juban

menlo park, ca

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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.

tenfu chinese restaurant

menlo park, ca

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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.

jeffery's

menlo park, ca

website

about a week or so after we first moved to the south bay, derek and i got lost trying to find 101-north. in fact, we got lost several times. and each time we got lost, we drove by a classic-looking diner called jeffrey's, a burger joint. desperate to find a great burger spot in the south bay, we made a mental note to stop by later when we weren't trying to get to the freeway.

the interior mirrors the exterior - reminsicent of a 1950s diner. but shiny and new. very shiny. i really liked the burger here. the patty has a nice salty crust that reminds me of the shake shack. the rest of the ingredients are less spectacular - the bun is just okay, the condiment bar (iceberg lettuce and unripe tomatoes) is just alright. but let's not be too picky. order a big basket of their excellent onion rings and enjoy.