I eat!
Got it today at Grocery Outlet. It’s probably the worst food item I have ever bought. It’s COMPLETELY inedible, you cannot bite through it, you cannot chew it, you cannot digest it. I don’t even want to guess what it’s made from and what stuff it has in it.
Whoever makes it should be ashamed of the product, and Grocery Outlet should be ashamed to sell it.
Last week my sister came over for a visit, mostly – she says – so that I would cook for her. And because I love her that’s exactly what I did 🙂 One day I made milanesas, another curried peanut chicken and another, because lamb chops were on sale at Safeway, these lamb chops with balsamic sauce from an epicurious.com recipe. The recipe called for poached quince, but Kathy doesn’t like quince, so I substituted with pears. Alas, Mika loved the pears so much that she asked me to make them everyday for dinner – I haven’t yet. The lamb was also a HUGE winner with all of us. This is certainly a better-than-restaurant caliber recipe.
I didn’t make too many other changes to the recipe, though I did double the sauce (it was a bit too much, but it was sooooo yummy and went great with the Israeli couscous I served it with). I’ll definitely make this again.
Lamb Chops with Poached Pears and Balsamic Pan Sauce
* 2 cups unsweetened apple juice
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 2 pears, peeled, cored and cut into thick slices
* dried thyme
* 8 lamb chops
* salt & pepper to taste
* 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
* 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
* 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
* 1 tsp. chopped fresh oregano
* 1 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
Directions
Put the apple juice and sugar in a medium-size saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves. Add the pears and a dash of thyme. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 20 minutes, until pears are tender. Remove pears from the juice and set both pears and juice aside.
Meanwhile, salt and pepper the lamb chops. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the lamb. Cook until it’s done, 2 1/2 to 5 minutes per side, depending on the sickness of the chops. Transfer to a plate and keep warm.
Pour off the drippings from the skillet and place back on the burner. Turn down the heat to medium and add the apple juice. Boil until reduced to 1/2 cup – about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the vinegar, butter, oregano, rosemary and a sprinkle of thyme. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve the lamb with the sauce and poached pears.
Marga’s Best Recipes
January 2011
In the last couple of weeks I’ve gone to Favorite Indian twice, once for lunch and once for dinner. Their offerings are just as extensive for both though the dinner buffet, only available on F/Sa/Su is more expensive ($15 vs. $11, I think). Still, it’s an amazing deal considering that you get over 20 choices of dishes, plus nan bread, sodas, juices and dessert! And keep an eye on Yelp and their Facebook Page for special offers. Mentioning “Yelp”, for example, should get you a 15% discount off the buffet prices.
But the deal with Favorite Indian is just how amazingly good their food is. I mean, this is buffet food (they do have a la carte dinners weekday nights, but why would you bother?). And it’s some of the best tasting Indian food I’ve ever had.
In my last two visits the chicken tikka masala has been to die for. The chicken itself is a bit dry (that’s what you get when you use white meat), but the sauce is heavenly. I don’t bother with the chicken anymore, just put the sauce over rice or eat it with nan. At a dinner visit, I couldn’t get enough of the fish pakoras. The flaky, melt-in-your-mouth fish has a wonderfully crispy crust and was delicious. Their tandoori chicken has also been very good in my last visits, as have been assorted curries. They vary from time to time, but they are all worth trying (even if not all are always winners in my book). My daughter loves their soft serve mango ice cream for dessert, but I’m a fan of their gulab jamun. which they serve both hot and cold (hot is better). Their nan bread is quite good, but at the lunch buffet I went they had a paratha sytle bread that was even better.
Anyway, I’m in love with Favorite Indian and I can’t wait to go back.
December 2010
I’ve been back to both the lunch and dinner buffet at Favorite Indian several times now. It’s always good. Mika loves going for the mango soft-serve ice cream.
July 2010 Review
Favorite India on “A” Street in Hayward has been my favorite Indian restaurant in the area since it opened. The small, humble dining room isn’t much to look at – but the Americanized Northern-Indian food is delicious and the staff is very friendly. Plus, and this is a very important plus, they deliver to San Leandro.
Some months ago they opened a new branch in Hawyard, under the name “Favorite Indian” and we finally checked it out last January, when we discovered the A St. location is no longer open for dinner. The new location is a great improvement. It’s in what was probably an all-American family restaurant in the past, so it hasn’t much in the way of atmosphere, but they’ve added a couple of nice fountains and some decorations and the place looks nice enough. More importantly it’s comfortable, with plenty of booths and tables that accommodate large parties (there is even a party room, I think) and there is plenty of room for a large buffet – which they now offer not just for lunch but for dinner on Friday, Saturdays and Sundays (6 – 9 PM).
In the last seven months I’ve been to Favorite Indian for lunch and dinner on numerous occasions – and I’m always impressed by the buffet. It has an enormous array of choices, more than 30 items, so much that you cannot possible hope to try everything (even if, like me, you just skip the vegetarian options as a matter of course). Last night the meat offerings alone included chicken tikka massala, chili chicken, ginger chicken, chicken tandoori, lamb vindaloo and a lamb kofta curry. There were many vegetarian choices, including vegetable pakora and daals, There are soups and salads and the usual accountriments – including rice and hot naan. The buffet price ($14 for dinner) includes soft drinks and dessert (mango soft ice cream in addition to Indian goodies).
What is really impressive, however, is the quality of the food. It may not have the sophistication of the offerings at Aroma in Castro Valley, but it’s uniformly tasty, nicely seasoned (i.e. not too spicy) and very balanced. Everything, from the tandoori to the tikka massala sauce tastes great. Nothing is too oily, nothing too fatty or gritty. The chicken in the tikka massala did manage to be a bit too dry for my taste in my last visit, but that was really a minor complain. In all, I don’t think you can get a better meal in the Bay Area for the price – one reason why I keep going back 🙂 BTW, you can get a 15% off discount of your dinner bill by mentioning “YELP” when you visit (I’m trying to see if they’ll do the same for “Marga’s Blog”). Restaurant.com also has gift certificates, but it’s only valid on the a la carte menu, Sunday through Thursday.
Favorite Indian Restaurant
24052 Mission Blvd.
Hayward, CA
510-583-7550
http://www.favoriteindia.com/
Lola and I went back to California’s Gold Country last week and stayed overnight in Jackson. We had wanted to have dinner at Teresa’s Place, but alas, I hadn’t checked to see that it was closed Wednesday nights. Not sure of where else to go, we ended up at Mel & Faye’s Diner, where we had eaten during our previous visit to Jackson (see review below).
Our last experience had been fine, but this time we were a bit more disappointed in our food. I had an excellent peanut butter shake (yummm! $3.50), but Lola’s strawberry shake wasn’t very good, it didn’t taste like strawberry and it didn’t feel as if it had any ice cream in it. She was disappointed.
The burgers were fine, though I wasn’t thrilled with the chewy bacon on mine. We ordered them with onion rings instead of fries, and they gave us *a lot* of onion rings. So many we couldn’t really finish them. Alas, they weren’t as good as the previous time. They were made from plump, fresh onions, but the batter needed more seasoning.
Our bill came to only $22 before tip, so I really can’t complain – and I’d go back again (if for no other reason because the peanut butter shake rocks).
—
We were staying in Sutter Creek, right outside Jackson (May 2008), and we found ourselves looking for food at 9:30 in the evening. Mel & Faye’s Diner was the first place we found open.
The restaurant is your typical coffeeshop, serving burgers, shakes and other American fare at moderate prices (burgers are around $7-9). The room is quite nice, with booths and tables, and it was still fairly busy at that time of night. It does have the atmosphere of a small town diner, where everyone knows each other (boy, I miss Pring’s). Definitely a good place to have a burger.
And burgers we had. I ordered their sourdough cheeseburger, which came with mayo and a thousand-island type dressing in grilled sourdough bread. It was pretty good but too unwieldy to eat by hand – it was definitely a fork and knife burger. The patty itself was pretty small (it must have been a 1/4 lb at most), and while well done it was juicy enough. It was served with your choice of fries, onion rings or something else I don’t recall – I had the onion rings and I was surprised both by the substantial size of the order and how good they were. They were crunchy and slightly sweet, and while I missed the lack of ranch dressing to dip them in, I thought they were very good. I’d had a substantial peanut butter shake (pretty good, $3.75), and I couldn’t finish all the food.
Lola had the Moo Burger, a double burger with everything, served with fries, and she also thought it was pretty good but definitely a fork and knife burger. She had no complaints about the fries.
Service was good, and the whole experience was quite pleasant. If I was in town, I’d visit again, regardless of the time.
Mel and Faye’s Diner
31 Highway 49/88
Jackson, Ca.
209.223.0853
www.melandfayesdiner.com
Restaurant Reviews
My friends Charlotte and Vienna and I try to go out to tea once a month or so. We’ve been doing this for years, so by now we’ve visited most of the tea houses in San Francisco and the western part of the East Bay. However, Vienna had not been able to come with us when we visited Samovar a few years ago, so it was time for a re-visit. We chose the Yerba Buena location as it’s the most convenient to BART and headed there last Sunday.
The Yerba Buena Samovar location is quite nice. It features a small tea room, stylish and modern and a terrace overlooking the main grounds. It was a bit chilly on Sunday so we had tea inside.
Samovar offers a relatively small, but varied, assortment of teas, and a variety of food items. It’s expensive – plan to spend $20 (plus tax & tip) for a pot of tea and some goodies. Probably the best deals are the set teas (English, Moroccan, Russian & Indian, I think) which include a pot of tea and sweet & savory offerings for about $19. Both Vienna and I had the English Breakfast tea while Lotty went for the Moroccan.
The tea comes in a smallish (2-mug size) wide glass pitcher – it looks relatively nice but it lets the tea cool very quickly, not really what you want for your tea. The cups are little mugs with no handles, cute enough but a bit too small for me. Milk and brown sugar are available. I found the English Breakfast tea to be perfectly fine, no complaints (other than the temperature).
The service came with a huge quiche (mushroom or salmon), a smallish cherry oat scone with Devonshire cream & jam, a few greens with a vinaigrette and a few slices of fruit. I always thought I wouldn’t like quiche given that I don’t really like eggs (though I love flan), but this time I thought I’d give it a try. I’m glad I did because it was delicious – smooth and flavorful and not eggy at all 🙂 The scone was pretty good as well. I cannot complain about the quantity of the food 🙂
Service was very friendly – we stayed late as the place was filling up and at no point we were made to feel we should leave.
In all it was a very nice, if expensive, experience:
Samovar Tea Lounge
730 Howard Street
(above the waterfall in Yerba Buena Gardens)
San Francisco, CA
(415) 227-9400
http://samovarlife.com/
Su – W 10am – 8 pm
Th – Sa 10am – 9 pm
Marga’s Tea Room Reviews
Yesterday my friend Lola and I found ourselves in Berkeley, browsing through art supplies at a store on University Ave., when we decided it was time for lunch. India Chaat & Sweets Indian Cuisine was just across the street from the store we were at, it got OK reviews in Yelp and it offered a lunch buffet. After trying it, we have to agree that this is an OK place to have lunch – not great, not bad, a bit expensive, but fine.
India Chaat has two small dining rooms and its lunch buffet offers limited choices. In addition to daal, rice and naan, there were a couple of vegetarian choices, a lamb curry, chicken tikka massala and chicken tandoori. I partook of the last three (with rice and naan). The lamb curry was quite good, the bone-in lamb was tender and the sauce had a pleasant acidic flavor to it. It wasn’t outstanding but pretty good. The tikka massala sauce was also perfectly alright – unfortunately the chicken was so dry as to make it nearly inedible. The chicken tadoori was quite good, moist enough and flavorful. Lola who tried the vegetarian offerings wasn’t too impressed, her general opinion was that they were fine – but not great.
The biggest disappointment might have been the cokes we ordered (a regular and a diet). They both had an off taste, the diet was pretty much undrinkable.
Lunch wasn’t particularly cheap. It came out to about $25 for the two of us after tax and tip – I’d expect something considerably better for that sum, in particular in Berkeley. I’d probably wouldn’t return.
India Chaat & Sweets Indian Cuisine
824 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA
(510) 704-1200
Note: You can get a gift certificate for India Chaat at restaurant.com (remember to always google for restaurant.com deals before buying – currently you can get a $25 GC – minimum purchase and restrictions apply – for $3 by using the code FRESH).
There aren’t many good restaurants in San Leandro – and most of these are very expensive. Horatio’s may be the most expensive of these all, but they have discounts from time to time (including a buy 1/get 1 free dinner coupon that they e-mail you for your birthday, if you sign up with their club), so we go a couple of times a year. We love the location in the San Leandro Marina, it’s a great place to see the sun set.
The food is generally good, but it can be inconsistent. We’ve usually had good experiences, but the same cannot be said of our some of our friends. Here I include the updates of the original review I wrote many, many years ago.
May 2011 update
Once again we went to Horatio’s for my birthday armed with one of those coupons. We got there around 7 on a Friday night and the place was rocking, fortunately we were able to sit in the lounge (at the last remaining table).
Horatio’s has changed its menu somewhat, gone is the burger that I had the last few times, and added some smaller plates. Entrees continue to be very expensive, in the 20’s, for plates of food that are not particularly impressive. This time we skipped appetizers (their focaccia bread is great and I wasn’t super hungry) and went straight for the main dishes. I had the short ribs from the specials menu (~$26) and Mike had some fish. The plate of short ribs was rather plain, it consisted of two boneless short ribs without any braising liquid to speak of, some mashed potatoes and some broccolini. It didn’t seem like much food to begin with, but the short ribs were substantial and surprisingly lean. They were tender and juicy and quite good, but not really extraordinary. I’ve made better short ribs many times. The dish was fine, but not worth the price. The same can be said about Mike’s fish. This was a much less substantial dish, and while the fish was nice and flaky, the sauce was delicate and not very exciting. It came with some strange tubular vegetable that wasn’t too appealing. I think Horatio’s needs to put some more care into its side dishes. If instead of plain veggies, it provided something more interesting, the dishes might be worth the price.
Service was great, however. Our waiter brought us a complimentary creme brulee dessert with a candle, which I thought was very sweet.
July 2010 update.
Went back to Horatio’s last night with my friend Lola for dinner – we had a buy 1 entree, get 1 free coupon, which made it seem like a good deal. Alas, this time the food (but not the desserts) wasn’t that great, so it ended up not being a great one.
I got the burger ($16) again, and this time it was very, very, very dry. It was huge as usual, though, and I ended up taking half of it home. Lola had the steak salad ($19), and she thought it was fine but not stellar. The chocolate indulgence cake was particularly good last night, so I can’t complain about that. Still, the food is so expensive that it should be great.
May 2010 Update
Hmm, it may be that Horatio’s is becoming our place to go for birthdays and anniversaries. I actually didn’t want to go to Horatio’s this time (March 2010) – I had a giftcard for its restaurant chain I wanted to use, but I thought I’d enjoy Kincaid’s or Skates better. But they all have the same menu, and Horatio’s is just so much more convenient, specially we are in somewhat of a hurry to get our kids back from being babysat before it gets too late. So Horatio’s it was again, and we had a pretty good experience once again. That said, Mike felt that for the amount of money we paid, the dinner wasn’t special enough.
Once again we shared the baked brie appetizer (just as good as always), which this time was served with just three, tiny, paper thin slices of apple – even though we asked the waitress to bring us more! I once again ordered the cheeseburger ($16), and was very happy with it. The burger had a real charbroiled flavor to it, and the bacon was delicious. It comes with some blue cream cheese that complemented without overwhelming. It was just great. The burger is a whole 10 ounces (I guess they feel they need to justify the price), so of course is too big to eat at one sitting. This time Mike was filled by his dish, so I took the rest home – surprisingly it was quite good microwaved the next day as well! I ordered it with onion rings instead of fries, and this time they were quite good. They had a subtle, sweet flavor and went well with the piquant dipping sauce. Of course, I couldn’t eat more than a couple – and was sad for that. They also came with mushrooms on the side – but these were cold. Indeed, the whole platter was luke-warm and was probably sitting around for a while.
Mike had the special of the day, mahi mahi stuffed with crab. He thought it was very, very good and enjoyed every bite. He also had a margarita, which he thought was good and tasty, but a bit week.
For dessert I ordered the lavender chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream on special ($8, I think). I was *very* disappointed. The cold cake had clearly been in the fridge for quite a while and had acquired that stale-like refrigerator flavor. The ice cream was delicious, but the cake was not worth the calories. The waitress was nice enough to replace it with a slice of their decadent chocolate cake, my favorite at Horatio’s, which I really enjoyed.
The service was quite good, with the exception of the apple episode.
In all, it was a good meal – but again, I wouldn’t go back unless I had a gift certificate of some kind.
September 2009 Update
We went back to Horatio’s a couple of weeks ago (September 2009) to celebrate Mike’s birthday. If you join their mailing list, Horatio’s will e-mail you a $20 OFF coupon that you can use during your birthday month. Given how expensive Horatio’s is, we generally only go when we have that certificate.
Once again, we had the warm brie appetizer, which was excellent though, once again, it was in need of more apple slices. I wish it was served with plain toast or even bread, while their focaccia is delicious by itself, it adds an element that the subtle cheese doesn’t need. I should also say that the portion is very generous, large enough for 3 or 4 people (but we ate it all).
I had their burger, which I think costs something like $16, but comes with everything you can possibly want: the usual fixings, bacon, avocado, sauteed onions and even mushrooms, I think. It was a big burger, a pretty good burger and I enjoyed it. The french fries were unimpressive, but fine.
Mike had the fish special of the day, some sort of white fish in some sort of white sauce. All I know is that enjoyed it a lot – but the portion was rather small.
We didn’t have time for dessert, as we had to go pick up our kids, but we often have dessert at Horatio’s and we’re always pleased.
March 2008 Update
A couple of nights ago, a friend took the kids over for a sleepover, and Mike and I decided to go out. I hadn’t been at home for our 15th anniversary (it was my last day in Kenya), so this was sort of a late anniversary dinner. This time I was not that impressed with Horatio’s.
We ate at the lounge, which is my favorite area of the restaurant. I was in the mood for something sweet so I ordered the onion rings ($6) and the BBQ pork sandwich ($10). Mike had the fish & chips ($13.50) – all food from the pub menu. The onion rings were very disappointing, they barely had any flavor, though the dipping sauces were pretty good, specially the spicy one. Still, the onion rings and mayo sauce at Angelina’s are much better.
My sandwich was advertised to come with coleslaw, and I assumed they meant on the side. Instead it was mixed into the meat, making it too spicy for my taste. Others, I’m sure, would like it. The sandwich came with a large portion of unremarkable fries.
Mike’s fish and chips were good, and he’d order them again. I think I might as well.
The portions were quite generous, and I wasn’t able to finish it all. Even so, I could not resist getting their chocolate decadence cake ($8), a chocolate cake with a deep fudge frosting served with vanilla ice cream. It really honors its name and it’s fully decadent. I love it and order it almost every time I go to Horatio’s.
I’ll continue going to Horatio’s as I really enjoy the lounge and the desserts – and now that they have a pub menu, going there for dinner is less onerous (their regular menu is very expensive).
Horatio’s
60 San Leandro Marina
San Leandro
(510) 351-5556
http://horatios.com/
M-Sa: last call 11 PM
Su: last call 10:30 PM
A couple of days ago my BFF, Lola, and I took a short trip to the gold country and ended up in San Andreas in time for lunch. We looked around for restaurants, preferring a small town diner to the usual pizza/Mexican/chinese offerings that seem to abound in the west, and that’s exactly what we got when we found Country Cliff’s. The restaurant doesn’t look like much, just a modest diner with formica tables and old pictures on the walls, but we liked the atmosphere and the food wasn’t too bad.
I had the New York steak sandwich with fries ($10, I think) and wasn’t extremely pleased with it. The steak was very thin and had quite a bit of gristle in it. It tasted fine, however, and I loved the mayo in the sandwich 🙂 The fries were coated and very, very good.
Lola had a small salad, which was mostly iceberg lettuce with some local tomatoes and onions. She said it tasted very fresh. Her burger was also fine, a bit gamier than most – but she confessed she mostly eats burgers at fast food joints. In all, she was fine with it.
I had a caramel milkshake with lunch ($3.50) and it was also just OK. It was a bit thin and didn’t taste much of caramel, but there was nothing really wrong with it.
Service was prompt and friendly – specially given that this is a 2-person operation and it was quite popular for lunch.
In all, the meal was fine – I might try another place or another town next time, however.
Country Cliff’s
345 E Saint Charles St
San Andreas, CA 95249
(209) 754-1365
Marga’s Restaurant Reviews – Outside the Bay Area
October 2013 Update
Mike and I have returned to Mai Thai many times. Â It continues to offer great food at a reasonable price. It’s really a jewel.
July 2011 Update
Mike and I went back to Mai Thai for dinner last night with our friends Auguste and Cecily and I had another wonderful meal. If anything, I would say the food has improved and flavors seem even better balanced and intense. We had six dishes last night, and the five I tasted were simply excellent.
We started with the pork imperial rolls, which were a bit underseasoned by themselves and contained too much cabbage and too little pork, but which were redeemed by the wonderful accompanying sauce. Next we shared the wontons, a dish I don’t usually like, but these were bursting with filling and flavor and were absolutely delicious. It would have been my favorite dish of the evening if the other ones were not also so good.
Mike ordered the chicken panang and I had my usual musaman beef. They were both wonderfully balanced and intense and oh, so good. The panang was a bit spicy – too much for Cecily – but the musaman was not (and it shouldn’t be). The large chunks of beef in the musaman were perfectly cooked, tender and not dry. Auguste ordered the chicken with eggplant, and it had also a wonderful, intense, slightly sweet sauce. It could make you a fan of eggplant even if you’ve never liked it before. Cecily had the shrimp, which I didn’t taste but they seemed to like.
I didn’t take pictures this time, but dishes continue to be as beautifully arranged as in our first visit. Service was also quite good, but then again, we got there early and there we no other parties in the restaurant.
In all, I’d say that despite my loyalties to Zen’s (where I’ve never gone for dinner fearing having to encounter loud music), I’m ready to declare Mai Thai the best restaurant in San Leandro.
December 2010
I have since returned to Mai Thai several times, and every time I have been very pleased. The food is very good and beautifully presented, the restaurant is very cute and the service very attentive. Mika loves the sticky rice dessert (it’s really good) and she was quite fond of the shrimp appetizer. The pad thai is not very spicy, making it a good choice for little kids. In all, it’s where we go when we want Thai food in San Leandro.
July 2010 review
Mai Thai has been open for about two months, but I only heard about it when Mike rode by it a few days ago. It seemed like a logical place for an affordable Friday-night date, and it proved to be a very nice one as well. It may not be saying much, but I’d consider Mai Thai one of the best restaurants in San Leandro right off the bat.
Mai Thai is located at Marina Faire in San Leandro, in the space briefly previously occupied by the Brazilian restaurant Biggies BBQ Restaurant. But if you’ve been to Biggies you are not likely to recognize the space, Mai Thai has painted the walls, decorated it with elegant Asian-inspired art and created an atmosphere that is both stylish and comfortable. In other words, it has followed the winning formula of a number of what I call “Asian Bistros” throughout the Bay Area (restaurants that offer good food in stylish surroundings at surprisingly affordable prices).
Mai Thai goes a little bit beyond some of these by also serving beautifully arranged food – they must have a food stylist on staff (or at least they must have used a consultant). The results are really unbelievable for the prices (entrees are $9-12) and add an element of “specialness” that makes this a perfect place for an affordable date or business meeting.
But of course, the the real question is “how is the food”? Here I’m a bit less impressed. We ordered the pork imperial rolls (6 rolls for $7) and I found them to taste mostly of cabbage and to be in need of some spicing. The accompanying sweet & sour sauce was delicious, however, and Mike was very pleased with the resulting dish. The sauce was also great with the little mixed green salad that came with the dish.
I was not in the least original by ordering the Massaman beef for dinner – it’s my favorite Thai dish. Mai Thai’s version was very conventional, and yet very good and satisfying. The sauce had a great balance and just the right amount of spiciness. The beef was fork-tender and delicious. I’d definitely order it again (and again and again).
I was less happy with Mike’s chicken panang. It had a strong basil flavor and was quite spicy, but I felt it otherwise lacked depth. I wouldn’t order it myself, but Mike would have it again. The portions were nicely sized – we both had leftovers to take home.
We finished our meal by sharing the fried banana with ice cream ($4). The two bananas were perfectly and freshly fried, they came steaming hot, and went wonderfully with the ice cream. That said, I think the batter needed some more sweetness or something to make it less plain.
Service was fine but not stellar – the main problem being that our cokes ($2 each) were not refilled. Still, there were not major glitches and they were nice enough to pack our leftovers in the kitchen.
In all it was a very nice meal – it came to about $36 after tax and before tip, a very affordable price for a meal of this caliber.
Mai Thai also offers lunch specials for $8 – though it’s a little bit further ride, I think I’ll definitely go here (rather than Thai Satay) when I’m in the mood for Thai.
Mai Thai
137000 Doolittle Dr. #110
San Leandro, CA
510-351-9898
Open M – Su 11 AM – 3 PM and 5 PM – 9:30 PM
San Leandro Restaurant Reviews
Last Saturday I went to Villa del Sol, an Argentine restaurant in South San Francisco (I’ll blog about it later) to watch the Argentine-Mexico game (we won! yey!). On the tables there were cards announcing the Festival de Comida Peruana (Peruvian food festival) that will take place on Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco this coming July 18th. I probably won’t go, as I may be picking up my kids from LA that day, but I love Peruvian food and I think this should be a great opportunity for people in the Bay Area to discover what is one of the great cuisines of the world.
Peruvian food relies a lot on different types of peppers, using them for flavor rather than heat. It has complex and subtle combination of flavors and is really quite different from other cuisines. I spent a summer in Peru and was truly amazed at discovering this cuisine. Of course, right before I came back I had a bad dish of ajà de gallina, which made me quite sick, so for years I had an aversion to the whole cuisine.
But if you are in the Bay Area you should definitely go and try Peruvian food. The festival is free and will feature music and dance as well as food.
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