arlenemae's Profile
East Bay (Fremont)
I live in Union City, and as others have mentioned, ethnic food is especially good in the tri-cities (Union City, Newark, Fremont) area, particularly Asian, South Asian, and Afghan. The plaza near my house has 4 different chinese restaurants (Dim Sum/Cantonese, Mongolian hot pot, "Northern Chinese", and a stinky tofu place). In the same complex there's also a southeast-asian (malaysian/thai) restaurant, a sushi place, and a new shabu-shabu place just opened up. There's plenty of great Indian restaurants (probably just as good if not better than Sunnyvale), and Filipino restaurants (second only to Daly City). I've had great kebabs, whether they be Afghan kebabs or Turkish kebabs, and decent sushi. There's even a couple halfway decent ramen places (nothing that you'd travel a long way for, but good enough for a neighborhood place).
Sadly, this area doesn't do as well with Western/European cuisines. I am yet to find a good French or Italian restaurant, and most American restaurants are chains. For those I go across the bay to Palo Alto, up north to Berkeley, and to SF (which is only a BART ride away).
What are your favourite taco fillings?
Hmmm, pre-fried tofu puffs sound like a great idea! Do they normally have it in the refrigerated or freezer sections of the asian grocery store? Maybe near the dumplings and such?
I sure feel lucky that I can go to a "general" asian supermarket, a korean supermarket, and a mexican supermarket all within a quick driving distance of my work/home!
What are your favourite taco fillings?
Wow, this is the perfect thread for me! I am planning on throwing a taco party in a few weeks and I'd like to get some input on my ideas so far. Making a lot of "fusion"-type tacos since I've really enjoyed korean and other asian tacos from local food trucks.
Here's my menu so far:
- Carne Asada - Can't go without this classic. I've made this before from already-marinated arrachera from our local Mexican market. Will just serve it with onions and cilantro just like our neighborhood taco truck
- Korean Kalbi (or Bulgogi) Tacos - Inspired by the Kogi truck. I was just going to buy already marinated meats from the Korean market, grill them up, and might do some sort of slaw (bunch of recipes on the internets trying to replicate this)
- Filipino breakfast taco - Inspired by the WoW truck, planning on cooking up some longanisa sausage, garlic rice, and top it with a quail egg. One of my favorite comfort foods...in a taco!
- Char siu taco - This looks pretty easy since I can buy already cooked BBQ pork from my local asian supermarket. I saw a recipe for a garlic/ginger salsa that seems like it would go. Might throw in some bean sprouts just 'cause
- Duck confit taco - I have a bunch of already-cooked duck confit legs from Sonoma foie gras, will just warm them up and shred the meat, and serve it with a port-cherry sauce. May throw in some foie if I feel like it :)
- Fish taco - will grill up some tilapia and serve it with a mango salsa. I've had this combo with rice and it seems like it would do well in a taco also
- Indian taco - I'm leaving this up to my friend who will make some sort of chickpea curry. This will be one of my vegetarian options
Other ideas I'm somewhat conflicted about:
- Spicy tofu taco - I figure I should provide more than one vegetarian option (I have at least a few coming), but not sure how this would work out. I'm worried that if I have to fry/saute the tofu that it won't keep. Any ideas?
- Mediterranean taco - I don't have any chicken tacos, so thinking about making a mediterranean-inspired one with chicken, roasted red pepper, eggplant, cucumber, and olives. I figure it can double as a veggie taco if I just take out the chicken (maybe add some feta for protein)? Not sure if this will be too bland though.
Some of the other ideas I'm considering from this thread (and the accompanying photo gallery would be the hawaiian, jerk chicken, and healthy veggie tacos).
I was planning on having the meats on one end of the table, then other fillings (slaw/shredded lettuce, onions, cilantro), with a salsa/sauce bar last and letting people mix and match as they wish (but I'll provide suggestions for which ones go together). Also planning on getting a bunch of the little paper boats/trays for serving, figure it would go with my "street food" theme. :)
Would appreciate any comments/ideas/recommendations from other Chowhounders!
Fresh local (maybe organic?) restaurants in Sunnyvale/ Mountain View area
You can add Parcel104 (Santa Clara), definitely focused on local/seasonal/etc. but again a bit on the pricey side:
http://www.parcel104.com/
Keiko à Nob Hill
Just wanted to add my report to this thread...had a fabulous time on a girls night at the lounge!
This review is for the lounge, not the main dining room. Went here for a girls night out and this place was perfect! The main dining room serves a tasting menu only, but they let you order a bunch of small plates a la carte in the lounge where we stayed. There were 11 items on the lounge menu and we decided to get one of everything and share among the four of us!
We started off with the Burdock 'Kinpira'...this was the one that looked least appetizing on the menu but it was actually very tasty, earthy and satisfying. Maybe it seemed even more so since we were starving! Next was the Farmer's Market Salad, which was light and refreshing. Third we had the Mushroom "Nibitashi", which was again very earthy, with great mushroom flavor. Next was the Amberjack sashimi. It was very fresh and tasted great, though I guess there's nothing that distinguishes it from sashimi at a really good sushi restaurant. Then we got Chef Keiko's signature dish, pan-seared artisan foie gras with espresso sauce...this was definitely the knockout dish of the night. I thought I would taste the espresso more but it was very subtle. I only wish the portion was larger! This was the only dish that we had two orders of and unfortunately the second piece was even smaller than the first. At least I'm glad I got to taste it before the ban...still on a quest to eat as much foie as possible before July! Next we had the "Forufuki daikon" radish, which was pretty good but I have to admit a bit anticlimactic after the foie gras. The "Kumiage" (yuba with sea urchin) was much better...the uni was fresh and buttery, and the sauce was fabulous. Then we had the oyster gratin with spinach, bacon, and champagne cream...this was good but I think the richness of the other ingredients overpowered the oyster itself a little bit. The wild mushroom risotto that followed was perfectly cooked, with loads of mushrooms (and seems like a little bit of truffle oil)...it was delish and I could have eaten at least twice as much! The Fried chicken "Tatsuta" was probably one of the best versions of chicken karaage that I've had, if not the best. The batter was so crispy but not greasy, the chicken was not overcooked and so juicy and tender. The shishito peppers went perfectly with it. Finally, we had the beef tongue "Persillade", which was tasty and had a decent-sized portion and a good sauce, but I have to admit I liked the fried chicken better.
For dessert, there were 3 choices and since we're such gluttons, again we got one of each. The first was a fourme d'ambert cheese in a fillo pouch, accompanied by some greens/flowers. It looked gorgeous and tasted even better. This was probably my favorite dessert out of the three. There was a chocolate dessert which came with some caramel(?) ice cream, which was good but I think a bit forgettable...I would probably have preferred it to be a little darker and more bitter. There was also a panna cotta with some mango sorbet and small pieces of mango...I'm not the biggest fan of fruity desserts but my friends enjoyed it.
We ordered two bottles of wine, the first was a Pinot that they recommended and it was pretty reasonably priced compared to the rest of the list (~$80), and for our second wine we got a Gigondas which was even cheaper (didn't want to pay more for the second bottle!) Both wines were good, though I enjoyed the Pinot better and it went with more of the dishes. Since the wines we chose were on the low end, the whole dinner wound up costing us a little over $400 ($100/pp) after tax but before tip, which I think is a steal for the amount of food and wine we had.
The service was decent but could use improvement...I'm not sure if this is because it's the lounge, but it took them a while to refill our wine when some of us were empty (kinda wish they just left the bottle at the table if they're not going to be timely about refilling our glasses). I also wish that the plates would have come more slowly, perhaps 1-2 at a time as opposed to getting as much food as would fit in our table all at once. I'm not sure if they were just trying to turn the table but it seemed like there was plenty of empty space at the bar so we didn't feel bad lingering. Though they were sometimes hard to find though, the servers we encountered were all pretty friendly and nice.
I do want to try the dining room (hopefully before they get the Michelin star they probably will get), probably when it's just me and the hubby. I think for a group though it's much better to hang out in the lounge, since you can try more dishes. Also it was a good option for us since we couldn't plan too far ahead to make reservations on time. I think the lounge was especially suited for a girls night out since the food was relatively light and we didn't feel bloated/disgusting in the end (not sure heavy eaters would enjoy as much).
I would definitely go back and I highly recommend this place for a special occasion!
Visiting from California
Thanks, that's good to know. Will probably skip La Condesa then, since I can just hit it next time I go to wine country (I usually go 1-2x a year). Will consider Polvos instead of Curra's, though the final decision will probably be up to the group. Thanks all for your suggestions!
Lafitte Question
If you were set on Lafitte's foie gras dinners, you may wanna check these out as an alternative: http://www.dishcrawl.com/foiebattle/
Won't know about the restaurants until later though!
Desperate to get into French Laundry - any tips?
Some of the inns in the Yountville area will book a reservation for you if you stay with them. I think Villagio and Vintage Inn do this but not sure, you may want to call and find out.
Visiting from California
Thanks a bunch! I was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of BBQ and Tex-Mex posts when I searched that I was was hoping to get the list restricted to those that meet my criteria (sit-down, suitable for large parties, moderately priced).
Franklin (for BBQ) and Curra's (for Mexican...those avocado margaritas certainly looked intriguing) were some of the restaurants I was looking at so it's good to get some validation. I will be on the lookout for Paul Qui's trailers!
Visiting from California
Hi, I'm from the SF Bay Area and will be visiting Austin next month for a business trip with a few other coworkers from California, and several from Toronto for a team event (we also have a team based in Austin).
We will probably have two group dinners that the company will pay for, and many of us that are from out of town are very interested in BBQ (ribs, brisket) and Mexican/Tex-Mex and would appreciate some recommendations. We have pretty good Mexican food in California, but I'm wondering if there are places in Austin where I can get Mexican food that is unique to the area (whether it's due to a Texas spin on the cuisine, or regional Mexican food that is hard to find in California). For these dinners, the budget will probably be fairly modest ($20-40/pp w/o drinks). Would like suggestions on places suitable for a large party, preferably somewhere "nice" but still casual (I like hole-in-the-walls, but food stands and tiny places probably won't work for us since we'll have around 12-15 people and will need the place to accept credit cards).
We get one night off to have dinner on our own, and I'm thinking about splurging for Uchiko (I'm a big fan of Paul Qui on Top Chef). I also figure that it might be good to eat some lighter fare after the BBQ/Mex. Any thoughts for or against?
I would also like to check out the food trailer scene...is this best to check out for lunch? We are having all-day meetings but I may take a day off after just to sightsee since this is my first time visiting Austin.
Thanks for all the help and recommendations!
Wedding on a budget: some help please!
It was some years back, but my sister got married very cheaply at the Rockefeller Lodge in the east bay. They have their own catering company which was very reasonably priced, and let you bring your own adult beverages. They did their flowers themselves too and saved a bunch of $$$. Since it's in the east bay, hotel rooms, etc. near the area may be cheaper too.
http://www.rockefellerlodge.com/
Upscale indian restaurants to host a party - Peninsula or South Bay
Amber India in Mountain View or Turmeric in Sunnyvale are both nice, upscale, and have good food.
Good spot for "fancy" weekend lunch for eight?
We took my parents out to Waterbar for their anniversary last year, and we had 8 people as well (including my siblings+SO's). It definitely has the "fancy" atmosphere (one of the best views in the city) and their weekend brunch prices are a lot more affordable than dinner. You can get a bottle of prosecco+orange juice to make your own mimosas for $20! Plus they have $1 oysters during the day before 6pm, I think we wound up getting about 4 dozen. Desserts are fabulous! I thought they did a good job handling our large party, event though they didn't have a private dining room.
Officially it's brunch but they have mostly lunch-type food (salads, etc.): http://www.waterbarsf.com/pdf/menus/wb_weekend_brunch_menu.pdf
birthday promotions
Todai gives you a free meal on your birthday. I think Kome in Daly City (which used to be a Todai) does the same.
top 100 restaurants 2012
What I don't get is why there are hardly any south bay restaurants on the list. Plenty in wine country, several east bay, only 2 in the south bay/peninsula!
Healdsburg WHITE (Winery) and Olive Oil Suggestions
I second Preston! Really loved their "Madame Preston", a rhone-style white. As a mostly red-wine drinker, I find rhone-style whites to be my favorite white wines.
As mentioned above, they also let you taste their house-made olive oil onsite.
Filet Mignon Rossini -- where to find this dish?
You can buy frozen veal demi-glace at Whole Foods, and it's worked pretty well for other recipes that I've tried.
I've been thinking about making this at home too...I have some foie gras in my freezer and I can easily buy the demi-glace, but I'm having trouble finding some fresh truffles. Any ideas where I can get it locally? Draeger's in San Mateo carries it sometimes, but I haven't seen it there lately. I might have to settle for the jarred variety.
Measuring Spoons - are there any on the market that aren't pure Chinese junk?
I have the same All-Clad set for a couple of years now and they're still going strong. They're definitely the best and strongest measuring spoons set that I've used.
One of my favorite features of the all-clad ones are the shape, the fact that they're deeper instead of wider. Makes them easier to insert into small containers like cans of baking powder and cocoa.
Filet Mignon Rossini -- where to find this dish?
If all you want is steak and foie gras, Alexander's Steakhouse (SF and Cupertino) will let you top any steak with foie gras. It's not quite the same as the classic Rossini recipe though where you have a truffle-madeira sauce aside from the foie.
Bella Vista restaurant in Woodside has the traditional one (as well as other classics like Steak Diane): http://www.bvrestaurant.com/menu.html
Tasting menu prices in Bay Area
Wow, that's great! We were planning on going there several weeks from now as well for my birthday dinner. Initially I was conflicted about going to Crenn but this makes me feel a lot better about it...getting under the $100 price point is just a big psychological hurdle.
Gary Danko or ???
The Village Pub in Woodside might be a good choice. It is a Michelin-starred restaurant with excellent food that would be great for a special occasion, and it seems from the yelp reviews that they are very accommodating about children, even going as far as serving them kid-friendly items like grilled cheese and burgers/fries.
Their bar area is a little more casual than the restaurant proper as well, but you can get anything from the regular restaurant menu at the bar. You may want to call them to see what would be the best option for you and your family.
Suggestions for 2 dinners in Napa area plus The French Laundry
I think it might be nice to do a different cuisine other than French/California on the other nights just for the contrast. When we went to TFL a few years ago, we ate at Bottega (Italian) and Zuzu (Spanish) the other nights. Morimoto is also great and you can order a la carte instead of the tasting menu. Sometimes it's nice to have comfort food (whichever cuisine works for you) the day after a long tasting menu.
Oxbow Market is a great idea for a picnic..you can get bread, cheese, charcuterie (love the Fatted Calf!) all in one shot. If you try to get enough variety, you may possibly have enough for lunch 2 days in a row. I thought Bouchon Bakery has started offering pizzas too, but they definitely have sandwiches and salads. Gott's is also a decent lunch option especially if you would like something hearty (like a burger).
Ad Hoc or Redd???
I love both, but I think Redd has more of a special occasion atmosphere (white tablecloths, etc.) for something like an anniversary. Ad Hoc has great food, but it's a lot more casual. Redd even has a tasting menu at $80 which is quite reasonably priced (for bay area/wine country), which is great for a special dinner. When we went there they actually gave my husband and me 5 different courses so we got to try 10 dishes overall.
Maybe go to Redd for your anniversary dinner but spend another night at Ad Hoc (since you have two nights in Yountville)?
Tasting menu prices in Bay Area
In Michael Bauer's column today, he discussed the ever-rising prices of fixed-price menus:
http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2012/03/14/the-cost-of-fixed-price-menus-in-the-bay-area/
Over the years, I've been to many high-end restaurants with tasting menus for special occasions, and why the price has always been steep (usually around ~$100-150/pp before wine), it seems to have risen quite dramatically in the last year or so with many places getting close to the $200/pp mark. It seems to be that whenever a restaurant gains a Michelin star (particularly for their second/third), they raise their prices significantly, such as with Meadowood, Saison, Benu, Atelier Crenn. I've only gone over the $200/pp threshold once at the French Laundry, which I considered a once-in-a-lifetime type of experience, but I just can't imagine how a many of these restaurants that are a lot less established can command these kind of prices. Is the economy just getting that much better?
It's kind of disheartening since there's so many restaurants I would like to try, but since we only get to go out to these type of places a few times a year for anniversary/birthdays, by the time we get to the next place on the list the price has gone up quite significantly.
Any thoughts?
Proper Tea Party for Fifteen, Would Love Suggestions
We always have champagne at our tea parties...I've seen a lot of tea houses offer it as well. That's something you can't do with kiddie tea parties. :)
Proper Tea Party for Fifteen, Would Love Suggestions
I just threw a tea party for twelve a few weeks ago!
We started off with some scones (really like this recipe from epicurious): http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Miniature-Cream-Scones-with-Currants-10328
Then we had 3 kinds of tea sandwiches: cucumber sandwiches on white bread (cut into rectangles), smoked salmon sandwiches on pumpernickel (cut into rounds using a biscuit cutter), and curry chicken sandwiches on wheat bread (cut into triangles). I really like the contrast between the different types of breads and shapes, they all looked great!
For desserts, we had 3 different kinds of macarons (been on a macaron kick lately). Chow.com actually has a great recipe that I use as a base: http://www.chow.com/recipes/28339-french-chocolate-macarons-with-chocolate-ganache. I made the chocolate macarons w/ chocolate ganache, green tea macarons w/ white chocolate buttercream (substitute matcha powder for the cocoa in the same recipe), and earl grey macarons with honey buttercream (substitute loose-leaf earl grey tea for the cocoa in the same recipe). Just adored how dainty these looked and the girls loved them! I found that I preferred to petit-fours (which I usually find too sweet), even though they're not traditionally part of british tea.
By the way, Amazon.com sells lemon curd and clotted cream (or double devon cream which I actually prefer) if you can't find it in stores in your area.
Here are some pics, hopefully it'll give you some good ideas! http://arleneandulysses.smugmug.com/Parties/Tea-Party-January-2011/21250834_DHXMkP#!i=1695946024&k=dXBskPz
How can I transform my thighs?
This is probably a bit wasteful, but better than throwing it all away! Make some chicken stock! Then store in the freezer so you can have it for other recipes. I tend to use thighs for stock rather than wings since they are frequently cheaper.
Wine for a traditional chinese dinner?
Thanks all for the responses...I did wind up bringing some champagne and it went very well with almost everything. I also enjoyed a Pinot that someone else brought, though I think the champagne went better with the most dishes.
I'm intrigued by the rose bubbly idea though, maybe I'll do that pairing for similar dishes in the future (already had the champagne in my cellar and didn't want to go out and buy a separate bottle). I can see why the off-dry riesling would work, but just not a big fan in general so I really appreciate all the suggestions.
Wine for a traditional chinese dinner?
The Rhone white that I was looking into is high acid and somewhat low alcohol (13%), a Picpoul Blanc from Tablas Creek. Would that fit the criteria? Unfortunately I'm not really into the sweeter Reislings and Gewürztraminers that are typically recommended for this type of meal (dry, crisp Reislings are ok with me).
Wine for a traditional chinese dinner?
We are going to a dinner party where they are going to have a very traditional chinese dinner. I would like to bring some wine, but at a bit of a loss for what to bring. The most common recommendation I see is for an off-dry riesling, but I'm not really a fan. My fallback plan is to bring some bubbly, since I think bubbly goes with (almost) anything, though I'm toying with the possibility of bringing one of my white rhone-style wines, which is the style of white wine I prefer the most (I'm more of a red wine drinker).
Any thoughts/suggestions? The menu is below:
Cold Dishes:
1. 松花蛋 海蜇 SongHuaDan & HaiZhe : Thousand year old egg + Jelly fish
2. 素什锦 SuShiJing: Tofu delights
Hot Dishes:
3. 粉蒸肉 FengZhengRou: Pork with Spiced rice
4. 鱿鱼卷 YouYuJuan: Squid Roll
5. 炒虾仁 ChaoXiaRen: Saute Shrimp (no shell)
6. 糖醋排骨 TangCuPaiGu: Sweet and Sour rib
7. 四川面条 SiChuanMian: Sichuan Noddle.
8. 香菇油菜 XiangGuYouCai: Chinese Veg.
Desert:
9.八宝饭 BaBaoFan: 8 Treasure Sticky Rice
