Thank you Nancy S. and rrems for recommendations. Do you know if places like Le Fourneau or Switch or I'idiot du Village require reservation?

I'm travelling to Brussels next week and would like to have some recommendations for solo, female diner. I prefer to go to places that does not require reservation, perhaps sit at the bar, and eat something that's really good but not requiring a 2hr+ dinner. Looking for recommendation in the St. Catharine, Grand Sablon, and near the Trone metro stop area that's <50euro for dinner. It'd be much preferred if the area feels safe after dark.

Thanks!

What a wonderful idea to start this list. I add:

Curry House in Cupretino: just about any of the curry with fried shrimp, tonkatsu, or tomato rice covered with egg omelet.
Muracci in Los Altos: they offer brown rice. nice healthier touch.
Korean Restaurant (actual name of the restaurant) on El Camino in Santa Clara: chap chae (sp?), pancake, fried fish, bbq chicken (avoid the beef)
Krung Thai in Los Altos/Mountain View by Trader Joe's: Roasted duck curry, rama tofu, and sauteed watercress green (it's not watercress though, even though that's what they call it on the menu)
Hana no Gyoza by Mitsuwa in San Jose: definetely boiled or panfried dumplings, onion pancakes, chive pastry. stay away from the chow mien.

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Krung Thai Restaurant
1699 W San Carlos St, San Jose, CA 95128

Mitsuwa
675 Saratoga Ave, San Jose, CA

Curry House
10350 S De Anza Blvd, Cupertino, CA 95014

My kids are 2yo and 4yo and they can be picky and squeamish. For them, I like Pizzeria Delfina, Flour+Water, and Park Chow (okay, so this is not gourmet, but the food is quite kids friendly). We have been to A16 with kids too. They layout is more compact so can be hard for a squeamish/wandering kid. They do love the porchetta and the staff is very accomodating.

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A16
2355 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA 94123

Park Chow
1238 9th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94122

Pizzeria Delfina
2406 California St, San Francisco, CA 94115

I will be in Lyon and Grenoble one day each. Are there any chow worthy stops to check out and bring stuff back. I'm looking for moderate restaurants for lunch or dinner, bakery, gourmet shops, chocolate shops...etc. Thanks!

$4.99/lb at Wholefood in Campbell. Cooked

1. FL: I don't get the food there. It seems to me to be a mismashed of different taste on one plate. Services vary. Formal, but the "sophistication" isn't always delivered by all the waitstaff.
2. TDR: my favorite fine dining place in SF. composition of the food is very cohesion. service is formal at the same time comfortable.

Not quite sure what you mean by "is none of the above an option?"
Didn't think about Zinnia as it is so new. Have been to La Folie but don't like it as much as I like TDR.

I love The Dining Room and if it wasn't for that I have been there already and is looking for something on par (or better), I'd go there again.

We're going right after Thanksgivings.

My husband and I want to go out to a nice dinner for the first time (in 2 years) without kids. We haven't been to either Masa, Coi, or MM. Which one is better for something that's memorable, enjoyable, and relaxing. Food (taste/creativity), service, atmosphere are all important to us. Which one has a more selections for reasonably priced wines?

Valet Parking or easy parking is a must.

Thanks!

A16.

I was at SPQR a few months ago and thought the food was very mediocre. I also sat at the bar where one could watch the chef work.... it kinda grossed me out watching them manipulate the food. At one point, the chef was steaming/toasting/steaming the burger bun - i felt that it was surely not edible after so much handling.

where can i get Della Fattoria Seeded Bread in San Francisco (or South Bay) on a weekday?

We're going on Tuesday/Wednesday. We'll definetely stop into Petaluma.

We are going on a small roadtrip and want some advice for good food places that we should check out. We're driving from SF zoo to Inverness in the early afternoon. Ideally, places to pick up snacks, have dessert/tea/coffee, have a small bite or detour worthy places to pick up food supplies. Not big meals.

thanks!

I tried the longon a few months back - they have an interesting fragrance that's not typically found in longono- probably has to do with how it's grown. It was not bad though.

tried to mango at the market - thought it was rather stringy

i think neither Pauline Pizza or Pizzeria Delfina has children's menu or a play area, but lots of people take their young children there. I have been to Pizzeria Delfina with my toddler many times. Try to be the first one to get sitted so the wait for food is not too long. Pasta Pomodoro has a children's menu. No play area though.

Also check out SFGate's suggestions:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article...

I'm in search of the best brand of dumpling wrappers to make Chinese boil or panfried dumplings. I tried two so far: Nasoya Wonton Wrappers (more natural, no preservative) - more like a gyoza wrapper (thinner and softer) and West Coast Noodle dumpling wrappers (uses benzoate soda) which is harder but not chewy. It also has a the "baking soda" taste. Is there a brand that comes remotely close to handmade wrapper?

Thanks!

Sorry for the late reply. I can't remember exactly, but we had a lot of shell fish from the bivavle family and items from the octopus family from Japan. This is the 3rd or 4th time sitting at the sushi bar at Kaygetsu and the pricing is about the same to me compared to the previous time. I prefer smaller cut of fish - and small light handling of rice (which I regret to say is best handled by the ex-sushi chef Kazu-san at Anzu). I find large pieces too difficult to chew on to really savor the flavor.

Although Kaygetsu's Keiseki is special for the bay area, having been to Japan so many times and eaten numerous keiseki meals, I don't find the need to have only keiseki at Kaygetsu. For me, Kaygetsu fits my requirements for high quality sushi better than other sushi bars around here, esp when i feel like splurging.

On the other hand, i thought the sushi lunch is a great deal - you get "almost" the same quality of fish and Toshi's touch for $25-30. Granted, i didn't have any lunch menu sushi plate but it sure looked nice on other people's table.

I have only been to Sam's once and could not understand what is the hype is all about.

Hujiang in Cupertino Village for XLB is also worth checking out.
Hana on Saratoga Avenue (by Mitsuwa supermarket) for dumpling, onion pancakes

You can also try Chaat Paradise on the corner of El Camino and Grant.

On Castro, I prefer Nami Nami for Japanese, Shiva for Indian, and the already mentioned Spiced Island. Nami Nami might not be open for lunch on Saturday. Check before you go.

is 1 plate = 2 pieces of nigiri sushi?

adding to your benchmark

Kaygetsu last week for lunch: 14-15 pairs (I can't remember exactly) $200 w/ a 17% tips that's automatically added. Kaygetsu charges by per piece with most highend fish at $7/piece

You can try Vin Vino Wine on California St. It's a small-ish shop but usually has a few different bottles of Sauternes.

I heard that it's opened by the personal chef of the ex-VP of Taiwan. Anyone been?

I prefer Halu's Ramen. Never had chicken at Halu.

Went to Kahoo and Hoshi this week for lunch. Here's a quick review:

Hoshi- the location is offbeat - next door to Lucky Supermarket. After entering, I was impressed. For lunch, the menu is mostly standard lunch faire with daily special offerings. I had the Katsu Curry which came with additional sauce on the side. The curry sauce is very tasty - very mild though. The serving is small, I think the tonkatsu is about 4-5 oz, maybe. The rice is tender and springy. I asked about ordering some of the items they have for dinner but was told that it would take too long. It's an unusal izakaya where there is actually a serious looking sushi bar. Will definetely go back for lunch and dinner

Kahoo- The first taste of shio ramen was very satisfying. A light broth with onion, ni-tamago, stewed pork (chunks, not sliced chashu), and scattering of stewed bambooshoot. The first few tastes was very nice, but after a while, I thought the noodle was not as chewy as I like and I didn't like the long lasting aftertaste. I also had the spicy fried chicken - boneless, with a nice and crunky breading and a spicy mayo like sauce. I still prefer Halu Ramen - which to my disappointment isn't open for lunch on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday!

We visited your lovely city last week and enjoyed the city tremendously. Here're some of the highlights and some not so highlights (just my opinion of the places we ate at). We are from the SF Bay Area and travelled with a 1yo. baby.

Highlights:
PokPok: I wished we have a Thai place with similar quality and atmosphere in the SF Bay Area. The restaurant - although I understand is not Thai owned, tasted very "Asian" to me. We had a delicious charcoal grilled game hen, a dungness crab fried rice which was unique but worked very well, a lamb broth noodle which was simple and satisfying, and a refreshing herb salad. We also had a beer, 3 ice tea, shrimp chips, and a satay. $56+tips

Pix: Awesome Macaroons. I can't remember what flavors we had, but they were intensely flavor without tasting artificial. Just the right chew and crispness. We also had some ice cream and the Royal pastry which were both okay.

Ken's Artisan: Very flavorful bread. Lovely crust. We also had a Croque monsieur and an egg salad sandwich with some salads. I tasted Banana in the egg salad sandwich which i thought was rather strange.

Portland Farmer's market: gourmet paradise. We bought some flavorful sheep/goat cheese from Ancient Heritage Dairy and bargain (by Bay Area standard) Pimiento de Padrones from Viridian Farm. Of course, we also picked up healthy chanterelles, melons, tomatoes, berries, and seabeans for dinner as well.

St. Honore Bakery: a little piece of France in Portland indeed. Almond and Apricot tart with the flakiest pate sucre (maybe with almond meal) pastry. Their fragrant almond croissants will be missed.

Paley's: My son slept through the entire dinner waking up right after dessert so we had a peaceful dinner by ourself. Highlights from the dinner are the chanterelle and corn ravioli with a golden tomato broth and halibut with melting sweet ratatouile and grilled romaine. Service was friendly and pace was just right. $102+ tips. (1 wine, 1 dessert, 3 1/2 portion main, 2 appetizers, 2 teas)

Allotto Gelato: we had a peach and a chocolated frosted yellow cake gelato there. The chocolate frosted yellow cake really does taste like the namesake. I wonderful how they did it.

We also went to Wildwood and Bluet Frozen yogurt. I thought Wildwood was just okay - we had 4 decent appetizers, a pasta with corn and chaterelle which was overly rich after the 2nd bite, and two uninspiring desserts. Bluet(sp?) on 23rd uses Straus nonfat yogurt to make their frozen yogurt - which one can imagine is very tart and rather thin.

It's overly chewy - I don't like it that much. not quite like the real thing.

Thanks! I'm all set on the wine country.

I will swing by during the day to see if the places are too intimate/quiet. I did call both places regarding bringing my 1yo to dinner. They both say that it's been done and have high chairs. I made a 5:30pm dinner reservation -to avoid crowds and before my 1yo gets tired. Outdoor seating would be the best as he tends to be pretty happy when we sit outdoor. I'll be sure to ask for that.

Visiting Portland with a 1yo and hubby next week from SF Bay Area. I have a few things planned, but need some recommendation for places to get good cappucino and morning pastry. Also want to double check that I have made the right choices in terms of restaurants. We're staying downtown. Thanks for your help!

Day 1
Lunch: Ken's Artisan Bakery
Dinner: Paley's
Activity: Zoo

Day 2
Lunch: Pok Pok (do i need reservation?)
Dinner: Wildwood
Activity: Columbia Gorge or Browsing the neighbor shop in NW

Day 3 Saturday
Farmer's market
Afternoon/eve in the wine country with a local wine maker

Day 4
No plans yet. Leaving for home in the afternoon