I'm a Wannabe Food Critic

Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, Banana Curry

2009-12-16T19:54:00.000-08:00

In the hopes of not completely succumbing to my lull in medical school news, I have decided to share some of my budget-conscious cooking. You'll notice I haven't posted in a while. Though partially due to laziness, I also just haven't been eating out. With the exception being my once-a-week trips to either Gold Medal or Pho Ao Sen, neither of which really count. But, I've decided that just because we are saving money doesn't mean we can't eat delicious food. Stepping away from some of my stand-bys, I'll share new recipes that I find to work well and are easy to do in a reasonable amount of time.

One of my new favorite recipes is taken from www.yorkshireatheart.com. It's a Thai-style curry that I've found works really well over Chinese rice, and can be done on a tiny budget. It also freezes well. I'm including the recipe itself along with any changes I made.

1 onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, crushed (I preferred grating it)
2.5 cm (1 inch) piece fresh ginger, finely grated
1⁄2tsp fenugreek seeds
1 stick lemongrass, finely chopped (Mince this, otherwise it will be too crunchy, or leave it in big pieces that you can pull out in the end)
4 tbsp Thai red curry paste
1⁄2 tsp turmeric
350g pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cut in large cubes (about 1 1/4 C, 1in. by 1in. increases cooking time!)
300g sweet potato, peeled and cut in large cubes (about 1 C, 1in. by 1in. increases cooking time!)
300ml vegetable stock (chicken stock also is okay)
300ml coconut milk
2 bananas, peeled and sliced thinly
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion, garlic, ginger and fenugreek over a low heat for about 5 minutes until the onion is softened. Stir in the lemongrass, curry paste and turmeric. Add the pumpkin and sweet potato and stir to coat them in the spices. Leave to cook over a low heat for 2-3 minutes to allow the vegetables to absorb the flavors of the spices. Pour in the vegetable stock and coconut milk. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Season, remove from the heat and add the diced bananas.

The first mistake I made was doubling the recipe. I tend to double recipes when cooking for David and me because we pack leftovers, but good lord do we still have a lot of curry. Both of us had it for lunch and dinner today, and freezer-packed at least 8 more meals worth. Also, I'd recommend not picking your squash/pumpkin based on what the name sounds like. Whatever you do, pick the one that looks easiest to peel. I ended up going with a Gold Nugget Squash and Carnival Squash, both of which took me a good hour to finish peeling (one was roasted in a different recipe). Instead of using sweet potatoes, I went for the cheaper Garnet Yams. Though not as moist in texture as my favorite Beauregard Yams, they actually contrasted much more nicely with the banana and squash.

I also ended up using chicken broth (thanks to buying an entire flat at Costco), which didn't seem to compromise the recipe at all, and cooking the curry for about 45 minutes, not 20. I'm not sure what she means by large chunks, but for me, my 1x1 inch cubes took forEVER to cook.

And now for the numbers (costs don't include staples and are for the doubled recipe)...

2 onions, $1.00
2 sticks lemongrass, $0.15
8 tbsp Thai red curry paste $2.13
1 small Gold Nugget Squash, $1.22
3 small Garnet Yams, $0.69
2 cans coconut milk, $2.10
3 bananas, $0.35

Total: $7.64, plus $4 for staples = $11.64 for 12 servings

Biryani House, Berkeley

2009-04-21T22:47:00.000-07:00

This is hands-down my favorite Indian/Pakistani restaurant in the area. Not only is the food very cheap ($6 entrees) and filling, but it's flavorful and delicious. I had walked by this restaurant a bunch on my way to MCAT class and one day finally ventured in when I grew sick of eating sandwiches.

I was not disappointed. Biryani House is cheaper than House of Curries, and my Chicken Vindaloo was much more tender (cooked on the bone) and flavorful yet spicy rather than simply spicy. I noticed that the sauces at Biryani House also lack that kind of fake neon-yellow hue that some of the dishes at House of Curry contain, which led me to believe that the food's healthier and maybe (?) more authentic. Who knows though, I still don't know a thing about Indian food except what I think tastes good. And this certainly does.

On subsequent visits, I have tried the eggplant curry, Tikka Masala (for those of us with inauthentic palates), the samosas and the Tandoori Chicken. My tandoori chicken was so flavorful and tender. The eggplant curry was also spicy and delicious, and the naan is really fluffy yet chewy. Despite the soundtrack skipping/playing the exact same song over and over again, I started studying at Biryani House just so I could eat the food more often.

Biryani House is located at 2011 Shattuck Avenue at University in Berkeley.
They are open daily from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and until 10:30 Friday through Sunday.

Currylicious, Oakland

2009-04-21T22:42:00.000-07:00

I really wanted to like Currylicious. They're cheaper than going across the street to the grossly overpriced Khana Peena; and considering I know very little about Indian food, I figured I'd probably like Currylicious just as much as any other of the Indian places I've reviewed.

Not. So. Much.

Maybe my standards for Indian food have improved. I ordered the Chicken Vindaloo and Baigan Bharta (eggplant) with plain naan. It was nice that I was able to tell them how spicy I wanted the food (though on what scale?), but the flavors overall were lacking.

The Baigan Bharta, while visually appealing, had no spice whatsoever, and was very bland. I ordered the Chicken Vindaloo spicy, but it was not even remotely so. In addition, despite being cooked on the bone, the chicken was dry. The consistency of the sauce was a bit off as well. It was very runny and greasy, tasting mostly of tomato water and oil, so not even really worth trying to sop up with naan.

I couldn't believe I found myself missing the fake neon-yellow hue of the Chicken Vindaloo at House of Curries. At least theirs is delicious and in the exact same price range for more food. I could believe that I was missing the absolute perfection of everything served at Biryani House (also the exact same price range). Sadly even the naan was disappointing at Currylicious. It was fluffy but very greasy. Though the parking is terrible in downtown Berkeley, the next time I have a craving for Indian/Pakistani food I'm making my way to Biryani House. Every time.

Currylicious is located at 5299 College Avenue in Oakland.
They are open daily from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Cafe 15 (Part II), Oakland

2009-04-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

I'm having a love affair with Downtown Oakland and Cafe 15 is what started it. This is my new favorite lunch spot--so much so that I've gone back 3 times in the past 4 days and still want to go back again tomorrow.

Every time the food has been consistently fresh, tasty, creative, affordable, and filling. I'm usually hesitant to give out rave reviews to any restaurant, so it's the service that truly puts Cafe 15 over the top. Everyone who works there is so nice despite how crowded it gets, and they seem to truly appreciate their customers.

So far the best things on the menu in my opinion are the oyster po' boy and the rustic potato hash with eggs. The spicy pulled pork sandwich with a green tangy salsa served with a fresh slaw and Cafe 15 burger (with mixed in bacon and onions!), though, are also delicious, as is the fried chicken sandwich. The fried chicken sandwich is *different* from Bette's, so I'm not even going to compare them.

I'm always too full to order dessert, but today I was offered a free sample of their chocolate eclairs. I'll make room for dessert tomorrow.

Cafe 15, Oakland

2009-03-31T12:20:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a find!

I haven't been so excited about a new restaurant in a while. Cafe 15 is a super cute little spot behind the courthouse in downtown Oakland. There is very limited seating but the space is cozy and gets plenty of sunlight. Despite it being crowded, we were immediately greeted by the woman at the register who was happy to chat and answer any questions we had. She also offered us a frequent buyer card. They give you a stamp for every $5 you spend, and after 15 stamps you get a free meal.

In addition to a very tempting menu (think Bakesale Betty type food with a lot more options--yes, I just made that comparison), there are a bunch of daily specials written on the board. I went with the blood orange lemonade and the oyster po' boy with cabbage slaw. My friend had the eggs and potato/fennel sausage hash with toast. While the lemonade was a little too tart for our taste, the food was spectacular.

The potatoes in the hash were soft and perfectly cooked. The fennel sausage was flavorful and melded everything together into a filling, delicious meal. My oyster po-boy had three gigantic fried oysters on a soft, buttery roll and came with a crunchy, fresh cabbage slaw.

It's obvious that the people at Cafe 15 truly care about the food they are serving. The service is impeccable, and when you dine in the cooks will actually bring you your food. I loved everything about my dining experience here and cannot wait to go back.

Cafe 15 is located at 597 15th Street in Downtown Oakland, between Clay and Jefferson.

They are open Monday through Friday from 6:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Brown Sugar Kitchen, Oakland

2009-03-21T17:57:00.000-07:00

Have you ever gotten to a restaurant and instantly loved it the second you entered? That's what happened to Greg and me when we got to Brown Sugar Kitchen. The space is friendly, gets plenty of light, and has a very sleek yet homey decor. While I do feel like ultimately the service can be improved upon, I was overall very happy with my experience and cannot wait to go back to try more of the delicious California-inspired Soul Food menu.

We started with coffee and a sticky bun, which was not my favorite, though it made waiting for the main attractions a little easier. Maybe I just have a misconception as to how sticky buns should be but I keep imagining and getting excited for a soft, chewy, sweet pastry and am constantly disappointed (this time was no different) when it's dry and crunchy.

Our main dishes, however, were phenomenal. I had the cheesy grits with poached eggs and a side of bacon. The grits were deliciously creamy, very nicely seasoned, and my poached eggs were cooked perfectly. Greg's egg tart was stuffed with fresh asparagus and a wonderful mix of flavorful cheeses; the accompanying potatoes were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and had great flavor.

My only negative was the service. I don't mind slow service, because all of the dishes are made to order, but I thought that the waitstaff was rather inattentive. They were friendly when we could wave them over, but it was difficult to track down the hostess to get our names on the wait list, and our server never checked in with us during our meal except to bring the check. Just a lesson, don't stand in between two pre-health students and a refill on their morning coffee.

When it comes down to it, though, the blips in service were completely overshadowed by the food. Both Greg and I were very impressed and already have plans to go back.

Brown Sugar Kitchen is located at 2534 Mandela Parkway (yes, you read that correctly, it's in the middle of a bunch of warehouses behind the Home Depot strip mall in Emeryville), between 26th Street and Campbell Street.

They are open Tuesday through Thursday from 7:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m, Friday through Saturday, 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and Sundays 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Website: www.brownsugarkitchen.com

Bi-Rite Creamery, San Francisco

2009-03-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

I'd had a gift card for Bi-Rite burning a hole in my pocket since our WCC volunteer appreciation party last year. Being an East Bay kid brought up on Fenton's I had yet to experience what San Francisco had to offer ice cream wise. Bi-Rite did not disappoint.

Despite the long line, the service was impeccable. The employees were completely focused on helping me with my order instead of just rushing me out the door to get to the next. They also use metal spoons for tasting, which I really appreciated--go green! Before making my decision, I tried the honey lavender and coffee toffee. The honey lavender tasted exactly as it sounds, and I think I'm just not that into lavender. Coffee toffee was good, but the salted caramel rocked my world.

I ended up getting a banana split with salted caramel ice cream. Loved it! It came with fresh whipped cream, toasted walnuts, hot fudge and caramelized-to-order bananas. The ice cream was so good though that the sundae wasn't totally necessary. Though their hot fudge has nothing on Fenton's, the ice cream at Bi-Rite hit a home run.

A few other interesting things on their menu that I'd like to try are the toasted banana flavor, and the sundae with olive oil and sea salt (what?!).

Bi-Rite Creamery is located at 3692 18th Street in San Francisco (close to the 16th/Mission BART Station).
They are open Monday through Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m, Friday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., and Sundays from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Website: www.biritecreamery.com

International House Cafe, Berkeley

2009-03-13T14:45:00.000-07:00

In addition to being a crazed foodie, I on occasion do my fair share of schoolwork/studying. The plan is to incorporate some cafe reviews into my food blog as well. While most of the places I recommend will not have stellar food, I'm basing my final judgment on these places on a study-friendly scale. But, staying true to my blog the food will be evaluated too. Hopefully this will be useful to all four of my readers. Here it goes...

Internet: Yes, with a UC Berkeley log-in.
Prices: Moderate for the quality.
Noise/Music: Loud, usually playing 94.9 FM.
Parking: 2-hour street parking or UC Berkeley lots.

I'm really not.that.cool. Yet I've known the words to every single from Rihanna, Chris Brown, Akon, Lady Gaga, Usher, and Kanye that has come out in the past year, all thanks to the I-House Cafe.

There's something soothing about listening to hip-hop in a loud room where tree-sitters bathed, international students drink beer, the creepy guy gives you dirty looks for taking "his" table, and the smelly chess corner gets overly animated. Plus, taking a study break to look up and see my friend Greg (photo of Greg's ipod here: http://george.hotelling.net/90percent/pics/npr_podcast.png) awkwardly bouncing his head to rap never gets old.

The coffee's terrible and the food mostly comes out of a microwave, but the nachos are a huge guilty pleasure of mine, and the lasagne isn't half bad if they re-heat it all the way through. I also really like the Italian Salad (topped with artichoke hearts, olives, tomato, red bell pepper, garbanzo beans, and mozzarella that I substitute with chicken). Skip the pastries (they're never as good as they look) and any espresso drinks. Also, skip the pasta salads. They always have a weird acidic taste that I can't quite put my finger on. That said, over all if you know what to order and appreciate a place that stays open late, this is one of my favorite study venues.

I'll keep studying here until the university realizes I've stolen my sister's wireless password.

Santa Ramen, San Mateo

2009-03-13T13:29:00.000-07:00

On a quest to do Michael Bauer's job for him, Scott and I drove down to San Mateo to check out Santa Ramen, which was the most highly recommended ramen joint from the sfgate.com reader comments. It being a Saturday morning, the traffic wasn't bad at all, and we were ready to eat--Santa sweater and all:

As we walked in, we noticed that there were in fact tons of actual Japanese people patronizing the place, and we were immediately hit with the delicious, salty/meaty smell that can only come from a fresh bowl of ramen. Service? Not so much. After walking inside, we stood awkwardly at the door for about five minutes and were just stared at by the waitstaff. Eventually, we just walked in and sat at the bar. Whatever, I could care less about service if the food's off the hook. It was.

One of my favorite things about Japan was that the restaurants would specialize at certain dishes instead of trying to encompass every aspect of the cuisine. Santa Ramen does just that. They only serve ramen, and they do it well. The menu:

Santa Ramen had me at "not vegetarian." Considering my utter lack of love for vegetarians, I was already sold on the place before trying anything. The menu is set up so you have a choice between three different broths, and then can add toppings. I chose the traditional pork broth made spicy and since they were already out of the highly recommended miso broth, Scott got the soy sauce flavor made spicy.

Then we went to town with toppings. I got green onions, roasted pork, kikurage mushrooms, fried garlic, bean sprouts, and bamboo shoots:

Scott got green onions, bamboo shoots, roasted seaweed, roasted pork, cod roe, "special" stewed pork and kimchee on the side:

O Chame can really take a lesson on pork making from Santa Ramen. Both the roast pork and stewed pork were delicious. My roast pork was juicy, flavorful, and had the perfect amount of fat on it. But the stewed pork on Scott's was out of this world. If I hadn't been so full from everything else I would have ordered just a piece of the special pork on the side. It's made with a somewhat sweet marinade and is tender beyond belief.

The pork broth was just what I remembered from Japan. This is the only place where I'd say that something salty, white, and murky could be delicious. The only way to get a broth that opaque is to boil pork bones until they no longer exist. Scott's soy sauce broth was decent too, but it reminded me more of the broth that you get from packaged ramen. A great salty wonder (though not as oily), but not as fulfilling. My noodles didn't quite have the bite I was hoping for but it could be because I spent so much time ogling Scott's pork that they got soggy. The flavor, however, was there.

As for the toppings, order however you want but I'll give my take. Especially because they can add up and get pretty expensive. Definitely get the stewed pork if you didn't pick up on my recommendation earlier, and if you like spice, it's worth the $1.50 to make the broth spicy. I'd pass on the fried garlic next time. Though it sounds amazing, I think the overall flavor of the soup was compromised because the garlic was so pungent. You also can't really go wrong with bean sprouts, bamboo shoots and green onion. Santa Ramen should leave the kimchee making up to the Koreans, though. Not worth it. I could give or take the cod roe. I did discover that I just hate cooked cod roe that is still in its sac (see Japan sushi entry) because I was a fan of the roe Scott had. However, next time I go to Santa Ramen (yes, there will be another time), I probably won't order the roe with everything else on the menu.

This is the first in what I hope to be an ongoing series on finding the best Japanese noodles in the Bay. Please weigh in on any other recommendations or opinions!

Updates!

2009-03-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

My goal to stay sane while studying for the MCAT is to update this blog once a week, no more, no less.

You'll notice I made it a little easier to navigate. On the right hand side I've grouped entries based on cuisine and meal types. You can also subscribe or follow the blog (and make me very happy) by showing your love and commenting or becoming a "fan."

Any suggestions for how to make this site more accessible will actually be considered.

Tamarindo Antojeria, Oakland

2009-03-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

While usually boasting about my own food writing skills, I do believe that Carol Ness wrote everything I ever wanted to say about Tamarindo. We'll call this review an "update" that just happens to echo every single one of her sentiments. I was so stoked to eat at Tamarindo Antojeria. It's been touted as the big rival to Dona Tomas' stronghold on upscale Mexican cuisine in the Bay Area, but I rate it with a big 'ol MEH.

The service was friendly, and the restaurant is cute but the food was very disappointing. As I look over the menu now, I realize that we weren't even offered whatever the special dinner/large plate was that night (the menu is mostly small plates), which is frustrating because some of the descriptions of the bigger plates sound like they could bump Tamarindo up a star. The service did do a great job of pacing the courses and not overloading our tiny bar table, but that's about where the fun ended.

We started with the Queso Fundido, Tamal Oaxaqueño, and Empanadas de Hongos Y Queso. The Queso Fundido ($10) sounded oily, gooey and delicious but only succeeded in acheiving my first two adjectives. It was a bowl of melted cheese with a few tiny pieces of chorizo served with tortillas. It needed a lot more meat, texture, and flavor. Maybe a veg to garnish or if it had been served with chips we'd have liked it a lot more. The tamales ($7) were incredibly dry and disappointing. I covered mine in salsa which still didn't help the stringy, overcooked meat. The empanadas ($8) were decent; I like mushrooms, I like fried things, but I could get the same thing for half the price at Picante and for even cheaper at some place on International that I haven't been brave enough to try yet.

Next, we had the Sopes Surtidos, and Frijoles Charros. The Sopes Surtidos ($9) are crispy masa "boats" topped with meat and/or vegetables. The "boats" were very tasty little corn tart-like shells that had great texture and flavor. One was topped with roasted peppers and cheese, another with carnitas and red onion and the last with carne asada and potatoes. The beef one was very good--the meat was tender and flavorful, but again the pork was dry. While I hate to toot the horns of Picante or Tacubaya too much because I think they're overrated as well, the food's just as good and way cheaper at both. The pinto beans ($7) were served almost as if they were in a soup with bacon slices and jalapeno. The flavor was definitely there but the dish lacked texture, which we quickly remedied by dumping our leftover Queso Fundido into it. Delicioso.

For dessert, we tried the Crepa con Cajeta ($7), which was a crepe covered in caramel sauce, sprinkled with walnuts and garnished with a strawberry and vanilla ice cream. The vanilla ice cream was icy, creamy and delicious but I had major beef with the fact that they garnished it with a strawberry. It's March, people, strawberries are totally out of season. Why serve one even as a garnish when there are so many great seasonal alternatives? The crepe was not very good either. The caramel sauce tasted like the stuff you can buy at Safeway in the plastic tub and the walnuts weren't even toasted so they blended in with the chewiness of the crepe.

It's too bad, I really wanted to like Tamarindo but at this point I'm not even tempted to go back and try anything else on the menu. Plus, you can get most of the small plates on their menu at their sister restaurant, La Calle, for a fraction of the price.

Procrastinate Much?

2009-03-04T17:28:00.001-08:00

I spend a lot of time surfing the interwebs. Sorry, Mom and Dad, but in-between studying my butt off and over-spending on eating out, I waste a ton of time. All is not lost; I feel as though I've been able to come up with a pretty reliable list of go-to's on the internet.

Bored? Tired of pressing reload and waiting for me to update my blog (all...three...of you...)? So I won't stress so much about posting new blogs all the time for my wide readership, I'm linking to some of my friends' sites that are getting up and running:

Erik is a science writer and has some fun articles posted on his new webpage: www.erikvance.com.

My friend Anna is getting her fictional blog up and running at: lezcity.blogspot.com.

Nnekay has a great thing going with her stories about being a librarian: www.nnekay.com.

Adventures in news photography written by the always hilarious Chris: photocalypse.blogspot.com.

The entertaining musings of a foodie dieter are posted by fellow Bourdain-lover Leanne at: mshappysteak.blogspot.com.

And of course, a few mainstays that aren't written by my friends that I think everyone should take a look at:

Dissing Food Network: www.foodnetworkhumor.com
Best of Craigslist: www.craigslist.org/about/best/all/
Passive Aggressive Notes: www.passiveaggressivenotes.com
Most Delicious/Worst Looking Food Ever: www.thisiswhyyourefat.com
My Favorite Comic Strip: www.nataliedee.com

Get it together, Michael Bauer!

2009-03-02T19:14:00.000-08:00

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=26&entry_id=36319

For those of you who didn't receive or read my overly enthusiastic email, my letter to Michael Bauer made it into the Chronicle the other day!

I'm currently on a search for authentic Japanese noodles. I want real ramen in a murky, white pork broth that's been simmered for days, served with chili oil, bamboo shoots and pork. I want fresh cold soba and cold udon served with hot, salty, concentrated broth to dip the noodles into.

I don't want the bland, dry pork tenderloin that's served over the non-house-made noodles from O Chame that come in a fusiony yet bland seafood broth. I want real Japanese comfort food.

When I first dissed O Chame some angry peruser wrote that I just have no taste in food and want something laced with MSG. I deleted it because like so many things in the world, this blog is NOT a democracy and I only post the comments I like. That said, I'll address their issue. Sure, I've been known to love many terrible restaurants that probably allow their meat to swim in MSG. But, I also know what good, flavorful, authentic broth can taste like without it. I want authentic Japanese noodle soup. O Chame doesn't cut it. While they do have some good qualities to their food, M. Bauer needs to stop referring to them as a noodle house.

I'm looking forward to trying some of the places that these readers suggested. Anyone out there aside from my family reading this? Got anything to weigh in on? I miiiiiiiight just publish your response.

Sidebar, Oakland

2009-02-25T23:06:00.000-08:00

Margaret was a huge fan of Zax Tavern, so she was really excited to hear that Sidebar opened. Excited from all the rave reviews we ate dinner at Sidebar this evening.

I instantly liked the atmosphere, and the prominently displayed bar is going to be amazing when they get their hard liquor license. Our server was nice, didn't rush us, and was overly willing to make recommendations. Overall, though, I wasn't wowed.

We started with the grilled calamari salad with bacon vinaigrette ($9) and duck liver crostini ($7.50). While the duck liver crostini was fatty, rich, and delicious, the accompanying salad and calamari salad were overdressed. The squid, which was grilled, was undercooked and kind of slimy. I'm not sure we were given enough it also to justify the $9 price tag.

That said, I really appreciated the portion sizes and prices for the mains. While a fair amount smaller than the entrees at my "boyfriend's" (Wood Tavern), all mains at Sidebar are around $5-10 cheaper but still filling.

Margaret had the brined/grilled double cut pork chop ($17). While nicely cooked, the butchering wasn't superb and she got a bunch of funky bony bites. The cannelloni bean ragout was good but unevenly cooked and could have used some form of veg or color. My heavily recommended atlantic cod stew ($19) was very flavorful and my fish was cooked perfectly. The clams, however, weren't cleaned properly and I got a lot of grit. Overall that issue was trumped by the fact that I ate all of our bread just to mop up the delicious sauce.

For dessert, Margaret had the "Almond Joy" ($6.50) which is basically a fudge brownie with ice cream, caramel sauce and whipped cream. I had the angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream ($6.50). Both were very simple yet good, and my latte reminded me of how much I dearly miss having good coffee.

I had a good time here, I just think they need to work out some kinks, especially in the prep kitchen. I'm looking forward to going back in a few months to see what happens. While the menu was nicely sized, it seemed like it suffered from a little imagination. Sidebar has a ton of potential but I'm not sure it's quite there yet. Seeing as they just opened, I hope other people give it a try; I'm wishing this place the best.

Sidebar is located at 542 Grand Avenue in Oakland.
For reservations, call (510) 452-9500.

Los Cantaros Restaurant and Taqueria, Oakland

2009-02-15T20:36:00.000-08:00

There are certain places that I patronize for just...one...thing. Los Cantaros is one of those places...Well maybe they're the place I go for just...two...things.

The free chips and salsa are really, really good here. I don't know what it is, but they always have the perfect amount of salt on them and the chips themselves are thick and crunchy without being too oily. The salsa is tangy and spicy, and so good that I could almost drink a bowl of it.

In order to get the chips, I learned that you have to buy something. It being a rainy week, I ordered the Caldo Tlalpeno ($5.50). It's a spicy chicken broth soup with vegetables and tons of chicken served with a lime and tortillas. I know, it doesn't sound like anything fancy but this soup is so addicting that I've gone back to get it three times in one week. Plus, it's incredibly filling (the bowl is HUGE), pretty healthy and very affordable. I leave stuffed every time, even when I go there after the gym.

Since I know my readership consists solely of family members I will mention that most of the meat they give you are giant chunks of tender dark meat. Did I win you over yet? The soup is so flavorful and satisfying--especially with the added depth from the lime juice, and has just the right amount of heat to bring a healthy pore-clearing sweat to your face.

I've had a burrito and the enchiladas from Los Cantaros as well, but I don't think I'll ever be able to go and not order the Caldo Tlalpeno. Oh, and their water is really good too because they put cucumbers and lemon in it. I always wait to fill up my water bottle until I get to the restaurant.

Los Cantaros is located at 336 Grand Avenue in Oakland.
They are open daily from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and until 10:00 p.m. on Fridays.

Cafe Panini, Berkeley

2009-02-10T16:13:00.000-08:00

I'm instantly annoyed and judgmental about places that have the word "panini" in their menu or restaurant name because 99% of the time they're butchering the Italian language. It's an issue I'm not planning to come to terms with anytime soon. If you're going to use a word from another language, use it properly.

For the record, "panini" means sandwiches (yes, plural) in Italian. It doesn't necessarily mean "meat and cheese squished in a grill-mark toaster with bread" and to say "paninis" is just plain wrong. While we're at it, "bruschetta" is pronounced with a hard "c" sound, not "sh" (take that, Jamie Lauren from Top Chef). Rant aside, Cafe Panini manages to not butcher the language on their menu and has great food.

Who knew?! I always walked by this place but never thought to actually try it. Thank you Aimee for the suggestion!!

I got the special roast beef sandwich which was delicious. It came on a seeded baguette with roasted onions, tomato, lettuce, and a horseradish sauce. For a sandwich, it was a little pricey, but I thought worth it for the quality bread and meat. The roast beef was really juicy, hot, and cooked medium rare (which I LOVE).

Service was also very friendly. I was pretty decided on my sandwich but Aimee was having trouble deciding between the chickpea soup and a salmon salad sandwich. The cashier ended up recommending that she get the sandwich but gave us a small cup of soup to split so we could try it.

The soup wasn't our favorite (it needed some seasoning), but it was a really nice gesture, especially given the cold rainy weather. I imagine on a sunny day that this place is also a great study destination. A lot of the other things on the menu looked fabulous, so I'm very excited to go back.

Cafe Panini is tucked behind Jupiter in Berkeley at 2115 Allston Way at Shattuck.
Website: www.cafe-panini.net

Suppenkuche, San Francisco

2009-02-03T00:26:00.000-08:00

I learned the hard way to never make a bet with my man Mikey D. Yet I think paying him back by taking him to Suppenkuche ended up being pretty win-win.

On a cold drizzly SF night like we had the other day, Suppenkuche truly hit the spot with an ice cold beer, friendly service, and, in all its glory, the bread ball smothered in a rich, thick mushroom gravy. Since I don't want to gain 50 pounds I won't plan on next time just ordering three of these as my appetizer, main, and dessert, but I'll be tempted. God that thing was so good.

I don't know anything about beer except that I like what's cheap, so Mikey ordered for me. Fortunately what I lack in beer snobbery/knowledge Mike makes up for and then some. Whatever it was, it was crisp, somewhat light, and had a little spice to it. Very tasty.

I was also obsessed with the bread and butter. The butter they serve the bread with is smooth, whipped, salty, and seasoned. Despite only having four slices of bread we slopped up the entire butter crock.

For mains, I had the braised beef with cranberries and Mikey had the venison (sauteed in red wine plum sauce). I wasn't crazy thrilled with either, but they were both very good. The meat was super tender (I could pretty much cut it with a spoon) and seasoned to perfection. It *almost* made me crave some veg, but Mikey was thrilled: http://www.myspacebrand.com/funny_pictures/quote-images/_img/quoteimage28.gif

The dishes did come with gravy, spatzle and pickled red cabbage, though, which were delicious. I'm usually not one to leave meat behind, but when it came down to it I scarfed up as much as the spatzle as I could stomach and let Mikey eat about half of my meat.

From reading reviews, I think I'm going to go with chicken or pork next time--seems like those tend to be a bigger hit than the red meat at Suppenkuche. And I'm definitely getting a bread ball all to myself. Fatty alert!

Our dessert was an apple strudel with ice cream, which was also very tasty. Even Mike could barely finish it, which is an indication that I got my money's worth at this place. Trust me, if this guy was full (http://www.summitpost.org/image/470993/155422/ice-step.html), they did an amazing job.

My main complaint was probably the wait and the noise. For two, we had to wait 45 minutes to be seated. We ended up going down the street to Place Pigalle (really chill bar with a decent beer selection when they're not sold out) for a few beers before having dinner. Then, when we did get seated, we had to practically yell in each others' ears to have a conversation. Don't get intimidated by the crowd, and just don't try to have a romantic date here--the food is worth it!

Suppenkuche is located on the corner of Hayes and Laguna in San Francisco. They have valet, but it's a really quick walk from Civic Center BART for you East Bayers. No reservations for fewer than 6, so show up early, or show up ready to wait.

Bellanico, Oakland

2009-02-03T00:12:00.000-08:00

I initially went here because one Scott's cook buddies works in the kitchen. Bellanico is a relatively new Italian restaurant that opened up in the up and coming part of Park Boulevard. I ended up rounding out a group of three cooks with my amateur food critic (or just professional eater) status. If shoveling food at record pace into one's mouth while discussing food and cussing up a storm means fitting in, I think I can hang hardcore with cooks. Hear that, Bourdain?

The menu here seemed to be kind of hit-and-miss. Reviewing just what I ordered, I'd give them four and a half stars out of five, but from tasting everyone else's food I'd give them three.

I started with the farro salad, which was really simple but fresh and delicious. It was served with fresh cherry tomatoes, cucumber, toasted pistachios and plenty of olive oil with lemon. The cheffies had minor issues with it just because it was so simple, but I'm a sucker for farro anytime, anywhere. Scott had the soft shell crab salad with watermelon, purslane and tomatoes that Carol Ness had been raving like mad about. We all didn't understand it. The crab wasn't as crispy as it should have been, and it seriously lacked seasoning. His buddies split the salumi plate (decent but nothing to write home about) and cicchetti (another dish Ness was freaking out about). For those of you who don't know, cicchetti are little fried meat balls; these were served with a basil and walnut pesto. Meh. They were kind of dry and too grainy.

For mains, I had the pork chop served with chard stems marinated in vinegar. The pork chop was massive and beyond perfectly cooked, down to the grill marks and tender juiciness on the inside. Definitely one of the best pork chops I've ever had, and I loved the chard stems. The other dishes were not so memorable. So unmemorable that since it's been a while that we went I only remember what one other person got. The tagliolini pepati with fresh jalapenos, bacon, and tomatoes was only so-so. The flavors didn't seem to meld as much as I'd hoped. The fresh pasta was very tasty, though. It had a great bite to it and was obviously made that day.

My favorite part aside from the pork chop was the dessert. I had an almond pound cake with fresh peaches and whipped cream. I actually still dream about eating this cake--it was really moist on the inside and crunchy on the crust.

All in all, if you order like me this place is solid, especially for the price. Considering where Scotty and I have been eating recently, this place cost easily about half of what we've been paying at Wood Tavern, Corso (forget this place!), and Camino. They deserve a lot of points for service, too. Our waitress was beyond cool and amazingly tolerant of our raucous table.

I'm going to go back at some point later on when I'm not studying to see if the consistency has improved over the past few months. Update to follow!

Bellanico is located at 4238 Park Boulevard in Oakland. Reservations can be made by calling (510) 336-1180. They also have a website: www.bellanico.net.

Round Table Pizza, Oakland

2009-02-03T00:04:00.000-08:00

Sorry, foodie fans, but I'm back in school! Yep, that means my standards for food just got tossed out the window. Actually, I kid. I really like Round Table. Sorry if you just lost all respect for me after reading the last few sentences but I really suggest you give it a try sometime. It's a lot better than most locally owned pizza places I've been to recently, especially if you order correctly. They also deliver to my house, have quick service, and I'm more than satisfied every time.

Humor me by reading my (what I think) is a slightly entertaining story about how I came to love Round Table Pizza so much...

I remember the first time I ever tried Round Table Pizza. On December 17, 2004, I was a Junior at Cal and procrastinating by surfing the internet (pre-food blogging days, obviously) instead of reading Moby Dick for the 8th time. Bored, I went to one of my usual interweb playgrounds, http://ESPN.com and came upon the blasphemous news that Billy Beane had traded my husband (what?), Tim Hudson, to Atlanta.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I compensated for my devastating loss by eating everything in sight. My dear 90-pound roommate Mia had ordered an 8-slice Italian Garlic Supreme and left it sitting out earlier that day after only eating only two dainty slices. Peering into the hallway to see if she was around and would notice, I cut a half slice for myself and quietly chewed. I'd never really had chain-restaurant pizza while growing up, so I was amazed to find that the toppings were actually fresh and that the pizza was truly tasty.

The garlic cream sauce was nice and potent, and the crust had that perfect balance between chewy and crunchy. That tiny half-slice turned into a whole slice as I tried to fill the void in my heart.

Next thing I knew I had eaten the entire pizza. So embarrassing, right? Well it gets worse. I got a call from Mia saying that she and her boyfriend were coming back to our apartment soon. I panicked. Not only is eating an entire pizza embarrassing in general, but to have it not be my pizza to begin with and to have eaten it over a baseball player being traded moves past the point of mortification.

I ended up ordering a new pizza, hiding two slices, and pretending like nothing had happened. No joke.

I'm not one to usually advocate for chains, but the Italian Garlic Supreme really is delicious. The delivery guy at the location on Grand Avenue is also adorably awkward. I expect we'll be seeing a lot of each other this semester as comfort food is definitely in order whilst MCAT studying (Hey Paw Paw, did you read that?! COMFORT FOOD.).

Round Tables are everywhere, just look 'em up online: http://www.roundtablepizza.com.

Camino, Oakland

2009-01-12T07:28:00.001-08:00

Wow. To begin with, Camino has one of the most beautiful kitchens I've ever seen. The gorgeous wood burning oven is open to the entire dining room, and they hang herbs from all of the chandeliers so there is always a really nice aroma floating around.

There have been a few complaints that the menu is too limited, but I think it's perfect. There's just enough to cover most palates, yet still just a few dishes so each can be perfected and be comprised of the freshest, most seasonal ingredients.

Cocktails were nothing to write home about (bitters overload!); then again Scotty and I are coming off dinner at Flora. But everything else? Wow.

We started with the crab toast and frisee salad with goose confit/persimmons. The toast was covered in a lump crab meat salad that put Flora's to shame. It was obvious that the crab was fresh and picked from a crab that day because it was so sweet and tender. No canned crab here! The goose confit had great flavor, and melded really well with the bitterness of the frisee and sweet, crunchy persimmons. The salad was also put together nicely...the frisee was already cut into manageable bites and everything was dressed perfectly.

Next we had the wood oven-roasted black trumpet and hedgehog mushrooms with leeks and garlic toast. I loved everything about this course. The broth was delectable, the toast crunchy and chewy, and the mushrooms were packed with flavor.

For mains, we split the grilled rockfish with tepary beans/wild nettles (pea sprouts)/chiles/saffron broth and the grilled/braised pork with sauerkraut, potatoes and mustard. I made the mistake of digging into the pork first. Everything about it was wonderful. The meat practically fell apart on my fork it was so tender and juicy. The potatoes were soft and perfectly cooked (lightly pan fried), and the sauerkraut added a great punch to the flavors. One thing that this kitchen seems to have mastered is seasoning the food. Everything is really nicely salted, almost to the brink of saltiness but never goes overboard. I couldn't stop eating it.

Unfortunately, the strong flavors from the pork made it hard for me to love the fish as much as Scott did. Everything in the fish dish was so delicate that no matter how many swigs of my wine I took, I just didn't get it. I can say though that the fish was really nicely cooked--it flaked apart and practically melted in my mouth. Just take Scott's word for it that the fish was awesome.

Dessert was also impeccable. Scotty couldn't stop eating the persimmon pudding with fresh whip, which is a true accomplishment because he is never a dessert person. It was nicely spiced without being too sweet, and had a rich, thick texture. My favorite dessert was the penko covered ricotta that was then deep fried and drizzled with honey. I don't even really like cheese that much, but these were little bites of heaven. The outside had a really great crunch to it, and the inside was sweet, almost molten ricotta.

Our server was friendly, prompt, and seemed to know a lot about the dishes, which we appreciated. The only thing I'd nitpick about is that the long benches that run down the center of the restaurant are slanted in a way that make it a little uncomfortable to eat. The grand total was also a little higher than I'm used to (about $35 higher than at Wood Tavern, Flora and Corso but maybe we were ultra fattys last night). But, I was distracted from the discomfort pretty quickly due to my amazement at the bathroom hand dryers (no seriously, they are awesome!), and an Elizabeth Falkner sighting that left me pretty star-struck!

Sunnyside Cafe, Albany

2009-01-11T00:35:00.000-08:00

I really didn't understand the hype of this place for the longest time. A friend of mine convinced me to go a few times and it was always 2-3 stars. Until I had the Alameda. Gawd that thing is good.

I don't know who thought to make a savory french toast with a balsamic reduction but whoever did deserves a special place in foodie heaven. Sandwiched between two gigantic slices of french toast is some thinly sliced ham, portabello mushroom, and tomato. It's then topped with two sunnyside-up eggs, hollandaise and a balsamic reduction. Every bite is a delight for my mouth.

Everything else on the menu is pretty underwhelming. I have sometimes gotten swayed by the specials and the fancy mimosas but they've never been worth it.

The Sunnyside Cafe is located at 1499 Solano Avenue in Albany.

Yume, Alameda

2009-01-10T23:38:00.000-08:00

If you are the type who enjoys ordering California Rolls, etc., please read no further and go down the street to Sushi House.

When I was in Japan, my dad's buddy took me out to eat at every fancy pantsy foodie place in Tokyo that we could fit into our schedule. This whirlwind tour included trips for teppanyaki, yakitori, soba with eel tempura, and of course sushi. Since that trip, I'd been unable to eat octopus or eel in the US because I learned in Japan what it's really supposed to taste like.

At Yume, it tastes like my vacation. The unagi truly melts in your mouth and doesn't have the sticky gross consistency of that stuff from the bottle that they use at even the high-end restaurants around here.

My friend Nnekay is right, though, Yume is a terrifying place to eat. But, I've found that it's not too bad if you just accept that you're joining a cult and follow the rules. It's worth it.

A few tips:
-Arrive early, with no more than one other person in tow
-Allow him to order for you; you won't regret it!
-Make sure you're facing his wife when you speak to her, and speak clearly (she's hearing impaired, not rude)
-Don't use soy sauce...The fish is so fresh that it should be eaten unadulterated.

And if anyone knows of a place where you can get REAL soba I will gladly trade that information for my soul.

Yume is located at 1428 Park Street in Alameda (above Three Wishes gift shop).

Flora, Oakland

2009-01-08T11:45:00.000-08:00

"You're scared you're going to cheat on your boyfriend and love it, aren't you?" --Scotty

I came close to loving Flora and ditching my BF Wood Tavern but unfortunately the entrees fell way short. Aside from the entrees, though, eating at Flora was one of the best restaurant experiences I've had in a while.

The cocktails, as everyone has said, are great. There's an extensive menu with lots of classics and new drinks, all of which are delicious. Scotty's a huge fan of the Trailer Smash but I preferred the Salt and Pepper (gin, fresh grapefruit juice, black salted rim). Service, also, was fabulous--friendly, prompt, and helpful. Plus, how can I find any fault in a bartender wearing suspenders? The suspenders go along with the very cool Art-Deco facade and homage to classic Americana vibe.

Scott had the crab salad over arugula to start and I had seared scallops over braised oxtail and risotto. The crab salad had a nice big portion of crab and was very tasty. My scallops were perfectly cooked and the flavors melded nicely. It was one of my favorite dishes of the evening.

The entrees were a different story. Scott had the chicken pot pie with seasonal lettuce. Sorry Flora, but even Marie Calendars makes a flakey bottom crust. The sauce was decent, but the chicken was dry and the crust didn't have enough butter to make fatty happy. The salad was also very unappealing. The lettuce was gorgeous but the dressing was underwhelming and relied too much on the parm grated on top.

I had the steak with kale, potatoes gratin, house made Worcestershire Sauce and horseradish cream. For $30, my steak was way too small (only about 3/4 of an inch thick!) and not properly cooked. I ordered medium rare but half of it was well-done, the other half was medium. Also the house made Worcestershire Sauce tasted like...the stuff from the bottle. Awesome. The potatoes were good, so was the kale, but nothing to really rave about.

Flora's saving grace (I was really unhappy with my steak) was the dessert. Unfortunately for me, Flora is located within a block of my new gym. I already know that I'll be canceling out every single work out with one of their caramel pudding desserts. It's basically a caramel creme brulee but instead of burnt sugar on top there is a thin layer of sea salt, topped with fresh whipped cream. Definitely one of my top five desserts of all time.

Overall, the menu seemed to lack some focus, but I'm definitely going back, and will most likely skip the entrees.

Flora is located at 1900 Telegraph Avenue at 19th Street in Oakland. Reservations can be made by calling (510) 286-0100.

They don't have a website, so here's a link to their Yelp! page: www.yelp.com/biz/flora-oakland

Water Lounge and Raw Bar, Oakland

2009-01-07T03:27:00.000-08:00

Margaret and I went here for a drink before our table at Wood Tavern was ready. I mostly wanted to scout out the place after Scotty stopped working there. Trust me, you don't need to see this place for yourself.

It was totally overpriced, had stingy pours, and unfriendly service. The food we did have wasn't fresh and had no depth of flavor. The ceviche was rubbery and needed salt. It was obvious it had been sitting around for a while because the avocados had all oxidized.

Plus, we've all heard that the owner is super shady. I'm not going back.

Care to spite me? Water Lounge is located at 5634 College Avenue in Oakland.

Wood Tavern, Oakland

2009-01-07T03:06:00.000-08:00

I think the only people who read this are family members but I'm going to tell you for the thousandth time: GO HERE! It's the best restaurant EVER!

This is by far the best restaurant in the East Bay, and it's my favorite restaurant of all time. Real talk. Every time I have gone, the service has been friendly, helpful, and attentive. They pace the courses properly, don't rush the patrons, and the bartender gives generous pours. I can highly recommend any of the cocktails on the menu (they change daily but are always delicious and strong).

The food is always perfectly prepared (I can't stress enough how much I care about properly cooked meat), flavorful, and has lots of depth. Despite the fact that I don't have a paycheck I continue to come back for more. My personal favorites on the menu:

-Butcher Block Sampler: Acme toast with a variety of terrines or smoked meats; the chicken liver pate is to die for, as is the prosciutto-wrapped beer-infused pork terrine.
-Roasted Balsamic Beef Marrow: "meat butter" --Scotty
-Tuna and Fennel Salad with Lemon: refreshing, tasty, with the perfect amount of acid
-Roasted Pork Belly Salad: crispy, melt-in-your-mouth tender
-Chocolate Cake: enough to split between two but you won't want to
-Southie Affogatto: Jameson with espresso ice cream and a shot of espresso
-Polenta Encrusted Halibut: it was served on a bed of sweet white corn cooked with bacon; if it's still on the menu, you must order this

Things that are great but not as good as most things on the menu:

-Seafood stew
-Salmon with leeks
-Get the burger and I will punch you in the face--I'm not kidding, I know where all of my blog readers live. This restaurant has so much to offer; don't insult it by getting a freaking burger.

I've eaten here 5 times now and each time the service has been impeccable; friendly, not intrusive, polite, and attentive with a great sense of humor. The room can get a little loud, but the ambiance is nice and the food has been consistently mind-blowingly good.

Wood Tavern is located at 6317 College Avenue in Oakland, across from the Safeway on College and Claremont.

They are open Monday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., and Sunday from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. They take reservations but are very accommodating to parties of two on a walk-in basis.

Phone: (510) 654-6607
Website: www.woodtavern.net

Corso, Berkeley

2009-01-07T02:59:00.000-08:00

It's Winter Vacation and thank you family I now have some spending money, so it's time to EAT!

I really really really wanted to like this place more. I'll preface this review with the fact that I went to Corso with Scott S., my chef friend and fellow food snob, but unfortunately nothing really impressed us at Corso.

The hostess was very prompt with seating us (thank you, OpenTable!) and the waitress, who was incredibly friendly and laughed at our jokes in a relatively believable manner, recommended a great bottle of wine to go with our eclectic orders. Maybe we had too high of expectations...

We started out with the crostini trio, one of my favorite dishes of the night. One had mascarpone with tomato, another chicken liver, and the third a lobster puree. All were delicious, but a forewarning--if you order this, eat the liver one last, the flavor will linger in your mouth forever. It's great, but not when you're trying out the delicately flavored but wonderful lobster crostino.

Next we split the tripe with cannellini beans/spicy tomato broth and the papardelle with duck/olives. The papardelle was probably the best dish of the evening. The pasta was beautifully rolled and cut, and tasted very fresh. The duck sauce was also very flavorful, with extremely tender meat. The tripe was a total let-down. There were too many beans, not enough tripe, and the "broth" was more of a sauce and had no spice. Scotty has the most delicate, adorable palate when it comes to spice and even he thought it needed pepper. Post parmesean snow storm it tasted okay, but I wouldn't recommend this dish.

Then we had the pizza with funghi that everyone on Yelp has been freaking out about. This better have been an off night otherwise I am just reviewing the wrong restaurant. It's a pizza with a decent crust, but it's covered in sauteed button mushrooms. It is winter...mushroom season...and you give me BUTTON mushrooms?! For $13?!?! Please. Plus, Scotty pointed out that the center of the pizza had gotten a bit soggy; most likely because the mushrooms weren't cooked enough before being added to the pizza, so the water from them got soaked into what had been a decent crust. Ugh.

Last, we had sauteed baby spinach (still had some sand in it--not washed properly, but other than that it was obviously very fresh, good quality spinach) as well as romano beans with pancetta/hazelnuts/mint. The bean dish was actually a very unique, tasty combination, but the beans were totally over-cooked.

For dessert, Scotty had the olive oil cake and I had the poached pear with fresh whipped cream. The olive oil cake left something to be desired. It was a little muted on texture and could have used some rosemary. The poached pear was very visually appealing. They left the skin on, though. While my friend Margaret highly recommended the dish and thought it made it more rustic (I guess...), I guess I just don't really care about rustic when the skin peels off like slimey I-don't-know-what. The sauce had enough brandy for me to get wasted alone, though, so at least that was tasty. So was the pear after I peeled off the skin.

Service overall was very good--they sometimes seemed a little antsy to take our plates away which is a constant annoyance factor of mine, but other than that they paced our dishes relatively well considering how bizarre our ordering was.

At some point I might give this place another shot, but mostly the disappointment in Corso reminded me that I was cheating on my BF, Wood Tavern.

Dear Wood Tavern: I am very sorry that I went out on a date with one of your SF Chronicle food section rivals. It's just that I feel like I have to do all the work in our relationship. You're always busy, I have to take the initiative to call you, and I always have to pay. And what's with us needing to stay at your place every time? That said, I realized how well you treat me when I do call. Please take me back? Love, Kara.

Corso is located at 1788 Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley.

They now take reservations on OpenTable.com, which can be accessed via their website at www.trattoriacorso.com or by phone at (510) 704-8004.

Michelle's Yogurt & Sweets

2008-02-19T20:02:00.000-08:00

Apparently the new cool thing to do is get plain frozen yogurt because it's fat free, sugar free, AND probiotic (whatever that means--Oprah told me to eat it, so I'm doing it). People in LA are all over it and eating Pinkberry like nobody's business. Finally, those of us who are slightly behind the curve and living in NorCal are able to regulate our digestive tracts as well. I read in the Chronicle that Michelle's, the red-headed stepchild of Yogurt Park, is serving something called Mangoberry, a particular brand for this new yogurt fad.

Bored and tired from a workout, my friend Paul and I headed over to try this magical mystery dessert. Despite what the frequently incorrect Yelpers say, the man who works there is super nice and chatted us both up. Another fallacy on Yelp is that the medium size yogurt is tiny. It's not. The medium was the perfect size for me (meaning probably too big for most people).

There's a reason why some people call this style of yogurt "crackberry," because Paul and I could not stop eating it. I ordered it with mixed fruit on top, so I got a big thing of frozen, plain, tangy yogurt with mangoes, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries on top. Yes, the fruit was carefully placed on there, but I think it was more that he was trying to make it look nice, not because he was being stingy (again, you fail, Yelpers).

This puts all other frozen yogurts I've had to shame. It's not overly sweet and doesn't have the artificial taste that most frozen yogurts have. And yet it's absolutely delicious. It was also lighter than most frozen yogurts I've had, again probably because of the lack of sugar.

Anyway, this is a short post because there isn't much else to say. Try this yogurt, it's amazing.

Michelle's Yogurt & Sweets is located across the street from Yogurt Park at 2430 Durant Street in Berkeley.

Little Plearn, Berkeley

2007-12-15T17:21:00.000-08:00

It's about time for a negative review...Andy had never had Thai food before, and Zoey and I were in the mood so we decided to take him out. This was before the days of my distrust in Yelp, so we decided to go to Little Plearn, "the best Thai food in Berkeley!" Little did we know what was in store for us.

I don't care if it was an off-night for their cook, the food that we had was inexcusable, as was the service. The girl who served us seemed to not be able to care less as to what we ordered, and didn't give us any suggestions for food when we asked. Eventually, we went with chicken satay, pad thai, and a chicken curry dish.

After waiting forever, Zoey and I got our Thai iced tea, which was thicker than usual and also sweeter. I was only able to drink about half of it before already starting to feel full.

Then, our underwhelming chicken satay came. Ignoring the annoyingly and borderline retarded couple behind us who kept saying, "oh my god I can't believe how authentic this place is," we dug in.

The chicken was dry and burned on the edges, and totally flavorless. The peanut sauce, which I usually look forward to, was thick and tasted like it had sweet cream in it. Not good. The creamy flavor took over the entire sauce so it didn't even taste like it had peanuts in it. Maybe there was peanut extract, if that exists?

Despite ordering our pad thai "spicy," it was overwhelmingly sweet and had no chili flavor in the slightest. I realize that pad thai is probably the most westernized dish of them all, but the waitress was no help in that area. The noodles stuck together, and there were about a pound of green onions in the dish. Plus, the limes that were served with them were dried up and when squeezed produced nothing.

The last dish that we ordered was a yellow curry with chicken. I've made a similar dish according to what my mom told me to do over the phone ("just throw some curry in a pot with oil and veggies"), and it came out better than this. Again, the sauce was overly sweet and had no spice to it. Aside from a few pieces of chicken, there were maybe three carrots and two bites of potato.

If the sauce had been delicious, that would have been okay, but it wasn't. Even the rice was terrible--it was mushy and stuck together. Yep, we were still hungry, and no, we didn't want to try dessert. Not that we were asked.

The most entertaining part of the night was the fact that we ended up having about three bags of leftovers because none of us could eat the food. Zoey and I felt bad putting it to waste so we thought we'd bag it up and give it to a homeless person. Apparently the homeless in Berkeley aren't hungry--we walked around for about thirty minutes and NO ONE wanted the food.

Thank you, Little Plearn, for a terrible dinner, overpriced food, a little bit of exercise in downtown Berkeley, starting my distrust of Yelp, and a reality check as to the eating habits of the Berkeley homeless.

Left Bank, Larkspur

2007-12-15T16:07:00.000-08:00

It was my birthday a while ago. I made time to go to dinner with Andy but never enough to write about it. Chez Panisse was booked, so Andy asked around work for a good date place and came up with Left Bank, in Larkspur. I was a bit apprehensive because it's a chain restaurant...in Marin...but we went anyway.

The restaurant itself is adorable. It looks like a giant living room with a fireplace and has decorations of cute pigs everywhere. Mmm, bacon. It being in Marin, the bar was packed with bleached blonde 50-somethings with designer bags and botoxed lips, all of them drinking cosmos and lemon drops.

I myself preferred to have a diet coke with grenadine (I know, I know) while we waited for our table. Despite having a reservation, we had to wait for about ten minutes for our table. The hostess wasn't very friendly, but considering how busy the place was, we got seated relatively fast.

Being the good boyfriend to a high maintenance foodie girlfriend, Andy told me to order up. I started out with the Salade Lyonnaise, which had frisee lettuce, a poached egg, croutons, and bacon, and was dressed with a mustard vinaigrette ($8.50). Andy had the Salade Verte, which had butter lettuce, herbs, and a dijon mustard vinaigrette ($7.50).

My salad was delicious but also a recipe for a heart attack. Overall, it was a little bit greasier than I would have liked. I think that the thick-cut bacon could have been drained a little bit before being put in the salad. Because of the excess of fat, the croutons which were otherwise great, got a bit soft. But other than that, the egg was perfectly cooked and wilted the frisee just enough. Andy's salad was good; it was very basic but that's how he likes his food so it was perfect for him.

We also split Moules Florentines, which were steamed mussels in a white wine sauce with spinach ($11.75). By split, I mean that I ate all the mussels, dumped some of the shells onto Andy's plate, and he mopped up the sauce with bread. The mussels were very nicely cooked, but I think that the sauce could have had a bit thicker.

I think our server was new, too, because I had already eaten about half of the dish before he came by with those tiny little forks and plates to put our shells on. I had no problem just using my fingers, and the bread thickened up the sauce and made for another great side dish.

While not overly-impressed with my appetizers and the service, I am going to rave about my entree. Two months later, I still want to go back just to have it. While Andy ordered...wait...take a guess...steak and frites ($18.50), cooked medium-well (of course), I ordered the duck with lentils ($20.50). That duck was worth every penny.

It was cooked just enough so that the meat was juicy and the skin crispy. I got an entire half of the bird, so it was a struggle to finish everything. Even Andy liked it. The skin had a bit of a sweetness to it, almost like it had been cooked with dried cherries, but the sweetness didn't take away from the overall delicious, fatty flavor of the duck.

The lentils were just as delicious. They were cooked a bit al dente, and seemed like they had just been soaked in bacon juice. While they weren't greasy in the slightest, they contained the full flavor of smoked bacon.

I was so full at that point that I couldn't even try Andy's fries or get dessert. This is one of the best ducks I have ever had, and apparently it will only be on the restaurant's fall menu, so I need to get back there soon. Left Bank isn't a cheap place, but it's definitely worth it every once and a while.

Left Bank is located at 507 Magnolia Avenue in Larkspur. To make reservations (which I would recommend), call (415) 927-3331. I believe that the restaurant is a chain, so there are a few other locations that can be found on their website: http://www.leftbank.com/.

They are open on Sundays and Mondays from 11:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and Tuesday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Pho Saigon Restaurant II, Richmond

2007-12-15T16:06:00.000-08:00

I'm on a Vietnamese food kick right now. Not only is it cheap but the food I've had has been some of the most flavorful. I'm in deep need of flavor right now after spending an entire semester stuck in between the cement walls that SF State calls its "student lounge" while eating bagel after bagel because I don't like nacho cheese.

Pho Saigon Restaurant II is located in the Ranch 99 Mall. Unlike the jerks at Daimo, they serve me quickly, act like they understand my order, and give me what I like to eat. I've never had anything else besides Pho from there, because I'm a creature of habit and it's hard to say no to such a great deal. I usually order a medium bowl of Pho with thinly sliced rare steak, well-done brisket, veggies, noodles, and tripe ($4.60!!!). I know, most of you probably don't like tripe (I love it). You can also order it with meatballs or extra steak, depending on what you like.

It takes them about 3 minutes to get my order together and then I am out the door. Even after getting home, the broth is still piping hot (I know because I made it overflow onto my pants one time...It's hot.). In addition to the meat, they give me a big container of hot/sweet chili sauce, Asian basil, bean sprouts, lime, fresh sliced jalapenos, and parsley.

My recommendation is to first put the noodles into the soup so that they can separate. Also, that way one can avoid making the hot soup overflow. I usually put about half of the jalapenos into the soup. Despite looking juicy and delicious, putting all of them can make the soup almost unbearably hot.

Then, I put in the steak one piece at a time--as you have probably figured out by now I hate overcooked meat, and by cooking each piece individually, one can avoid doing so. Eventually, everything gets mixed in, and the flavors meld together perfectly. This is the ultimate comfort food.

Don't go to Daimo! Go here! The food is much better, the people are nicer, and the prices are cheaper! Pho Saigon Restaurant II is located at the Ranch 99 Market off of Highway 80 in Richmond (on the border of El Cerrito). The exact address is 3288 Pierce Street, and the phone number is (510) 528-6388.

They are open Sunday through Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Friday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

The Great China, Berkeley

2007-12-15T14:17:00.000-08:00

And...I'm BACK! After a long hiatus due to the magical mystery that is Organic Chemistry, I am almost done with finals and ready to eat.

After our last lecture of the semester at San Francisco State, my East Bay friend Greg and I decided to go to lunch in Berkeley. We had heard that The Great China had good food, so after some walking around we decided to check it out.

The place was really busy, and there was a sign-in sheet for a table, so we just added our names and stood around. Then, a huge group of people came up behind us, motioned to a waiter that they had five people, and he showed them to a table. We tried waving to him that we were first, but to no avail. I love great service.

Both of us were really hungry at that point, so I ignored growing doubts after some woman on her way out reached into the basket of fortune cookies and said "Gonna get my money's worth," took a few handfuls and shoved them into her purse. That, and I got increasingly concerned after seeing a whole lot of lemon chicken being passed out. At that point, though, we were in way too deep and got a table.

Finally, when we were seated, a waitress just came up to us and said, "Go to the back." Fortunately, the restaurant is pretty small, so it was relatively easy to figure out what she meant. After we sat down, the waiters were pretty quick to bring us a menu and take our order. Both of us went with the lunch special, because it was pretty cheap and seemed to be what everyone else was getting.

I ordered Ma Po Tofu ($6.75) and Greg ordered Bean Curd with Mushrooms and Broccoli($6.75). Service aside, I loved the food. My tofu was spicy and delicious, and both meals came with a huge plate of rice, a side salad, fruit, an egg roll, and a bowl of hot and sour soup. We did have to ask for our waters and attempt to ignore the waiters standing over us while we ate (hoping we'd hurry up--the check was delivered to us with the food), but for a grand total of $13.50 for two, I really feel bad complaining.

Maybe it was because we were in Berkeley that I expected better service. Not that Berkeley is known for having great service, but that I had the assumption it would be better service than that in Chinatown. The Great China is much cleaner than anywhere else in Chinatown, though, and I am always a huge fan of restaurants where I can get cheap food that tastes great. I even had leftovers.

Anytime you are in Berkeley for lunch, I highly recommend coming here. It's a great deal, and the food is delicious. Just imagine that you are going to Chinatown for lunch, but wanted to go somewhere with a usable bathroom. The Great China is located at 2115 Kittredge Street at Oxford Street in Berkeley. For reservations, call (510) 843-7996.

I can't find their hours posted anywhere, but I'd imagine that like most Chinese restaurants they are pretty much open all the time.

Banh Mi Ba Le Vietnamese Sandwich Deli, El Cerrito

2007-09-05T14:56:00.000-07:00

I am officially a student again, and I need more cheap food recommendations, pronto. After reading my latest Bourdain book on BART this afternoon, all I could think about were his vibrant descriptions of Vietnamese food. Knowing there was no way I could afford to even drive to Pho84 not to mention buy food, I headed around the corner to a Vietnamese sandwich shop that I had found on Yelp! (sorry, AP, Civic Center days are Thursdays).

Banh Mi Ba Le has some amazing reviews on Yelp!, and while Yelpers are not always trustworthy, I thought I'd at least give this place a try. It's so hot today that I even walked, not wanting to get into my scorching car. Fortunately, this place is even closer than I thought--2 short blocks away from my apartment!

The sandwich deli is pretty much a hole in the wall of a worn down strip mall on San Pablo at Central. There were three older Vietnamese women standing behind the counter and a bunch of Asian people standing in front of the store, so I assumed it had to be good despite its appearance and headed in.

They serve about ten different types of sandwiches, including BBQ chicken, BBQ pork, vegetables, etc. I decided to order a Cha Siu Sandwich. Scared that it wouldn't be enough food for me after seeing the price ($2.25!), I also ordered a green papaya salad ($3, no seriously).

In about 30 seconds, I was handed a plastic bag containing all of my food, and I quickly headed home to start chomping away. After turning on Oprah, I opened up my lightly toasted sandwich. The baguette was crusty on the outside but oh-so soft on the inside; it was clearly fresh. Inside, a bit of the bread had been scooped away to make room for fresh, brightly colored carrot slivers, daikon, cucumber, jalapenos, cilantro, and of course, sweet BBQ pork.

Despite being full after my ridiculously cheap sandwich, I decided that I wanted to eat more anyway and dug into my salad. The papaya salad had raw papaya slivers, carrots, a little bit of flat leaf parsley, and was topped with shrimp. The dressing tasted of a million flavors at the same time--citrus, vinegar, spice (jalapeno, I think), and sweet. The salad on its own was filling enough, so now I sit here typing this, about to go into a food coma instead of trying to remember how the hybridization of carbon and hydrogen molecules works.

Now I haven't been to the Vietnamese sandwich shop at the Civic Center, but the sandwich I had today has got to be up there. I also unfortunately have not had the green papaya salad from Out the Door, but to be honest, at Banh Mi Ba Le I can walk around the corner, not have to worry about annoying mall patrons, and pay a fraction of the price. I'm sure that the salad at Out the Door is better but if you are a student on a budget, or just feeling like having the cheapest meal of your life, go here.

Banh Mi Ba Le Vietnamese Sandwich Deli is located at 10174 San Pablo Avenue at Central in El Cerrito (near the Pacific East Mall and the El Cerrito Plaza). Here is the Yelp! article that led me to them: http://www.yelp.com/biz/fOBypmZMEJ3GoulOSH-Zxg#hrid:Mc8Ab1le53MzAScYuM3GNg/query:vietnamese

Mangia Mangia, Albany (Part II)

2007-09-03T10:36:00.000-07:00

While my seafood pasta was far from my mind, I couldn't stop thinking about my gorgonzola salad and the souffle. Yes...the souffle. I grabbed Andy and we drove over so I could satisfy my craving.

Mangia Mangia was a lot busier on Friday night. We got one of the last tables available. In addition to my salad and the souffle, I ordered one of the specials, which was a mushroom risotto topped with a filet mignon kebab, shrimp, and garnished with garden vegetables ($16). Andy ordered pasta bolognese (big surprise), for $12.

Let me tell you, my entree made up big time for the disaster I had previously. The vegetables were colorful, crunchy, and tasty on the side. The kebab had a wonderful smoky flavor to it and even though the meat was very thinly cut, it still had a bit of pink inside. Therefore it was juicy, full of flavor, and tender.

The risotto was also very flavorful. It was full of mushrooms and they also put fresh green peas in it. The rice was cooked al dente but still had a very creamy texture (and no, Howie from Top Chef, it didn't need cream to make it good).

So. My new recommendation is to go here and get an entire meal, just don't get the seafood pasta. Go with whatever the waiter/waitress recommends, and hopefully you will be as ecstatic about your meal as I was (Andy will tell you, I couldn't stop raving about my entree).

Now I know you've all read the other review of the souffle but let me tell you, Andy even ate it. "It's like getting a fresh chocolate chip cookie straight out of the oven but having no cookie!" It got to the point where we were fighting over bites because it was so good. Get the souffle. Get it now.

Scott Spencer's House, Piedmont

2007-09-01T12:09:00.001-07:00

I have probably bragged to most of you that my buddy Scott catered my BBQ a little while ago for only $2.50 per person, and that the food was amazing. Well, he is now currently working at Town Hall in San Francisco and decided to spend some of his newly earned money on his friends, cooking a five course meal for eight of us.

As I told Scott, I wouldn't be writing him up in my blog if I wasn't impressed with his food. Instead, I'd just continue reviewing some of the other restaurants I've eaten at and not mention him. Scott really is that good.

In exchange for all of us bringing wine, the occasion being for our friend Kranzthor's last night living in the East Bay, Patton and I showed up at Scott's house in Piedmont at around 7:15. He had already been hard at work all day, planning, prepping, and re-planning our menu. The focus was going to be on using the highest quality ingredients, cooking them perfectly, and arranging them beautifully. I am getting increasingly angry at myself for not bringing a camera to this meal.

All eight of us sat down and took turns playing waiter, bringing in food from the kitchen while Scott cooked. Our first course was two mini-courses. The first that I will describe was an heirloom tomato and watermelon salad with honey champagne vinaigrette. When Scott first told me about this combination, I was really, really skeptical. And wrongly so.

Two ripe heirloom tomato slices, fresh from Scott's garden, were cut into squares and stacked with two slices of sweet, crunchy watermelon of identical size and shape. The green vinaigrette was drizzled lightly on top. Again, reading this you might be doubtful, but somehow the two textures and flavors melded perfectly; the sweetness of the watermelon enhanced the tomato's flavor, and the crunchy watermelon texture contrasted with the tomato's firmness. I couldn't stop eating it, despite the fresh hamachi tuna that sat next to it on my plate.

The hamachi tuna, flown in fresh from Japan that morning, was cut sashimi-style and topped with a smoked salmon beurre blanc flambe. It was my turn to play waiter during that course, so I got to see Scott take a torch and lightly brown the top of the sauce.

The tuna was melt-in-your-mouth good. It had a smooth, sweet but savory taste that one can only understand after having ridiculously fresh fish. The sauce was smooth and tasted strongly of smoked salmon. My only critique on this dish is that I would have liked to have had less sauce on the fish. The two flavors worked together nicely, so I wouldn't want to get rid of all of the sauce, but I would have liked to have had just a dot of it. That way, the salmon flavor would have enhanced the fish and allowed us to really taste the tuna.

Next on the menu was salt and pepper calamari with a fresh tomato and kaffir lime leaf cocktail sauce. My only complaint was that this was on the menu. I do like calamari, but it didn't exactly fit in with the whole feel of the meal. Fresh grilled squid would have fit in fine, but unfortunately, fried calamari was a request by our guest of honor. Needless to say, Scott was up to the challenge of cooking Kranzthor's favorite food. The calamari was lightly dusted in flour and nicely seasoned with salt and pepper. The tomato cocktail sauce had a great kick to it and a really unique flavor from the kaffir lime leaves.

Our third course was one of my favorites: a roasted heirloom tomato tart with caramelized onions, garlic confit, and basil sauce. The tart was very buttery and flaky, one of my favorite textures. Scott said he had been roasting the tomatoes all day, and it showed. They were rich, garlicky, and delicious. Patton doesn't even like onions, but I noticed that she scarfed down her tart just like the rest of us!

My favorite course, however, was the main course--the duck. I've said many times how the only duck I will eat is the Chinese-style roast duck. On Thursday night I added a second duck to my list. The duck breast was seared and served on a bed of baby carrots, artichokes, and green beans with a port and dried cherry mustardo.

Since the duck breast was seared, it stayed very moist. The meat was tender and the skin kept crunchy with just the right amount of fat on it. I thought that the vegetables that Scott chose to prepare it with were also cooked perfectly, and I liked the selection. In many restaurants, I have seen duck served on a bed of spinach, which completely ruins the flavor of the duck and makes the skin soggy.

In this case, the vegetables were lightly cooked, still crunchy, and very colorful. The thing that pulled everything together was the sauce. At first it tasted a lot like hoisin (Chinese plum sauce) sauce, which I have always loved on duck. But then, after another bite, I tasted the tartness of the dried cherries, which just added even more to the flavor. I liked the sauce so much that I even took my vegetables and started dipping them into it.

Our last course was dessert, which was a nilla wafer bread pudding with root beer syrup (homemade!) and homemade vanilla ice cream. This, as with all of the other courses, was delicious. I usually don't even like bread pudding, but this was great! As I shoveled mine into my mouth at record pace I began to get a little embarrassed until I looked around and noticed that everyone else was doing the same thing.

Now here comes the fun part. You can get Scott to cater for you, too! He's the self-proclaimed cheapest caterer/chef in the Bay Area (I can attest to that), who cares more about the integrity of the food and honing his skills than taking your money.

Scott is great at discussing menus and figuring out what works for his client (i.e., "I don't want to spend a lot of money but I want gourmet food." --me). He can be reached via email: mrspencer@gmail.com, but it's probably easier just to call him at (510) 301-2130.

Out the Door, San Francisco (Westfield Mall)

2007-09-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, AP, I finally went. And they were OUT OF THE GREEN PAPAYA SALAD!

Disappointed, I began frantically looking at the menu trying to figure out what to order. My waiter suggested that I try the steak salad; it's his favorite on the menu. Clueless as to anything else on it, I trusted him and ordered an iced tea as well.

Fortunately, the waiter didn't lie. AP, if you get the chance and the green papaya salad is sold out, try the steak salad. It's delicious.

The base of the salad ($13) is a bed of mixed greens covered in a slightly spicy dressing that tastes of ginger and jalapenos. The lettuce is surrounded by sweet orange slices, and the salad is topped with fried taro slivers and thinly cut, rare steak.

While I thought that the dressing was a bit heavy on the salad (as in there was too much), everything else, including the actual flavor of the dressing, was perfect. The steak was tender and just melted in my mouth. It had been seared with some type of sugar on it because the outer crust tasted a bit sweet. The inside, which was still nice and rare, was juicy and tender.

I also loved how the taro chips stayed crispy the entire time it took me to eat the salad. While the slivers were deep fried, they managed not to get soggy or taste greasy.

I enjoyed pretty much everything about my meal at Out the Door. It was a nice escape from the mall, where I was able to be waited on, not rushed out of my seat, and relax after school and shopping.

There are two Out the Doors in addition to the Slanted Door restaurant. The one I went to is in the food court at the Westfield Mall, on the new side. They don't have a website, so I'll link to Yelp!: http://www.yelp.com/biz/fcy_cuoUXrXdcWgQvY4jaw#hrid:WDtWwI6Q58Lhpp28Tm7qFw/query:out%20the%20door

Mangia Mangia, Albany

2007-08-31T18:36:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had one of those days where you are craving pasta but don't feel like cooking it? I know, it's the easiest thing in the world to make but for some reason I just wanted to relax, sit down, and have a gigantic bowl of pasta made for me.

After a long day at school on Tuesday, I decided to go check out Mangia Mangia on San Pablo at Solano. I used to drive by it everyday on my way home from work and had always been curious. In an angry mood from rude, line-cutting commuters, I walked into the nearly empty restaurant. I was greeted by two very friendly waiters and led to a seat facing the door so that I could people watch.

As I sat down, I was brought ice water, a basket of bread, and two different dipping sauces. The first was a tart marinara-like sauce which was okay. The other was a mix of fresh minced garlic, salt, and dried red Italian pepper. By itself on the bread it was very strong, but I soon caught on that the olive oil on the table was there for a reason. Mixed with the good quality olive oil, the garlic mixture took on an entirely new flavor and texture; this time it was a bit softer, lighter, but still had great flavor and heat.

I first ordered a mixed green salad with gorgonzola, pear, and walnuts ($8). It's a somewhat tired salad on most menus, but I still order it frequently, and this was the best version I've ever had. The baby greens (mostly peppery arugula) truly were baby greens--sweet, crunchy, and so small that I didn't even have to use my knife. The pears were soft with just enough crunch and extremely sweet.

One problem that I often have with these salads is that the walnuts are overly sweet and they overpower all of the other ingredients. These walnuts were still sweet, but they weren't caked in sugar and had a very good, natural, but crispy texture to them. I also liked that the chef crumbled up the gorgonzola into smaller pieces and didn't overwhelm the salad with too much of it. Finally, the dressing is very light, and doesn't smother the greens. Instead, it just allows the ingredients to work together and make a great, tasty salad.

Next, I had linguini with seafood in a white wine cream sauce ($13). Unfortunately, even though I came for the pasta, I wasn't thrilled with it. While the pasta itself was cooked nicely, the sauce wasn't very good. It was supposed to be a white wine cream sauce, but the proportions seemed to be a bit off. Wine or cream sauces need to either have a majority of cream or a majority of wine in the sauce. This was about fifty fifty, which led to a watery cream flavored sauce.

On the good side, the seafood was cooked well. I was given a variety of shrimp, scallops, salmon, and mussles. All of it was perfectly cooked, but the salmon flavor took over everything else. Plus, they put some fresh veggies on top which actually made it worse! The problem wasn't with the fresh red and yellow peppers, but with the fact that they put shredded carrot on top. The carrot and the salmon ruined what already was a not very good sauce.

Saddened, I picked out the noodles and seafood and ate them individually. When I was about halfway finished with my meal, the waiter came up and asked if I would be interested in having their famous chocolate souffle. Since they make it to order (and it's entirely worth it, said my waiter), the souffle should be ordered about 15 minutes prior to the end of a meal. I gave in, and it was worth it.

The souffle ($8) comes to the table in a little ramekin on a plate, drizzled with chocolate sauce and sprinkled with powdered sugar. It is delicious. Please ignore my review of the pasta, and just go to get the souffle (and the salad if you are feeling healthy). It will be worth it for you, too.

The chocolate flavor isn't too sweet or too rich so as to make the souffle impossible to eat. Instead, it is just perfect. It has about five different textures to it as well. On top, it has a little bit of crunch where the cake has had a chance to harden a bit. In the middle, there is molten chocolate which I kept burning my tongue on because I wanted to eat it fast. Just outside of the liquid center is gooey, sticky batter. Lastly, on the outermost section on the bottom is spongy, light, chocolate cake. Seriously, get the souffle.

Mangia Mangia is located at 755 San Pablo Avenue in Albany. They take reservations at (510) 526-9700.

Their website isn't working, but to see a photo of the souffle and read reviews that aren't nearly as well written as mine, see Yelp!: http://www.yelp.com/biz/mmU8dN3D6TWCesGPdxC1gg#hrid:B0opWjwtw-nbOJvhxUK_1g/query:mangia

Noodle Theory, Oakland

2007-08-07T20:12:00.000-07:00

Noodle Theory is a relatively new place on College Avenue that my dad (who is THE best dad ever and just brought his ailing daughter--me--soup!) pointed out to me one day. Being the food critic that I am, he asked if I had been there. Of course the answer was "no," but it did peak my interest. So, the other night I was out with two rather adventurous, food-snob buddies of mine (Margaret and Misha), and we had no idea what to eat. As we drove by, I suggested we at least take a look at the menu.

The menu for Noodle Theory is probably what a food critic would call "Asian Fusion." There seems to be an emphasis on using Japanese style noodles with Chinese flavors. In typical Berkeley fashion all of the meat seems to be organically and sustainably raised, which is something we don't see in Chinatown every day. Everything is under $10, which is fair for the noodle dishes, but a bit over-priced for the appetizers, which ranged from about $6 to $8 for only six dumplings.

It's a pretty small restaurant, with only about six tables, and an open kitchen. We were seated right away, which seemed to be lucky because about halfway through our meal there was a crowd hanging out at the door.

The waitstaff was casual but very friendly, and immediately brought us a small appetizer of edamame with oyster sauce-like stuff drizzled on top. Since Margaret was there, we had no choice but to order potstickers. Misha doesn't eat pork, so we went with the steamed shrimp and Chinese chive dumplings with Chinese black vinegar ($8.50).

The dumplings were good, but a bit too heavy on the chives instead of shrimp. It was actually very similar to that one dim sum dish with the onions and garlic inside a translucent noodle. Good, but not my favorite, especially since I know I can get basically the same thing only bigger and for a quarter of the price.

As for our entrees, Misha ordered the grilled salmon over mixed greens with thin soft wheat noodles in a wasabi miso vinaigrette. I was in food critic mode that night so I actually tried it, and quite enjoyed the dish. Everything melded together really nicely and the fish was perfectly cooked. Misha seemed to suffer a bit from entree envy later on, though, so I'd recommend getting it as an appetizer.

I ordered spicy braised pork belly over ramen noodles ($8). Since coming back from Japan I have found the coveted eringii mushrooms (available in the mushroom aisle at Berkeley Bowl), but have yet to find a good bowl of Japanese-style noodles. Unfortunately, this was still not the place, but they made the best effort that I've tried so far. The broth was relatively spicy and had lots of flavor, and the pork was cooked nicely and not dried out.

The reason I want to go back to Noodle Theory is because of Margaret's dish. Though it was on the specials list, I am under the impression that it's served rather frequently. She got duck breast over flat rice noodles (fun noodles) with a yellow coconut curry sauce ($9.50). The duck was cooked just like Chinese duck, so it had a nice crispy skin and a good amount of fat on it.

Duck aside, it was the sauce that stood out--it was amazingly flavorful, enough so that I wanted to trade with Margaret (hence, I suffered from entree envy as well). It was a lot similar to the curry sauce that we get at Pho84 with the fried snapper.

My only complaint was that the noodles weren't cooked quite right. In Chinatown, they seem to have mastered the ability to cook fun noodles without making too many of the noodles stick together. I'd imagine that this feat involves using quite a bit of grease, which these noodles didn't have, so it was probably for the best.

As we were finishing up our meals, our server began to take away our dishes as we finished them. Originally when I came into the restaurant I just thought that there were a lot of couples going out to eat where only one of them was hungry. No, it turns out that while the waitstaff is very friendly and quick, they happen to practice one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to service: taking away plates from diners before they the rest of their party is finished. That aside, I had a very nice experience at Noodle Theory, and I am eventually planning on going again, just to get the duck.

Noodle Theory is located on the corner of College and Claremont, at 6099 Claremont Avenue, in Oakland. They are open every day except Tuesday, for both lunch and dinner.

Lunch hours are 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., except on Sunday when they are 12:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Dinner is 5:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

To order out, call (510) 595-6988.

Chow, San Francisco

2007-07-21T22:59:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know the reason I was so MIA last week, it was because I was attending an HIV Counselor Training Course in San Francisco. Not knowing the area, I was at the mercy of my training group during lunch when it came to finding a good restaurant. Fortunately, most of them knew the area pretty well and suggested that we eat at Chow.

Chow has a pretty eclectic menu that includes linguini with pesto, fennel and sausage pizza, hamburgers, salads, and ribs. My eyes, as well as three others' were immediately drawn to the daily sandwich: Crispy Soft Shell Crab. For only $9.95, I got an entire soft shell crab, battered in cornmeal, fried, and put on a buttered roll. Not exactly the healthiest lunch, but it was delicious.

The sandwich was garnished with tomato, lettuce, avocado, and lemon-herb mayo. I was given a choice of fries, salad, or soup. Supposedly the fries are amazing, but since I was at a health-related function, I optioned for a side salad.

My sandwich was very tasty, but I would probably get it without the avocado and mayo next time. The roll is heavily buttered, and in addition to the mayo, it takes too much away from the soft shell crab. However, overall it was a very tasty and affordable sandwich.

In addition to the food, the atmosphere is really laid back and the servers are friendly. If you are ever in the Castro, I'd definitely recommend this place as a fun, affordable, and good place to eat!

Chow is located at 215 Church Street at Market.

Zatar, Berkeley

2007-07-15T17:12:00.001-07:00

Apologies, living without an income is harder than I thought--I think my mother's influence is forcing me to not eat out as much as I can afford to. Fortunately, Margaret realized last week that she owed me money, and what better way to repay me than taking me out to her favorite Mediterranean restaurant?

Zatar is a very very small family-owned restaurant in Berkeley. When I say family, I'm not kidding, someone even had their baby sitting in the kitchen while they cooked. Despite occasional crying from the back of the restaurant, it was still a very enjoyable meal.

They focus on providing fresh, authentic, organic food with sustainably raised meat and vegetables. There are rumors that all of their vegetables are grown in the family's garden ("or just a really high quality purveyor and they let the rumors run wild" --Margaret). Zatar is continually busy as they are only open Wednesday through Saturday.

Since we got there right at 5:30, there wasn't a wait, but by the time we finished our meal, there was a rather large group waiting outside. Margaret said that they only take reservations for parties of six or more, so our strategy was to just show up early. Plus we were hungry.

One nice thing about showing up early was that we were able to get one of the best tables in the entire restaurant. In the front, there are two tiny booths that only fit two people. They are well cushioned with pillows everywhere. Also, since the restaurant is family-owned and family-run, the service seemed like it could be a bit slow when it gets busy. I never saw more than two waitresses the entire night, so just for the purpose of getting good service, I'd recommend showing up as early as possible.

Every meal starts out with their signature dish, which is also called "Zatar." We were served a basket of warm whole wheat pita bread along with a plate with a pinch of herbs in the middle of it. After putting it on our table, the waitress poured olive oil over the herbs and explained that we were to use it as a dip. The pita was great, the seasoning mild but it definitely got my appetite going.

Margaret ordered a mint lemonade to start, which was absolutely delicious. As I sit here writing this, I am reminded of how much I regret not getting one. It was icy, refreshing, and not too sweet. We also split a calamari appetizer.

For the first time in a long time, we ordered calamari and it was not battered and fried! A miracle! Fresh squid was served on top of a bed of peppery arugula with huge white beans, and drizzled with a vinaigrette dressing.

Next came our entree. Originally we were drooling over all of the meat dishes and eventually decided to try everything by getting the "Kebab Feast for Two." We were served a huge dish of rice that had a slight lavender flavor to it. On top of that was an array of grilled vegetables, including cauliflower, squash, green beans, and carrots. Surrounding the rice were hunks of grilled chicken, steak, and lamb patties. There was a yogurt-dill sauce on the side for dipping.

My favorite meat was probably the lamb patties, although every single piece of meat that I ate was perfectly cut. The lamb was ground up, and then put into a patty with fennel seeds, which really enhanced the flavor. I liked that they used ground meat as well because it made the meat leaner without losing much flavor. Even the chicken, which has a tendency to dry out, was beautifully cooked and still moist.

Next was Margaret's favorite part of the meal. Unfortunately they were out of creme fraiche gelato that night, so we had to change our choices ("You're on your own for this one, I'm getting an entire dessert to myself." --Margaret).

I ended up going with a date and toasted walnut ice cream. Unfortunately, the ice cream was already really sweet, so the added sugar from the date made it overpoweringly so. Margaret fared much, much better. She had an apricot tart made from phyllo dough with mascarpone cheese on the bottom. As scared as I was to try the cheese, it was delicious.

To top things off, we had hot water infused with mint and lemon. It wasn't too sweet or overpowering, so it was a nice way to finish off our meal.

I learned a few things at Zatar: 1) Chicken breast does not always have to be dry; 2) I have the capability of liking cheese in a dessert, but no that does not mean I'm going to try cheesecake anytime soon; 3) It's a great idea to have Margaret owe you money--she pays back in the most wondrous ways.

Zatar is located on the northwest corner of University and Shattuck (1981 Shattuck). To make a reservation for a party of 6 or more, call (510) 841-1981. They also have a website: http://www.zatarrestaurant.com.

The restaurant is open for lunch from Wednesday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and for dinner from Wednesday through Saturday, 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Please help the WCC!!!

2007-06-15T19:13:00.001-07:00

I normally don't do this, and I'm sure that PAP smears are the last thing you want to think about when looking at a food blog. However, desperate times call for desperate measures.

At one point in my life I was a huge advocate for Gavin Newsom. Mostly because he is hot but also because he spoke at the UCSF Young Women's Health Conference and consistently donated money to the Women's Community Clinic. Unfortunately, his hotness does not trump the fact that he cut the Women's Community Clinic out of his budget this year!

In one fell swoop, the clinic that I volunteer at, the WCC, lost 20% of its funding. We are all actively writing and emailing the San Francisco Budget Committee members.

Before I go into how I would LOVE you all to help, let me tell you a bit about the clinic that Mayor Newsom so heartlessly cut the funding for.

The Women's Community Clinic, known well in my family for creating the uterus sweatshirt that I wear everyday, is a FREE reproductive health clinic in San Francisco that provides personal, client-centered, informative care to all uninsured women who walk through our door (or younger women who do not want to go through their insurance for confidentiality reasons).

Not only is everyone at the WCC committed to providing exceptional care to our patients, they also put an extraordinary amount of effort into the training of their volunteers. I, as a volunteer at the clinic, have undergone over 40 hours of reproductive health training, which allows me to do client intake, teach women about birth control options, and provide information regarding sexually transmitted infections. Soon, they will be paying for me to go to a week long training in San Francisco that will get me state certified to counsel for and administer HIV tests.

During my training with the WCC, I learned a lot about meeting clients "where they are at" and about providing information to clients in a non-judgmental way. Our passion for our clients' health even seems to rub off on them, just take a look at our Yelp! page:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/CojgU6g_ApTlfgPmkwWmqw

We also have a website:

http://www.womenscommunityclinic.org/

Now, on to what you can do to help:

If you live in San Francisco, find out who your supervisor is by visiting http://www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_index.asp?id=4385 or Google: San Francisco Board of Supervisors District Information. Then, please write them a letter and send it via snail mail AND email. Please see below for a sample letter.

Even if you don't live in San Francisco (I don't but I'm writing anyway!), please write a letter and send it via snail mail AND email, to Supervisors Chris Daly, Tom Ammiano, Bevan Dufty, Ross Mirkarimi, and Sean Elsbernd. These supervisors are all members of the Budget Committee. If you write to Ross, please start by thanking him for all of his support of the Women’s Community Clinic.

And now, a sample letter. Please feel free to just copy this, or add whatever you like. When sending emails, please copy all emails to our Clinic Director, Carlina Hansen, at carlina@womenscommunityclinic.org. If you need stamps, please contact me and I will gladly set you up with a set of envelopes and stamps:

[Date]
[Supervisor Name]
1 Carlton B Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102

Dear Supervisor,

I am writing to urge you to restore funding to the Women’s Community Clinic in the amount of $202,785. I am a (supporter, patient, volunteer, board member, staff person) at the Women’s Community Clinic. This funding was approved by the Health Commission to be awarded every year for 4.5 years starting in 2006. Despite this approval, this funding has been cut after one year. [Information about your relationship to the Clinic here and why the City should support us]. The loss of these funds will seriously endanger the 4709 health care visits we provide with this funding to women who would otherwise lack access to care.

The Clinic is providing a vital service to the community by providing free health care services to approximately 2000 women per year and harm reduction based street outreach services to approximately 500 women each year. The Women’s Community Clinic has provided these services to the community since 1999. Each year the Clinic has grown in the number of women they see and in the services that they offer. The Clinic serves women who lack health insurance, 60% of whom fall below 100% of the federal poverty level and the remainder of whom fall below 200% of federal poverty level. The majority of these women fall between the ages 20-35 and their only access point for health care is the care they receive for their sexual and reproductive health needs. The Clinic provides 5000 appointments per year to 2000 women – for many of our clients, the Clinic is their primary care provider. The Clinic is a vital access point for these women to receive much needed care – care that would otherwise be deferred and fall on the City to provide. In many cases, the Clinic is saving women from costly visits to the SFGH emergency department.

The Clinic prides itself on its resourcefulness and peer based, client centered model of care. It relies on over 100 volunteers to provide health care services. Volunteers come from all over the community and are health care providers; RNs, NPs, MDs and acupuncturists in addition to lay volunteers who provide outreach services, health education and act as medical assistants and medical office administrators. They donate more than $300,000 in time each year! Clients consistently comment on how amazing these women are and over 97% of our clients rate their experience at the Clinic as “Excellent” or “Very Good.”

While the Women’s Community Clinic has been successful in fundraising from private sources and leveraging volunteer support, they would NOT be able to do what they do without the support of the City. They receive NO other City funding; the City should support agencies that are efficiently run and who can maximize the return on the City’s investment. They rely heavily on these funds to provide direct health care services to women. I urge you to support this funding being added back to the City’s budget. This is a time that the City is sending a clear statement to the public that health care for the uninsured and underinsured is a priority, it is NOT the time to de-stabilize our provider network. I urge you to continue to manifest this commitment and to support the Women’s Community Clinic in its provision of health care services to women in need.

Sincerely,

[Your Name and affiliation, if appropriate]

Cocina Poblana, Emeryville

2007-06-03T17:05:00.000-07:00

Cocina Poblana is a relatively new restaurant in Emeryville, on the corner of 65th and Hollis. I had passed it a bunch of times while driving from Nolo to the Women's Community Clinic. When they started advertising a happy hour, my friends Anna, Heather, and I decided we'd continue on with my unemployment celebration.

We were seated almost immediately, but it took about fifteen minutes for us to be able to order our food. To add to the wait, the hostess was unable to tell us anything about the drink selection, and when my margarita came it had a hair in it!

When we finally were able to order, Heather got the Ensalada Poblana ($7), with Romaine lettuce, a full serving of grilled chicken, avocado, Mexican cheese and black beans. Not the most exciting order ever, but Heather seemed to really like it. Plus, the portion was huge. I wasn't totally in wannabe food critic mode, so no, I did not try it. Sorry.

I ordered two appetizers, the ceviche ($8) and taquitos poblanos with beef ($6). The ceviche was made with shrimp, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and cilantro. This wasn't my favorite dish because it lacked a ton of flavor. Plus, the veggies were kind of overwhelming; when I get ceviche I want there to be a ton of seafood in it.

The taquitos, however, were out of this world. I ordered them "crispy with beef" and got three mini corn tortillas filled with stewed beef, Mexican cheese, cabbage, and salsa. The beef practically melted in my mouth and had amazing flavor. While not enough food for an entire meal, I was totally full after eating about half of the ceviche and my taquitos.

Anna also had trouble finishing her food--she got a gigantic serving of steak fajitas ($12); enough for two meals. The steak was seasoned with garlic, and garnished with all of the regular fajita fixings.

All in all, I want to go back to this place just to have that stewed beef again. The service and the ceviche leave something to be desired, but the prices and the food, overall, were great. Cocina Poblana has only been open for about a year, so I want to give them the benefit of a doubt.

Do give it a try and let me know what you think!

Cocina Poblana is conveniently located at 1320 65th Street in Emeryville. They even have breakfast, and are open from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and until 9:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Happy hour is from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

They also have a website: http://www.cocinapoblana.com/.

Cafe Gratitude, Berkeley

2007-05-22T10:11:00.000-07:00

Guest Wannabe Food Critic (I actually conned her into writing this): Zoey! Zoey is my younger sister who is currently a student at Cal. I think she's becoming a better writer than I am.

“We invite you to step inside and enjoy being someone who chooses: loving your life, adoring yourself, accepting the world, being generous and grateful everyday, and experiencing being provided for. Have fun and enjoy being nourished. Welcome to Café Gratitude.”

In commemoration of my friend Theo’s 20th birthday, a group of us shared a table at Café Gratitude in Berkeley for a “celebration of aliveness.” The restaurant boasts organic ingredients that “honor the earth and ourselves” and food that “is prepared with love.” When invited, I had no idea what kind of restaurant it was. Running late, with double chocolate cake in hand (from Virginia Bakery), I bolted through the door to find a half-dressed pregnant woman swinging her blonde dreadlocks to the music, the overwhelming scent of wheatgrass being grinded, and Theo adorned with all his friends sitting around a shared table.

Café Gratitude is a vegetarian restaurant that specializes in organic, vegan (no animal products – this includes eggs and milk), and live foods (food, drinks, and supplements that have not been heated above 115 degrees Fahrenheit). However, the young coconut is not always organic; you must ask – how dare they? The soups are served warm, the pizza not baked, and the coffee cold pressed.

They encourage you to share tables and to read through their very extensive menu. Everything is labeled with a clever and yet embarrassing titles of gratitude: “I am Heroic” gets you a quinoa salad tossed with parsley, mint, and cucumbers served with a lemon dressing ($8). “I am Fabulous” is a faux pad thai made of kale noodles (thinly sliced raw kale), cucumbers, tomatoes, sprouts, teriyaki almonds, and almond butter thai sauce ($12). “I am Rich” provides you with a mixture of orange, carrot, beet, and lemon juice ($7).

To order, the server asked me a pleasant “how are you feeling today?” to which I responded an embarrassing “I am sensational and beautiful.” For those of you who have not memorized the entire six page menu, I ordered a live pesto pizza ($10) with fresh basil hemp seed pesto sauce and olive tapenade served on a buckwheat and sunflower seed flatbread (raw toast) sprinkled with cashew ricotta and brazil nut parmesan (grated nuts). I also had a creamsicle milkshake ($7.50) with orange juice and vanilla soft serve (made of organic nut milk, dates, and vanilla bean).

The food took an incredible amount of time to prepare considering there was no cooking, baking, or steaming involved. When my server returned she looked at me and announced in an overly enthusiastic voice, “you are sensational and beautiful!” and set down my pizza and milkshake in front of me. The pizza resembled two slices of hearty bread sprinkled with chopped tomatoes, sprouts, and grated nuts. The mixes of “cheeses” and bitter sprouts combined with stiff bread made it incredibly hard for me to enjoy ingredients that I usually find so decent on their own--cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, and brazil nuts. It was hard to chew and even harder to swallow. The milkshake seemed to be a refreshing break from my jaw workout of a pizza, but I was left with an uncomfortable, unpleasant nutty and gritty aftertaste.

In honor of Theo’s birthday the host, servers, and “cooks” sang an enthusiastic “happy birthday” – taken from the Beatles’s rendition – and presented him with a free slice of raw cake. Although we had prepared to eat the chocolate cake from Virginia Bakery, it was cooked and therefore not kosher to eat on Café Gratitude’s untarnished plates and flatware. Sad.
After wiping my mouth on my 100% recycled hemp napkin I left Café Gratitude having survived my dining experience somewhat unscathed. I felt ripped off having spent $17.50 for an uncooked meal that resembled rabbit food and left me with my stomach grumbling, but happy with myself for being able to plug my nose and down my entire smoothie.

If I am to recommend something, maybe a salad is a safe bet. Although I entered the restaurant with “I am Sensational” and “I am Beautiful,” I left with the following feelings:

I am not satisfied.
I am not fulfilled.
I am not celebrating.
I am not as “Berkeley” as I thought.
But, I am beautiful.

Café Gratitude is located at 1730 Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley (one block from the not so certified organic Virginia Bakery). It is open 10 AM to 10 PM everyday.

Fonda, Berkeley

2007-05-19T19:30:00.000-07:00

Back by popular demand (yes, that means you, Andy McClary and Enghin Atalay!). Oh yeah, I'm also unemployed (by choice) for the next 3 months, have a ton of money saved up (thank you Aaron), and Margaret is coming back into town--which means that there are many more food reviews to come.

To celebrate my last day of work, I went out with my friend Heather (also a former Noloid). We had no idea where to eat but we wanted to feel somewhat healthy. Though not the healthiest choice in the world, I do feel better about myself when I eat small plates as opposed to a big honking hamburger; hence, we chose Fonda.

Fonda is a restaurant owned by the same group that runs Jimmy Beans (no! don't do it!), Sea Salt, Lalime's, and T-Rex. It's a "Berkeley Upscale" restaurant with a full bar that serves tapas, or small plates. I had eaten at Fonda once before when I started at Nolo and I was really impressed with their drinks and seafood. So, amping up for a new month of reviews, we headed in.

We started out with some chips, salsa, and guacamole ($6). It's simple, but the salsa is very good and the guacamole looked and tasted very fresh. The chips are even cooked up in the restaurant, and came to the table hot, crispy and salty. They make the chips out of thick corn tortillas so they have a really satisfying crunch.

To accompany our appetizers, we each got Mojitos ($9)--Heather got a ginger Mojito and mine was classic. Fonda was actually written up in the Chronicle for their cocktails, and for once I'm not arguing with them on an opinion. My Mojito was perfectly mixed, not too strong, and had a ton of fresh mint.

Next we ordered a salad, trying to be somewhat healthy. The salad was basically a Latinized Caesar, with crisp romaine, crunchy asparagus and Manchego cheese with a garlic lemon dressing ($7). It was very tasty and rather filling despite the dressing being light and citrus-based (no creamy dressing here!).

We had trouble deciding between the two seafood dishes ($13). On the lunch menu, there is a tuna tartare with avocado, or a halibut dish. Since the tuna tartare is a staple on both the menu at Fonda and at Sea Salt, we decided to go with the halibut, which is more seasonal. The halibut is served cooked with corn tortillas and grilled green onion so that we were able to make little tacos out of it. The fish looked like it would be too heavily spiced, because it was a really dark red, but it turned out to be spiced perfectly. There was a really hot salsa on the side that was too much for Heather, but I thought it added a lot to the taco.

My biggest pet peeve with fish is that it is often overcooked. Believe me, I know overcooked (boyfriend Andy!). This halibut was cooked wonderfully and flaked apart in my mouth. Because the onion was grilled, it also lent a really smokey flavor to everything.

The last dish that we ordered was the Torta Alambre ($12). My Spanish being incredibly weak I completely flubbed and didn't realize that this was a sandwich, but it ended up being pretty good. Inside a toasted and pressed roll, they had grilled skirt steak with bacon, black beans, rajas, and cheese. For tapas, it was huge, and served with more chips.

While it was good, I would say that it was my least favorite out of all the things we ordered. The steak could have been a bit more rare and sliced into smaller pieces. There could have also been a little more bacon in the sandwich. It wasn't a bad course, I just think it sounded better on the menu than it actually tasted.

Very very full at this point, Heather and I took a dive and decided to order dessert as well. I ordered the sliced mango with lime ($6) and Heather ordered the tamarind creme brulee ($7). I'm usually very nervous about ordering fruit at upscale restaurants because I pretty much know that I'm going to get ripped off. However, yesterday it was hot outside and I had already drank two Mojitos, so I was game for anything. Fortunately, they did anything but rip me off with the mango. We received an entire pint glass that was overfilled with juicy, sweet strips of mango with a hint of lime. Considering how expensive mangoes were the other day when I went to the grocery store, I'd say we got our money's worth. There were at least two to three mangoes stuffed into the glass.

The creme brulee was also great. It had a really nice orange rind flavor to it and a beautiful, thick sugar crust on top. The custard inside was not overly sweet which is a common issue with creme brulee. It was served with pie-crust cookies.

Heather and I both had to roll out of our booth because we were so full. The grand total was $90. Keeping in mind that $40 of that was for drinks, I think that we got a great value for our lunch. Plus, I didn't need to eat dinner after such a huge meal.

I'd definitely recommend this place for a good night out. The atmosphere is really nice, the service is relaxed and the food is tasty.

If you want to try Fonda, they are located at 1501 Solano Avenue in Albany. For reservations, call (510) 559-9006. They also have a website: www.fondasolana.com.

O Chame, Berkeley

2007-04-09T21:40:00.000-07:00

There was a long wait at Bette's and my friend Rachel and I were anxious to try something new. Feeling like traitors, we walked across the street from our weekly brunch spot and looked at the menu for O Chame. O Chame is consistently ranked in the Chronicle's Top 100 list, and everyone online seems to rave about their udon noodle soup. I should have known better than to trust the Yelpers, but I figured that of all people, Michael Bauer had to have decent taste when it came to restaurants.

The restaurant is very cute. They use very unique, thick, beautiful pottery for every dish. Everything is very well thought out when it comes to aesthetics. Rachel and I decided to go big and have a tuna sashimi appetizer. For the main course, she went with udon noodles with shrimp, seaweed and sprouts, and I ordered soba with pork tenderloin, radishes and spinach (I'm not a big udon fan, I prefer soba. Good soba. Katsumi said it's an Asian thing.)

The tuna appetizer was not only presented well, but tasted amazing. The tuna was actually lightly seared and cut into thin, but not too thin, bite size pieces. It was served on a bed of braised leeks with a horseradish/mayo sauce. I loved this dish. The tuna was so soft it almost melted in my mouth. It was obvious that the chef knew how to properly cut fish. Often in the U.S. when I go out for sashimi, the pieces are so big that I have to bite them in half, and then sometimes the fish isn't cut properly/isn't totally fresh so it's more chewy than it should be. This fish was not only fresh but it was cut perfectly.

I think I would have enjoyed that dish even more if it had a bit less of the horseradish sauce. While I really enjoyed it, it overwhelmed the fish and made me concentrate solely on the burning sensation in my nose. Still, this is definitely a recommended dish. The main courses, however...

Let me tell you about the soba and udon that I had in Japan. I had it served two different ways. At the upscale restaurant that we went to with Katsumi, I had cold soba noodles, where the soba (made fresh at the restaurant, daily) was lightly cooked, then drained on a basket, served cold with a bowl of salty, hot, highly seasoned soup. The noodles, which still have a bite to them since they haven't been sitting all day in soup, get dunked into the soup one bite at a time. Same with the udon--the noodles might be thick and almost work like but even they have a tiny firmness to the middle of them.

In Japan I tried hot soba. At the airport. For about ten U.S. dollars, including tempura, rice, tea, radishes, and soup side dishes, I got hot soba noodles in soup. They weren't bad. They weren't mushy but they didn't have much bite to them, and the flavor of the noodle wasn't as distinct as it was at the upscale place. Not bad, but considering I got tempura and rice along with everything else, I wasn't going to complain. Besides, it was better than anything we'd get at a U.S. airport.

Flash forward to O Chame. My soba came hot. It was beautifully presented, with the bright green spinach all on one side, the perfect round slices of pork tenderloin in the middle and radiant yellow radishes on the other side. Rachel's was also gorgeous. The noodles looked more like linguini noodles, but they were all nestled in the bottom, covered with pink shrimps floating on top, surrounded by dark green seaweed.

Now keep in mind that my expectations were already kind of low, considering the waitress said that they don't even make their noodles fresh at the restaurant (what restaurant, known for noodles, doesn't make them??), but both of us were extremely disappointed in our dishes.

First of all, my noodles were practically soggy, as if they had been sitting in the soup for fifteen minutes. Either that, or maybe the noodles just weren't quite the proper consistency when they were made. Or, they may have been over boiled since they were most likely pre-made and dried instead of cooked fresh. Rachel said that her udon noodles were also soggy, and that she didn't like the texture. Though she hasn't gone to Japan before, the udon that she is accustomed to is what I know--fat. These linguini-like atrocities practically broke as she applied pressure on them with her chopsticks.

The accompanying veggies and meat in my soup didn't help either. The radishes weren't bad, but didn't do much for me in the flavor department. They were rather bland. The spinach was...boiled spinach. The pork tenderloin was edible but not the Japanese style that I was expecting.

Every time that I ordered pork in noodle soup at a Japanese restaurant, it would come in very thin, bite sized pieces, with a small section of fat on the end for flavor. It was grilled first, to get the juices flowing and then put on top of the soup.

Maybe it's the California influence, but this pork tenderloin had no fat on it, it was about a half inch thick, and needed to be eaten in about two bites. It also tasted like it had just been boiled instead of grilled, because it was pretty dry and didn't have any flavor. When I tried dunking it for long periods of time into the soup, it didn't really do anything since the soup was so delicate in flavor (but tasty-probably the best thing about the whole dish), and the meat was so thick that the soup couldn't permeate it to make it juicier.

This stupid noodle dish cost me $12 alone.

Everyone who recommends this place is crazy. Were you thinking about recommending this place to me? If so, you are crazy too. The noodles that they are known for aren't even fresh and they don't cook them well. If I had to go back, I wouldn't be upset about ordering from the appetizer section and maybe relaxing and admiring the pottery, but I would be upset if I had to foot the bill for anything on their soup list. Perhaps Bette's Diner was sending us bad traitor vibes from afar, but I'm skeptical.

Doubting me? Try it yourself. I'll be across the street enjoying my Maryland Breakfast with crispy potatoes, nicely seasoned corned beef and runny eggs:

O Chame is located in the 4th Street area, at 1830 4th Street in Berkeley, CA.
Phone reservations can be made by calling (510) 841-8783

The restaurant is open for lunch, Monday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Dinner is served Monday through Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Friday through Saturday from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

They also have a website: http://www.themenupage.com/ochame.html

Bucci's, Emeryville

2007-03-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about working at Nolo is that they constantly feed us. Once a month, there is a randomly selected group called "The Lunch Bunch" that goes out to eat on Nolo's dollar. I was one of the lucky selectees this month. I voted that we go to Cafe Rouge or Eccolo, two restaurants that I have always wanted to try, but unfortunately was out-voted by the group. We went to Bucci's in Emeryville instead.

The place came highly recommended by everyone who was going, so I had some hope that it would be good. The decor was really nice, so that got my hopes even higher. Unfortunately, it was downhill from there.

First of all, they served us a plate of bread and olives, but didn't even give us bread plates. I wanted to eat the bread with what the Yelpers say is the best olive oil in town, but there was no way to really do so. Everyone at our table basically just stared at the bread until our food came. To add to the madness, the CEO of our company came. He's a really great guy and very laid-back, but the fact that he's the CEO made it kind of difficult, as we all had to play the food ordering game (figuring out how he's ordering so we can figure out how much we can all get).

The service was okay. They were good at remembering to refill my water glass, but our waitress was very short and abrupt, as if she just wanted to turn over the table. When David (the CEO) started going over a practice presentation, she kept staring at us as if we were over staying our welcome. As if? We were, I guess.

I took the queue from everyone else and just ordered a main course. The menu itself is really simple, and not in a good way. I was very unimpressed. They had basic Italian style food that you can get at any run of the mill restaurant (i.e. spaghetti with sausage, linguini with clams, etc.), but in tiny portions, for no less than $15 a plate. Supposedly they did fish well, so I ordered the Alaskan halibut with aioli.

The fish itself was okay, but everything else around it was a nightmare. The fish was put on a bed of sliced mushrooms, halved cherry tomatoes, spinach, and sliced red potatoes. The combination of all of them together was okay, but nothing new or exciting. Plus, the potatoes were raw! I ate all of them because I was starving and the servings were so small, but never have I been to an upscale restaurant where they didn't know how to cook a potato. Since they were sliced pretty thinly, I almost feel like they didn't cook them at all, because it doesn't take much to cook a potato slice that is only 1/4 inch thick. The aioli was also terrible--too thick and too much mayo. It also didn't have any flavor aside from the mayo. The great aiolis that I have had have some sort of flavor infused, such as lemon or garlic, but this had nothing to it.

I looked around at everyone else's food, and they ate everything on their plate, but no one was raving about how good it was, which usually happens at these things when no one knows what to say to one another. Two of the women in the group ordered the linguini with clams, and the linguini looked almost mushy it was so overcooked (it fell apart on their forks). Plus, it looked like it was cooked in a simple tomato sauce, so nothing too exciting. If they can't even cook pasta and potatoes properly, I don't even want to know what happens when they try to cook something unique.

Our waitress was also very good at snatching our plates away when we were finished, even interrupting one of our lunch bunch members as she was talking to see if she could take her plate. Needless to say, I would not recommend this place to anyone. I still love the company that I work for, but I would have been annoyed if I had had to pay for this meal. If you feel like defying my anti-recommendation, here is the information for Bucci's:

6121 Hollis Street, Emeryville 94608
(510) 547-4725

http://www.buccis.com

Bakesale Betty, Oakland

2007-03-15T15:20:00.000-07:00

My mom always raves about this place's pies, but I never knew that they serve regular food, too! Paw Paw had cut out an article from the newspaper on Bakesale Betty the last time I was at her house, and it mentioned that they serve the best chicken pot pies and fried chicken sandwiches. I had to try it out.

As fate would have it, one of the girls I work with had to go pick up a friend who lived near Lake Merritt for lunch. So, we headed off to pick him up and they asked for a recommendation as to where to eat. Conveniently, her friend needed a ride to Berkeley, and Bakesale Betty was on the way there.

The place itself would be very hard to find if it weren't for the huge line of people outside during lunch time. Even the firefighters from next door were lined up, so we knew it must be good. There isn't even a sign on the door, and there is no menu--the only reason we knew we found the right place was that there was a piece of butcher paper taped to the wall that said "Fried Chicken Sandwich...Chicken Pot Pie...Egg Salad Sandwich."

Being the amateur food critic I am, I allowed everyone to get the same thing (a fried chicken sandwich) and didn't try anything else. A gigantic sandwich (packed with 3 huge pieces of fried chicken) and a water bottle cost $8.00. Sounds expensive, but I was full after only half of my sandwich, so split two ways, it is only a $4.00 lunch.

The sandwiches are made on soft, fresh rolls, piled high with a cabbage, fresh jalapeno, and vinegar slaw, along with three pieces of juicy, crispy, slightly spicy fried chicken. Leilani had a little bit of trouble with the jalapenos, but since they were fresh I didn't think that the spiciness was overpowering. In fact, it was just about perfect. My biggest problem was that the seating provided by Bakesale Betty is limited to stools and milk crates, so I had cabbage pieces and napkins flying everywhere.

Despite the huge line that consistently stood outside the cafe, the turnover is fast. We stood in line for about two minutes before we were helped, and the employees were very efficient. They even take credit cards!

Lunch was delicious (everyone complimented me on my recommendation even though I'd never eaten there before). I didn't get hungry until about 5:30 that evening, and the chicken was still crispy then, which is one of my tests for fried things. Still crispy and still delicious. I highly recommend trying their sandwiches! I promise next entry will not be something fried (I hope).

Bakesale Betty is located right on the corner of 51st and Telegraph. Parking may look daunting but actually isn't bad at all if you go around the corner.

5098 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA
(510) 985-1213

They are open Tuesday through Saturday, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The Alley Cafe, Pinole

2007-02-23T21:02:00.002-08:00

"I told you." --Andy

Andy is the pickiest eater on the planet. This is his favorite breakfast place on earth. I hate to admit it, but I love The Alley too. This is the perfect place to go when you're in the mood for a no-nonsense, no frills greasy spoon breakfast. Don't expect any rosemary potatoes or eggs benedict here...They only accept cash and you will leave with arteries slightly more clogged than usual.

They serve hash browns, not home fries, and the toast comes pre-buttered. According to Andy these are the two signs of a great restaurant. While I'm not sure I agree with that, I do agree with paying $4.50 for two sunny side up eggs, four slices of sourdough toast, two entire hot links, and about five potatoes worth of hash browns.

The service here is very nice, sometimes slow when it's busy (there's usually only one waitress and one cook), and they are really big Giants fans. This is the only negative aspect of the place as far as I can tell. There is an old lady who comes in every day wearing an A's jacket, though, and they seem to treat her fine so I'm not too worried about it.

Living in El Cerrito, this place is close enough that it's not a bad trip. If you are in the area and in the mood for a classic greasy spoon diner with charm, check this place out! I try to go later in the morning on Saturdays because it can get packed early on and after church on Sundays. It's a balancing act because they close at 2pm, but if you can, give this place a shot.

The Alley Cafe is located at 2265 Pear Street in Pinole.

Louisiana Fried Chicken, El Cerrito

2007-02-21T13:06:00.000-08:00

No, THIS is the place where you are supposed to get fried chicken. The service isn't anything to write home about (don't expect anyone to multi-task or work fast or be very friendly), but the chicken has always been consistently great!

The fried chicken has a great, thick, crunchy skin that actually isn't greasy; the meat itself is always hot and juicy, even the breast meat. Plus, it's spicy. The first time that Andy and I ate their chicken, we weren't prepared enough. It's a really slow spice that gradually gets hotter and hotter, but we couldn't stop eating the food to be bothered to notice that our mouths were slowly beginning to burn. Andy eventually had to run to the store and get us lemonade while I continued to pick up and eat every single crumb of the leftover fried bits.

We have always gotten the food to go. Normally, I would say that fried chicken to go is a bad idea, but this chicken is so crunchy that it doesn't get soggy, even after it's been in the refrigerator for 2 days (not that it makes it that long without being eaten). When we've ordered a family pack for $15 (I swear not for just the two of us...), we've gotten 8 pieces of chicken, 4 rolls, and one large side, so the food is also very affordable.

My favorite side by far is the greens. They too are spicy, and have slices of pork thrown in to help flavor them. I haven't been impressed by any of the other sides. Andy and I have tried the dirty rice (too dry), the rolls (taste store bought), and the cole slaw (actually pretty good, because I like mine with light mayo and theirs has hardly any). But, my recommendation would be to make some mashed potatoes and rolls at home and then get everything else from Louisiana Fried Chicken. Go here it's so good.

This restaurant is a chain, but I can only speak for the El Cerrito Plaza location. They have a website: http://www.louisianachickenbayarea.com.

They are located at the El Cerrito Plaza, if you are facing Albertson's, it is on your right in the corner. Their phone number is (510) 524-9633.

I have no idea what their hours, are, but I think they close kind of early (around 8). GO!

Angeline's Louisiana Kitchen, Berkeley

2007-02-16T15:08:00.000-08:00

Just as I was getting ready to move out of Berkeley, Andy and I noticed advertisements for a New Orleans-style restaurant moving into that graveyard of a building on Shattuck that used to have Eddie Bauer and Gateway. I'm pretty skeptical of anything in that building, but I still looked at the menu online...They have beignets!! How could I resist?!

I've been to Angeline's twice now...The first time I went with my friend Nnekay before going to see Stranger than Fiction (very cute movie!). It was pretty empty when we arrived, since it was only about 5:00 p.m., but the wait staff was very friendly and accommodating. We chose to sit next to the window. Surprisingly, the interior of the restaurant was very cute, but elegant. Pay attention to the gigantic alligator/crocodile thing on the wall, it's made entirely of buttons.

Nnekay ended up ordering the BBQ shrimp and I ordered the jambalaya (both about $12.95). Both of our meals were really filling and incredibly tasty. The shrimp comes with a thick, sweet, brown "BBQ" sauce on it, which is delicious. It is served over rice with veggies on the side. The shrimp was cooked perfectly and was served with just the right amount of sauce. The waitress told us that it was originally just an appetizer but since the shrimp ended up being so popular, they decided to make an entree out of it. If you can, try this shrimp--I was skeptical at first but it really was delicious. My jambalaya was nice and spicy but there wasn't too much heat. It is packed with chicken and andouille sausage, so when I brought my leftovers home to Andy he was super happy and ate them all in one sitting. That's another great thing--the servings are huge! They don't look all that big, but because they are so dense and packed with flavor, I only ate about half of my jambalaya.

For dessert, we each got an order of beinets. They were listed at $3.50, so we figured that we should each get a serving and then sneak them into the theater. Fortunately and unfortunately, the servings are huge. We each got a box that had about six or seven nicely sized hot, non-greasy but fried goodness covered in pounds of powdered sugar. I'd like to say that we didn't eat all of our boxes because we were too full but neither of us could stop eating.

When I went with Andy, we were also going to see a movie, so we again went early. Since we got there around 4:45 p.m., we got the lunch menu. I found that the dinner was pretty affordable for what we got, but the lunch menu is a great deal. The only issue was that the jambalaya wasn't ready yet (jambalaya gets served after 5:30 p.m.). Andy was very sad, but decided to order the hamburger with a side of hushpuppies. The great deal was my oyster po'boy with a side of gumbo for only $11.

I got a full-size sandwich packed with fried oysters, lettuce, and tomatoes. The oysters were breaded with a little bit of cornmeal, which made them extra crispy on the outside, but really tender on the inside. The gumbo was also awesome. Unlike most gumbo that I've had in the past, which has usually been sitting around for a few hours, this tasted fresh. Nothing was overcooked, even the shrimp, which were tender and still juicy. The okra was also cooked just right so that it wasn't too slimy.

Andy was pleased with his hamburger and said for the first time ever that he was really pleased with my blind selection of a restaurant. I had never had hushpuppies before, but Andy said that they were a bit different from the ones he's used to--these had more flavor. They were served really hot with a crunchy outer texture, but the cornmeal on the inside was sweet and soft.

Too bad we didn't have time for dessert. The food was so good that we ate everything on our plates. Oh, and the movie we saw was decent too (The Departed).

Angeline's Louisiana Kitchen is located on Shattuck near Bancroft in Berkeley.
2261 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 548-6900

They are open Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday.
Lunch is served from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Dinner is served from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday,
and 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday.

They also have a website: http://angelineskitchen.com/

Japan, Day 13

2007-02-15T22:49:00.000-08:00

Friday, November 24,2006

On our last morning we decided to have breakfast at our hotel again. I think the people at the hotel kept laughing at us because it was so hard for us to figure out how to eat at the tables. Plus, we didn't know what to do with half the stuff. But, they were nice enough to take a picture of us. We had the entire room all to ourselves!

Here's the entire meal. We were served rice, soup, noodle soup, dried fish, seaweed, eggs with ham, pickles, salad, and agedashi tofu. And they say the Japanese don't eat a lot.

And that was our trip! Hope you enjoyed reading about it and seeing our pictures!

Japan, Day 12 (Part II)

2007-02-15T22:37:00.000-08:00

Thursday, November 23, 2006

So I thought that the Buddha in Kamakura was big but I was wrong. After leaving Himeji castle, we rushed back onto the train and headed over to Nara, which is the home of Todai-ji, home of I believe the largest Buddha in all of Japan. The building itself measures 188 feet on the front and rear, 166 feet on the sidewalls, and 157 feet top to bottom.

As we walked (and sort of ran), we passed a ton of deer. So many that it was actually kind of scary because you don't want them to get too close to you but it's hard to pay attention when you're trying to run and dodge all of their crap, too. Plus, there are street vendors everywhere, but they aren't selling food for the people to buy, they are selling food for the deer! I know, the deer are sacred, but they are getting a bit out of control.

I don't really recommend doing both Himeji and Todai-ji in the same day, we had to run to the gate to be let in on time. Fortunately, we made it. Here is the wood building that holds the Buddha.

And the Buddha itself, created out of bronze. The photo doesn't really do it's size justice. It stands at 14.98 meters...It's face alone is 5.33 meters, so you can kind of get an idea as to how gigantic it is. I can't even comprehend the weight--500 metric tonnes.

This is one of the two smaller bronze statues that are on either side of the giant Buddha. By smaller I mean maybe 8 meters high.

This guy is a guard who stands behind and to the right of the Buddha to protect him.

We then left and tried to find this 5 tiered pagoda. We got lost, it kind of sucked. We kept walking in the wrong direction through this really creepy forest. I was really scared that we were going to get attacked by a rabid deer but it never ended up happening. When we finally figured out which way that we were going, we walked by a lady who was selling baked yams from a tiny little cart. I was starving, so it really hit the spot. It was so simple, just a yam, baked until soft, served in a paper bag.

Finally, we got to the pagoda. In person it's really impressive.

This is a temple that is next to the pagoda.

Lots of places were closed at this point, so we didn't explore it. Plus, I was starving. Margaret had told us that we should go out for Shabu-Shabu (meat cooked in hot oil at the table), so we tried to find a place that served that. It's hard to find stuff like that when you can't read any of the signs, but one place had a sign in English. Plus, they had some good looking fake food in the window.

The place was set up so that the table we sat at had a huge, hot grill in the middle. We both ordered beef with vegetables. The food came to our table partially cooked, and then it got finished off on our table grill. We got thinly sliced beef with cabbage, Japanese sweet potatoes, and mushrooms. It was a perfect meal. In fact, ever since eating there I've been praying that I'll run into a place in the U.S. with something similar.

The perfect last dinner in Japan...

Japan, Day 12 (Part I)

2007-02-15T22:11:00.000-08:00

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Dad really wanted to take me to Osaka Castle, but I chatted with Margaret online when we were at the Kyoto Station and she said that Osaka Castle was lame and too "cementy" compared to Himeji Castle. Determined to prove Margaret wrong (he didn't), Dad decided that we would go to Himeji instead.

We had to take the bullet train to Himeji from Kyoto, but then to get to the castle, we just had to walk for about ten minutes. Even from the train station, the castle is impressive. But first, the Teddy Bear Shop for Zoey:

Here's the castle from far away.

And the gate leading up to it (this after we crossed the giant moat).

Getting closer...

The thing in front of the castle is one of the many walls surrounding the castle. The walls are actually very narrow buildings with room for guards to walk around inside.

Despite the castle's size, it is covered in tiny, beautiful details. The marks on the ends of the tiles are the family's crest.

And yet another gate to get to the castle.

It really was tiring to climb all this way, but there were so many old ladies with their canes who were beating me to the top, which was somewhat inspiring to at least get there.

Originally when building the castle, the community had a lot of trouble getting everything together. The story is that an old lady brought a rock from her house to help build the base of the castle. Her example made everyone in the town of Himeji get inspired to help out, and soon, everyone was bringing rocks to the castle.

I think this is the last door that we had to go through to get into the castle. At this point, we had to take off our shoes so that we didn't ruin the beautiful wood floors throughout.

The main tower has five stories, and what makes this castle particularly cool is the fact that it has never been destroyed by warfare, unlike most castles. Everywhere you look, there are little holes in the walls near the floor, which are rock throwing holes. They are angled just right to hit anyone walking up the road to the castle. Higher up, there are holes for shooting arrows. As I looked along the walls, I noticed a bunch of hooks all over the place. We later learned that they were all for storing weapons. The entire castle seemed to be devoted to storing weapons--there are hooks everywhere you look, and where there are no hooks, there are closets for storing more weapons.

Also lining the hallways are artifacts that have been found throughout the years. One of the neatest things was some old samurai armor. It was made for someone who was about 3 feet tall! There was also a lot of artwork.

Here's a view from the top:

Also at the top is a shrine.

The stairs on the way up and the way down were really steep and slippery. Yes, we minded our heads. I ended up having to take off my slippers and just walk around in my socks.

This diorama shows the layout of the city of Himeji. The English sign said that the city is divided into three different parts. The city itself is surrounded by a wall, which defined what was a part of Himeji and what wasn't. The people who lived in the outermost part of the city were the farmers. The people who lived inside the second wall were the samurai and skilled workers. Finally, inside the moat and third wall was the royal family (plus as you saw, tons of walls and doors past that).

A view from right in front of the castle.

This area is where people were allowed to commit suicide--the English signs literally said, "Suicide Quarters." As we walked down into this area, we had to go through a dark, cave-like structure. It was really weird because it seemed to get darker the second we entered this area. The black crow making creepy noises didn't help the mood.

Also creepy was this well--supposedly a woman was drowned in it and her screams could be heard from the well until her body was finally removed.

And on that happy note, that about finished our trip to Himeji Castle. The only other thing that for some reason I don't have any pictures of would be the Princess's Quarters. The area built for the Princess is a long, narrow building to the side of the castle. Instead of being hard wood, her room had tatami mats and a dressing area. The entire building was for women to live in.

What a cool place! Dad did admit that Margaret was right, this place is waayyyy cooler.

Japan, Day 11 (Part II)

2007-02-15T21:36:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

After Shugakuin, we headed over to Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion. This temple is covered in real gold leaf and surrounded by water. The water is covered with geese and lily pads.

This part was actually kind of gross--there were like 50 koi all in an area of about 3 cubic feet (oh no, that really is the Chemistry class having an effect). That many of them all together in such a tiny space was really sick. But, looking up and seeing the lake as a whole along with the gold building to my left, I got over it.

Just about a ten minute walk away from Kinkakuji is Ryoanji, a temple with the most famous Zen rock garden in Japan. The garden consists only of rocks, raked pebbles, and moss. It is set up in a way so that no matter where one sits to view the garden, they can never see every single rock. I'm not sure I get this place...The people who come in to visit the garden are allowed to sit all along a deck that runs along one side. Everyone just kind of sits there silently. I tried it for a while...Still not sure I got it.

Here's another view...

And another view...It is a peaceful place but I still am not sure I get it.

We tried to then take the bus to our next destination (this is a huge departure from everything else we did that day) and got lost. Just wait, this was unexpectedly one of the coolest places we went and it was worth walking around and getting angry and not being able to find a cab for over an hour.

Uncle Lionel had recommended that we go to a samurai movie studio lot. When we first pulled up in the cab, it looked awful--a huge warehouse with huge pink, green, and blue characters on the front. The tickets, bought at a movie theater ticket booth, were half off because it was so close to closing time.

When we first entered, we just saw the inside of a warehouse that just had movie posters everywhere. I was disappointed until we turned the corner and saw this:

It's a universal studios for Japanese samurai films!!!! It felt like I was at Disneyland, except it was almost cooler because no one was there and we could walk around like we owned the place.

It's too bad I haven't seen more samurai movies, though, otherwise maybe I'd recognize some of these sets. The signs posted around the lot say that the sets are used for all types of movies.

The sign next to this bridge says that it has been used in almost every single Japanese movie. The curved bridges are really stereotypical of Japanese movies, and they said that they just put a different sign up next to the bridge each time, and it becomes whatever they want.

Just like at Disneyland, they have samurai character guys walking around!!!

I guess you can compare this building to that magic show building on Main Street USA. Inside, there was a guy putting on a show about special effects.

I couldn't understand him, but I got the gist of his show. He was showing off how sharp his sword was, and then pretended to cut himself, but it turns out it was just special effects stuff.

Here are some more sets...

Don't you just feel like you're looking at a scene from the middle of old-time Japan?

Dad and I both were starving at this point (we pretty much got kicked out of the movie studio because it was closing). After being taken for a ride by our cab driver, we decided that we were craving gyoza (Japanese pot stickers). We tried to find some good places, but I was really really really sick of the Kyoto Station restaurants.

So, we headed over to the ever-reliable Hotel Granvia and asked the concierge for a recommendation. We just pretended that we were guests at the hotel and he recommended a really cool place.

It was about a 15 minute cab ride away, very close to the path of philosophy near Chionin. This place is definitely worth a trip, especially late at night. The restaurant has a diner-like style. We were able to sit at the bar on stools, and got to watch everything get cooked.

There were three things on the menu: gyoza, pickles, and beer. Everything was delicious. My mouth waters just thinking about this place. The gyoza are cooked to order, so they are always fresh, hot, and crispy.

For a while I thought our waiters were laughing at us for continuing to order more (the cucumbers were served by the plate, and the gyoza were ten to a plate), but then I looked at the Japanese couple next to us, and they each started out with two orders by themselves of everything.

The gyoza place is open really late, so I can only imagine the kind of crowd they get after people finish partying...Here is our cook putting some fresh gyoza onto the freshly oiled grill.

He then dumps some water on them and cover them to let them steam.

It got to the point where all I could do was count the seconds for him to take the top off and come to our table with another order of gyoza. I think we ended up eating at least 30 gyoza each, plus about 3 cucumbers worth of pickles.

I even may have ordered a beer! Dad did have to finish it for me after I drank half, but it seemed only appropriate to have at least one. You can see here how tiny the restaurant was.

Here's the menu--everything was really affordable, which was even cooler, especially in Japan. I know, it's in Japanese, but I think you can get the idea. I think the conversion rate from dollars to yen is about 80 cents to 100 yen.

Mmmm sooo gooood. I think it's time for a midnight snack. Maybe you'll get lucky and I'll post once more.

Japan, Day 11 (Part I)

2007-02-04T20:04:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

This post is in honor of everyone's comments and me setting the curve in my Chemistry class (applause, please)!

The two imperial gardens that we got tickets for in Kyoto were Katsura and Shugaku-in Imperial Villa. On Wednesday, we took our tour of Shugaku-in. As we pulled up in the cab, we noticed that the couple from Southern California was at this tour too! Shugaku-in is a very popular tour (Dad said it's one of his favorites), but wow.

The garden is split into three different villas, at varying levels on the hillside. We started at the middle garden, where there is a temple built by a Japanese princess. Here is a photo of the gate to the middle garden. The tour guide spent a lot of time talking about it, but my translator tape didn't really mention it, so I'm not sure what is significant about it...

I think he was pointing out the changing fall colors when he pointed in this direction. There was one lady who kept picking up the maple leaves off the ground.

This lamp is outside of the temple at the middle garden. Dad pointed out that during a different tour, it was explained to him that the lamps have some sort of Christian significance, despite most Japanese being Buddhist. These lamps are very cool in person, though, because they are carved out of a single stone and have a lot of attention to detail.

The lady snapping the picture is one of the people from LA...She told us that the trick for staying out of trouble for taking photos when we're not supposed to "linger" on the pathways is to just stand, take the photo, and talk in English.

This was something I was curious about. I have no idea what it's for...Basically there is a wooden stick structure and it holds up some branches about three feet off the ground. No idea what it is.

This is a tea room. The shelves on the back wall are supposed to hold the morning mist and dew.

I really like the fence here. Since the entire villa is on the mountainside, there are streams flowing everywhere.

We then headed up to to the upper villa, which has a large artificial lake, formed by another stream coming down from the mountain. On the way up to the villa, we passed through what looked to be farmland.

The walk up to the top actually took my breath away in two senses. For one, it was kind of a tough climb, but also, when we turned around and got over the tall bushes, we saw these beautiful scenes...

There are tea houses all over the entire upper villa. There was one at the top where we took the photo, and there was another right next to the water. On the way to the next tea house, we passed the waterfall that feeds into the artificial lake. Notice also the stone lamp!

This is a view from the walk to that second tea house. Unfortunately, we couldn't get onto this little bridge. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can kind of see on the top of the bridge that there is a gold bird statue on top.

We did get to cross this bridge, though! It's pretty steep here, but fortunately the bridge wasn't as narrow as it seemed.

Here's a photo of the tea house that I was talking about. The windows are particularly interesting on this building.

Here's a closeup of the artificial lake. It's pretty huge, the emperor used to ride his boat around it. Even though it looks really murky, when I got closer to it, I noticed that there were tons of koi fish swimming around.

Over on the left is the boat, docked to the side of the lake.

I promise, another post coming soon...Maybe even in the next 10 minutes because I am on a roll--posting AND watching Ugly Betty.

Japan, Day 10 (Part II)

2007-02-04T19:46:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

It turns out that during the fall, the temples are open at night in Kyoto and lit up to show the changing of the fall colors. Unfortunately, the photos that we took hardly do the temples any justice because it was so dark. I picked out a few that kind of show what it was like...

These barrels are holding sake.

This temple is called Chionin Temple. The temple itself and its grounds are huge.

There's a reflection pool that you can sorta see.

The city is set up in a way so that you can walk around, shop, eat, and look at temples. It almost felt like a Halloween for grown-ups, as we walked around in the dark, looking for lit-up temples. It costs about 500 yen to get into each, which equates to about $4.50, so it's not too bad.

As usual, we stopped to get a "soft cream" (aside from Coke I have determined that this is Dad's favorite food in the entire world), as there were stands everywhere. If I hadn't been so full from earlier, I would have wanted to try these meatball things that they grill on the street, but there was no way I could fit anything else into my stomach.

We pretty much just wandered around looking at everything. There were some really cute shops almost everywhere we went. I found some handmade bags, and bought two (one for Zoey and one for me). We also found a really neat paper shop that sells handmade rice paper.

I forget what this temple was called (Dad if you remember please let me know). All I remember is that it was designed or built for by a woman, which made it rather unique. There was a gorgeous bridge that went over the reflection pool and a huge bamboo forest.

We visited a few other temples as well that were all gorgeous but again, the photos didn't really turn out. One of the most impressive was actually one of Dad's favorites, Kiyomizu Dera, which is built up on stilts on a mountainside. From the top, we got a pretty awesome view of the entire city.

Japan, Day 10 (Part I)

2007-01-01T17:38:00.000-08:00

Here you go, Catherine...Another post! Sorry I've been lagging (my chem class started), and yes, Anthony Bourdain's show takes precedent over writing in my blog. Please leave comments, I don't even know if people read this anymore!!

Monday, November 20, 2006 (Part I)

On our first day in Kyoto, we slept in a bit and were embarrassingly late for our breakfast at the Ryokan. It was gigantic--soup, noodles, fish, rice, radishes, eggs, etc. We then took a cab to Katsura, one of the imperial gardens that we got tickets for in Ginza.

Unlike at the Ryokan, we were ridiculously early for our garden tour. There was a couple there from Los Angeles--it was so refreshing to speak to someone who could speak fluent English. Both of them come to Kyoto quite frequently and had all kinds of suggestions as to where we should visit. We got to know each other pretty well because they are very strict about the gardens (Zoey couldn't even see the gardens when she went since she was under 18!). We tried to get in early, but as soon as they saw what tour our tickets were for they told us we had to wait outside.

One of the cool things was the fence, made entirely out of bamboo, but it got kind of old fast for me during our 30 minutes of standing.

The tour was given in Japanese, so we were the tourists that you always see with the headphones and tape player in English. Most of the information was on certain aspects of the garden and how the gardens change depending on what time of the year you visit. Notice the beautiful Japanese maples--since it's fall they are in all different stages of their color change:

All of the tearooms and huts have really thick thatched roofs to keep the rain out:

For most of these pictures I don't have much to say...They speak mostly for themselves. Everything here was beautiful, something I thought I'd only be seeing on a postcard. Since the sky was kind of overcast, there was a fine mist surrounding the place that actually added to the beauty.

Dad said that a lot of the paths are made intentionally hard to walk on (especially when wearing Japanese clogs) so that you concentrate on walking from one location to the next. Then, at certain viewpoints, it gets easier to walk and you are able to look up and be surprised by the amazing picture in front of you.

In addition to making the walkways difficult, they also strategically placed trees and bushes so that upon arrival, one cannot see the entire garden:

During the beginning of the tour, the tape spent a long time lecturing about how we are not to "linger" in areas that are not marked, so as not to disturb the growing moss. The ponds are all filled with moss, which I at first thought would be gross, but it actually makes the ponds reflect the images above them:

There were about 3-4 tea houses on the premises. In the back of this one you can see a tiny little door. The reason it's so short is to prevent people with swords on from coming in (since you would have to bend down).

Here are some more lovely images of the garden:

Behind this tea house is an area for farming. I forget the exact significance of this, but I think it had to do something with representing the "people."

When the tour was over, I discovered one of the coolest things ever. There are vending machines all over Japan, but I never noticed that some have blue signs and some have red signs. I was going through a caffeine withdrawal (damn you Nolo!), so I bought some coffee (a red sign). The can was HOT! Not so hot that I couldn't hold it, but I swear they think of everything there.

After I finished my coffee and we said goodbye to the American couple, Dad and I proceeded to get totally lost. I think we were trying to walk to downtown Kyoto, which we later realized we were really far away from.

We seriously walked around for about an hour--the good thing was that we found a camera store that sold memory cards, which the camera desperately needed at this point. Just FYI (something I learned) 256 megabytes is not a lot of room... Dad finally gave up that we were going to find it by walking so we wandered off to a main street and caught a bus. Another FYI from the day, on Japanese buses, you enter on the back and push a button to get a card signalling when you got on. When it's time to get off, you give the driver that same card, and he tells you how much you owe. We had no idea, but thankfully the driver knew how much we owed. With one white guy and one mystery race girl they tend to notice there.

At Kyoto station, they actually have a visitor center for foreigners where they speak English pretty fluently. We were able to check our email and get all kinds of information on travelling throughout the city. Unfortunately this consumed almost all of our day, but it was worth it to find out that you can purchase subway/bus passes for 1-, 2-, or 7-days, depending on the length of your trip. Our passes combined with our JR passes seemed to save us a fair amount of money.

Finally on our way out, we decided to get some lunch at the train station. The station is nothing like Bart--for about $10 I was able to get a huge plate of tempura and soba noodles in soup plus a bowl of rice and a side of pickles.

We then tried to jet over to what I think was Nijo Castle, in Kyoto. Unfortunately we learned the hard way that the castles close pretty early, around 4:45 p.m. We showed up at 4:50 p.m. Sad. Across the street, though, was a sword shop that I got to take a look at. I discovered three things you will only see in Japan: 1) A samurai sword shop with swords sitting out in the window; 2) A samurai sword shop that is unattended with no bars on the windows; 3) An unattended sword shop that leaves ninja stars outside with an "honor system" price chart...Amazing.

The last part of our night consisted of touring the Kyoto temples at night. I have a few pictures from that night and there is a limit as to how many photos I can post per entry. Stay tuned for Part II.

Japan, Day 9

2006-12-17T20:25:00.000-08:00

Sunday, November 19, 2006

For the first time ever, I got to sleep in on our trip. Okay maybe only until about 9:30 a.m. or so, but that's a lot later than the rest of our trip. Dad and I weren't too hungry and the Chans had to head to Nagasaki soon, so we went off on our own to see Kintai Bridge and Iwakuni Castle.

We took a relatively short JR ride to Iwankuni and then took a cab to the bridge. The bridge was originally built in 1674, and is famous for it's very interesting architecture. It was destroyed by a typhoon in 1950, but was rebuilt in the exact same form in 1953.

The cab driver let us off at one end of the bridge, and we had to pay for a round trip ticket so that we could walk across it. Despite having rained pretty hard that morning, the bridge wasn't slippery at all. There are steps on the really steep parts of it, so it's not as hard as it looks to walk on. Even though it was still drizzling there was quite a crowd.

On the other side, there was a small park with a bunch of fountains, and we could see Iwakuni Castle up on the hillside.

Sorry for the crappy photo, it's from Wikipedia. It looks nicer up on the hillside than the picture shows.

Up close, this is what it looks like:

Originally, we wanted to get to Miyajima, so we did not plan on visiting the castle, but it looked so cool that we decided just to go for it. In order to get to the castle, there is a pathway that goes up the hillside that looked incredibly daunting. The other option is to do what we did--take the tram up the hill. It's pretty scary; I'm afraid of heights so it was even worse, but we got a very nice view of the city from above:

At the end of the tram ride, there is a short walk up the rest of the hill to see the castle. We didn't have time to go inside, but it was a beautiful castle from the outside. It was built in that spot so that the family could have a view of the bridge and see any intruders into the city. The original was built during the Edo period, but then it was destroyed, so this is a replica built in the late 1900's. Kind of disappointing that it's not an original, but I guess that there was a time when all castles were supposed to be destroyed per the emperor.

We walked around for a few minutes and then headed back to try and get on the first tram back. Everyone packed very nicely into the tram and we were on our way back down... It was somewhere between the tram ride and getting on the JR to Hiroshima that we realized that Dad didn't have his camera. The bad news is that we lost all of the photos he took, but the good news for you reading this blog is that from here on out you will be shown a greater quality and quantity of photos.

Dad and I stood around the JR station for a while, hoping that the cab driver would come back, but we think that the camera got stuck under the seat so he either didn't notice or that a tourist took it. I've heard that the Japanese are very good with things getting lost...Margaret said that one of her friends lost her wallet 3 times and each time it was returned with all of the money inside...So I think we're having the faith that it was a tourist.

We eventually gave up after an English-speaking cab driver had no luck going on the radios. Minus one camera, we headed back on the JR train to Hiroshima. In order to get to Miyajima, we had to take the JR ferry (yes, the pass works with it, too!), which was a short cab ride from our hotel.

I was hoping that the rainy weather would work for us, but everything was still packed with sightseers. This is the beautiful view of the mountainside from the ferry:

The shrine at Miyajima is called the Itsukushima Shrine. The red arch thing is called a torii, which welcomes visitors to the island. It's also an indicator that it is a Shinto Shrine.

During high tide, the water comes up to the top of those black marks, and make the shrine look like it's floating. The temple itself also looks like it's floating on the water during high tide, but when we were there it just looked like a building on stilts.

There wasn't much time to talk around, so we headed back through the small town to try and catch the next ferry back to Hiroshima. Unfortunately, I was too full from last night's Okonomiyake, otherwise I would have tried the oysters that Miyajima is famous for. We did buy a few more maple cookies though to see if there was a difference between the vendors and the cafeteria at the museum (there wasn't any difference that I noticed). The way that they make them is pretty cool, though, it's a huge metal press thing:

Dad also bought a few wooden rice paddles, which supposedly originate in that area. The wood is supposed to be better than other materials for scooping rice because it doesn't transfer flavors.

Another thing that Miyajima is famous for are the deer. They are EVERYWHERE. It said on Wikipedia that they are treasured creatures because they "guard" the shrine. I think they sometimes get violent because all of their horns were cut off. Pretty much anywhere you look, there is a group of deer plus a huge sign warning you not to touch them. The signs are in Japanese, but you get the idea pretty clearly from the pictures. Here are some of the deer we saw...They're cute from far away...

All of these pictures were taken really fast because we were in such a rush to get back to the hotel. When we finally got back, we had to rush to the Shinkansen to get to Kyoto. The train ride was nice as usual, but we were so exhausted that by the time we arrived at our "Ryokan," a traditional Japanese-style hotel, we didn't even have enough energy to look around. I passed out on my futon as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Japan, Day 8

2006-12-17T20:05:00.000-08:00

Saturday, November 18, 2006

We had to wake up really early because everyone wanted to get to see as much of the museum as possible. Dad and I met up with Auntie Lorraine and Uncle Lionel for breakfast in the hotel downstairs. The breakfast was pretty huge; we had an American-style meal of eggs, toast, and sausage with orange juice and coffee to drink.

Then, we met up with Tiffany and her friend Kim to walk over to the A-Bomb Museum. Before we went to the actual museum, we went to look at the "A-Bomb Dome." The Dome was almost directly under the bomb when it was dropped on Hiroshima. Since the atom bomb exploded in the air over the city and then spread outwards, the building that was directly below it somehow managed to not be completely decimated. It's been restored since the bombing, but the structure shown here is what was left immediately after the bomb dropped.

Next, we headed over to the museum. The admission was something like 100 yen (about a dollar), I think because they want to encourage as many people as possible to go see the museum. It's split into two parts with an elevated walkway connecting the wings. The wing seen on the left side has the museum entrance. There is an entirely new area there that was donated by the Clinton administration. It has information on the Japanese history leading up to World War II, the build-up to dropping the atom bomb, and the reasons for dropping it.

The wing on the right side contains Japanese artifacts and dioramas showing the effects of the bombing and the aftermath. That side has a lot more of the really gruesome photos, bloodstained clothing, but also the heartbreaking stories of individuals who had initially survived the bombing (only to die a few days or even hours later).

Uncle Lionel had arranged for us to have a private tour of the museum and the grounds, so we were originally shown around by two volunteers, a man and a woman. The woman showed us around the museum itself, and then we were taken to the Peace Park outside with the male tour guide.

It had been said by the Japanese that nothing would grow in Hiroshima for something like 75 years after the bombing due to the toxicity of the area. Plants began growing much much sooner. This tree in the Hiroshima Peace Park was thought to be dead after the bombing, but somehow continued to grow. You can see the indent in its trunk where it almost seems to be protecting its scars and attempting to grow over the damaged areas.

This is another memorial from the Peace Park, which is a beautiful park stretching across the front of the Museum. Different memorials, each dedicated to various groups that perished in the bombing, are scattered around the area and surrounded by beautiful plants, trees, fountains, and rocks.

My favorite memorial was this one:

It's dedicated to the children that perished in the bombing. One girl who suffered what eventually became fatal injuries decided to fold 1,000 paper cranes for good luck--both for her and all the others in Hiroshima. Even though she folded over 1,000 cranes, she died shortly after.

Because of her, there are tons of little shelters that hold tens of thousands of paper cranes that are brought every day. You should be able to see the shelters standing behind the bell.

Up close, they are packed with cranes. One of them was open with barely enough room to fit a string of cranes, and there was a note on it that said that it had only been open for one day!

On our way back to the museum for a quick snack, we stopped at this memorial, which is right in front:

I believe that this one is generally dedicated to the city of Hiroshima. Behind the arch is a large reflection pool.

We then said goodbye to our other tour guide, and headed inside. We ate in the tiny cafe that they had at the museum. Nothing to write home about, they only had microwaveable stuff. I tried one of the maple cookies that seem to be all over the southern part of Japan. They look kind of like leaf-shaped mooncakes, but in fact are soft and spongy, and the one that I had was filled with a chocolate-y paste. It was okay; not something I'd crave. We had some time before our meeting with the Hiroshima survivor, so everyone wanted to get a closer look at the museum exhibits.

This photo is of a watch, stopped at exactly 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, when the bomb was dropped:

One of the new exhibits was a diorama showing what Hiroshima looked like before the bombing:

There was also a video playing, showing footage of Hiroshima beforehand. It was a happening city with a really big nightlife. After the bomb, everything was entirely floored:

This is a photo taken a few days afterwards:

The A-Bomb Dome looks pretty much the same as it does today...The bridges you see in the background are what we believe to have been the targets in the bombing.

Next to these photos and dioramas was text written by the Clinton Administration on why the bomb was dropped. Some of the most disturbing information was that the U.S. government wanted to drop the bomb on a city with a lot of civilians so that they could study the results scientifically and have a lot of subjects. In order to have a lot of victims, warning papers were not dropped over Hiroshima before the A-Bomb was dropped.

The next photos I have are of some very disturbing footage at the museum. I'm not posting too many since this is a food blog, so if you would like to see more, go to Uncle Lionel's postings):

This one has photos of all of their travels: http://www.teachingassistant.net/photos/asia2006/

This one includes photos from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Uncle Lionel knows a lot more than I do so I'll let you read his commentary and I'll stick to food as much as I can: http://mindobserver.com/compassion/

I thought that this photo was one of the most powerful. It was taken just after the bombing. It's in black and white, so at first I wasn't too taken by it. But then I noticed a caption below that explained that all of the black on these people's clothing is actually blood. The photo does the rest of the talking:

As I said before, the opposite wing, the Japanese wing of the museum, had more graphic images and artifacts. As we crossed over from the left wing of the museum, I felt the air get distinctly cooler. The lights slowly got dimmer and I looked to my right:

This diorama portrays children after the bombing. I read the book Hiroshima by John Hersey in an English class at Cal, which described a scene somewhat like this. One of the survivors described seeing her clothes being completely burned off of her, hanging in shreds. She then realized that it was her skin hanging in shreds, having melted with the fabric.

The rest of the wing has photos of the victims and artifacts collected after the bombing, such as blood-stained clothing and journals. There was also a cement step from a building that had a shadow of a woman burned onto it because the rays from the bomb were so powerful.

Another area was dedicated to the aftermath of the bomb. Not only were people killed from the bomb itself, but those who came into Hiroshima immediately after the bombing to try and rescue family and friends were killed also. The "black rain" killed anyone who was exposed, and the drinking water was lethal.

Again, there are a lot more photos on Uncle Lionel's site, so I definitely recommend checking it out.

We walked around for quite a while, but then had to head down to the basement to meet with a Hiroshima survivor. She was twelve years old when the bomb was dropped. You can't really see from the photo, but she has had something like 7 corrective surgeries since. She talked with us for about an hour about her experiences. Much of the information she gave us was about the bombing in general. Then, she told us personally what it was like during the bombing and afterwards.

One thing that we don't tend to learn about is what it was like for the survivors many years after the bombing. The corrective surgeries weren't available until much later, so while growing up, she was shunned even by the Japanese. People refused to sit next to her on the subway, and she was unable to find a husband. She did end up raising her brother's children, but from the way that she spoke, there was clearly a great deal of pain associated with not being able to find a husband.

It was quite an amazing experience to hear her talk. There are not many people who get to meet an A-Bomb survivor, and as time goes on there will be fewer and fewer. One of her messages, and the message of the museum, is to spread the knowledge of the tragic outcome of nuclear war. She and other survivors attend meetings, write letters, and give talks so as to teach the younger generations. In addition, to help keep the memory alive, the museum has been collecting survivor artwork for years, and she has contributed:

The museum was a very powerful place to visit. It's easy to be hardened and non-responsive to the Hiroshima bombing by sitting in class and just reading about it, or seeing a picture in a textbook. But looking at these photos, the artifacts, and speaking to a survivor really changes that. I'm so grateful for what I experienced in Hiroshima, and I feel that everyone would benefit from visiting.

There isn't any graceful way of transitioning from the museum to food, so I'm just going to go for it. After a mental break, we headed out to go try the food of Hiroshima...Okonomiyake.

Our guy's stall was in a four story building in downtown Hiroshima. Each floor had about 8 stalls exactly like this one--how to tell the difference between them all I have no idea, but when we left, each stall was completely packed with customers. To make Okonomiyake, he starts out with a pancake.

It then gets covered with fresh cabbage and spices.

The one I ordered had squid, so on top of the cabbage, he cracked some deep fried squid on top. Next, come chinese noodles (he recommended these over Udon noodles), tonkatsu sauce, a fried egg, seaweed and green onions. This is the final product:

There are other things you can get in it as well, such as kimchee, other meats and seafood. It's pretty gigantic--they give you a pie cutter type thing so that you can cut it into fourths and eat it in pieces. I'm not the biggest fan of Okonomiyake, but I think it's definitely something that everyone has to try in southern Japan. For me, there are just too many flavors packed into one place. It is, however, very filling and somewhat healthy. If anything, it's fun to go just for the experience and entertainment of watching them make it.

Japan, Day 7

2006-12-17T19:38:00.000-08:00

Friday, November 17, 2006

Okay sorry for the delay on postings. The holiday is over so I'm going full-speed ahead now.

On technically our last day in Tokyo, we packed up our suitcases and headed over to Katsumi's to do laundry. It's weird--for a country that is so far ahead of us, technology wise, the washers and driers are really slow! I would have thought that they'd be pretty advanced considering that people in Tokyo are no longer allowed to hang their laundry outside, but I guess not.

At Katsumi's house, we watched a lot of Japanese TV, which is highly entertaining. They were focusing that day on the acquisition by the Red Sox of the Japanese baseball player, Matsuzaka, and also did a heartwarming documentary on a teacher turning around a "rough" neighborhood.

As we watched, Katsumi cooked up a huge breakfast for us: ham and eggs with mushrooms, rice, soup, nato (fermented soy beans--something like 90% of the population doesn't like these), cucumber rolls and fruit. It was a pretty amazing spread, but I found that I'm one of the 90%. Nato is GROSS.

Since Katsumi had to go to a work meeting, he called a cab for us to go to Tokyo Station. It was time for me to experience the bullet train (Shinkansen) for the first time ever.

This is a picture of a Nozomi train, the more expensive, faster one. We didn't ride one of these because they cost extra on top of the rail pass price. It doesn't stop at all of the stations, so it sometimes flies through, making a "BOOM!" and then flashes by in about 3 seconds (according to Wikipedia, it goes 300 mph).

These are some of the trains that we rode on (Hikari); they're still really really fast...

The trains are nice and smooth and have tons of leg room, and the ride was really smooth and relaxing after our week of pretty much non-stop sightseeing. I got some good reading in (Time Traveller's Wife--SO GOOD!), which was nice, and Dad slept. Fortunately, the train has instructions in English as well as in Japanese so it was pretty easy to figure out our stops.

The hotel that we stayed in while in Hiroshima was picked out by the Chans. It's called the ANA (not to be confused with the APA). Compared to the bare-bones of the hotel we stayed in at Hiroo, this place was absolutely luxurious. Everything was really clean and they even had CNN in English! Here's a picture of the room, courtesy of Uncle Lionel:

The Chans hadn't made it into Hiroshima yet, so Dad decided to finish his laundry down the street. I sat down and got some more quality reading time in--at the time I was reading The Time Traveller's Wife, and I couldn't stop. It was recommended to me by Catherine at work and Margaret. Originally, I thought it was going to be a cheesy love story that I'd hate, but they had recommended it, so I thought I'd try it. Unfortunately, it was a cheesy love story but it was so good. Fortunately Dad took forever at the laundromat so I was able to bawl for about 30 minutes as I finished the book. "Henry, no!!" Very good, but it's definitely a book to finish in private.

Finally Dad came back and the Chans knocked on our door. Tiffany and her friend were supposed to be coming in from Shanghai, but were having some transportation trouble. So, we decided to go out to get some noodles while we waited. The hotel recommended a place down the street, so we headed over there.

It was a pretty standard ramen place--they had that thick pork broth, same as the ramen place that we went to earlier, but it was a lot thicker and fattier. I ordered ramen with pork slices on top, and both Auntie Lorraine and I could not even finish the meat because it was so fatty. The gyoza that we ordered was pretty good, though, and so were the radishes. It was the first time that we had to really fend for ourselves going out to eat. I had never realized how hard it would be without Katsumi!

We were all really exhausted from travelling so all of us went to bed really early that night. Tiffany and her friend didn't even get in until after we had gone to sleep...

Japan, Day 6

2006-12-14T14:51:00.000-08:00

Thursday, November 16, 2006

We set out kind of early on our last day in Tokyo because I wanted to do shopping in the fake food district, called Kappabashi (kitchen-town). Most of it consists of restaurant/cooking supplies, but the reason I went was for the fake food. I ended up buying a ton of sushi magnets (so cute!) and some food key chains.

They also have actual dishes that are entirely made of plastic, but they look very real. It's amazing how the quality of the fake food at a restaurant would sway my decisions as to where I wanted to eat, so I guess the fake food is pretty important. This chef guy is kind of a landmark for the area.

After I spent about half of my money at one of the stores, we set out to try and find the sumo museum. The sumo museum is located at a stadium where sumo wrestling is held, so it wasn't too hard to find, but the museum itself was kind of hidden. We searched around for a while, and finally found a door that advertised something for 900 yen. We assumed that was the price of the ticket, so we bought two, and headed over to the museum with our "free" sumo wrestler posters in hand. As soon as we found the museum, though, there was a sign that said that the entrance was free, and English guidebooks were available. Oops. Anyone want a sumo calendar?

The museum was really small and unfortunately, the guide was more of a booklet of information on sumo wrestling, not the exhibits. I think that it would have been a lot more interesting if we could have had a guide to tell us what all of the artifacts were.

Along one wall, there was a wrestler's kimono on display, which was so big I almost started laughing when I looked at it. Along the other wall is a sort of hall of fame with pictures of the top wrestlers.

We started to get hungry, and there was a really long line for the sumo restaurant (soup called chanko-nabe). Dad said that it might be fun to try a Japanese McDonald's, so we did that instead. Honestly, it's exactly the same, down to the portions. They even have a two-sided menu with Japanese on one side and English on the other. The bathrooms were a lot cleaner, but that was about the only difference.

When Dad first started coming to Japan, he said he played on some type of clay court near where his friend Rob was teaching. I forget what type of tennis it is, but it's played with a one-sided racket on a clay court. Sadly, everyone who was playing on it was using regular tennis rackets, so we moved on to go meet Katsumi for dinner at Kushinobo. Chris Cornell, a family friend, is working in Japan right now, so he met up with us too.

Kushinobo has an English website: http://www.kushinobo.co.jp/1950/1950_e_main/1950_e_index.htm

I think it's sort of a chain, actually, because they have locations throughout Japan. The one that we went to is on the top floor of a mall. It's a pretty fun restaurant. Everything on the menu is on a skewer, and it's deep fried. We sat at the counter, where they gave us unlimited bowls of fresh raw vegetables. When we finished each skewer, we were supposed to put the skewer into the mouth of a clay fish. Then, at the end of the meal, the waitress would count the skewers to determine how much to charge us.

We had so many things that I can barely remember it all. One of my favorites was a crab skewer that was wrapped in tin foil and then deep fried. We also had vegetables, chicken and fish. Another one of my favorites was the deep fried oyster (who wouldn't like that?).

For once in Japan, I wasn't able to keep up with everyone else, eating-wise. This place made me so full. Everyone seemed to be pretty exhausted, and even though it was our last day in Tokyo, we turned in early.

Japan, Day 5

2006-12-11T22:36:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Kamakura was one of Zoey's favorite places when she visited Japan. Kamakura is a part of the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. It's pretty easily accessible by the JR train from Tokyo, and the sites we visited were within walking distance of the train stop.

The first place that we went to is a temple called Kotokuin. It hosts "The Great Buddha," which is the second-largest monumental Buddha in Japan. The Buddha is outdoors and made of bronze; it is 13.35 meters tall and weights 121 tons. Originally, it was built inside of a temple in 1252 A.D., but the temple was swept away by a tidal wave in 1498. Later on, the Buddha was worked on so that its body could move freely on the base so as not to be damaged in the case of an earthquake.

We then headed over to Hasedera, a temple on the hillside in Kamakura. The temple has multiple levels, and a different feel to each area. At the bottom level there are a bunch of bamboo fountains that feed water into moss-lined reflecting pools. There's also a cave carved into the side of the hill as well, and we were able to go inside and see all kinds of engravings.

Up at the top of the hill, there is a beautiful view point where we could see almost all of Kamakura.

This is the temple at the top of the hill. It was pretty big, and had all kinds of rooms with candles, incense, etc. Everything was in Japanese, so I don't have too much information on the actual temple.

This is called a Kyozou; inside is a rotating book rack called a rinzo, that holds important Buddhist sutras for the temple. Supposedly if you rotate the rinzo, you can earn the same merit as from reading all of the sutras. Dad tried it, but I didn't notice too much of a difference in his spirituality...

Next, we went out for lunch at a soba place. The soba was okay, but it was just nothing like the place that we had gone out to with Katsumi. I ordered hot soba (in soup) with a yam, which I thought was a tempura yam like we get in the States, but actually the yams that they put in the soup end up being a goupy white thing. It wasn't bad, just not great either.

In Japan, the schoolkids are all required to learn English, but it's really hard for them to find people to practice with. We learned that often, they are sent to major tourist attractions with a list of questions to ask foreigners. The kids would look at me, get confused, look at Dad (for those of you who don't know, he's obviously white), and then get really excited. Most of them had to ask us where we were from, what we were visiting, etc. There was one group of girls that started screaming and wanted to take a picture of us when they found out that we were from California.

After we walked around for a while and saw some lacquerwear (that's what Kamakura is famous for aside from the shrines), we headed back on the train to meet Katsumi, who was taking us out for a special dinner that night.

Before we met up with Katsumi, though, we had some time and Dad showed me around a ritzy Japanese department store. In the basements of most of the department stores, they have really nice specialty food shops. To give you an example of the great prices in Japan, check this out:

For 12 fresh strawberries, they charged 2800 yen, which is equivalent to about $25. For one of those cantaloupes, it was 5000 yen, which is about $45!

After that fun experience, we found Katsumi at Tokyo Station and walked over to a really famous yakitori place. Isehiro serves solely Yakitori, and is supposed to be a popular place for Japanese businessmen to take guests (as we found out, the Western guests often don't understand that they need to take off their shoes!).

Here is the website for the location that we went to. On the main page, they talk about the amazing quality of the ingredients they use:

http://www.gnavi.co.jp/gn/en/g133300h.htm.

We were able to sit at the bar right in front of the chef. It's a really small bar with just enough room for four people. Katsumi had to reserve it a month before we flew in! It was so neat because we got to sit and watch the chef cook, and all of our food was fresh off of the grill.

Yakitori is basically chicken skewers, utilizing all parts of the chicken. Isehiro is famous because they use the best quality Japanese coals and get fresh chicken from their own farms. Since they know how fresh the chicken is, it's often undercooked. I'd never had undercooked chicken before, but it was really good. Before the chicken is cooked, it's dipped in yakitori sauce. In the States, it usually tastes the same as teriyaki sauce. In Japan, the sauce is smoky, understated and not overly sweet. It's also a lot less viscous. Katsumi said that during the war, the one thing that a lot of families saved was their yakitori sauce because it lasts for hundreds of years.

Another neat thing was that the restaurant had patented a fork-like device that is meant to push the chicken off of the skewer onto the plate, and then eaten. It was pretty neat and kept me from stabbing the inside of my mouth with the skewer.

We had the 9 course meal:

(1) Bits of chicken breast barbecued with salt and served with wasabi, (2) Chicken livers cooked in yakitori sauce, (3) Chicken gizzards barbecued with salt, (4) Chicken thighs sliced thin with green onions, mushrooms and green peppers, (5) Chicken balls made of ground chicken meat with flax seeds, barbecued with salt, (6) Chicken skin, (7) Chicken thighs cut in chunks with green onions and green peppers, (8) Duck meat chunks barbecued with salt, (9) Chicken Soup, pickled cucumber, and organic vegetables, (10) Chicken wing barbecued with salt.

I wasn't the biggest fan in the world of the gizzards, but other than that this place was awesome, even just for the experience of getting to watch how precise they are about cooking. We learned that in order to be a yakitori chef, one needs to work his way up from making the skewers all day, running food to customers, refilling the coals, and then finally cooking.

It doesn't look like the most filling meal, but I was stuffed afterwards, and really tired from walking around all day. Speaking of which, this was a really long day to chronicle on here and I'm tired. Til next time.

Japan, Day 4

2006-12-11T15:52:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

On Tuesday we woke up as early as possible to go to the Tokyo fish market. Unfortunately, tourists were really disrupting the auctions, so that part was closed to visitors, but we got to go to the market itself. The second we turned into the market area, we were practically run over. Everywhere we looked, there were people running and pushing carts, mopeds driving and motored carts moving in all different directions, all at high speed. I really want to know how many tourists get run over and killed every year there.

Ahead of us was the market, which looks like a gigantic covered parking lot. It looked like it was about the size of a stadium--I couldn't even see to the end. It's set up so that there are narrow aisles going forward and slightly wider aisles going across, where the carts zip through. We had to look both ways a million times before wandering across. While walking down the narrower aisles, we had to also watch so that we didn't get hit by fish pieces, water or running fishermen. Chaos is the word that comes to mind. You can't even see to the end of the market because it's so big. It's just stall after stall...

That's a huge pile of tuna. The ones sitting there are frozen solid--they just throw them around like it's nothing, but Katsumi said that they can go for up to 2 million yen!

Sometimes, they use huge picks and hack away at the bones. The fish are completely frozen, so when I stood within a few feet, I got sprayed by tiny bits of frozen tuna.

Then when it's a whole fish, they cut it with electric table saws, as if the fish are just pieces of wood.

One of my favorites, salmon roe! It's still in the sac (not something I'm a big fan of), but still it looked pretty good ("That makes great bait."--Andy).

Here are some live eels. Dad tried to convince me to stick my hand inside, but I wasn't really about that.

Another one of my favorites, I've been told that these are scallops. I never knew what they looked like in the shell until now.

This stand had just a ton of octopus. After our sushi dinner, I got really hungry looking at these--just a little bit of salt and some real wasabi, mmm...

Some beautiful, colorful, giant shrimps. Still alive, but not for long.

I have no idea what kind of fish these were, but they were gigantic. Really fat, too.

We walked around for quite a bit. To be honest, it was a really stressful place to walk around in since we were constantly having to dodge carts, fish, and those motorized cart things. It took us like 15 minutes just to try and get out of the place. Eventually, I figured out that if you pick out a local looking person and just run behind them, you can usually get out safely.

On our way out, we started to get really hungry, and not for fish, so we stopped at a family restaurant called "Jonathan's." It was pretty much a Denny's, Japan-style. We both got a stack of pancakes, which were really cute but definitely Japanese-sized, meaning about a quarter of the size of any pancake you'd get in the U.S. I was pretty full anyway, so after our pancakes, we headed over to the zoo to see the panda.

The first animal we saw at Ueno Zoo was a red panda. He was almost like a raccoon, but so cute.

This is the giant panda. Unfortunately, I didn't understand how to use the picture stabilizer on my camera, but you can probably get the gist of how cute the panda was.

Normally, I wouldn't think that seeing lions and tigers was a big deal, however at Ueno Zoo, it is totally worth it. When I'd go to the zoo at home to see lions and tigers, there would be a glass wall, a moat, an electric fence with barbed wire and then another moat. In Japan, there is a stone wall in some areas and a thick glass wall. We were able to get within inches of the animals! This is the one male lion...

And one of the female lions...

We were also within inches of the tiger. There were a bunch of little kids at the zoo who were not about getting up close to this window.

When we were leaving the zoo, there were tons of kids walking all over the place. According to Katsumi, the zoo is a really popular place for schoolkids to go on field trips. There was one group of kids that were absolutely adorable, they had made little binoculars out of toilet paper holders, and were walking around the zoo trying to look through them. I just hope that the panda's area is sound proof because when we walked by the cave he was in, all we could hear were screaming kids.

Next, we met up with Katsumi (who was ditching work!), who picked us up and we drove out to Yokohama. Yokohama is a really gorgeous city that is right on the water. We went out for dim sum because Yokohama is supposed to have the largest Chinatown in Japan. Leave it to the Japanese to have the cleanest, nicest looking Chinatown I've ever seen. The dim sum place that we went to was pretty decent, but I just couldn't fathom the fact that it was relatively expensive. My experiences with dim sum are paying $5.00 for take-out and still having leftovers, so I was a bit confused. Either way, it was still pretty good and I was full.

We walked around Yokohama for a bit too. Since it's a port city, they host a ship that used to be the only way to get from Japan to the States.

Next, we drove out to take a look at Kei-Oh University. It's a university that also hosts the high school that Kohta goes to. The campus was really nice, and had great facilities. We weren't allowed to go watch Kohta's rugby practice, so we decided to go back to Tokyo and get dinner.

That night, Katsumi decided it was time to introduce me to real soba noodles. The restaurant was within walking distance to our hotel, so we just parked at Katsumi's house and walked over. On the way, I noticed some interesting restaurant names that I'll just let speak for themselves.

For once I was smart enough to take my own photos of the meal! We started out with what my sister and I call "rags," the skin of the tofu that is peeled off during some stage of making it. It was served with a little bit of real wasabi. You can click on this picture to get a closer look at the wasabi.

Next was seaweed covered in fish roe. It was a little bit sour, as if the seaweed had been pickled. It was also really crunchy due to both the seaweed and the roe.

Next was probably the most interesting thing I ate on the trip. Now, looking at the food below, it looks pretty appetizing...Without any questions, I began to pick some of it up and was about to pop it into my mouth when Dad goes, "What is it?" Katsumi told us it was whale right before I began to chew. Ugh. I kept it in my mouth to try to be polite and was really weirded out when I started to kind of like it. The part that we ate was the blubber, which was boiled down and then served cold. It wasn't greasy/fatty/oily at all. It was actually kind of like the "cloud" fungus that Paw Paw puts in Wintermelon Soup, only a lot lighter. It kind of melts in your mouth, but has a bit of a crunch to it. The taste isn't fishy, but you can definitely tell that it comes from the ocean. It's served with a lime wedge, so there's some citrus flavor to it as well. Anyway, I really liked it, and so did Dad, but it was a little bit disconcerting ("You ate SHAMUU!"--Andy). Plus, I really couldn't waste it, because it's a delicacy in Japan. Margaret says that they justify whale hunting by saying that it's for "scientific research." Might as well...

Now for one of my favorite parts of the meal. Restaurants that serve soba noodles also serve tempura...But not sushi. That's one of the things that most people, including myself, tend to get confused about. In the U.S., when we go out for Japanese food, you can get noodles, soup, sushi, and tempura at the same place. In Japan, there are restaurants that only serve sushi, and other restaurants, like this one, that serve soba and tempura. The tempura that we had was eel tempura. It was awesome. Really tender and flavorful on the inside, and unbelievably crispy on the outside. It was also served with little tempura green peppers.

For me, Katsumi ordered cold soba noodles, and also a plate of udon noodles (on the left) so that I could compare. The noodles come cold, served on baskets. That soup in the front is piping hot, and really strong in flavor so that I could take the noodles, dip them in the soup, and then slurp them up. Though I liked both noodles, the soba were definitely my favorite. I was very proud because Katsumi said that it was very "Asian" of me to like them better.

Soba noodles are very hard to make, especially to make good ones. Katsumi is in the process of learning, which is supposed to take at least three years. It's something that has to do with achieving the perfect mix of ingredients, otherwise they fall apart. Plus, they have to be made fresh every day, otherwise they don't taste right.

The last thing that I tried were these little fish. I have no idea what kind they were. They weren't salty enough to be sardines...They were dried, so they were really chewy and slightly salty. Very good.

After this meal, I was about to slip into a food coma, so we started to head back to the hotel. It was another really eventful and filling day.

Japan, Day 3

2006-12-10T18:39:00.000-08:00

Monday, November 13, 2006

On Monday, we decided to try and get our tickets for the Imperial Gardens in Kyoto. We took the subway to Ginza and then walked over to the Imperial Palace. Unfortunately, you can't really see much of the palace, but here's a picture of one of the entrances.

The palace is gorgeous; it is surrounded by a moat that has a bunch of white swans swimming in it. That bridge on the left side is supposed to be pretty famous. As you get closer, there are other areas with beautiful trees plants. To get the garden tickets, we had to go to a gate, where we were given name tags and instructed not to "stray from the course." We then went into a government building where we had to show our passports and eventually we got our tickets. So we didn't stray from our course, we immediately left and headed back into the Ginza district.

The first place that we went to was the Sony store. The PlayStation 3 had just come out that day, so there were demos all over the place. I got to test out a racing game that was pretty fun, and there was a tennis game that was really realistic. On the next few floors, they had tons of mp3 players, cameras and TVs. It was too bad because the top floor used to have robot toys, but they took it out and put some weird clothing store on top. Sorry, I'd have pictures of some of the new technology, but they didn't allow cameras.

Next we went and looked at a few other camera places, and then headed over to a new building called Roppongi Hills. Roppongi Hills has condos and a shopping mall, and is supposed to be the new place to go to see a Tokyo city view. We took an elevator up some 56 floors, and since it was a clear day, we got a great view of the city.

In the picture above, you can see Tokyo Tower, also a viewing tower in Tokyo. In addition to the viewing windows, there was a museum on the top floor, which at that time was showing Picassos. We didn't have a ton of time, and I'm not into art at all, so after we walked around a bit, we decided to go over to the Tokyo Dome, which is where the Tokyo Giants play.

Unfortunately we couldn't see much, and the baseball museum/hall of fame was closed. We were able to shop in the Giants store, so I bought Andy a jersey. Outside of the Dome was a huge roller coaster and a spokeless ferris wheel. It looked like a lot of fun, but everything seemed to be closed. We should have taken that as a hint as to how the rest of the day would go, but we didn't.

Since everything was closed by the Tokyo Dome, we tried to head over to Ueno Zoo, since I'd never seen a panda before. By the time we figured out where it was, we walked up and it was completely closed. Apparently nothing is open in Japan on Mondays. There was supposed to be a paper shop in the area that sold authentic Japanese rice paper, so our genius selves then tried to walk there. Long story short, we got lost in the middle of some part of an old-town Tokyo and had to take a cab to Tokyo Station. My entire body wanted just curl up in a ball and go to sleep at this point, so I was really glad when we met up with Katsumi and he suggested that we go out for sushi.

The sushi place that we went to was in Shibuya, so we took a cab from the hotel. It's a really tiny place, with only enough room to fit about 10 people. The owner is a friend of Katsumi's. Dad and I kept wondering how chefs like this guy made any money, and Katsumi said it's because he has friends who come to eat at the restaurant all the time; they are such regulars that they all have tabs.

One of the things that I learned is that when you go out for sushi, you are supposed to start with sashimi, and then move on to eating sushi. We started out with Katsumi's wife's favorite, halibut. We each got two really thin slices of this beautiful white fish, and we were supposed to dip it in a vinegar/citrus sauce that Katsumi said is called "Ponzu." Let me preface our entire meal here by saying it was all delicious.

The next thing that Katsumi ordered for us was octopus. It was really thinly sliced, and we were supposed to put a dab of wasabi on it, dip it in salt and eat it. This was the first time I ever had real wasabi instead of that bright green stuff that we get here in the States. The bright green stuff is from a powder, but in reality, wasabi is a root that looks kind of like ginger. It's grated and then put on your plate in a little pile. The color of real wasabi is still a bit green, but it was a more earthy/brown tone to it. It's also not quite as hot. It still cleared up my nasal passage pretty well, but it wasn't as ridiculously spicy as the powder. Instead, it had almost a vegetable flavor to it. The tiny bit of wasabi and salt were the perfect accompaniment to the octopus, which was tender and crunchy at the same time.

In the States I've never had the opportunity to try abalone; it's really expensive, but also I'd always heard that it was really tough. At the sushi restaurant, we had baby abalone, which was thinly sliced. It was amazing. Instead of being chewy and tough, I could bite into it because it was so tender. Katsumi said that it was because the abalone was younger, and hadn't developed a toughness yet.

Katsumi then ordered some mackerel slices, which were unlike any mackerel I've had here. Since there's a lot of Mercury in the water where they are fished, they soak the mackerel in a vinegar sauce for a while. It gave the fish a darker color and a slightly saltier flavor. We then had scallops, my absolute favorite shellfish. Instead of eating them raw, they were grilled and wrapped in a small sheet of seaweed so that we could eat them with our fingers.

The chef also grilled some whole shrimp for us--hooray because the Japanese also eat the yummy head. This was a very basic but delicious course

It was then time to move on to sushi. The first thing that we had was fresh saltwater eel. It was grilled for a bit, brushed with a sweet sauce and served as sushi. The eel pretty much melted in my mouth, it was so tender. It was definitely one of my favorites.

Next was tuna, another one of my favorites. Katsumi ordered one regular tuna and one fatty tuna so that we could taste the difference. The regular tuna is the same kind we would get here if we were to order tuna nigiri...But the fatty tuna is a more pastel-y colored pink with ribbons of fat running through it. It practically fell apart over the rice because it was so tender. Supposedly two pieces of the fatty tuna can go for $40 dollars in Japan! (We apparently got a deal.) There is a huge difference in taste, too. Knowing how valuable the fatty tuna was, I tried to eat it as slowly as I could, methodically chewing, but it didn't really work because it melted in my mouth. So much for that. It was delicious, but so was the regular tuna.

We also had a sushi roll. One of Katsumi's favorites is a roll of raw diced squid mixed with ginger and Japanese basil. The ginger and basil mix to give the roll a really unique flavor, and the squid adds texture to it. Definitely one of the more interesting things we ate that night. The only thing I didn't enjoy was a cod egg sac. It looked just like raw fish when I saw it in the display area, but then I looked closer and it looked almost like an internal organ because it was about six inches long, shaped like a liver, pink, and had a vein running along the outside. The other group of people was eating one, so I was curious as to what it was. Katsumi said it was cod roe, and ordered it. The chef prepared it by grilling the egg sac, slicing it and then serving it with lemon.

It looked like it was going to be good, especially since salmon roe is one of my favorites. Unfortunately, this was not the case with the cod roe. It was cooked in the sac, which had the texture of sausage casing, and then the inside was really grainy and salty. Not really my thing.

I was so full at this point that I didn't really need to eat anything else, but I loved the eel so much that we all had another piece. After that, we headed out and took a taxi back to the hotel for the night.

Japan, Day 2

2006-12-10T16:49:00.000-08:00

Sunday, November 12, 2006

On our second day, we woke up pretty early and met Katsumi outside of our hotel to go get breakfast. Katsumi suggested that we eat at Bagel+Bagel, the New York-style bagel place upstairs from the teppanyaki place. The menu was almost exactly like what you'd see at Noah's or something around the Bay, minus the soy and edamame bagels. Those bagels were bright green and had edamames baked on top. I ordered my favorite, poppy seed bagel with cream cheese, lox, tomato, onion and capers. Dad got the same thing, but with sesame seeds and Katsumi got a BLT bagel. At the register, there was a basket with "french toast bagels." I pointed them out since they looked interesting, and Katsumi picked them up for us to try. They also had great cappuccinos there, which I needed desperately.

Unfortunately, I'm not the most adventurous person when it comes to breakfast food, but I did really like what I had. The coffee was done really well (I like my cappuccinos dry), and my bagel was delicious. They served it with a little lemon sliver inside the bagel hole, which actually gave it some good flavor. The only thing I like better about New York bagels from New York is that the originals are chewier...The bread and all food in Japan tends to be softer (Dad attributes this to there not being any preservatives in the food). The french toast bagel was okay, it could have been soaked more before it was cooked, because the bagel was kind of tough. Otherwise, I really liked this place. Plus, I was pretty entertained during breakfast because I guess U.S. rap music is huge in Japan, so they were playing an Eminem mix tape, all lyrics in-tact. Nothing was censored, so he'd be swearing away over the speakers while everyone just sits there eating like it's classical music.

As soon as we finished breakfast, we walked up the hill to Katsumi's house. Katsumi lives in a high rise complex, and on that day there was a view of Mount Fuji from his house! Katsumi got a few things together, and then we started out to Kohta's rugby game. The drive was pretty long because there was a fair amount of traffic. It's amazing how nice the roads are in Japan--they start repairing them before anything is broken. Plus even the pavement vehicles are nicer. They are kept clean and dent-free; apparently you can get a ticket in Japan if your car has dents in it.

As soon as we got to the park where the rugby game was, I had my first vending machine experience. Vending machines are everywhere in Japan, and you can buy soda, cigarettes and even alcohol! Tea is everywhere, too, you can get hot or cold bottles of tea in the vending machines.

The rugby game was actually a semi-final game for the high schools in Tokyo. Kohta goes to a school called Kei-oh. It's one of the premier schools in Japan. Unfortunately, he was injured and not able to play, but we went to the game to root on his school. I tried really hard to understand the game but I didn't get much except that Kohta's school won by a lot. Dad was excited because we could see Mount Fuji from the bleachers. He said it's pretty rare to be able to see it. You can guess where those photos are.

After the game, we headed back into Tokyo. All of us were starving, so we stopped in an area near Tokyo University to go get some ramen. I thought that the parking lot was really cool, so I took a picture. Instead of having a parking attendant, they have these locks at each of the parking spots, so that when you back into a spot, it holds your car there until you pay. It's kind of nice because then you just pay for the amount of time that you were parked.

The ramen place that Katsumi took us to was tiny. He said that it's a place that a lot of students go to since it's next to the university. The set up was pretty cute--there is a big bar and we sat on old crates covered with wood and duct tape. The cooks have these huge pots of boiling water and they drain the noodles right onto the floor. It actually reminded me a bit of the places I used to go all the time in Berkeley when I felt like having a cheap meal.

All of us ordered the same thing--chili ramen with bamboo shoots, bean sprouts and green onion. Katsumi told us that the broth they use is a pork broth. They boil pork bones down until they get soft, and the broth has a whitish look to it. It makes for a really flavorful, almost thick broth.

This is what mine looked like. I really liked it, it was definitely unlike any other ramen you can get in the States. The noodles were fresh, which made a huge difference, and the chili sauce was delicious. Since it was a really cold day, the soup warmed me up immediately. If I drank beer, I think it would have gone along with the food wonderfully. Water was pretty good with it too, though.

When we were done, we headed over to the Harajuku/Shibuya area of Tokyo because I wanted to see all of the punked out teenagers. Unfortunately, it was pretty late, so we didn't get to see too many dressed up teens, but we did get to walk around the shopping areas. Even around 8:00 p.m., it was really happening. The entire street was packed with people and all of the shops were still open. In other areas, there were bands playing live music and tons of food stands.

Some of the stores were hilarious; they sold what to me what looked like costumes, but I'm not really sure. There were a lot of leathers, chains, and fishnet tights. There were also a lot of funny store names. Ladies at the Women's Community Clinic, be proud:

Actually, this was a candy shop, so I'm not really sure where they were going with that. We then walked a few blocks over to an area that I think is called Omotesando. It's still a shopping area, but it's more adult, and has very high-end stores. The Christian Dior store was particularly neat looking. It was entirely made of glass and steel.

After walking around some more and looking at all of the things I couldn't afford, we drove back to Hiroo, where I began to learn about Katsumi's insatiable appetite. Since he wasn't allowed to go home yet (his son was studying at their house), he suggested that we go out to eat more, so we headed over to a local bar.

Unlike the gross bar food that we get in the States, this place served beer and yakitori. One of my favorite things was actually the pickled vegetables that they put on our table. I expecially liked the pickled bean sprouts. While Dad and Katsumi had beer, I had tea. As soon as the food came onto our table, I changed my mind about being full. Yakitori is grilled chicken skewers (no, not just chicken breast, but all different parts). We had chicken breast with wasabi, cartilage with various chicken parts, green peppers with onions, and chicken wings (my favorite!).

Finally full, we headed back to the hotel and went to bed.

Japan, Day 1

2006-12-05T19:07:00.000-08:00

One of the main reasons I went to Japan was for eating. No joke. I'm posting my Japan journal online so that you can see and read about the things I did, saw, and most importantly ate.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Our first day in Japan! We flew into Narita, the airport located outside of Tokyo around 2:45 p.m. The flight was about 11 1/2 hours (we left on Friday morning, PST), and easier to take than I thought. Dad had to sit in the middle next to some guy who was going on a mission trip in Japan...Converting all of the heathens I guess...They showed the Lakehouse movie with Sandra Bullock, which was great because it looked like a really sappy movie that I wanted to watch without having to ask Andy to rent it for me. It was sooo sappy but sooo good. Anyway, on to the fun stuff. Japan! Surprisingly, I wasn't too tired, but it was drizzling and kind of cold outside, so it helped to wake me up. Katsumi picked us up and drove us directly to our hotel--the APA (Always Pleasurable Amenities--haha, no that's really what it stands for but you're supposed to call it "Appah") Hotel in Hiroo.

Bear with me, I had to download these photos from the hotel's website since Dad lost his camera and sadly the memory card was lost with it. This is a picture of the outside of the hotel. It's a business hotel so Dad and I each had our own room. The nice thing about staying in Hiroo is that we were about a 5 minute walk from Katsumi's apartment. Plus, it's a really nice (what isn't?) and convenient area of Tokyo.

This is a picture of a room at the hotel. Definitely not mine. For example my room had only one window at the foot of the bed, and my bed looked more like a twin bed than that bed. The bathroom was immaculate, but tiny and kind of spaceship like. There was no closet space either, because these hotels are meant for businessmen who are far away from home and need to spend the night. I found that navigating places like the airport can be really easy since everything is written in English and Japanese--however as soon as you need to figure something out, such as how to use the TV, how to flush the toilet...the English conveniently disappears.

There were some pretty cool things, though: when you take a shower, the mirror has a square that is heated so it doesn't get fogged up; also, all of the lights in the room, the alarm and the A/C can be controlled from the headboard (because it was soooo big and I couldn't walk six inches to reach the light switch). This is a picture, courtesy of Uncle Lionel, of the cool toilets in Japan. They come with deodorizers, bidets, sprays, and special flushing noises to mask any other noises you might be making. I was really curious about the bidet, but it seemed kind of suspect to use one in a hotel, so I stood next to the toilet and decided to try and figure it out. I pushed the button and this little arm came out of the toilet. As if in slow motion, I realized that it was going to start spraying water right into my face, so I moved away as quickly as I could, and the water shot into the bathroom door. Pretty powerful stuff. Kind of embarrassing, but fortunately I had the privacy of my own room.

As soon as I set my suitcase down, Katsumi took us for a walk around Hiroo, and we ended up at a tiny local restaurant. I know this is a food blog, but it's going to be impossible to tell you how to get there and what to order should you find the place. I'll try just for kicks. Katsumi said that the restaurant is called "Tomiya." It is located about a block away from the subway station in Hiroo, one floor underground (you have to get in an elevator to get there), below "Bagel+Bagel," yes, a New York style bagel shop in a tiny walkway next to a Starbucks. Good luck. If you get to a place that seems remotely like what I described, the people inside should look and cook like this:

Tomiya is a neighborhood teppanyaki place. Teppanyaki is I guess what you could say Benihana tries to be. The chefs have a hot grill in front of them, and they grill veggies, meat and seafood, pretty much seasoning with only salt, pepper, and garlic. I'm so sad because we had more pictures of this place and the amazing food, but they were all on Dad's camera. Now if you get this far, you still probably won't eat what we ate because you don't have Katsumi with you. Sorry. He ordered everything for us, which I will now describe in great detail.

We started out with a pork dish ("Satsuma Pork"), which Katsumi said is his son Kohta's favorite dish. It was very beautifully presented. We were given about five very tiny (maybe 1.5 square inches), thin slices of pork that were grilled and seasoned with some salt. We had to take pieces of lettuce and wrap the pork inside with some mild shaved white onion and red chili pepper sauce. When I first saw what we were eating, I didn't think I'd even be able to taste the pork because there was so much lettuce. I was wrong--the pork was so flavorful that it shone through everything else.

Next came these new Japanese mushrooms which are not yet available in the U.S. They are called aringi mushrooms, and they are grilled in a bit of oil/butter, sprinkled with salt and pepper and then served with a lemon wedge. I'm still craving these mushrooms. They are so crunchy and meaty--unlike any other mushroom I've had, because it's mostly the stem that you eat. This little guy here is also an aringi mushroom. Sort of. Katsumi got me 3 of these when we left because he knew how much I liked them. I don't think this one would be too stoked about being eaten.

Katsumi then ordered a vegetable plate, which again was simple but packed with flavor. We got thick lotus root slices (that's what the guy is cooking above--the mushrooms are on the far left, lotus root in the middle, and taro root on the right), which were grilled until each side was golden brown and had a crispy, almost fried texture, taro root--also cut in thick slices, and giant green asparagus spears. All were lightly grilled, sprinkled with salt and served as-is on simple black plates. It was gorgeous.

We then moved onto seafood. Katsumi ordered garlic shrimp, which was prepared by grilling jumbo shrimp on the grill and sauteing chopped garlic until it was crispy. The garlic was then put onto the shrimp and grilled for a bit longer. This was served with a mayo-based dipping sauce. The garlic stuck to the outside of the shrimp so we could pick it up with our fingers. It provided a really crunchy exterior until I got to the meatiness of the shrimp on the inside. Since the garlic was cooked for so long it wasn't too strong, just perfect. Since November is supposed to be the best time to get oysters in Japan, that was what we got next. Already shelled, we were given a giant plate of oysters piled on top of one another. The chef put them on the grill for a good two seconds, maybe just to firm them up a tiny bit. They were seasoned with a vinegar/lemon/garlic sauce. Even Dad liked these, and he never eats oysters. They had the consistency of raw oysters, and also had that very fresh taste and smooth consistency.

Finally, the last two dishes we had were more carb-based. The first was a kimchee pancake ("Okonomiyaki"). The chefs mixed kimchee and fresh cabbage together, grilled it, and then put a sweet BBQ-like sauce ("Tonkatsu") on top and grilled it for longer. So long that the sauce was kind of chewy on top. I liked the idea of cooked kimchee, but I'm not really into the whole sweet sauce mixed with a savory chili sauce. It wasn't bad, just not one of my favorites. The other dish was similar--the chef mixed kimchee, squid, shrimp and octopus together with fresh cabbage, and topped it with more Tonkatsu sauce. This was grilled in the same way as the other pancake, but then he added noodles. To add to the madness, this was formed into a pancake and topped with dried seaweed and a runny fried egg. Again, I'm not a fan of the kimchee mixed with Tonkatsu sauce, but I really really liked the octopus. Unlike at home, it was bite-sized and crunchy, not chewy.

As we finished up our meal, Katsumi told them that the reason we were taking so many photos was because I had a food blog. I think they thought that I have a food blog that people (lots of people) read on a regular basis, so they were thanking me profusely and gave me their card. I'd post a picture of the card they gave but it's all in Japanese. So, if you can read it and decipher the address and map on the back, I might even give it to you.

After dinner, I started to get really tired, so we headed back to the hotel. The A/C wasn't turned on in the hotel, so I ended up having to sleep with the window open. Tokyo is no New York City (or even Berkeley for that matter)...I didn't wake up once because of sirens or homeless people yelling at the top of their lungs.

That's all for now, I have to go get bread and soup for my sad sick boyfriend. More posting later.

Locanda Olmo, Berkeley

2006-11-28T15:24:00.000-08:00

Before I left for Japan, I decided I was going to eat as much Italian, Mexican, and American food as possible. Craving gnocchi for some reason, I yelped Italian food and came up with Locanda Olmo. It was listed on yelp.com as being way better than Trattoria Siciliana, two doors, down, so I was intrigued. After guilt-tripping Andy into going with me (it was my last night in the Bay), we made a quick reservation and headed over.

Locanda Olmo is a tiny restaurant with two floors. The decor is pretty simple but very cute. There was one young woman who greeted us as we came in--it turns out she and her husband are the owners. She was very nice and welcoming. Since I was with Andy, I didn't have the opportunity to try some of the delicious looking appetizers (rolled eggplant with ricotta and arugula...tuna carpaccio...), and settled on the bruschetta. Please note--the waitress/owner is fluent in Italian and the proper way to pronounce bruschetta is with a hard "c" and hard "t" as in "brusketta," thank you, Italian 1! She told me after I ordered it that drives her nuts because so many people (not me, thank goodness) say it incorrectly.

Anyway, after all that, I wouldn't really recommend ordering the bruschetta there anyway. Perhaps I'm just not a fan of authentic Tuscan bread...It was too crusty and dense for me. But, the restaurant does use really fresh ingredients, including fresh mozzarella cheese, which was delicious.

For our entrees, I ordered the Gnocchi Incazzati, which is gnocchi in a thick tomato, eggplant, olive, garlic and herb sauce. You can order it spicy or mild. I chose spicy. Andy ordered the Risotto della Rufina (No seriously, he did! No spaghetti with meatballs here!), which is risotto with Italian sausage and a spicy tomato sauce.

The food took kind of a while--I think about 20 minutes--to come out, but I guess it's attributed to everything being made from scratch. Both of our dishes were really well-cooked and piping hot, both in temperature and spiciness. My gnocchi was also good texture wise, which I really appreciate at an Italian restaurant. The problem was, neither of us LOVED the food. It was good, and the service was great, but the food wasn't anything super special.

The restaurant is family-owned, and they pride themselves on having authentic family recipes from Florence, Italy. I think that I need to go back and just have the waitress order for me because I really want this place to work out. But so far...I'm not in love.

If you want to try Locanda Olmo out and let me know what you think, they are located at: 2985 College Avenue (at Ashby) in Berkeley.

For reservations, call: (510) 848-5544. They are open 7 days a week, serving dinner every day from 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

They also have a website: http://www.locanda-olmo.com

Jimmy Beans, Berkeley

2006-11-06T15:26:00.000-08:00

I had been meaning to try Jimmy Beans forever because it's one of those cafes that are written up everywhere, and Kete is a partial owner in that group of restaurants (Jimmy Beans, Sea Salt, Lalime's, T-Rex and Fonda). So, since Andy offered to take me anywhere I wanted for lunch and Bette's had already closed, I dragged him to Jimmy Beans.

At Jimmy Beans, you order at the counter and then the food is brought to you. As we walked in, I wasn't too impressed with the inside. I know the place has been around for a while, but it just seemed like a few bottles of bleach would do wonders inside. Also, the guy at the counter was not the most friendly. He basically ignored me until I asked if I could please order.

I was in the mood for breakfast, so I got the Eggs Blackstone (English muffins with tomato, bacon, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce), which comes with a "trio of sauces." Andy got a steak sandwich. After waiting a good twenty minutes (the place was practically empty, so why it took so long, I don't know), they came with our food. My eggs were delicious. The hollandaise sauce was actually done really well, and the bacon was perfectly cooked. After my first egg, I was already full. The rest of the plate, though, I was not too impressed with. The potatoes were pretty uneven--some undercooked and others were burned. It also came with the sauce trio, whatever that was. Basically, they put three dollops on my plate next to the eggs--one was a pesto, the other a tomato salsa and the last was some kind of sweet red pepper sour cream or something to that extent. I didn't really see the point. They were put next to my eggs, so most of the sauces mixed in with the hollandaise which was pretty gross, and I guess it might be interesting to use with the potatoes, but none of the flavors even went together--especially for breakfast! It was confusing and a total waste in my opinion.

Andy can't wait until I get this review up and going because he wants to rant about how awful his steak sandwich was. So, I'll let you all wait to read his commentary on this blog post.

All in all, the eggs were good, everything else, I wasn't too into. I'd much rather go to Bette's for a much cuter atmosphere, better service, better prices (this total came to $27 where Bette's would probably be about $22), and way better food (i.e., no sauce trio business)!

If you would like to go to Jimmy Beans despite my recommendation that Bette's is infinitely better, they are located at 1290 6th Street in Berkeley.
Phone: (510) 528-3435

They are open Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Saturday through Sunday, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

They have a website, too: http://www.jimmybeans.com/

Bette's Oceanview Diner, Berkeley

2006-11-06T15:00:00.000-08:00

This place has come to be one of my favorite breakfast places in the area. Rachel and I used to always go across the street (from Nolo) to the Westside Bakery and Cafe, and every single time we went, we'd swear to never go again because the food is terrible, the service is terrible, and they are really really really slow. Now that we've found Bette's, we are never going back to Westside.

Bette's is located on Fourth Street in Berkeley, across the street from Eccolo. It is a very small and cute place that serves both breakfast and lunch in and old-time style diner. The service there has been very fast and friendly each time that I've gone there, but make sure to note that they are always very busy--there is usually at least a 15 minute wait each time.

The first time I went to Bette's, I ordered the Maryland Breakfast, which consists of corned beef hash, two poached eggs and toast. The thing I love about their corned beef is that it's fresh and made from scratch. They also cook it well so that it has a nice crispy top to it, but not so it's overcooked--the meat is very tender and the potatoes melt in your mouth. The poached eggs on top are perfectly runny and kind of bring everything together.

My other favorite breakfast at Bette's is the California Breakfast--you get home fries, roasted tomatoes, and toast topped with ham and two poached eggs, covered in a lemon-herb butter sauce. With sourdough toast, this meal is to die for. I sometimes find myself dreaming about the California Breakfast at about 4 a.m. It's very filling, but I never feel heavy after eating it, I think because all of the ingredients are fresh. The eggs are cooked perfectly and the lemon-herb butter has real fresh chives in it. The homefries at Bette's are also pretty exceptional. Unlike most places, they really use a lot of onions and cook the potatoes so that they are crispy and full of flavor. I recommend this meal to anyone.

The beauty of Bette's is that it's a pretty unassuming place in the middle of 4th Street--and all of the meals are at or below $10, which is a really great deal in that area. Go here if you are in the area or just want a really good breakfast.

Bette's is located at 1807 Fourth Street, in Berkeley.
They do not take reservations, but if you want to call them for take-out, they can be reached at (510) 644-3230.

They are open Monday through Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Saturday through Sunday, 6:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

They also have a website with the menu and information on the take-out store: http://www.worldpantry.com/bettes/home.html

Rivoli, Berkeley

2006-11-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

I am wayyyy behind. Sorry, things have been *kinda* hectic at work, but now that things have calmed down I'm ready to start blogging again.

My family went to Rivoli for my birthday dinner. Everyone that I told we were going there said, "Oh, I remember going to that place a really long time ago. Good food." It seemed from talking to my friends and family that Rivoli is one of those well-loved places that people just start to forget about sometimes. I'm on a mission to make people stop forgetting.

The appetizers at Rivoli are to die for. There were five of us, so we ordered three appetizers and split them. The first one that I tried was a crab souffle. It was really light and airy, with a slightly crispy outside. The flavor, though, was amazing. It tasted truly of the essence of crab--as if they had used the good parts to make the souffle (this is my Chinese side talking-by good parts I mean the body and that gushy yummy stuff from the back). The second appetizer I tried had slices of roast duck over blinis, garnished with fresh grapes and currants. This also was amazing. Andy even ate the currants along with everything else. Usually, I try not to order duck if I'm not out for Chinese food, because I often find that it can be too dry. This duck, though, was flavored magnificently and was still moist. The last appetizer we ordered was the portabella mushroom fritters with aioli. We originally chose them because I had read online that it's one of the only dishes that's kept on the menu year-round. The mushrooms were meaty and not greasy despite being fried, and were complemented perfectly with the aioli. Unfortunately, since Rivoli changes their menu every three weeks, it's going to be hard to find these same dishes, but if you see any one of them on the menu, I highly recommend them all.

For the main course, I ordered a chicken with prosciutto and kale dish. I remembered the last time I went to Rivoli with my friend Margaret that they did a great job with the chicken. This time, I wasn't as impressed. The chicken was still moist, which was a plus, but I didn't feel that the flavors went too well together. The prosciutto was overcooked, so I missed out on that flavor, and the bitterness of the kale made everything taste funny. They had cooked the kale with pomegranate seeds, which was interesting, but I think it just needed a lot more butter. A lot.

Andy was very happy with his dish--he got a steak with scalloped potatoes and spinach. He ended up eating everything except for the decorative tomato on the side, which is very impressive. I laughed because he said that it was presented in a way that he would think the meal would be "gross", but that as soon as he tasted it, he really liked it (This means the plate looked gorgeous and appetizing).

My dad had the salmon, no complaints there, and my sister had a risotto cake. I was too full to try either one, but they seemed to enjoy their meals a lot. My mom got scallops, which were really good. They were cooked well and what I really liked was that the restaurant wasn't stingy on the scallops--there were at least seven to nine on her plate.

Dessert also was great. Rivoli always has a hot fudge sundae on their menu, which is a classic. Definitely when ordering, I recommend splitting it between two people because it's huge. The nuts are really well toasted and seasoned, which is the best part, but I'd still probably go to Fenton's in the end for some really good hot fudge. We also ordered the sorbet--that day they had made raspberry and mango with mini shortbread cookies. The sorbets were very refreshing and tasty, and truly tasted like the actual fruit.

I really love this place--the atmosphere of the restaurant, too, is really great. They have a beautiful garden behind the restaurant, that is viewable from all of the tables. Since the place is so small, the service is friendly and quick. My only hold up with not eating at Rivoli all the time is the price--this place is not cheap, but when you do go for an all-out eating experience, it is well worth it.

Rivoli is located at 1539 Solano Avenue in Berkeley.
To make reservations, call (510) 526-2542 or 1(866) 496-2489.

They are open Monday through Thursday, 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Friday, 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Saturday, 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Sunday, 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

They also have a website: http://www.rivolirestaurant.com

Gregoire, Berkeley

2006-10-23T14:59:00.000-07:00

I'm pissed. WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS PLACE BEFORE?!?!

Today is my birthday--yay me I have now been able to drink for exactly one year. Catherine had been raving about their potato puffs for a while now, so we got some takeout from Gregoire to bring back for a mini party at work (if you could call sitting in a circle between our cubicle partitions a party).

My choice for lunch was the lamb patty sandwich with a side of potato puffs. Others in the group got a shrimp and cucumber sandwich, a salami sandwich, or a mushroom cheese steak sandwich--all with a side of potato puffs.

Before I get into describing these tiny little bites of potato heaven, I'm going to talk a bit about the place itself. Gregoire is primarily a take-out sandwich/salad place. It is a tiny hole in the wall (though it's a pretty cute hole in the wall) across the street from the Elephant Pharmacy on Cedar at Shattuck. When you walk inside, there is a small bar with room for about two people to sit and eat, while watching the cooks toll away. The rest of the standing space has room for I'd say three people to stand in line. There are a few seats outside, but that's it. On the website, they describe themselves as a take-out joint, so I suppose it makes sense. Everyone who worked there was friendly, and considering everything was made fresh for me, I didn't mind the long wait (plus we had seven orders which seemed to throw them a bit).

Enough with the atmosphere. My sandwich was delightful. The lamb was flavored really well, and it was on a fresh toasted bread roll with tomatoes, mayo and arugula. The prices on the menu online seem a bit high until you actually taste the sandwiches...They are about on par, price-wise, with Cafe Fanny, but taste-wise blow Cafe Fanny out of the water. Everything is cooked fresh with fresh ingredients. Even the tomatoes on my sandwich stood out as being exceptional.

I also have to mention something about the packaging. The sandwiches and sides are all put in a very cute cardboard box with a sheet of checkered paper and a "Gregoire" sticker on them. They are cute but also functional, and really were good at keeping the heat in.

Finally, saving the best for last--the potato puffs are a tiny bite of heaven. Basically they are little balls of mashed potatoes that are deep fried and garnished with a bit of salt. They come with a bit of roasted pepper aioli. Whoever came up with this idea is a genius. Deep fried mashed potatoes? Yum! If anything, go here just to get the potatoes, but I have to say that I loved every aspect of my meal here. Others who walked by our cubicle area also seemed to enjoy the puffs...I'm definitely going again, and you should too. About the portions; we discovered that between two people, splitting a sandwich and one order of potato puffs is probably enough.

Thanks again to everyone who has been sticking with my blog and reading/writing comments. You make my day so much more interesting!

Gregoire has a lovely website with a menu that you can preview: www.gregoirerestaurant.com

Gregoire is located at 2109 Cedar Street (at Shattuck) in Berkeley.
Phone: (510) 883-1893

They have another location (which I heard through the grapevine isn't as good) at 4001 Piedmont Avenue at 40th.
Phone: (510) 547-3444

Both locations are open from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Just for Fun

2006-10-20T16:06:00.000-07:00

I've been looking all over for a place with good sides AND bbq, which no one seems to think exists. I was excited when I saw that a place called Looney's SmokeHouse BBQ opened up on Oxford at Bancroft. It looked like it might be a fun place, but I was skeptical after seeing a huge line after they first opened, and then walking by a week later to see the place empty. After checking out my faithful review site, www.yelp.com, I don't think I'll be going, but some of the posts were too funny not to pass on:

"I was expecting good BBQ. Granted the meat they served was cooked correctly, but it came covered in this awful, chunky, spicy salsa kinda of stuff. I was dumbfounded. I was pissed. I eventually took it home, rinsed it and added KC masterpiece, much better."

"So, I just back to my apt as fast as I can post this warning to prevent any of you from going there. This is by far the nastiest, driest, bland-tasting ribs I have EVER eaten."

"I had a brisket sandwich there a few weeks ago. It had fairly large chunks of fat on it, and was pretty tough. The cole slaw looked like kimchi. None of my co-workers enjoyed their food, either. Oh, and there were flies all over the place.
The server was pretty confused, and couldn't be found when we wanted our check.
I'm never going back there."

"I give them 1/2 point for the good mac & cheese & the crowd of people working at this joint & the big TV screen. I would have given them 5 stars for the beers on tap and if they didn't serve food fired all the employees."

So I guess we shouldn't be eating at Looney's...

Kirala, Berkeley (Lunch)

2006-10-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

Rachel and I decided to get some sushi during our lunch break, and since the actual sit-down Kirala is closer to Nolo we went there (they have a different location for take-out only in Epicurious Garden). We started out with the seaweed salad...I wanted to order agedashi tofu as well but apparently they don't make that until dinner time. Unfortunately, the "not at lunch" issue came up quite a few times when I tried to order. They don't do the robata grill during lunch either, and the only sushi that you can order is on a tiny little check-off menu provided at the tables (No amaebi and shrimp heads! Noooooo!!).

Eventually, we decided to get some salmon nigiri, a rainbow roll, scallop nigiri and tuna nigiri. The seaweed salad came first, and it was delicious. It was a much larger portion than the dinner size, and had little pickles and a reddish seaweed in it which I've never seen before. The salad was dressed with a sesame sauce, but it wasn't drenched in it. Overall, it enabled us to get a taste of the dressing and of the seaweed itself. My favorite part is just the texture of the salad, which was very crunchy.

Next, the sushi came. It was beautifully presented, and all of the fish was very fresh. I'd never had a rainbow roll before, so I'll describe it now. Basically, it's a California roll with tobiko and three different types of thinly sliced fish laid across the top. Very tasty.

Basically, the reason why I'm putting this post up is because I always rave about Kirala--I still do--the food is great, always fresh, and I love the atmosphere. However, one of the main reasons why I love going there is because of the robata grill, which is a no-show for lunch, as are most of my favorite dishes. Still, for a very satisfying and filling lunch, it ended up being only $20 bucks per person, including tip, so I can't really complain.

Pho 84, Oakland

2006-10-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

I've been going to Pho 84 with my family for a few years now, and every time I go, I love it. I somehow convinced Andy to try their food on Wednesday. Every time I've gone in the past, there has been a huge line, so I guess Wednesdays around 6 are a good time to go--even parking was a breeze!

Both of us got drinks--Andy an imported Vietnamese beer and me a mango smoothie. I always have a hard time deciding what drinks to get at Pho 84 because they are all so good--the coffee with condensed milk is always a great choice, probably not for dinner, but it's also a good conversation starter because it's so beautifully presented. I also love the lemonade mixed with iced tea. On Wednesday, though, it was a smoothie day. The mango smoothies are made from fresh mangoes and they truly taste like it. They can be a little bit heavy at times, because I think there is some sort of dairy in it too, but they are overall very refreshing.

Sorry, didn't try Andy's beer...I know I have to be a reviewer but honestly I just don't like beer.

Moving on. Our appetizer of the night was the spicy beef salad. They marinate and grill thinly sliced pieces of beef and lay it on a bed of fresh mint, shredded carrots and jalapenos. It was even spicier than normal last night, but the flavor was still really strong, and the beef tender. Andy wasn't a fan of the mint, so we compromised. He ate all the meat and I ate all the mint...my favorite part.

We also ordered chicken satay and my personal favorite dish of red snapper in a coconut curry sauce with special rice. At Pho 84 you can choose between having regular rice or "special rice." The special rice is I believe cooked in chicken broth, which gives it a bright yellow color, but a lot more flavor than the ordinary rice.

The chicken satay consists of slices of chicken breast in a spicy red chili sauce with tons of green onions on top. It's very spicy, but goes along well with the rice. Andy's friend Dave ate our leftovers and apparently he was sweating like crazy but loved it.

The red snapper is fried and then covered in a coconut curry sauce with onions and fungi (I don't want to say mushrooms here because I think most people will get the wrong idea). The sauce itself is so tasty and addictive--even after the fish was gone, I like saving it to eat over rice. It's a little bit spicy, but not overwhelmingly spicy. You can also tell that everything is freshly made for each order because the fish, despite being covered in sauce, is still crispy.

All in all, it was an as usual wonderful meal at Pho 84. The food was fresh, tasty and flavorful, and the service was good (not outstanding, but good). The cost of eating there isn't as cheap as most Vietnamese places I've been to, but it's definitely worth it for the quality of the food. I highly recommend this place to anyone. Even Andy said he'd love to go again, which is a huge stamp of approval.

Pho 84 is located at 354 17th Street in Oakland, CA between Franklin and Webster.

They are open for lunch Monday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
They are open for dinner Monday through Friday from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 12:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Kirala, Berkeley

2006-10-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

Kirala is by far my favorite Japanese restaurant, so it's about time that I write a review for it. I went with my friend Nnekay yesterday (Tuesday) around 5:20 p.m. We got a table as soon as we walked in, which is very rare. As soon as the clock hit 5:45, though, the place was packed and there was the usual line out the door. So, my new recommendation is to go on a Tuesday (according to my idol Anthony Bourdain this is also a good day to get fresh fish) and before 5:45, when the crowd comes.

We started off with some unagi and amaebi. Unagi is always one of my favorites, I'm thinking about ordering it for Andy the next time we go out and just not telling him what it is until after. Besides, I think he'll like it: the flavor is always good, so is the texture (tender on the inside and the outside has a nice crunch), and I highly doubt he has the suspicion that I'll try and trick him into eating barbecued eel. As always, it was beautifully presented and fresh fresh fresh.

One of my new favorites (thank you Margaret) is the amaebi. They give you two nigiri pieces with the raw body of the shrimp, and then they give you the heads deep fried with a lemon wedge. Nnekay was a little too weirded out by the shrimp heads--she said that if I really thought she was missing out on something that she'd try it out, but to be honest I just wanted to eat both of them so I said it was a cultural thing that I'm not weirded out by the head. To my mom's side of the family--best thing ever, you have to try one or you will be missing out!

We also ordered from the Robata grill. I don't know too much about the Robata grill--just that it has special Japanese coals which give the food a special flavor. You can get good sushi at quite a few places in the Bay, but the Robata grill here is to die for. We ordered two of my favorites; the scallops and the squid (you can order either a small part of the squid or you can order the entire body). Both come with a special sauce on top, a lemon wedge and a bit of tobiko. The scallops are always cooked perfectly (not overdone or rubbery) and go really well with the sauce. Even Andy thought they were tasty when we went. That really says something. I also love how the squid is a bit charred on the edges, so the squid has a very crunchy texture.

So, sadly, this was all that we ordered this round at Kirala. Probably the cheapest meal I've ever had there. Between both of us not being that hungry and Nnekay having to get to class, we definitely didn't get to sample all of my favorites, but this is in no part because of the food.

I'll do another review, but just off the top of my head, my other favorites at Kirala include: baby lobster tail off of the robata grill, the caterpillar roll (soft shell crab, tobiko, unagi...mmmm), agedashi tofu, seaweed salad, and the tuna nigiri. I also have some recommendations--if you arrive when the line is out the door, make sure to sign up to go to either the bar OR a table. While the table isn't as fun, you will be seated much faster. However, please note that if you are going to order a dinner, such as a meat and rice dish, you cannot sit at the bar (we learned this the hard way with Andy). Also, if you are sitting at the bar, make sure to order Robata grill dishes from the waitress, not the sushi chef. They get annoyed, and who wants an angry sushi chef? I also recommend ordering in stages. I like to sit and talk a lot because the atmosphere at Kirala is quite nice, and since the food is pricey (but completely worth it, in my opinion), it's nice to digest a bit and then order more when needed.

Check out their website: www.kiralaberkeley.com

Kirala is open for lunch Tuesdays through Fridays from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
They are open for dinner Monday through Saturdays from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Sundays 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Kirala is located at 2100 Ward Street in Berkeley, CA 94705.
Phone: (510) 549-3486

Please note that they do NOT take reservations.

Picante, Berkeley (Round Three)

2006-10-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

Catherine was convinced that she could make me like Picante. She did.

We ordered a bunch of things together and split them today for lunch. We ordered the empanadas, two a la carte tacos with carnitas, split a rajas burrito, and had the chocolate angel food cake for dessert.

First of all, I think that Picante is a LOT better when eating in. My enchiladas probably wouldn't have been so rubbery if I had just eaten them at the restaurant and not at my cramped, greenhouse of a cubicle. Of course having good company also helps out a lot. :)

The rajas burrito is Catherine's favorite--it was very good. They fill the burrito with roasted green peppers, rice, beans and some really good sour cream. It has enough spice as it is, but it's even better when you drop some of the roasted chipotle salsa on top. Either way, it's a very nice take on a burrito. Plus, it's nice to notice when the veggies are fresh, and they definitely were in this burrito (Picante 1, La Burrita 0).

I tried the empanadas next. The empanadas were filled with peppers and cheese, in a folded and sealed flour tortilla which is then deep fried. They then garnish it with queso fresco, lettuce, and that pickled veggie thing that Heather loves. I don't even like cheese and I liked these. The cheese practically melted in my mouth, and the texture of the tortilla was amazingly good--very crispy and flaky. This one didn't need any additional sauce, it was very satisfying on its own. I could probably just make a dinner out of the empanadas.

Next, I moved on to my street tacos. The tacos consisted of a handmade corn tortilla filled with carnitas, diced onions, cilantro and guacamole. The carnitas were good--definitely not dry like the chicken had been two times ago, but they needed a little bit more flavor (I recommend Gordo's for really good carnitas). The guacamole was good, but they were better after I put some salsa verde on top...Or maybe if I had a lime that would have helped too. Still, these weren't bad, and I'm starting to appreciate Picante a lot more.

Finally, even though I was really full, we ate the chocolate angel food cake. Just half of one was enough for me, but it was really addictive. If you're going to get one, definitely turn your slice over on to its side and eat it from the bottom up. The cake itself is great but when you get a bite of it with the chocolate frosting on the top, it's heaven.

So I'm convinced. I'll definitely go back to Picante--not all the time when I want Mexican, but I'm definitely a convert. Finally.

Please stay tuned, I got a huge list of authentic Vietnamese and Mexican restaurants from my dad's friend who is very involved in food. I'll probably try to slowly make my way through the list and learn my way through the taco trucks of International Boulevard.

THANK YOU Catherine for lunch!