My dad grew up in Chinatown and also remembers Sun Wah Que. He said the sugar donuts came out at 3 p.m. and were more like egg puffs with sugar on top. He didn't think the orange pies were that good, but believed the pie crusts were made with lard. My dad liked the custard pies the best, especially when they were fresh out of the oven.

Went to the Forge last night on a whim (early Valentine's Day dinner!). Got there about 8:45 pm, no waiting for a table. Nice space, could see it being good to watch some sports. Spent some time wondering what business previously occupied the space.

Started with the argula salad. The slices of blood orange were especially tasty, but I also really liked the dressing.

Timing was off, though, when my husband's pepperoni pizza arrived soon after. My entree didn't come for quite a while longer (although that gave me more time to eat the salad).

My husband enjoyed his pepperoni although he was disappointed to find out it didn't automatically come with mozzarella.

My halibut was fine, but outdone by the bed of green lentils and roasted vegetables it was on.

I managed to save enough room to try out the apple ginger crisp. Barely sweet with an excellent crunchy topping. Might have been even better with ice cream :-)

When the check came, found out the dessert had been comped because of the food timing -- nice touch. Wish I could have tried the mussels and chicken wings... maybe next time.

Haven't seen much discussion on this restaurant in downtown Berkeley, so I thought I'd chip in here. After a movie at the nearby Landmark Theatre, headed to the Hotel Shattuck to check out the restaurant. I really liked the look of the place with its spiffy tile floor and dramatic space.

One of my friends ordered the prix fixe menu (beet salad, roasted game hen, and cinnamon apple strudel. I ordered the scallops and prawns with the pork belly as an appetizer. The table of four also shared biscuits with pimiento cheese and cornbread with honey butter.

Everyone liked their food, but the top dish was definitely the pork belly. My seafood was high quality and fresh, but interestingly I liked the black rice the best of everything in my entree. Oddly enough the "head-on prawns" didn't have their heads on. Maybe it meant they were cooked on and then later beheaded?

The biscuits were great -- light and fluffy. Although I think I would have preferred the honey butter with them instead of the pimiento cheese. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to try out the cornbread; I was hoping to compare it to Pican's, my favorite so far.

My husband and I split the buttered pound cake with berries and creme fraiche. My only regrets were that I never saw any lemon curd and that my husband finished it off while I wasn't looking, a rarity with him for desserts.

All in all, a great meal!

http://www.five-berkeley.com/

Decided to see if Comal had an opening after watching a movie at the nearby California Theatre ("Porco Rosso"). The hostess said no tables available at the moment (8:45 pm) but thought plenty of tables would open up soon. By the time we arrived 10 minutes later, we were seated immediately in the heated patio.

Since it was just me and my husband, we couldn't sample everything -- but we did try the Papas Fritas (great chipotle aioli), the Guajillo Adobo Pork Spareribs, and the Flan. The spareribs were exceptionally tasty (I liked the rub) as was the grilled corn. The flan was possibly the best I've ever had, ethereal texture (rather than rubbery). Great meal!

I was in Reno last week for the World Science Fiction Convention and just wanted to share my thoughts re some of the places we went to.

Since we were in Reno for the convention, we didn't really seek out any food destinations and stayed close to the Reno-Sparks Convention Center.

My husband and I had two meals in the Peppermill, where we were staying. My breakfast at the Cafe Milano was disappointing as my Eggs Benedict featured something more like soft-boiled eggs than poached. Our late dinner at Biscotti's was better as my husband enjoyed his prime rib dip. My beef stroganoff was decent.

For our anniversary dinner, we went to La Vecchia. Decent Italian food, although I thought my Ravioli Fiorentina was a little one-dimensional.

We had pizza at Magic Carpet Golf (Giorgio's?) before our two rounds of mini-golf. Not bad for a mini-golf place.

Went to El Tumi and was the only table by 8:30 pm. My grilled shrimp and yucca were fine, but I should have ordered more adventurously. I've had some good Peruvian food in the Bay Area, and was hoping to find more of the same.

Our best meal of the week was right across the street at Naan & Kabab. I'm not sure exactly what cuisine the restaurant is highlighting, but my kabab koobedeh was delicious. Not spicy but well-seasoned. My husband enjoyed his chicken kabab but was sad that he wasn't eating my dish.

Just went to Ippuku for the first time with a bunch of friends, 8 of us in total.

After actually finding the front door (no, not the apartment complex), I was favorably impressed with the look of the space. We were seated at two connected tables (which for two 4-tops would be divided by a screen).

After making some provisions for my husband who doesn't eat seafood, we ordered:

* 5 chicken skewers (thigh, breast, hearts, gizzards, wings)

* Chicken gyoza (small but good)

* Chicken tartare (I liked this)

* Mochi wrapped in bacon (a little chewy)

* Charred rice (my mother would be appalled that we paid good money for this)

* Pork belly (too chewy)

* Salad

* Chicken with green onions skewer

* Shitaake mushroom

* Fried tofu (I still fondly remember Saigon Seafood's fried tofu with shrimp on top)

Maybe ordered a few other dishes too. To my surprise, my favorite dishes were the grilled chicken hearts and gizzards. Everything was at least decent, and the bill came to only $30 per person (although with no real alcohol, just tea).

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Saigon Seafood
740 Story Rd 1, San Jose, CA

Ippuku
2130 Center St, Berkeley, CA 94704

I got married 10 years ago at Preservation Park in Oakland (near downtown). I loved the architecture there. I didn't have my reception there so can't comment on the food, but it's a really gorgeous setting.

http://preservationpark.com/events/

One of my friends has been keeping in touch with the restaurant because he knows how much I love their custard tarts. According to him, he chatted with someone who works there. She said the owner/master baker hasn't been coming in because he feels like he's getting old, doesn't want to work so much, and there's no one to take over. So she's just been going in to check on things, etc. My guess is that time the bakery is open will continue to be very erratic.

Also, the likelihood of them being on Twitter seems nil. My friend got the info he did because he was able to speak Cantonese with the clerk (unlike me).

I also enjoyed the fried chicken. My only issue was that I couldn't have two pieces of dark meat. Boo to white meat!

But actually I really liked the macaroni and cheese even more!

Does this mean the Telegraph Avenue location has been closed?

I had my Chinese wedding banquet at Legendary Palace in Oakland Chinatown six years ago. Not a ton of parking (obviously), but they do have access to a small lot nearby.

Also my guest list was about 200 (same size as yours), and we got most of the upstairs room -- everything except a small closed off space.

My cousin had his wedding banquet in East Ocean in Alameda a few years ago. Parking in Alameda is comparatively a breeze. The food was pretty good (except for a hideous fruit salad thing with mayonnaise).

I keep forgetting to post about my experiences at Aquacotta. Suffice to say, that it's been a great addition to Alameda. My husband had one of the best chicken dishes he's ever eaten (pan-roasted chicken breast). I've had a very tasty ragu and a beautiful piece of salmon. Anyway, highly recommended!

http://www.acquacotta.net/

I've made this recipe from the San Francisco Chronicle a few times. The only one who doesn't like it is my husband ;-)

But really what could go wrong with a bit of maple syrup?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article...

Thanks for the suggestion re Pilar! Unfortunately, they're not open on Sunday :-/

I'm seeing "HMS Pinafore" this Sunday at the Napa Valley Opera House at 2 pm.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a restaurant nearby? The theater is at 1030 Main Street (near 1st Street) in Napa.

Since the show starts at 2:00 pm, we're willing to drive a short distance, although we'd prefer to walk.

One of my friends is vegetarian, and we're willing to eat any cuisine. Since my friend is from out of state, it'd be nice to go to a restaurant that evokes the Wine Country.

We'd prefer something mid-priced (e.g., under $50/person).

Thanks for any suggestions!

Although Pappo is perfectly nice, that's more on the Park Street side of Alameda. Not sure if the New Zealander has many vegetarian options, but I like their meat pies. New Zealander is in the Croll's building at the corner of Central and Webster. A new Vietnamese place opened up on Webster called Cafe Le. Haven't tried it yet so no reports on whether it's good.

Hoping for some help with a recipe for chile macaroni and cheese! Went to Washington, DC for a short trip. No Chowhound worthy food (too busy seeing friends and sightseeing), but we did stop for a quick dinner one night at the Thunder Grill in Union Station. The restaurant is your typical "upscale" corporate at-least-it's-not-a-food-court restaurant, but my husband really did like his chile macaroni and cheese.

The side dish was nice and cheesy, creamy and with a nice punch from chiles. The chiles could be tasted but not seen, so they weren't just chopped up and put in.

Also, I've made Martha Stewart's mac and cheese a few times. While it's fine (I especially like the bread topping), it doesn't seem creamy enough to me. Any suggestions?

Well, I left it too long, but I thought I might as well give a few thumbnail sketches on some recent dining experiences in San Francisco.

Globe: Five of us went here after the Chinese New Year's Treasure Hunt (held the same day as the parade). Called at 9:00 pm and they were able to give us a reservation for 9:45 pm. Since my party had been tromping all over downtown SF, we were hungry and ready to eat! It'd been a few years since my last visit, so I was disappointed not to see the salmon with creme fraiche on the menu. I ordered the chicken, a rarity for me since I rarely order chicken when I'm at a restaurant. In any case, it was quite good; even the breast meat was tasty. The star of the night was the dessert as my husband and I ordered the Meyer lemon semifreddo with huckleberries. I didn't think the berries added much, but the semifreddo had an intense lemon taste -- the way I like it! One of my friends ordered the espresso creme brulee, which I sampled. Very strong coffee taste, but I'm not sure it worked for creme brulee.

Azie: Four of us ended up at Azie after we couldn't get into LuLu after GDC (Game Developer's Conference). And I was so looking forward to LuLu's skillet-roasted mussels! Well, we were hungry so we decided to try next door at Azie. When we asked the host if a table was available, he said yes but only either under the staircase or by the window. At first, we agreed to under the stairs, but when we saw the actual table, we hastily recanted. We squeezed ourselves around the low table right by the front window. I had the grilled Japanese butterfish on a bed of spiced butternut squash. The fish was cooked just right, but the squash was what really made the dish. My husband ordered the slow cooked pork 'bacon.' When we inquired as to what 'bacon' was, we were told pork belly. Well, why didn't they just say so? I had a taste of his dish, and regretted not ordering it. Of course, I'm a sucker for anything rich like that. My two friends ordered the seared sea scallops and vegetarian udon noodles, and proclaimed themselves satisfied. I also ordered a side of Chinese long beans in a black bean sauce. These were slightly underdone to my taste, but still good. My only beef with Azie is that we sat the whole time in the rather uncomfy table, even though some of the booths remained empty the entire time we were there. Perhaps we didn't fit the typical Aize patron (that's what you get with 3 game programmers), but then they shouldn't have put us in the front window.

Scala's Bistro: I made reservations for 7 of us after a matinee performance of the "One Man Star Wars" show at the Post Theatre. It was an amazingly warm day in SF that afternoon, so it was almost a relief to head inside to the dimly lit Scala's. For some reason, the restaurant tried to shoehorn 7 of us into a booth that would comfortably fit 5-6. My friend asked for a chair instead so she could sit at the end of the table. We ordered 2 appetizers, ceci bean spread with Italian flatbread and wild boar meatballs. The bean spread was tasty and reminded me of hummus. I liked the gaminess of the meatballs. My husband and I ordered the little gem lettuce salad. I would have preferred more of the pesto vinaigrette. I ordered the braised oxtail agnolotti and my husband got the steak (flat iron) frites. I don't get to eat oxtails very often, so my entree was a treat. I saved half for next day's lunch. My husband managed to finish off not only his steak but his huge file of fries. We ordered the warm gingerbread with sabayon for dessert. Nice but not spectacular.

The chicken at Zankou is fine, but what makes it special is the garlic spread they serve with it. Whenever I'm down in SoCal, I make sure to stop by Zankou Chicken. My husband and I have been lucky in getting a second serving of the garlic spread when we ask nicely! I could eat that stuff by itself :-)

I was at GDC two years ago (will be going again this year) and had a great meal at Mochica a few blocks away. Great Peruvian food, although the service was slow.

We hosted a rehearsal dinner a few years ago at Speisekammer in Alameda. Reasonably priced (under $40 per person), and we had a private room for 25. I'm sure the kids there made our party on the "louder" side, but it didn't really matter with the room.

We also used Julie Durkee of Torino Baking for our wedding cake 3 years ago. We wanted a very clean, modern design (no floral decorations, no swags), so we ordered a cake that looked like a series of square tiers in white with raspberries lining the edges.

If I remember correctly, the cake was just over $1000 for 220 guests, which actually turned out to be way too much (not surprising since most of our guests were Chinese who didn't really eat cake).

Hi there! I'm planning an off-site meeting for various customers and vendors which we'll be hosting at the Marines Memorial. I'd like to put together a handy restaurant guide for the attendees so they have some idea where to eat after the day's meetings.

I asked the hotel concierge, but when he recommended the Stinking Rose, I decided against using his recommendations.

The Marines Memorial is located at 609 Sutter Street, San Francisco -- a few blocks away from Union Square.

Here are some possible candidates:

* Postrio

* Farallon

* Morton's

* Scala's

* Anju

* Biscuits and Blues

* Le Colonial

I'd love any suggestions on moderately priced dining in the area. Thanks!

Wow, a few of us seem to work in Marina Village! Anyway, I bring my lunch most days, but otherwise I've been enjoying the garlic shrimp from L&L Hawaiian BBQ and the sausages from the DugOut. Also the Chinese food at East Ocean is quite good. Plus I'm a sucker for lamb curry from the India Palace buffet. Sometimes we'll head into Chinatown to eat at Cam Huong. I convinced my coworkers to try the New Zealand pub fare at the old Croll's building once.

Hi, I'm flying into Portland tonight and just realized I'm not getting in until 9:20 pm. Any place near the airport that stays open late? I'm not looking for anything fancy! Just a step up from fast food :-) So a coffeeshop or diner would be fine, although of course I wouldn't say no to a great meal at a fancier place!