madera

palo alto, ca

website

madera is now one of our favorite special occasion restaurants in the area, right up there with evvia. it's a favorite restaurant (also hotel/spa) for the venture-capitalist/hedge-fund/dot-com/silicon-valley types. not that derek or i fit into any of those categories, but we know good food when we taste it. we've been here twice already in the last few months - once to introduce m+s to silicon valley (they recently moved from berkeley) and again when derek's parents visited. it's a beautiful location - sit outside for dinner if it's not too chilly and you'll have a gorgeous view of the sun setting behind the mist covering the distant hills.

my favorite dish here is the appropriately titled "rich & salty" - which consists of three split bones with roasted bone marrow topped with osetra caviar. yes. bone marrow topped with caviar. i know! the toast points on the side were underwhelming - bland, thin, and too crunchy. i wish they would serve a proper toast accompaniment - like the crispy bread with garlic, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar at casa mono. but i'm just being picky. the rest of the food at madera was good, but everything paled in comparison to the rich, fatty, salty goodness of this simple yet extravagant appetizer.

sundance the steakhouse

palo alto, ca

website

even though we're in sunny, laid-back palo alto, the interior of this restaurant reminds me of old-school new york steakhouses like wolfgang's, spark's, or smith & wollensky. except in palo alto, you're more likely to run into a venture capitalist than a mob boss. nevertheless, it was an appropriate spot to take the summer interns out for lunch. one note - parking is annoying - a tiny lot with a weird one-way entrance/exit. i ended up parallel parking on el camino which was unpleasant for me (and probably for the drivers around me as well).

but onto the food -- an appetizer of raw oysters was perfect to share: light and refreshing, tasting just a hint of the sea. sundance is apparently known for their prime rib, which most of the guys at the table ordered. it seemed a bit much for lunch, so i ordered the french dip sandwich with au jus. the prime rib meat inside was pretty good - rich and flavorful, but the bread was boring and didn't complement the meat. i was quite jealous of the juicy looking prime rib slabs on everyone else's plates. next time, definitely ordering that instead.

main street burgers

los gatos, ca

website

derek discovered this spot while he was driving back from some firm retreat in the south bay. he saw the advertisement for "invent your own" ice cream sandwiches and knew that he had to take me here. derek ordered a massive burger with bacon and melted cheddar on an egg bun. the burger was pretty good, but nothing amazing. the egg bun is buttery and rich, which might be good on its own, but it ended up making the greasy burger taste even heavier. i enjoyed the mushroom swiss burger (with truffled mayonnaise), but mostly because of the mushrooms and truffle flavor.

for the ice cream sandwich, you can choose either graham cracker cookies or brownie cookies and fill it with any of their excellent ice creams. i went with graham cracker cookies and rocky road ice cream for a s'mores effect. they have a special machine that hard-freezes the ice cream before its placed between the soft, chewy cookies. makes a perfectly frozen and non-drippy ice cream sandwich. amazing. we went again a few weeks later with derek's parents: ordered burgers, walked through downtown los gatos to burn off the burgers, and came back for ice cream sandwiches. delicious and perfect for a hot summer day.

tortilla jo's

anaheim, ca

website

what does one do after graduating medical school? go to disneyland, of course. we left pasadena and drove down to our anaheim hotel (which took FOREVER, by the way, i don't know how angelenos survive in this metropolis of freeways and gridlock). that evening, we decided to check out downtown disney (an outdoor mall right outside the main gates) to prep for the next day's disneyland adventure (the niece needed a new minnie mouse dress and a snow white lego set).

lots of food options in the mall, but all of them were extremely crowded. i left my cell phone number with tortilla jo's and received a text about a half hour later when a table became available. honestly, i wasn't expecting much for a restaurant that's clearly geared toward tourists, but the food was pretty good. fresh chips, excellent spicy salsa. i can't remember what i ordered - possibly the chile relleno and an enchilada - but i remember being pleasantly surprised with the quality.

porto alegre brazilian steakhouse

pasadena, ca

website

my brother had just had his medical school graduation ceremony at the pasadena civic auditorium. mom, dad, aunt tina, amanda, cindy, my niece, and i were all waiting outside, pondering where to take the newly minted doctor out for a celebratory lunch. well, my niece was doing less pondering and more singing and dancing. i really wanted to go to koreatown for my favorite korean bbq but it was too far and there were too many of us to make that happen.

glancing across the street, we noticed that the shopping mall had a churrascaria on the top floor. a quick check on yelp confirmed that it was decent and my sister called to make lunch reservations. i really don't know how we survived before iphones. anyway, to cut to the chase, the buffet portion of the churrascaria wasn't great. the gougeres were okay, but everything else was boring. what was great, however, was the meat - the sirloin and skirt steak were my favorites. perfectly cooked with just the right amount of char. the photographed piece doesn't look very good, but i forgot to take a picture of the good stuff. sorry.

bread winners

dallas, tx

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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.

bi-rite creamery

san francisco, ca

website

jinny and i drove by the beach at half moon bay but it looked too chilly to get out of the car. instead, we drove up to san francisco for ice cream. probably not the smartest decision, but it made sense at the time. san francisco was freezing and jinny and i were shivering as we waited in the long line outside the bi-rite creamery near delores park. thankfully when we made it to the front of the line, a table had opened up inside and we could eat our ice cream in relative warmth.

bi-rite is famous for its ice cream sundaes and is frequently featured on those various what-to-eat-in-sf shows on the food network and travel channel. jinny and i shared a sam's sundae (chocolate ice cream with bergamot olive oil, maldon sea salt and whipped cream) and a sundae with honey and strawberries (if i remember correctly). both were pretty good, but probably not worth waiting in line for when it's cold and windy in san francisco. i think i'll stick with rick's down here in the south bay, where it's warm.

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.