blockhead's shavery

los angeles, ca

website

i love shaved ice. my sister, brother, and i used to make shaved ice with our snoopy sno cone machine when we were kids. even better is the taiwanese-style shaved ice covered with condensed milk, red beans, lychees, and other assorted fruits and jellies that you can get at oasis tea zone or even din tai fung in seattle. but the taiwanese-style shaved ice at blockheads is the absolute creme de la creme. literally. they refer to it as "snow cream" - its a blend of ice cream and shaved ice - feels like fluffy ice when it first hits your tongue, but then it melts into a smooth cream. amazing.

it comes in various flavors - original, green tea, strawberry, and sesame. you can also get non-traditional toppings like chocolate and nuts. if i lived in LA, i would definitely come here often enough to try every possible combination. but since i only make it to LA every now and then, i prefer to stick with tradition. pictured is cindy c's recipe - original, condensed milk, rice cakes, strawberries, and lychee. so good. this is an absolute must-visit whenever i'm in LA.

kc donuts

austin, tx

link to yelp

you might think that getting a freshly fried doughnut topped with bacon and maple syrup icing would satisfy our doughnut cravings for at least 24 hours. you would be wrong. the next morning, jinny and i headed to the very popular kc donuts for doughnuts and kolaches. completely unassuming, tucked away in a strip mall, no fancy chalkboard menu, and no hipster decorations (ironic owls, anyone?). it's just a mom-and-pop (sometimes mom-and-son) shop. i ordered two doughnuts to go with my coffee - one sugar and one with chocolate icing - both delicious. nothing fancy about these doughnuts - they are simple, but perfect. fresh, soft, and with just the right amount of sweetness. yum.

gourdough's

austin, tx

website

believe it or not, we went to get doughnuts after eating at the hula hut. and not just any doughnuts. we went to gourdough's - a famous austin gourmet doughnut truck. it's located in one of the food truck parking lots which dot the austin landscape. (can we start doing that here in palo alto, please?) i ordered the flying pig - a freshly fried doughnut topped with several strips of bacon and maple syrup icing. the doughnut itself is the highlight for me, it's fried perfectly - crispy shell on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. the toppings were a bit too intense for me, but still delicious.

lala's creamery

petaluma, ca

website

adorable little old-fashioned ice cream shop. when we walked by on the way to central market the night before, i made a mental note to check out lala's later. although it opened fairly recently, it has the old-timey soda shop feel that fits in perfectly with historic downtown petaluma. i ordered a sundae with tea & honey ice cream topped with hot fudge, whipped cream, chopped nuts, and a cherry. the ice cream was delicious - tasted like taiwanese milk tea but less sweet. definitely stop by if you're ever in petaluma.

bread winners

dallas, tx

website

derek and i were in dallas for two days to celebrate c+j's wedding. took the opportunity to see some friends who were nearby - eric, tony, and kate. tony and kate recommended bread winners for sunday brunch and eric graciously headed there early to wait for a table. clearly a very popular spot - there was a crowd waiting outside and an intercom system announcing seatings.

man, i love eating in texas. i didn't take a picture of everything we ordered but trust me, everything was texas-sized. to start, the table shared a giant cinnamon roll and a sticky caramel pecan roll. for my entree, i ordered biscuits and gravy with a side of sausages. heavy, but good. pictured is derek's chicken fried steak topped with sausage gravy. the brunch cocktails were a little too sweet for my tastes (i ordered the frozen cherry limeade), but the food was excellent.

half moon bay bakery

half moon bay, ca

link to yelp

hello again. so work has been busy. it's still busy, but i'm going to take my lunch hour today to try to catch up on some posts. the fabulous jinny was visiting the bay area about a month or two or three ago. when jinny and i hang out, we generally go wherever the wind blows us. on a whim, we decided to head up to half moon bay, famous day-trip destination for bay area residents.

we had no itinerary but followed the signs from 101-north toward half moon bay, then decided followed the signs to "downtown" and "main street." ended up parking on main street and finding a cute bakery, aptly named "half moon bay bakery." i can't remember what my baked good was called, but it was basically a holeless donut, filled with custard and topped with chocolate. amazing. jinny and i sat on the bench outside while we devoured our treats - pretty sure about 3 people walking by saw us eating and decided to check out the bakery.

bangkok spoon

mountain view, ca

link to yelp

this is one of derek's favorite lunch spots near the office. he ordered the pad kee mow and i ordered the pad see ew. he he enjoys the thinner longer noodles that they use here, although i prefer thicker rice noodles, similar to ho fun in chinese restaurants. decor was very nice, prices were good, service was friendly and speedy. food was decent, although derek's was a little bit better because it was spicy. my tofu had a little bit of a char on it which i liked but others might not. overall, not a destination restaurant, but a good spot for some noodles if you're in the area.

tokyo express

san francisco, ca

website

a few co-workers and i walked across the street from our san francisco offices and found tokyo express. it's a little confusing at first because there are numbered cards sitting on empty tables. however, when you order at the register in the back of the restaurant, you can tell them which table you want and the number sitting on that table. when your food is ready, they'll bring it to your table. very fast and efficient service -- this is clearly a lunch spot catered to busy professionals. my pork katsu was pretty good, although they relied on bottled tonkatsu sauce that was a bit too tangy. it's a good spot if you've got a group of 4 people and don't want to wait for a table elsewhere.

hobee's

palo alto, ca

website

hobee's is a chain of restaurants in the bay area. looks like a shari's-type family restaurant and we thought it would be a good place for brunch. clearly they are famous for their blueberry coffee cake - we saw everyone order the blueberry coffee cake and they even sell it at the front desk. breaking one of our cardinal rules (order what everyone else is ordering), we got the peach walnut coffee cake (pictured). it was okay - a little dry, very light, but could have used more peaches.

for our entrees, we each ordered the hash browns with various toppings. mine was topped with cheese, mushrooms, and onions. derek's was topped with chicken apple sausage, green peppers, tomato-basil sauce, and cheese. we were really hoping for the shredded-style hash browns like the ones they serve at joanie's. no such luck, they ended up being small wedges of potatoes. not a fan. it seemed like a popular spot, but derek and i really should know better than to stray from our favorite brunch spot, joanie's.

chairman bao

sf bay area, ca

link to twitter

i've seen this food truck featured on numerous tv shows and in numerous magazine articles, but it's usually parked up north, in san francisco. i was thrilled to find out last week that it would actually be parked right outside my office building in palo alto. it's so much easier when good food comes to me rather than vice versa. their menu has steamed buns, which are small white mantao pockets (pictured on the right). the menu also offers baked buns, which are much larger (as you can see on the left).

not that you can tell from my blog, but i'm trying to eat a little healthier. when faced with chairman bao's amazing menu, i decided to order the steamed bun with pork belly (smaller portion of pork belly) and the baked bun with tofu (larger portion of healthy tofu). what i actually received was a steamed bun with spicy chicken and a massive baked bun with ridiculous amounts of pork belly. i did not discover this discrepancy until i had already walked the 20 yards back to my office. clearly too far to turn back, right? the pork belly was crispy and fatty, the baked bun was slightly sweet, and the pickled radish balanced the flavors - very very good. i hope they come back.

L&L hawaiian barbecue

palo alto, ca

website

i'm surprised i haven't blogged L&L's yet because derek and i frequently eat at their many locations in the bay area. my favorite entree is the kahlua pork with cabbage + side of rice + side of macaroni salad. the macaroni salad is addictive. the portions can be pretty large, but they offer a mini version, which is a good size for lunch.

after running some errands, derek and i were hungry and needed a snack before dinner. we decided to stop by L&L's on our way up to san francisco. we ordered the spam musubi which has grilled spam, rice, and teriyaki sauce wrapped in nori (dried seaweed paper). delicious. and of course we also ordered a side of macaroni salad. a perfect snack.

kirk's steakburgers

palo alto, ca

website

the picture of the giant steakburger, stuffed with toppings, dripping with sauce, outside the restaurant was too appealing for derek and i to pass up. while the topping bar is cool, the burger itself was dry and tasteless. i didn't even finish mine. what i did finish, however, were the chili cheese fries. the chili had great flavor and nice chunks of beef. the cheese was well-melted. the onions were tasty. but i doubt we'll be back just for the chili cheese fries.

pho vi hoa

los altos, ca

website

this is a real pho restaurant, as opposed to madame tam, which is a vietnamese-ish restaurant that happens to serve pho. so of course there are going to be some things that the real pho restaurant does better: (1) better fattier beef, (2) selection of pho - i can choose a bowl that has tripe, tendon, and all these weird chewy bits, and (3) price.

the real pho restaurant also serves an excellent fresh lemonade - a little sweet for derek's tastes, but perfect for mine. but what was missing from the real pho restaurant, however, was the flavor of the broth. it was good at pho vi hoa, but i think madame tam, surprisingly, has a richer and more flavorful broth. so, pho vi hoa for the meat and madame tam for the broth. hmmm.

pamplemousse

redwood city, ca

website

never had a canele before, not entirely sure how to pronounce it, but it looked delicious. waiting for derek to get his hair cut, i decided to hang out at a cute little french bakery on broadway. the display case beckoned with beautiful little macarons and lots of pretty cakes. the canele was delicious - caramelized sugar at the bottom, moist cake in the middle. eggy and rich. yum.

tenfu chinese restaurant

menlo park, ca

website

this chinese restaurant is within walking distance of our car wash spot. wash and wax is just enough time for us to walk to tenfu, eat lunch, and walk back. the restaurant gave us the english-language menu, but we noticed that the other table had the chinese-language menu. the english menu said "beef stew noodle soup," but thankfully it turned out to be normal beef noodle soup.

and it was surprisingly good - rich beefy broth, chewy dense noodles, and solid chunks of beef. i wasn't expecting a place so convenient to have such good food, but we'll definitely be back for the noodle soup. we were in such a hurry, i forgot to take a picture until i had slurped down all of my noodles. well, that's what the empty bowl looks like.

sorabol

san francisco, ca

website

after breakfast at the ferry building i walked over to union square to do some shopping. having learned my lesson from my last visit to the westfield shopping center, i went back to tina's food court recommendation - korean food at sorabol. i'm pretty sure they cook the bulgogi in butter. according to jinny, that's how real koreans cook, anyway.

in an attempt to be healthy, i decided to add some spicy tofu, which was good but uninteresting. next time i'll just get extra bulgogi. the kimchee is free - grab a few containers when you get to the end of the line. good flavor to the kimchee, it adds the right amount of acidity to match the buttery bulgogi. there's probably better korean food in the city somewhere else, but sorabol is a great option if you get hungry while shopping.

alison bakery

palo alto, ca

website

the volvo needed a check-up, so i left the car at the volvo dealership and walked across the street to find a place to study for my exam. the giant starbucks looked like an obvious spot, but i noticed alison bakery right next to it. the glass display full of giant croissants, cakes, and cupcakes drew me in (we all know how mediocre starbucks' baked goods are). the bakery also had ample seating with a sunny interior, so it looked like an excellent place to study.

the proprietor was quite happy to see me walk in. this bakery recently opened and it must be difficult to get people out of their 'bucks habit. no espresso drinks but they have an excellent and cheap drip coffee. the proprietor mentioned that the banana muffins had just come out of the oven, so of course i ordered one of those. the muffin would have been good, but ordinary if it was cold. however, fresh out of the oven it was extraordinary -- crunchy on the outside, warm and moist on the inside. yum.

como esta taqueria

palo alto, ca

website

we were exploring our new neighborhood and were thrilled to find a taqueria hiding next to walgreen's. looked like a popular neighborhood spot with a colorful chalk menu and outdoor seating. what is interesting for this hole-in-the-wall spot is that they really care about the quality of the ingredients and they offer various healthy options (whole wheat tortilla, low carb burrito, etc.)

of course, we didn't actually choose any of the healthy options. derek ordered the tortilla soup and a carne asada burrito (both decent). i ordered what is possibly one of the best vegetarian burritos i've ever had - the chile relleno burrito. delicious - the chile was stuffed with gooey cheese and covered in an eggy batter. refried beans, rice, and lettuce were added, then wrapped in an soft, chewy tortilla. top it all off with some of their excellent housemade salsas and it is vegetarian perfection.

fu lam mum

mountain view, ca

website

fu lam mum is a pretty large dim sum restaurant, with the carts and everything. it doesn't have a very wide selection of dim sum, but they definitely have the basics covered. we ordered ha gow (shrimp balls wrapped in rice paper), shu mai (pork wrapped in noodle), lo mai fun (sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves), luo buo gow (turnip cake with pork) and ham sui gok (fried mochi dumplings filled with pork). sorry for the mix of cantonese and mandarin pronunciations, but that's how derek and i order dim sum.

each dim sum dish was okay - nothing spectacular and maybe a little on the greasy side for my tastes. the luo buo gow wasn't crispy enough and the ham sui gok didn't have enough pork in it. my favorite was the ma la gow (malaysian yellow cake) - which we had to make a special request for. it's extremely light, airy, not-too-sweet yellow cake, steamed in a basket. overall, i wish fu lam mum offered more variety, like the amazing spread we had at emerald in san diego. the search for quality dim sum in the south bay continues ...

coriander gourmet thai

san francisco, ca

link to yelp

normally when i go to the westfield mall's food court, i stop by tina's favorite spot for korean food. but since we had just eaten kimchee fried rice at the ferry building, i decided to try the thai food. not good. the tofu was overcooked and dry. the green beans and the pad thai were bland. the food court at the westfield mall has many many better options.