rworange's Recent Activity
Chowhound Post
Fresh Porcini Tortilla Española al Mateo Granados (Healdsburg)
While it isn't 100% correct, this site is the most reliable I've found
http://www.cafarmersmarkets.com/index...
It says it runs thru the end of November which would mean 11/29/2009. There is a contact number.
Chowhound Post
Great breads you've had in restaurants
I would really have to do a back to back tasting, but Etoile might just beat Tadich, which I previously considered the best sourdough in the Bay Area.
I'm glad someone mentionted La Salette. Those rolls are great.
For all its faults, Tony's Pizza makes a really swell foccacia.
It has been put down on the board, but IMO Town's End has always had a memorable bread basket. There is lots of variety and is very good. One of my favorite things in the Bay Area, are the yeasty rolls Town's End serves for breakfast/brunch.
Chowhound Post
Bay Area Trip Help
Trying to think of a wow factor place somewhere in the vicinity, Zaki Kabob house has some amazing chicken ,... a recipe that has been passed down thru generations. Haven't been to either but Bobby G's and Lanesplitter Pizza get some positive mentions.
Chowhound Post
Fremont: Sweet Orchid - Taro, sweet bean, sesame and chocolate bacon gelato?
Damn search. Thanks
Chowhound Post
"Hot Topic" markers on Restaurant & Bar pages
I had no idea what you were talking about until search results showed B restaurant as a hot topic. I didn't follow the link since I have problems with search. I can't open search results in a separate tab so didn't want to waste the time trying to access that ... still ... B Restaurant? The Sunday supper was mentioned in the Chow Digest. Could these be linked to that?
Chowhound Post
Fremont: Sweet Orchid - Taro, sweet bean, sesame and chocolate bacon gelato?
Anyone tried this place that opened in September near Ranch 99?
Looking at yelp, it seems people like the gelato, the froyo, not as much. However, it is self-serve froyo that is by size not weight ... so you can cram as much as you want into that cup.
They do some baked goods and some of the toppings like the mochi are house-made. There are also gelato cakes.
Any good?
Chowhound Post
Fifth time lucky: returning to the Bay Area for more food'n'fun
So ... how was the trip?
Chowhound Post
2009 Feast of the seven fishes at Michael Minna
There is often a query about restaurants serving Christmas Eve feast of the 7 fishes. Here's the Westin St. Francis holiday schedule which mentions it (pdf format)
http://www.westinstfrancis.com/pdf/Ce...
RESTAURANT MICHAEL MINA
Christmas Eve, enjoy the “Feast of the Seven Fishes” tasting menu. Cost $135 per person.
Past 7 fishes topics ... though other than Incanto, nothing else really turns up. Incanto will hold the dinner again this year
http://www.incanto.biz/fo7f.html
Incanto X'mas 7 fishes dinner report (long)
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/42351
the annual quest: feast of the seven fishes?
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/41346
feast of the seven fishes?
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/26366
feast of the seven fishes -- an early search
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/21999
Chowhound Post
La Bedaine on Solano still open?
Hey, hey, hey ... I typed it exactly as it was written down by the owner. I'm looking at that right now. It was day 2 so the mistake originated at the restaurant. Thanks for the correct number though
Chowhound Post
Bay Area Trip Help
You do know that Sunday at Ferry Plaza is really dead. Are you coming to the city with kids that day? I'm guessing that if you are eating at Danko your children will be staiying with the in-laws.
What are you doing Saturday, that would be the better day to go to Ferry Plaza. It is when the big market is held. I can't see more than an hour or two on a Sunday. Boulette's Larder makes some nice beignets.
Where are you coming from? I ask because of that Zackary's question. You really will have to go out of your way for mediocre pizza. Have you had the pizza at Cheeseboard yet? You could always go across the street to Epicurious Garden and have dim sum too.
Speaking of out of the way, another reason I ask where you are coming from, as much as I've been pushing Tomm's, I really, really ... really ... would NOT recommend it. It is really out of the way and in a terrible neighborhood with not another interesting thing nearby. Seating is minimal. If you are somewhere that is devoid of bbq you might give T-Rex a try. In the East Bay that's about the only place that is significantly different from the other BBQ. I'll bet if you blind-folded people and had bbq at every other place, they couldn't tell the difference.
Chowhound Post
Search Results
Since most of the major problems with the latest install seem more or less in control, any updates on fixing this? It is really annoying.
Chowhound Post
Restaurant/food records with no address
You can get around that by adding a dummy street address when you add the record and then editing out the address. You at least need a country. Here's my junk test place
http://www.chow.com/restaurants/91302...
It narrows the map depending on how much info you give it. It comes up with some geographic center.
USA - gegraphic center of the country
State - Geographic center of the state
City - Geograpic center of the country
zip - Geographic center for that zip code
Don't know how accurate the center is ... is the area near-ish Witchita, Kansas the center of the US? Anyway it picks some spot
Chowhound Post
"can't save edits" monster rears its ugly head again
>>> some kind of glitch in original post
No, some sort of software glitch. For some reason I have never figured out some posts become un-editable. This is particularily true (and annoying) of Lists where maybe 1 out of 20 list items cannot be edited and the only thing to do is delete them and add them again. Sometimes the list description can't be edited either.
This is true for this list where I would have liked to change the title to include the words "Part 1" All I get is the red "saving" which after five or more minutes goes away and the unedited title is restored.
http://www.chow.com/lists/edit/15392
Chowhound Post
No ability to link to Wine Country restaurants since Oct 07, 2009
I thought I'd include the year in the title just to keep track of how long this will take to fix. As of this post it has been seven weeks.
On 10.07/2009 Chowhq wrote
"Thanks for this feedback. The problem is that the link to a place options are limited to 60 miles from SF, which we now see is far too small a radius, so we will alter that so that healdsburg and other SFBay Area places beyond 60 miles can be found. "
On 10/27 a poster wrote
"Hello, any timetable for fixing this? You've shut out those of us in the North Bay/Wine Country and South Bay/Gilroy from using links.
Fwiw, the border between Sonoma County and Mendocino County, which is the northern edge of the SF Bay Area region is approx. 100 miles from San Francisco. The southern boundary of Santa Clara County is about 80 miles from SF."
So the tech team has had the parameters that would work for the Bay Area for a few weeks now.
Is it a big problem to fix? Is it even on the list to be fixed?
Original post on Site Talk which has never been moved to Techinical Help
How long before an added restaurant should be available to review?
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/657819
I'll keep checking in for progress or a reply
Chowhound Post
SF: Vicoletto in North Beach?
I was updating a restaurant record and see there is no info on Chowhound about Vicoletto though it opened a year and a half ago, received a good Chronicle review and is really popular on Yelp and Opentable.
The menu looks good with items such as
- Cappellacci: house made pasta stuffed with fresh artichokes and stracchino cheese, served with cream sauce and topped with scamorza cheese $17
- Raviolini cinghiale: house made pasta stuffed with wild boar in crispy sage brown butter sauce, with parmesan cheese $16 add 3gms of shaved Alba white truffle for $30
- Costolette di maiale: house smoked pork chop with spicy apricot mostarda and orange oil $21
The Chronicle wrote ...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article...
"Desserts (all $10) from pastry chef Ming Adler are a highlight ... The almond cake is another killer ending. Two dense rounds have a mild but discernable almond flavor - almost like a macaroon - and are piped with a rich pistachio filling. The dessert is unlike anything I've seen"
They have a lot of wines by the glass, somewhere it said 40.
Also there is Saturday and Sunday brunch, I think.
Anyone been?
Chowhound Post
Dining in Paradise
Ditto on thanks for reporting back. Glad it worked out so well. I love California and want visitors to have a great time
Chowhound Post
From the spice people, McCormick's Latino tea bags - Jaimaica, lemongrass and black tea with cinnamon
No. Sounds interesting " smooth and naturally sweet flavor, rich mouthfeel, and surprising aroma reminiscent of vanilla or Cadbury's chocolate. When iced, its flavor shifts towards licorice and the aroma is less pronounced, producing an entirely different, refreshing drink"
I'll keep an eye out for it. For all the times I've been to Castorville, I've never had the artichoke ice cream mentioned in that link. Now I have a craving for it. I'll bet that would be good too.
Chowhound Post
Grocery Outlet, November 2009
The herring is gone at San Pablo, but you can buy 2lb Gallo salami's for $5.99
Other San Pablo items
50 cents - boxes of Imagine organic tomato soup
$1.49 - canned Del Monte pineapple juice 46 oz
99 cents - original Laughing Cow cheese
99 cents - Peanut butter Oreo Cakesters
99 cents - 100 calorie Oreo cookie packs
$1.99 - Horizon Organic Fat Free milk half gallon
$2.99 - Nutella 13 oz
$10.99 - 10 lbs aged super kernel basmati rice
Don't know if the prices are good for the Nutella or rice. The big cloth sack of rice looked interesting because I've never seen 'aged' as a selling point for rice, but there was a big red 'aged' printed on it.
I'm not a wine person so take this as you will, however, Decadenza 2007 Organic Mucat at $2.99 is very nice, light and pleasant. I don't usually buy that type of sweet wine but it just looked good. No cloying sweetness at all
http://www.saltcreekwinestore.com/r/p...
For the 2 buck Chuck crowd, Cachet Son Visage 2007 Merlot (Lodi) does well in this category at $1.99. By the E2 Family Winery of Lodi
http://www.e2familywinery.com/welcome...
Certainly better than Chuck and Foxbrook. Aerating improves this wine.
Chowhound Post
Oakland: Tomm's BBQ of Memphis opens "Where friends meat" - BBQ rag bologna and Broasted chicken too
This is really impressive given they have been open less than a week. Alas, for stopping by on the day when I was on my way to a doctor's test that involved fasting before.
A little circular cross-linking and another satisfied customer
Finally, finally, finally -- real bbq in Northern CA
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/669107
Chowhound Post
SPQR--Open with new menu, any comments yet?
That happens to me often when I have a restaurant I really love. It is surprising what sincere gushing will get your. You can't force it though. Bob sounded like he really thinks the place is great and conveyed that to the staff. Again, being a phony and trying insincere flattery won't usually get you anything. Not that gushing always yeilds extras, but I've sort of noticed that happens in places I'm where I'm a crazed fan of the food.
Chowhound Post
"CLOSED" not showing up on boards
That was marked closed by physically keying it in the titile before the new feature. I think there is now a database flag when you click on the duplicate link
Chowhound Post
Finally, finally, finally -- real bbq in Northern CA
Thanks for the report. It's not that I didn't throw out enough bait in the thread Melanie linked to lure people there since I can't do it soon. I'm really wanting to try the bbq rag bologna sandwich which looks great on the Tom's website Except for the prices (and broasted chicken) , I think the menu is identical to the Memphis location.
http://tomsbarbq.com/
Melanie mentioned in the other discussion the previous occupants at that place sold broasted chicken, so I guess Tomm's bought the equipment.
I'm glad you started a new topic where the OP is about trying the food ... the other was an inquiry that picked up some reports
I hope someone gets the back story as to why Oakland was chosen as the location for the only branch of this restuarant ... and why that extra 'm'.
Chowhound Post
Christmas lunch or dinner in Berkeley?
What are you looking for in terms of food and price? Are you looking for restaurants making special Christmas dinners such as Meritage at the Claremont or Miss Pearl's? Both links are pdf format.
http://www.claremontresort.com/pdf/ME...
http://www.jdvhotels.com/pdf/menus/MI...
Unfortunately, most restaurants don't announce Christmas dinners until after Thanksgiving. That is also when opentable has a Christmas link ... usually the Monday after Thanksgiving. However, in past years, that's been kind of a lame link.
Chowhound Post
"CLOSED" not showing up on boards
Right.They don't show up if you use the new 'mark as duplicate' feature.
I am guessing that processing gets bypassed for records flagged as closed since they don't show up in searches.
However, that was the whole point of keeping closed records in the database (they were originally slated to be deleted after a few months). When you open a topic, you want to see if some of the discussion is about a closed restaurant.
There is nothing more frustrating that reading a long discussion to find the restaurant closed. Also, I haven't been updating discussions about closed restaurants relying the retaurant record will note that.
Also, in searches sometimes I want to find the name of a closed restaurant. It would be better to have a checkbox that defaulted to excluding closed records but allowed the option of including them.
Chowhound Post
From the spice people, McCormick's Latino tea bags - Jaimaica, lemongrass and black tea with cinnamon
Thanks for the info. Never knew the medicinal qualities of lemongrass. I know many of those Mexican herb and spices are just used medicinally. I never noticed lemongrass before. I wouldn't be familiar with the Spanish name though. Will have to look again to see if I spot it with the regular spices
Chowhound Post
The French Laundry-Yountville
Whatever the time is that phone calls start to be taken, I am not aware of another restaurant in the US where you can't contact them easily by phone.
To each their own. If people enjoy being treated that way by a restaurant ... well, enjoy.
I'm just amazed that people thinks this is acceptable behaviour by a business. Like I said, works for them.
Chowhound Post
Richmond find: Tacos al vapor, al pastor on a spit, great cabeza
Thanks for the update. I haven't been there in a while. I know there are some meatier versions of chicharrones, but not a lot more than that.
Chowhound Post
Everything Thanksgiving 2009
I've been adding restuarnts to the lists whenever I find them ... newspapers, blogs,opentable updates. Anyway, some of the lists exceeded the 25 list limit. Here are two more lists
Thanksgiving 2009 – East Bay Part 2
http://www.chow.com/lists/15431
Thanksgiving 2009 – Peninsula Part 2
http://www.chow.com/lists/15434
As I've been adding these I'm noting those that have vegetarian options on the menu.
Here's a few more Thanksgiving threads that are new or those from previous years with updates
Chinese BBQ turkeys in San Jose
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/668919
Willie Bird Turkeys, Santa Rosa
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/4151...
What is your favorite fresh turkey to buy for Thanksgiving?
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/666664
help! need to buy wine and cheese on Thanksgiving day...
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/668590
Choosing a Thanksgiving turkey dinner to go
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/667095
Best place to get a turkey in the bay? Maybe even Sacramento or Yolo county?
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/668005
Thanksgiving in SF
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/665037
Where to buy Turkey Parts on the Peninsula?
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/667649
Vegetarian Thanksgiving?
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/666778
If you need a pre-turkey day fix
Thanksgiving Comes Early to Bonne Sante
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/667953
Thanksgiving Eve 2009
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/667540
Chowhound Post
The French Laundry-Yountville
Seriously folks, this is NOT like getting a reservation elsewhere. There are tons of threads on this board begging for hints about how to get a reservation for French Laundry. As I said, the FL certainly has more smarts than I do to change the way things go ... if they wanted to. Why change it? That whole feeding frenzy to get a reservation just feeds into the hype.
Ok ... no fancy, schamcy analysts, just off the top of my head. HIRE ANOTHER DAMN OPERATOR TO PICK UP THE PHONE. Even if that answer is sorry, it is booked. That nonsense of having to use speed dial repeatedly just to get through... nonsense. They don't have the money with all they charge to hire someone to man the phones. PUSH THE SCHEDULE OUT. Golly gee, I'll bet computers can handle things like that these days.
I'm sorry, to me the scramble to get reservations there just show a total lack of respect for the customer. Then again, if you are sitting there on the phone at midnight punching redial over and over ... maybe you don't deserve respect.
Just imagine the possibilities of some high-paid consultant that could find a real solution.
Chowhound Post
Where to find a goose in the bay area?
Glad that worked out. I was glancing at the Raley's frozen geese last week. The San Pablo store had quite a few in the freezer. The goose I looked at was $57 though I'm not sure the weight because it made me go 'wow'.
