Out the Door, San Francisco (Westfield Mall)

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

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

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

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

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!!!

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

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

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

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

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