21 - First Squeeze Cafe - Napa

1126 1st St, Napa, CA 94559, (707) 224-6762

Last Visited - December, 2008

This little juice bar saved our morning in Napa last week. I guess that's how things are at Napa downtown after Christmas, most places are closed (like a bear in winter). We were looking for a place to have breakfast and circled around for ten minutes. The streets were bare. There was an old bakery that we forgot the location for and a falafel place that opened on the edge of the street. Luckily we spotted First Squeeze Cafe after coming out an odd small street. 

There were people inside, and they were eating relaxingly over coffee. The guy at the cashier did our orders with a cheerful attitude and we sat down with our drinks. Not much to say about the place: the food came out at a decent time, the coffee was drinkable, and you pay before you eat. I guess it's the kind of place I like. 

Just a small post before some big ones. Now for a New Year's Party to go to.  

Yelp's Review

20 - Nanyang Burmese Restaurant - Oakland

6048 College Ave, Oakland, CA 94618, (510) 655-3298

Last Visit: December, 2008

Burmese food is close to Thai food in my understanding. There's a bit of mango flavoring and also coconut. I went to Nanyang for a Christmas getogether this weekend with some old friends. The place is not too far from me and me and my girlfriend find it without difficulty. Right in the intersection of College and Claremont, next to Murasaki furnishings.

Two of the things I like about Burmese food are the flavored rices and the colorful salads. There are many kinds of these salads, Green Tea being one of them. With the proper ingredients, it can be quite delightful. Nanyang provides four types of rice in their flavored rice combo - spicey, brown, coconut, and red. I find the coconut rice done really well. It's exactly what it is, coconut flavored rice. Sometimes I feel like it should be a dessert. 

The entres came relatively fast. The mango noodles made a good impression with us, I didn't try it though. I realize that I can never appreciate mangos; maybe dried ones only. The grilled chicken was good, but nothing special about it. They had a fish curry dish, but I did not enjoy it so much. 

All in all, for a homey, modestly priced trial at Burmese food, Nanyang can be the place to go. 

Yelp's Review

19 - Zen Restaurant - Alameda

2315 Santa Clara ave, Alameda, CA. 94501, (510) 521 - 7070

Last Visit - December 2008

Zen is a small Japanese restaurant in Alameda off Park Avenue. The decor is actually something to talk about. Most things are red and black, and there seems to be some effort made in the setting and utensils of the restaurant. In some ways it's fusion because of the cocktail menu and their small alotment of wines. The theme is Zen, which is in some ways "non-traditional" in this sense. The places are not completely round or the glasses not in orthodox shape. 

I went there for the second time with some friends last week. We ordered the yam fries and a salad as an apetizer. The lamb came next and my friends ordered some of the wasabi shu-mai. I ordered the mentaiko spaghetti, one of my favorite dishes. All was well. I had a cranberry cosmo and my friends had some mohitos. The drinks are not too strong, which is usually the Japanese way. Desserts are pretty good, but I haven't tried many. 

I don't think this place is much of a bar, but for a small snack and conversation it's not bad. For Alameda, it's definitely a place to try some day. 

Yelp's Review

18 - Oakland Grill - Oakland (Jack London Area)

301 Franklin St., (at 3rd St), Oakland, CA 94607, (510) 835-1176

Last visit - November 2008

The Oakland Grill locates amongst warehouses in the Jack London area of Oakland. You'd probably miss it if nobody pointed it out to you. Amongst the newly built condos and reconstructed brick houses, it nests behind long eves so you have to be on a lookout to find it. 

We walk in and are seated on the second floor. The crowd seems like the early-risers. They have their newspapers, books, and electronic gadgets laid out and slowly sip their coffee. A couple of tables are taken by officers, and there are a pair of officers sitting with us on the second deck. There's actually a third deck above us, but more like adjacent to us. 

We order our food. I  had the pancakes combo: two pancakes, two eggs, and two strips of bacon. My girlfriend opted for the waffles instead. Food came at a slow pace, but we found the view on the second deck quite entertaining as we watched the kitchen staff do their work. Not a easy place to work in. 

I think it's a good place to go if you're waiting for a movie at Jack London, or you just want to start your day with a nice plate of pancakes. Be extra careful there because it is becoming a regular joint for police officers. 

Before long, we finished our food and made our journey to the world of Emery bay. The fight with transaction refunds began and I will have to talk about that story another time. 

17 - Luce - San Francisco

InterContinental Hotel - 888 Howard St., San Francisco, CA 94103, (415) 616-6566

www.lucewinerestaurant.com

There were a lot of firsts in this evening, but I guess I should start by saying, it's the first time I've been to this restaurant. It was the first time I had raw deer, and it was the first time I had a six course dinner. Let me see if I can remember it all accurately, because it was a three hour event, and the longest and most engaging dinner I ever had with my girlfriend.

I first read about Luce and its chef, Dominique Crenn, on the pages of this month's Esquire Magazine. They had a six page spread on "restaurants we endorse" and I was intrigued by the column of Luce in San Francisco. There were only three restaurants in the bay area, and Luce was there. I mentioned it to my girlfriend and hinted that I wanted to try it, so she arranged to have a RSVP there for Saturday evening. It was going to be my belated birthday dinner.

We got there half an hour earlier than expected and we got seated right away. The hostess was all smiles and she was very attentive to us, although we seemed like we didn't belong there. Luce is a pretty up-scale restaurant on the bottom of the Inter-continenal Hotel. The clientele seemed like mostly business folk, or wealthy foreigners visiting San Francisco, but not people from Oakland to have a birthday dinner.

Anyway we got seated. We asked about the six-course dinner, and she was delighted to arrange it for us. My girlfriend checked out the wine pairing option and we ordered that also. Why not? it's rare for us to go to a restaurant like Luce. The hostess told us that the entree for the night was lamb, but for $25 more we can have wa-gyu (Japanese Beef or Kobe' beef) that was freshly flown in. I thought about that for a minute, and it has been maybe four years since I had that, so I affirmed that as well. She took an extra precaution and asked us about alergies to anything and mentioned that the first dish would be raw, raw venison. I told her as she left, "Well we're in your hands for the evening" and she smiled back like a magician before a show.

The dinner began with glistening champagin flukes brought to us by waiters dressed in black. The first wine of the evening was bubbly from a little pink bottle. I guess I can finally say I had crystal at a restaurant? I don't know how the rappers do it. It was light and we enjoyed it with the usual basket of bread that they brought out. Then the glasses and plates kept coming, one for each wine and course.

We started with the aformentioned raw venison patte'. Yes, that's deer. I had a hard time eating it, but it lead to some interesting conversation about food and the appreciation of certain dishes. The second dish was Foie Gras or goose liver, our French delacacy for the night. I was hesitant to eat it, but it was amazingly moist when I took my first bite. It was another first for me, and I have to say it was good. We had our flukes removed, and wine glasses appeared along with the first white wine for the evening. The second dish was quail with a side of mushrooms. I had to say, the French do know how to prepare fowl, another tasty treat. So that's how the evening went on. It's hard to recall, but it went something like this:

0. welcoming and bread
1. First Appetizer - Venison Patte with Champaign
2. Second Appetizer - Foie Gras with White wine
3. Pre-Entree - Lobster with Second White wine
3.1 Intermission - Citrus Sorbet Shot
4. Entree - Wagyu Beef and Lamb with Red wine
4.1 Intermission #2 - miso-flaked sorbet
5. Post-Entree - Bread with cheese sampler (and raisins from the Mojavi desert) with Red Wine
6. Dessert - Chocolate Egg with Green Tea tart and Macaroon, with a Dessert Wine.

Somewhere in between the lobster and the entree, I spotted the chef. Dominique wore a white chef's coat with her hair tied up. She had the face of a quarterback and Luce was her field. She surveyed the crowd regularly. There were many things that left great impressions about Luce, but one that we couldn't forget was the Chef herself. She actually came up to greet us! Now that was a first even for my girlfriend. She talked with a French accent and seemed very enthusiastic about food and her customers. It really made our day.

We finished off and walked our merry little way back to the parking lot, five blocks away. We were quite buzzed by the wines, and the thing on my mind was: why do they have grapes in the Mojavi desert? the Hostess made it a point to have us know that. I could spend another five paragraphs about the juicy beef and the succulent lobster, but it's just one of those things, you had to have been there.

It was three hours of my life well spent, with the person who I adore most, so I guess there is a bias, I have to admit. Luce was an experience that I won't forget, and I implore anyone to try it if they have the time. Bring your credit cards, it will be a heavy bill.

P.S. For categorization reasons, I'm putting a $50 plus tag on this restaurant, but it's a lot more expensive than that.

Yelp's two cents.

16 - Ole's Waffle House - Alameda

1507 Park St., Alameda, CA 94501, (510) 522-8108

Last visit: October 11, 2008

I went to Ole's Waffle house Saturday morning ready to wait in a long line. We drove past the bridge into Alameda on Park Street and found parts of it blocked off. There was a car show apparently, covering three blocks. The outlook for prompt seating was out of the realms of the question. But after a quick turn on Alameda Ave we found a nice spot a few steps away from La Pinata. We walked to Ole's and stood in line. To our amazement, they opened up a table for two right there, and we leapfrogged ahead of all the folks that were waiting with bigger parties.

We sat down to a loud and cheerful room of breakfast lovers. It seemed like Ole's would always be crowded. I have been going there occasionally for two years and I realized that they lacked one thing: an Ole-cam. Yes, that would tell people how many minutes they'd be waiting before going there. Every time we went there before this time, we had to wait; and the waits were up to 45 minutes. The food is good, and the service is accommodating, but the waits, that's the only thing that makes you not want to go.

So we sat down and ordered. I had eggs, a waffle, and a side of ham. The ham there was generously cut. Actually, I couldn't finish that slab of ham. Coffee is pretty good and eggs are usually done well. My girlfriend had strawberries with her waffle. It's no secret, the waffles there are great! I think you'll have a good time trying out all their different toppings.

We left after a morning of random banter. Nothing like starting the day out with a good hearty meal.

Yelp's two cents

15 - Foster's Freeze - San Leandro

2601 Alvarado St., San Leandro, CA 94577, (510) 357-2094

Last Visit: September 29th, 2008

I hope I don't make a habit of this, writing up a place from a restaurant chain, but I do enjoy this particular Foster's Freeze. This is the only one I have ever been to, this is probably the only one that I will ever go to - voluntarily.

The thing is, this Foster's is owned by a Korean guy. I don't know what the stereotype is about Korean chefs, but this burger artist is actually really skillful. He likes to arrange everything in the burger just right, so that when you bite into it, you'd hit all the insides every time: lettuce, onions, cheese, and good old beef. The Korean guy is generally happy, and if you ever go, ask him to make a Boss burger. It's his master-piece.

I went there last Monday, September 29th. I guess nothing but gloom faces for that day. Congress had rejected the vote for a $700 billion dollar bail-out plan for Wall Street. The Dow Jones dropped an unprecedented -777 points. I lost a tenth of my portfolio in the morning. I guess that didn't mean much. I was still able to buy a burger at Fosters. My girlfriend did the math: Instead of the bail-out, if we split the amount of money that they were going to give Wall Street amongst the 300 million Americans in the United States, we'd each get $2300 and change. I rather like that instead of bailing out people who made bad business judgments.

Not a great post, but I do enjoy throwing in the events of the day into my blogs.

Yelp's two cents: - Read Chad L.'s review.

14 - Osha's Thai Restaurant - San Francisco

Osha's Thai Restaurant - 696 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94102, (415) 673-2368

Last visit: August 2008

Osha's website

Osha's Thai restaurant rests on top of a small hill between Geary and Leavensworth in San Francisco. The clientele are your typical hippie west coast connoisseurs. I get there at a quarter to seven and I sit down to order food with my friends; one of them is from Texas.

The food is good. I never tried papaya salad before, and I always thought that it was like the sweet papaya, but it was actually really refreshing. The texture is like turnip, but it soaks in a lot of taste from the salad dressing. I order a Barbecue chicken dish, which is nothing like the chicken that you drench in sweet and sour BBQ sauce. It turns out to be grilled chicken with BBQ sauce on the side. My friends like it though, as we cleaned up the plates.

One thing that I notice is that there are no pictures of the Thai King in the restaurant. That's actually a funny observation that my friend Ivan proclaimed, all Thai restaurants have a picture of the Thai leader put up. Another one is that Thai restaurants require actual Thai people to make their food. It's odd, but it's mostly true.

Oisha's is a good place, and just far enough away from the hustle and bustle of downtown San Francisco.

13 - Rivoli - Berkeley

Rivoli Restaurant - 1539 Solano Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707 (510) 526-2542

Last visit Sept. 13, 2008.

Rivoli's Website

It was an odd day in September. To begin, the morning started with me not getting enough sleep from the Friday night of of before. I had been thinking a lot of my radical spending the last few months and how disappointed I was of myself. My constant surfing for internet "deals" created a unwarranted allocation of funds to materials that were rarely used. I woke up with two hours of sleep and had to bring my sister, Sylvia, to the airport. We got into an argument about the way she packed that really aggravated my feelings. But she's family and I could not hold her to it for long.

The day went on as I had to get ready for my friend Ada's wedding. It was the second wedding of the year, and most likely one more before the end of the year. She spoke with me a few nights earlier, apologizing for the last-minute invite, and asked me to attend. I thought about the last ten years and how she's always been on my AIM list. "We are the only peoples that had thoughts like this," I thought as I put on my old blue shirt and black striped tie. I fell asleep for a moment, and I got a call from my girlfriend that she was ready. I picked her up and had her help me with my tie. Embarrassing as it was, she's much better than me at it. Driving to San Francisco was a breeze, and parking was not too bad. We got to Old St. Mary's church in the heart of San Francisco and found out that we were an hour early. The oddness began. My girlfriend, in her teal green dress, and I decided to get a bite to eat in the fast-food across the way. They had ice-cream, hotdogs, and beer. Yes, that's what they advertised. We got a beer and some "lau-mai-gai", which is sticky rice wrapped in a leaf. I never had that wearing a tie.

The wedding began and I was happy to see Ada and her husband-to-be Alfred walk the altar. Intensely happy, nothing could ruin that day for her. I have never seen a pair that at ease at a wedding ceremony. We finished off, I gave her a hug, and we charged back down to down-town.
I thought we could get a table at the Cheesecake Factory within 20-30 minutes, but no, it was impossible. I felt like a big klutz, and I really disappointed my girlfriend at the moment. If anything, I was glad that she was understanding and was nice enough to not get mad at me. She warned me that it wasn't going to be easy.

We got out of San Francisco and drove back to Berkeley, where I had to pick up my computer that's been dead for half a year. I finally took my G4-powerbook into the shop. There was a faulty harddrive and we had to swap it out for a new one. I checked out the new install and was happy to see her alive and well. First thing I did was turn it on, and changed the HD to "Loretta 2.0". Hopefully she'll sail fine from here on.

We tried to get a bite to eat again from a place in Berkeley, and to our dismay the waiter greeted us at the door. We went to the Bistro Liaison on Shattuck and found out that they closed from 3pm - 5pm to get ready for dinner. The waitress was nice enough to alert us that all the restaurants around there did that. What a big jip. In retrospect, I think my tie was cursed. I never got anywhere with that tie; but I did like how it look.

We went back to my girlfriend's house for a break. I needed to rest and she needed to get out of her heels. It was not her thing. Now you're wondering, "where does Rivoli come in?" Thanks for getting through the first 500 words. Yes we decided to go out to dinner and finish off the day nicely. I removed the tie and she went in her tank-top, jeans, and flip-flops to Rivoli's in north berkeley. The greeter told us that the wait was going to be 20 minutes, and I told her that we'd take it. In the back of my mind, I was thinking, this must be Ada's doing. I declined her request for the Chinese Banquet at Milbrae and she's put a hex on me; one that won't allow me to eat in peace for the rest of the day.

--- and now in present tense ---

Rivoli's is a cozy place. They are slow to attend to us, but after they took the order, they got the ball rolling. I felt a bit out of place because of my age, but I am at least dressed for the part - coming straight from a wedding and all. The girlfriend didn't care too much. We ordered the mozarella appetizer. It is quite good, even for a person that doesn't enjoy cheese much. The lemonade they gave me grabs my attention more. I have to admit it is the best lemonade I ever had, and it came with refills. I order the "two styles of duck", and my girlfriend orders the roast beef. Both are amazing entre's. The duck is tender and the roast beef is the softest I have ever tasted. Finally, food in our stomachs after a long weird day. I look around me at the middle-aged men and women, and spied a table enjoying a round of cappuccinos and espressos. I want one, but I know that it will keep me up all night. I need sleep. My girlfriend orders dessert: chocolate cake with chocolate ice-cream. Ultimately, through the tiring day of rejects and misses, we end with chocolate cake - and it was delicious!

Rivoli is a French/Italian restaurant on the edge of North Berkeley. By no means will you live life any differently if you haven't visited it. But if you do go, you'll enjoy it, even if it's just the lemonade.

Yelp's two cents

12 - Santa Ramen - San Mateo

Santa Ramen - 1944 S El Camino Real, San Mateo, CA 94403 (650) 344-5918

Last Visit: August 2008.


Finally I review Santa Ramen. Yes, it's Japanese, and yes it was good; but will I make a trip out to San Mateo for it? Not again. The story is that this place eluded my visits three times! I can't believe how unlucky I am with this place. The first time, they closed early because they ran out of noodles. The second time, they were closed because they were moving. And the third time, well, I have pictures to show. They moved and left me a note. I went to the new location, and damn it, it was not open for another week.

It took another two weeks before I made that journey to Santa Ramen. It was a weekend, and we had come back from a day trip to Fry's electronics. We weren't that hungry, but we were definitely in for a surprise. The line was out the door! Yes, it was open finally, and this time we had to see what the commotion was about.

A Japanese girl was tending to the people waiting in line, finding out the number of people in our parties and also giving us menus to browse through beforehand. I find more Japanese people in San Mateo Japanese restaurants than north bay area Japanese restaurants. We waited through and ordered our ramen.

Ramen from Santa Ramen was really good. The texture is strong and smooth, which is why they boast that they make their own noodles there. The ramen was highly customizable, where you had many ways to add to your bowl. Start with the soup, and add whatever you liked. I added kimchi and an egg to my shouyu ramen. It was good, and by the time we started eating, we were getting hungry. The 30 minute wait wore us down. There are some sides, but were didn't find them appetizing enough to try out. We finished and when we were about to go, the line to get in was wrapping around the corner. Word of mouth must have spread fast.

All in all, Santa Ramen is a great place to try, but don't go when you're hungry. You will collapse from the wait. With toppings, a bowl of ramen can get up to $10 easily. Now you're wondering, "is it worth $10 for a bowl of ramen?" That's something you'd have to conclude for yourself. But if you already tried ramen from Japan, you know how bad the yearning for the real thing can be. Santa Ramen might be the closest thing to it.

Yelp's two cents










The map they drew for us. Yes, a cute red arrow!













Disappointing. Closed for renovation, my third attempt.

11 - Izakaya Mai - San Mateo

Izakaya Mai - 212 2nd Ave., San Mateo, CA 94401, (650) 347-2511

Last Visit: July 25th, 2008

Izakaya Mai's Website

We were going to Santa Ramen. Yes, it would be the third attempt in finding the mysterious Santa Ramen. We missed it the first time because they ran out of noodles; so we went to Himawari. Next, we went there, and found out that they were closed, I guess they were renovating. Now this time we had our hopes up. We got to the address, after a bit of stumbling around... only to find that it was closed, again! This time there was a clue, they left a map of where they relocated, astounding! I took a picture of the hand-drawn map (complete with a big fat red arrow), and we got back on the road. We pulled up to the address, found parking, and our jaws dropped. Yes, they were closed for renovation until August 1st. How can this be? My luck with this restaurant is close to nil. We saddled up and drove for the restaurants near Himawari.

This time we decided to try Izakaya Mai's. I liked the sound of the place (Izakayas are drinking bars in Japan, where it literally means a place to sit and drink). After the twenty minute wait, the waitress seated us at the edge of the bar. The owner seemed to like toys as there were toys laying around the areas as well as a train circulating above the bar. Most of the decor was in wood, giving it an authentic Izakaya feel. There was a TV broadcasting NHK. Needless to say, I liked the vibe.

The owner took our sushi order, I guess his name was Yoichi Ito. The workers called him Ito-san. Nice to see authentic Japanese people working in Japanese restaurants! Our food came accordingly. I ordered a lot of Izakaya foods out of my memories from Japan. We had the butta-kimchi (pork and kimchi), kara-age (fried chicken), fried shu-mai, a rainbow sushi roll, and two onigiri rice balls. We had a beer and a small bottle of hot sake' rice wine. It was a really good meal for two, and we actually cleaned up everything.

I actually really missed onigiri, what I called "poor-man's food". It was pretty much what I survived on when I was living at the student quarters. I lived close to a convenience store, and when I was hungry I would just walk over to get ramen, onigiri, or fried chicken. Ahh, "Everyone", or as we called it "E-bo-ri-wan"... or "E-bo-ri" for short. It was my mother in Japan. It provided food, entertainment, a place to socialize, and even parcel delivery. It even opened during typhoon warnings. I wish I can go back there someday, just to that convenience store.

But before I do that, I have to try Santa Ramen.

Note: Mai means dance.

Yelp's two cents

10 - Shooting Star Cafe - Oakland

Shooting Star Cafe - 1068 Webster St., Oakland, CA. 94607 (510) 251-9882

Last Visit: June 2008


Shooting Star Cafe is a Hong Kong style cafe in the outskirts of Chinatown. It opened two years ago and is going strong. Hard to believe this, but if it's 11pm at night and you want somewhere to drink and chat with a friend, this is the place. People complain about the noisy people, but I guess it's not that bad if you're part of the group that's making the noise.

Shooting Star Cafe is an excellent example of a "third place". I'm fascinated by this notion and have written about it before. The idea behind a "third place" is that a person's first place is Home and his or her second place is Work (or school). Then there is the third place, a place away from the intimacy of home and the demands of work. People go here to hang out. The food is not as bad as people say, and the service is as good as any restaurant in Chinatown; you'll be attended to eventually.

What you can expect is a loud atmosphere and a cup of hot tea no matter how late it is at night. I must have went there three times one week; there were not many options that week. Actually after a certain time in Chinatown, you will be forced to go to either Shooting Star Cafe, Gold Medal HK restaurant, or Ying-Kee Restaurant. ABC bakery is shaky, sometimes it opens late, sometimes it closes early.

I do have one thing that I recommend at Shooting Star, try the Borscht Soup. It's actually done really well. The sauce is pretty thick and there's a kick of spice in it. Great for crackers, but don't even think about it - it's Chinatown, there's no crackers with soup. If you're adventurous, try the cornucopia of Hong Kong style desserts, I tend to avoid the sweets.

Yelp's two cents

09 - Zachery's Pizza - Oakland

Zachery's Pizza - 5801 College Ave., Oakland, CA 94618, (510) 655-6385

Last Visit - July, 2008

Zachery's Pizza website

“There’s something different about Zachery’s Pizza.” That’s what people usually say to describe Oakland’s favorite deep dish pizza. I can’t say it’s the best pizza out there, but there’s something about it that keeps people coming back to their little corner on College Ave. I mean, one step into their door and you see that they have more awards than types of pizzas. For the residents around there, there’s even a bit of emotional attachment to the hot pies. It’s usually bright eyes and smiles when you say, “Zachery’s for dinner” in Oakland.

In fact, the first time I had Zachery’s pizza, I was in High School. It made me realize that there are pizzas above and beyond the take-out giants. The deep dish feels like they made a gourmet sauce and just poured it onto dough. I recommend the Zachery’s Special, Pepperoni and sausage, and Spinach and Mushroom for vegetarians. There's something for every pizza lover.

I went there last weekend and it was packed as usual. The wait can get up to an hour or more. This was the caveat of Zachery’s, and any great restaurant for that matter; the wait was very long. Never go to Zachery’s when you’re truly starving. You’ll have to settle for the ready-made slices (which is still not bad).

Stores and eateries come and go on College avenue, but Zachery’s will always be there. They also have two branches at Berkeley and San Ramon. They don’t deliver, but you can order it for pick-up. I wish I can say more, but it's just one of those places that people love. They've just celebrated their 25th anniversary, I hope they'll be there for another 25 more.

Yelp's two cents

08 - Ohgane Korean Barbeque Restaurant - Oakland

Ohgane Korean Barbeque Restaurant - 3915 Broadway, (between 38th St & 40th St), Oakland, CA 94611, (510) 594-8300

Last visit - July 5th, 2008

Ohgane's website

Serendipitous food findings are always welcome in world. We were looking for some Vietnamese pho place for dinner after a movie at Emeryville, but it was a bit too late for that. For some reason, most Vietnamese restaurants don't open late (there's supposed to be this pho noodle house that stays up past midnight in San Jose area, but I haven't verified this). Our next thought was Korean, but not the same ones that we are used to going. I remembered a Korean place across from Momma's Cafe on Broadway, so we decided to go there ~ which turns out to be Ohgane.

We go in from the wrong door, the front door. Yes, if you don't want to make our mistake, go through the parking lot. That's where the real entrance is. The place is big, bigger than we expected. All I am hoping for is something quick and hot, and perhaps two or three tables taken. Nobody wants to eat at a restaurant as the only table attended to. We walk pass a glass cabinet of liquor; not super top shelf, but they had Johnny Walker Red label. Not too shabby I think. Maybe it's going to be more than $10 bucks. Then they seat us at a table under a bbq vent and present us with a tome-like leather menu . OK, $20 bucks it's going to be. There are eight or nine tables full of people, so I am glad.

We order the Jab-chae and sauteed beef and vegetables, we aren't too hungry, and a large bottle of Hite. Not "hi-te", but "height"; I am corrected by the Korean waitress. We sit for a bit, watching the baseball scores on the Samsung LCD, and the waitress returns with a platter of appetizers. I guess they are trying to outdo the Koreal house? There are 15 mini dishes of appetizers, ranging from kimchi and carmelized potatoes to steamed vegetables and seaweed.

After the beer came, we just decide to just enjoy the meal. It's been awhile since we had Korean food anyway. The spicy sauteed beef dish is really good, just enough flavor for the beef and authentic kim chi sauces. The Jab-chae can be a bit spicier, but it really complimented the spicy stuff well. They bring out complimentary seaweed soup (much like miso) and a bowl of rice for each of us. That's always nice, rice should always be complimentary. Even when it's costing up to a dollar a pound now.

We talk and eat, and drink some more beer. When the time comes to pay for the bill, I notice a knob on the side of the table. There is one on every table. Might it be a service button? I press it comes a digital "25" on their table monitor and a waitress comes up to us. We tell her we want the check. Amazing, I haven't seen a service bell in the U.S. for a long time. A great feature in Asia, and almost every Japanese restaurant.

We pay for the bill and think of what to do with the leftovers for the night.

Yelp's two cents

07 - Vik's Chaat Corner - Berkeley

Vik's Chaat Corner - 726 Allston Way (between 4th St & 5th St), Berkeley, CA 94710, (510) 644-4412

Last visit: June 1st, 2008

Vik's Chaat Corner's Website (with menu!)

It was the first Sunday of June and we wanted some Indian food. Through the freeways we went and stopped by at my alma mater, UC Berkeley. Well, not that far, we were in Berkeley though. My girlfriend said that this Indian place is kind of hard to find, but pretty good. I'm not a big Indian fan, but I do like Tandori Chicken, so I went along.

After turning a corner on a street that I can't remember, we see people eating. They were eating on the sidewalks! It was quite a funny scene, like a streetvender in Asia. A lot of the clientele were college students, but there were quite a few people of the older crowd too. Take out was wrapped in tin-foil and tables were scarce. The place was booming with customers, and the line kept on moving.

We got in and ordered our food to go. I had a chicken plate with a Thumbs-Up Cola and my girlfriend had a lamb wrap with some appetizers. The cola was really good, it reminded me of cane cola. Great for rum and coke, but I had no rum. I'm not too rehearsed with Indian food names, so I will not even try. We ate by my car and went about our way. Next time I want to try the giant puffy naan thingy, it looks tasty.

Now here's the thought: if so much of Hong Kong's Chinese cuisine is influenced by the British, how much of India's cuisine is changed by them also? I mean the British brought their system of government, laws, cricket, and most likely tea. Not a bad deal if you cut out all the years of oppression. But who plays cricket these days? :)

Yelp's two cents

06 - Le Cheval - Oakland

Le Cheval - 1007 Clay St. (between 10th St & 11th St), Oakland, CA 94607 (510) 763-8495

Last Visit: June 20th, 2008

Le Cheval's Home Page


It was the first day of summer this year when I returned to Le Cheval's Vietnamese restaurant. To say it's fusion is using the term loosely, but I think they have clientele that say it's not Vietnamese enough to call it just Vietnamese. It's the third time being here, and once there was no line.

We sat down in the back of the room, under the paintings of horses. Naturally, horses were the theme of the restaurant. The ceilings are high and their only countermeasure against the heat were old ceiling fans. I must admit, we drank a lot of water. The room was remarkably loud with chatter; perhaps it's the acoustics of the room, but it did kind of remind me of restaurants in East Asia. I wanted to sit closer to my girlfriend because it was kind of hard to yell across our menus.

We ordered the spring-beans and chicken and the caramelized snapper fish clay-pot dish. They were both good, and I have to say most dishes here are pretty good. We skipped the appetizer because we were in a rush, but I do recommend the calamari salad, one of my favorite salads. The orange beef is done well here, if you're into red meat.

A friend of mine told me that they had margaritas the size of fishbowls there, but I looked on the menu and only saw margaritas on the rocks. I guess he must have been talking about some other place. I instead took a beer, Tiger from Singapore. It was nothing to rave about. I realize I've been trying a lot of "international" beers, but none of them stick out. Anyone have a good recommendation? The girlfriend had a lemon drop, but she gave me the face of disapproval for it. We packed up the food and left for the evening.

My thoughts tangent to this topic, what are the lingering affects of the French colonization of Vietnam? I mean, over a 100 years of political dominance must have trickled down to some food rules. I know that the drip coffee came from the French, and probably the patte. Now what else is there? Must be an essay being written about this now.

Yelp's two cents

05 - Carpool Foodie

On the casual carpool today, I spoke with this woman who was a complete foodaholic! All she could talk about was restaurants. We were speaking of the neighborhood in Oakland where I'm from, and she mentioned various restaurants on Grand Ave.

Then, she asked me what my favorite restaurant in the area is. Y'know, I never really ate much around the area; I'd always just went out to Chinatown. But, not wanting to offend, I offered up my opinion on the tasty breakfast at the Lakeshore Cafe.

Then, she asked around where in the City I work. I noted around 4th and Folsom. She then noted about a restaurant named Lulu's, an upscale yuppy trendy expensive place across the street from my office. In an attempt to sway to other conversations, I asked her about her work. Oh, then she mentioned restaurants around her workplace and then her former offices.

Food, food, food!

04 - Au Coquelet Cafe - Berkeley

Au Coquelet Cafe - 2000 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94704, (510) 845-0433

Last visit - June, 2008

Celebrated as the latest cafe to close in Berkeley, Au Coquelet is one of my favorite eateries around the bay area. It's just always there for me whenever I want a coffee or a slice of pie. I first discovered it when I was a freshman at Cal in 1998, and I've been going there regularly ever since. It's competitive edge? It opens till 2am, and for some reason, that was worth walking eight blocks for from my unit 2 dormitory.

Flash-forward ten years, and it's 2008.

Me and my good friend Ivan went there for a late night dinner Wednesday night to hammer some things out for a new resume I was working on. We walked in from the back door, parking was two blocks away, which wasn't bad for a place like this. The place was booming for 10pm, but we noticed something different. We were seated by a bus-boy. I guess they don't want to sell at the counter and let you fend for yourself anymore. They wanted to make you feel like you're at a restaurant. Now the new system is quite dumb, because there's only one waiter at night, and there are like fifteen tables in the back. Ivan almost collapsed when the food came, a simple turkey sandwich. I had a woodchuck cider from the front counter, which the girl attended to in a minute.

Too bad for the new system, or it'd be a good night. But I wouldn't discount the cafe on one single event! The other fourty times I was there, they were pretty damn good! Their pies and cakes are decent, and their burgers are good. Try the cranberry tart, it goes good with coffee. Hell it also has wi-fi and cigarettes, not many cafe's have that and close after midnight. I'll definitely be stopping there again.

note: Au Coquelet means "the rooster or cock" in French, duh, I know.

Yelp's two cents.

03 - Manpuku - Berkeley

Manpuku Japanese Restaurant - 2977 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705, (510) 848-2536

Date of Visit - June 13th, 2008

Ramen in the bay area really caught on in the last couple of years. People usually associated Japanese food with sushi and Teriyaki chicken, but these days my friends would make plans to speed down to San Mateo to get good ramen. What's the appeal of noodles in broth with chashu pork and sliced fish cakes? Maybe it's the soup.

Ramen actually started in China, but what we associate with ramen now is strictly Japanese. It's really different from what you get from packages of Top Ramen. For instance we catagorize ramen into flavors like beef, chicken, and seafood. But in Japan that's unheard of. It's actually broken down by the soup, in which it's broken down by the region. There are four major ones: Tonkatsu (pork bone stock), Shio (salt flavored), Shouyu (soy sauce), and Miso flavored. Not only that, but it's also split up into regions like Sapporo, Tokyo, Kitakata, and Hakata. My favorite being Hakata Ramen (from Fukuoka, which is the new name for Hakata), and yes, Manpuku serves this.

Anyways, away from the history lesson, Manpuku was packed. I went there with the girlfriend because I craved curry rice. I'm not going to give you a history lesson on that, but I do like it once in awhile. The place started about two years ago and you frequently see students lined up out the door. Parking is scarce, but you'll be fine if you take some side streets. Inside is actually quite similar to ramen stalls from Japan, except of course, the waiters are Korean. And it's small, less than 6 tables plus a counter. You pay before you eat, I like that actually.

The food came slowly, but it was good. I think it was good because I really missed curry rice. It came with chicken cubes, potatoes, and red radishes. I think it would've been good if they put in sliced apples, something I remembered from Japan. The girlfriend had the Winter Ramen, which was supposedly spicy, but not enough for her tastes. She thought it was alright. I remember ordering the Hakata ramen there, but it was not too good; too many unnecessary vegies. It's hard to make good Hakata ramen outside of Japan. Still, for ramen in the bay area, it's decent, close by, and it's cheap.

Note: 1.) sushi is pretty good, but if you're getting individual plates, it's sold by single pieces. 2.) Manpuku means "I'm full" in Japanese, often used with a childish nuance.

Yelp's two cents

02 - the Pho King - East Oakland

the Pho King - 638 International Blvd, Oakland, CA 94606, (510) 444-0448

Date of Visit: June 15th, 2008

Going to the Pho King gave me the motivation to blog about food. No not because of it's exquisite stature in the world of Vietnamese eateries, but instead just the shear number of Pho noodle houses in Oakland creates a need for people to recommend them. Ahh, the smell of beef boiling.

I went to the Pho King for lunch for the first time today. Yes, I've drove past it thousands of times, but never stepped in until today. It's really small! I think it had about 12 tables, but people were lined up out the door. They also had a really quick turnover. People came, ate, and left. It was a very homie place. The kitchen was in the back and they were not shy about showing it to you. You saw the staff preparing the beef and soups. Not a bad deal.

For pho' places I like to make judging plain and easy, if it's clean and it's fast, it's good. I really don't think there's a bad way to make pho if you follow those rules. They fulfilled those requirements, so they are on my good-list. I got their large beef noodle soup, I didn't want to get the XL, which would've been a cauldron of food. We ordered Drip-style coffees that got me wired for the rest of the day; but I 'm an addict for those.

They have a specialty there that's pho noodles with spicy pigs feet (or knuckles). I'll have to try that next time.

Yelp's two cents.

01 - Jim's Coffee Shop - Alameda

Jim’s Coffee Shop, 2333 Lincoln Ave., Alameda, CA., (510) 523-5368

Date of visit: June 14th, 2008

One of the things me and my girlfriend like to do is find breakfast diners on Saturdays and Sundays. It's odd, but there's not too many if you think about the bay area. We really like Ole's Waffle house, but it's always packed. This Saturday we went to Jim's Coffee Shop in Alameda. We had spotted it before with a line out the door the week before ~ what does that mean? good food.

We arrived through the back entrance. It's pretty shady in the back, it reminded me of diners along freeways between So-Cal and Arizona. But when you go inside, the place is booming. The clientele ranged from seniors enjoying the paper to punk-rockers eating pancakes, and of course there were families. This was around 1pm. The decor is retro stuff from San Francisco before the 50's. Old newspaper clippings from 1942 and old black and white photos from the 1907 earthquake can be found lining their walls. There's also a fervor about racing there, probably the owners sponsor cars for Laguna Seca raceway.

The food is good. I had the linguisa and eggs (x3) and was stuffed. Their portions are large, and quite cheap for what it is. The coffee is nothing to rave about, but service for it is spectacular. I think it's a great place for a morning conversation. She had a waffle, eggs, and bacon. She said the bacon was crispy and tasty, which made the trip worthwhile, "Good Breakfast find" was what she called it. And that's what it is.

Yelp's two cents

00 - Re-introduction

I like food, I really do. I'm just not excited about it. I have many friends that would spend their weekends perusing websites about the latest bakery that opened or converse about the last time they went to a fine dinner. Some people make it their reason for traveling, to verify the greatness of the "authentic" dishes. Some people drive hours on end to find the best burger joint, or pizzaria, or pho' noodle shop. They don't settle for mediocrity. For the most part of my life, I see food as fuel. I'm like the other rats in Ratatouille. But wait, don't leave this blog! I'm here because I'm changing, because I'm learning, and because I love blogging.

So goals for this blog? It's a mental journal for all the diners and bars that I've been to. It's going to be some place to highlight eateries that are not so easy to find without guidance. I want to bring some light to hole-in-the bars and hidden favorites amongst my friends. And it's going to be a place to get my writing habit back into shape. Hopefully I can get some of my friends to contribute too, for they're much better "fooders" than I am.

Rating systems. I really am lazy about stars and numbers. I think what's important is cost; yes I'm a cheapster. I'm stingy with my food expenses. I'll put that on. The rest, I think I'm just going to stick to thumbs up and thumbs down - or in this case, yummy or yucky.

Bon appetite.