more than a few Afghan places; now we have our first (?) Central Asian spot.  Opened in 2021, Nursel is the kind of restaurant we hope will be around until 2041.  Let’s stan for stans.

Part 2

Back so soon?  Well, since we enjoyed our experience so much five months ago, we thought let’s get it while the getting’s good.  All the Bay Area foodies out there may not be enough to sustain Nursel due to its unfamiliar cuisine.  We found out the owner is from Kyrgyzstan (note the large 3D model of the Kyrgyz flag to the right of the front door); one chef is also from Kyrgyzstan and another from Kazakhstan.

We ordered 10 more dishes plus two repeats.  Bucking the trend of disappointing encores, the food is just as satisfying this time.  You should definitely try the syrniki, a cottage cheese pancake that’s delicately tangy and sweet.  It’s reminiscent of quesadillas salvadorena, El Salvador’s idea of a cheesecake.  Whether you like sardine or not, the sardine bruschetta (buterbrod) is another way to start your meal here.  Who knew sardine and cream cheese on rye bread could be so light?

The herring salad looks like beet salad because of the inclusion of beets but is also similar to Olivier salad for the same combination of potatoes, carrots, pickles, and mayo.  Nursel knows salads for sure—even the side salad that accompanies some dishes is also good.  Though the shorpo is a little on the greasy side, this lamb soup with potatoes gives you nice chunks of lamb.  The chicken kebab is moist and flavorful; the lamb (rib) chops are slightly overcooked.  These two last dishes come with a tasty greens salad and the same wonderful steamed rice as before.

We have no idea what fajita is doing on the menu.  As far as we know, this Tex-Mex dish is not popular in Central Asia.  So perhaps Nursel’s kitchen just wants to put its own spin on it—or the owner decided to market a dish as fajita because they both feature meat, bell peppers, and onions (shashlik?).  What makes things more confusing is the new site stating that they serve tortillas with this dish (we didn’t get any).  No matter, this fajita looks like that American dish but has a different flavor profile because of different seasonings—it’s worth a try.  Think of ganfan as their lone rice plate.  It’s steamed rice with beef, bell peppers, string beans, celery, and tomatoes with a generous sauce.  The whole thing is too salty.

We are once again bowled over by Nursel’s desserts.  What makes the cream horn (trubochki) work is the fact that the filling has a hint of citrus.  Like chocolate truffles, the chocolate cake truffle (kartoshka) is a no-bake dessert that you must try.  The inside is made with condensed milk, ground pecans, and cocoa powder, resulting in something that looks and tastes like marzipan.  Where else can you find this kartoshka (“potato”) pastry?  Try Moscow & Tbilisi Bakery Store in San Francisco and Lele Cake in Los Gatos.

CPBA (Birch & Rye) [►] ATK/Cook’s Country (beef stroganoff) [►] ATK (plov) [►]

Nearby options:  Emelina’s Peruvian, El Maguey, Pho Vinh, Marsha’s Lunchbox, downtown San Carlos

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The Ravioli House, San Mateo

CPBA [►]

Despite the name of this 1948 institution in downtown San Mateo, we prefer The Ravioli House’s other specialty.  After sampling four of the deli’s 11 specialty sandwiches, we have good news for turkey lovers.  You don’t have to go to Harry’s Hofbrau to get your turkey fix.  The Ravioli House roasts its own turkey breast, so you should be satisfied with both the hot turkey and Creole turkey sandwiches.  The former is like Thanksgiving on a toasted roll with house-made cranberry sauce and sourdough stuffing.  What makes the latter Creole is the inclusion of tasso ham (and avocado is always a welcome addition).

They cook their own pork shoulder in a Texas smoker, so try the pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw and Carolina BBQ sauce.  For some reason the smoked pork in the mojo sandwich is rather bland (hard to imagine if they made this pork in the same smoker); the spicy Cuban mojo sauce also fails to add much flavor—even the Swiss cheese is lost in the mix.  A little more ham and a little less smoked pork might have salvaged the whole thing.  The sandwich bread options are six to 7.5 inches long:  Dutch crunch, ciabatta, sourdough, nine-grain, and soft roll.

We sampled two of the five ravioli options:  the spicy sausage with vodka sauce and roasted zucchini with pesto.  The house-made Sicilian sausage has good flavor, but with the casing removed, the stuffing could’ve been any ground meat.  The red vodka sauce is pretty generic-tasting.  The roasted zucchini ravioli are supposed to be stuffed with zucchini, caramelized shallots, ricotta, parmesan, and Asiago cheese—sounds impressive on paper but definitely short on delivery.  On the plus side they come with house cheese bread.  There’s also lobster ravioli in the freezer.  The house-made chocolate chip cookies are almost as good as Ok’s Deli in Oakland.  This is their only dessert as far as we can tell.

ATK (pulled pork) [►] ATK (pulled chicken) [►]

Nearby options:  Espetus Churrascaria, Ramen Dojo, Ramen Parlor, Charlie’s Taqueria, Sama Coffee Shop, Sibby’s Cupcakery, central downtown San Mateo

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Royal Feast, Millbrae | [≡]

CPBA [►]

Part 1

When San Francisco Chronicle and Michelin Guide reviewed this Sichuan restaurant, they somehow overlooked the fact that it also serves Tanjia food.  Tanjia (or Tan Family) is essentially Beijing’s take on Cantonese cuisine, which for the longest time was synonymous with Chinese food in North America.  So while you can order spicy dishes like fish fillet in chili oil and sauteed chili pepper with preserved egg, you can also enjoy Cantonese-tasting dishes such as sauteed shrimp with egg and cabbage, winter melon with shrimp, and braised Napa cabbage with chestnut.

This is a joint venture between award-winning chef Zongyi Liu and a childhood friend.  It would be a shame if we lost a unique restaurant like Royal Feast.  Any Bay Area visitor staying near SFO should check out this one-of-a-kind place since Millbrae is next to the airport.  Note that the parking lot next to RF is for a different restaurant.

Part 2

After we visited this place three times earlier, we had to come back to see how it’s doing in 2023.  Well, we’re no longer in the midst of lockdown, and it appears the owners have spiffed up the inside.

The best dish this time turns out to be the fish fillet with garlic and eggplant clay pot.  It’s possibly another Tanjia item; we wish the restaurant would group all the Tanjia dishes together on the menu.  The Hunan-style braised pork belly is mild by Hunan standard, which is either a good or bad thing depending on your spice preference.  Though the classic Beijing soybean paste noodles (zhajiangmian) have good flavor, the whole thing is on the greasy side, something you wouldn’t expect from an award-winning chef.  The caramelized fried sweet potato is basically baked sweet potato with a slightly bitter caramel sauce.  This type of dessert would be more appropriate on a snowy winter night—not so much for Bay Area summer.

Part 3

We just had to come back one more time to try something from the royal/aristocratic cuisine section.  We selected the special two-way shrimp.  The price is fair because you get basically two shrimp dishes.  One is like their take on the ubiquitous honey walnut shrimp without the mayo and candied walnuts.  The sweet flavor is pleasant and not cloying.  The other tastes like deep-fried shrimp coated with salted duck egg.  They’re both served with puffy shrimp chips.  We also seized the opportunity to sample their version of the classic Sichuan dish ants climbing a tree—translated as “vermicelli with spicy minced pork” on the menu, a faux pas in our opinion (see below).  It has good flavor.

We love standards.  That VHS versus Beta thing dragged on longer than necessary.  Don’t get us started about USB and Thunderbolt.  We’re glad Apple will finally support a messaging standard by 2024 (took them long enough).

Yes, we study menus the way Swifties dissect the lyrics of their leader.  And one of our pet peeves is the inconsistent way non-English menus are translated.  Italian dishes such as ossobuco, cioppino, tiramisu, spaghetti alla puttanesca, cacio e pepe, penne all’arrabbiata, and pizza Margherita are familiar to most foodies that any restaurant would be foolish to leave the original names off the menu (Kensington’s Benchmark Pizzeria did just that).  Similarly, French dishes such as beef bourguignon, coq au vin, cassoulet, bouillabaisse, souffle, and creme brulee require no translation except maybe a brief description.

Non-Latin alphabetic languages are not that complicated.  We propose that if a dish has a name that’s well-known enough (presence of a Wikipedia page, for instance), then a literal or phonetic translation should suffice.  Think of Chinese dishes such as dandan noodles, har gow, shumai, xiaolongbao, mapo tofu, zhajiangmian, beggar’s chicken, ants climbing a tree, and Buddha jumps over the wall.  They each have a Wikipedia page.

RF’s menu includes “classic Beijing soybean paste noodles” when zhajiangmian would be really helpful (Koreans love this dish as well and call it jajangmyeon, which is itself a phonetic translation from Chinese to Korean).  And we imagine some RF diners skipped “steamed assorted meats in Chinese casserole clay pot” without knowing it is Buddha jumps over the wall.  We made that same mistake until we stumbled across a discussion on Hungry Onion.  Fix the English menu and more people might order some of these dishes on RF’s menu—at least they’ll be intrigued.  Now what’s the best translation for those Sichuan fish-flavored (yuxiang) dishes?

Articles on Tanjia cuisine:  chinadaily.com.cn, chinatours.com, chinaculture.org, chinauniquetour.com
Golden Flower in Macau

ATK (zhajiangmian) [►] School of Wok (ants climbing a tree) [►] CHINA LIVE (Buddha jumps over the wall) [►]

Nearby options:  Tasty Place, Yummy Szechuan, New Asian Pearl, Ben Tre, Millbrae Pancake House, Social Eatery, Broadway (another restaurant cluster that runs parallel to El Camino Real)

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Starbread Bakery, Daly City + Pacifica + Pleasant Hill + San Pablo + Union City + Fairfield + Vacaville + Vallejo

AliasMountaineer (Anaheim location) [►]

Two words:  senorita bread.  Suffice it to say most customers who stop by Starbread Bakery are here for this one item.  When they hand you the box of goodies, it’s probably still warm.  These rolls resemble pigs in a blanket without the hot dog.  If you’ve had Filipino pandesal before, think of senorita bread as slightly sweetened pandesal.  They cost 60 cents each as of September 2023.  You can buy them in increments of 10 between 10 and 60; the unit price is the same regardless of volume.  We’re not sure you can buy just one—but why would you?  Like the savory pandesal (dinner rolls), Starbread’s senorita bread is sort of understated because there’s a minimal amount of filling.  If you’re looking for some rich French pastry, this isn’t that.

Some locations offer more than one flavor of senorita bread.  Someone gave us a bunch that tasted less bread-like than the original flavor we bought (it could’ve been the cinnamon version).  For some reason, Starbread seems to be the only Filipino bakery in the Bay Area that makes senorita bread daily.  As far as we can tell, the Maranan family started selling senorita bread in Vallejo in 1986 or 1988.  By 2007, they changed the name of the bakery from Quinley’s to Starbread.  Today some locations are company-owned and some are franchisees like the one in Daly City we visited.

TT’s Kitchen (senorita bread) [►] Jeanelleats (Spanish bread) [►] Savor Easy (Spanish bread) [►]

Nearby options in Daly City:  Krispy Krunchy Chicken, Ling Nam, Tai Yuan Seafood, Pho Cafe, New Horizons Bakery, Mr. Fong BBQ & Noodles, Classic Bowling Center, Chibog, Kamameshi House, Taste of Burma, Shine Thai Cuisine, Simple One Dessert, House of Silvanas

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Suavecito Birria & Tacos, San Mateo

Nathan 10 [►] Manny Ventura [►]

Our Cinco de Mayo 2024 celebration continues with this unusual place in San Mateo.  It’s a takeout-only space that resembles a literal hole in the wall.  The opening is like a big pet door where you place your order.  Coming to Suavecito Birria & Tacos provides a sense of what it must have been like when folks visited a speakeasy during Prohibition.  You don’t need a secret password for Suavecito, a Mexican spot that specializes in birria, the Jaliscan stew that didn’t appear widely on Bay Area menus until the 2010s.

Suavecito (“soft” or “smooth”) serves birria three ways:  in a taco, on a pizza, and in a grilled cheese sandwich.  The birria tacos (quesabirrias) are a great introduction to this shredded beef.  You’re supposed to dip the taco in the consomme part of birria.  We find it doesn’t add to the taco experience and a poor use of the flavorful broth.  You might want to enjoy the consomme with plain rice, tortilla, polenta, or grits instead.  (Noodles would work as well...that’s why they should add birria ramen to the menu.)  We chose to eat the accompanying curtido by itself and not in the taco and can report it’s better than the Salvadoran version we sampled in the Bay Area.  Suavecito’s birria has a little bit of a kick, but if that’s not spicy enough for you, you can add the chili oil to the taco and/or consomme.

Remember Wendy’s “Where’s the beef?” TV commercial?  Anyone who can’t get enough of beef must order the pizzabirria.  As stated on the restaurant site, it is indeed “loaded” with a ton of birria.  We strongly advise you to start with half a slice.  We’d like this pizza more if they replaced some of the meat with cactus (nopales) or soft-boiled eggs—anything to break up that thick blanket of meat (an inch deep near the center of the pie).  The pizza crust is quite good; it has a French bread vibe.  It may be a sacrilegious thing to say, but this is another case of an American-style pizza crust outperforming the Neapolitan standard.

You should try Suavecito’s take on the Sonoran hot dog.  It’s better than a lot of American hot dogs.  The sausage itself has more flavor and character than any supermarket hot dog that we can recall (we haven’t bought Nathan’s in years).  The churro donuts taste about the same as regular churros.  The chocolate sauce is too ordinary to elevate these donuts.  The house-made horchata and strawberry-lime aqua fresca are good.

Amphlett Blvd. is a street that runs next to US 101 in a residential area of San Mateo.  You can’t see the freeway because of a sound wall.  There’s no retail business on this street with the exception of Suavecito.  If you’re coming from the South Bay, disregard Google Maps suggestion and take the Third Avenue exit off US 101.  And when you leave, the Fourth Avenue on-ramp is what you want.

ATK/Cook’s Country (birria tacos and birria ramen in Tucson) [►]
Suavecito [►]

Nearby options:  The Grapevine Cafe, The Pantry, Trader Joe’s, downtown San Mateo

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Sunshine HK Cafe, San Carlos

After launching this page, we’ve had to really analyze the food we eat and do research on some dishes.  We now study menus the way archaeologists examine artifacts.  And so we took another deep dive after we came across Sunshine HK Cafe.  We’d been to a few Hong Kong-style cafes in the Bay Area before and never knew the story behind them until now.  There are casual dining restaurants around the world.  France has bistros and brasseries; Italy has osterias and trattorias.  We have the classic diners and chains such as Applebee’s and Olive Garden in the U.S.  Hong Kong’s equivalent of a diner is called cha chaan teng (“tea restaurant”), Australia Dairy Co. being one of the prime examples.  While Japan offers yoshoku, these Hong Kong cafes present the former colony’s take on Western food.

What are the telltale signs of a Hong Kong-style diner/cafe?  In addition to a smattering of Chinese dishes from porridge to noodle soups, the menu should include Western food such as spaghetti, sandwich, toast, and coffee.  Expect to see Horlicks and/or Ovaltine as well—no surprise since Hong Kong was a British colony for 156 years.  With tea in the name of this type of restaurant, you can assume tea is served...but not plain the way tea has been consumed in China for thousands of years.  Just as Taiwan created the bubble tea, Hong Kong fashioned its own style of milk tea and a tea/coffee drink named for a species of duck (yuenyeung).

Sunshine’s menu fits the description.  All but two of the entrees come with a choice of egg fried rice, plain rice, or spaghetti.  Since we have a soft spot for casserole dishes, we tried three entrees from the baked section.  There’s something comforting about casseroles out of the oven—even if it’s just a few minutes under the broiler.  The quintessential Hong Kong-meets-West dish is the French-inspired baked pork chop rice.  Another example is the Portuguese-style chicken (galinha a portuguesa) by way of neighboring Macau, a Portuguese colony for 442 years.  Sunshine’s version is quite fragrant and light.  The minced beef and egg has an Italian-leaning flavor profile, which is why it’s surprising that this is one of the two entrees that does not come with spaghetti.

Tossed with chili pepper, the salt & pepper chicken wings (eight flats) are tasty and have a stronger than expected kick.  The sizzling ribeye steak is a mixed bag.  The black pepper sauce we selected has nice beefy flavor, but the quality of the meat is below average.  Give Sunshine credit for serving dim sum because it is usually not available at this type of restaurant.  Unfortunately, dim sum is not their strong suit.  The combo (sampler) we ordered comprises five different steamed items.  The kitchen didn’t nail either the wrapper/bun or the filling.  We should point out the sticky rice bun with a sticky rice and nut filling is something we’ve not seen anywhere else.

Connoisseurs of milk tea and yuanyang can judge these drinks for themselves.  We sampled both hot versions with the default sweet level (you can also choose sweeter, less sweet, or no sugar at all).  We doubt these drinks will ever take off in the Bay Area like bubble tea.  Now if they add that cheese foam....

Macaroni soup is another staple that’s on the menu (Barilla Canada gets it).  Unless you grew up eating this stuff like chef Lucas Sin (watch below), you won’t get the same feels.  So why should Bay Area foodies bother with a place like Sunshine?  For people who love rice plates and rice bowls, Sunshine offers some good alternatives, especially the baked rice casseroles.  It’s like after eating Mexican tamales for years, it’s fun to try tamales from El Salvador, Cuba, and Peru for a change.  You have tried them, right?

Sunshine started in 2022 as a takeout-only operation in a San Mateo food hall and then relocated to downtown San Carlos the following year.  Rumor has it they will expand to take over the vacant space next door.  If true, that’s good news because their current kitchen is poorly ventilated.  Note that Laurel Street is closed to traffic between Cherry and Olive Streets (only one block).  The city has plans to make this section a permanent pedestrian mall.  Unlike downtown Mountain View, this mall is not very crowded because Mountain View’s population is almost three times that of San Carlos.  You can park in front of Sunshine since its address is just north of the mall.

Munchies (H.K. diner dishes with Lucas Sin) [►] Humid With a Chance of Fishballs Tours (cha chaan teng) [►] Goldthread (milk tea) [►]
School of Wok (baked pork chop rice) [►] ATK (Portuguese chicken) [►]

Nearby options:  Doppio Zero, Pylos, Nick the Greek, Delizie Cucina & Vino, Spasso, Pranzi, Saffron, Drakes, West Park Bistro, Seiya, Sakura Teppanyaki and Sushi, Rangoon Ruby, Siamese Kitchen, Stamp Bar & Grill, Town, Taurus Steakhouse, number5kitchen, Poke’d Out Fish Bar, La Corneta Taqueria, Mama Coco Cocina Mexicana, Red Hot Chilli Pepper, Patxi’s Pizza, Blue Line Pizza, House of Bagels, SusieCakes, Paris Baguette, Gelataio, Tea Hut

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Tamari, San Carlos | [≡]

Part 1

Since there’s only one Ukrainian restaurant in the Bay Area, the next best thing is to visit a Georgian place that’s perhaps a little closer to you.  It says something about the Bay Area that we have not one but two Georgian restaurants—not bad for a country about half the size of the state of Georgia.  The owner is from the Caucasus.  Yes, everyone ends up in California eventually.

What’s the biggest difference between Tamari and Palo Alto’s Bevri?  Let’s use a music analogy.  If Bevri is a song’s radio-friendly edit, then Tamari is the extended mix.  Tamari’s menu is more comprehensive.  It covers pretty much everything Bevri has to offer and then some.

The chicken with garlic cream sauce (chkmeruli) is totally approachable because the garlic flavor is not overpowering and the creamy bit comes from milk and not heavy cream.  The lamb stew (chakapuli) with tarragon and cherry plums may look like a green dish from a Persian or Indian kitchen but has a different flavor profile, a great choice for lamb-averse people because it tastes almost like pork shoulder.  Speaking of our porky friend...most kebab places around here don’t offer pork since they usually serve Middle Eastern food.  At Tamari you can have pork kebab in addition to lamb and chicken.

Instead of the more traditional trout, Tamari serves grilled branzino or European bass.  If you’re an eggplant lover, try eggplant rolls (badrijani), a cold appetizer with an unusual walnut pesto.  There’s also Georgian cheese plate and Georgian-style cornbread.  The wine-poached pear would be a wonderful way to end your meal.

Georgia is one of the oldest wine-producing regions, so it makes sense that Tamari offers about 10 Georgian reds and whites by the glass.  You can also sample a Georgian dessert wine.  For something non-alcoholic, try a tarragon-flavored lemonade soda, which should go well with Georgian food as tarragon is used in many recipes.  You can pretend you’re drinking absinthe.

By now it should be abundantly clear the name of this restaurant has nothing to do with Japanese soy sauce.  It’s a reference to the owner’s daughter and grandmother as well as Tamar the Great, the queen who ruled Georgia in the Middle Ages.

Part 2

As Georgia is back in the news, we decided to return to Tamari for another taste.  This time we ordered six dishes we missed earlier.

Try the two hot small plates we sampled.  The stuffed mushrooms in a clay pot (soko ketsze) are cooked in a foil pan for takeout.  This dish is more like mushroom gratin with cheese (sulguni?) on top.  The grilled cremini mushrooms are still a bit watery, but the delicious, salty, and melty cheese makes the dish (the acidic note from the tomatoes helps as well).  The bean stew (lobio) is pinto beans in a clay pot with Georgian spices.  It has good flavor with a slight tang; it’s served with another boat-shaped bread (like mini-Acharuli khachapuri without the cheese and egg).

The blackberry-glazed quails (two per order) are butterflied and served with pomegranate seeds and fried potatoes (French fries).  The birds are overseasoned with salt (as if it was seasoned twice by mistake); otherwise, they are almost as meaty as Cornish game hen.  You should definitely try the pork kebab served with salad or fried potatoes (French fries).  Pork kebab is rare because most kebab restaurants are Muslim-run.  Tamari’s version is tender and flavorful.  It’s good to sample lamb soup dumplings (khinkali) since Bevri only offers beef.  The puff pastry cheese bread (penovani khachapuri) is another fine bread option.  We suspect it’s the same cheese as the mushroom starter.  Unfortunately, they ran out of lamb shank early on our visit.

TREAD the globe [►] Davidsbeenhere [►]
Eurovision 2024 (Georgia) [►]

Nearby options:  King Chuan, Too Sweet Frozen Yogurt, downtown San Carlos

Gone to the Big Food Court in the Sky

You don’t want to end up here....

Flacos (), Berkeley

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Rolling-Out Cafe (), San Francisco

Events and Teamwork

Check this space for special promotions from restaurants regarding Mother’s Day and other occasions.  And look for career opportunities as well.  Want to learn how to make fresh pasta that would make a nonna proud?  Or create delectable desserts that would make anyone swoon?  If you are a people person, we need you in the front of the house.  They call it the hospitality industry for a reason.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why no ratings for these restaurants?

If we set out to publish the usual Bay Area restaurant reviews, we would definitely include a letter grade for each (we prefer this to the star or point system) and provide more details.  But our mission is to help small businesses in these pandemic times, so anything lower than an A might dissuade some potential customers, not to mention there are—or will be—nominations that we don’t have an opportunity to visit ourselves.  Just know that we will not feature any establishment that we find disappointing.  Other than third-party suggestions, everything we select is either A or B.

Is a YouTube video a requirement?

The short answer is no.  But we love to embed a video made available by professionals such as Check, Please! Bay Area and ABC Localish in the banner window above.  YouTube has made this a three-click process.  Some homemade videos by customers are quite polished, and we don’t have a problem embedding or linking to them.  If no one has uploaded a video about your restaurant, you might consider making one yourself.  YouTube offers some basic tools to put it together.  Or just take out your smartphone and shoot.  We don’t expect an Oscar-winning short, but please think about what you want to show and what you want to say, if anything.  Your video could be as simple as a series of photos that are probably already on your own site.

What’s the idea behind nearby options?

As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats.  As long as we highlight a specific restaurant, we feel we should mention others in the vicinity in order to give more places a boost.  Note that the list of nearby options is curated as well.  We try to include restaurants that have a decent reputation or an interesting menu at least.  In short, we’ve done the homework for you.

How do we assess a kitchen’s level of competence?

Cooking is all about balance.  Nothing should be too sweet, too tart, too salty, too bitter, or too spicy—some restaurants purposely ignore the last point.  Nothing should be too greasy, too dry, too heavy, or too bland.  And nothing should be overcooked or undercooked.  If we’re talking about professional kitchens, the same dish should taste the same every time.  Balance and consistency.  Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  If good cooking was that easy, there wouldn’t be so many bad reviews out there.

Sometimes new chefs go through what we call a kitchen-sink phase where they add so many ingredients that a dish ends up looking and tasting muddled.  The way to give flavor complexity is not by piling on more ingredients; the key is to add the right ingredients.  Eventually they will embrace the idea that less is more.

What do we think of food writing?

As far as restaurant reviews are concerned, we have very mixed feelings.  On the one hand, we enjoy reading the likes of Patricia Unterman, Michael Bauer, and Ruth Reichl.  Now professional food critics are paid to do what they do—and having their employers pick up the tab when they dine out is icing on the cake.  We concede citizen reviewers do have a role to play here since the few professional critics could only cover a limited portion of eateries in the sprawling Bay Area.  After we posted a small number of reviews some years ago, we realized most of the restaurants closed months later.  It seemed like a waste of time and energy, a futile endeavor.  For this and other reasons, we stopped posting on a certain social media site.

If cooking is an art—and no doubt some celebrity chefs think of themselves as artists—then this art form is as ephemeral as one of Christo’s projects—here today, gone tomorrow.  We like to think of cooking as a mix of art and science.  You can read a book as long as it’s published or digitized.  You can listen to any song as long as the rights holders have made it available on the Internet.  You can watch any film/TV show if it’s available for streaming.  You can appreciate a painting even if you’re just studying a photo of it.  But you can’t taste a dish by looking at a photo or video.  Once a restaurant is gone, no one will ever have the opportunity to savor anything from that kitchen again.  Without the pandemic, we never would’ve started this page.  So our new focus is on the greater truth and interesting bits of information.  And as the song says, accentuate the positive.

How long do we intend to keep this page active?

The restaurant industry is notorious for its high failure rate, so we’ll keep this page going indefinitely for now—with tweaks along the way, of course.  When we reach the 10th anniversary in September 2031, we'll stop or keep going.

Our Origin Story

Restaurants are like the radio stations of the hospitality industry.  Before the corporate takeover of the radio market, most listeners had strong feelings toward certain local stations.  In a similar fashion, most diners are devoted to their favorite restaurants.  If we removed all the restaurant reviews on social media, what are we left with?  Reviews of contractors and products.  Not everyone feels the need to talk about music and film.  But we all have an opinion about restaurants.

Many restaurants have closed since March 2020, when the Bay Area went into lockdown, and many more will shutter during these pandemic—and soon endemic—times.  In order to lend a helping hand, we’ve been getting more takeout than we ever did before 2020.  Perhaps some of you out there had the same idea.  We had also planned to use our platform to help small restaurants in the Bay Area in 2020, but the lockdown made that rather difficult.  Well, starting in September 2021, we put our 2020 plan into action by offering free promotion on our site’s prime real estate.

Women do more cooking at home than men.  Yet the professional kitchen is still very much male-dominated.  So we’d like to highlight places where the executive or head chef (or baker) is a woman.  Look for the [♀] symbol.  [≡] denotes the availability of a paper menu or printer-friendly menu on-line.  Click on the Detour tab above and see why it matters.  [@] means they read their emails.

Every crisis has a silver lining.  Just as the pandemic has changed the way people work and the way students learn, it has also forced the restaurant industry to adapt.  Places that didn’t offer takeout before had to rethink that policy.  More restaurants started working with food-delivery services.  And after 2020, most businesses have the takeout packaging down to a science—from cardboard-lined bag to double bagging and extra care when dealing with leak-prone items.  We even saw a restaurant keeping takeout food in a warming cabinet.  Al fresco dining became a means to survival; parklets became more commonplace.  As the number of takeout orders surges, some restaurants need to be mindful of an old problem.  Click on the Detour/PSA tabs above for details (and join our #MochiDonutsForICU campaign).

The pandemic has also given rise to ghost kitchens—some are legitimate business model and others are secretive operations associated with unscrupulous food-delivery services.  See reports on KTVU ([►]) and Inside Edition ([►]).

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