bradluen's Profile
Hand pulled noodles in the East Bay?
Finally made it to the Fremont branch of QQ Noodle, and it immediately climbed to the top of my East Bay Chinese noodle list. The noodles are very long and very chewy: on the verge of QQQ. There are beefier and spicier broths than the one my beef noodles were served in, but it was pleasant enough without distracting from the noodles. My fiancee's tomato and egg noodles were as good as I can imagine that dish being. Kicking myself for not coming here years ago.
Best Ethiopian in Bay Area?
The comparative lack of tang of the injera at Cafe Rehoboth made it seem bland at the beginning of the meal, but it's good at serving its purpose once you get used to it. The tastes of the elements of the veggie and meat combos are well-differentiated with good ingredients; the messer wot and doro wot were our faves. Personally I'd go to whichever of this place and Colucci was closer. Since I'm equidistant, I'd choose Colucci just because it's spicier.
South Auckland
I'm back in my old neighbourhood for a bit due to a family illness. I'm often crossing the Mangere Bridge when I go out to eat, but here's what I've found south of the Manukau Harbour.
Neptune Seafood on Coronation Road in Mangere Bridge has been our go-to fish and chip shop for most of my lifetime. The keys to getting good fried fish, and not canola-soaked freezer-burnt dogfish, in the NZ suburbs are (i) go to a fishmonger, (ii) select your own piece of fish, e.g. tarakihi, (iii) ask for it to be fried in breadcrumbs (NB: this is controversial), and (iv) eat as soon as possible. If anyone knows the keys to getting good chips in this country, please tell: I've never had much luck, even at highly rated places. But enlivening average chips is the one true use of Wattie's tomato sauce.
Also on Coronation Road, Pars Kebab has good coffee. The roaster is Burton's, presumably the same Burton who has founded several coffee companies, notably Columbus. The short black at Pars has a nice acidity. If I want something shorter, and I often do, the Columbus in Onehunga is excellent.
The Kirkbride Road strawberry farm is slightly past the peak of its season now, but it's still worth picking up a chip or two on your way back from the airport. There's often a trade-off between strawberry size and taste, but not here. Cash only.
Some day I need to take a more serious sample of Indian food in Otahuhu and Papatoetoe. On this trip, I've only been to a place in Hunter's Plaza, and it wasn't even the more interesting place in Hunter's Plaza that sold both dosa and kebabs. I mention this mostly to note that you can get South Indian in shopping malls these days, an indication of how Auckland has changed.
Lush Gelato: Best gelato shop in the Bay opens new location in Berkeley (near Cheeseboard)
1. Yep, two seats at the counter.
2. The corridor from the street to the garden has a ceiling over it. Not sure how warm it is on a windy day.
3. Tarragon = win.
4. Banana dulce de leche = win, but not necessarily more of a win than the ordinary dulce de leche.
Arriba Peru (Berkeley)
This replaces Fonzie's Peruvian Chicken upstairs in the grotto containing Norikonoko and Finfine. Same menu as Estampas Peruanas on the Peninsula, literally (the menu has the name of the other restaurant printed on it). Seafood-heavy menu, entrees $12-$17. I tried aguadito de mariscos; my friend had picante de camarones. Gigantic portions. I've never had Peruvian aside from the aforementioned Fonzie's, but I didn't notice any glaring flaws. Not super-high quality seafood, but not the worst either. The broth seemed simple, maybe just stock, wine and a lot of cilantro. My friend felt like she was about to OD on shrimp; might be better to order a mix of seafoods. I'd be interested to hear thoughts from more experienced eaters of Peruvian.
Student discount if you ask.
Arriba Peru
2556 Telegraph Ave
Berkeley, CA 94704
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Fonzie's Peruvian Chicken
2556 Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704
Estampas Peruanas
2319 S El Camino Real, San Mateo, CA
Lush Gelato: Best gelato shop in the Bay opens new location in Berkeley (near Cheeseboard)
This was a Ciao Bella very recently; didn't notice the changeover until after it happened. Big improvement. Quality seems the same as at the Piedmont site, which means, as you all know, best gelato in the Bay Area. Mixed scoop of cardamom + dulce de leche for $2.95 = happiness.
ISO: great Asian restaurants in SF for the family (+kids)
Worth crossing the Bay Bridge for: there's nothing in the East Bay quite like Lers Ros Thai on Larkin. Nothing like Slanted Door either, for better or worse -- but if you like quality booze with your Asian food, it's worth paying the premium for.
Agree with preferring the Oakland Burma Superstar to the SF one -- not much of a wait at the former. The homey Green Papaya and the imperfect but lively Vik's as mentioned (note Vik's recent change of location). For Indonesian, Jayakarta in Berkeley -- try something with stinky beans. One or other of the Udupi Palaces for South Indian.
Szechuan in Auckland
The upscale Sichuan place is HP8 on Nuffield St in Newmarket (not the one on Carlton Gore, which is yum cha). The water-boiled fish I had on my first visit was one of the best dishes I've ever had in a restaurant; last time I went (July) it wasn't quite so revelatory but still very good. Rumour has it that someone from HP8 moved to Sichuan Steamboat in Panmure, so that might be a cheaper option.
Here are some guy's notes on kung pao and dan dan noodles: http://unkreative.com/musings/2010/01/sichuan-in-auckland.html
Top 10 Tastes 2009
I think my regular at Mokka is Equator's Golden Pawani, but you might like to call Mokka or Equator to check.
http://www.equatorcoffees.com/store/home.php?cat=286
Please review my Denver shortlist
Thanks to all for the excellent-sounding tips. I'll report back in a couple of weeks.
Please review my Denver shortlist
My partner and I will be coming from the Bay Area to spend a couple of days in Denver later this month. No car, so we'll be sticking to places in central Denver within a long walk or a short public transportation ride of the downtown Hampton. We tend to like restaurants with specialised or regional menus (Chinese restaurant = boring, Yunnan Chinese noodle house = fascinating). Also, I like pork a lot. We'd like to keep most meals under $25 per person total before drinks. For reference, here are my notes from my previous brief Colorado visit:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/507567
Here's our shortlist for this time:
Meals:
Domo
Osteria Marco (probably over $25)
Cherry Cricket -- if we get out that way
Near hotel: Steuben's
Lunch near City Park: Encore
Near the Capitol: ?
At the airport: Pour la France?
Small eats and drinks:
Falling Rock Tap House -- had a great time here last visit
Jonesy's EatBar -- near hotel
Fluid Coffee -- nearest location to hotel serving Novo
Denver Art Museum cafe -- not Palettes -- does this exist and is it any good?
D Bar Desserts
Biker Jim's?
Beer geeks: where's the best place to sample an Oak Aged Yeti? Straight from the Great Divide brewery?
Thanks in advance.
Khyber Pass Road, Newmarket, Auckland Question
I haven't eaten on Khyber Pass on recent Auckland visits, so I'm afraid I'm of no use, but please report back if you uncover any gems.
Here's the "official" list of Newmarket restaurants if you're in the area a lot:
http://www.newmarket.co.nz/21/directory_listing/23/page/0/sort/1
I'm a fan of spicy/cheap/Asian too, and the street I'd be most excited about eating my way along, if I had a few months, is Dominion Road.
Vegas notes (mostly cheapish eats)
I stand corrected about the layout. Look forward to the increased capacity.
Top 10 Tastes 2009
Green papaya salad w/ raw crab @ Lers Ros: 2009 was my year of Thai food. I got a much better handle on regional distinctions in cooking not just through visits to Jitlada in Hollywood and Lotus of Siam in Vegas and Tom Yum Eden in Auckland (all of which serve dishes not available in the Bay Area), but also through the study I put in to prepare for those destinations, from which I learned, for instance, how to balance dishes when ordering a Thai meal. On the other hand, there are still a great many things I don't know about Thai food, like the proper way to eat the brined blue crab in Lers Ros's papaya salad. I find it very difficult to eat with the utensils provided in the restaurant -- even more so than most crab -- but I find it far too tasty to leave unconsumed. I've settled on enjoying the crab-flavoured papaya there, while taking the crab home and attacking it in less public surroundings. Worth the effort.
Nigiri @ Hotaru: So much better than Berkeley sushi, yet near the bottom of Sushi Monster's top tier -- and cheaper than all those listed above it. Conclusion: this sushi thing is going to get expensive.
Wild prawns @ Venezia: This one's for my mother. Venezia is a place that kind of gets slammed on Chowhound, and it was pretty clear to me that their ingredient quality and execution were a large step below the likes of Pizzaiolo and Dopo (though transplant it to New Zealand and it would compete for best Italian in the country). On the other hand, I took my parents to Chez Panisse and Gary Danko and Koi Palace, and the one place at which my mother ate during her visit here that she still raves about is Venezia, for their wild prawns -- something not particularly exceptional here, but all but unknown in otherwise seafood-blessed New Zealand. It's all relative, isn't it?
Cheese course @ Gary Danko: Wannabe rustic that I am, I was highly surprised that I preferred Danko to Chez Panisse. This is mostly because we happened to go there on a day when the menu was atypically wrong for me -- though CP's version was undeniably delicious, tenderloin steak isn't one of my preferred meats. But I had read many reports here that Danko was boring, though consistent (the reason I suggested it to my parents). Well, the menu was indeed kind of was boring, and looks much the same now as when we went in the summer. But apparently I very much like immaculately executed boring food, as long as I get to choose what I have. And the fascination with cheese Danko kindled, though not inexpensive on my budget, is at least cheaper than a sushi fascination.
Chicken @ Koi Palace: Koi Palace might be the Gary Danko of dim sum: a very middle-of-the-road idea of what upscale food means. Whatever, I've never been anywhere else that can make chicken feet so flavourful without making an oily mess.
Surf clams @ Daimo: Similar to my mother's wild prawn experience, I'd never had live surf clams before, despite six years of going to US Chinese restaurants. After having them at Daimo, I'm kicking myself for not discovering them sooner.
Pani puri @ Chat Patta Corner: Ah, so that's how it's supposed to be done. Vik's won't take note, but they should.
Gulab jamun @ Chat Patta Corner: Indian sweets: sometimes they're actually good. News to me.
Tripas taco @ El Novillo: I planned to do an exhaustive survey of Fruitvale taco trucks, but after some mixed results, ended up hitting El Novillo, Sinaloa and Los Michoacanos repeatedly, and none of these are novel to those who follow these boards closely. Still, sometimes one doesn't have to be original.
The first Sumatran drip they had @ Local 123: They went from this, to a Sumatran that was "not your typical Sumatran", to no Sumatran at all, at which point I reinstated Mokka as my regular. While gently reminding the good people at Local 123 that the world of coffee does not entirely consist of fruit juice-flavoured Central American beans, I'll celebrate that they provided me with the best cup I've ever had.
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Koi Palace Restaurant
365 Gellert Blvd, Daly City, CA 94015
Pizzaiolo
5008 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609
Dopo
4293 Piedmont Ave, Oakland, CA 94611
Mokka
3075 Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705
Chez Panisse
1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709
Gary Danko
800 N Point St, San Francisco, CA 94109
Chat Patta Corner
34751 Ardenwood Blvd, Fremont, CA 94555
Local 123
2049 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94702
Vegas notes (mostly cheapish eats)
Vegas trip Xmas '09 notes:
Lotus of Siam, third visit: They'd just re-opened after remodelling: maybe there was a new compartment or two or something; I don't pay much attention to such things. Whatever, it's still in a strip mall. The green chili dip (nam prik noom) isn't a fusion dish, yet somehow seems as distinctively Southwestern as it does Thai. Great with the accompanying chicharrones and salad. Tom kah kai (the standard coconut milk version, not the one on the northern menu) was revelatory -- more sour and with brighter flavour than any other version of this I've had. Drunken nooodle soft shell crab confirmed Lotus's skill at frying seafood, while the ho fun in that dish were probably the most satisfying form of noodle I've had there. I don't know if I've ever eaten fresh jackfruit before, and Lotus's jackfruit curry (kang ka noon) was an introduction that made me want to try that ingredient again. This does however seem to be a prep that would be improved with more chili heat than the moderate amount we requested. After three visits, it still feels like I'm only scratching the surface of this place -- not least in terms of their Riesling list.
Bouchon for brunch: The boudin blanc had plenty of pork taste with some gentler subtle notes as well -- maybe the best white sausage I've had. I've never had a gourmet tuna sandwich before, so I don't have much of a baseline to which to compare their tartine, but it was much better than the budget canned nonsense I'm familiar with. The croissant was also much better than what I'm used to, while the fries were much much better. The coffee, on the other hand, was a step down from my regular in Berkeley, even though I think they employ the same roaster (Equator). Still, an excellent meal.
Sam Woo, Chinatown: Came here because the wait seemed shorter than at Harbor Palace. I don't demand that my roast pork be ultra-fatty, but even I thought ours was a bit lean. Parts of the skin were crackly, but overall it was more chewy than crisp. Chicken was decent, but rice wasn't. Somewhat disappointing all round; perhaps we ordered the wrong things.
Village Seafood Buffet at Rio: $38, discount coupons around if you look. A much stronger deterrent is the ninety-minute wait -- at least that's how long we stood in line for dinner. We though about walking over to Carnival World instead but the line didn't look much shorter. Best things: 1) the Jonah crab legs, 2) the other crab legs, 3) the other raw seafood, all fresh. Apart from one seared tuna dish, the cooked stuff really should've been better. You might be able to justify the wait if you really like eating lobster in large quantities, regardless of how carefully it's prepared.
Flavors Buffet at Harrah's: We were treated to dinner, so let's accentuate the positive: good company and no ninety-minute wait.
Auckland CBD eats?
Hey ssamjang and brigide, thanks for the delicious-sounding tips. Be sure to post about other great Auckland discoveries you might come across!
Recs needed for Fremont, CA
The one place I've been to in Fremont that might be the best in California at what they do (and is happily brunch-appropriate) is Chat Patta Corner. Very fresh eat-at-the-counter pani puri, prepared to your specifications. Terrific sweets as well. I think they open at 11, though a Google search suggests noon. Melanie Wong's research: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/46860
Is Yum's Bistro doing dim sum? If not, I can vouch for Asian Pearl.
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Chat Patta Corner
34751 Ardenwood Blvd, Fremont, CA 94555
Fremont Asian Pearl
43635 Boscell Rd, Fremont, CA 94538
Yum's Bistro
4906 Paseo Padre Pkwy, Fremont, CA 94555
Auckland CBD eats?
The bad news, part 1: topography. You'll be on the west side of the CBD; the food on the east side tends to be slightly better and cheaper -- except on the campuses, where the food is much cheaper and much worse. Separating east and west is Queen Street (the main street) which is basically a valley sloping down towards the harbour. So it takes more time and effort to walk from one side of the CBD to the other than you might think when looking at a map. There's also a north-south gradient: up the hill on Karangahape Road -- almost always abbreviated to K Road -- there are a lot of cheap and interesting eats, while by the waterfront most things cost more than they should. The good news is that if you're willing to walk, you can not only eat well but also burn off any extra calories you may have consumed.
The bad news, part 2: "New Zealandish" food tends to be much better in homes than in restaurants, especially at the inexpensive end, so if you want roast lamb your best bet is to make friends with a Kiwi. Otherwise, just look for a pub with a menu that interests you and take your chances. (The gastropub trend is just beginning to make an impact on NZ, but it needs to hurry up.)
One major exception to the above is Pie Mania (36 Wellesley St), the second-best pie shop in Auckland -- the absolute best is Greenland Bakery, but that's way out in Botany -- and conveniently close to your hotel to boot.
The other good news is that the average quality of Asian food in Auckland, including Indian but excluding Middle Eastern, is pretty high, probably better than the Bay Area (where I spend most of my time), though the Bay Area has more elite-level places. In general, NZ seafood + Asian preps = good eats. Your best strategy might be to go to the food courts; the best-known of these is Food Alley (9-11 Albert St), also near your hotel. I used to like the Indonesian stall there but I don't know if it's still good.
Some specific recommendations follow, but bear in mind I'm only in Auckland for one month a year now -- my last visit was July-August -- so I can't keep up like I used to.
For Chinese, you're not too far from Grand Harbour (at Pakenham St & Custom St), my pick for yum cha/dim sum. Holds its own against all but the very top places in the Bay Area. Sunshine (39 Market Place), its main competition, is nearby if you want to do a comparison. In the east CBD, Mei Long Zhen (9 Gore St) has decent Shanghainese, and there's a Sichuan place near there whose name I'm blanking on.
My noodle bar ranking on my last trip was 1. Men Tatz (east CBD: 28 Lorne St), 2. Tanpopo (east: 13 Anzac Ave), 3. Daikoku (several branches; the one I went to was at 25 Victoria St in the west CBD -- this was sort of an izakaya). Kiraku (Elliot St) has its fans as well. I have a hard time keeping the yakitori places straight but all the ones I've been to have been fine. Ditto for Korean.
Southeast Asian food is not as good as it should be, with exceptions. My top pick is Zap 4 (east: 6 Commerce St) for Thai; go for the Lao/Issan dishes on the whiteboard. Lots of decent Malaysian places; Angie's Kitchen (east: 17 Mount St) has the advantage of assam laksa. If Angie's is full, as it often is, Princeton Restaurant (30 Symonds St) for Cambodian is nearby.
Go to Satya for South Indian and chaat. Nearest branch is 271 K Road.
There are many, many doner kebab places and most of them are rubbish. Fortunately it's easy to pick out the reasonable places: just look at the meat on the spits. If the meat is sliced, it's worth a shot; if it looks like mystery meat, get out of there.
Finally, the two best Asian restaurants in town IMO (with Satya a close third) are fairly short bus or taxi rides away: Tom Yum Eden (257 Dominion Road, Mt Eden) and HP8 (49 Nuffield St, Newmarket, not the Carlton Gore branch). At Tom Yum Eden, much of the best stuff is on the Thai-language menu; if you're adventurous, try asking for the pad sataw. The Newmarket HP8 can get expensive (the signature water-boiled fish is $48, although it's a very large dish) but remains the best Sichuanese I've had, having never been to China (besides Hong Kong). Bear in mind that HP8's owners seems to be putting more effort into their more lucrative yum cha restaurant, so HP8 might not be great, or even open, for long.
For further opinions, look for posts by Food Fascist on this board and at http://www.dineout.co.nz/reviews.php?user=5529 , and peruse Foodie Doodie's blog: http://foodiedoodie.wordpress.com .
New China (aka China Tofu), Union City report w/ pics
Tried New China for dinner over the weekend. They're doing pretty good business, full to overflow on a Saturday night. They offered a choice between complimentary soup or tapioca tea. The former was the usual bits and pieces in a bowl, while the latter didn't have a strong tea taste, but did have firm and chewy pearls.
54. Beef with green onion ($6.49): Neither the tastiest nor the tenderest cut of beef ever, but well marinated into palatability, and the green onions were fresh and satisfying.
65. Pork chitterlings with pork blood ($6.49): Easily my favourite dish of the night, this was a mapo tofu-like dish (albeit with no ma la) with bonus innards. The tofu might've been a bit firmer than what I would recommend for this dish, but gave a hint to why the tofu dishes are highly regarded at this place.
74. Chinese cabbage with tofu skins ($6.49): Lots of egg, a bit of carrot and no soybeans. The tofu skins were the best bit, and I would've appreciated a greater proportion of them.
86. Kung pao shrimp ($6.99): Not a Sichuanese version, this had chunks of vegetable and minimal heat but was decent given those limitations.
Solid meal, especially for the price, though I think I understand why the queues are even longer at Little Shen Yang next door.
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New China
1743 Decoto Rd, Union City, CA 94587
Asian Pearl, Fremont report on dim sum w/ pics
Five of us came here for dim sum today. We arrived at 11:20 and were seated immediately; by the time we left an hour later, the wait looked prohibitively long to me.
We have fairly conservative tastes in dim sum, so we mostly ordered the usual stuff. I'm a semi-regular at the Richmond Asian Pearl, and the experience here was pretty similar: quality dishes, a bit more expensive than your average dim sum place, although often a bit larger as well. At Fremont, the highs seemed a little higher and the lows seemed a little lower. Today's siu mai were up with the best I've had, with, to me, a spot-on pork, shrimp and mushroom balance and plenty of juiciness. On the other hand, the har gau, which can be problematic at Richmond, were, to me, complete duds here: big globs of shrimp, wrapped thinly but without the care required to prevent breakage. The shrimp was much more enjoyable in cheung fun form. Of the rest, chicken feet and white tripe were very good; beef balls, tofu fa, and daikon cake were respectable. There was also some meat dumpling with nuts in it that was of interest. Fried tofu wasn't too exciting; also, it somehow was one of the more expensive items. Given the looks of the wu gok that went past, maybe it wasn't a good day for deep-fried stuff.
Service was good by dim sum standards, in that staff were very helpful once you managed to get their attention. Bill was $65 for 15 dishes before tip.
For reference and transparency, here are my 2009 Bay Area dim sum rankings (everywhere I've been to this year except places in Berkeley -- because on the occasions I have dim sum in Berkeley, I need to forget the places below exist -- and in each case except Asian Pearl Richmond and Legendary Palace, based on a single visit):
1. Koi Palace, Daly City
2. Asian Pearl, Richmond
3. Asian Pearl, Fremont
4. Great Eastern, San Francisco
5. Hong Kong Flower Lounge, Millbrae
6. Hong Kong East Ocean, Emeryville
7. East Ocean Seafood, Alameda
8. Legendary Palace, Oakland
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Fremont Asian Pearl
43635 Boscell Rd, Fremont, CA 94538
Chowdown at Little Sichuan Express -- Report
Made my first visit to the restaurant today, though I've been fed takeout from there before. No idea about ownership changes, but today's dinner was an excellent homestyle meal. The natural language of service was Mandarin but enough English was spoken for me to participate in ordering.
- Fish head and soft tofu soup: the only non-hot dish. Pleasing fishiness in the broth, while the tofu didn't seem to be very flavour-absorbent.
- Sauteed liver and kidney (and black fungus): dish of the night for me. A really fun mix of textures, with enough chili oil to keep you on your toes. Organ meats were closer to the "more cooked" end than the "less cooked" end of my acceptable range of doneness.
- Chongqing chicken wings: incendiary, and so the only dish our mildly chiliheaded table didn't finish. Still, better than the version of this I had at China Village, though I don't know how many chef changes ago that was. Only a touch of peppercorn; a lot more would be better, but I say that about most places around here. Looking forward to seeing how the leftovers hold up tomorrow.
- Xinjiang cumin lamb: I'm always satisfied by this dish. Above average out of the versions of this dish I've had; comparatively spicy with firm meat.
- Beijing eggplant: not bad but my least favourite dish, just a tad goopy, and the chunks of tomato didn't work for me. Not too spicy, others liked it a lot more than I did.
Berkeley: A new ice cream maker on 4th Street - Chocolatier Blue Patisserie
Agree with most of this. Since I was in the mood for ice cream, I had the chocolate even though the sorbets I tasted seemed better. I could tell the chocolate itself was of high quality; there just wasn't enough chocolate taste there, and the high rate of melt was off-putting. The (free!) caramel sauce was pleasant if a bit on the sweet side.
For some reason it seems to take ice cream makers a while to get good (at least that was the case with Ici and Tara's), so I'll try again in the fall if the weather holds up.
Berkeley/East Bay's best--please share!
My definition of reasonably cheap is getting change from a twenty. If possible, lots of it.
For Chinese, Asian Pearl in the Pacific East Mall is firing on all cylinders at the moment. Their dim sum is competitive with the best in the Bay Area. If you just want wontons or jook, Daimo, located in that mall's parking lot, is a reliable pick. The other major regional Chinese traditions are well-covered by China Village in Albany (though see the recent thread about Happy Golden Bowl, which I haven't been to), Lily's House in Lafayette and, as you know, Great China.
Of the Japanese places, Norikonoko on Telegraph takes the most pride in its food. You can easily creep out of the reasonably cheap range there, but if you just want ramen and gyoza, you'll be safe. No sushi though. Most of the inexpensive sushi places are pretty similar in quality; I usually get the cheap combo at Manpuku on College.
Korean is best in Oakland; however you can eat pretty well in Berkeley if you choose carefully. The dduk bok ki at Espresso Experience on Bancroft is a good place to start exploring (I'm not as fond as the bulgogi sandwich there as most; I prefer Brazil Cafe for my beef sandwich fix).
My southeast Asian picks, none of which are universally loved, are Jayakarta (Indonesian), Ruen Pair (Thai, be warned that it's quite Chinese), Champa Garden (Lao, be warned that I haven't been there in ages), Pho Hoa Lao II, and, even though I've quit tea leaf salad, Burma Superstar.
For Indian, Vik's and Udupi Palace are the places that serve something different from the usual Punjabi fare. For the usual Punjabi fare, try Indus Village on San Pablo.
Mexican in Berkeley is not as entirely regrettable as I once thought it was, but I wish the tacos at yuppie places were as tasty as those from the Oakland trucks Sinaloa (for seafood) and El Novillo (for tripas and carnitas). I really want to go back to La Gran Chiquita with a Spanish-speaker.
Dopo is cheap enough for lunch. I had a fried chicken sandwich there last year that blew away Bakesale Betty's. Gregoire you know about; I've had hits and misses there but mostly hits. Cheese Board everybody knows; also consider Lanesplitter, Jupiter and Bobby G's for pizza with meat and some exceptional beers on tap. If you prefer your beer with a burger, maybe Luka's in what the kids seem to call "uptown" Oakland. For a fast food burger, Amanda's on Shattuck; they also have decent salads. I was surprised at how much I like the vegan salads at Cafe Muse on Bancroft.
Back when I did my comparative Ethiopian eating, Cafe Colucci came out tops; I don't guarantee it would today but it's still delicious. Turkish Kitchen on Shattuck has excellent whiteboard specials and the best non-Western desserts around (though Turkey probably counts as Western these days). The Afghan dishes at Pamir at the Emeryville Public Market are pretty good if you can get them made to order. I haven't been to Tropical Paradise since they redid the menu, but it used to be good West African, if not super-cheap.
You've had Acme's bread, but if you haven't visited the bakery on San Pablo, drop in: they have goods there you won't find in supermarkets, notably the epi. Crixa is the other great bakery in town. Tara's would be my ice cream pick, though I'll head over the new Patisserie Blue in a few minutes to see if they're up to scratch. I'm typing this at Local 123, the one new place everyone loves, and where I practically live these days.
Now if only Lers Ros were on this side of the bridge.
John's $1 Scoop (on Shattuck)
Tried this a few months ago. I have eaten a lot of terrible ice cream in my life, so this probably wasn't the worst, just the one that depressed me for longest.
Auckland trip notes 2009
* Merediths (365 Dominion Road, Mt Eden)
Six of us went here for a triple birthday blowout celebration. This was my father's pick for best restaurant even before Metro Magazine agreed with him. Compared to competition like the French Cafe (which I still haven't been to), the cooking here is very contemporary and creative. For the most part the execution lived up to the concepts. Chef Meredith's usual trick is to put two different meats on the same plate and then find a way to make them fit together. It's like a Sudoku or something, requiring both technical precision and ingenuity. Consider my appetiser: eel and duck liver, how can they be in the same dish? Well, you smoke the eel, make the liver into a mousse, add some thin slices of apple, some seeds and some seaweed, and it turns out delicious. I also had a fair portion of somebody's crayfish and oxtail (the oxtail was the one thing all night that was somewhat blander than expected),among other bits. One might nitpick that the appetisers trended very slightly sweeter than they needed to. No such complaint about the mains; each component of my "broadbill with calamari and peas, sauteed walnuts and prawns" was impeccable. Maybe the calamari was, uh, gratuitous, but that's kind of the point with this sort of cooking. Somebody else's steak and raviolo was good for what it was (I think it was fillet, a cut about which I have mixed feelings). I had half a portion of carrot sponge and foamy black sesame for dessert, and it was ace, with to me a satisfying balance of sweetness and other flavours. The winelist offered a good choice by the glass, but was kind of expensive for a NZ-focused list. I'm not the right person to ask about fine dining, but I enjoyed this meal.
* Zap 4 Esan Thai (6 Commerce St, CBD)
This was the nearest good eat after a fun-filled visa interview at the US Consulate. I popped in set on a larb until I saw "raw beef salad" as a whiteboard special. They have an "A" hygiene rating, so I figured there was no harm in trying this forten bucks. It turned out to be a mound of ground beef, mixed with chili seeds and a generous amount of coriander, with a wedge of cabbage as coolant. Don't know if this is an Issan/Lao dish but I wouldn't be surprised. I don't think this was a particularly sophisticated dish, but it was tasty, especially with sticky rice ($2). I wish there were Thai restaurants in Berkeley cooking at this level.
* Princeton Restaurant (30 Symonds St)
Angie's Kitchen, the Malaysian place on Mount St, was full up with students at lunchtime, so we decided to try this Khmer place across Symonds Street, underneath the Princeton Apartments. This is part of a chain of eleven places from here to Dunedin; their website says there's another one called Columbia on Whitaker Street near K Road. Most dishes were $8-10 depending on size. The guy at the counter pushed his noodle dishes as some of their more distinctively Cambodian offerings. I was pretty happy with #15, a spicy stir-fry with excellently chewy rice noodles; a couple of other noodle dishes that were fine but less distinctive. I've only had Cambodian three times before so I don't have much to compare it to, though.
* Kapiti Store (39 Elliott St, CBD)
Three dollars something isn't bad for a cone of ice cream with a reputation. I should state that I usually prefer gelato and gelato-like ice cream to the high butterfat kind, and Kapiti definitely falls in the latter camp. My gingernut scoop had great creaminess and great texture, but the flavour was muted. (Also, shouldn't the gingernut chunks be crunchy?) I'd rather get my frozen dessert fix at Valentino's Gelato on Quay St, even though it's even more expensive (and close to the loathed Viaduct). Your mileage may vary.
* HP8 interim report: I stopped in for half a lunch on Wednesday and the place was deserted. I think the owner are more interested in pushing the HP8 on Carlton Gore Road, which is a yum cha place, for lunch though. I'd just had breakfast, so I only ordered a small bowl (ricebowl-sized) of dan dan noodles. They came in all their oil-laden, tongue-numbing glory, for a ridiculously cheap four bucks. Easily the best version of this I've had, though admittedly I don't order it restaurants much (I often try to make it at home, with variable success). Since they seem to be on their game, I'll go back for dinner soon. Full report forthcoming.
* The tonkotsu ramen from Daikoku was alright, but to me not as good as at Tanpopo.
* The duck from Golden Barbeque Noodle House is even better than their pork.
* The bubble jasmine tea from Easy Way on Hobson St is good enough to drink without milk.
Sichuan Peppercorns at 99 Ranch
In Berkeley, they were $2/oz at Lhasa Karnak last time I got them.
Great coffee in central Auckland at Millers, Cross Street
Well I'm here for a couple more weeks. (Hey FF: my email is on my profile page.)
The best espresso I've found on this trip (well, the only espresso significantly better than Starbucks) was at Planet Espresso in the foyer of the Auckland Hospital. The roast, by Coffee Lab, has good body without being burnt, and my barista was willing to take his time. If there's good coffee at Millers, which is a bit closer to the CBD, that's good to know.
A lead I haven't yet followed up: riding the bus up Manukau Road I spotted a cafe near the Newmarket/Epsom border with a sign in the window claiming that they had the #3 ranked barista in NZ. Some Googling IDs the place as Espresso Workshop, and it very much seems to be the real deal:
http://espressoworkshop.co.nz/
(The first- and second-ranked baristas are from Christchurch. Yes, there is life in the South Island.)
Auckland trip notes 2009
* Jolin Shanghai (248 Dominion Road, Mt Eden)
The mainlanders have crept into Mt Eden now: there's this place, a Sichuan steamboat restaurant and "Xian Noodle House" or something intriguingly named like that all close to each other on this stretch of Dominion Road. At Jolin, mostly tried small eats from the "Shanghai dim sum" part of the menu -- xiao long bao, noodles, rice cakes -- along with a bowl of smoked fish and pork noodle soup. Competent versions of all of these, which in the case of the xiao long bao was impressive: to make even competent versions of those takes some skill. All of these dishes were $8-$10; the main courses cost half as much again or more. The place was woefully understaffed; with only two workers in the kitchen and one very harried waiter, it took about 40 minutes to get our food. Don't know if this is usual or if someone was taking a sick day, but a strategy might be to peek in the window before going in. If it's busy, and if there's only one waiter, well, Food Fascist says Tom Yum Eden across the road is very good. Or else there's...
* Golden Barbeque Noodle House (296 Dominion Road, Mt Eden)
This is my parents' place of choice for Cantonese-style roast meats, and we got some pork belly to go. The ideal amount of fat under the skin of is subjective, but this place does it the way we prefer: enough oil to keep the meat moist, but not too much more.
Foodie Doodie's blogpost: http://foodiedoodie.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/golden-barbeque-noodle-house/
* Tanpopo (13 Anzac Ave, CBD)
They let you choose your hardness of noodle and heaviness of stock, which is a good sign. The panel were split on this place: I very much liked the oily, porky stock of my bowl of tonkotsu ramen, while my mother preferred the noodles at the more expensive Kiraku on Elliott to the thin ones here (except the main Kiraku guy may or may not have gone to Men Tatz, so I guess that's the next place to try). All agreed that the gyoza were excellent, with a pleasing sharp contrast between the fried bottom and the soft top.
Someone's CBD Japanese food blogpost: http://nzeats.today.com/2009/01/14/japanese-cuisine/
* Pie Mania (36 Wellesley St, CBD)
To me, Auckland's canonical pie is the $4-mince pie here. The award-winning Greenland Bakery does a flakier, better crust, based on the one I had last time I was here, but it's out in Botany and and the improvement is marginal. I'd especially recommend Pie Mania to tourists who want a good Kiwi pie without having to trek out to the suburbs.
* Burger Fuel (291 Queen St, CBD)
Kumara fries! No doubt there are better versions of these, but come on, it's hard to go wrong with kumara fries.
***
Anyone know of a cafe with drinkable espresso and wireless? Failing that, good espresso and space to work?
Auckland trip notes 2009
Here's where I intend to make occasional notes on my first trip back to Auckland in a year and a half.
Notes from last time: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/481453
Best Chinese Dumplings in Auckland New Zealand.
Great that you enjoyed the place! Though in case there's any confusion, it's not my blog!
