genwa

los angeles, ca

website

okay, the backlog is getting overwhelming and i'm now getting nearly daily reminders from various people that i haven't updated my blog in forever. so i'm going to try to catch up, but might end up paying short shrift to some places. like this one. i've already suggested that los angeles has the best korean bbq in the country. (having tried korean bbq in NY, LA, Seattle, and SF, i consider myself an expert). anyway, cindy c took anthony and i here for korean bbq before catching our flights back to palo alto and DC. in august 2012. (did i mention that i'm behind on my blogging). anyway, it was delicious. my favorite is the thinly sliced daikon wrapper for the barbecued beef. the perfect crunchy and tart balance to the fatty meat. yum! okay, one down. only several dozen left to go ...

lavanda

palo alto, ca

website

an extremely varied menu includes mediterranean, italian, and croatian dishes. i've never had croatian food, so i decided to try something from the croatian menu. "sarma" -- stuffed cabbage with minced beef, onions, rice, fresh herbs, served on mashed potatoes. basically - meatballs wrapped in cabbage and doused in tomato sauce. it tasted fine, but it wasn't anything special.

i love cake, so, for dessert i ordered the cake with passionfruit sauce. the cake itself was okay, but it was drenched in overly sweet sauce. the menu had other items that sounded appealing - pastas, steak, schnitzel, and fish. although i didn't have a lot of success with the two dishes that i ordered, lavanda is a nice spot to have a glass of wine with some bar snacks. probably won't be back for dinner, but maybe for wine.

village pub

woodside, ca

website

like derek, our friend rajesh knows good burgers. he's been telling us to try the village pub burger ever since we moved to the south bay. our earlier attempts had failed, but derek made reservations for yet another anniversary dinner. (it's our first anniversary, we're allowed to have more than one celebratory meal, right?) so we got all dressed up and were ready to dine with the moneyed, hedge-fundy, venture-capitalisty elites that populate woodside. the average age of the village pub dining room was definitely up there, but i suppose derek and i are no spring chickens either.

despite the white tablecloths and formal atmosphere, service was incredibly friendly and gracious. the burger was not on the dinner menu, but we were allowed to order from the pub menu. i can't remember what appetizer i ordered but it probably involved caviar of some kind and was probably amazing. derek thought the village pub burger was delicious. i ordered the steak frites with bone marrow because i can't pass up anything with bone marrow. very very good - my only complaint is that they pre-sliced the meat and drenched it with sauce. i'm a grown woman, i can slice and sauce my own steak, thankyaverymuch.

ad hoc

yountville, ca

website

derek and i had just been to french laundry over new year's, so we decided to try its less expensive and less formal sister restaurant, ad hoc, for our anniversary dinner. ad hoc has a very casual atmosphere - waitstaff in jeans, loud classic rock/soul music, and no tablecloths on the tables. we were planning to order their famous fried chicken, but it turns out that it is only available on certain monday nights. instead, they had a set menu to be served family-style: a salad, an optional shrimp risotto, tri-tip steak, vegetable sides, a cheese course, and ice cream sundaes.

we weren't really in the mood for steak and the tri-tip was sadly overcooked. also, despite being served in a baking dish, it got cold quickly. the only highlight of the meal was all of the vegetables - incredibly fresh (from the french laundry garden, perhaps?) and well-prepared. the fennel, in particular, was amazing. derek was bewildered as to why i kept raving about the fennel, but it was seriously delicious. the sundaes were underwhelming - while the chocolate sauce was terrific, we didn't drive all the way up to yountville and make reservations weeks in advance to get ice cream sundaes for dessert. sigh.

central market

petaluma, ca

website

why were we in petaluma? cheapest hotel in napa valley where i could use my starwood points. this is how a lot of our travel decisions are made. anyway, it was fortunate because otherwise we would have never found this amazing restaurant - central market. awesome food, awesome atmosphere. i love restaurants where the chef and waitstaff are clearly excited about the food and wine that they're serving. they were out of tables when we arrived, so they sat us in the corner booth next to two large windows. it was super comfy with big pillows and we had a great vantage point to observe the nightlife in petaluma (it's quiet).

our waitress was fantastic - she recommended excellent wines for us and steered us toward great options on the menu. best appetizer that i've had in a long long time - fresh mozzarella served with arugula and crostini slathered with artichoke tapenade. the fact that i still remember all of the ingredients in the appetizer demonstrates how good it was. derek had an amazing smoked fish as an entree - i think it was rainbow trout. dessert was a rustic strawberry pie - clearly homemade. so good. worth driving up to petaluma for, imho.

yucca de lac

palo alto, ca

website

the stanford shopping mall is just one of those places where palo alto people tend to congregate. the mall, the dish, university ave, california ave, that's about it for palo alto hot spots. so we really shouldn't have been surprised when we ran into m+s there, the day after eating dinner with them at madera. palo alto is a small world.

yucca de lac has a very modern exterior with an appealing patio area - bright & sunny with comfortable-looking lounge chairs. according to its website and the description on the menu, it's a popular hong kong eatery. i've never heard of it before and after eating here, i can't imagine that it's actually popular in hong kong. it's basically expensive healthy-ish chinese food. my fried rice was decent but bland, hot & sour soup was pretty good but over-priced. there's a tiny chance that derek and i will eat there again if we're stuck at the mall and want to sit on a comfy lounge chair while drinking cocktails, but this is not a destination restaurant by any stretch of the imagination.

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.

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.

juban

menlo park, ca

website

miracle of miracles, derek and i were both leaving the office before 7 pm. we decided to celebrate by going out to dinner. and we decided since we had so much time on our hands, we should drive over to menlo park and check out a restaurant downtown (downtown of course being a single street with a handful of restaurants and shops). juban is japanese-style korean bbq, if that makes any sense. it's similar to gyu-kaku in new york city. the meat is prepared in a soy sauce-based marinade and is usually cut to be more aesthetically pleasing than you would find in a typical korean bbq spot.

the meat was very good and it was fun to cook it ourselves at our table. unfortunately the meal was missing the banchan dishes that you usually get with korean bbq and they even made us pay extra for the kimchi. we did, however, get an excellent bowl of oxtail soup - a warm and comforting broth, filled with rice and oxtail. since you do all of the cooking at your table, this is a very efficient place to eat - it took us about a half hour from getting seated to getting our check. a pretty good option for japanese bbq in the south bay.

pampas

palo alto, ca

website

this is a favorite special occasion spot for derek and myself. peak times require a reservation, but we prefer to dine early when it's less crowded and everything is fresh. it's a churrascaria, similar to churrascaria plataforma in nyc - a set price for all-you-can-eat. they give you a disc that is green on one side, red on the other. flip it to red while you check out the salad bar (my favorites are the marinated mushrooms and the coconut couscous). flip it to green for servers to come by and slice you a piece of meat. my favorites are the top sirloin, the skirt steak, and the tri-tip. they also bring around filet mignon, lamb, spicy chicken, housemade chorizo, and grilled pineapple.

one of their tricks to keep you from eating too much expensive meat is to put really good sides on your table - gougeres, fried polenta, and fried bananas. the gougeres are amazing, especially fresh out of the oven. pacing yourself is key when you eat here - it helps to order a good bottle of red wine. we like the napa cabernet sauvignon from their wine list. flip the disc to red, take a wine break, maybe even a little conversation with your dining companion, then flip it back to green for more meat.

ppq dungeness island

san francisco, ca

link to yelp

crabs prepared asian-style - perfect for large parties to share. but parking is a nightmare. we spent 40 mins circling and ended up half a mile away from the restaurant. seriously, if we weren't there to see j+j visiting from nyc, we might have just headed back home. otherwise, it was a great spot for j+j to meet up with their many sf friends. the $40/crab matches what we used to pay for fatty crab in nyc, but the set menus for larger groups provide better value.

our table shared 3 crabs and a few side dishes, including excellent garlic noodles. we had black pepper crab, roasted crab, and spicy crab. the roasted crab was definitely the best for me - deep fried and infused with garlic. others preferred the spicy crab. i didn't actually eat a lot of crab - i prefer the main shell over the legs (too much work). but i really enjoyed the dessert - fried bananas with mango ice cream. everyone else was too full from crab to eat the dessert - which just meant more for me.

txoko

san francisco, ca

website

california is going to ban foie gras beginning in july 2012. i don't actually like foie gras, but it shouldn't be banned. based on all 3 articles i've read on this issue, i believe there are humane ways to make foie gras. also, i'm generally a fan of allowing individuals to make informed choices about their ethical obligations when it comes to food - over a certain baseline standard, of course. given that there are humane ways to make foie gras (the duck/goose doesn't seem to be in any discomfort or pain), i don't think that baseline standard is met.

okay, what does that have to do with txoko? april is on a quest to try all of the great foie gras dishes in the city before the ban begins. while i'm not a fan of foie gras itself, i'm a fan of restaurants that serve foie gras, so derek and i joined april and lennon at txoko for dinner in the city. april enjoyed her foie gras appetizer and did a full write-up on her blog. derek and i shared the massive rib-eye which was very juicy and fatty. i started with an amazing green garlic soup - creamy, garlicky, and delicious.

bar agricole

san francisco, ca

website

vanita found this great space for the gang to get together for dinner. it's a beautiful restaurant with wood panels, high ceilings, and a cool atmosphere. originally they were going to place us in the back of the restaurant, which was dark and depressing. instead, we waited an extra half hour and got a better table in the front of the restaurant (vanita, rajesh, and i had to wait for the rest of the gang anyway). next time we'll know to request a front table.

waiting gave us the opportunity to explore their cocktail menu. i had a planter's punch - white agricole rum, lime, grapefruit, and bitters. then a rye gin old fashioned - rye gin, gum syrup, bitters, and two zests. both were excellent, although the old fashioned was quite strong. then i think i had another planter's punch. the rest of the night is a little fuzzy - the anchovies i started with were okay, but needed bread. (what kind of restaurant doesn't give a bread basket?) i ordered an entree too, but i can't quite remember what it was.

blue bottle coffee

san francisco, ca

website

the day after the exam, i decided to wander the streets of san francisco by myself. i started the day at the ferry building for breakfast. there were so many choices - do i get a cute little cupcake from miette, a meat cone from boccalone, or a roll from acme bread company? i decided to try blue bottle coffee to see what all of the hype is about. each cup of drip coffee is individually brewed, but thankfully i ordered a rosemary-studded olive oil shortbread cookie to munch on while i waited for that process. and it really is a process - there's a contraption with a row of coffee cups and coffee filters filled with coffee just above them. a woman with a teapot of hot water pours a little bit into the filters, watches them, pours a little bit more, watches them again, repeat.

18 minutes from entering the line to getting my coffee (although the line was even longer by the time my drink was ready). it was $3.75 for a drip coffee with foamy steamed milk swirled into a pleasant design. this is special occasion coffee - making this a daily habit might dent both your wallet and your patience. but i had the time and the funds, so i enjoyed sitting at the blue-bottle-customers-only counter, sipping my exceptionally aromatic coffee while watching the comings and goings of the ferry building.

b restaurant & bar

oakland, ca

website

b restaurant had that upscale farm-to-table rustic look that usually indicates good food and good drinks. my drink was called "high hopes" (which i thought was good to have before the final day of my exam) with gin, benedictine, grapefruit, and lime. don't worry, i was still able to study after one cocktail. derek's cocktail, called "love on" tasted like a mix of cough syrup and lotion. bad.

the tables were turned when it came to the food. i ordered the fish, served on saffron risotto with squid ink and oyster buerre blanc. sounds delightfully fishy, doesn't it? it wasn't. it was bland. derek, however, really enjoyed his housemade fettucine with rainbow swiss chard, garlic, peas, cranberry beans, and pecorino. we shared the excellent caesar salad with amazing housemade croutons and white spanish anchovies. for dessert, the pecan tart with bourbon whipped cream was delicious. overall, it was kind of hit-or-miss, but the hits were very good.

la bodeguita del medio

palo alto, ca

website

this is one of my favorite lunch spots on california avenue. lovely ambiance, white tablecloths, and excellent iced tea. it takes a little bit longer than some of the other spots nearby so my co-workers and i come here only if we have the time to spare. we always ask for their bread because they serve it with an amazing chili oil - so good. i get the fish sandwich - similar in appearance to a filet-o-fish, but its actually delicious. crispy flaky fish filet topped with tartar sauce in a soft bun.

so i had high expectations when i brought derek here for dinner. the prices are quite a bit higher in the evening and they don't offer the fish sandwich. sticking with the fish theme, i ordered a white fish they had on special. a little bland, unfortunately. derek's dish, however, was excellent - the ropa vieja - shredded skirt steak in a rich and buttery sauce served with delicious plantains. well, now i know what to order if i come back for dinner.

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.

wayfare tavern

san francisco, ca

website

one of my new favorite restaurants! derek discovered this place while working in his firm's san francisco office. it's actually tyler florence's restaurant - the menu is very similar to the dishes he cooks on his show (which always look delicious). the atmosphere is upscale gastropub - the prices are a little high, but the ingredients and preparation are worth it. we walked in on a saturday afternoon and the place was packed - but thankfully we were able to get a seat at the bar, where we could watch chefs put the final touches on each plate.

wayfare tavern is known for their fried chicken, which derek thinks is amazing. if you're not in the mood for fried chicken, the dish to get is the tomales bay mussels - perfectly plump little mussels served with herbsaint cream, crispy chunks of pork belly, sweet potato, celery salt, and grilled toast. it's a little on the rich side, but trust me, you won't have any problem finishing it.

straits

san jose, ca

website

straits is purportedly a singaporean restaurant. lennon, an actual singaporean, warned us that the food bares little resemblance to real singaporean food. so we've avoided the place for nearly a year. but we were doing some christmas shopping at santana row, got hungry, and the steakhouse was completely booked. that's how we ended up at straits for some fake asian food.

there is nothing singaporean about the fried calamari, especially the chinese takeout box they serve it in. but it was edible - slightly spicy, well-fried, and served with delicious dipping sauces. the murtabak, roti stuffed with minced beef, is just weird - nothing like singaporean/malaysian roti should taste like. the whole striped bass was fried to death and doused with a too-sweet sauce. the indian street noodles were similarly over-sauced with sticky sweetness. if you're forced to eat here, get a cocktail and the calamari and call it a night.

bon vivant

palo alto, ca

website

bon vivant is a new french restaurant that recently opened in downtown palo alto. the interior is bright and inviting, especially on a sunny day (which is about 90% of the time here in california). derek and i were in the mood for something new and different and decided to try this place. despite the fact that they stop service at 3, the kitchen graciously let us sit and order an appetizer and entrees at 3:15. yes, that's when we eat lunch.

my favorite was the appetizer that we shared - duck rillette, which includes shredded duck, wild arugula, red onion, shaved fennel, and toasted bread. the duck was deliciously fatty, but balanced well with the fresh greens. excellent. the crepes were also quite good - mine was filled with smoked salmon, but the duck rillette was definitely the highlight. overall - pricey, but tasty.