A few days ago I discovered Häagen-Daz fat free sorbet & yogurt bars at Grocery Outlet (raspberry & vanilla). As far as treat goes, I think they are pretty good. They have mostly OK ingredients (except for corn syrup, but it’s not the high fructose kind) and only 100 calories each. Most importantly, the kids love them – even more than other treats. They sell for $1 each, so they are not the most affordable of treats – but I rather pay more and have something somewhat healthier for them.
Author: admin (Page 23 of 51)
The laides of the Alta Mira Club in San Leandro are hosting a “Vintage Fashion Show & Tea” on Saturday, April 24th (2010) from 12:30 PM on. Tickets cost $25 and include coffee or tee with tea sandwiches and desserts. There will also be a fashion show of old gowns.
The Alta Mira Club house is a gorgeous, gorgeous 1860 mansion – kept as much as possible in its original condition and beautifully furnished with antiques. My 8-year-old couldn’t wait to show me the front rooms. Alas, the event room they have in the back is quite plain and does not have the charm of the rest of the house – and I fear that’s where the tea will be. But still, just being able to tour the house is fun.
I’m planning on going to this event – hopefully with some friends.
If you’d like to go, you can find out more info at the Library’s Info Desk 510-577-3971
The other day I made Wine Braised Short Ribs with Mixed Herb Gremolata for dinner (they were delicious, btw, and I plan to copy the recipe to this blog). They were supposed to be served with Gorgonzola polenta, and while I remembered to buy the Gorgonzola, I didn’t realize until the last possible moment that I had forgotten the polenta. AND, I didn’t have any starches at home. I wanted a starch to soak in all the delicious braising liquid (and delicious it was). I was in a bind.
So I hurried to Grocery Outlet, across the street, with the dim hope of finding some polenta, or at least another quick-cooking starch. These boxed mashed potatoes were the best that I could do. And lord, were they bad – so bad even the kids (no gourmets and not very picky) thought they sucked. In reality, they tasted just like the cardboard box. I don’t really understand why – but they really were inedible.
So hearken me, and avoid them at all costs.
Yesterday I went to lunch with a friend at Ono Hawaiian BBQ in San Leandro. We go from time to time as it’s close to our house, the food is good enough and not too expensive, specially if you use one of the coupons you get on the mail.
Yesterday we had their $5 value lunch, and it’s really a good deal. It consists of a small portion of an entree (there are 5 choices, I think, mostly chicken and no fish), a scoop of rice and some veggie (cabbage, I think). It comes with a small fountain drink, but you can get free refills. I had the chicken katzu, which I really like, and the portion was a perfect size for lunch. In all, I think this may be the best lunch deal in town.
Ono Hawaiian BBQ
13808 E.14th St., Suite C
San Leandro, CA
San Leandro Restaurant Reviews
Open Fence, a service that provides coupons from local retailers, is getting better and starting to recruit more restaurants in San Leandro and surrounding areas. You need to register to use the service, and they only have a limited number of coupons – so please only print those you know you will use.
Note that in some cases you may get a bigger discount through restaurant.com. As usual, google “restaurant.com code” before buying a restaurant.com gift certificate, as they often have them for up to 80% off.
The restaurants in SL participating include:
Linguini’s Pizza & Brew / Pasta & Vino, 50% OFF Pasta Entree! (Dinner only)
Aroma Cuisine of India, Half Off Lunch Buffet
The Englander Pub, 15% OFF Dinner or Lunch
Tito’s Mexican Restaurant, $5 Off $25 Purchase or More
Sergio’s Pizzaria, $5 OFF $25 or greater purchase (before Tax)
Vo’s, 20% Off
Paradiso, Two Free Desserts with the Purchase of Two Entrees
Joaquin Deli, 15% off your purchase
Tropix Caribbean Restaurant, 20% OFF!
Al Attle’s California Cheese Steaks, 1 Free Sandwich w/ purchase of 1 Sandwich
Chang’s Gourmet Asian Cuisine, 20% OFF of purchase greater than $20
Dick’s Restaurant and Cocktails, 20% Off – Minimum Purchase of $10.00
Pelton Cafe, $2 OFF Purchase of $10 or Greater
Porky’s Pizza Palace, Porky’s Family Value Meal Only $26.96 or **Monday-Wednesday Pizza Special
Palomares Cafe, 15% Off
Taqueria El Gordo, 20% OFF! – Menu / Specials (58)
Best Burger, Free Drink! (with purchase of any Burger)
My plan for dinner tonight was to make Chicken Cordon Blue, this time with ham (rather than prosciutto), as it’s significantly cheaper. Alas, Mike had forgotten to get the ham at the supermarket, so I decided to get some at Grocery Outlet. It was a mistake.
There were only two packages of ham available, and I got this Plumroase brown sugar ham rather than the other one as it actually had brown sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. Still, this one had artificial maple flavor, so it’s not as it was a much healthier alternative. But the real problem with this ham is that it has very little flavor. There is some saltiness to it, and some fake sweetness and even fake smokiness, but no ham flavor at all. It doesn’t taste “bad” just not very hammy.
At about $3 a pound, though, it’s quite cheap. But it has added water, so who knows how much actual ham you are getting.
2013 Update
Emil Villa had a fire and is closed, it doesn’t seem that they’ll be re-opening.
Sunday Mika and I went out to brunch at Emil Villa’s in San Leandro. It wasn’t my first choice for breakfast, but we were without transportation and Emil Villa’s is only a few blocks away from my home. We had an OK, but not very exciting experience.
I’m partial to sweet offerings for breakfast, and Emil Villa’s offers french toast, pancakes and a pecan waffle. Both the french toast and pancakes come plain, no fruit toppings or anything special, and accompanied by corn syrup. I got the sourdough french toast ($7, I think) and was disappointed that the plate consisted of four, thick but small slices of french toast and nothing more. It was sort of expensive for the price, specially given how plain it was. Mika got the pancakes from the children’s menu. The two pancakes were HUGE, one would have been more than enough for a child under 12. She liked that they were fluffy, but they were nothing special. She probably wouldn’t order them again. I think they were $5.
Service was very good.
Emil Villa’s is a very popular place for weekend breakfast, something which I cannot understand. Grant it, all the breakfast options in San Leandro are dismal, but both JD and Palomares Cafe in Castro Valley offer far superior breakfast options for about the same price.
Emil Villa’s
1800 E 14th St
San Leandro, CA
(510) 351-7427
Original Review
San Leandro Restaurant Reviews
I have owned several kitchen timers over my 20+ years cooking, but none have lasted very long. Now this may be because invariably I’ve bought the cheap kind, or it may be because timers today are not made that well.
For the last couple of years, though, I’ve been using my grandmothers old Magic Chef timer – which I would guess (by the style and my grandmother’s last trip from Argentina to America, where she bought it) dates from the 50’s or 60’s, for the last couple of years and I love it. It works perfectly every time, it runs neither quick or slow and it doesn’t stop. It has a loud but not annoying ring and I’m just happy with it.
The kitchen timer is not in the best condition. It’s rusted in the back and the front plate is sort of lose. It’s lasted 50 years and I hope it’ll last a couple of more decades. I hope.
I was reluctant to use the timer at first, just as I am reluctant to use any of my grandmother’s kitchen utensils. I brought them with me from Argentina after my adored aunt Gladys died because of the emotional attachment I had to them. I grew up seeing Granny and Gladys cook and bake with them, and when I look at them (the utensils) I can feel the warmth of their kitchen, and remember those sweet moments. But there is some sweetness in using the utensils, it’s almost like maintaining the connection between Granny and Gladys and I. So for the time being at least, I’ll continue using my timer.
Safeway is now selling fresh flank steak, skirt steak and flat iron steak in vacuum packages – with expiration dates of a month or two in the future. I’m glad that they are available (these cuts have been hard to find at our local Safeway in the past), but I wish they were sold at more reasonable prices. These are supposed to be cheap cuts of meat, after all, but Safeway sells them at $6.50lb! You can often get rib eye steak at Safeway for less than that.
I tried their “Ranchers Reserve” flat iron steak tonight in a recipe for Maple and Soy-Glazed Flank Steak (they didn’t have any flank steak). I wasn’t happy with the recipe, the flavors were very tame, but the meat itself was incredibly tender – some of the most tender meat I’ve ever eaten. It’s not surprising, as flat iron steaks are supposed to be second only to beef tenderloin in tenderness. But I’m more of a “flavor” person than a “tenderness” person, so this cut didn’t really win me over.
One thing that did annoy me was how uneven the two “steaks” were cut. They range in thickness from about 1/6″ to 1 1/2″.
I probably won’t buy this cut again, just because of the lack of flavor, but I will give the skirt steak and the flank steak a try sometime.
I just came back from Grocery Outlet very excited at what I thought was a /great/ bargain. A twin pack of 26oz jars of Smuckers Natural Creamy Peanut Butter
for $4. This stuff is just peanuts and salt, so the price was really unbelievable. Too good to be true, indeed.
And it was. The plastic wrap around the twin jars blocked the expiration date, which, as I discovered when I got home, is only 3 days from today. Three whole days to consume over 3lbs of peanut butter. I don’t think I could even if I tried 🙂
So I returned it, which is not /too/ big a deal as Grocery Outlet is just across the street from me – but it could be a bigger hassle for other people. As I’ve said before, I love Grocery Outlet and the people who run it, and I do realize that they play the expiration-date game, but really, they shouldn’t sell things unless 1) the expiration dates are clearly shown outside the packages and 2) these expiration dates are more than a couple of days away.
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