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Category: Restaurants (Page 2 of 52)

Dining in DC: Sweet Home Café

February 15, 2025 / / 0 Comments 
Dining in DC: Notes from a Week in the Capital

Honest and delicious fare in the National American History Museum at the National Mall

The National Mall has a dearth of places to eat and what there are, food kiosks and cafés at the various museums, are grossly overpriced. Given what is, for all intents and purposes, a captive audience, I’m not entirely surprised. The museum restaurants, moreover, get pretty negative reviews, with the exception of those at the African American History Museum and at the Native American History Museum. We didn’t have a chance to try the latter, but after perusing the powerful exhibits at the former, we headed for lunch at Sweet Home Café. My cousin Adriana and her family, visiting from Argentina, joined us.

Despite its name, Sweet Home Café is neither a café nor homey. It’s basically a large cafeteria, busy with school groups and other tourists, without much charm to speak of. There are four food counters, each with different offerings. The “Agricultural South” counter offers fried and baked chicken and sides: mac & cheese, collard greens, sweet potato, potato salad, coleslaw and corn bread. The “Grill” station has fish, chicken tenders and a hot dog, as well as a fresh salad bar and French fries. A dessert counter offers a variety of desserts, including some which are definitely not African American and which are probably not made on the premises. I found the same dulce de leche cheesecake I had here at the Natural History Museum café. The final counter seems to offer a succession of “themed” dishes, which change weekly. When we were there, they were celebrating James Baldwin with a French-inspired menu.

After you order your food, and get drinks and perhaps a wrapped dessert from an open counter, you head to a checkout counter where you pay. I had read lots of reviews that the he checkers could be rude, and my cousin experienced this – they were curt and insulting. Apparently the checker she got was frustrated with their limited English. My husband and daughter didn’t have problems when they got food for themselves and me.

I didn’t take good pictures or notes of our meal there, so you will have to rely simply on my recollections.

I got the Daube de boeuf ($22.50) or beef stew, which came with one side – I chose mashed potatoes. It was a little on the cold side but otherwise delicious. The meat was tender and abundant, the sauce well balanced and the mashed potatoes perfectly made. It really exceeded my expectations flavor wise. The portion was large enough that I could share it with Mike, though neither of us were particularly hungry.

As mentioned, I also got a slice of the dulce de leche cheesecake ($8), which was quite tasty but not particularly remarkable (though good enough that my daughter got a slice of it the next day). Sodas were an incredible $4.70 each, though you could get a refill.

My cousin Adriana and her husband both got the pulled pork. This was a completely new dish for them and they both raved about it. I didn’t taste it myself, so I can’t vouch for whether it was a particularly good pulled pork, or whether my cousins were blown over by the novelty of the dish. But at least it was solid enough to delight newcomers to American cuisine.

No one should be surprised that there weren’t really good options for vegetarians – but you can order a plate with three sides (~12). My daughter went this route and got the baked macaroni and cheese, the roasted sweet potato and the corn bread, which came in a little loaf. She thought the mac & cheese was good, better than your Kraft staple. The sweet potato was surprisingly good, it was sweet and soft and she liked it quite a lot – even though she is not someone who usually gravitates to sweet potatoes. The cornbread, unfortunately, was very dry – but the flavor was there. The main problem with her side dishes is that they were all pretty cold.

In all, given the dearth of dining options in the area, Sweet Home Café is a good option for those visiting the museums and monuments in the area. It has relatively reduced hours of operation, 11 AM to 3 PM most days, so beware you get there in time.

Sweet Home Café
National Museum of African American History and Culture
1400 Constitution Ave. NW 
Washington, DC

Dining in DC: The Hamilton

February 14, 2025 / / 0 Comments 
Dining in DC: Notes from a Week in the Capital

This gorgeous restaurant near the White House actually has good food

The main reason for our trip to Washington DC this year was to meet up with my cousin Adriana and her family who were coming to the States for some tourism of their own. My husband loves Washington DC, and I love hanging out with Adriana, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity for both of us to get what we wanted from a vacation. So on our second day in DC, we met Adriana and her family at the People’s House and then made our way to The Hamilton, taking in the outside of the White House (fully adorned with snipers on the roof), on the way.

I had originally wanted to go to the Old Ebbitt Grill, a Washington DC institution popular with both tourists and politicos, but I found out that they don’t have tables for six within the restaurant itself, and large parties are confined to an atrium adjacent to the restaurant. The nearby The Hamilton is owned by the same company and promised to provide a more welcoming atmosphere. I’m glad I chose it. Not only was the restaurant outright gorgeous – so I got to impress Adriana -, but the prices were reasonable for such an upscale place and the food was very good.


The Hamilton is quite large and it has at least a couple of dining rooms, as well as a large bar. It seems to be a favorite spot for lobbyists and we overheard some of them making their machinations while we waited to be seated. The large booths were comfortable enough, and the service was as good as what I learned to expect in Washington (California has much to learn in this regard).

The menu was pretty broad and included your basic American fare plus some sushi. My cousin and her family weren’t particularly adventurous and they all got the Hamilton burger, which came with a “‘sunny-side up egg, bacon, B&B pickles, shredded lettuce, cheddar, Gruyère, garlic aioli, house made sesame brioche” ($21). They all said they loved it. I didn’t try them myself and they might have been being polite, but even their son ate most of his and children don’t tend to eat out of politeness alone.

I had the ragu americana & rigatoni ($26), which consisted of rigatoni and “red wine braised short rib, Nonna’s meatballs, Grana Padano.” At first, it just tasted like your run of the mill pasta dish, but it grew on me with every bite. The short rib sauce was comforting and with all the umami you expect from a tomato based sauce. The meatballs were delicious. I kept thinking and craving the dish for days to come. If I go back to DC, I’ll definitely head back to The Hamilton for it. Seriously, if you like pasta, you should try it.

My daughter had the garden sushi roll ($15), “avocado, carrots, cucumber, lettuce, miso dressing.” She overall liked it, though she wasn’t blown away with it. To be fair, she’s had a lot of great sushi out there (particularly in Argentina), so that might be a tall order. She did say she’d order it again.

Mike had the jumbo lump crab cake ($28). He thought it was absolutely delicious. The crab cake had lots of crabs and came apart easily, but it was perfectly seasoned. His only regret was that he didn’t order the double portion ($48).

I don’t remember us having dessert.

We managed to get lunch done in a little over an hour, and we quickly headed out to the Ford Theater to see where President Lincoln was assassinated. 

The Hamilton
600 14th Street N.W.,
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 787-1000

Dining in DC: Charm Thai

February 14, 2025 / / 0 Comments 
Dining in DC: Notes from a Week in the Capital

Good and affordable Thai food in Foggy Bottom

Foggy Bottom is the home of not only the State Department and K street, where the biggest lobby operations have set up tents, but of George Mason university. As we were staying only a few blocks away from campus, I would have expected there would be a plethora of cheap restaurants catering to students. Alas, that was not the case and Charm Thai was close to the only choice of this kind. Fortunately for us, it turns out that Charm Thai offers very solid Thai cuisine at affordable prices (though perhaps still too high for students) and was only a couple of blocks from our hotel. During our week-long stay, we ordered from there twice.

The first time we ordered, my daughter got the Pad Thai with tofu ($18) and my husband had the panang curry with chicken ($17). I wasn’t hungry enough to order anything. They were both so happy with their dishes that they ordered them again a couple of nights later. That time we also got the curry puffs ($9) and I got the pad thai with beef ($20) and the strawberry smoothie ($6). The first time they gave us complimentary rice, though they skipped it the second time. That was OK, as my husband tries to avoid it anyway.

The food was great, though the portions weren’t as generous as one might have hoped for the price. Both my daughter and I liked really liked the pad thai. It was a tad sweeter than usual but just wonderfully seasoned. The beef, unfortunately, had no flavor whatsoever. I don’t even think they had salted it. I would totally avoid it the next time. The noodles, however, were amazing.

My husband absolutely loved the curry puffs. He couldn’t quite describe why, but he mentioned they were just satisfying. He felt the same about the panang chicken which he described as “absolutely delicious”. It was spicier than in most other places, which he thought was a good thing.

The strawberry smoothie, on the other hand, was also disappointing. There was too much ice and this diluted the flavor of the strawberry, so it was too mild to enjoy. I wouldn’t buy it again.

We didn’t bother to take pictures, so you only have these descriptions to go by, but if you’re in the mood for Thai in Foggy Bottom, this is definitely the place to go or order from.

Charm Thai
2514 L St NW
Washington, DC
(202) 333-2460

Dining in DC: Balos Estiatorio

February 13, 2025 / / 0 Comments 
Dining in DC: Notes from a Week in the Capital

This happening Dupont Circle spot had hits – and misses.

We spent our first morning in DC, the first Sunday of February, visiting the memorials at the National Mall and working up an appetite. Brunch at Balos Estiatorio was next on the schedule. I’d chosen that restaurant because I saw it recommended in some list and my daughter noticed that it offered baklava French toast. As a lover of both baklava and French toast she was intrigued – and while I don’t like baklava myself, I was curious.

Balos was very busy when we got there (good thing I’d made a reservation!), filled with beautiful, mostly young people relaxing and taking advantage of the bottomless brunch cocktails. We had plans for the afternoon (visiting the Spy Museum with a friend), so we didn’t partake on alcohol, but I certainly got the appeal.

The restaurant is large, stylish but casual, somewhat loud and definitely hip. Service was as personable and polite as we quickly came to expect in DC – despite living at the center of the neo-apocalypse, Washingtonians seem to have (or fake) much better attitudes than Californians. It’s definitely not the weather.

We hit Balos the last day of the winter restaurant week, and they were offering their pre-fix three course brunch menu for $36 (it was listed for $35, but Balos also ads a 4% “operations fee” to make their prices look lower), a $10 saving over the regular price. This time we all partook of it.

Though there were quite a few options for appetizers, both Mike and I decided on the Greek Onion soup, which was very much like French onion soup but with graviera cheese instead of gruyere. It was quite good, particularly in a chilly day, though I think I prefer gruyere in this soup. Still, the broth was sweet, the cheese added saltiness and I enjoyed it.

My daughter had the spanakopita, an old favorite. This was a very good version, and she particularly enjoyed how flaky and crispy it was.

As my main course, I had the lavraki filet, an 8 oz branzino filet, which came with a light herbed sauce and lemon juice. I’m not usually much of a fish eater, but I wanted something light and this fit the bill. There was nothing amazing about this dish, but it was well cooked, well seasoned and tasty – my only complain was that it had too many bones. I did like how the lemon came encased in a mesh covering to keep the lemons inside.

Mike had the steak & eggs, which included “8 oz prime NY strip, Greek fries, eggs your way.” The steak was well cooked and seasoned and was very tasty, we liked the fries, but the eggs were disappointing. He had ordered them over medium, expecting the yolk to be partially runny so he could dip the fries in it, but they were solid. It’s a minor complain and he overall liked the dish.

The biggest disappointment, however, was my daughter’s “baklava” French toast, served with “mixed berries, pistachio, almond, walnut, Greek yogurt.” It had nothing altogether reminiscent of baklava. It was just run of the mill French toast. The two slices of bread were thick, and came with real maple syrup and some berries. There were a couple of nuts, but nothing that would make you think of baklava. My daughter was very disappointed.

There were three choices for dessert, and we tried them all. I had the mascarpone cheesecake, which came with Vyssino cherries. I wasn’t really hungry by this point, which was a good thing as I didn’t really enjoy the cheesecake. It wasn’t what I’d call bad, but it just wasn’t worth the calories and the carbs. It wasn’t as creamy as a regular cheesecake. No one else thought greatly of it either.

Mike enjoyed his galaktoboureko (a custard filled phyllo pastry) much more. He thought it was absolutely great.

Mika had the baklava, which was served with Greek frozen yoghurt. The sour frozen yoghurt was great, and provided a nice contrast to the sweetness of the syrup. My daughter, however, realized she doesn’t really like “wet” baklava, that so soaked in syrup that becomes soggy. She enjoyed the taste, but wished it had been crispier.

In all, we had a nice brunch.

Balos Estiatorio
1940 N St NW,
Washington, DC 20036

Dining in DC: Imperfecto

February 13, 2025 / / 0 Comments 
Dining in DC: Notes from a Week in the Capital

This Foggy Bottom Michelin-adjunct restaurant lives up to its name, in a good way.

We arrived in Washington DC a cold Saturday night in February, merely days after the Führer-wannabe’s inauguration. But it was tourism, rather than politics, which brought us to town and, in my golden years, traveling and dining have become intrinsically connected. I hadn’t made many plans for dining in DC, as it had been hard to predict in advance how tired we would be each day and how far we’d want to venture in search of food, but I did make a point of getting reservations for our fist night. Not only was it a Saturday night, but it came at the tail end of DC’s winter restaurant week, which I figured would be attracting the thriftier diners venturing without the grace of an expense account. That was a good call as Imperfecto was completely booked that night – when our plane was delayed in disembarking we tried to push our reservations until later, and were told they were booked until 10 PM. Fortunately, it was a quick trip from the airport to our hotel in Foggy Bottom and then a quick walk to the restaurant. We made our original reservation with plenty of time.

Imperfecto is a Latin American inspired restaurant, presenting innovative cuisine in an elegant but modern environment. Its Chef’s table has won a Michelin star, though I’m not sure why the award wasn’t given to the restaurant as a whole. It certainly deserves it. The atmosphere is young (in spirit if not in chronological age), dark and loud. People were fairly well dressed, which can make those who didn’t want to change out of their Patagonia fleece feel a bit out of place. I’m not pointing fingers or anything.

The Restaurant Week menu included selected offerings from their regular menu which, combined, represented a significant savings from their à la carte prices. The three course meal was $68 – it was listed as $65 but Imperfecto adds a 5% “service charge” which goes to the restaurant, rather than the wait staff and which looks like an attempt to hide a price increase. In this review, I’ll be adding the service charge to the menu prices.

We ordered two of these menus and an additional main dish for my vegetarian daughter. I wasn’t very hungry so I shared my appetizer and dessert with her, but the meal portions are such that a main would not be enough food by itself unless you weren’t particularly hungry.

Dinner started with a complimentary small glass of mushroom soup. It was very hot and creamy, a little bit too salty and not as good as the Bourdain recipe I like to make, but definitely wonderful in such a cold evening. Having an amuse bouche like this definitely started the meal very nicely.

As my appetizer, I chose the Aladdin burrata ($28 in the regular menu): “burrata, tamarind hummus, fried lentil tabbouleh, apple compote, manoush”. It was a very interesting dish – not one that I’d characterized as delicious, but we enjoyed the mix of flavors and textures. The fried lentils were very crunchy and just fun to eat, the mild burrata was silky and soft, the apple compote provided the occasional burst of sweetness and the hummus provided substance. The dish was served with two small pieces of pita bread – more would have been better. It was definitely large enough to share.

My husband had the ceviche ($27), the other appetizer choice in the restaurant week menu. It was described as “gentle poached shrimp, sweet potato leche de tigre, chiles toreados dressing, rye chip”. He liked it, he finished it, but we were too busy over analyzing my appetizer to hear what he had to say about his. Clearly, he wasn’t as effusive or blown away as we were.

There were three choices for mains in the restaurant week menu, a branzino ($50), a sweet potato dish ($29) and a lamb terrine ($55), and both Mike and I chose the latter. The cordero was described as “Robuchon pomme purée, red cabbage confit, lamb jus, truffle.” It was delicious. I really enjoyed the silky, warm and perfectly seasoned mashed potatoes and the bold flavor of the lamb terrine. The shaved truffle added earthiness while the cabbage confit brought sweetness. The whole dish was very successful and while a classic, still quite creative. Mike liked it as well.

My daughter ordered the truffle tagliolini ($29) off the regular menu. It consisted of tagliolini pasta, “sweet corn cream, asparagus, Pecorino, truffles”. It was a very peculiar dish that tasted unlike anything else she’d had before. She found it interesting, though not particularly delicious. She wasn’t fond of the large slices of truffle which gave the dish a .. flavor – she loves truffles, and she felt they would have been better if shredded. In all, she was glad to try this but she wouldn’t order it again. It wasn’t a particularly large portion, so she was glad to have my appetizer to share as well as my dessert.

There were two dessert choices in the restaurant week menu, and I chose La Nube: “passion fruit lychee gel, amaretto-vanilla custard, white chocolate foam, pistachio ice cream”. This was absolutely delicious – again a wonderful contrast of textures and flavors. The gel was very intense and it was tempered by the other ingredients. My daughter was lucky that I wasn’t hungry or I’d had more than a bite.

Mike had the chocobanana, “olive oil cocoa crumble, burnt banana ice cream. 72% cremeux, halva caramel, sugar tuile” and while it was good and he enjoyed it, it wasn’t as exciting as the gel.

Service was polite and friendly, and in all we had a great time. I’d recommend it.

Imperfecto
1124 23rd St NW
Washington, D.C
(202) 964-1012

San Leandro Bites: Porky’s Pizza Palace

October 23, 2024 / / 0 Comments

A favorite San Leandro pizzeria never fails to satisfy

Last night, my oldest was in town and had a hankering for pizza. I didn’t myself, but I still have been craving pasta, so I decided to order from an old favorite: Porky’s Pizza Palace. This is a restaurant we have frequented ever since we moved to San Leandro, almost a quarter of a century ago. I love the old-fashioned, family-oriented, small-town-America feel of the place, and there food is pretty good as well. I didn’t take pictures this time, we just dived into the food.

The kids had a half-pineapple, half-Golden cheese pizza ($28). They thought the pizza was OK, pretty average pizzeria pizza.

We also ordered cheesy garlic bread ($6.3) and it’s definitely very cheesy. However, the cheese is not that flavorful. Next time we’d order the garlic bread without the cheese.

I decided to order a quart of ravioli ($14) and three meatballs ($12), so I’d have food for three meals. I really like Porky’s ravioli and meatballs. They are not going to win any culinary awards, but the ravioli are well cooked, with soft pasta, and are bursting with beef filling. The meat sauce is flavorful and tastes home made and the meatballs are light and, while commercial, not something I can actually buy myself at the supermarket. They are also pretty large.

In all, I like Porky’s Pizza, in particular the ravioli, and I’ll continue to order from there from time to time, as I have over the decades.

Porky's Pizza Palace
1221 Manor Blvd.
San Leandro, CA
(510) 357-4323
Mon-Thu 3 – 9 pm
Fri 3 – 10 pm
Sat 1 – 10 pm
Sun 1 – 9 pm

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

Chain Restaurant Reviews: The Olive Garden

October 23, 2024 / / 1 Comment

I tried the Never Ending Pasta Bowl!

A couple of weeks ago I saw a commercial for The Olive Garden‘s Never Ending Pasta Bowl and since then I’ve been obsessing about it. I’m not sure why. Maybe because I’ve been watching my carbs and avoiding pasta. Or maybe there is just something about the fantasies of limitless eating that appeals to human at an instinctive level. Olive Garden has been having this promotion for decades, so it’s obviously working for them.

I’m by no means a regular Olive Garden customer. I can count in one hand how often I’ve gone to the restaurant over the decades, with fingers to spare. Mostly I found it unmemorable, and with better Italian options around, often the same or more affordable prices, there has never been a compelling reason to go

I actually did a fair amount of reading on the Olive Garden and the Never Ending Pasta Bowl before my visit – such was my obsession. I learned that it wasn’t a particularly good deal for the customer, as most normal people can’t finish a single plate of pasta, much less have seconds. I also learned that you can take leftovers to go, and that you can order a serving of just the sauce. Finally, I learned that waiters hate it because they have to make multiple trips to the kitchen without the corresponding increase in tips.

We visited the Hayward location for lunch a Friday in October. I remembered the restaurant looking cuter back when I last went, this time it was just utilitarian. We were seated near the bar – and the kitchen – in a room without any decorations at all. Given that the food is not that cheap, I expected better.

We went there a little before noon and the place got fairly busy as the lunch hour came, though it was never really full. The restaurant is rather large, with good distance between the tables.

As the entrées all come with soup or salad and breadsticks, we didn’t bother ordering appetizers. My husband and daughter had the salad which they found to be unremarkable. It wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad, it was just a salad.

The breadsticks, on the other hand, were delicious. They are served warm, have garlic flavor, and have a soft interior. They are a tad dry, so they’re great for dipping. They were our favorite part of the meal – though I only had half of one, as I didn’t want to get full on bread (plus I’m watching those carbs).

Olive Garden has four soups, and I’d read that the Chicken & Gnocchi soup ($10, if ordered on its own) was particularly popular, so I ordered that. It was OK. I did like how soft and pillowy the gnocchi were, but there were relatively few of them in the soup. The chicken cream base wasn’t my favorite, but I’m not a fan of cream soups (or soups) in general. I did like it as a dip for the breadstick, however.

I got a second portion to go, as part of the Never Ending Pasta Bowl promotion (which gives you never ending soup or salad and never ending breadsticks as well), and I was surprised at how small it was. I think it had all of two gnocchi.

My daughter had the chicken parmigiana ($21.3). It was a large portion but not a particularly successful one. My daughter compared it to the frozen chicken parmesan we buy at the supermarket.

Mike had the seafood alfredo ($23.5) and he was equally unimpressed. He found the alfredo sauce to be thin and not particularly tasty, and the seafood just OK. He wouldn’t order it again.

In both these cases, you can get a much better plate of food for a similar price at a mom & pop’s Italian restaurant.

I, of course, ordered the Never Ending Pasta Bowl ($16) with a side of protein ($5). The protein this time around are meatballs, Italian sausages or “crispy chicken fritta”, which I think are breaded and fried chicken slices. You are given a choice of four pastas (fettuccine, spaghetti, rigatoni and angel hair) and six sauces (garlic herb, alfredo, marinara, five cheese marinara, creamy mushroom and meat sauce).

For my first plate I had the fettuccine with half mushroom sauce , half meat sauce
and meatballs. The plate was rather generous and definitely enough for a lunch entree, particularly after eating the few gnocchi from the soup. The fettuccine itself was rather bland (but it’s pasta) and a little past al dente – with some parts that were on the rawer side. I don’t think I’d order it again. I did like the mushroom sauce, particularly when I got a mushroom. It was creamy, mushroomy and very tasty. The meat sauce, on the other hand, was a disappointment. It had very small and scant pieces of meat and tasted like jarred sauce. I definitely wouldn’t order it again. The meatballs weren’t bad. They were light, and tasted like the meatballs you get in pizza joint and sandwich places – which I, personally, like. The first order came with three meatballs.


For my second plate, which I took home, I had the angel hair pasta with the five cheese marinara sauce. I liked the angel hair better, but the sauce – a mixture of marinara sauce with alfredo sauce – tasted like supermarket vodka sauce, basically, a creamy tomato sauce. It was too acidic. I would not order it again. This second portion of pasta was also pretty small, and it came with two meatballs.

I also had a bowl of alfredo sauce, as I wanted to try it. As Mike noted, it was on the thin side, and it also didn’t differ much from the jarred stuff. It wasn’t bad as a dip for the breadsticks, but I also wouldn’t order it .

I had water with dinner, Mike had a soda ($4), and my daughter had the raspberry lemonade ($4.50). She really liked it. They come with unlimited refills as well.

Service was fine, a little bit rushed but that’s to be expected.

In all, it was a mediocre and yet pretty expensive lunch – though we all took some leftovers home. I can’t imagine rushing back to the Olive Garden.

Olive Garden
star-outline24688 Hesperian Blvd  
Hayward, CA 
(510) 782-6385
Su - Th 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM
F - Sa  11:00 AM to 11:00 PM

Chain Restaurant Reviews

Bay Area Restaurant Reviews

A foodie in San Francisco: Sears Fine Food Review

October 19, 2024 / / 0 Comments

This 85-year old Union Square fixture attracts tourists and old-timers

I love historical restaurants. Really, I love historical anything. There is a reason why I majored in history, after all. So when I came across Sears Fine Food, as I was looking for places to eat before a play at the San Francisco Playhouse (btw, don’t miss The Play that Goes Wrong), I knew I had to go. The reviews were mixed, but I was willing to put up with substandard food for the historical experience.

Sears Fine Food was opened back in 1938 by Ben Sears, a retired circus crown, and his wife Hilbur. They specialized on breakfast food, particularly the silver dollar Swedish pancakes made from a family recipe. Served with lingonberries, they are still on the menu today.

The restaurant is pretty small and it has less of a historical look than I sought, though it does have black and white photos on the walls of old patrons and an old-fashioned atmosphere.

I ordered the “Our World Famous 18 Swedish Pancakes” with lingonberry sauce and sausages ($27) for dinner that evening – both because nothing else on the menu really appealed to me that night and because I wanted to try them. Alas, they were pretty disappointing.

The pancakes themselves were abundant but generic. They didn’t have the metallic flavor of those made with a mix, but they didn’t have a particularly pleasant flavor either. They came with corn syrup which didn’t do them any favors. A few days later I had a similar dish of silver dollar pancakes with syrup at a local fundraiser, and the homemade pancakes were far, far superior.

I did like the lingonberry preserves, which did elevate the pancakes, but there were only enough for about half the pancakes. I could have ordered another serving ($3), I suppose, but there were too many carbs on the plate as it was. The sausages were fine, pretty generic breakfast sausages. In all, I don’t think I’d recommend this dish. And yes, it was ridiculously expensive for what it was. But I figure you’re paying for the location here.

Mike had the lobster risotto ($27) and that was a somewhat better choice. He liked that the lobster came on top of the risotto rather than mixed in, as that allowed him to control how much risotto he consumed. The risotto itself was a tad salty, but delicious. It had the creaminess you seek on risotto and a very balanced, umami flavor. The lobster, however, was in need of butter. Without it, it lacked moisture and richness. Mike probably wouldn’t order the dish again.

For dessert, he had the creme brulee ($10). It was just OK. The custard should have been more flavorful.

Service was very good, however, and I did enjoy our time there. Still, I can’t imagine I’d go back. 

Sears Fine Food
439 Powell Street
San Francisco, CA
(415)986-0700
Daily 6:30am-9pml

L.A. Chow: Lum Ka Naad

October 8, 2024 / / 0 Comments

An exploration of Northern and Southern Thai cuisines

Los Angeles is a great city for Thai food. It’s in LA where I first became acquainted with Thai food, and I’ve had many a memorable Thai meal there. While Thai restaurants have become common in the Bay Area over the last three decades, and we have several ones even in San Leandro, there is still something special about LA Thai food.

Lum Ka Naad is not your ordinary Thai restaurant. It has an extremely extensive menu offering stereotypical Thai dishes as well as classics from other parts of Asia. More interestingly, they also offer a handful of unique dishes from Northern and Southern Thailand, allowing you to explore Thai cuisine more thoroughly. We visited the restaurant during our last visit to my family in the SF Valley, and I’m sure well return.

The restaurant itself is pretty casual, though more by juxtaposition than design. The dining area, if isolated, would be somewhat elegant. It’s decorated with non-garish pieces of Thai art. Alas, the bar/check out and their staging area, including where they keep their carts, are all open to the dining room and bring down the elegance factor by several notches. So just think casual.

We started dinner with an appetizer of beef satay ($15), which was delicious. It brought me back when I was first introduced to the dish so many decades ago. The beef is marinated in a curry then grilled and served with peanut sauce. Both the beef and sauce were on point. It’s been years since I last ordered satay – and I realize now that it’s because many restaurants don’t provide a beef option, and chicken or pork satay can be very dry. The beef was tender and didn’t suffer that problem.

We also shared an appetizer of angel wings ($16). These are boneless chicken wings stuffed with a mixture of ground chicken and glass noodles, then battered and fried. It was a very substantial dish, and I thought it was tasty though not out of this world delicious. Mike liked it more, I think. We took most of this home and reheated it a couple of days later, it stood up to time and microwaving quite well. Still, I wouldn’t order it again, though Mike might.

For dinner, I had the larb kua ($17) from the northern menu. Larb or laab, is a dish of Lao origins that has been adopted and modified in some areas of northern Thailand. I’d never had the northern Thai version, in which the meat is marinated with spices and then pan fried.

It was very tasty. It’s not a huge dish, and I actually finished it all, but I really enjoyed it. I had it with ground beef, but you can choose ground pork or chicken instead. The spicing was delicious and the texture added by the garlic was great.

Mike had the sator & shrimp ($20), a dish consisting of sator beans sautéed with shrimp, ground pork and a shrimp paste sauce. Sator beans, also known as stinky beans for their strong, foul aroma, are a feature of southern Thai cuisine. The dish was pretty spicy, but Mike thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a new flavor combination for him, pungent to say the least. The problem were the leftovers. They stank up my mother’s refrigeration and led her to ban us from using it in the future. The smell lasted even after the leftovers were consumed and she cleaned the fridge. If you order this, make sure to eat it all and don’t take it home.

My sister had the panang curry with chicken ($17). This was a good but not extraordinary version of this dish – but this is a dish so good that it’s hard to make any better. She enjoyed it quite a bit.

My nice, meanwhile, had the orange chicken ($16.50), but with with tofu instead of chicken. Made this way, this Chinese favorite is vegan. She enjoyed that it had been made with actual oranges, and remarked on the freshness of the flavor.

Service was great, our waitress was very attentive and cheerful, and helped us navigate the long menu.

We definitely enjoyed our meal and would return. There is a second Lum Ka Naad location in Encino, for those closer to that area.

Lum Ka Naad 
8910 Reseda Blvd,
Northridge, CA
(818) 882-3028
Mon - Sun : 11:00 am - 10:00 pm

Los Angeles Restaurant Reviews

Chain Restaurant Reviews: Nick the Greek

October 7, 2024 / / 0 Comments

This Greek fast food chain serves authentic souvlaki pitas!

I have written before about how my first introduction to Greek food was during a trip to Greece while doing my year abroad in Egypt. I was a starving student and Greece seemed expensive compared to Egypt back then, so my diet while there consisted pretty much only of souvlaki pitas. These sandwiches of sliced lamb and beef, with tomatoes and onions, French fries and tzatziki sauce were absolutely delicious. I had the opportunity to try them again when we travelled back to Athens, right before the pandemic. They hadn’t changed.

The gyros that Greek and Mediterranean restaurants in the US were different, and not just because they lacked French fries. I could never really tell why, but the flavor was just not there. Thus I was surprised that Nick the Greek – a chain of all things – has managed to approximate them so well.

Nick the Greek opened a location in San Leandro in the last couple of years, and we’ve been regular costumers since. They have a pretty limited menu, however, of pitas, plates and a bowl.

I usually get the Beef/Lamb Gyro Pita ($12.50). I’ve now learned that the difference between a gyro and souvlaki is that the former consists of meat shaved off a chunk of meat cooked in a rotisserie, while the latter refers to meat cooked in a skewer. I could have sworn that the souvlaki pitas I had in Greece were cooked in a rotisserie, but I could be wrong. I do prefer the taste of texture of meat cooked in skewers, as it turns out.

I like how soft and spongy the pita is. The meat is a little too salty by itself, but it mellows out within the pita. By itself, the lamb has a very intense flavor – you can tell it’s lamb -, while the beef is softer. I like having fries in the pita, though these could be a bit crispier, you don’t really notice them while you eat. The whole combo just works together well, though the predominant flavor is that of onion, when you get a piece, and of the tzatziki when you don’t.

I’ve tried the chicken souvlaki pita before, and I didn’t like it as much. Despite the marinade, the flavor of the chicken was too soft to measure up to the rest of the ingredients. My daughter has done the felafel pita before and she thought it was OK, but not remarkable.

My husband prefers to get the gyro bowl ($13.50) which includes the meat of your choice, tomatoes, lettuce, onions and cucumbers, feta cheese, tzatziki and spicy yogurt on a bed of rice. The whole thing feels like a larger, more substantial meal than the gyro and is enough for two meals. He likes how the flavors meld together.

Nick the Greek has been expanding throughout California and the west, and I can understand why. It’s not a place where you’d eat every day, given the limited menu, but a great place to grab a pita when you don’t feel like cooking.

Nick the Greek
1509 E 14th Street.
San Leandro, CA
Daily 11 AM - 10 PM

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

Chain Restaurant Reviews

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