Never had a rare burger come out of Barney's kitchen despite ordering it that way. The only true rare burgers I've had in the East Bay the last few years were at Cafe Rouge and Wood Tavern.

TIA

I had dinner here on Saturday night. I was really looking forward to the meal based on a variety of things I've read, but left overall unimpressed and not likely to return. While perhaps a nitpik, we were really put off when we were sat against a wall that had a variety of food and beverage stains on it. I expect more than that at this price point.

We started off with the White asparagus, trumpet mushrooms, fennel confit, egg 65°C, hollandaise sauce, soft rye croutons. I was most excited about the fennel confit, but I believe it was pickled and the flavor completely dominated the dish, drowning out what probably was a lovely richness between the egg and white asparagus. The dish lacked salt as well.

Next was the Coriander crusted tuna, licorice ponzu, parsnip chips, ginger jam, horseradish and Krondill poached lobster Skagen, white fish caviar, horseradish, avocado, chili. The tuna was properly seared and tasty, but was nothing special. The ponzu sauce on the plate dominated the dish. The lobster was the best dish of the evening. It was balanced, rich, and we simply just wanted more. My only gripe is that the foam took over the plate on arrival and we had to hunt for the other components a bit. At $21 for an appetizer a few more bites would have been appreciated.

We moved on to meats as our mains and had the Porter braised ox cheek, roasted beet root, fried onions, horseradish and Saddle of venison, Scandinavian gratin, Juniper berry jus. The cheek meat lacked any of the gelatinous texture and richness that we had expected. Most of the serving tasted like a somewhat dry stew meat. A few bites approached something akin to a short rib, but nothing like a cheek. As I write this I'm wondering if they subbed a short rib. The flavor from the porter sauce was rich and lovely, the beet root puree was forgettable, and the crispy fried onions added a nice contract in texture and had the salt the dish very much needed. The venison arrived nicely pink and just past medium rare. We asked for it to be on the lesser side of the advertised medium rare. It was tasty, but really needed the jus to combat it's lean dryness. The gratin was rich and tasty, but both the gratin and the meat again lacked salt.

Food summary take away from my visit is that out of five savory courses only one did we really like and three of five lacked salt. We did finally ask for salt with our mains because it is not offered on the table.

Service was good through out the meal. Nothing notable in terms of either positives or negatives. The two recommened glasses of wine were delicious and pared well.

For $200 with tip I'm looking for a bit more. Too many options in SF for me to return here.

The secret to their batter is that it is yeast based and richened with butter.

I thought the same, but neither of those are anywhere near quiet.

And it turns out I live within their delivery range... dangerous. As a result I have now tried: Spicy Boiled Fish, Sauteed Pea Sprouts, Tea Smoked Duck and Mongolian Lamb. The boiled fish and pea sprouts were as good as any version I've had at CV or SFH. I've never had Mongolian lamb before so I have nothing to compare it to, but while being tasty I'd probably allocate my calories to something else next time. The tea smoked duck was good, but I don't think it traveled too well. I also thought it was nice that they sent the sichaun pickles and peanuts they serve as a starter in the restaurant.

As a long time China Village enthusiast, supporter of Sichuan Fortune House, and one who lives in this neighborhood I was thrilled to hear about this place opening.

On walking into the quiet dining room early on Saturday night I noticed one of the servers was a familiar face from SFH. The menu is either identical to SFH or so close I could not discern the difference. I asked the familiar server if the food was as authentic as SFH and she said yes and that the SFH chef is now cooking at this new location.

We were brought a complimentary sample of the house made dumplings in chili sauce that were delicious, spicy, and left me confident with the rest of the meal coming. We had General Zhang Fei's Beef. The dish was fresh, well prepared, and spicy even by my standards. Now that I think about it... they omitted the peanuts usually in this dish. They also used the sliced beef instead of the more traditional stewed tendon that I favor. After the fact I inquired and they said it could be had you just need to ask. I would order this again, even if this was not the best rendition I've had.

We then had the Sichuan Country Style Fish Fillet. This was awesome and one of the best versions I've had. It was very spicy and nicely studed with Sichuan Peppercorns. The tofu and fish were both cooked to tender perfection. I could not stop eating the celery and sliced jalapenos. It was a little saucier than other versions I've had and I can imagine the thickened sauce might not be to some peoples' likings, but it clung to the food and really brought deep flavor.

I suppose a good summary could be that we had planned to take home leftovers, but instead sat picking at the dishes until everything other than the many red chilis that came in the dishes were gone. I'm thrilled this is just down the street from my house.

Ajanta for sure if you order the rotating dishes. Every one I've had has been excellent and it's all I order there anymore.

I was in the area Saturday and on a hot afternoon could not resist the call of a custom ice cream sandwich. The place is kind of out of the way and easy to overlook, honestly the kind place/location that I think it will be hard for them to survive.

The two people working were super friendly. They don't bake all the items everyday since each baker had their specialities, or so I was told. My sandwich had their coconut cookies and espresso ice cream. It was one of the best sweet treats I've had in a long time and I ate the whole thing. As Melanie noted the cookies are soft and chewy, perfect for the application. They were really delicious too. My girlfiend has a thing for sweet potato pie and tried one. She said it was really excellent and one of the best she's had. She went back in and purchased a few more to take home. It's worth noting that they seem to not have a lot of product on hand so you might want to call before making a trip if there is something you simply must have. I'll swing by again if I'm in the nighborhood and have room.

According to a message on their answering machine the closure has turned into a 3-4 remodel. Booooo!

I must be search handicapped or something... thanks.

A friend suggested trying this place based on Yelp reviews and I came to the ever trusty Chowhound board to see what the hounds thought and was suprised to find to no mention. So... reporting back since I rather enjoyed our lunch.

We had the Paneer Tikka Masala, Chicken Momo, Aloo Tikki Chaat, and Garlic Naan.

Everything was fresh, well seasoned (the "hot" level was reasonably hot, but next time I'll go for extra spicy), and nothing was greasy. The Tikka Masala was as good of a rendition as I've had with perhaps little more complexity than most. I'd never had Momo before but found the filling to be very savory and juicy (the owner recommended them).

I'll definitely go back to try more dishes.

I wanted to get feedback on how things are packaged ,etc. So I order say 10# of steak cuts, 10# of poultry, and 10# of stew meat. How do they package it up? 1# packs? A certain number of steaks? I need to make sure I get a reasonable amount of each item for recipes, etc.

I gather you feel the quality and value are good as well?

Thinking about giving it a shot, but would love to get some feedback. One of the things that irritates me about our produce CSA is the quanity of some items (usually too little of a single item to serve to our family of three.).

Sideboard? Maybe too casual with the counter service, but the very relaxed atmoshpere seems conducive to a first date. If the weather is nice sit outside.

Third for Ann Walker. She did my wedding and two friends.

Concord location is now open. Will try soon and report back.

I just realized this spinoff is in my nearby strip mall when I walked by it yesterday. It looks like they're a couple of weeks away. I'm hopeful it will be good since it's walking distance from my house.

Terra Firma does the drops too. They supply a (now electronic!) newlsetter that provides the kind of info you were getting in person.

We've been using Terra Firma Farms for over a year now. We like it, but don't love it. The quality suffers from time to time, but such is life with a true CSA as opposed to a wholesaler. I like having the connection to the farm, getting all organic and lots of heirloom products. The value is pretty good, but the diversity and sometimes the amount of things is lacking (What am I supposed to do with two heads of baby bok choy?). In the end I think I would not use a CSA if it weren't for the fact that I think it's the right thing to do.

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Terra Firma Farm
Winters, CA, USA, Winters, CA

Correct, no buffet at Ajanta. I've been hitting them for lunch lately and it usually costs ~$15 with soda and tip.

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Ajanta Restaurant
1888 Solano Ave, Berkeley, CA 94707

Agreed. I gave up on the buffet a year or more ago. They always had a lamb dish offerered.

I had lunch here while trapped in Martinez for jury duty and it was good enough I opted to go back the second day. The food is fresh and well handled. I had Lemongrass Prawns and Drunken Noodles with pork. I ordered both dishes "hot, but not Thai hot." The lemongrass dish wasn't very spicy, but the noodle dish had a solid burn. I'll look for this place again next time I'm in Martinez.

It was in May. Crazy Tony was working the room in all his glory.

We did a tasting menu with wine pairings and I think we were at about 200 pp including tip.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I thought I'd report back on info that I gleened from this thread even though it's old.

Puerto Viejo - Ok place. Nothing special except that sitting on the sidewalk you can have a lovely view. Margarita was too sweet even after asking for it not to be. Camaron ala Diabla was tasty as was the tortilla soup while neither were anything special. Crab salad was loaded with mayo, came not cool enough and kinda scared us. Cheap enough though.

Pedro y Lola - We went on our last trip to MZT and were not impressed, but went back to try the two recommended dishes. The Pedro Infante and Chammora (sp?) were awesome. Probably the best food from the trip less the simple ceviche type things we ate. The long cooked pork dishes both had the complex layering of flavors that I love in Mexican sauces. The simple mushrooms with garlic were great too.

Te Amo Lucy - Loved this simple place. Crazy Tony is awesome and the food and beer are cheap. The Chicarone (sp?) was to die for with some of their unque hot red salsa.

Topolo - I had high expectations and was summarily dissappointed. One of the better margaritas I had. I would have like the place better with no/low expectations. The court yard was lovely. My Pesce en papiote was fine as was the crab salad.

Tried to hit Miso Sushi, but they closed and moved to Nuevo Mazatlan. Went to Sushi Yoko instead. It was mediocre at best and would not bother. I'm used to much better.

Olas Atlas Steak House - I don't know why I thought this might be a "Mexican Steakhouse" (does such a thing exist?) but clearly they are catering to gringos who want to eat like they do at home. The beef was fine, but it was grilled which not what I typically expect. Salads had an unbelieveable amount of dressing. Sides were ok. Interesting wine list. If you're tired of the local fare and want a lovely patio to dine on and have a nice glass of wine this place is fine. It's cheap for a steakhouse. We were out the door with a nice bottle of wine for $100 USD.

Bahia - Admittedly we weren't in the right mood for this place and didn't get to try enough of the menu. We only had a coctail de camaron and the pesce zarandeado (sp?). It was fine. I wanted to love this place and did appreciate it being tourist free, less us of course.

While hardly "chowish" I have to also put in a kind word for the breakfast restaurant at Pueblo Bonito where we stayed. Everything was great and I loved eating my way through the traditional Mexican breakfasts and their salsas were all great.

I buy from them at the Walnut Creek farmer's market and have found it to be better than anything I can find in a store. They have little signs in front of each ice bin stating the fish and price. Best scallops I've ever had outside of a high end restaurant.

Ditto this. She's also always picked excellent wines at price points below what I'd pick on my own. Gotta love that.

The spicy boiled fish at China Village in Albany is my personal crack. It's usally pretty spicy, occassionally very spicy.