I got a coupon on the mail today for the Manor Grill, announcing its re-opening. I haven’t been there for years and I didn’t know it was closed, but I thought I’d share the news with you.
Let me know how it is if you check it out.
Author: admin (Page 22 of 51)
This is just an update on local eateries:
– I reported a couple of weeks ago that my friend Mauro had had a terrible dinner experience at Boulevard Burger. Despite that, we went for dinner there last night, and our experience was definitely the opposite. For one, there were few people there (probably because it’s a neighborhood joint and word of bad service spreads quickly), which meant that the staff definitely had time to do their jobs. Our dinner was served quickly, accurately and it was very good. I have no complaints at all.
– Marita’s Sweet Potato Pie, a bakery which sells cakes and pies only, has taken on the space next door to it (owned by Marita’s owner), previously occupied by Cornerstone Cafe. They are still doing the same operation, but now they also have tables and chairs. I didn’t go inside so I don’t know if they also serve drinks to go with those cakes, but I’ll check it out soon.
– The Golden Tea Garden in Hayward has new hours. It’s now open Tu-F 11-4 and Sa-Su 11-5 PM. I understand that as the place gets empty later in the afternoon, but as we usually linger for hours when we go to tea, I’ll sure our next tea there is no later than 2 PM.
A couple of unrelated additional comments:
– Does anyone else wonder what goes on at Mae’s Soul Food on Victoria Circle in San Leandro? I go by there every day and the place is not open for dinner and only erratically opened for lunch. Indeed, I’d say it’s closed more often than open. I can’t imagine how the restaurant can make any money, if indeed selling food is their main business.
– I went to the Alta Mira Club’s tea and fashion show last week. The fashion show – styles of dance dresses since the 1860’s to the 1970’s – was great, even for someone like me who has no interest on fashion. The tea goodies weren’t bad, the little sandwiches (tuna salad, egg salad and shrimp) were super cute and the cookies weren’t bad, but the tea was close to undrinkable, incredibly weak and tasteless. It didn’t help that they only had half-and-half, entirely too heavy for the watery tea, and no milk. The tickets were $25, a bit steep, but it was an enjoyable afternoon.
– I’ve gone to the lunch buffet at Aroma Cuisine of India in Castro Valley three times now. The first two times I thought the small buffet was great – but yesterday all the food was lukewarm (even though we got there around 11:45 AM). I hope this is not an indication that quality is going down at Aroma.
Camila and I just made some bon bons from a Betty Crocker Peanut Butter bon bon Mix
Basically all you do is mix some butter with the bon bon mix and peanut butter. You roll them into balls and then dip them into melted chocolate. Well, let me tell you, 5 year-olds find rolling and dipping more fun than you would expect.
These things do not need to be baked and only require fifteen minutes in the fridge for the chocolate to harden – great, given how little patience children have.
More importantly, they are quite delicious. Mika couldn’t believe how good they were and she hugged Camila thanking her for making them.
As for Camila, she decided she wants to own a candy store when she grows up, given how good she is at making candy 🙂
Update – I just saw the bon bon mix at Grocery Outlet for $1.50 for the 14oz, single, package. It’s supposed to make about 20 bon bons.
Today I received a phone call from my friend Mauro complaining about the terrible dining experience he had at Boulevard Burger last night. He went there for dinner with his family and children and had to deal with bad service, mixed orders and food that just didn’t make it to the table. Apparently, it took 45 minutes for some of the burgers and an order of fries to come to the table – his own burger and the remaining orders of fries never arrived. Other people were having the same problems and the waitresses seemed to be lost as to which order belonged to which table.
He, of course, complained both to the cook and the servers, who basically had an attitude of “deal with it”. There were no apologies whatsoever.
Boulevard Burger is very much of a neighborhood joint, and it really cannot afford to antagonize its patrons like that. My experiences there have been good, but I have heard complaints about service from other people as well. I’m still willing to go back there, I do like their burgers, but I’m a bit weary bout it now.
Boulevard Burger
1027 MacArthur Boulevard
San Leandro, CA 94577
(510) 632-3100
Original Review
Update 4/10
Our first visit to Rocky’s Charcoal Grill wasn’t great and I’m sad to report that our second one, three years later, wasn’t that wonderful either. This time we ordered some of the complete burgers (the Goldenburger, which with sauteed mushrooms in a sourdough bun – $6 – and the vanyburger with bacon, sauteed onions and BBQ sauce). Neither burger was very tasty. The mushrooms in the goldenburger were a bit bitter though mostly mild, but still gave the burger an unpleasant flavor and texture. They probably should have been sauteed longer, maybe with more salt.
The other burger was better, but still didn’t have much meat flavor and just lacked an all-around oomph.
We both liked the onion rings, however.
I doubt we’ll go back.
—
Original Review
I’m disappointed to say that I was not impressed by Rocky’s Charcoal’s Grill, the latest restaurant to take the space on West Estudillo and Haste, next to the San Leandro History Museum. The burgers we had there were OK, but pedestrian – and the chose your own condiments and toppings (sans tomatoes, which you have to ask for separately) was not a winner in my book. If I knew how to properly dress a burger, I’d make it myself 🙂 The patties themselves were on the dry side, and they had only a slight charcoal flavor, though they are cooked on a charcoal grill.
On the plus side, Rocky’s only uses fresh beef not treated with artificial hormones and given an all-vegetarian diet. I’d like to see more restaurants do that. The prices are quite affordable, with 1/3 lb burgers starting at $4.25.
I’m sad to not be able to give Rocky’s a good review. The people working there were very nice, and I do hope the business to succeed. I should also note, that other people have raved about the place, so I’d recommend you go and judge for yourself.
Rocky’s Charcoal’s Grill
300 West Estudillo Ave.
San Leandro, CA
510-351-6228
These two recipes are from epicurious.com, my favorite recipe website*. What I usually do is see what’s on sale at the supermarket, and then go to epicurious and look for recipes using those ingredients. It works very well. I’ve made these recipes in the last couple of weeks and they’ve been delicious – so I’m blogging about them both to not forget them and to share them with you.
Chicken with Mustard and Tarragon Cream Sauce
Lord, was this good. And not as sinful as it looks, as the recipe produces A LOT of sauce. A bit expensive, given that it uses tarragon, but it’s an encouragement to grow it. It’s also quite simple to make.
Cabernet-Braised Short Ribs with Gorgonzola Polenta and Mixed-Herb Gremolata
Now, this is more sinful – but still, one of the healthiest short rib recipes I’ve made, in particular because I used boneless short ribs. They may not be as flavorful as the boned kind, but they were great in this recipe.
I skipped the Gorgonzola polenta, as I forgot to buy the polenta itself, but I’d have loved to make it. I will have to try again. By all means make the gremolata, it really adds a necessary element to the dish.
Note that this recipe takes THREE days to make. One to season the short ribs, another to cook them, and a third to heat them up and eat them.
* 12 years later, these recipes no longer seem to be available at epicurious.com. I have linked them to the Bon Appetite magazine site, where you can find them.
Last weekend I threw Mika an Ancient Egyptian Birthday Party, which included a slumber party. I wanted the party to be as authentic as possible, which meant offering a dinner that might have been eaten by ancient Egyptians. I wanted to have a vegetarian choice, and I decided on Lentil Soup because it’s a dish that Egyptians eat today and that they are likely to have eaten back then. Plus, my friend Lola LOVED the lentil soup she used to eat in Egypt when she ate there, and I figured I should give it a try.
I found this recipe at waitrose.com, and made about 1 1/2 times as much as the original recipe called for. The results were spectacular. I neither like lentils or soup, but this was something else altogether. It had a creamy consistency and a strong, very well balanced flavor. It’s definitely something I will make again (and I finished all the leftovers).
I’m copying the recipe here, so I don’t lose it in case waitrose.com goes away.
Do try to make this recipe with red lentils. I found them at Mangals market in San Leandro, but I’m sure they are available at Indian stores, if not MIddle Eastern stores (the former are more common around here). The red lentils disintegrate nicely, but I’m not sure regular lentils would do as well.
Now, without further ado, here is the recipe:
Egyptian Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 3 onions
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tsp + a pinch ground cumin
- 1 tsp + a pinch ground coriander
- 8 oz split red lentils
- 2 qts + 1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- salt to taste
- juice of 1 small lemon
Directions
Chop 1 1/2 onions and thinly slice the other 1 1/2, set the sliced onions aside.
Heat 3 Tbsp. olive oil in a large pot. Add the chopped onions and saute until they become soft and just start to color. Add the garlic, cumin and coriander and mix. When you can smell their aroma, add the lentils and the broth. Mix well, bring to a boil and remove any scum that appears on the surface. Set the temperature to low and simmer until the lentils disintegrate, about an hour.
Meanwhile, heat 3 Tbsp. olive oil in a lidded frying pan and add the sliced onions. Cook covered over low heat until soft, about 15-20 minutes. Take off the lead, turn the heat to medium, and cook until they caramelize. Set aside.
When the soup is ready add salt to taste. Stir in the lemon juice and serve with caramelized onions on top.
Marga’s Best Recipes
Mika wanted to have an Ancient Egyptian Birthday Party and that meant an Ancient Egyptian cake. We usually get Safeway birthday cakes because they are pretty good and they offer a choice of whipped cream as frosting and filling. I don’t really like other frostings, specially as they are probably full of trans-fats and high fructose corn syrup. But Safeway did not offer an Ancient Egyptian decoration theme for the cake (no surprise there) and, after having spent so much money on the party, I really didn’t want to spend that much on the cake. So I decided to make it myself.
We first attempted to make a pyramid cake, but that didn’t work out at all – the cake never achieved a pyramid shape. We then settled for a sheet cake decorated with Ancient Egyptian plastic figurines
Mika wanted a chocolate cake with strawberry-whipped cream filling and whipped-cream frosting. After consultation with people in the craigslist food forum I decided to make a box mix cake, I’m not sure if that was the best choice as I didn’t think the cake was that chocolaty, but I’m a terrible baker myself so there was no guarantee I could do better by making it from scratch.
I baked 2 cakes in two the longer pyrex baking dishes
I baked the cakes the day before, then I covered them with saran wrap and left them on my table – they kept very well.
I was concerned that the whipped cream filling would not be hard enough to withstand the weight of the top cake, but actually this was not a problem at all. I topped the bottom sheet with a couple of layers of fresh sliced strawberries (which I’d gotten at the farmer’s market the day before. The strawberries themselves were delicious – I think next time I might even go for a 3rd layer of them.
Then I whipped 1 qt + 1/2 cup of heavy cream (what I had at home) with about 1 tsp. of cornstarch plus granulated sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla. I don’t know how much sugar I used, I just poured it into the mixing bowl until the cream was sweet enough. The results was a pretty heavy whipped cream. I used about half of it to top the strawberries and then I put the second cake on top of that. The second cake did not crush it at all, and the cream did not slide off the sides – what I feared. In other words, it worked quite well.
I used the rest of the cream to top the cake and cover the sides. I actually ended up not having enough cream for this – next time I’d probably use 3 pints – and serve any extra with the extra strawberries. Though if I make a thinner cake, I’d need less cream.
Also at the suggestion of someone from craigslist, I powdered some cookies (I used shortbread cookies) and sprinkle them on top of the cake to make it look like sand. I really liked this effect.
Finally, Mika decorated the cake with the figures and the candles.
She was very happy with the cake, and it was pretty good (though there was too much cake to cream ratio) – and I saved some money over a Safeway cake. So can’t complain.
BTW, I bought the heavy cream at Trader Joe’s. It’s about half as much there as in Safeway, but it has a relatively short “shelf” life.
-I used to find garlic very difficult to peel, the peel would stuck to the cloves and I had to scratch it out sometimes. Now, I cut each end of the clove and the peel comes right out. Have I changed my technique or has garlic changed in the last decade?
-I find that Martinis Kalamata Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which I buy at Trader Joe’s for about $9 for the 1 liter bottle, is the best cheap olive oil around. It actually has a pleasant (if not too strong) flavor, without the bitterness I find in other cheap oil. I don’t know if it’s not adulterated with other oils, as cheap olive oils are said to be, but it works well enough for me.
-Isn’t it so much more convenient when you was your kitchen utensils as you use them? Why don’t I do it more often (other than having a full dish rack)?
-The conventional wisdom is that you should throw out your dried herbs and spices every year. However, herbs and spices are expensive and it’s often much cheaper to buy them in larger quantities (specially at Santos Indian Spices in San Leandro, so I keep them for much longer. I, personally, haven’t encountered a significant degrading of the spices. And even if they lost some of their potency, isn’t it just a matter of tasting and adding some more if necessary?
-The conventional wisdom is also that you shouldn’t cook with a wine you wouldn’t drink. However, I’ve found there is no difference in the finished product between nicer wines (those in the $7 range) and cheaper wines, in particular two-buck chuck. I personally think it’s a great cooking wine, both in its red and white varieties.
-My palate may also not be very educated, but I notice little difference in the finished product vis a vis the varietal of wine I use – so I always use whatever I have open or I have a cheap bottle of. I do usually use red wine when a recipe calls for red, and white when it calls for white.
-Pudding from a box is disgusting. It’s very easy to make your own custard. But the former is much cheaper and hubby likes it just as much.
-Whipping cream and lemons cost twice as much at the supermarket than at Trader Joe’s.
-No matter what I make, I need at least 1 hour to cook from scratch.
-I always underestimate how long it’ll take me to cook something by at least half an hour.
-I love Better than Bouillon stock bases. But they are expensive if you are actually using them to make soup.
-I no longer bother making stock (with a base) before putting it into a recipe. Now I add water to the food I’m cooking and add the base when it starts to boil.
-Chef knives are useless. I finally got one a year or two ago and I hate it. I find a serrated bread knife much more efficient for chopping onions (the onion halves stay together as you slice them), which is the kitchen task I most abhor.
This promotion code doesn’t seem like such a great deal – but I figure I’d past it along.
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Code valid on deliveries through 4/30/10
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