Past Featured Restaurants

CyBelle’s Front Room, San Francisco | [@]

CPBA [►]

Most pizzerias offer at least one pie with veggie toppings, and even major chains tout those meat substitutes from companies that made the headlines by late-2010s.  Now half of CyBelle’s Front Room’s long menu is vegan-friendly.  So whether you are a vegan looking for variety or someone who’s a bit v-curious, CyBelle’s has you covered.

The most intriguing item is the mermaid sandwich because konjac is used to mimic the deep-fried shrimp.  When made into noodle shape, konjac is usually used as a substitute for noodle/pasta in Japan.  Hayward’s Veggie Lee uses it as a stand-in for shark fin.  Konjac’s texture does feel like some shellfish.  How it tastes almost doesn’t matter since CyBelle’s has done a great job with the combination of tasty pretzel bun, aioli, and coleslaw.  What else can they do with konjac?  Well, they should make shrimp/scallop po’ boy, Ming Tsai’s octopus croutons, and Portuguese octopus salad (salada de polvo).

Here’s another example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.  The vegan chicken on the golden dragon pizza is rather nondescript, but the addition of potato and a drizzle of BBQ sauce makes it work.  People who love lots of meat on their pizza should try the plant millionaire pizza, which is loaded with meat substitutes from Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat.  Vegan cheese has come a long way.  CyBelle’s uses GOOD PLANeT mozzarella for most of its vegan pizzas.  Check out our popular cheese guide (don’t miss the vegan section).  You may not like everything on CyBelle’s menu, but there’s love behind every dish.

CyBelle’s Pizza started in the 1980s and expanded to over 25 locations at its peak.  The owner of one of today’s four remaining CyBelle’s Pizza spots moved into The Front Room’s (an Italian restaurant) Inner Sunset space in 2004 and CyBelle’s Front Room was born.  Here’s an interview with the owner’s daughter.

More on konjac:  nhk.or.jp, euronews.com

Nearby options:  Marnee Thai, Fresca, Lale, Fiorella, Ebisu, Nabe, Sushi Kazu, Sunflower Garden, Perilla, Manna, Kogi Gogi BBQ, Pasquale’s Pizzeria, Patxi’s Pizza, Art’s Cafe, Jamie’s Place, Arizmendi Bakery, Tartine, San Francisco’s Hometown Creamery, Holy Gelato!

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Recchiuti Confections, San Francisco

ABC Localish [►]

Our collective sweet tooth has never been the same since a Swiss chocolatier created milk chocolate in 1875.  We’ve always thought how fortuitous that we have See’s Candies right here in California instead of those other national brands that you find at CVS and Walgreens.  We’ll take a box of See’s over those boxes anytime.  The Bay Area’s chocolate roots predate See’s when Ghirardelli Chocolate and Guittard Chocolate opened for business in the 19th century.  And we lucked out again in the 1980s when Joseph Schmidt Confections did for chocolates what Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse did for restaurants and Peet’s Coffee did for coffee.  By the late 1990s, three more local chocolate companies came on-line:  Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker, Recchiuti Confections, and XOX Truffles.  Check out what we had to say about Recchiuti and other Bay Area treats earlier.

You can watch below Burt Wolf’s take on the history of chocolate.  In 2016, Globe Trekker also produced “The Story of Chocolate” as part of its “Planet Food” specials.  Check your local PBS station schedule for the next rerun.

Burt Wolf [►] The Candy Man [►] Pure Imagination [►]

Nearby options:  The Slanted Door (closed for renovation), El Porteno Empanadas, Hog Island Oyster Co., Donut Farm, CheeseQuakes, Acme Bread Co., Golden Gate Meat Co., Humphry Slocombe, Dandelion Chocolate, Miette Patisserie & Confiserie

Past Featured Restaurants

Bamboo Steamer, Hayward | [≡]

DeniseUSA [►]

There are restaurants that are mostly good; there are places that are mostly bad.  And then there are the ones that are uneven.  It’s more interesting to write about this last group because we get to discuss what works and what doesn’t.

But first...a bit of history.  Before Bamboo Steamer opened in 2019, this was the address for Buddy’s Bites and Brews, a popular neighborhood pub that was a hit with beer drinkers and families for about 10 years (over one thousand reviews on-line).  Perhaps as a nod to Buddy’s legacy, BS started as a “modern” Chinese restaurant that touted its bar menu.  When we first visited BS in July 2020, two dishes and a pastry left a good impression.  Thanks to BS, we discovered gin really does not pair well with Chinese food.  The restaurant closed during most of 2022 for remodeling.  The interior is no longer dark and grimy; the bar is still here.  BS is now more of a traditional Cantonese restaurant.

The dinner menu is clearly this restaurant’s strong suit.  The highlight of our meal is the beef chow fun with gravy.  When prepared improperly, the flat noodles remain stuck together or too much oil is added to keep them separate.  With a clean flavor, this may be the best chow fun in the Bay Area.  The tender greens with beef cubes also illustrates this kitchen’s beef skills.  The most memorable dish from 2020 was the BBQ eel fried rice with fish roe (we just call it unagi fried rice with tobiko).  It now appears on the menu as mentaiko BBQ eel fried rice.  It looks and tastes about the same as before, so we don’t get the reference to mentaiko or salted cod roe.  Unfortunately, the big boss fried rice is no longer available.

During dinner service, you can order dim sum from a limited menu.  We sampled more than half of the 18 items.  The steamed dumplings and buns feel tacky, a sign they are not perfectly cooked.  The bigger problem is the rather bland dough, so it’s up to the filling to do the heavy lifting.  When the filling is nicely seasoned, the whole thing is good; for example, pea sprouts and shrimp dumplings in XO sauce, baked almond buns, and steamed egg yolk lava buns.  Though they are not on the limited menu, you can order the Portuguese egg tarts if they’re not sold out during lunch.  Until San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bakery reopens in June 2023, these egg tarts are some of the best in the Bay Area.

And this would’ve been the end of story.  But as luck would have it, we had morning appointments in the neighborhood, so we were able to sample its full dim sum menu twice during lunchtime.  The good news is we did find items that are better than the ones on the limited menu.  The obvious question is why they don’t put the best stuff on the limited menu.  These are the highlights.

pan-fried rice noodle roll in XO sauce
spicy wonton
crispy pork belly gua bao (slider)
pan-fried turnip (daikon) cake
dumplings with sesame filling
deep-fried sesame balls
cordyceps flower chicken porridge

CPBA (Buddy’s Bites and Brews) [►]

Nearby options:  Hawaiian Drive Inn, Tomodachi Sushi Bistro, Krispy Krunchy Chicken

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Bar Bay Grill, Union City | [≡]

CPBA [►]

The name doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, but it does rhyme with barbecue.  While we wouldn’t call this self-proclaimed sports bar a gastropub, the husband-and-wife owners do try to get creative with the menu.  Bar Bay Grill presents a pan-Asian medley of small bites and more substantial fare.  The inspiration for the curry chicken toast may be honey toast.  Like that Japanese dessert, the bread here is hollowed out and toasted.  The star of this dish is the perfectly toasted bread.  The same bread, made by Sheng Kee Bakery, also shows up in the wagyu beef sandwich.  (Good luck if you want to recreate this curry chicken toast at home.  The Taiwan toast bread for retail customers is pre-sliced, and you’ll need to remove the crust, apply just enough butter, and bake for the right amount of time.  Sheng Kee’s rectangle garlic bread is already toasted and tastes close to BBG.)

Both Malaysian-style fried noodles are good.  The version with glass noodles has more umami and wok hei.  The fried oysters are better than the fried calamari.  They’re served with a ubiquitous dip that tastes like sweet and tangy mayo.  The baked mussels are quite flavorful thanks to the same (?) special mayo.  The grilled mackerel has more meat than the grilled sardines at San Jose’s Petiscos by Adega.  The octopus balls (takoyaki) taste like they came out of a Japanese kitchen; the grilled pork belly (samgyeopsal) tastes like it came out of a Korean kitchen.

Quail eggs are one of those underused ingredients.  We can blame cooking shows and cookbooks for that because we haven’t come across a recipe that calls for them.  For this reason alone, you should order the bacon-wrapped quail eggs.  Other skewers from their charcoal grill include pork belly, lamb chop, scallops, beef, chicken, and two vegetables.  The eggplant could stay on the grill longer to soften the skin more (precooking in the microwave should help).  The shiitake mushrooms may have a fishy flavor (from something that was on the grill previously?)—they were better on our second visit.  We’d like to see them grill more vegetables and add some fruits.  Grilled pineapple and peaches would make wonderful desserts.

Located next to a Safeway in a large strip mall, BBG does not check your ID at the door, so kids are welcome.  Note that there’s a four-percent surcharge for payment by credit card.  The second location in San Jose did not survive COVID.

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

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Belotti Bottega, Oakland | [≡] [@]

CPBA [►]

For years all we had around the country were Americanized Italian restaurants, Americanized Chinese restaurants, and Americanized Mexican restaurants.  Well, times have changed as chefs introduced American diners to more authentic fare.  There’s nothing wrong with Italian American restaurants, but if you want to move away from food that was made to appeal to “mainstream” palate a long time ago, come on down to Piedmont Avenue.  Chef Michele Belotti and his wife operate a sit-down restaurant and a takeout-only bottega (shop).  We prefer the latter for its location, another one of those two-lane restaurant rows.  The menu showcases food from various regions of northern Italy:  Piedmont (agnolotti, vitello tonnato, battuta), Lombardy (casoncelli, scarpinocc), Veneto (bigoli), and Emilia-Romagna (tortellini, tagliatelle).  The only thing missing is a baccala dish from Veneto.  Pour yourself a glass of Lambrusco or Prosecco.

How fitting that a place that serves Piedmontese food is on a street named Piedmont.  Yes, Herb Caen would’ve loved this twist on his namephreaks.  When you’re here on Piedmont Avenue, you’re just steps away from two beautiful landmarks (click on the Detour tab above for details).

Nearby options:  Pomella, Monkey King, Malibu’s Burgers, Mistura, The Saap Avenue, Lo Coco’s, The Wolf, La Farine Bakery, Mr. Dewie’s Cashew Creamery, Fentons Creamery, Piedmont Grocery

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Brenda’s, Oakland + San Francisco | [♀]

CPBA [►]

From gumbo to etouffee and po’ boy, Brenda’s menu reads like the greatest hits of New Orleans cuisine.  The only thing we’d request is barbecue shrimp.  You’ll have to settle for shrimp and grits, a Lowcountry dish for people who think they won’t like corn porridge.

After eating Korean-style fried chicken, you might want to have some Southern-fried chicken again.  Brenda’s version is perfectly fried with no troubling red spots anywhere in the meat.  The batter is slightly spicy, and the meat is moist and flavorful.  You can specify whether you want dark or white pieces.  The biscuit that comes with the fried chicken is as light as it should be.  The hot pepper jelly may be meant for the chicken, but try it on the biscuit.

The beignet flight is a great way to sample Brenda’s selection of beignets, three of which are filled with savory crawfish, chocolate, or apple.  Our favorite is the plain (no filling).  It’s unlike the beignets at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans because it has no air pockets inside and therefore more bread-like.  Anyway, Brenda’s beignets are more filling than your typical beignets.  Besides mimosa and Hurricane, you should try coup de cafe, a wonderful combination of espresso, chocolate, and Underberg bitters (an herbal digestive from Germany).

The menu at the Oakland location is slightly different from the original San Francisco spot.  Note that Brenda’s briefly partnered with 949 Ruff Food in 2021 to provide takeout in San Jose.  If the owner of Brenda’s wants to give this type of venture another try, Local Kitchens might be the way to go.

Nearby options in Oakland:  Teni East Kitchen, Mama’s Royal Cafe, Piedmont Avenue

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Los Carnalitos, Hayward

VidaEats [►]

Chilango refers to someone who lives in Mexico City.  Los Carnalitos (“the brothers”) specializes in Chilanga cuisine or food popular in the capital and largest city of Mexico.  Cheese isn’t the only moldy food people enjoy.  (Check out our popular cheese guide.)  We first heard about huitlacoche from an episode of Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie, the highly entertaining and educational series in 2007 (it’s a shame PBS no longer reruns this enlightening show).  Thanks to this unassuming restaurant in Hayward and others, we can all get a taste of what the TV series calls noble rot.  Huitlacoche is one of the options for quesadillas and huaraches at Los Carnalitos.  If you’re not ready for the full Azteca experience, go for alternatives such as chicken or beef tinga.

You’d expect to find Mexican sandwiches (tortas) on the menu at a casual place like this, but you must try pambazo, a torta-like item with different fillings between slices of pan-fried bread.  The traditional option is potatoes and chorizo.  The whole thing is comforting and surprisingly light.  The filling tastes like potato cake, and the bread remains soft and pillowy.  We couldn’t really taste the chorizo, which begs the question—why not add a potatoes-only option for vegetarians?  This may seem like a small detail, but having diced potato makes pambazo different from hash browns, Swiss rosti, and English floddies.  The mouthfeel is closer to the inside of a potato samosa.

Alambre is a dish for meat lovers.  The grilled beef is seared to jerky-like texture, and you also get chorizo and bacon.  Portion size is quite generous; you can easily make two servings out of the higher-priced dishes.  Panucho is another great value because it’s a lot of food at appetizer price.  The tortilla is stuffed with refried beans like Salvadoran pupusa and topped with zesty cochinita pibil (roasted pork).  Note that some of the dishes have a little more kick than the typical Mexican restaurant food.

They say when you cook with love, the food tastes better—so that’s why we love mom’s cooking.  There must be a love fest in this kitchen.  Even the horchata and mango agua fresca taste better.  The owners—yes, they are two brothers—started with a food truck in 2015.  They opened their first restaurant two years later.  They opened a second restaurant, La Fonda de los Carnalitos, in Redwood City in 2021.

Noble Rot episode snippet [►]

Nearby options:  Country Waffles

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Casa Barotti, Berkeley | [@]

The first time we heard about pizza al taglio or pizza al trancio was during the third season of You Gotta Eat Here! (this is the Ontario restaurant they visited).  We finally have a place in the Bay Area that serves northern Italian-style pizza by the slice (roughly 5” by 5.5”).  If you believe the only true pizza is the Neapolitan variety, then Casa Barotti is not for you.  The crust here is closer to focaccia.  Note that some of the toppings are on the salty side—we are talking about prosciutto (the good stuff from San Daniele), anchovies, and olives.  (Pro tip:  When we eat something as salty as Roquefort cheese, we like to follow with grapes as a chaser.)  In some parts of Italy, a spizzicheria or bacaro/cicchetteria is where you go to get your fill of small plates.  Besides pizza, Casa Barotti also serves focaccia, panini, Roman suppli, and Sicilian arancini.  A good time to come is during happy hour when you can enjoy a little bit of aperitivo.

ATK (pizza al taglio) [►]

Nearby options:  Mitama, Tara’s Organic Ice Cream, Oakland side of College Avenue

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Casa de Chocolates, Berkeley | [♀] [@]

ABC Localish [►] ElTecoloteSF [►]

Considering people enjoyed some kind of chocolate drink in Mesoamerica 4,000 years ago, we think it’s only right that we have a place like Casa de Chocolates in the Elmwood area of Berkeley.  The Maya referred to chocolate as the food of the gods.  Using such intriguing flavors as mole, chipotle, tequila, and Inca peanut butter, Casa de Chocolates does its best to tempt us mortals with these heavenly offerings.  Chocolate truffles are fairly easy to make at home.  You’ll find lots of truffle recipes on the Internet.  Milk Street gives brownies a twist by using tahini.  You can take truffles and brownies to another level by adding a bit of chili powder.  Of course, chocolate is also good for cooking.  Chicken mole comes to mind.

Candy [►]

Nearby options:  La Mediterranee, Gai Barn, Donato & Co., Summer Kitchen, Organic Greens, Shen Hua, King Yen, Nabolom Bakery, Dream Fluff Donuts

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De Afghanan Cuisine, Fremont | [♀]

ABC Localish [►]

We figure Afghanistan will remain in the news for a while, so now is as good a time as any to talk about Afghan restaurants.  If you like kebabs, lamb, pilaf, or Persian food in general, then Afghan cuisine will give you a sense of deja vu.  Dari, one of Afghanistan’s languages, is basically farsi.  Try lamb shank pilaf (kabuli palaw) and stuffed flatbread (bolani).  De Afghanan, located in Fremont’s Little Kabul, has been around since 1993 and still maintains a small takeout-only place (limited menu and cash only) a few doors down from the main restaurant.  Note that there’s a ghost site put up by some company (cybersquatting?).  If you go to De Afghanan, tell them Baylindo sent you.

Nearby options:  Momo & Kebab, A Sack of Potatoes (int’l chain), Pav Bhaji Hut (int’l chain), Bun Appetit, MW Chinese Gourmet, El Halal Amigos, Madhuram, LiZhou

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Dela Curo, Oakland

CPBA (Fantastic Negrito) [►]

Curry is one of those culinary ideas Japan borrowed from India (via Britain), and they love it over there.  As the name suggests, Dela Curo specializes in black (kuro) curry.  We suspect Japanese curry and Indian curry have one thing in common:  Every restaurant has its own recipe.  DC’s version is more tangy than anything else.  You can get the curry here by itself or with pork, chicken, shrimp, omelet, or vegetables.  The most delightful item on the short menu is the fruit sandwich (sando).  Yes, home cooks can make this themselves, but we’re here to support our local restaurants.  Try mochi with matcha cream if you’ve never had mochi donuts before.  Modo Hawaii in Santa Clara remains our favorite.  Click on the Detour tab above for more on Japanese fusion food.  Located in Swan’s Market in Old Oakland, DC is near the corner of Ninth and Washington Streets.

Trails to Oishii Tokyo (Japanese curry) [►]

Nearby options:  The Cook and Her Farmer, Miss Ollie’s, Huangcheng Noodle House, Annapurna, Le Guerrera’s Kitchen, Taylor’s Sausage, Sincere Seafood, Square Pie Guys, Le Cheval, Ratto’s International Market & Deli

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East Ocean, Alameda + Walnut Creek | [≡] [@]

The word of the day is transformation.  The typical restaurant trajectory goes like this:  it starts out strong and over time becomes a shadow of its former self.  Two examples.  There’s a little place in Fremont that served very good food, but after the original chef/owner retired, it’s gone downhill (it still bears his name).  And we all know what happened to the once-popular Cooking Papa.  East Ocean bucks that trend by improving with age.  This neighborhood place opened in 1984; the current owner took over in 1995.  We managed to unearth a menu from the late 1990s.  The interesting thing is the menu hasn’t changed all that much, but we don’t recall local media talking about this restaurant.  So clearly the owner has transformed not just the dining room space but also the kitchen.

East Ocean is now almost as good as the best Hong Kong-style Cantonese restaurants in the Bay Area in their heyday.  The chef does two things really well:  beef and vegetables.  Try large pea sprouts, water spinach (ong choy), mustard greens, and bitter melon.  Note that black pepper beef short ribs are actually Korean-style or flanken-cut ribs—not the meaty short ribs that require a longer cooking time.  The service is personable and professional.  Like the best general-purpose Cantonese restaurants, East Ocean’s dim sum is above average.  The best bets are the steamed dumplings; the dough has the right thickness and chew.  For something mildly sweet and refreshing, go for the black sesame rolls.  A sushi menu is also available.  More than other places, this restaurant needs to rethink its billing procedure for takeout orders.  Click on the Detour tab above for details.

Located just a few blocks from the short Webster Street tunnel that connects to Oakland Chinatown, East Ocean shares a free parking lot in the back with Kelly-Moore Paints (enter from Pacific Avenue).  We like to think of this part of Alameda as OC extension.

Ocean [►] Oceans Away [►] Ocean Drive [►] Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) [►]

Nearby options in Alameda:  Kitchen of Alameda, Oakland Chinatown

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Gaumenkitzel, Berkeley | [♀] [≡]

CPBA [►] Bay Area Bountiful [►]

The nice thing about German restaurants in the Bay Area is that they’re a little different from each other.  Gaumenkitzel offers Hamburg dishes such as a lightly pickled cabbage salad and vegetable fritters made from carrot, parsnip, oats, and egg.  For comparison the fritters from Cook’s Country include zucchini, carrot, red bell pepper, and onion.  Pannfisch is another Hamburg dish that features pan-fried fish with mustard sauce.  When available as a special, Gaumenkitzel uses local lingcod and king salmon and serves it over rice (almost like risotto).  The pork schnitzel has a well-seasoned coating.  The red sauerkraut is one of the best in the Bay Area.  Matschbrotchen is a chocolate marshmallow sandwich you don’t see often.

Gaumenkitzel’s desserts are uniformly light and satisfying.  As the menu makes clear, Black Forest cake is made using kirsch brandy, which is not sweet like cherry liqueur.  It is not to be confused with German chocolate cake, an American invention named after its creator.  Streuselkuchen (yeasted dough version) and buttermilk dessert (served in a canning jar) are also good.  Gaumenkitzel is indeed a delight for the taste buds.  Oh, they make their own yogurt and jams.  The low-sugar peach and ginger jam is definitely not too sweet (could use more ginger).  The lemon marmalade is more like a compote with slices of lemon in syrup (grab a spoon or fork and ditch the butter knife).  You could serve it with ice cream or as garnish for cake.  Let’s hope they go back to their pre-pandemic hours soon; the kitchen closes at 5 pm.  For people who eat dinner around 6 pm, well, this’ll do for now.

Nearby options:  La Marcha Tapas Bar, Middle East Market, Thai Table, Babette, The Hidden Cafe, Belmo Cafe, Cafe Leila, Casa Latina Bakery, States Coffee x Bread, Rainbow Donuts

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Imperial Soup, Oakland

Here’s another unique restaurant in the Bay Area, a place that specializes in herbal soups.  While we can’t vouch for their medicinal properties, what Imperial Soup offers tastes as comforting as, well, chicken soup.  The English menu simply describes the 18 herbal soup options as “herbs.”  Try the soup with American ginseng (#5) or the one with blaze mushroom (#7) or the one with sparerib (#9).  It’s a nice change from the ubiquitous hot and sour soup.  A couple soups also feature the distinctive Silkie chicken.

The desserts are on the “healthy” side as well.  If they run out of double-layer steamed milk, steamed red bean milk with sago would be a good plan B.  The rest are barely sweet—though where else can you find peach gum and tragacanth on the dessert menu?  The main entrees are mostly steamed or braised (nothing deep-fried here).  Hainan chicken rice is one of the better versions in the Bay Area.  If you like food bundles, try steamed rice with pork belly in lotus leaf.  Imperial Soup also serves noodles and noodle soups.  There may be a $25 minimum for credit cards.

When the English menu fails to tell the whole story, we wish there’s a mobile app that allows one to point the camera at a foreign-language name or sign and get an English translation.  Apple’s own Translate app doesn’t do that.  If you find double-boiled herbal soup at other restaurants, it’s higher priced and usually requires a reservation.  To learn more about food as medicine and food philosophy in general, check out episode #102 of Confucius Was a Foodie.  KPJK is currently airing this Canadian series on Saturdays at 7 pm (starting in October 2021); KQED and KRCB will probably rerun it in the future.

Trails to Oishii Tokyo (Silkie chicken) [►] Soup for One [►]

Nearby options:  Peony Seafood, Cafe Gabriela, Battambang, Tay Ho, Nature Vegetarian, Classic Guilin Rice Noodles, Shooting Star Cafe, C&M Bistro, Shandong, Eden Silk Road, Golden Peacock, New Gold Medal, UC Dessert

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Juanita & Maude, Albany | [≡]

CPBA [►]

Named after chef/owner Scott Eastman’s grandmother and mother, Juanita & Maude is the kind of place that does not rest on its laurels.  All the dishes diners raved about a few years ago are no longer available.  Anyone who misses J&M’s olive oil cake should check out this relatively simple recipe from America’s Test Kitchen.  So if what’s past is prologue, the menu we sampled in November 2022 will be very different by the time you make your way to this small city between Berkeley and Richmond.

Like San Jose’s Paper Plane, J&M’s menu is the United Nations of food.  There’s a little bit of Italy, Mexico, Japan, and other locales.  Even duqqa, an Egyptian dip, makes an appearance.  The best thing about chicken under a brick (pollo al mattone) is the accompanying gnocchi.  Served with a Marsala sauce, this is textbook gnocchi and the star of the whole meal.  J&M’s take on donburi is topped with scallop and eggplant and decidedly spicy—definitely not your typical donburi.  For liver lovers and doubters, try the chicken liver canape (crostino).  Of the two desserts we sampled, the clear winner is the matcha cream puffs.  You can taste the yuzu gelee.  These profiteroles are better than what you find at chains like Beard Papa’s or even some boutique bakery.

Having the bar in the middle of the restaurant makes sense because it helps delineate the different dining areas.  And the drapery next to the table next to the door provides a modicum of privacy.  It’s the little things that mean so much.  It’s easy to see why this is such a popular neighborhood spot.

Nearby options:  Sugata, White Lotus Thai Cuisine, Rendez-Vous Cafe Bistro, Aangan, Everest Kitchen, Picnic, Syma’s, The Hot Shop, Sam’s Log Cabin, Mr. Dewie’s Cashew Creamery

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Kendejah, San Leandro

CPBA [►] The Charlie Boots Show [►]

For some reason, Ethiopian restaurants are well represented in the Bay Area.  Whether or not you’ve had your fill of injera, check out other African eats such as this Liberian restaurant in downtown San Leandro.  Liberia is one of 17 nations in West Africa, where most American slaves originated.  Sampling West African food is like tasting the American South’s mother cuisine.  Jollof rice is likely the inspiration for jambalaya and other Southern rice dishes.  We don’t consume enough collard greens outside of the South; Kendejah offers sweet potato greens and cassava leaves in addition to that Southern staple.  Also try torborgee or bean stew.  For marketing purpose, the owner of this restaurant chose to spell Kendeja, an artists’ village outside Liberia’s capital, his way.

Liberia has another special connection to this country—if you know your U.S. history.  Follow chef Marcus Samuelsson as he visits the Nigerian and West African community in Houston in episode #203 of No Passport Required.  Chef Vivian Howard explores the ways greens are prepared in the South and observes someone in Georgia pounding cassava leaves and making fufu in episode #105 of Somewhere South.  KQED will rerun these series in the future.  In the meantime, you can watch below Michelle Kavachi make fufu (also seen in the Samuelsson series).  Also check out her book on fufu.

The Houston Cookbook [►] Liberian Girl [►]

Nearby options:  Slice House, Xiang Yuen Xiao Long Bao, Maejoo Wings, Indian Grill, Nation’s Giant Hamburgers, Cafe Sorriso

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Korner Kitchen & Bar, Oakland | [@]

CPBA (starting at 21:47) [►]

Featuring...
: Sammy’s
: SMAX

Located at the corner of Fruitvale Avenue and San Leandro Street, Korner Kitchen & Bar is a mini-food hall near Fruitvale BART Station.  It has two sections connected via a narrow pathway.  They have plenty of benches where people can sit and hang out.  This being an outdoor venue, it’s best to come between March and October.  Beware the lineup of vendors changes over time.  When we visited one Saturday in October 2022, there were more arts and crafts vendors than food vendors.

SMAX’s signature dish is the fish sandwich (The Fizzy).  The brioche buns and tartar sauce with dill are good, but you taste the batter more than the fish fillet itself.  They also make chopped cheese, a sandwich that might evoke an emotional response from native New Yorkers.  It’s a cross between cheeseburger and sloppy joe.  Sammy’s specializes in hotteok, small pancakes Chinese immigrants brought with them to South Korea.  The traditional version (brown sugar and cinnamon) is better than the one with mozzarella.  They also make a pizza version.  After talking with these two vendors, we got the impression the endgame is not a brick-and-mortar restaurant for either.  One vendor that already has a store is Ono Bakehouse (cash or Venmo only).

The highlight turned out to be the house bar, which specializes in Asian/Latinx-inspired cocktails.  We enjoyed Nevermind, a rum and sherry drink, and a mocktail called You Nice Keep Going (tamarind and makrut lime).  The menu changes often; in the past, they made a drink featuring bitter melon syrup (Halo at Me) and another with lemongrass syrup (Benne Black).  We also picked up a kimchi sour beer made by a Bay Area brewer (we first spotted it in the fridge near the kitchen and restrooms).  Unfortunately, Noodle Belly and Padron Grill were not present—contrary to what the official site stated.  And Sugarmama Sugarcane and Bad Walter’s Bootleg Ice Cream close early in the afternoon.  Surely these vendors can arrange for their products to be sold after they leave (especially frozen ice cream).  There’s no street parking in front of KK, so follow our suggestion for Wahpepah’s Kitchen.

Digital Dreams (AV installation) [►]

Nearby options:  Fruitvale Village, Fruitvale Public Market

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La Marcha Tapas Bar, Berkeley | [♀] [≡]

CPBA [►] Visit Berkeley [►]

Michael Bauer called La Marcha “[p]aella, perfected” in 2016.  Well, maybe he didn’t because someone else at San Francisco Chronicle likely wrote that headline.  La Marcha’s paellas are indeed solid.  Of the two paella options we sampled, the marinera (four types of shellfish) is better since the mixta (chicken, Spanish chorizo, and shell-on shrimp) is a tad too salty.  The ingredients are great and portion size generous.

The best tapas item is the wild boar and beef meatballs (albondigas).  They are tender and the sauce is very tasty as well (too bad the kitchen forgot the toast).  The goat cheese and basil filling is what makes the stuffed peppers (piquillo rellenos) sing.  The octopus leg is fine, but the king of pulpo remains Teleferic Barcelona’s version in terms of flavor and presentation.  Ricotta cheesecake (tarta de requeson) is the perfect, light dessert to go with hearty paellas.  If Kraft Foods, the producer of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, ever decided to go into the ricotta business, more Americans would make cheesecake with ricotta.  The restaurant’s background music (rock en espanol) is something else La Marcha got right.

More on paella protocol...some people would argue the best part of paella is the crunchy rice (socarrat) at the bottom of the pan.  Unfortunately, it seems you can only enjoy it if you dine in.  Note that it’s not a given the rice will crust on the bottom—it depends on the cook.  If the kitchen packed socarrat for takeout orders, it would require an extra container and more work.  Yes, we’re aware this is a first-world problem, but we are curious how they handle it in Spain.  If anyone knows the answer, give us a shout.  By the way, Chinese and Japanese restaurants face a similar problem with clay pot rice and kamameshi, respectively.  And Persian restaurants resolve the issue by selling the scorched rice (tahdig) as a separate item on the menu (usually).

Nearby options:  Gaumenkitzel, Middle East Market, Thai Table, Babette, The Hidden Cafe, Belmo Cafe, Cafe Leila, Casa Latina Bakery, States Coffee x Bread, Rainbow Donuts

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Marica, Oakland

Jason Nou [►]

People who live in Oakland’s Rockridge area are lucky ducks because every neighborhood should have a place like Marica.  Named after a nymph in Roman mythology, Marica is cozy and quite a bit smaller than on-line photos would indicate.  We’ve visited over a dozen restaurants that were awarded Bib Gourmand or Michelin Plate a few years ago, and Marica stacks up quite well against them.  Michelin Guide should send somebody to College Avenue pronto.

The seafood stew (scallops, rock cod, shrimp) has the color of lobster bisque since the stock is made with lobster, shrimp, and chicken.  It’s very fragrant (herbes de Provence?) and has a slight kick.  They should call it Christopher’s bouillabaisse.  We’ve never made Julia Child’s boeuf bourguignon, so we don’t know how close Marica’s version (one of only two non-seafood mains) comes to its inspiration.  We imagine she would be pleased.  The meat is tender and luxurious and just the right size.  They probably add the wine at the beginning and at the end of cooking to maximize its contribution.  The pencil-thin asparagus is an unusual but welcome pairing for this stew.

If you’re not a fan of beets, don’t let that stop you from ordering the mixed greens salad.  The roasted red beets here are not as earthy as some, and the kitchen also makes sure they don’t bleed all over the dish.  The green olives are a nice touch; the balsamic vinaigrette is more viscous than your typical dressing.  The wok-fried calamari is served with a mini version of the mixed greens salad (but a different dressing), so that’s a selling point.  The squid is definitely deep-fried, but the sauteed part doesn’t add much to the final product.  If the kitchen was aiming for wok hei, they missed.  The good thing is you do get both the body and the legs.

Marica offers only two desserts, so try them both.  The old-school banana pudding is fine, but it really can’t compete with the creme brulee.  The custard seems to have a boozy note (or really strong vanilla), just the excuse to keep your kids away from it.

Chef/owner Chris Cheung first opened Christopher’s Cafe in Berkeley Hills in 1984 (now Troy as of 2022).  Later he relocated down Solano Avenue to Albany (now Fonda).  He opened a second location on San Pablo Avenue (now Syma’s) in 1988.  Like Sunnyvale’s Magic-Wok, Marica is well-positioned to weather the pandemic—for very different reasons.  Simply put, Cheung is not afraid of change.  When he and his family opened Marica in 2000, he shifted from Mexican to seafood.  Most of the dishes mentioned in two newspaper reviews (one in 2001 and the other in 2011) are no longer available.  And Marica turned into a pizzeria in 2019.

Julia Child (boeuf bourguignon) [►] Julia Child (bouillabaisse) [►] Jamie Oliver (fish stew) [►]

Nearby options:  Pucquio, A16, High Peaks Kitchen, Khana Peena, Bangkok Garden

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Mingala, Fremont | [≡]

OneStopGuy [►] Honda Nguyen [►]

When it comes to Southeast Asia, there are plenty of Vietnamese, Thai, and Filipino restaurants in the Bay Area.  You can count all the local Malaysian eateries on one hand.  Two things set Mingala’s menu apart from other Malaysian places:  the inclusion of a few Burmese dishes and more vegetarian options.  Instead of ground catfish, Mingala uses split pea fritter in mohinga, Myanmar’s national dish.  Surprisingly, Mingala’s version has a little more heat than Myanmar Tea Garden’s.

Malaysia’s population is 23 percent Chinese and seven percent Indian, and Malaysian cuisine reflects this diversity.  Most of the fried noodle dishes at Mingala look and taste close to what you find at Cantonese restaurants since Malaysian Chinese originated from southern China.  Roti and samosa are examples of Indian influence.

Rendang is as much a Malaysian dish as it is Indonesian.  Mingala uses beef shank for its beef rendang.  Gado-gado is another dish adapted from Indonesia.  Basil fried rice has a flavor profile you don’t taste at Chinese restaurants.  Malaysian food is one of the first fusion cuisines.  And you also get friendly service to go with your order.  You can catch reruns of Taste of Malaysia With Martin Yan on KQED.  Yan meets royalty in the 12th episode.

Nearby options:  Gourmet House, Happy Lemon, Hong Kong Chef, A Plus HK Style Cafe, Chaat House

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Myanmar Tea Garden, Fremont | [≡]

This family-owned restaurant is located in a strip mall anchored by Apna Bazar.  Chef U Win Aye has a resume that includes Burma Superstar and Rangoon Ruby.  While those two restaurants have multiple locations, there’s only one Myanmar Tea Garden.  When the trailblazing Nan Yang opened in Oakland in 1983, Burmese restaurants served mostly Chinese-style dishes.  That’s no longer the case in the Bay Area.  Burmese cuisine includes salads—that alone makes it very different from other Asian countries.

Mohinga is Myanmar’s national dish, a rice noodle soup that’s traditionally made with catfish.  MTG and other local Burmese restaurants use ground catfish.  Think of mohinga as the Burmese answer to Vietnam’s pho.  Chef Aye has created unique dishes such as wasabi shrimp and tea leaf shrimp.  The former is served on a bed of chopped cabbage.  Mix the mildly spicy-sweet wasabi cream sauce with the cabbage and you have yourself some coleslaw.

It’s a little unexpected to find biryani on a Burmese menu (danbauk in Burmese).  MTG offers four options:  chicken drumsticks, lamb, shrimp, and lamb shank.  Unlike the Indian version, the Burmese take is not spicy at all.  Pumpkin (kabocha?) is another item that makes multiple appearances, accompanying chicken, shrimp, or tofu.  These stews have a slightly sweet flavor.  The prosaic description doesn’t do Myanmar fried rice justice; this dish with yellow beans will grow on you.  For a sweet ending, try dessert palata (Burmese paratha) with banana and ice cream.

Rockstar Eater [►]

Nearby options:  Bombay Street Food, Gonutz, New Yong Kang Seafood, Halal Wings Plus, Biryani Bowl, Line Thai, Vasy’s Donut Shop

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Oaklandia Cafe, Oakland (two locations) | [@]

ABC Localish [►]

When we first visited the spacious 12th Street location near Oakland Convention Center, we were a bit disappointed because we saw pastries we can make at home (muffins, scones) and things you find at 7-Eleven and most supermarkets (Danish, croissants, muffins, scones).  Well, all that matters is if what comes out of a professional kitchen tastes better than homemade.  We’re happy to report there’s not a dud among the eight pastries we sampled.  Nothing is too sweet, and everything looks good.  While Castro Valley’s Seven Hills Baking Co. may have better scones and San Francisco’s Arsicault Bakery may have better croissants, there are definitely items at both places we would not order again.

It seems most small, independent bakeries don’t make Danish pastries much because they’re not trendy.  So it’s surprising our favorite item here turns out to be the apricot Danish.  A Danish is a puff pastry just like croissant, which means it’s not something the average home cook can make.  Oaklandia’s spinach ricotta croissant is perfect if you’re looking for something savory.  The scones have interesting flavors such as lavender blueberry and honey walnut.  The most uncommon item is the angel foods apple cake.  Oaklandia also serves sandwiches and salads.

This is another mom-and-pop business that deserves your support.  The couple met when they both worked for Specialty’s Cafe & Bakery years ago.  He is Oaklandia’s pastry chef; she is an Oakland native.  They were able to expand their operation thanks to an angel investor.  The 12th Street cafe/bakery is on the ground floor of a 21-story office building, one of five properties that make up Oakland City Center.  It’s easy to spot this curved building because it’s shaped like the CBS eye or a football from a bird’s-eye view.

Nearby options (Oakland City Center):  Rio California, Roasted and Raw, Pachas Afghan Kabab House, Tigrai Cafe, Old Oakland

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Rio California, Oakland

CPBA [►]

When a restaurant doesn’t have a long menu, it needs to make everything count.  Well, Rio California has passed that test with flying colors.  Chef/owner Ney Araujo describes his restaurant’s food as continental cuisine with a Brazilian accent (he has lived in Brazil and Europe).  After sampling about 10 dishes, we feel confident you can close your eyes and point to anything on the menu.

We’ve avoided Brazilian restaurants in the Bay Area because most of them are the very meat-centric steakhouses.  So we’re happy to finally have an opportunity to try feijoada, the Brazilian stew with pork and beans served with rice and sausages and a sprinkling of farofa or yuca flour.  The accompanying collard greens are not completely soft, which is a nice change from the norm.  It’s only available on Wednesdays and Thursdays—though we got it on a Friday (stews and braised dishes in general taste better the next day anyway).  The other Brazilian treat on the menu is coxinha or chicken croquette.  If this is Brazil’s answer to empanada, we are Team Coxinha.  You get three pear-sized croquettes per order, which is plenty for lunch.  RC’s version seems to have potato in the dough, and yet it’s still very light.

Whether you order rice or mashed potatoes with the shrimp with chipotle sauce, what you get is kind of like RC’s version of shrimp and grits.  The grilled vegetables provide a nice crunch in all that lovely sauce.  The creamy lemon seafood risotto features fish, shrimp and mussels.  The jerk chicken is mildly spicy (they do give you a more potent sauce on the side).  Also good are the grilled tilapia with capers and butter sauce and the two chicken breast entrees.  The kitchen clearly knows how to make tasty rice—judging by the rice that accompanies the jerk chicken and grilled tilapia.  If you like cilantro, ask for the cilantro garlic dressing for your salad.

Located inside Preservation Park, RC is open for lunch on weekdays (there’s a catering menu for lunch/dinner/weekends).  If you have a soft spot for painted ladies, Preservation Park is a collection of 16 Victorian-style buildings that now house nonprofit organizations.  Only five were here originally; the rest were relocated due to the construction of I-980.  Once you step inside the park, you do feel like you’re transported in time (check out the Parisian fountain, park benches, street lamps, and plants).  This site is available for weddings and other events.  Note that inside parking is for tenants only.

Nearby options:  Roasted and Raw, Pachas Afghan Kabab House, Oaklandia Cafe x Bakery, Tigrai Cafe, Old Oakland

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Roasted and Raw, Oakland

CPBA [►] Plant Based Partnas [►] Zennie62 [►]

With few exceptions, vegetarian restaurants in the Bay Area like to offer faux meat and seafood on the menu.  That’s probably a sound strategy because these items (textured vegetable protein, tempeh, seitan, tofu, and others) are a source of protein, and we imagine there are some former meat eaters who still yearn for the flavor and texture of meat and seafood.  The good news is our local vegetarian places are different from each other—and mock meat has come a long way.

Outside of Indian, Persian, and Afghan restaurants, you don’t see basmati rice on the menu much.  We’re not saying all other restaurants should switch to basmati rice.  It would be highly unusual if Mexican and Japanese places started serving basmati rice.  Since Roasted and Raw does not specialize in any one cuisine, they are free to do what they want.  So kudos to R&R for using basmati rice exclusively.  The only suggestion we would make is to add brown rice as a second rice option.

Food bowl is quite popular these days.  Having tried three of the five bowls here, we can say what matters more is which protein you choose for your bowl.  The clear winner among the six protein options is the chicken.  R&R’s chicken is the best faux chicken we’ve ever had.  Kids who will eat only chicken nuggets will like this chicken.  The fish is pretty good except once it gets soggy (after coming into contact with the rest of the bowl), it loses its fish texture and flavor.  The walnut-based chorizo does resemble the Mexican original.  This chorizo is what they put inside the oh-so crispy and large empanada.  Each bowl comes with a choice of basmati rice, quinoa, or greens (or half-and-half mix of any two).  The bowl size is eight inches in diameter and about 2.5 inches tall (comparable to what they use at World Wrapps).

Of the two cold (they call them raw) dishes we sampled, we prefer the broccoli and bacon slaw.  We like the bacon and there’s the right amount of smoked cucumber ranch dressing.  While we respect that the kelp noodle pad thai has a surprising kick from the sweet chili and that it does not come with a peanut sauce (that would be a cliche), the whole dish is drowning in sauce.  The maple-glazed sweet potatoes are too sweet and lack dimension (some ginger or lemon juice might help).  If you want just a taste of these sweet potatoes, note that they are a part of the curry chickpea ragu bowl.

R&R keeps a good balance between fake meat and vegetables, especially if you order half greens for your bowl.  We appreciate details such as grilled corn and that the broccoli is cut into perfect bite-sized pieces.  They also serve breakfast items until noon:  chicken and waffle, yuca hash, breakfast burrito, and bacon and egg sandwich.  R&R shares space with Powered by Pure, a juice and smoothie lounge that used to have two other locations.

Nearby options:  Rio California, Pachas Afghan Kabab House, Oaklandia Cafe x Bakery, Tigrai Cafe, Old Oakland

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Seven Hills Baking Co., Castro Valley

Luxllenium [►] Living in the East Bay [►]

Simply put, this baker knows scones.  The cheddar garlic scone is one of the best scones we’ve ever had; it’s certainly the best savory scone we’ve ever had.  The use of wheat flour probably gives it more structure than the typical American-style scones.  Yet it’s as soft as biscuits if you eat it fresh.  Less unusual but almost as good is the currant scone.  If you’ve never had bostock before, you’ll enjoy how they make French toast in France.  Seven Hills’ kouign-amann is not as good as Manresa Bread’s version.  But give this bakery credit for trying something different—sea salt doesn’t go with this type of pastry.  The morning bun is for anyone who loves sugar donuts.  They also make a couple of pizzas and the usual suspects such as baguette and ciabatta.  Some items are only available on certain days, so check the bakery site.

Aside from the scones, the other reason to visit Seven Hills is the Castro Valley Marketplace, a food hall that manages to squeeze in a mix of tenants on multiple levels at the site of a former department store.  Every city in the Bay Area should be so lucky to have a place like this.  Click on the Detour tab above for other food halls.

ATK (kouign-amann) [►]

Nearby options:  Akemi Sushi, Cannery Kitchen & Tap, Oculto, Baron’s Quality Meats & Seafood, Castro Valley Natural Grocery, Oaktown Spice Shop

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Starter Bakery, Berkeley

Starter Bakery’s main focus is wholesale business.  One customer mentioned it does a little bit of retail at the Berkeley address once a month.  Thanks to an article in The Mercury News, we found a more convenient way to sample SB’s baked goods.  You see, some of them are sold at Philz Coffee, which has 40 locations throughout the Bay Area.  (SB’s own site does not provide the list of coffee shops that carry its products.  You can also look for them at Mollie Stone’s and a few other supermarkets and some East Bay farmers markets.)

The twice-baked almond croissant is the best thing we tried; we also enjoyed the chocolate croissant and wild blueberry muffin.  Like Castro Valley’s Seven Hills Baking Co., SB adds sea salt to its kouign-amann, which we feel is a bit off-putting.  Manresa Bread’s version is better.  SB does make a chocolate variation, which should work better with sea salt.  You can order these and other items via the bakery site.  Enter your ZIP code and see if they deliver to your area (it seems the coverage is limited to a portion of the East Bay).

ATK (kouign-amann) [►]

Nearby options:  Lulu, Italy on Gilman, Lama Beans, East Bay Pie Co., Happy Donuts, Philz Coffee

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Syma’s, Albany | [♀]

CPBA [►]

When restaurants change hands, the new owners sometimes add a few items that are near and dear to their culinary heritage.  It happened with Foster City’s Waterfront Pizza.  The owner of Syma’s (pronounced sigh’mas) decided to add Persian dishes to the restaurant’s Mexican menu.  That’s a very good thing because there are a few items we’ve never seen at other Persian outlets.  Halim gandom is wheat porridge with pulled lamb.  Anyone who likes oatmeal, polenta, grits, and other types of porridge will eat this up.  Kalle-pache or khash is a lamb soup that’s hard to find—and perhaps an acquired taste.

If you love fesenjan as much as we do, then you know Bay Area restaurants usually serve this stew with chicken.  Syma’s uses beef meatballs instead, giving the dish a beefy, liver-y note that fesenjan fans must taste for themselves.  More so than chicken, these small meatballs become part of the sauce.  Serving pre-cooked pilaf is a tricky thing.  We find the three different pilaf options a little on the dry side.  Click on the SV tab above and see House of Kabobs in Sunnyvale for comparison.

From the Mexican menu we sampled mole enchiladas and pescado Veracruz.  There’s nothing wrong with these dishes, but if you want more exciting Mexican fare, try places like Los Carnalitos in Hayward.  When you order food to-go from Mexican and other Latin restaurants, they usually give you tortillas.  Syma’s gives you a stuffed bag of tortilla chips (house-made?), which turns out to be serendipity.  These are some of the best tortilla chips we’ve ever had—perfectly fried and salted.  They don’t really need the salsa verde (more tart from tomatillo than anything else) or the salsa roja (the one with some heat).

Syma’s is also set up like a mini-market similar to Berkeley’s Middle East Market and Antipastos by DeRose in San Jose.  With a clean, pleasant space inside and a parking lot in the back, Syma’s is reason enough to make your way to Albany, one of three small cities between Berkeley and Richmond.  Here’s the story behind Syma’s.

Nearby options:  Juanita & Maude, Aangan, Everest Kitchen, Picnic, The Hot Shop, Sam’s Log Cabin, Mr. Dewie’s Cashew Creamery

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Top Hatters Kitchen & Bar, San Leandro | [♀] [≡]

CPBA [►]

If not for the U.S. government’s “adventures” in Vietnam, there wouldn’t be so many Vietnamese restaurants in California and other states.  The same goes for certain Latin American restaurants.  It’s like the only good thing that came out of the British Empire is the fact that English became the closest thing we have to a universal language.  Spanish is second thanks to the Spanish Empire.  The jokes about Spanish colonies getting a better culinary deal than British colonies kind of write themselves.

After operating a food truck for a few years, chef/owner DanVy Vu decided to open her dream restaurant near her home in 2019.  The name pays homage to the hat shop that occupied this space; it was in business for over 60 years in Oakland and then San Leandro (here’s a photo of the hat shop sign [see post #13]).  Vu was indeed a refugee whose family settled in Southern California.  Some of her dishes are clearly based on Vietnamese traditions; some items are inspired by her husband’s Italian heritage.  The rest is just food she likes.  Our philosophy is to enjoy the food and not worry about labels.  That’s why we purposely separate the restaurants on this page by location but not cuisine.  We want our visitors to read everything we have to say and not focus on just the type of food they’re into.

The tissue bread is Top Hatters’ take on roti.  It pairs well with a simple garlic tamari dipping sauce and pickled fennel or daikon (?).  The kitchen clearly knows how to pickle, so we’d like to see a pickles platter in the future.  We figure the bacon and cheese donuts must start with the same dough that powers the lemon ricotta donuts.  Yet for some reason we much prefer the savory version.  The optional sauces for the zeppole-like dessert donuts do help, especially the matcha cardamom cream and Earl Grey chocolate ganache.

If you’ve never had castlefranco before, try the radicchio salad which also includes the eye-catching watermelon radish.  The red wine-braised oxtail with grits (or rice) is comforting and has deep flavor.  The grits taste more like polenta—well, it’s all porridge.  The grilled lemongrass beef short ribs are actually Korean-style or flanken-cut ribs (not the meaty short ribs that require a longer cooking time).  Nevertheless, they’re better than what you’ll find at the average Korean restaurant because they are meatier and less sinewy.  The cucumber dipping sauce is also good.

We’d love to talk about the rolled pork belly, but something went horribly wrong with our order.  Click on the Detour tab above and read all about it.

The front patio/courtyard is smaller than it appears on TV.  Though San Leandro is not a big city, the Broadmoor neighborhood is kind of tucked away next to I-580.  If you’re driving north from the South Bay, do not take SR 238 (Mission Blvd.) as Google Maps suggests.  It’ll take twice as long even on a Saturday.

Nearby options:  Paradiso, Rubiano’s, Moussaka Mediterranean Kitchen, Sistas Soul Food Kafe, Kingkong Imperial, Red Pepper Pizza, Zocalo Coffeehouse, Lucky Donuts, Koolfi Creamery, Loard’s Ice Cream

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Veggie Lee, Hayward | [≡]

[Note:  This restaurant relocated two miles north to a larger strip mall in 2022.]

As the name suggests, this is indeed a vegetarian restaurant near Chabot College.  What distinguishes Veggie Lee from other vegetarian places is the fact that owner/chef Che Heng “Veggie” Lee used to work in non-vegetarian kitchens in the Bay Area.  Salt and pepper pumpkin is not the heavy and greasy rendition you often find elsewhere.  Everything under Chef’s Specials is a safe bet, including pine nuts with Chinese toon fried rice.  Veggie Lee uses konjac as a substitute for shark fin in a couple of soups.  As far as we know, the only other place that serves konjac is CyBelle’s Front Room in San Francisco (not sure about Millbrae's Earl Spicy).  Note that all the dishes are allium-free (no garlic, onion, shallot, leek, or chive), which is important to some Buddhists, Hindus, and Jains.  San Jose’s White Lotus was a beloved vegetarian spot until it closed in 2007; Veggie Lee has the potential to become an institution.

More on konjac:  nhk.or.jp, euronews.com

Nearby options:  Bamboo Steamer, Hawaiian Drive Inn, Eon Coffee

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Wahpepah’s Kitchen, Oakland | [♀]

CPBA [►] KRON 4 [►] NBC Bay Area [►] ABC7 News Bay Area [►] 7GenFund [►]

Part 1

Chef/owner Crystal Wahpepah is an Oakland native and a member of Oklahoma’s Kickapoo nation.  She finally opened her first restaurant in 2021 after spending some time in the catering business.  All of this is interesting, but the food at this Native American restaurant must stand on its own.  We’re happy to report everyone should come for the food, if nothing else.  Lidia Bastianich is fond of saying there’s no such thing as Italian food because the country has different regions with their own food traditions.  There are over 570 federally recognized tribes in the United States today, so don’t expect Wahpepah’s Kitchen to represent the full spectrum of Native American food.  We visited WK right after they introduced the fall menu.  At first blush, seven items sound Mexican.  Well, keep in mind Latin American food has indigenous roots, so this shouldn’t be a surprise.  WK’s take on “Mexican” food is fascinating.

This place strives to focus on pre-Columbian ingredients, which means no beef, pork, chicken, or wheat, just to name a few.  Tamale fans must order the red chili rabbit blue corn tamale.  For starters, blue corn is used instead of typical masa, giving it a different mouthfeel and flavor.  The braised rabbit has a hint of heat; the roasted pepper sauce brings the whole thing together.  The tasty wild rice is a great side for this dish.  Since there are a handful of meat dishes on the menu, we can see why the one mole item is vegetarian.  WK’s mole verde is quite flavorful and has a little more kick than the tamale.  You won’t miss the meat because the hen-of-the-woods (maitake) mushrooms are a great substitute.  The bison meatballs are tender; the colorful turnip slaw rivals the best sauerkraut from German restaurants.

If you’ve never had venison before, try the deer skewers.  Deer has a mild beefy flavor; the chokecherry sauce is slightly sweet.  The elderberry dressing is the best part of the Cherokee purple tomato salad.  The berry pudding is supposed to consist of mixed berries.  Raspberries seem to dominate during our visit.  This is one dish that could be refined a little—some if not all of the seeds should be strained.

This is a well-curated menu.  We like how it appeals to both carnivores and vegetarians, and we appreciate the different sides that accompany each dish.  We’ve only said this of one other place on this page to date:  It would be a shame if we lost a unique restaurant like WK.  Oh, there’s no frybread anywhere—not that there’s anything wrong with frybread.

BART riders will be glad to know WK is located next to the Fruitvale BART Station.  Occupying a corner unit (Reem’s original address) in Fruitvale Village, WK is surprisingly spacious inside and out (the front patio area), proving once again on-line photos give the wrong impression.  If you come on weekends or in the late afternoon on weekdays (the restaurant closes at 6 pm Wednesday through Friday as of September 2022), there is free parking on Oscar Grant III Way.

Part 2

After we sampled the Fall 2022 menu, we knew we had to come back to try the Summer 2023 menu.  The biggest change is the addition of native language for all the dishes.  If French, Italian, and Asian menus include native names of dishes, why should WK be any different?

The most memorable dish this time is the Cheyenne River short loin bison with the inspired salad of honey pecans, beets, and goat cheese.  You get to taste the bison meat whole and not ground.  The bison are our national mammal—after Americans hunted them for their hides to near extinction by the end of the 19th century (check out Ken Burns' documentary below).  As expected, the two stand-alone salads are also good:  three sisters veggie bowl and smoked salmon berry salad.  The Hatch green chili stew is comfort food with a gentle heat from the New Mexico chili pepper.

Most restaurants don’t offer taquitos, so give these a try as they’re stuffed with potato and smoked hibiscus.  Even something as simple as potato wedges becomes noteworthy because of smoked cedar salt and maple chili oil.  Frybread shows up on the menu as taco (in place of tortilla) and the berry frybread dessert.  The latter looks like a giant raspberry-glazed donut, a sight to make Homer Simpson swoon.  As we discovered previously, WK’s desserts are barely sweet, especially a dish like the blue corn mush (porridge).  We made sure to try WK’s drinks this time.  Tea drinkers should definitely check out the Ceyaka wild mint tea.  The prickly pear limeade is slightly sweet.

Note that WK adds a one-percent surcharge as part of Oakland’s Dining for Justice program.

PBS NewsHour (The Sioux Chef) [►] TED (Sean Sherman) [►]
PBS NewsHour (cultural legacy/UC Berkeley/Cafe Ohlone) [►]
The American Buffalo [►]
All Things Considered (bison's height advantage) [►] Trails to Oishii Tokyo (maitake) [►]
As Long as the Grass Shall Grow [►] The Way West [►] Simple Gifts [►]

Nearby options:  Obelisco, Taqueria San Jose, La Torta Loca, Camchilao, Mariscos La Costa, Taqueria El Farolito, Lucky Chef Chen, Pan Sevilla, Nieves Cinco de Mayo, Powderface, Cheri’s Ice Cream & Deli, Korner Kitchen & Bar

Past Featured Restaurants

Aldo’s Cafe, Los Gatos

While Aldo’s Cafe, formerly Aldo’s Deli, is not a direct-from-Italy type of place like Oakland’s Belotti, it isn’t exactly one of those run-of-the-mill Italian American eateries either.  Chef/owner Cataldo “Aldo” Maresca is an immigrant from Sorrento after all.

One bite of the Gorgonzola and prosciutto pizza and you’ll wonder why pizza makers don’t take advantage of Italy’s premier blue cheese more often.  They add just enough of it in the center so that it doesn’t overwhelm the whole pie.  Since most Americans eat a slice of pizza starting from the tip end, the flavor of Gorgonzola lingers as you enjoy the rest.  You should also order the basa fillet with lemon white wine sauce.  Basa is the kind of catfish that pleases everyone.  The kitchen could level up the accompanying vegetables just the same.  Keep the zucchini and carrot (for color) but add fennel, broccolini, and perhaps radicchio or escarole.  This is the Bay Area where vegetables are not treated as mere plate fillers; they should taste great on their own.

When done wrong, gnocchi can be heavy and monotonous.  Aldo’s gnocchi Sorrentina is light and served with a tomato sauce instead of the usual browned butter and sage.  (For your information, Cook’s Country has a gnocchi recipe that requires no whole potatoes.)  If you’ve never had arrabbiata, one of the few spicy dishes in Italian cuisine, try the penne arrabbiata with spicy tomato sauce.  Of the two desserts we sampled, the tiramisu is better than the cannoli.  The shell of the cannoli is a bit too thick and the filling—though light—is underwhelming.  See Dolce Sicilia in San Jose below for comparison.

We’ve only seen the inside of Aldo’s Ristorante & Bar from a local TV show (see below), but our impression is the cafe is smaller, quieter (no piano), and more intimate.  The menu at the restaurant is longer and different in other ways; for instance, no pizzas.  Maresca and his wife opened the restaurant in 1999 and the cafe in 2008.  Before the restaurant, they took over La Strada in the late 1990s until that location was redeveloped (now the site of Hotel Los Gatos).

CPBA (Aldo’s Ristorante & Bar) [►]

Nearby options:  The Bywater, PintxoPote, Sweet Pea’s Cafe, Nothing Bundt Cakes, downtown Los Gatos

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Anatolian Kitchen, Palo Alto | [≡]

CPBA [►]

Let’s get topical...again.  Since Turkey has been in the news lately, we decided to visit our first Turkish restaurant.  The timing turned out to be perfect because Anatolian Kitchen actually closed in 2021 after about 10 years.  Fortunately, the owners decided to reopen the following year just around the corner from the previous location, which is now the address for sister restaurant Naschmarkt’s Palo Alto branch.  Note that most of California Avenue is expected to remain closed to traffic through the end of 2023.

Location often informs a country’s cuisine.  Since modern-day Turkey was the heart of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish cuisine reflects its Ottoman heritage and includes some dishes that you’ll find in neighboring countries such as Armenia, Greece, Iran, and the Middle East.

Liver lovers should order the pan-fried liver.  It has a flavor profile very different from the classic liver and onions or other liver dishes we’ve ever had.  It is also visually distinct from what we’re used to.  The pieces of liver look like blackened chicken nuggets, which you just might be able to convince your kids to try.  The artichoke stew (anginares alla polita) is more like an artichoke and potato salad with a light broth.  The artichoke is probably the marinaded kind from a jar.  As we stated earlier, people should always try to order something they’ve never ordered before.  We’re glad we ordered this artichoke dish.

While we’re thrilled U.S. restaurants of all stripes have finally embraced octopus, sustainability could become an issue in the future.  AK serves this meaty cephalopod in a salad.  The best part of Alexander’s favorite (Iskender kebab) is the pita bread underneath the pile of meat.  There’s something wonderful about bread soaking up all the meat juices, not unlike the Palestinian dish musakhan.  If you like lamb, try Adana lamb kebab, which does not taste like Afghan- or Persian-style kebab.  The pilaf that accompanies this dish has almost a risotto quality.  The beef dumplings (manti) are similar to the ravioli-like dumplings at Afghan and Armenian restaurants.

The baked rice pudding is a pleasant surprise.  The top is slightly burned like creme brulee, but what makes it better than most other versions is the fact that it’s slightly thicker and has deeper (sweeter) flavor.  The baked butternut squash dessert is similar to the pumpkin dish (challow kaddo) at Kabul Afghan Cuisine in San Carlos and Sunnyvale.  One thing this kitchen likes to do is remove the skin of uncooked tomato but not the skin of grilled/charred pepper (as you do in Mexican cooking).  AK also serves hummus, falafel, and two types of moussaka (with or without meat).

Nearby options:  Naschmarkt, Zareen’s, La Bodeguita del Medio, Lotus Thai Bistro, Pastis Bistro, Cafe Pro Bono, Joanie’s Cafe, Printers Cafe, Calave

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Angkorian Express, San Jose

Mall rat...mall cop...mall food.  If you’re like most adults, you probably haven’t ordered food inside an indoor mall in a while.  Well, come on down to Eastridge Center and give Angkorian Express a try.  Though there’s nothing wrong with the likes of Auntie Anne’s, Cinnabon, or Jamba, AE is not a chain.  The food here is a cut above typical mall fare.  Named for the former capital of the Khmer Empire, AE serves quick and satisfying Cambodian dishes.

Because this is a counter-service operation, don’t expect to see fish mousse (amok trei) on the menu.  You can’t go wrong with any of the three entrees we sampled.  The BBQ beef turns out to be tasty pieces of what looks to be flank steak—no wonder this is their most popular item.  The marinated chicken thigh (bie moin) is actually a generous portion of perfectly roasted chicken quarter (thigh and drumstick).  Since they ran out of tilapia, milkfish (aka bangus) was a suitable substitute in the fried fish entree.  The papaya salad has an unexpected kick, and the Angkorian salad comes with your choice of protein.

Located just steps from Entrance D (kind of hidden between Round1 Bowling and Aloha Fun Center), AE is changing owners in 2023.  The original owner, who may be related to the family that operates Chez Sovan, will be running a donut shop in Morgan Hill.  The new owner, who’s also Cambodian American, will keep the same Cambodian menu but also add some Filipino options such as adobo, sinigang, and pancit (fingers crossed for silog, sisig, kare-kare, suman, taho, and bibingka).  Chez Sovan is only open for lunch on weekdays, so now you can get your Cambodian fix in the evening and on weekends.

National Geographic (Angkor Wat) [►]

Nearby options:  The Pizza Press, Taste of Persia, Bo Ne Phu Yen, Pho Huong, In-N-Out Burger, Dzui’s Cakes and Desserts

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Athena, Santa Clara

CPBA [►]

Considering how much ancient Greece influenced the Western world, we all should be a bit more familiar with Greek cuisine.

If you like lasagna, kugel, or casserole in general, try the pastitsio, which has a distinct flavor profile due to the use of warm spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg.  Athena does use bucatini, a better choice than larger ziti.  It’s not heavy at all, and, of course, bechamel makes everything taste better.  The same sauce shows up in the vegetarian moussaka, a kind of Greek parmigiana meets pastitsio.  When it comes to lamb chop, most restaurants serve the more expensive rib chop (a rack of lamb is a series of eight rib chops).  Athena offers the meatier loin chop, which consists of the loin and tenderloin similar to a porterhouse or T-bone steak.

Since the launch of this page, this is the first restaurant where we find a salad featuring fennel.  Athena’s Mediterranean salad also includes jicama, kale, and Myzithra cheese.  They cut the fennel in small pieces so you don’t really notice the anise flavor.  Speaking of Greek cheeses...the small salad the comes with the main plates includes feta.  It tastes like real Greek feta that comes in a block.  Of the two desserts we sampled, the walnut cake (karydopita) is better than the semolina cake (ravani).

We’d love to talk about the salmon plate, but there was an issue with our order.  After we contacted Athena, our bill was rectified the following Monday as promised.  It just shows this place is serious about customer service. Click on the Detour tab above and read all about it.

Established in 2002 in a business area bordered by US 101, San Tomas Expy., Central Expy., and De La Cruz Blvd., this family-run restaurant doesn’t have a whole lot of competition.  Note that there’s a 3.5-percent surcharge for payment by credit card.

ATK (pastitsio) [►]

Nearby options:  Puranpoli, Rumman Cafe

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bb.q Chicken, San Jose + Cupertino + Milpitas + Sunnyvale | [≡]

PapiEats [►]

Have you tried the other KFC?  That would be Korean fried chicken.  We’ve been to a few Korean restaurants that serve fried chicken since the 2010s, and the results are mixed.  Among mom-and-pop shops and international chains, the only one that delivered extra crispy and flavorful fried chicken was a South Korean import.  Unfortunately, its chicken is rather lackluster when we revisited recently.

So while bb.q Chicken is not the best Korean-style fried chicken we’ve ever had, it’ll have to do for now.  Established in 1995, this is another chicken joint that hails from South Korea.  The name is short for “best of the best quality.”  If you’ve never had this type of fried chicken before—or if you’re trying a new Korean place—order the plain version that isn’t covered with sauce so you can taste the meat and judge the crispy batter.  On this menu that would be the golden original.  With most of the chicken items, you can choose between two of the following:  whole (thigh/drumstick, wing, breast), boneless, and wings.

The kimchi fried rice doesn’t taste particularly Korean, but it does include more ingredients than other places.  A more interesting non-chicken choice is the tteokbokki, a rice cake dish that resembles a plate of ziti.  They offer three versions with varying level of heat.  The mildest one, rose tteokbokki, has a slightly sweet sauce that’s comparable to peanut sauce.  Some pieces of rice cake are softer and easier to eat than others.

When Korean fried chicken is really good, it does give American fried chicken a run for its money.  But inconsistency seems to be our experience.  Well, just as restaurants that offer American fried chicken are a mixed bag, Korean fried chicken is no different.  If you don’t like bb.q Chicken at the San Jose location, you can always walk over to Krispy Krunchy Chicken and show your support for Team USA.

ATK (Korean fried chicken wings) [►] Joshua Weissman (KFC vs. AFC) [►]

Nearby options in San Jose:  Krispy Krunchy Chicken, California Fish Grill, Ono Hawaiian BBQ, Pizza California, Chop Stop, Sizzling Lunch, VN Grill, Five Guys, Noah’s Bagels, California Sourdough Eatery, RedZone, MOD Pizza, Starbird Chicken, Rubio’s Coastal Grill, Jersey Mike’s Subs, Cauldron Ice Cream

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Bevri, Palo Alto

CPBA [►]

Ever since we saw this Georgian restaurant on local TV, we wanted to check it out.  After 2014, Ukraine and Georgia sadly have another thing in common.  And with everything that’s happened in 2022, you can show your solidarity by visiting Ukrainian and Georgian restaurants in your area.

The boat-shaped cheese bread (Adjaruli khachapuri) is probably what Georgian cuisine is known for outside of the Caucasus.  After all, it is the one Georgian dish featured in an episode of Cook’s Country in 2020.  It’s also part of Bevri’s logo.  This bread is kind of like a cross between pizza and focaccia.  The combination of egg yolk, butter, and cheese may sound heavy, but it is actually quite light.  Imeruli khachapuri is another popular cheese bread.  It looks like a giant pita bread with shredded cheese inside.  That cheese layer is reminiscent of thin frico.

The soup dumplings (khinkali) are interesting because they are similar to the Chinese version (Shanghai dumplings aka xiaolongbao or XLB).  They are bigger and meatier than your average XLB.  Note that you don’t eat the thick, doughy top of the dumpling, and you’re supposed to use your hand and not utensils.

If you see trout on the menu, splurge a little and go for it.  Most home cooks’ repertoire does not include trout, especially since it’s not as widely available as salmon and tilapia.  Bevri doesn’t do too much to the grilled trout, allowing the fish to shine.  Anyone who likes Georgian food should also check out Tamari in San Carlos.

Eurovision 2024 (Georgia) [►]

Nearby options:  Oren’s Hummus, Evvia Estiatorio, Taverna, Osteria, Bird Dog, Zola, Tamarine, Steam, Tai Pan, Jing Jing, Thaiphoon, Lemonade, Garden Fresh, Rami Nagi, Peninsula Fountain & Grill, Curry Pizza House, Coupa Cafe, Crepevine, Mademoiselle Colette, Tea Time

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Braise, San Jose | [≡] [@]

CPBA [►]

We know avocado toast is trendy, but mushroom toast?  We wonder because we sampled two versions of mushroom toast in one month recently.  Redwood City’s Vesta may have better grilled bread, but we have to give the edge to Braise’s rendition because of the bright aioli.  It comes with sunchoke chips, another plus.  They also use sunchoke in the braised kale.  Braise’s seared pork belly is one of the better versions in the Bay Area.  The whimsical bone marrow sandwich is a bit of a miss.  Between the thick slices of bread and the nut butter, the marrow gets lost in the dish.  The irony is this sandwich is as heavy as the pork belly is light.

Suffice it to say the way Braise serves its duck confit is probably very different from the way it’s served in France.  You get citrus curry, delicata squash, and grapefruit.  (America’s Test Kitchen makes duck confit with turkey thigh.  And we saw a chef make kohlrabi confit on Simply Ming.)  Farro is usually used in some sort of salad.  Give the kitchen credit for using it in a fried “rice” dish with a Southeast Asian flavor profile.  We’re glad these ancient grains are making a comeback.  While the fried chicken is underwhelming (at least they use dark meat), the accompanying small biscuits and pickles are terrific.  It’s not clear if you can order the biscuits separately.  Since they know how to pickle, they should move on to other things besides cucumbers such as beets, cauliflower, squash, okra, mushrooms, cabbage, and watermelon rind.

Sea salt pairs well with chocolate, but a little goes a long way.  Because the mini chocolate pot de creme is indeed tiny, they should use just a few flakes or none.  We do appreciate that they prepare some pots de creme in ready-to-go jars.  Braise is a nice fit for Willow Glen.

Nearby options:  Bertucelli’s La Villa Delicatessen, Los Dubon, Aqui, Dolce Sicilia, 20twenty Cheese Bar, Bill’s Cafe, Willow Glen Creamery, Willow Glen Sweet Shoppe, Icicles, Mariette Chocolates

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Chez Sovan, San Jose | [♀] [≡]

Franco Perez [►] Miss Mina [►]

Sovan Boun Thuy, an immigrant from Cambodia, bought a run-down burger joint in San Jose in the mid-1980s.  By 1987, she renamed it Chez Sovan and unveiled a full-Cambodian menu.  Ever the go-getter, she published a short cookbook in 1992.  She opened a second restaurant in Campbell in 1994 and sold it to a friend when she moved to Hawaii about 10 years later.  One of her soup recipes was included in The San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook in 1997; her amok (see below) recipe was featured in The New York Times Seafood Cookbook in 2005.  Wait, there’s more.  Thanks to the Internet, we recently discovered her daughter operated Chez Sovan Express in Honolulu from 2004 to 2010.  We had been to the Campbell location (closed in 2020) several times before, but we never visited the original Chez Sovan, which is still managed by her son, until 2022.

Chez Sovan is only open for lunch on weekdays (the area is somewhat industrial).  And because of the pandemic, they pared down the menu from about a dozen items to eight.  Like Vietnamese and Lao food, Cambodian cuisine has a touch of French influence.  Amok trei, a kind of fish mousse wrapped in banana leaf, is as wonderful as we remembered it.  It may actually be better now because you can see and taste small chunks of fish, and the makrut lime leaves impart a stronger fragrance.  French chefs would probably prefer a smoother pate texture.  If you’re into fish and chips, you’ll agree Chez Sovan’s ginger fish is superior.  The deep-fried fish doesn’t need any help from the ground chicken and ginger sauce, so save it for salad, bread, rice, or pasta.  They use basa, a type of catfish, for both dishes.  Some people don’t like catfish; they won’t have an issue with basa.

Try Cambodian curry with chicken, which tastes like tender pork stew.  You’ll like the lime dressing for the Thai basil-forward cabbage salad.  The fried rice noodles with tamarind sauce is the type of dish that should please any diner.  It’s sort of like Cambodian char kway teow.  Another winner is the stir-fried vegetable; the eggplant and green beans share a similar flavor profile.  Sure, the Campbell location was nicer and bigger, but this humble San Jose spot is where it all began, the site of San Jose’s first Cambodian restaurant.  It’s a culinary landmark, people.  Here’s a profile of Boun Thuy from a 2002 article.

Cambodia [►] Cambodia [►]

1987 minimix...
Alone [►] Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now [►] (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life [►]
Graceland [►] Luka [►] Forever and Ever, Amen [►]
The Telephone Call [►] Wonderful Life [►] Love’s Taboo [►]

Nearby options:  Back A Yard, Mariscos Costa Alegre, Giovanni’s Pizza, El Maza, Mr. Shrimp Marisqueria y Birrieria, Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages, Rollo’s Donuts

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Clover Bakery, San Jose

Jennifer Julien [►] Franco Perez [►]

The Bay Area has its share of Western-style bakeries from South Korea (Paris Baguette, Tous les Jours), Japan (Andersen Bakery, Beard Papa’s), Taiwan (85°C Bakery Cafe, Sheng Kee Bakery), Hong Kong (Kee Wah Bakery), and the Philippines (Goldilocks, Red Ribbon BakeShop).  While these are all international chains, Clover Bakery is the opposite, a local store near Mitsuwa Marketplace.  The word that comes to mind when describing Clover is kawaii (Japanese for cute).  In 2000, the new owner transformed what was a Japanese-style cake shop into more of a general-purpose bakery.  It’s no longer open in the evening since the pandemic, so come here a few hours before closing time.

The Web site will give you a sense of what they offer.  In addition to pastries, sandwiches, and custom cakes, they make onigiri and musubi.  The prices are much lower than, say, Paris Baguette and Tous les Jours.  What’s with all the Torani bottles lined up against the wall?  Do they still make drinks now that there’s no more dine-in service?

Nearby options:  Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, Fugetsu, Tomi Sushi, Kahoo Ramen, Curry Life, Takoyaki Yama-chan, Mochill Mochi Donut, Stone Stew

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Desi Express, San Jose

Sometimes the food from a counter-service place is better than a formal restaurant.  That’s our impression of Desi Express, a family-owned spot inside SoFA Market.  They serve sandwiches (not to be confused with kati rolls), chaat, and other modest items.  The two sandwiches we sampled, paneer tikka and potato (aloo) chutney, are both good.  They come with a small bag of potato chips.  There are restaurants dedicated to pav bhaji, which (along with vada pav) we like to think of as Indian sliders.  DE’s version gets the job done.  By now most Bay Area foodies must be quite familiar with chaat.  If you’re new to these tasty Indian snacks, start with dahi sev puri.  They’ll mix the sauces for you if you eat here.  If you opt to take it home, they’ll pack the sauces on the side so you can fill the wafers yourself.

DE is mostly vegetarian except for a few chicken dishes.  Note that all the SoFA Market vendors use the same electronic ordering system.  Desi is a term used to refer to India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Franco Perez (SoFA Market) [►]

Nearby options:  Habana Cuba, Vietnoms, Umi Hand Roll Bar, The Salad Planet, Petiscos by Adega, Original Joe’s San Jose, Nirvana Soul

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Dolce Sicilia, San Jose

Palm Trees & Pellegrino [►]

Attention, Inspector Montalbano fans (are they called Salvos?).  If you want some cannoli to snack on while watching your favorite Sicilian detective, you’ll find a very good version at Dolce Sicilia in Willow Glen.  This cafe probably doesn’t use a wooden mold, but il commissario would still approve (Dr. Pasquano may be a different story).  What’s even better is the pistachio and ricotta cake.  Among the savory items, Gorgonzola and fig coppa panino is the best of the six panini on the menu.  The one uncommon pasta dish is garganelli, which is shaped like penne.  While you’re here, pick up a jar of pistachio butter.  Chris Kimball (Milk Street, America’s Test Kitchen) swears by this alternative to peanut butter.  Located inside the former Garden Theatre that now houses a post office and the defunct Top Nosh Cafe, Dolce Sicilia’s layout is a little cramped.  More than other neighborhoods in San Jose, Willow Glen’s Lincoln Avenue feels like a small town within a big city.  Note that Dolce Sicilia closes early in the afternoon.

Dr. Pasquano's Cannoli [►] Nuddu e di Nuddu (E Nuddu m’Avi) [►] La Dolce Vita [►]

Nearby options:  Braise, Bertucelli’s La Villa Delicatessen, Los Dubon, Aqui, 20twenty Cheese Bar, Bill’s Cafe, Willow Glen Creamery, Willow Glen Sweet Shoppe, Icicles, Mariette Chocolates

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Los Dubon, Campbell | [♀] [≡]

Los Dubon is a small town in El Salvador, one of seven small countries in Central America.  Salvadorans make up the fourth-largest Latino group in the U.S., which may explain why we have Salvadoran restaurants in the Bay Area but not other Central American places.  Of course, Mexican Americans account for over 60 percent of total Latino population in this country.  All other Latino groups are under 10 percent each.

The modern sandwich must be one of the best food creations in history.  The pulled chicken sandwich (pan con gallina) is loaded with roasted chicken in a light mayo salsa—a must-try for sandwich lovers.  Sandwiches are called panes rellenos in El Salvador or tortas in Mexico.  The chicken stew with potatoes (pollo guisado con papas) is as satisfying as any good stew should be.  If you’ve never had pupusa, El Salvador’s national dish, by all means give this stuffed flatbread a try.  You’ll discover soon enough Salvadoran cuisine is more than just pupusas.  (It took long enough, but America’s Test Kitchen finally presented its recipe for pupusas in 2022.)

We won’t get into a debate of who makes the best tamales in Latin America.  Let’s just say if you love Mexican-style tamales, you should have room in your heart to love Salvadoran tamales as well.  The first clue that they are different is the wrapping:  banana leaf instead of corn husk.  The texture of the dough and fillings are also different.  The chicken tamal is stuffed with chicken, potato, and string bean.

Empanadas de leche (aka empanadas de platano) are mashed plantain filled with a slightly sweet vanilla custard.  The still-tangy plantain makes this croquette unusual among desserts.  If you see them by the cash register, make sure to order some quesadillas salvadorena, El Salvador’s idea of a cheesecake.  Made with salty cheese instead of cream cheese and baked in pleated paper liners (like cupcakes and muffins), these small quesadillas are more savory than sweet.

Note that the San Jose location closed in 2023.

Rockstar Eater [►]

Nearby options:  La Burrita, Falafel ShaQ

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Esther’s Kitchen & Beer Garden, Los Altos

StanfordJournalism (Esther Nio) [►] Selling Silicon Valley TV (Adam Valainis) [►]

Esther and Robert Nio started Esther’s German Bakery in 2004 after they hired a master baker from Germany (Esther herself is from Munich).  Their focus was wholesale business until four years later when they opened a cafe, which they sold in the mid-2010s.  The current owner (Alex O.) is finally changing the storefront sign as of 2022 (meet the first two owners in the videos above).  We suspect the Web site will change as well.  Here’s a snapshot of the site from January 2021.

The pork jagerschnitzel is one of the better versions in the Bay Area.  Alex’s spring salad gets high marks for content and looks.  You can tell a lot about a restaurant by the greens and dressing in its salads.  Esther’s take includes chard in its mix and strong supporting players such as mandoline-sliced apple, candied walnuts, and Gouda.  The meat in beef roll (rinderroulade) and beef goulash has nice beefy flavor but is slightly dry.  The good news is both dishes come with plenty of gravy/sauce.  The menu also includes sausages, pork chop, latkes, and sandwiches.  All the pastries we sampled are not overly sweet:  tiramisu, Black Forest cake, and surprisingly tart apple torte.

If we’re not mistaken, the wholesale bakery (different owner from the cafe) no longer makes bread.  That’s why the only loaf we saw is from a bakery in San Leandro.  The beer garden is located in the rear where there’s more parking.  Note that Esther’s is open for breakfast and lunch; dinner is only available on Saturdays.

Nearby options:  Estrelita Mexican Bistro, Armadillo Willy’s Barbecue, Chef Chu’s, A Good Morning, The Pasta Market, Noodle Talk, Su-Dam Korean Cuisine

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Ettan, Palo Alto

CPBA [►]

Palo Alto is an ideal location for a high-end Indian restaurant in the South Bay—or any upscale eatery for that matter.  Opened right before the Bay Area went into lockdown in 2020, Ettan (“breath”) gets high marks for its interior design.  The main dining room is an atrium; the artwork on the back wall looks like a series of round wafers for chaat (we foodies see food in everything).  Chef/co-owner Srijith Gopinathan left Michelin-starred Campton Place in 2022 to focus on Ettan and other ventures.

Speaking of chaat...the sesame leaf is Ettan’s twist on sev puri with the same sweet/tangy/spicy flavor we all love.  Instead of potato dumpling, the kitchen’s vada pav uses green (unripe) jackfruit for this vegetarian slider.  Unripe jackfruit has a texture similar to pulled pork or crab.  The ghee-roasted Colorado lamb chop is first-rate, especially when paired with the quinoa pilaf.  The Colorado sheep are pasture-raised and produce superior meat.  The sheep wars help explain why this country consumes so much more beef than lamb.

Though Ettan’s address says Bryant Street (previous tenant was Three Seasons), you can’t actually see the restaurant on Bryant.  That’s because it’s located in a kind of alley next to Blue Bin Vintage.  Our pro tip is to park in the lot on Emerson between University and Hamilton.  Then take a shortcut from the parking lot to Ramona (still closed to traffic as of December 2022) and walk straight into the alley.  Click on the Detour tab above for our take on the evolution of Indian restaurants in the Bay Area.

CPBA (Campton Place [pillow for your purse!]) [►]

Nearby options:  Bevri, Oren’s Hummus, Evvia Estiatorio, Taverna, Osteria, Bird Dog, Zola, Tamarine, Steam, Tai Pan, Jing Jing, Thaiphoon, Lemonade, Garden Fresh, Rami Nagi, Peninsula Fountain & Grill, Curry Pizza House, Coupa Cafe, Crepevine, Mademoiselle Colette, Tea Time

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Fugetsu, San Jose + Sunnyvale

@Sweet_Finds [►] LifeOfBD [►] Rion Ishida (Fugetsu in Japan) [►]

As far as we know, Fugetsu started in Osaka more than 60 years ago (watch video above for how they make their signature dish in Japan).  They opened the first Fugetsu stateside in Santa Clara in 2016 and decided to relocate to Sunnyvale five years later (sharing space with sister restaurant Rokko).  The newer location in San Jose is takeout only.  Note that some of the items here are made by Shalala Deli and Rokko.

There are a few places in the Bay Area that focus on okonomiyaki, a savory pancake that you can think of as Japanese omelet.  The most intriguing thing is the sauce because it’s made with Worcestershire sauce.  We love the flavor of Lea & Perrins’ iconic sauce and are glad it’s a key ingredient in this dish.  The deluxe okonomiyaki comes with pork, squid, shrimp, scallops, and fried egg.  The okonomiyaki sampler comprises three versions featuring melted cheese, shrimp, and stewed beef (gyusuki).

If you search the Internet for Paris onigiri, you’ll note there are quite a few shops in Paris that serve the French twist on these humble rice balls.  They put everything from pork, beef, and chicken to salmon, lamb, and ratatouille inside (watch video below).  In Japan, onigiri comes in different shapes (triangles being the most common).  They don’t go crazy with the fillings over there, and onigiri is usually pretty plain or filled with pickled apricot (umeboshi)—though unusual variations are becoming big in Japan as well.  There’s an East Bay restaurant that likes to fill onigiri with Korean ingredients such as kalbi and kimchi.  Fugetsu puts the filling on the outside unlike how they do it in Paris.  For some reason, two of the onigiri we sampled are really salty:  grilled chashu pork and scallops.  The other four are better:  salmon, shrimp and mayo, shrimp tempura, and grilled mackerel with shiso.

Since the San Jose Fugetsu is takeout only, what’s more perfect than bento?  The daily special bento we tried includes SPAM katsu, pork, octopus balls (takoyaki), and edamame.  The SPAM katsu is an interesting alternative to the traditional tonkatsu—well, it’s still pork.  They also offer chirashi, sushi in a larger format.  The yellowtail collar (hamachi kama) could use more grill action, but you really can’t beat its price—even lower than Umi Hand Roll Bar.  The stone grill (ishiyaki) rice with salmon is supposed to provide crusty rice at the bottom like kamameshi or Chinese clay pot rice or Spanish paella.  We found nothing crusty.

The highlights here are the desserts.  Earl Grey cream pudding looks like Fugetsu’s take on creme brulee.  The surprise is they opt to use Earl Grey and not matcha.  The almond milk pudding has a silky texture that’s reminiscent of soft tofu.  The tart mango topping makes the whole thing a refreshing end to a meal.  They also make the fish-shaped waffle (taiyaki) filled with azuki bean paste.  They also sell desserts made by a Japanese company called Orange such as chestnut cake (Mont Blanc) and mille-crepe (mille-feuille).  We like the way they streamline the whole shopping experience and how every item is labeled with a full description.  And the best part is everything has a barcode, so you don’t have to worry about an employee ringing up the wrong item, which has happened at places like Paris Baguette.

Trails to Oishii Tokyo (Japanese rice/onigiri in Paris) [►] Japanology (onigiri) [►] Bento Expo (onigiri) [►]
Aden Films (okonomiyaki in Osaka) [►] The Professionals (okonomiyaki chef) [►] Document 72 Hours (okonomiyaki in Kobe) [►]

Nearby options in San Jose:  Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, Clover Bakery, Tomi Sushi, Kahoo Ramen, Curry Life, Takoyaki Yama-chan, Mochill Mochi Donut, Stone Stew

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Habana Cuba, San Jose | [♀] [@]

NBC Bay Area [►]

If you’ve never had Cuban food before, a great way to start is the Cubano sampler appetizer:  potato croquettes (papas rellenas), cassava French fries (yuca frita), fried green plantains (tostones), and fried pork (masitas de puerco).  If you don’t want the sampler, you must get the masitas as an entree—that’s how good this pork is.  The Cuban tamal (available as an appetizer or entree) has no filling and is subtly sweet.  That’s why it comes with a meat or vegetarian topping.  They should add a fruit topping to make it a complete dessert.  The oxtail, garlic shrimp (camarones al ajillo), and shredded beef (ropa vieja) are all fine, but the sauce could be a little thicker.  Both desserts are not too sweet:  rice pudding and flan.  This Cuban flan has a slight bitterness which we appreciate (coffee or burnt caramel?).  You can make ropa vieja, fried sweet plantains, and fried yuca using recipes from America’s Test Kitchen.

Located inside SoFA Market, Habana Cuba actually started out as Cuban International in San Jose Japantown in 1982 (the historical Sixth Street building is now the site of Jtown Pizza as of 2022).  The owner sold it in 1991 and opened Habana Cuba on Race Street in 1994.  The current owner took over in 2001 and then relocated to SoFA Market in 2018—a smart move considering what happened in 2020.  We did visit Cuban International before it closed in 2008.  Here’s an article on the original owner.  Click on the Detour tab above for other food halls.

Best Ever Food Review Show (Cuba) [►]

Nearby options:  Desi Express, Vietnoms, Umi Hand Roll Bar, The Salad Planet, Petiscos by Adega, Original Joe’s San Jose, Nirvana Soul

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Happiness Cafe, San Jose

There are two types of vegetarian restaurants:  the kind that likes to mimic meat and seafood and the kind that doesn’t try to “fake you out.”  Among the latter is the famed Greens in San Francisco.  For non-vegetarians, the novelty of sampling mock meat dishes wears off pretty fast.  Happiness Cafe, a hole-in-the-wall place near San Jose’s main post office and a Costco, has a few surprises up its sleeve.  While most fast casual restaurants use iceberg lettuce in their salads, this cafe gives you frisee.  The desserts are uniformly good (we doubt they’re made in-house).  Try the opera cake, cheesecake, guava cake, or all three.  The ocean melt tastes like real tuna; the crispy patty with brown rice tastes like tonkatsu.  The phish balls are the star of the rice noodle soup.

French Connections (stories behind some pastries) [►]
Happiness [►] Room for Happiness [►] Pursuit of Happiness [►] Happiness [►] Happy Heart [►]

Nearby options:  Vons Chicken (int’l chain), Ma’s, Ono Hawaiian BBQ

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Hardy’s Bavaria, Sunnyvale

Click on the RIP tab above.  Don’t miss the humorous YouTube video.

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H.L. Peninsula, Milpitas + Burlingame (two locations) + South San Francisco | [≡]

Franco Perez [►]

With three locations on the Peninsula, you might be tempted to think this restaurant is named for San Mateo County.  We doubt it.  Just as Teleferic Barcelona is an import from Spain, H.L. Peninsula originated in South China.  They also have branches in Beijing and Vancouver.  One way to remember the name of this place is to think of H.L. Mencken.  If you’ve never heard of him, then never mind.  HLP is positioned as a high-end Cantonese restaurant; the kitchen does not execute like a fine-dining establishment, however.  Like music and film, food is a subjective experience.  What we can tell you objectively is that there are enough distinctive dishes and ingredients to make it worth your while to visit at least once.  HLP also serves dim sum during the day, which we haven’t tried yet.

Before we talk about the food, we should point out the menu is strangely scattered.  There’s a laminated dinner menu that matches what’s on the Web site.  There’s another laminated menu that includes all the chef’s specials (no pictures).  Then there’s a big, multi-page menu that contains items not listed elsewhere (rice and noodle dishes, for example).  We ordered mainly from the first menu.  Be sure to ask to see all the menus.

Of the dozen of so dishes we ordered, the two most flavorful ones come with an asterisk.  The sauteed abalone with chive and taro is marred by mostly hard and fibrous garlic chives in every bite.  We’ve never cooked garlic chives before, but we imagine the line cook who chopped them should have noticed an issue and made a substitute (regular chives or green onions would do).  Of course, the food buyer should’ve rejected these garlic chives in the first place (not always possible if they buy in bulk).  The taro is cut into thin matchsticks.  Garlic chives are often used as filling for certain dumplings for dim sum, so we give HLP credit for highlighting them in a different dish.

The steamed lingcod with house special yellow pepper sauce will separate true foodies from the rest and test one’s commitment to nose-to-tail eating.  The last time we had lingcod, it was boneless fillet at Berkeley’s Gaumenkitzel.  So when our waiter warned us that this dish has bones and some heat, we thought we’d see the whole fish (yay) and we all know Cantonese spicy is usually mild.  The whole thing turns out to have a real kick, making it more interesting than the typical Cantonese curry/XO sauce dishes.  The lingcod consists of bite-sized pieces of the fish head and collar. Fish head has more fat and therefore more flavor—we’ll let Thrillist explain.  If you are someone who’s never encountered a fish bone in your life, this dish is obviously not for you.  And skip it if you’re on a first date.  We applaud any kitchen for not dumbing down a dish to fit what sells in proverbial Peoria.  (You can watch below a boneless and mild version that’s also finished with sizzling oil from America’s Test Kitchen.)

Bamboo pith is actually a mushroom that’s sometimes used sparingly in soup.  Here it gets a starring role in the crab meat and bamboo pith over egg tofu.  It’s white and resembles honeycomb tripe and is slightly crunchy like wood ear mushrooms.  The two assertively seasoned dishes are seared lotus root patties with pork in XO sauce and pan-seared oyster and egg with preserved daikon (the latter could use more oyster).  We only ordered the lobster with e-fu noodles because we read about it on-line (not seen on any of the English menus for some reason).  While this may not be the best lobster noodles we’ve ever had, the small lobster is oh-so meaty, proving once again the quality of an ingredient can make or break a dish (see garlic chives above).

The rest of the dishes we sampled are mildly seasoned or slightly underseasoned.  Non-Japanese restaurants using Japanese ingredients is a trend we like (you should try unagi fried rice or any fusion dish with ikura/tobiko).  So we had high hopes for the sea urchin and dried scallop wild grain fried rice.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t really taste the uni because it’s cut in such tiny pieces.  In Japan, uni bento comes with good-sized pieces of uni.

On our first visit we noticed a row of takeout orders with a large, round tray of food inside.  It turns out to be the one-pot meal (poon choy) that we saw in an episode of Confucius Was a Foodie.  We suspect they only make this for Lunar New Year.  There’s a similar layered one-pot dish called milk-can supper from Cook’s Country.  And on our second visit we saw a bottle of wine bearing Yao Ming’s name.  According to Globe Trekker’s “Planet Food” specials, the chefs in South China are doing some exciting things (watch video below).  Well, we can’t wait to see who comes after HLP.  This is a full-circle moment because food historians will tell you it was immigrants from a small area of South China who helped define Chinese food in North America 150 years ago.  They were responsible for the development of Chinese food in Southeast Asia and Latin America as well.

The Milpitas location was scheduled to open in 2020, and you can guess what went wrong with that plan.  So we were pleasantly surprised when it opened two years later.  When a Michaels store occupied this space at the sprawling McCarthy Ranch, we don’t recall such high ceiling.  So they literally raised the roof for HLP.  It seats over 700 people and has all the ambience of a hotel ballroom or convention hall—the opposite of intimate and cozy.

ATK (oven-steamed fish with scallions and ginger) [►] Globe Trekker/Planet Food (Southern China) [►]
Food history (U.S.):  Andrew Coe, Haiming Liu, Yong Chen, Jennifer 8. Lee
Food history (Canada):  Lily Cho, Ann Hui

Nearby options in Milpitas:  Dish N Dash, KoKoLo Donburi, Dindigul Thalappakatti, Cajun Crack’n, Banana Leaf, Noodle Boss, Ramen 101, Idly Express, The Sandwich Spot, In-N-Out Burger, Milpitas Square, Ulferts Center

Nearby options in Burlingame:  New England Lobster Market & Eatery, Grand Harbor, BullsHead Express, Mr. Teriyaki Sushi, It’s-It Ice Cream

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House of Kabobs, Sunnyvale | [♀]

We suspect most Americans’ answer to “What do you want for your last meal?” is burger and fries or the more upscale steak frites.  As far as ground beef goes, we’d rather have meatballs and meatloaf.  No, our answer may well be fesenjan (pronounced fez’sen-joon), a Persian stew we didn’t know we needed until we sampled an exceptional version at Saffron in San Jose.  The owner also operated a grocery store next-door, ensuring the best ingredients for this braised poultry dish.  Sadly, Saffron closed in 2008 (we’d like to know what happened to the chef).  Since then, we cross our fingers and hope to get lucky again every time we visit a Persian restaurant.

Well, we can report House of Kabobs serves one of the better versions of fesenjan.  The walnut and pomegranate sauce is thinner than and not as pleasantly grainy as Saffron’s rendition, but HOK definitely nailed the balance between sweet and tangy.  You should go to this downtown Sunnyvale restaurant if that’s all it has to offer.  But as they say in those TV infomercials, there’s more.  One of the chicken kebab dishes comes with rice that has barberries added, an interesting twist that’s reminiscent of a steamed chicken dish with similar accompaniment.  Gheimeh bademjan, a tomato-based beef stew, has a flavor profile we don’t taste often at Persian establishments.  Grilled salmon is also first-rate.

With all due respect to chefs around the world, we’ll just say it:  Persian restaurants make the best pilaf.  But sometimes it can be a little dry if the kitchen doesn’t get it just right—or reheat it properly.  No such problem here.  HOK’s version is textbook pilaf.  We’re so glad we decided to check out HOK; we just had to eat for ourselves after Rob E. from Palo Alto raved about its fesenjan in 2015.

Baking is hard.  That’s why we’ll never attempt to make croissant or any laminated dough with embedded butter.  We still struggle with making pie crust.  Cooking is easier by comparison.  We never thought a restaurant could mess up a braised dish like fesenjan until we came across a version with an unpleasant, off flavor (iodine?) from a counter-service place in Mountain View.  Where did they go wrong?  Burned walnuts?  It just makes us appreciate great fesenjan even more.

Recipe by Ariana Bundy [►] Recipe by Munchies [►] Recipe by Cooking With Yousef [►] Recipe by Middle Eats [►]

Nearby options:  Dishdash, Meyhouse, King Wah, Kabul Afghan Cuisine, Sajj Mediterranean, Sweet Sicily, Rokko, Tao Tao, PhoEver, Vino Vino, Daily Donuts, Chocolatier Desiree, Gelateria Bella Roma, ATM Tea Bar, Philz Coffee

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Isfahan Kabob, San Jose | [≡]

Established in 2004, Isfahan Kabob was never on the radar until the credit union near our office closed in 2020 and we had to check out another branch, which just happens to be right across the street from it.  Note that the parking lot is a little cramped; you may have to back out on to Union Avenue when you leave.  We’ve been to a few counter-service Persian places, and Isfahan (named after the former capital of Persia) is one of the best around and may even be better than some more formal restaurants.

While the menu offers only one stew (available as a special on certain days), the kitchen does a great job with the basics.  The bone-in chicken kebab comes with thigh pieces and frenched drumsticks.  The salmon kebab is good as well.  They take the time to grill the accompanying vegetables properly (onion, bell pepper, zucchini, and tomato)—unlike other counter-service spots.  The lamb shank special features fall-off-the-bone meat; the fava beans taste better than average.  And the pilaf is not dry.  The eggplant appetizer (kashk bademjan) includes some chunky pieces and is more substantial than baba ghanoush.  Beryan is ground meat patty on flatbread, a kind of Isfahan hamburger or arayes/hawawshi/piadina/gyro/shawarma.  When you eat it fresh, it’s a little bit on the oily side and has a lavender-like fragrance.  Try it because you won’t see it on too many Persian menus in the Bay Area.  A beryani (not to be confused with Indian biryani) is a restaurant in Iran that specializes in beryan.

Mark Wiens (Isfahan) [►] SiaKooli (beryan) [►] ATK (arayes) [►]

Nearby options:  Curry Pizza House, Khaosan Thai, Alams Taqueria, Stevie’s Bar & Grill, Zarzour Kabob, Pizza My Heart, Shima Sushi, Dream Dinners, Crumbl Cookies

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Jubba, San Jose

CPBA [►]

Named after a river in Somalia, Jubba is the only Somali restaurant in the South Bay—if not the entire Bay Area.  Somali cuisine includes some recognizable items.  Canjeero is lighter and less sour than neighboring Ethiopia’s injera.  You’ll also find spaghetti on Jubba’s menu (Italy briefly occupied both East African countries).  Sambusa and sabaayad are similar to Indian samosa and chapati, respectively.  Order beef or chicken suqaar as your main and finish with mandazi or fried bread.  This modest restaurant with a cafeteria atmosphere is located near Westfield Oakridge, sandwiched between a light rail station and a sprawling apartment complex.  The secluded area has a laid-back vibe that belies its location; the clock tower adds to its old-timey feel.  As much as we love paper maps, you’re better off following driving directions on the Internet.

Nearby options:  Westfield Oakridge, Mandarin Gourmet, Chaat Cafe

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Kabul Afghan Cuisine, Sunnyvale

We’re tempted to say “See San Carlos restaurant with the same name.”  That’s because the owners of both restaurants are brothers, their menus are identical, and the food tastes about the same.  But they maintain separate Web sites.  Established in 1988 on El Camino Real before moving to what was once Sunnyvale’s Town & Country Village, this KAC looks a little different from the one in San Carlos.

There’s nothing “exotic” about Afghan food.  In addition to kebabs, lamb stew with peas, and pumpkin (kabocha?) topped with yogurt, you must try kabuli palaw, Afghanistan’s national dish.  KAC’s version uses boneless lamb and the carrots taste like they’re cooked in simple syrup.  Just like its San Carlos cousin, the service here is friendly.

Healthy Lifestyle [►]

Nearby options:  House of Kabobs, Dishdash, Meyhouse, King Wah, Sajj Mediterranean, Sweet Sicily, Rokko, Tao Tao, PhoEver, Vino Vino, Daily Donuts, Chocolatier Desiree, Gelateria Bella Roma, ATM Tea Bar, Philz Coffee

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Local Kitchens, Campbell + Cupertino + Mountain View + Palo Alto + Los Gatos + Lafayette + Novato + Mill Valley | [@]

ABC Localish [►]

Featuring...
: Oren’s Hummus | Angela Sy [►] 100 Mile Meals [►] 20MinuteLeaders [►]
: Senor Sisig | CPBA [►] Munchies [►] KPIX [►]

[Note:  Local Kitchens closed the San Jose location we visited in 2022 but has since opened four more branches in the Bay Area.]

Technically speaking, we are not talking about Senor Sisig and Oren’s Hummus.  We are talking about these restaurants’ food as prepared by Local Kitchens.  But when you walk into a McDonald’s, does it matter which location?  Unlike other similar operations, Local Kitchens makes it clear—at least when you inquire in person—that it is a ghost kitchen.  We like to think of LK as an all-in-one franchisee of its partner restaurants.  What’s in it for Senor Sisig and others?  Well, they get to reach a bigger customer base and increase revenue without major investment—the same benefits of franchising.  LK also keeps much longer hours.

Taking advantage of the fact that LK offers food from a handful of restaurants, we ordered two items from Senor Sisig and one from Oren’s Hummus.  We’ve never been to either restaurant before, so we can’t say for certain if LK is the perfect “franchisee.”  To the extent that certain things can be made ahead—sauces and bread, for example—we suspect LK doesn’t have to make everything from scratch.  Take the pita bread that comes with Oren’s hummus eggplant.  LK probably gets the same bread from Oren’s directly.  We imagine for some dishes, LK's kitchen works like an assembly line.  Of course, when it comes to Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream, there’s nothing for LK to make.

When hummus is in the name of a restaurant, it’s a clue the place knows hummus.  Oren’s Israeli version is one of the best in the Bay Area.  The eggplant in hummus eggplant is not exactly baba ghanoush because it has a different flavor profile.  This dish is so addictive we could dip pita in it for days.  We can’t wait to try other items from Oren’s.  It’s good to know we can always go to a nearby LK instead.

Certain dishes lend themselves to fusion.  Ever since a Canadian created Hawaiian pizza in the 1960s, people in North America have been trying different toppings that they would frown on in Italy.  Burritos and tacos are like pizzas in that respect.  So why not mix Mexican and Pinoy together?  After all, Spain colonized both Mexico and the Philippines.  We would order tosilog burrito and sisig tacos again from Senor Sisig/LK.  You can’t go wrong with tocino and fried egg.

Note that LK charges a little more than its partners because both parties have to make a profit.  Beware the lineup of restaurants changes over time.  And keep in mind LK usually offers a subset of each partner’s menu, which makes sense as LK’s kitchen is not a huge operation.  When we visited the San Jose location (this one is takeout only), there was someone who was dead set on a particular item from one of the partners that’s not available via LK.  If she had listened to our suggestions and ordered from Senor Sisig or Oren’s, she would’ve been quite happy.  Always keep an open mind when it comes to food...and life.  Even though this is a ghost kitchen, LK’s service is great.

Dancing With Your Ghost [►] Ghost [►] Ghost [►] Ghost Town [►] Ghosttown [►] Ghosts [►] Ghosts N Stuff [►]

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Magic-Wok, Sunnyvale | [≡]

Like Syma’s in Albany, Magic-Wok serves food from two different countries.  Unlike Syma’s, Magic-Wok had a split personality from the beginning.  It seems the best Filipino restaurants are in or around Daly City, so any Pinoy place anywhere else is worth a look.  If you’re into silog, the filling rice-and-egg breakfast with tons of different options from bacon to SPAM, and sisig, another Filipino staple with variations, you should be able to find something you like among Magic-Wok’s 18 types of silog and six sisig options.  The sausage silog (longsilog) and sweetened bacon silog (tosilog) are quite satisfying; the chicken sisig has a nice tang from calamansi and a mild kick from chili peppers.

The beef shank soup (bulalo) is like the Filipino version of caldo de res.  They also serve porridge and other soups such as sinigang, lomi, and mami.  There are probably as many adobo recipes as there are islands in the Philippines.  That said, you can skip Magic-Wok’s adobo chicken because they use boneless chicken and no coconut milk.  Instead of the ubiquitous halo-halo, give gulaman, taho (if it’s available), and suman a try.  If you’re curious about the equally long Chinese menu, try beef chow fun, which is not greasy and has a slightly different flavor profile from the Cantonese version.  The use of cabbage (not Napa) is a nice surprise.

Established in 1989 in a strip mall not far from downtown Sunnyvale, this hole-in-the-wall was positioned to weather the pandemic since it did mostly takeout business from the start, having only three small tables inside.

Lucky Chow (Filipino cuisine) [►] Food Insider (sisig) [►] Food & Wine (silog) [►]

Nearby options:  Asia Village, Madurai Idli Kadai, Madurai Modern Cafe, Cam Hung Sandwich & Coffee

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Manresa Bread, Campbell + Los Altos + Los Gatos + Palo Alto | [♀]

Kamla Show [►] The Mill at MB [►] The CIA [►]

Manresa Bread is the bakery spin-off from Manresa, David Kinch’s celebrated restaurant.  Since Kinch has a reputation to uphold, the prepared food items are a cut above typical cafe/deli fare.  We’ve tried all three sandwiches, and the best is clearly the Cuban sandwich.  MB’s twist is the addition of a thin frico draped on top.  The Cuban and the turkey club are each substantial enough to serve two people.  The foundation of all the sandwiches and toasts is MB’s collection of excellent bread.  The pastry menu includes the trendy kouign-amann.  The cranberry ginger scone has an unexpected hint of bitterness you don’t find in versions that use crystallized ginger.  Note that MB closes early in the afternoon.  And you should get here by 11 am as some pastry items will sell out.

More on kouign-amann (pronounced kwen ah-mahn).  Unlike croissant, another flaky pastry made from laminated dough, kouign-amann looks a little different from bakery to bakery.  Sometimes it is spiral-shaped like American sticky bun; sometimes it’s not.  MB’s rendition (as of January 2022) falls in the latter category and is not too sweet.  We like it but don’t love it (yet).  We’ll have to sample other versions.

ATK (kouign-amann) [►]

Nearby options in Campbell:  One Fish Raw Bar, Naschmarkt, Trattoria 360, Aqui, Opa!, Desi, A Bellagio, La Pizzeria, Water Tower Kitchen, Orchard Valley Coffee, Psycho Donuts, Snake & Butterfly, Campbell Creamery, AFKxp Tech & Game Center

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Mexitamalli, Santa Clara | [♀]

This food truck is usually parked on McCormick Drive near Walgreens in Santa Clara Town Centre (other tenants include Target and Sprouts).  Besides more traditional tamale fillings, Mexitamalli also offers a few unusual choices.  Our favorite is the Veracruz-style ranchero tamale.  The mole version is chicken mole in a tamale format.  The chocolate tamale gets an assist from Nutella.  The tamales here are larger than average.  Note that Mexitamalli closes early in the afternoon on weekdays.  We’d like to see more food trucks on McCormick Drive next to Walgreens.  Since the Santa Clara city council has for years refused to recognize a stretch of El Camino Real for what it is—don’t tell the BTS ARMY—we doubt they will do right by food trucks.

If you like tamales, you must try Salvadoran-style versions elsewhere in the Bay Area.  They have a different texture and different fillings.  Supermarket tamales are fine, but nothing beats the freshly made kind.

ATK (chicken tamales) [►]
Mexico [►] Stereo Mexico [►]

Nearby options:  China Stix, MOD Pizza, Modo Hawaii, Burma Bistro, Copenhagen Crown Bakery

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Mio Vicino, Santa Clara | [≡]

Santa Clara Parade of Champions [►]

When Mio Vicino opened in Old Downtown Santa Clara in 1992, it immediately felt like the perfect neighborhood restaurant (the name does mean “my neighbor”).  At one point MV added locations in Campbell, San Jose, and Saratoga (all closed).  Now owned by one of the original employees, MV’s menu doesn’t appear to have changed much over the years.

Of the four pasta dishes we sampled, the star turns out to be the same one that impressed in the past.  The portabella fusilli may not be as delicate as raviolo with egg yolk inside or as intricate as porchetta or use unusual ingredients such as bottarga, but it is still one of the most delicious pasta dishes.  The roasted garlic Marsala sauce has just a hint of sweetness; the fusilli are faintly charred.  You have the option of adding some protein—totally unnecessary.

The penne Marsala also has a light and flavorful cream sauce.  However, the boneless chicken breast is overcooked, a problem that can be fixed by switching to boneless thigh.  We concede a lot of Americans grew up on chicken nuggets from fast-food places, but slow-food restaurants should not cater to their preferences.  Dark meat has more flavor than white and is virtually impossible to overcook.  We suspect not too many Bay Area restaurants make gnocchi as light as Albany’s Juanita & Maude; MV’s version is acceptable.  The sauce for Gorgonzola gnocchi could use more blue cheese flavor.  We do enjoy the accompanying radicchio and walnuts, which add crunch and a slight bitter note to the dish.

MV also serves pizzas and sandwiches.  There’s a separate banquet room that seats up to 35 people.  The South Bay is lucky to have MV and the younger Aldo’s Cafe around.  Now if only the city of Santa Clara will finally revitalize Old Downtown.  We wouldn’t want MV to end up like the defunct Wilson’s Jewel Bakery, a former neighbor in the same quaint mall.

90s Kids [►]

Nearby options:  Seniore’s Pizza, Home Kitchen, Jasmine, Rantei, Jiaren Cafe, Taplands, Sara’s Kitchen

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Modo Hawaii, Santa Clara

feed meimei [►]

Mochi is a dough made from cooked sticky rice.  Some of you might have tried mochi ice cream before or non-refrigerated mochi with a mildly sweet filling.  The latest mochi creation is a series of small donuts stuck together in a ring like two pairs of brass knuckles.  The mochi donuts themselves are not really sweet; all the flavor comes from the glaze in which they are dipped.  Modo Hawaii’s site gives you a pretty good idea what each one tastes like.  Our favorites are black sesame and matcha.  Pandan is a little muted; lilikoi (passion fruit) is the sweetest of all the flavors we sampled.  They also serve hojicha and matcha soy latte.

Because they are not as sweet as regular donuts, they make a nice treat for yourself or a wonderful gift for others.  After visiting someone in the ICU of a San Jose hospital, we brought the staff a dozen mochi donuts from Modo Hawaii.  ICU and other healthcare workers have been to hell and back the last two years.  Let them know you care.  #MochiDonutsForICU

Trails to Oishii Tokyo (mochi) [►] Granny Mochi [►]

Nearby options:  China Stix, MOD Pizza, Mexitamalli, Burma Bistro, Copenhagen Crown Bakery

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Naschmarkt, Campbell + Palo Alto

CPBA [►]

Most large cities and metropolitan areas have at least one or two German restaurants—not surprising since there are at least 60 million German Americans (compare with more than 40 million Irish Americans).  Named after Vienna’s most popular market, Naschmarkt is something less common, an Austrian restaurant.  Austrian cuisine is similar to the food traditions in neighboring Bavaria.  The food at Naschmarkt is hearty but not heavy.  The flavor of the pork in jager schnitzel comes through loud the clear even though it’s topped with mushroom sauce.  If you like stuffed vegetables, try kraut rouladen or stuffed cabbage.  Seasonal crepe is light and not too sweet.  Downtown Campbell is one of the best restaurant spots in the South Bay.  Downtown Mountain View, Willow Glen’s Lincoln Avenue, downtown Los Gatos, and downtown Sunnyvale are also good choices.

Watch below as Leslie Sbrocco visits Vienna, Linz, and Durnstein.  Coffee culture, Sacher torte, Linzer torte, schnapps, and kasekrainer are all fine.  But the one item that really piqued our interest is bauern leberkase (farmer meatloaf), which tastes like “high-quality SPAM.”  Since it’s not out of a can, it should be better than SPAM.  No wonder Kommissar Rex loves leberkasesemmel/wurstsemmel so much.  Mahlzeit.

100 Days, Drinks, Dishes, and Destinations (Vienna) [►] 100 Days, Drinks, Dishes, and Destinations (Danube) [►] Vienna [►] Vienna Calling [►]

Nearby options in Campbell:  One Fish Raw Bar, Trattoria 360, Aqui, Opa!, Desi, A Bellagio, La Pizzeria, Water Tower Kitchen, Manresa Bread, Orchard Valley Coffee, Psycho Donuts, Snake & Butterfly, Campbell Creamery, AFKxp Tech & Game Center

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One Fish Raw Bar, Campbell

CPBA [►]

Like San Francisco’s 20 Spot, One Fish Raw Bar didn’t have a full-scale kitchen when it opened in 2021 at the address that previously belonged to Spread, a deli/pub whose signature sandwiches are still available at San Jose’s Jtown Pizza.  When you work with limited equipment, it forces you to be more creative.  So chef/owner Trent Lidgey devised a menu that doesn’t require heavy-duty cooking:  small plates.

Despite the name of this restaurant, only half of the menu consists of raw seafood.  You can think of these dishes as sashimi.  This part of the menu changes depending on season and availability, so check the restaurant site for updates.  If you see it, try the refreshing halibut with habanero and pickled gooseberries.  The other half of the menu comprises hot plates and things like Belgian endive salad with candied pecans.  Some of these cooked items seem to have become staples and customer favorites.  The house chowder should please the different camps of chowder lovers.  The fried rice with Chinese sausage has an interesting presentation; the drizzle of aioli instantly recalls the look of American-made maki rolls.  The last time we came across agnolotti was at Oakland’s Belotti Bottega.  Try One Fish’s version if you’ve never had this pasta before.

The cornbread, baked in a mini loaf pan, is much sweeter than expected because it needs to pair with the savory topping of cultured cream and smoked trout roe.  As creative as this dessert-like cornbread dish is, we like the chocolate pudding with sesame crumble even better.  From the artistic logo to the light and seasonal menu and friendly staff, One Fish is a great addition to downtown Campbell.

CPBA (20 Spot) [►]

Nearby options:  Naschmarkt, Trattoria 360, Aqui, Opa!, Desi, A Bellagio, La Pizzeria, Water Tower Kitchen, Manresa Bread, Orchard Valley Coffee, Psycho Donuts, Snake & Butterfly, Campbell Creamery, AFKxp Tech & Game Center

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Paper Plane, San Jose

CPBA [►]

Paper Plane is a whiskey cocktail created for a Chicago bar in the late 2000s; the name is a reference to the Grammy-nominated song co-produced by Diplo.  The owners of this downtown San Jose bar decided to name it after that drink.  Bar food used to be an oxymoron of sorts.  This being the Bay Area, serving a few salty items just to get patrons to order more drinks just won’t cut it.  We’re all familiar with gastropub.  Well, you can think of Paper Plane as a gastrobar.  If they’ve given this much thought to the food menu, the drinks here must be phenomenal.  Some people might say the food is all over the map—there’s a little bit of Mexican, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish.  We prefer to say the menu reflects the Bay Area’s culinary scene.

One bite of the crispy koji fried chicken wings and you’ll understand why they call it their signature dish.  They mean it when they say they are “aggressively seasoned.”  The coating is bursting with flavor, more than enough to compensate for the somewhat bland meat (perhaps it needs to be marinated/brined longer?).  They are as crunchy as the fried chicken at Vons Chicken.  Like kale, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower, octopus leg is getting a lot of love from U.S. restaurants these days.  Paper Plane’s version may not be as good as Teleferic Barcelona, but it’ll do for now.

The biggest surprise are the roasted baby carrots.  Instead of baby-cut carrots you find at any supermarket, they serve real baby carrots with the tops still attached.  This is bar food gone upscale, people.  We must also give them credit for serving only vegetarian tacos.  They could’ve easily added a meat-based option.  It just goes to show this establishment likes to do things its way.  And that’s a very good thing.  The chef may be guilty of trying too hard (click on the FAQ tab above and look for “kitchen-sink”), but that’s better than having a kitchen that doesn’t give a damn.

We liked the fried chicken here so much we immediately went to a place in Oakland that marinades its chicken in koji.  This chicken karaage turned out to be pretty average.  So if you want fried chicken that’s way better than chicken karaage, go downtown as Petula Clark would say.  This is a bar, so you must show ID even if you only want to sample the food (dinner only).

Paper Planes [►] Downtown [►]

Nearby options:  La Penita, 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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Pastelaria Adega, San Jose

Just as Michelin-starred Manresa begets Manresa Bread, Michelin-starred Adega also has its own bakery.  Located not far from Petiscos, Adega’s second restaurant, this bakery focuses on Portuguese pastries.  In addition to the classic custard tart or pastel de nata (“cream pastry”), they offer other flavors such as lemon and passionfruit.  For something more substantial, you can’t go wrong with bolas de Berlim (“Berlin balls”), the Portuguese take on German donuts.  The plain (unfilled), egg cream, lemon, and hazelnut/chocolate are all good.  The rice muffin (bolo de arroz) is different from American muffins.  Savory items include shrimp turnover (rissol de camarao), linguica pocket (folhado), and steak sandwich (prego).  Note that Pastelaria Adega closes early in the afternoon.

CPBA (Adega) [►] DW Food (Pasteis de Belem) [►] Rockstar Eater [►]

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

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Petiscos by Adega, San Jose | [≡]

The good news is we’ve found a second reason to go downtown (the first being Paper Plane).  This is Michelin-starred Adega’s sister restaurant specializing in small bites.  Petiscos are essentially the Portuguese version of Spanish tapas or Basque pintxos.  We’ve always had at least one Portuguese restaurant in San Jose’s Little Portugal.  But outside of that neighborhood, Portuguese food is harder to find.

Drying and sometimes salting seafood is a traditional method of preservation around the world.  Today salt cod (bacalhau in Portuguese) is prized for culinary use more than out of necessity.  If you’ve never had bacalhau before, you should try it here in a potato casserole (bacalhau a bras) or as croquettes (the former is more strongly flavored than the latter).  And if you’ve only had sardines out of a can, grilled sardines will give you a whole new perspective.

Our favorite is the seafood rice (arroz de marisco), a risotto-like dish featuring various kinds of shellfish.  The blood sausage is also great—though probably not house-made.  Note that some dishes are more substantial than others.  The pork loin sandwich (bifana) with fries is one such example.  For dessert you can’t go wrong with Portuguese custard tart or pastel de nata (“cream pastry”).  Just make sure you order more than one.

CPBA (Adega) [►] Rick Steves (Lisbon) [►]

Nearby options:  Paper Plane, La Penita, 5 Spot Chivas Grill, 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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Sizzling Lunch, San Jose (two locations) + Cupertino + Mountain View + Berkeley + Fremont

Sizzling Lunch (concept creation) [►] JNgoc Adventures [►]

Pepper Lunch (there’s one in Milpitas) and the fast-growing Sizzling Lunch both cook their signature dishes on an iron plate that’s heated to 500 degrees.  They are examples of teppanyaki or cooking on an iron griddle.  Benihana introduced America to teppanyaki when it opened in 1964.

Try the garlic beef pepper rice and see how you like your food on a hot plate.  If you get your food to-go, you’ll miss out on the sizzling experience.  The liberal use of fried garlic as a garnish is like a Southeast Asian twist.  The garlic butter does make the whole dish a tad on the greasy side.  The pork katsu curry sauce and octopus balls (takoyaki) are comparable to what you’ll find at more traditional Japanese restaurants.  The highlights turn out to be the salt and pepper chicken wings and the cheese fries.  The chicken meat has flavor, and the coating is perfectly crispy.  Cheese fries and nachos are often drowning in a gloppy sauce.  Sizzling Lunch’s rendition is pleasantly restrained; the cheese and chili mayo is a nice blend of sweet, tangy, and spicy.  If you prefer something healthier, try the sweet potato fries.

When we visited the Sizzling Lunch in North San Jose on Memorial Day 2023, it was easily the busiest restaurant in that strip mall.  Busier than Dave’s Hot Chicken and Five Guys—that’s saying something.

Nearby options in North San Jose:  VN Grill, Five Guys, Noah’s Bagels, Krispy Krunchy Chicken, California Fish Grill, Ono Hawaiian BBQ, Pizza California, Chop Stop, California Sourdough Eatery, RedZone, MOD Pizza, Starbird Chicken, Rubio’s Coastal Grill, Jersey Mike’s Subs, Cauldron Ice Cream

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Stone Stew, San Jose (two locations)

MPlus (original location) [►] Jinan Ali Explora (original location) [►]

Thanks to the Internet, we came across Stone Stew a year ago while looking at places of interest near Mitsuwa Marketplace.  As that classic ad would say, let your fingers do the walking.  We found the name intriguing...but more on the namesake Persian dish later.  This restaurant knows how to cook lamb right.  The lamb shank is tender and meaty, and they use just enough dill so it doesn’t overwhelm the pilaf with fava beans.  The lamb chops are nicely marinated and grilled.  There’s only one dish with barberries (think of them as Persian cranberries), and it’s a winner, especially if you like bone-in chicken thighs.

The wonderful thing about Bay Area dining is the constant surprises.  Abgoosht is a stew you don’t see on many Persian menus.  Just as paella takes its name from the pan used to cook the dish, abgoosht also goes by the name dizi, the stone crock the dish is traditionally served in.  In terms of flavor and ingredients, this stew is the most conventional of all the Persian stews we’ve ever tried.  They will not mash the solids unless you ask them to.  And, of course, if you get it to-go, you’ll need a mortar and pestle to do it yourself.  Having tasted the meat intact (Stone Stew uses beef), we must say it’d be a shame to mash it all up.  Note that there’s a similar dish in places such as Turkey and Armenia.

The original Stone Stew started on Saratoga Avenue in the mid-2010s.  When that strip mall was due to be redeveloped, the owner opened a second location in downtown San Jose in 2019.  Then another one opened later that year (not far from the original) and is now the new flagship Stone Stew.  Located between I-280 and Mitsuwa Marketplace, this address was previously Flavors of India and before that a Lyon’s (the last one in the Bay Area) and before that a Tony Roma’s (possibly the last one in the Bay Area).  Perhaps the nearby Aloft Hotel guests are adventurous enough to give Stone Stew a try.  If not, well, their loss.

Observe Foods (abgoosht) [►]

Nearby options in West Valley:  Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, Fugetsu, Tomi Sushi, Kahoo Ramen, Curry Life, Takoyaki Yama-chan, Clover Bakery, Mochill Mochi Donut

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The Tamale Factory, San Jose | [♀]

KPIX [►] LifeOfBD [►]

Formerly Lucy’s Tamale Factory, The Tamale Factory in Alum Rock is still family-run.  The current owner took over the business after her sister started it in 1995.  This hole-in-the-wall place makes chicken, pork, and cheese tamales as well as a couple of sweet varieties.  The cheese version includes half a jalapeno (with seeds) that gives it just enough heat and an herbaceous note.  The pineapple tamale has a subtle, clean sweet flavor; using a few discernible chunks of pineapple is a good call.  In Mexico, tamales are a big part of Dia de los Muertos and Christmas.

Of the four Mexican restaurant staples in the U.S.—burrito, enchilada, taco, and tamale—the one that’s remained close to its roots is the tamale.  Even if the burrito has some tenuous Mexican connection, it’s been Americanized and supersized.  It’s also been used in fusion creations such as kimchi burrito, for example.  And the first Thursday of April is National Burrito Day.  The taco is part of the American food lexicon (think of Taco Bell and Taco Tuesdays).  The hard-shell and puffy variations are American inventions.  A popular food truck is known for its sisig tacos and sisig burrito.  There’s a North Bay restaurant that makes enchiladas with an Indian twist.  The tamale has stayed true to its Mesoamerican origin.

Or maybe we just like anything cooked in a wrapper—be it corn husk, banana leaf, bamboo leaf, lotus leaf, grape leaf, parchment paper, or even salt.  These packages are steamed—or effectively steamed—which means whatever’s inside should be moist and tender.  And the leaves impart a hint of fragrance.

ATK (chicken tamales) [►]
Feliz Navidad [►] Are You With Me [►]

Nearby options:  Rica Panaderia, Carnitas El Rincon, Meli’s, Las Delicias, Tortas Ahogadas Jalisco, TeaZer Boba, Peters Bakery, Mary’s Paleteria

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Tamarine, Palo Alto | [♀] [≡] [@]

CPBA [►]

As Joseph Campbell would say, follow your bliss.  It’s a good thing former pharmacist Tammy Huynh changed career.  The name of her restaurant is a celebration of her name and Vietnam’s long coastline.  Art collectors will be pleased to know there’s art for sale inside the restaurant.

Meat lovers and people who are particular about the meat they consume will enjoy the shaking beef and hoisin lamb chops.  The bok choy that accompanies the beef dish could use more flavor.  This is the Bay Area, and we expect our vegetables to shine like everything else on the plate.  The glass noodles seem to have received an upgrade.  Regardless of what they’re served with—tofu before and crab now—the star remains the noodles.  We don’t know how a ginger and soy-garlic sauce could be so tasty.  The uncooked celery for the noodles is probably meant as garnish, but it’s still an odd choice (cooked celery root or okra might work better).

The green papaya salad with dried sesame beef is always a crowd-pleaser, especially if you like beef jerky.  A fried egg on rice seems like a winning combo (think loco moco, silog, and bibimbap), but the empress rice is missing something.  The sticky rice is too bland, and the sweet soy sauce is too one-dimensional.  Roti is not a typical Vietnamese dish, so it’s interesting Tamarine and San Leandro’s Top Hatters both serve it.  Tamarine’s version is a little too doughy, and the prosaic Penang curry sauce doesn’t help.

The Basque cheesecake is light and one of the best versions we’ve sampled.  We don’t order ice cream to-go for obvious reasons, but it sometimes comes with a dessert.  They packed the coconut gelato for the banana beignets in a bag filled with ice.  Now that’s going above and beyond the call of duty.  Like Albany’s Juanita & Maude, Tamarine is an extremely popular neighborhood spot—judging by the steady stream of customers on a Saturday night in the middle of winter.  Note that there’s a four-percent surcharge to “offset employer-mandated expenses” (for dine-in only?).

ATK (shaking beef) [►]

Nearby options:  Bevri, Ettan, Oren’s Hummus, Evvia Estiatorio, Taverna, Osteria, Bird Dog, Zola, Steam, Tai Pan, Jing Jing, Thaiphoon, Lemonade, Garden Fresh, Rami Nagi, Peninsula Fountain & Grill, Curry Pizza House, Coupa Cafe, Crepevine, Mademoiselle Colette, Tea Time

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Teleferic Barcelona, Palo Alto + Los Gatos + Walnut Creek

CPBA [►]

Teleferic Barcelona started as Rondes in 1992 in Catalonia, an autonomous region of Spain.  During the 2010s, this Catalan restaurant went on an expansion spree:  Barcelona (2011), Walnut Creek (2015), and Palo Alto (2019).  There are now more Teleferic (“cable car”) locations in the United States than Spain after the opening of the Los Gatos branch in 2022.  Catalonia has its own language and cuisine.  It is to Spain what Quebec is to Canada.  Though we’ve never been to Spain, Teleferic’s menu seems more Spanish than Catalan.

Teleferic is one of these places where the paella comes in different sizes.  Choose any paella that strikes your fancy but there are two ingredients that really stand out.  The shrimp’s body tastes like it’s coated with unctuous shrimp roe, and the pork is less like Mexican pork carnitas and more like Cantonese- or Filipino-style roast pork.  While not a traditional tapas plate, the tuna tartar tacos (taquitos de atun) should win over people who avoid raw fish.  The use of fried wonton wrapper instead of tortilla gives these tacos a fun twist.  Speaking of authentic tapas...we’re still waiting to see pig’s ear (oreja de cerdo) on the menu.  Like Belmont’s Iberia, you get the whole potato frittata (Spanish tortilla) instead of just a slice.  Unlike Iberia, Teleferic does offer trendy veggies such as cauliflower and Brussels sprouts.

The first time we visited Teleferic right before the Bay Area went into lockdown, the grilled octopus leg was the star of the meal because of the pimenton (Spanish paprika) potato puree.  This time the kitchen might have given us something else (romesco sauce?).  We suppose a small cup of romesco could be mistaken for a cup of potato puree.  You can skip the churros because the dough is way too thick.  The restaurant has recently added a small pintxo menu, but it’s for dine-in only for some reason.  When you visit Teleferic in Palo Alto, check out the last Town & Country Village in the Bay Area.

Rick Steves (Barcelona and Catalunya) [►] Never Been to Spain [►]

Nearby options in Palo Alto:  Oren’s Hummus Express, LuLu’s, Wildseed, Kirk’s Steakburgers, Manresa Bread, Douce France, Kara’s Cupcakes, Cudos, Tin Pot Creamery

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Umi Hand Roll Bar, San Jose

Franco Perez [►]

The name of this counter-service place implies it specializes in temaki sushi, the cone-shaped sushi wrapped in nori.  That’s interesting because most sushi restaurants in the Bay Area don’t bother with this style of sushi.  If you love nori, you’ll love temaki sushi.  For the rest of us, it could be a bit of nori overload.  That said, two of the fillings are unusual:  Boston purple sea urchin (uni) and blue crab.  As the uni sold in the U.S. comes from the West Coast, Boston uni is uncommon.  If you take a bite of the blanched bay scallops and tobiko together, the spicy scallop hand roll is quite appealing.  When you order scallops elsewhere, they usually serve you the larger sea scallops, so here’s your chance to sample the smaller—and some say sweeter—bay scallops.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised to find grilled yellowtail collar (hamachi kama) at a humble place like this.  What you get may not be the biggest piece of fish collar out there, but it’s meaty enough for the price.  We wish there’s more truffle ponzu.  It’s not clear if this item is supposed to come with miso soup or not since there’s no official site.  Another dish that could use more sauce is the truffle garlic edamame.  The flavorful sauce is made with roasted garlic and truffle zest.

The other nice surprise is the dessert menu.  The green tea (matcha) cheesecake is light (but not too airy) and has just the right amount of matcha flavor.  The Japanese chestnut cake (Mont Blanc) is also tasty and light as most Japanese desserts are.  We’re fairly certain neither one is made in-house (the Mont Blanc comes in the Japanese brand’s original packaging).  And that’s okay because a restaurant doesn’t have to make everything from scratch.

In Japan, a sushi chef must train for at least 10 years.  Anything goes outside of Japan, which is either good or bad depending on your perspective.  The dragon roll, one of the maki sushi we ordered, looks a little messy, but if you come here with the right expectations, you’ll leave satisfied.

Tokyo Sushi Academy (hand roll sushi) [►] MASA's Cooking ABC (temaki) [►] Joshua Weissman (temaki) [►] HidaMari Cooking (Mont Blanc) [►] Emojoie (Mont Blanc) [►]

Nearby options:  Habana Cuba, Desi Express, Vietnoms, The Salad Planet, Petiscos by Adega, Original Joe’s San Jose, Nirvana Soul

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World Wrapps, Santa Clara + Campbell + Palo Alto + San Ramon + San Francisco + Corte Madera | [≡]

World Wrapps (paella) [►] World Wrapps (saffron sauce) [►]

We don’t usually visit fast food chains—though there is one item on McDonald’s menu that we wouldn’t mind having once in a while (you’ll never guess which one).  And we rarely visit fast casual chains.  But if they were all like World Wrapps, then we would certainly visit more often.

Years ago the restaurant industry went through the food wrap trend inspired by burrito and gyro.  Now we’re seeing more food bowls a la donburi, bibimbap, and clay pot rice.  It makes sense that WW offers food in both wrap and bowl formats, especially since the owners claim to have popularized the wrap concept back in the day.

Wrap or bowl?  As much as we like burrito, we’ve never had it open-faced (with the tortilla underneath or without).  Somehow we don’t think we will like it as much.  So we prefer the traditional burrito presentation, but for everything else, we’d rather have it in a bowl.  When it comes to food bowls, size matters.  The bowl for adults here is about eight inches in diameter across the top and a little more than two inches tall as of March 2023 (they also have kid-sized bowls).

The secret menu is not so secret since it’s on the Web site for all to see.  These surf and turf options really give customers the best of both worlds.  The bulgogi beef with shrimp is essentially the bulgogi beef dish with sauteed shrimp added.  The chimichurri steak with salmon is basically the Argentina chimichurri dish with roasted salmon added.  The bulgogi beef has a nice kick thanks to gochujang.  They also do an admirable job with the accompanying tamago and sushi rice.  The chimichurri steak is served with brown rice and quinoa.  Our only quibble is that the beef in both cases could be more distinct.

You should also try the Barcelona paella, which is listed as a special item but deserves to be part of the permanent menu.  You can’t find paella at this price anywhere.  So is it the best paella we’ve ever had?  No, but the saffron sauce manages to give it a modicum of authenticity.  The sauteed shrimp, grilled chicken, and chicken sausage all play their parts respectably (especially the sausage).  We submit the secret to WW’s flavorful food is the way they season and cook each component separately and that the seafood is not overcooked.  Located in Mercado Santa Clara next to AMC Theatres near Mission College, WW adds a three-percent living wage surcharge.

Nearby options in Santa Clara:  Tomatina, The Roasted Crab, SmokeEaters Hot Wings, In-N-Out Burger, Paris Baguette, Krispy Kreme

Past Featured Restaurants

Alhambra Irish House, Redwood City | [@]

Come for the building, stay for the food.  It’s not often you find a restaurant inside a building that dates back to the 19th century.  Legend has it there was a connection between the old Alhambra Theater and Wyatt Earp (1848-1929) in 1896.  Yes, you’ll find his tombstone (pun intended) in Colma.  The former theatre survived a fire in 2001.  When they renovated downtown Redwood City in the 2000s, we’re glad they didn’t demolish this building.  We thought then any Bay Area municipality that wants to revitalize its downtown area could learn a thing or two from Redwood City.  It’s not too late for places such as Santa Clara, Milpitas...Oakland...San Francisco.

Wisconsin produces a ton of cheese curds, but they're hard to find in the Bay Area.  We’ve seen them occasionally at one Sprouts store.  Here you’ll find deep-fried cheese curds on the menu.  They’re like fried cheese sticks—but better.  These crispy and chewy bites don’t really need any sauce; Alhambra Irish House should consider serving house-made pickles instead.  What else can they do with cheese curds?  One word:  poutine.  Scotch eggs are a staple at English pubs in this country.  We wish more pubs and restaurants would make them.  For one thing, they look good on a plate.  AIH’s version is quite light, and the encased egg is indeed soft-boiled.  You get two per order, which seems like the right portion (maybe they give you more in the U.K.).

Sausage connoisseurs should try the sausage and colcannon.  The Irish pork and rusk (?) sausage doesn’t taste Italian, German, or Polish (and definitely nothing like Mexican or Spanish chorizo).  The casing is not too thick and has a pleasant snap.  The inside has a rather smooth texture like hot dog, which tastes better than it sounds.  The only way you can get blood sausage is by ordering the full Irish breakfast.

Colcannon is easy to make; it’s just mashed potatoes mixed with cabbage—it doesn’t get more Irish than that.  AIH tries to take it uptown by ditching the cabbage and using leeks and kale instead.  The idea sounds good on paper, but the kitchen cuts the leeks and kale so small that they just look like unattractive specks.  We also miss the crunch of the cabbage.  We’ve made Chris Koetke’s version before (see below).  Sometimes it’s hard to improve on something that’s close to perfect.  They could try adding a little bit of shredded horseradish to spice things up.

There’s a reason the fish and chips is one of the higher-priced items on the menu.  You get a giant piece of haddock and lots of fries.  The roasted beet salad is a looker.  The beet and parsnip are lightly roasted.  While you lose some concentrated flavor, they are nice and juicy.  We’d love to talk about the chicken curry, but there was a glitch with our order.  Click on the Detour tab above and read all about it.

Check AIH site for live music schedule (every Saturday from 3 to 5:30 as of February 2023).  Note that there’s a three-percent surcharge (for all customers or just takeout?).  Sister restaurant Stephens Green in Mountain View has a similar menu.  Click on the ♫ tab above and check out our St. Patrick’s Day playlist.

News 5 Cleveland (Chris Koetke’s colcannon) [►]

Nearby options:  Zareen’s, Broadway Masala, Orenchi Ramen, Angelicas, Vesta, Venga Empanadas, Vino Santo, Sushirrito, Marufuku Ramen, Hella Mediterranean, Vons Chicken, The Sandwich Spot, Five Guys, Mademoiselle Colette, Tong Sui Desserts & Drinks, Philz Coffee

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Basque Cultural Center, South San Francisco | [≡] [@]

CPBA [►] MichaelYTsau [►] Hella Basque [►] SFShibz [►]

A big ongi etorri to a slice of Basque culture in San Mateo County.  Since the Basque region straddles Spain and France, Basque cuisine could be more Spanish-leaning or more French-like.  The food at this Basque Cultural Center falls in the latter category.

You can’t go wrong with either of the two duck dishes on the menu.  The sauce for the classic duck a l’orange is not too sweet, and the duck is perfectly cooked.  Slow-cooked for hours, the duck confit is tender as expected.  The kitchen chose not to brown the skin before serving.  The mushroom sauce for the veal forestiere is not unlike the sauce for jagerschnitzel.  The best thing about the Basque-style pork chops is the tomato sauce.  For the more adventurous diner, go for the veal sweetbreads.  Keep in mind there are two types of sweetbreads:  thymus and pancreas.  You might prefer one to the other.  All the entrees come with soup of the day, salad, potatoes or rice, and vegetables.  The soup—squash and asparagus on two occasions—is more exciting than the salad.  The selection of vegetables varies as well; we got parsnip and Brussels sprouts on our second visit.

We were able to order the salmon from the dinner banquet menu as a regular entree (for a reduced price), which turns out to be as wonderful as the duck options.  If you’re into pate, consider BCC’s version of pork-based (?) country pate (pate de campagne).  (Interestingly, an excellent chicken liver truffle mousse is made by an East Bay company.  We saw it at Grocery Outlet...once.)  The gateau Basque has an almond (?) flavor and is quite light.  The Basque cheesecake tastes just like this recipe from Taste we tried before.  Note that some items are for dine-in only (cassoulet, escargot, and creme brulee, for example).  Established in 1982, BCC has its own spacious parking lot.  Yes, there’s a pelota court inside.  The banquet rooms seem busy with wedding and birthday celebrations.  We’ve no doubt BCC will be around for at least another 40 years.  Bay Area foodies know See’s Candies is headquartered in South City.

Rick Steves (Basque) [►] Burt Wolf (Spanish Basque) [►]
Inaki Fernandez Guridi (Spanish Basque) [►] vagabrothers (Spanish Basque) [►] GoTraveler (San Sebastian with Anthony Bourdain) [►]
California’s Gold (Basque restaurant in Bakersfield) [►] Road Trip (Basque restaurant in Bakersfield) [►] California’s Gold (See’s Candies) [►]

Nearby options:  Hung To Seafood, The Night Market, See’s Candies

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Chef Reina, Brisbane | [♀] [≡]

CPBA (Nick’s on Grand) [►] FREE99 Podcast [►]

And just like that we visited our second Brisbane restaurant in a month.  Reina Montenegro was the chef and co-owner of three Nick’s locations in Daly City, South San Francisco, and San Francisco.  After they closed in 2020, she went solo and opened her own takeout-only place in downtown Brisbane.  Chef Reina serves the same vegan Filipino food as Nick’s plus vegan dishes from other cuisines that she prepared when she worked in catering.  Examples include Japanese (chicken katsu, chicken katsu curry), Mexican (tacos, burrito), Peruvian (lomo saltado), Chinese (honey walnut shrimp), and Thai (red curry beef with basil).  The kitchen also serves loco moco, musubi, Philly cheesesteak, BLT, chicken sandwich, and Caesar salad.

The two standout Filipino dishes are the deep-fried pork belly (lechon kawali) and sweetened bacon silog (tosilog).  While the faux pork belly’s fat does not melt in the mouth like real pork belly—someone should apply for a patent if it did—the whole thing is an imaginative copy of crispy and chewy pork.  Among all the items we sampled, we really appreciate its subtle flavor.  This lechon kawali is also very grammable.  The tosilog comes with a lot of flavorful pieces of tocino.  This is our first taste of vegan egg—and it’s not bad.  Oddly enough, the only bland part of the dish is the garlic rice (sinangag).

The sisig is made with tofu and mushrooms.  You won’t miss the pork, but it is a tad on the salty side.  The saltiness is less pronounced if you eat it with plain rice.  We were a little surprised there’s no fake beef in the oxtail stew (kare-kare).  And we expected more purple yam flavor in the ube pancakes.  Of course, once you add the maple syrup, which the kitchen forgot to give us, it doesn’t matter much.  The bacon that comes with the pancakes is quite good.  You can get the same bacon if you order bacsilog or BLT.

The menu makes it clear the SPAM is made by OmniFoods, and the hamburger patty comes from Beyond Meat.  We suspect the shrimp in the honey walnut shrimp (great flavor) is an off-the-shelf product made from konjac.  The savory bacon is probably another ready-made product.  A quick Internet search reveals pork belly products such as Everbest’s Veg. Layer Meat and Verisoy’s Vegetarian Pork Belly Chunk.  If Montenegro created the pork belly herself—choosing the substitutes for the meat and fat (Lypid’s PhytoFat?) and fusing them together seamlessly—she should sell a frozen version in every supermarket.

Meat alternatives are fun to explore (for a while), but this restaurant should highlight more vegetables and legumes.  Note that there’s a four-percent charge for credit card use.  Brisbane may be a small town (population under 5,000), but an exit off US 101 takes you right into downtown in just a few minutes.  So Brisbane is much easier to get to than, say, Daly City or Pacifica.

Charity Ball [►] Fanny:  The Right to Rock [►] Here Lies Love [►]

Nearby options:  Na Na’s Kitchen, Mama Mia Pizza, Julie’s Brisbane Liquor & Deli, Midtown Market, Ichika Sushi House, L & D Catering and Bistro, 7 Mile House, Le Gourmet, Brisbane Lunch Truck

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Diner Japonica, Redwood City

When we launched this page over Labor Day weekend in 2021, we were hoping to support restaurants like Diner Japonica.  The Satos are the couple running this mom-and-pop place in a small strip mall (enter the parking lot from Central Avenue).  He cooks and she works the front of the house.  They’ve been in business for about 10 years, taking over what was once a Peruvian restaurant.  After the pandemic, this little diner started accepting credit cards but remains takeout only (as of March 2022).  They advertise that they serve American and Japanese comfort food.  We don’t get the American part, but Japanese comfort food here refers to things like bento, omurice, chahan, curry rice, and donburi.

Omurice is an omelet with fried rice inside.  The chicken option is served with demi-glace on top.  Note that Malaysia has a similar dish called nasi goreng pattaya.  Chahan is Japanese-style fried rice.  The protein that comes with curry rice is either deep-fried (tonkatsu) or not (seafood).  House-made curry is much better than the packaged Japanese curry you see in stores.  Unagi lovers must try unadon because you get two large fillets of grilled eel with your donburi.  The seaweed salad is not overly salty.  Note that omurice may no longer be available.  Click on the Detour tab above for more on Japanese fusion food.

Before Nobu Matsuhisa became a household name in America—if you live with foodies, that is—there was Masataka Kobayashi, who was the chef of New York’s Le Plaisir until he opened Masa’s in San Francisco in 1983.  Though Masa’s was a French restaurant, Kobayashi was the most famous Japanese chef in America at the time.  Sushi restaurants really started to take off by the 1980s.  Since then, most Americans have grown up eating raw fish—assuming they live in metropolitan areas.

Japanology (yoshoku) [►]

Nearby options:  Karakade, Redwood City Barbeque

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Emelina’s Peruvian, San Carlos

When you look at a map of South America, the one country that has its share of restaurants in the Bay Area is Peru.  There may be more Peruvian restaurants here than Brazilian, Argentine, and Colombian combined.  Peruvian cuisine is an interesting mix of European, Asian, African, and Inca.  Potato is king in Peru, so you can expect to see some spud on your plate.  Seafood is popular, especially ceviche.

The two weekend specials are worth trying:  northern-style lamb shank with rice and duck with rice.  The best part of the latter is the rice flavored with a cilantro sauce that recalls cumin.  Make sure to specify whether you want the leg/thigh quarter or the breast/wing quarter.  Skip the breast option if you’re on a first date because it can get a little messy.  On the other hand, you and your date could pull on the big duck wishbone together.

Emelina’s chicken stew (aji de gallina) packs a nice mild heat from yellow chili or aji amarillo, which also lends the dish its distinctive yellow color.  Peruvian-style paella (arroz con mariscos) may lack the Spanish original’s depth of flavor but is a bit lighter (and lower priced).  Chaufa is the Peruvian take on Chinese fried rice.  It comes with fish, chicken, or just vegetables.  The fish option turns out to be lots of pieces of lightly breaded and fried fish.  Emelina’s green salsa is quite potent; it’s a good thing they serve it on the side.

We agree with Kevin Kelly:  People should always try to order something they’ve never ordered before.  On this menu, make that anticucho de corazon—the beef heart looks and tastes like a cross between skirt steak and liver.  Chicha morada is like the Peruvian version of hibiscus agua fresca.  The alfajores are made by Rosi’s of Daly City.  They have both small and large sizes.  Note that Emelina’s no longer has its own site.  The restaurant is located in a small strip mall with a one-way parking lot (enter from Holly Street).

50 Best Restaurants TV (Pia Leon) [►]

Nearby options:  Kabul Afghan Cuisine, Pazzo, CreoLa, Cuisinett Bistro & Market, Saffron Indian Bistro, Delizie, Mayan, King Chuan, Tamari, Jood, Pylos, Number5Kitchen, Pranzi, New Canton, The Crepe Shop, My Breakfast House, Gelataio

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Fat Wong’s Kitchen, San Bruno | [≡]

Now that America’s Test Kitchen has presented its recipe for rice porridge in 2023, we figure it’s time we talked about this humble and comforting dish.  Porridge is simply some kind of grain cooked in a liquid.  The main ingredient is usually corn, oats, barley, millet, wheat, sorghum, or rice.  So grits, polenta, oatmeal, and halim gandom are all examples of porridge.  In regions where rice is a staple, they make their porridge out of boiling rice.  People have been eating porridge for a long time; porridge is what Oliver Twist wanted more of ([►]).

We’ve stated before one item in our last meal would be fesenjan, a Persian stew.  If we could expand the idea of the final meal on earth to include breakfast, lunch, and dinner, then we would definitely want rice porridge for breakfast—or midnight snack.  If you are a fan of dim sum, you’ve no doubt noticed a porridge section on a typical dim sum menu.  We’re not certain how porridge became a part of tea culture, which is how dim sum got started.  Porridge is good anytime, and as the opposite of rich/hearty food, it’s ideal when someone’s a bit under the weather or recovering from an upset stomach or hangover.  Yes, it’s chicken soup and menudo rolled into one.

Who makes the best porridge in the Bay Area?  The undisputed king of porridge was the original Hing Lung (1987-2012) on Broadway in San Francisco Chinatown.  It was featured in Rick Sebak’s 2010 documentary Breakfast Special and appeared in an episode of Check, Please! Bay Area in 2006.  There’s a discussion thread on-line regarding the saga of this Hing Lung.  The name means prosperity; you can see why it’s a popular business name (and impossible to trademark).  This is how former San Francisco Chronicle critic Patricia Unterman described the action at Hing Lung.

“Very Cantonese and unique to San Francisco, Hing Lung turns out thousands of bowls of white rice porridge....  It is kept hot in a gigantic sunken vat....  You can watch the porridge being ladled out into saucepans and brought to a rolling boil, at which time it is poured over finely shredded ingredients waiting in deep serving bowls, cooking them instantaneously....  [Porridge] is a restorative.  Hot, soothing to the stomach, easy to eat....”

A relative (son-in-law?) of the family that operated Hing Lung opened his Hing Lung in San Jose and then relocated to Fremont (as MW Chinese Gourmet)—it closed in 2022.  Meanwhile, the original Hing Lung was reborn as Hing Lung Cafe in South San Francisco in 2020 (note that there’s an unrelated Hing Lung in San Bruno).  Spoiler alert:  The porridge at Hing Lung Cafe (as of June 2021) is not as good as the original.  That’s why we recommend you come to Fat Wong’s Kitchen for Cantonese-style porridge for lunch or dinner.  We first visited FWK in January 2021 and returned recently to make sure the quality of its porridge hasn’t changed.  (A word about nomenclature:  We prefer the umbrella term porridge to congee, which we deem confusing because it sounds like kanji.)

The best porridge should have flavor and the right consistency.  It should be on the thick side like chowder and shouldn’t be so thin that you can drink it with a straw.  We find porridge from Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, and northern China to be too thin for our liking (though it may be just as tasty).  Some like to dunk pieces of oblong Chinese cruller (youtiao) in their porridge as you would crackers/croutons in your chowder.  The classic Cantonese porridge comes with pulled pork and preserved egg.  The pork should be as flavorful as the best carnitas.  The alkaline preserved egg is a perfect complement to porridge.  You can judge a restaurant by its execution of this porridge the same way people judge a pizzeria by its Margherita pizza.

FWK’s menu has gone on a diet—down to about 120 items from 200 in 2021.  You still have about 10 porridge options to choose from.  Our favorites are the pork/preserved egg, pork liver, and marinated chicken.  The rice noodle rolls are much better than what you’ll find elsewhere.  The shrimp version comes with really big shrimp (at least size 16/20).  Their sweet soy sauce for these crepe-like rolls is pretty good as well.  You should also try the version with savory cruller inside; it comes with three different sauces (a little unexpected):  the standard sweet soy sauce, a peanut sauce, and one with hoisin sauce added (?).

The Hong Kong-style pan-fried noodles may not be the best we’ve ever had, but the crispy, wok-fried noodles are completely grease-free.  Bitter melon seems to be the only bitter greens on Chinese menus.  Most kitchens will try to tame the bitterness; some go too far and you end up with very little bitter flavor.  FWK hit the sweet spot (or should we say the bitter spot?).  Try the beef with bitter melon and black bean sauce.  Clay pot rice is no longer available, which is no big deal since this was not their strong suit anyway.

Established in 2003, this family-owned business finally accepts credit cards after 20 years.  The English name of this place may not be everyone’s cup of tea (it could refer to a person’s name and not his size).  Interestingly, its Chinese name will not offend anyone.  Using the phone’s camera, we figured it translates to something like “life of porridge.”  Check out the vintage photos of Guangdong/Canton and old ads hanging on the wall inside.  For the best Chiuchow-style porridge in the Bay Area, you’ll have to go to neighboring Millbrae.  And, yes, risotto is porridge.

ATK/Cook’s Country (Chinese rice porridge) [►] Breakfast Special [►] CPBA (Hing Lung) [►]

Nearby options:  Gintei, Z-One Kitchen, Mariscos El Pariente, Patio Filipino, Diamond Head General Store, Hing Lung, Pita Hub, Camino Corner, Mid East Market

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La Fonda de los Carnalitos, Redwood City | [@]

A fonda or fondita in Mexico is a small, mom-and-pop restaurant.  La Fonda is a nice complement to its sister restaurant in Hayward.  While Los Carnalitos is all about Chilanga eats, La Fonda is a little more “mainstream” for Nortenos, by which we mean people who live north of Mexico.  Both restaurants serve tacos, gorditas, choriqueso, and panuchos—but there the similarity ends.  You won’t find huitlacoche on the menu here.

La Fonda seems to specialize in mole dishes:  mole poblano, mole verde, mole encacahuatado, and enmoladas (enchiladas with mole).  The first three feature bone-in dark meat chicken as expected.  The poblano option has more than a hint of chocolate, which is how we like it.  If mole is not your thing—we don’t want to know you—they also offer empanadas, flautas, meatballs (albondigas), skirt steak (arrachera), and pozole.  La Fonda has a full bar as well.

Chocoflan is another item not found at Los Carnalitos.  We’ve made this hybrid dessert before using Cook’s Country’s recipe.  The chocolate cake batter is on top when the whole thing goes into the oven. But when it comes out, the flan portion ends up on top like magic.  La Fonda’s chocolate flan is a little different in that the chocolate part tastes like chocolate-flavored flan.  Flan on flan is still as good as flan on cake.

Since food is always the most important thing in our opinion, let’s talk about something we rarely address.  For a small restaurant in a strip mall, La Fonda’s decor is tastefully done.  Taking advantage of the unusually high ceiling, they installed a dramatic light fixture in the middle of the main dining room, the kind of thing you’d see at the defunct Farallon in San Francisco.  There’s also a surprising mezzanine with a few more tables.  Pat Kuleto would approve of the design of this place.

Rick Bayless (mole) [►]

Nearby options:  Homeskillet, Supreme Crab

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Iberia, Belmont

Established originally in Portola Valley in 1984—a second location in Menlo Park closed in 2015—this family-owned restaurant is still going strong after so many years.  As the name suggests, this place specializes in Spanish cuisine.  Tapas and paellas are quite popular in the Bay Area (at last), but Iberia was very much ahead of the curve.

The sweet and savory bacon-wrapped dates are addictive, so be sure to order two per diner in your party.  The garlic-forward sauteed mushrooms come with a slice of garlic bread.  Your Italian grandmother would approve of the stuffed pasta with a light bechamel sauce.  Instead of a slice of potato frittata (tortilla de patatas) that they usually serve in Spain, Iberia gives you the whole thing.  The pistachio sponge cake with chocolate mousse is not too sweet.  And if you’ve never had English trifle before, give it a try.  Note that there’s an automatic 20-percent service charge for dine-in and 12-percent charge for takeout.

How is Iberia different from newer Spanish spots in the Bay Area?  Think of it as the OG.  You won’t find any trendy ingredients like cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, or kale.  This is not the kind of kitchen where they use tweezers to plate the food or serve anything deconstructed.

Rick Steves (Madrid) [►] Rick Steves (Barcelona) [►] Christine Cushing (paella) [►]

Nearby options:  Shalizaar, China Village, Whispers Cafe, Hongry Kong

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Kabul Afghan Cuisine, San Carlos | [≡]

CPBA [►]

The kid is alright.  That would be 14-year-old Itai from Season 14 (2019) of Check, Please! Bay Area.  On a whim, we decided to order exactly what Itai recommended.  Has this show ever been wrong before?  Oh, yes.  Two duds that come to mind are located in Oakland, coincidentally (one from Season 11 and one from Season 14).  Then there’s one in Hayward from Season 15 that was a disappointment considering the chef/baker’s background.

But we digress.  As we stated earlier, Afghan cuisine is similar to Persian food.  You can’t go wrong with kebabs here.  The lamb stew with peas in a tomato-based sauce (mater challow) is easy to love.  The pumpkin (kabocha?) dish (challow kaddo) is almost sweet enough to move to the desserts section.  If you like eggplant, challow badenjan has your name on it.  For real dessert, try fernea, a custard that tastes like rice pudding.

Opened since 1989, KAC operated a second location in Burlingame from 2009 to 2016.  Sadly, the owner of KAC, who was present when KQED visited around 2019, passed not long after that.  Fans of this restaurant should read what we have to say about its doppelganger in Sunnyvale (same name and everything).

Nearby options:  Pazzo, CreoLa, Cuisinett Bistro & Market, Tamari, Emelina's Peruvian, Pranzi, New Canton, The Crepe Shop, My Breakfast House

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Lolita Artisanal Bakery, San Mateo | [♀]

Mountain View’s Taqueria La Bamba (now Paper Platez as of 2022) was where we had our first taste of Latin American-style alfajores.  Oakland’s Wooden Table Baking Co. makes a good version that’s sold at Whole Foods Market and a few other places, including its own cafe.  The most extraordinary thing about Lolita’s version is how soft and tender (but not crumbly) they are.  Some flavors are sweeter than others.  Sweet potato and chocolate are not too sweet.  For something savory, you have about a dozen empanadas to choose from.  Ham & cheese and spinach are less salty than others.  Like Arsicault Bakery in San Francisco, the family of Lolita’s owner had been in the food business outside of the U.S. for decades.  Located near Macy’s at Hillsdale Shopping Center, Lolita now offers Argentine treats to the Bay Area.

Martha Stewart (alfajores) [►]

Nearby options:  Palette Tea Garden, The Refuge, Shake Shack, Philz Coffee, See’s Candies

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Mazra, San Bruno | [≡]

CPBA [►] Wilson Leung [►] Jason Jose [►]

As soon as we read that Mazra was ranked No. 2 according to some national top 100 list that came out in February 2021, we had to go check it out.  Only two Bay Area restaurants made the cut, so the implication is clear.  Is it the best restaurant in the Bay Area?  Of course not.  Some people might even wonder if it’s the best Middle Eastern restaurant in lil’ San Bruno.  The owner of Mazra (“the farm”) used to operate a neighborhood grocery store at the same location, which might explain a bit of a Trader Joe’s vibe inside.  So what is Mazra then?  Well, this Jordanian/Palestinian place serves good food and the employees are friendly and helpful.

For people who don’t own a grill at home, you’ll appreciate the expert way Mazra handles salmon and lamb chops on the grill.  The garlic rotisserie chicken is better than the kind you find at supermarkets—though the butterflied and grilled chicken at Cardenas Markets is pretty darn good ($6 every Friday as of December 2021).  You do pay at least two to three times more for a whole roasted chicken here than those loss-leader specials at Smart & Final, Walmart, Safeway, and others.  Choosing a plate is probably a better deal than ordering a la carte.  A plate comes with a good amount of basmati rice, two small sides of your choice, and pita bread.  There are more parking spaces in the rear.

Junior’s Farm [►]

Nearby options:  downtown San Bruno, Rolling Pin Donuts

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Palette Tea, San Mateo + San Francisco | [≡]

CPBA [►]

The family behind Koi Palace (1996) continues its chain of Hong Kong-inspired restaurants with Dragon Beaux (2015) and Palette Tea House/Garden (2019/2020).  The seafood chow fun is notable for its preserved olive gravy.  You can taste the extra briny flavor in the squid ink and shrimp fried rice (sometimes the squid ink is just used for looks).  They also do something different with the dried shrimp in this dish.  Flowering cabbage (choy sum), pea sprouts, and green beans are all good veggie options.  Custard dumplings and osmanthus coconut gelee make for a great sweet ending.

Just as we wish breakfast places would serve breakfast all day, we want to have dim sum all day.  Well, you can at Palette.  You’ll find items here not available at other dim sum places.  Standouts include garlic herb crispy ribs (they use meaty beef short ribs), cuttlefish ikura dumplings, and crispy typhoon shrimp dumplings.

Spain is famous for its Iberian ham (jamon iberico); we’re not certain Iberian pork is as special.  Nevertheless, Palette uses the latter (not sure which part) for its barbecue pork (char siu).  It tastes like a well-done pork steak—more ribeye than typical char siu.  The taro puffs are much lighter than expected.  If you love durian, go for the durian puffs.  We’re surprised they don’t try to mask its distinctive aroma.  Yuzu walnut prawn puffs are a bust because the yuzu aioli fails to impress.

As a high-end Cantonese eatery, Palette uses top-quality ingredients.  Even the peas in a noodle dish don’t look like the frozen kind we see in stores (could they be fresh?).  Like Koi Palace, Palette’s takeout menu/brochure is a feast for the eyes.  Note that there’s an automatic 18-percent service charge for dine-in customers.

ATK (char siu) [►]

Nearby options in San Mateo:  The Refuge, Shake Shack, Lolita Artisanal Bakery, Philz Coffee, See’s Candies

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Porridge & Things, Millbrae | [≡]

Bestfood.today [►]

China is a big country, so it’s no surprise Cantonese is not the only cuisine from South China.  Thanks to past immigration pattern, Cantonese is the best-known culinary export from this region of China or China in general.  Now and then you might come across a Hakka, Fujian/Fukien, or Hainan restaurant.  Half of Porridge & Things’ menu focuses on Chaozhou/Chiuchow food, arguably the closest rival to Cantonese cuisine in South China.  People with Chiuchow roots make up the second-largest Chinese group in Vietnam; this explains why there are some hybrid Vietnamese-Chiuchow restaurants in the Bay Area.

Before we visited P&T in September 2020, we’d never heard of Chiuchow-style porridge.  It’s cooked in a clay pot (sawok), but the technique probably has more to do with the rather thin consistency than the equipment.  If this menu is anything to go by—we haven’t seen this type of porridge anywhere else in the Bay Area—the “tell” that we’re dealing with a different style is what’s served with it.  Unlike Cantonese porridge, seafood dominates here.  The four porridge options we sampled between 2020 and a recent visit all have good flavor.  When they say their porridge serves two, they mean it.  If you order the crab and prawn (shell-on) version, you’ll get the crab shell, which is great because you can enjoy the tomalley.  However, the flavor of the crab meat and shrimp is somewhat muted because of the porridge.  The scallops and oysters don’t lose as much flavor.  Ready for more porridge?  Go north and check out Fat Wong’s Kitchen in San Bruno.

One Chiuchow dish you should try is the pan-fried yellow croaker.  The whole fish is butterflied before frying, making it practically boneless.  If you’ve had nothing but Gorton’s frozen fish sticks all your life, you will appreciate something a bit fresher.  A Cantonese dish you don’t see too often is the steamed eggs with clams (shell-on).  The eggs are properly custardy and don’t taste eggy.  The fried Chinese sausage with cauliflower is also good.

The beef chow fun with satay sauce is a nice variation on a familiar dish.  Though a little on the greasy side, the addition of Chinese broccoli/kale (gai lan) is a welcome change.  Note that they use thinner than usual wide noodles for this dish.  We’ve only seen the golden (double egg) fried rice dish at one other restaurant in the Bay Area.  The version here includes egg whites, preserved vegetables, tobiko, and other finely diced ingredients.

The taro dessert is sort of like taro fries tossed with a lot of sugar.  It might work better with spun sugar or a modest dusting of powdered sugar.  The taro itself is perfectly fried, but we prefer the mildly sweet black sesame sticky rice dumplings.

Nearby options:  Wonderful, Sugandh, Gourmet Village, Noodles & Things, Dean’s Produce, El Camino Real (another restaurant cluster that runs parallel to Broadway)

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Rosi’s Alfajores, Daly City

Among all the Peruvian places in the Bay Area, this one is probably the most informal.  It’s cash-only, so there’s that.  If you’re into alfajores, you should recognize Rosi’s brand from seeing it in some supermarkets and restaurants.  While stores only carry the smaller size alfajores (as far as we can tell), you’ll find the larger size here.  The smaller ones are a little too dry; the larger ones are much better.

Peruvian cuisine is an interesting mix of European, Asian, African, and Inca.  The best time to come to this modest counter-service cafeteria is on Saturdays, when they offer four hot dishes, including seco de carne (beef stew) and aji de gallina.  Though their version of this chicken stew lacks any spicy note, it’s still quite flavorful.  They also make Peruvian-style empanadas and tamales.  There’s anticucho for the more adventurous.

Wolters World [►] El Condor Pasa [►]

Nearby options:  Tselogs, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, Spicy House, All Day Kitchens, The Bread Basket Bakery

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7 Mile House, Brisbane

CPBA [►] KPIX | CBS News Bay Area [►] San Francisco Public Library [►]

This is the first time we’ve ever visited a restaurant in Brisbane, a small town (population under 5,000) surrounded by much bigger neighbors:  San Francisco, Daly City, and South San Francisco.  The best thing about 7 Mile House is the history.  A mile house was a rest area for stagecoaches.  This sole-surviving mile house was constructed around 1858 as it was seven miles from San Francisco’s Portsmouth Square.  The current owner has done an excellent job promoting the history of 7 Mile House.  She published a book and you can see a list of previous owners on the restaurant site.  This is the kind of place the late Huell Howser should’ve visited.

The grilled basa fillet is better than the grilled salmon because the latter is not as moist.  For a sports bar and grill, the seafood linguini with shrimp, salmon, bay scallops, and white fish is good.  The Filipino dishes are a mixed bag.  The fish lumpia is something you don’t see often.  Two pieces tasted like fish; the third tasted like vegetable lumpia.  The Manila-style sisig is a little underwhelming even though they include bits of pork cheeks and chicken liver as they do in the Philippines.  We’d love to talk about the pork adobo with rice, but there was an issue with our order.  Click on the Detour tab above and read all about it.  The purple yam (ube) cheesecake with macapuno is kind of mushy; the ube tres leches cake is the dessert highlight.

Sunday brunch includes silog, loco moco, chilaquiles, and chicken and ube waffles.  This place is very dog-friendly (doggie menu and yappy hour).  If you’ve been to Daly City’s Cow Palace (The Beatles performed here twice), you’ve likely passed by this restaurant.  It’s easy to spot 7 Mile House because of its black and yellow awning.  Al fresco dining is quite nice because they’ve done a great job protecting the outside area from the elements.  Behind the restaurant is a PG&E power station, so there’s plenty of meterless street parking.

Nearby options:  Ichika Sushi House, L & D Catering and Bistro, Le Gourmet, Brisbane Lunch Truck, Chef Reina, Na Na’s Kitchen, Mama Mia Pizza, Julie’s Brisbane Liquor & Deli, Midtown Market

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Social Eatery, Millbrae | [≡]

NomWithJon [►]

Featuring...
: Noodleosophy | Noodleosophy Hand-Made [►]
: Rice Monster
: Grapeholic

Social Eatery is a mini-food hall that houses only three vendors inside.  Opened in 2022 at the site of a series of Japanese restaurants, the space seats about 90 guests.  You can still make out the Japanese gate (torii) at the front.  Unlike larger food halls, the vendors here share the same kitchen; the paper menus share the same form factor as well.  For dine-in you scan the QR code with your phone and place your order for anything from any of the three menus.  For takeout you use the electronic ordering system by the back near the rear parking lot.  Again, the software allows you to order from any of the three menus in one go (one bill).

Until the Japanese perfected the electric rice cooker, anyone anywhere cooking rice in a pot on a stove ran the risk of scorching the bottom.  Some people say this crusty rice is the best part of a dish—we wouldn’t go that far.  In Spain, they call it socarrat and it’s the part of paella we still have never seen/tasted.  Persian restaurants sometimes serve the crunchy rice separately as tahdig on the menu.  Japanese dishes such as kamameshi and ishiyaki also produce crispy rice.  The Swahili word for crusty rice is ukoko.

And that brings us to clay pot rice, a kind of Cantonese soul food that also yields burned rice on the bottom.  Watch the Bon Appetit video below and you’ll get a sense of how it’s cooked.  Like fried chicken and other “simple” recipes, it’s one of those dishes that’s hard to do well.  Unlike rice plates, you don’t just put some protein on top of cooked rice and call it a day.  The toppings and rice finish cooking together in a clay pot, which should impart a distinctive flavor you don’t get from metal pans.  The flavor of the toppings is supposed to permeate the rice, and the texture of the rice should be somewhere between steamed rice and fried rice.  It shouldn’t be tough and dry except for the crusty bottom, of course.

Outside of San Francisco, there was an excellent clay pot rice joint in Milpitas in the late 2000s.  Most people didn’t know about it because it actually marketed itself as a dessert place (go figure).  After a recent trip to the East Bay for this dish, we started searching on-line and came across this outlet on the Peninsula.  Rice Monster’s specialty is clay pot rice.  If you dine in, they will cook it in a modern clay pot (iron?); if you get it to-go, they will cook it in an aluminum foil pan instead.  The advantage of the latter is that the scorched rice will come off easily because of the non-stick foil.  The nine options pretty much cover all the usual toppings; the only things missing are minced beef, salted fish, and preserved duck.

Of the four variations we sampled, our favorite is the pork patty.  The minced pork has the best flavor, and the water chestnuts provide a contrasting crunch.  The use of taro in the chicken and pork ribs version makes it a bit different (the boneless chicken tastes better than the spareribs).  Abalone is an unusual ingredient.  This option is paired with more typical toppings such as Chinese cured pork (like bacon) and sausage.  We wish they’d do more with the unagi option, adding tobiko/ikura or something.  The foil pan measures six inches in diameter and two inches in height.  This may not seem that big, but they really pack on some of the toppings.  The menu includes a few herbal soups (ginseng and sea coconut, among others), reminiscent of Oakland’s Imperial Soup.  Note that some Vietnamese restaurants serve clay pot rice dishes called com tay cam.

Noodleosophy specializes in biangbiang noodles, the wide and hand-ripped noodles that originated in Xian, not to be confused with knife-cut noodles or hand-pulled noodles (lamian).  They also offer two alternatives:  ramen-style noodles and rice noodles.  The biangbiang noodles here have good flavor and pleasant chew (we tasted them before adding the broth).  The noodle/noodle soup menu consists of mostly beef options plus lamb, chicken, and pork.  The beef stew and tendon version is flavored with five-spice powder and full of tasty pieces of stew in a delicious broth.  We recently commented how quail eggs are underused.  Well, you’ll find them on the menu.  You can also try the dumplings with different fillings.  Note that Noodleosophy has a stand-alone location (longer menu) in San Mateo and another one inside a food hall in Cupertino.

We’re not into the whole bubble tea scene, so we can’t tell you if Grapeholic is a typical representative.  The menu comprises 35 mostly tea-based drinks with a few coffee options.  Only seven drinks come with tapioca pearls (boba); of course, it’s available as an add-on ingredient.  One thing we do love about bubble tea shops is the addition of cheese foam (think of it as savory whipped cream).  This ingredient takes the Cotton Candy grape slush to another level.  The matcha smash is one of the best matcha drinks we’ve ever had.  The green tea powder is not overpowering and the default sweet level is perfect.  This also happens to be one of only two non-caffeinated drinks.  We appreciate that for some drinks, you can specify no ice for takeout.  Beware the 21-oz. cup is tall and prone to tip over in transit.

Pro tip:  Social Eatery and its neighbors may have El Camino Real addresses, but there’s actually a little street (Irwin Place) that runs right in between them and ECR.  It’s really not that easy to turn on to Irwin from ECR, so you should just go straight to California Drive and enter the parking lot behind Social Eatery.

Bon Appetit (Hong Kong with Lucas Sin) [►]
ATK (biang biang mian) [►] Munchies (hand-ripped noodles) [►]

Nearby options:  the rest of El Camino Real, Broadway (another restaurant cluster that runs parallel to El Camino Real)

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Tselogs, Daly City | [♀]

CPBA (Your Korean Dad) [►] Jason Pierce [►] Chad the Filipino [►] adobonationTFC [►]

Silog and sisig are two popular dishes in the Philippines.  Tselogs offers about a dozen silog options, including sisig itself (sisilog or sisigsilog).  The way they prepare the chicken sisig practically transforms the chicken into crispy pork carnitas.  This is probably as close as it gets to the Filipino original that combines different parts of the pig with chicken liver and is grilled or broiled at the end for that browned goodness.  (Anyone who’s seen You Gotta Eat Here! knows diner kitchens often give meats and other proteins a final sear on the griddle after they come out of the oven/pot.)  This dry sisig is different from the kind that comes with sauce or gravy that you may encounter at other Filipino restaurants.  No wonder it’s one of Tselogs’ signature dishes.

Pork belly is very trendy now, but not every restaurant makes crispy pork belly because it’s hard to get the crispy skin right.  Chinese delis and Filipino places have been roasting slabs of pork belly or whole hog for a long time.  Tselogs’ lechon (lechonsilog) is quite good.  The pork fat melts in the mouth, and there’s plenty of meat.  Some pieces of skin are more chewy than crispy, but if you eat it right after it comes out of the kitchen, it might be a different story.  In any event, fans of chicharron and pork rind will love Filipino lechon.  Here’s how America’s Test Kitchen makes crispy pork belly (you can also watch the video below).

If you’ve never had Filipino-style fried noodles before, try pancit palabok.  The chicken porridge (arroz caldo) is assertively seasoned.  All the dessert pies have nice filling (not too sweet); the crust is a little bland though.  Established in 2008 in Daly City, Tselogs at one point opened two branches in San Francisco (all closed now).  The owner bought the building on Mission Street and moved one mile from the previous location in 2022, replacing what was once a series of Chinese/Japanese restaurants.

Lucky Chow (Filipino cuisine) [►] Food Insider (sisig) [►] Food & Wine (silog) [►]
ATK (crispy pork belly) [►]

Nearby options:  L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, Spicy House, Rosi’s Alfajores, All Day Kitchens, The Bread Basket Bakery

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Vesta, Redwood City | [≡]

CPBA [►]

Vesta’s slogan is “wood-fired pizza & small plates.”  Well, after seeing some of those small plates on a local TV show, we had to come check out this popular spot in downtown Redwood City.  Vesta may sound like an Italian motorcycle, but this place is actually named after a Roman goddess.  The owner knows the restaurant business since his parents opened Cafe Borrone in 1979.  Note that one block of Broadway, where Vesta is located, remains closed to traffic as of December 2022.

The pork meatballs with arugula and cheese is essentially a small salad with three good-sized meatballs.  The fact that these tasty and tender meatballs are not cooked in a sauce is quite remarkable.  The mushroom toast is for anyone who loves mushrooms and grilled bread.  And we appreciate the pulled pork and polenta for the interplay of sweet fried polenta, tangy coleslaw, and savory pork.  It also doesn’t hurt that this is one of the bigger small plates.

Before Vesta, we had never heard of pizza with honey on it.  It turns out that’s a thing in some parts of the country (Chicago, for instance).  Furthermore, drizzling spicy honey is another thing.  Yes, North Americans are very open-minded about pizza toppings.  We can report Vesta uses honey sparingly as an accent so that it doesn’t overwhelm the pie itself.  The sausage & honey pizza gets its heat not from hot honey but serrano pepper, which you can easily pick out if the heat is too much for you.  What we like about this pizza is the dollops of mascarpone.  We’re not crazy about the crust.  As much as we like thin-crust pizzas, Vesta’s version lacks structure and is rather bland—it’s as if gluten never developed (or the center was undercooked).  The bottom line is we’ve never encountered such a limp crust.

Desserts comprise of gelato and Mexican chocolate bread pudding.  The latter comes with delicious sauce and whipped cream, but the bread pudding itself has a sour flavor.  We do love the “All We Think About Is Food” stickers.

Rick Steves (Neapolitan pizza) [►]

Nearby options:  Zareen’s, Broadway Masala, Orenchi Ramen, Angelicas, Venga Empanadas, Vino Santo, Sushirrito, Alhambra Irish House, Marufuku Ramen, Hella Mediterranean, Vons Chicken, The Sandwich Spot, Five Guys, Mademoiselle Colette, Tong Sui Desserts & Drinks, Philz Coffee

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Wonderful, Millbrae | [≡]

eatlikeanapex [►] KTVU FOX 2 [►]

There aren’t too many Hunan restaurants around here, so get it while you can.  The site presents a well-written, legible, and printer-friendly two-page menu—it’s the little things that mean so much.  Ants climbing a tree (gotta love these poetic names) is not too spicy and has good flavor.  Sweet potato noodles and cabbage (under Steamed Specials) is enough to feed a small family.  Located in what is ostensibly Millbrae’s two-lane restaurant row on Broadway, Wonderful does live up to its name.  There’s plenty of free parking everywhere.  Any Bay Area visitor staying near SFO should check out this place since Millbrae is next to the airport.

Wonderful! Wonderful! [►] Wonderful Life [►]

Nearby options:  Sugandh, Porridge & Things, Gourmet Village, Noodles & Things, Dean’s Produce, El Camino Real (another restaurant cluster that runs parallel to Broadway)

Gone to the Big Food Court in the Sky

You don’t want to end up here....

Angkorian Express, San Jose

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Bamboo Steamer, Hayward

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Braise, San Jose

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Chef Reina, Brisbane

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Los Duban, Campbell

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Gaumenkitzel, Berkeley

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Hardy’s Bavaria (c1991-2022), Sunnyvale | [♀]

November 2021

Like San Jose’s Jubba, Hardy’s Bavaria is also near a train station.  Established in the early 1990s, this German restaurant is now run by a couple of women:  the owner who works the front of the house and the original chef in the kitchen (they may be the only employees left).  If you fancy smoked meats and shank of any kind, try smoked ham shank.  Note that this shank still has some chew to it and the meat inside looks and tastes a little like corned beef.  Sour pot roast (sauerbraten) is Germany’s national dish.  Most of the entrees come with plain but comforting potato salad; only one comes with what Americans call German potato salad.  And you get a wonderful soup and bread with all the dinner entrees.  For vegetarians there’s a meatless goulash.

Located in Murphy Square near what was once Sunnyvale’s Town & Country Village, this is the sort of place that you want to be around for another 20 years.  Well, it survived one major redevelopment.  When we visited Hardy’s the Saturday after Thanksgiving 2021—the things we do for this page—we had a nice chat with a gentleman whose wife is Bavarian (thanks for the tip regarding Esther’s German Bakery).  Then 30 minutes later, we had an opportunity to tell two young ladies about Campbell’s Naschmarkt.  Food is the thing that unites all Bay Area foodies.

Gerhard “Hardy” Steiner (1944-2020) and his wife opened their Bavarian restaurant after he lost his job at Palo Alto’s Dinah’s Shack when it closed in 1989.  Dinah’s Shack was where William Shockley’s employees gathered to celebrate his winning the Nobel Prize in 1956 (more Silicon Valley history).  When they retired in 2002, they sold Hardy’s to a waitress who’d worked here.  Steiner was born in Bavaria; the new owner in Lower Saxony.  Who knew Bavaria and Texas have so much in common?  Watch the video below and you will be convinced.  By the same token, other countries have their own Texas/Bavaria.  Think of separatist regions such as Quebec and Catalonia, among others.

Kelly Does Her Thing [►]

Nearby options:  House of Kabobs, Dishdash, Meyhouse, King Wah, Kabul Afghan Cuisine, Sajj Mediterranean, Sweet Sicily, Rokko, Tao Tao, PhoEver, Vino Vino, Daily Donuts, Chocolatier Desiree, Gelateria Bella Roma, ATM Tea Bar, Philz Coffee

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House of Kabobs, Sunnyvale

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Magic-Wok, Sunnyvale

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Mexitamalli, Santa Clara

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Myanmar Tea Garden, Fremont

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Syma's, Albany

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