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 ...

michael mina

san francisco, ca

website

derek is very good at thinking ahead and making reservations. when he found out that cindy was coming for a weekend visit, he immediately made reservations at michael mina - highly rated, has one michelin star. a had been there before, so we followed his lead and ordered a la carte. cindy, a+ma, and derek split two orders of the tuna tartare (which was very good), but i had to be an uni-snob and order the uni pasta off of the tasting menu (pictured). the uni was incredible, the rest of the pasta was pretty good as well.

my entree, highly recommended by the waiter, was the "japanese inspired whole dungeness crab" served with ramen. some of the crab was tempura-fried and the rest of the crab was poached in miso-butter. the poached crab was amazing, served with an incredible sauce. the ramen was disappointing - tasted like overcooked instant ramen in a bland broth. the highlight of the meal, however, might have been the bread served on the side - ridiculously good. grilled, buttered sourdough bread served with a little pot of (what i assume must be) fresh ricotta topped with a layer of honey. after you finish one slice of bread, they bring you another slice and another pot of ricotta, so feel free to go crazy with the ricotta. overall, it was a quality fine-dining experience, just don't get the ramen.

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.

namu @ ferry building farmer's market

san francisco, ca

website

the weather cooperated quite nicely for cindy's visit. it was a gorgeous sunny saturday afternoon when we went to the ferry building in sf. walked through the stalls, got some cheese from cowgirl creamery and amazing almond brittle coated in dark chocolate from g.l. alfieri. there's also a farmer's market behind the ferry building in the plaza with produce stands and food booths.

cindy and i found a booth serving korean food and decided to get the kimchee fried rice. this is now the second picture on my blog of cindy holding food in front of a landmark as she angled the plate of fried rice in front of the bay bridge. fried rice was decent and appropriately spicy. we realized too late that the booth next to namu had fried macaroni and cheese, which might have been a more interesting option.

kobe japanese cuisine & bar

foster city, ca

website

my sister cindy came to visit for a few days and i took her on a whole tour of the bay area - san jose, palo alto, foster city, and san francisco. i've been lamenting the scarcity of decent japanese food in the bay area, so cindy asked L to find a good restaurant for lunch on friday. she recommended kobe sushi restaurant in a shopping plaza in foster city. because its a shopping plaza with a grocery store and several restaurants, parking was extremely limited. we managed to park in a residential neighborhood nearby.

kobe had a menu of lunch specials, which both cindy and L ordered from. but what caught my eye was the appetizer list, which included octopus salad and hamachi kama (grilled yellowtail tuna collar). the octopus salad was excellent, though a very small portion for the price. the tuna collar was grilled perfectly - buttery and delicious. fish collar is tricky to eat - the flesh hides in little pockets inside the bones, but it's worth the effort.

su hong

palo alto, ca

website

you know a chinese restaurant is going to be good when you're handed menus written completely in chinese. derek and i considered relying on our limited chinese reading skills ("i think that says to-fu") but instead decided to play it safe and asked for english menus. su hong serves shanghai-style cuisine, which is one of my favorites as it reminds me of the food my mom makes at home.

we ordered "shi zhi tou" or "lion's head" meatballs. they were almost as good as my mom's and each meatball was the size of a baseball. it was an expensive dish ($16) -- but between the two of us, we only ate one meatball and the leftovers made excellent meals later in the week. the hand-shaved noodles were good, but our favorite dish of the meal was the crispy beancurd with hot garlic sauce (fried tofu). excellent crispy crust with soft, silky tofu inside. delicious.

the patty shack

redwood city, ca

website

movie night in redwood city again. we were going to go to the spaghetti factory, but there was a ridiculous wait. apparently, spaghetti factory and a movie is a popular option in redwood city. i had remembered driving by redwood city's main street and seeing a burger shop with a funny name - patty shack. we decided to head there to make sure we made it to "mission impossible 4" in time.

patty shack is set up like a burger stand - order at the back, grab a number, find a seat, and wait for someone to bring your food. derek ordered a burger and fries, no surprise. the menu, however, had a few interesting side options - mac & cheese, beet salad, brussel sprouts ... i decided to try a side of broccoli soup with my burger. the soup was good, but a bit much. burger was also good - juicy patty, classic sesame seed bun, good veggies. a solid choice if you're craving a burger in redwood city.

a & j restaurant

cupertino, ca

link to yelp

craving a good bowl of noodles, we headed to cupertino village. a&j restaurant is a very basic chinese restaurant with a short menu. walk in, someone usually gestures at a table. it's the kind of restaurant where you don't have to order tea or water, they just throw it onto the table after you sit down.

we each order a bowl of noodles. derek gets the beef noodle soup. i usually do too, but this time i decided to try the tripe noodle soup. it was good, but not as flavorful as the beef soup.

kitchen kura

san francisco, ca

website

on the way back from reno, we stopped by SF to find dinner. which was a little difficult on new year's day. we drove around inner sunset, figuring that we had a better chance of finding an asian restaurant open on the holiday. april and lennon's favorite chinese restaurant was open, but had a ridiculous wait. we were too hungry and tired, so we ended up at kitchen kura, a decent japanese restaurant with some solid comfort food.

everyone else in the restaurant was ordering fried chicken and it looked fabulous. but i didn't feel like eating fried food, so i went with the sukiyaki (tofu, onion, beef, sweet soy sauce) and nishime (daikon, carrot, bamboo shoot, and shitake mushroom w/ dashi bouillon soup) with rice. derek ordered the katsu curry (pictured). very simple and comforting. definitely hit the spot after the long drive from nevada.

french laundry

yountville, ca

website

thomas keller's french laundry is one of the best restaurants in the country, has three michelin stars, has been on my wish list for years, and is extremely difficult to get a reservation for. derek, always thinking ahead, called the requisite 2 months before new year's eve to get a reservation for 4 for lunch. april and lennon joined us for the amazing meal (see april's excellent write-up on her food blog!). the restaurant is located in napa valley, about an hour north of san francisco. french laundry is in a beautiful old building that looks like it was plucked out of the french countryside (at least what i imagine the french countryside might look like).

we were taken upstairs to a small room with a couple of tables, where it felt like we were in someone's bright sunlit living room. as is often the case with uber-expensive restaurants, the staff recognize that you're there for an experience and not just a meal. they were extremely pleasant and patient, pouring us a complimentary glass of champagne for the holiday and explaining each course in detail. the waitstaff got a kick out of the fact that we were planning on heading to reno after lunch ("gotta stay classy," said derek). after spending $$$$ at french laundry, we had to try to make the money back somehow...

now the food - april did a much better job of chronicling each dish, so i'll just stick to the highlights. our favorites of the 9 courses - "oysters and pearls" ("saboyan" of pearl tapioca with island creek oysters and white sturgeon caviar) and the snake river farms "calotte de boeuf grillee" (bone marrow, marble potatoes, creamed spinach, and "a-1" sauce). they DEEP FRY the bone marrow and serve it next to an impeccable cut of melt-in-your-mouth meat from the top of the rib-eye. perfect beefy goodness. derek ordered the foie gras en terrine, which was served with a toasted brioche bread. what's funny is that before he even finished the first slice, they brought out a second freshly toasted brioche. derek remarked that he was fine, but the server insisted that the chef's instructions require that the terrine be spread on warm bread. that devotion to perfection is evident in each of the nine courses and made for a meal that we will never forget.