Where can you buy fresh wild salmon in the Fremont area? I am thinking all of Fremont, Milpitas, Newark and Union City. I am also wondering if the farmers markets in the area have any.

Thanks everyone for giving me suggestions on where to find real dolmas! I am going to try some of those places. GH1618, I prefer made on site because I can then ask how much salt they use, etc. Also, my experience is that the quality is usually better when something is made on site than when it's from someplace else.

Hi fellow chowhounds.

I have been looking for real dolmas lately in the East Bay and can't find any. Even at great places like The Pasta Shop and Troy Greek Cusine they don't make their own. Where does one find real dolmas made on site? Thanks!

Just got a perfect hachiya at Monterey Market. It's the small type and organically grown by Twin Girls Farm. It was seventy-nine cents. There was hardly any astringency. I ate up all the *jelly* in less than two minutes. Best one I've had all season.

They had a lemon log when I went there.

It was the black forest buche. The cake had a velvety texture with kirsch soaked cherries. My only complaint was that the portion was too small for my wife and myself. However, I didn't want to buy a whole log which was very expensive ($45 for the 10" and $60 for the 15").

When I got the mini Buche de Noel at Masse's the other day it was $6. Were you referring to last year?

It was more flavorful and filling than the sufganiyot at Saul's. However, some of the dough didn't cook right and was soft and gummy.

It was okay. It was less greasy than Zachary's. Also, the chicken was less fatty and the vegetables were less soggy. However, I'm not crazy about their corn crust. I think you either love it or you don't. I'd go back, but it's not my favorite.

Our experience wasn't so great. We had Pad Prik Pork and Pad Thai Beef. The Pad Prik Pork had a greasy taste to it plus it was too strong. Also, unlike White Lotus and Bua Luang, the only vegetable it had was green beans.

The Pad Thai Beef came with alot of noodles, but they were kind of dry. The bean sprouts, egg, beef and tofu were on the bottom and there wasn't enough. It wasn't our favorite.

There's a sign in the window saying it closed because it wasn't making enough money to support itself. Every time I asked questions about the food, I always felt dismissed. I'm not surprised they closed.

We weren’t part of the group you met. However, since you want other hounds’ opinions, here’s ours. Last night, we had pork loin saltimbocca with La Quercia prosciutto, white wine, and peperonata. We chose farro with cucumbers, parsley, mint, yogurt, and roasted eggplant as our vegetable.

In my opinion, there was too much sodium. I had a couple bites, but it was too salty. The peperonata was also too salty as well as the farro mix. My wife said it was salty, but she liked it enough to have several more bites. She still left half her portion unfinished.

I explained the situation to our server. She was polite, told us she would pass our comments along to the chef, and comped half the meal. In my opinion, there needs to be a significant reduction in salt.

I've had some less than stellar experiences with pork and meat I purchased from BB where it tasted a little stale. For example, I've noticed a big difference in appearance and taste between Marin Sun Farms meat sold at BB and in Market Hall in Oakland. At Marin Sun Farms in Market Hall it's very fresh since it's direct from the purveyor. However, at BB, unless you go the day it's delivered, it's not as fresh.

Last night my wife and I went to Solano Grill and Bar. We hadn't been there since last year. The last time we went the place was full. This time it was empty. There was a sign indicating that hours had been cut and lunch was no longer being served on the weekends. Our server rarely made eye contact with us. It seemed as though the place was on its last legs.

We ordered both scallops with pesto mashed potatoes in a tomato saffron broth and the 1/2 Asian braised chicken with garlic mashed potatoes with a sesame hoisin sauce. Both were quite good. The scallops were the best of the two.

So what happened to Solano Grill and Bar? Is it the economy? People getting tired of the food? Competition from other restaurants? A bad spate my wife and I don't know about? Or? It seems a shame that such a long standing restaurant in Albany looks like its about to go under. Or is there something we missed?

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Solano Grill
1133 Solano Ave, Albany, CA 94706

I went by today. The owner gave me a paper menu but it had food on it. He seemed a little confused when I asked for a clean one. There were 2 tables occupied. I don't know much about Indian food but from the little I know it seems like it might be southern cuisine. Could some hounds who are knowledgeable about Indian food take a look at his web site and see? I didn't eat there yet. I wanted to find out more.

http://www.hamroaangan.com/

Parking's terrible. I've run in a couple of times. I had some of the cakes, muffins, donuts and a date loaf/bread. Everything tasted good, but I didn't feel satisfied after.

But inconsistent portion sizes in some of the entrees to go, wouldn't you say? On more than one occasion we've gotten chicken pieces so small they would barely have qualified for appetizers. We had eaten them before and they had been bigger so we thought they would always be that way. They were so small we were still hungry after.

They are pretty good. So good I might just go back for another. Yum.

Yeti Restaurant in Glen Ellen has vegetable momos but the canned filling they use doesn't taste good to me. They have a nice eating area outside during the summer though.

My mistake. It's chicken basque. He said he purposefully doesn't use alot of salt in the dish but instead relies on the Spanish influence to give it spiciness. While I was there, I tried the chocolate cake with caramel inside. It's great, but I prefer his tartine.

I think I might order one for New Years. His wife told me all about the almond inside and if you get it in your slice you are are king for a day. By the way, he had a new dish which I tried. It's chicken arabesque. It's great he doesn't use a too much salt and instead relies on bay leaves and other spices for flavor. In place of flour he uses rice.

You are right rworange and Robert Lauriston. I asked him today. He said he can cater but only the type where he drops off the food. I asked him if he's able to sell everything by the end of the day and he said it's not a problem for him since he has almost no overhead.

I asked him if he's open on Monday. He said he doesn't bake pastries on Monday as he uses that day to prep for the rest of the week. However, if he has anything left over in the refrigerated case, he will be more than happy to sell it.

It was a cold night which is why I drank two mugs of tea at Miyuki in Albany.

Otherwise, I didn't like the meal. However, my friend and SO did. We had the salmon miso. It was way too salty for me. The seaweed salad wasn't my favorite, but then again, it was my first time trying it and I wasn't a fan. My friend said it was excellent. He used to live in Japan so I'm assuming he knows a good seaweed salad when he sees it. The vegetarian eggrolls were nothing special but my friend and SO liked them. The vegetable garden roll was the only thing I liked. It had crispy pickles inside. For dessert we had Miyuki Sweet which is egg roll with banana, pine nuts and vanilla and mango ice cream. It sounds better than it tastes. However, my friend and SO liked it much better.

Two weeks ago I came in to buy his chocolate croissants. It was around 11:30. His wife had told me they would be ready then. When I came in, they weren't. He moved a cart with several racks of uncooked pastries and said it wasn't time for them to go in the oven because he had a whole bunch cooking already. On each rack, it looked like there were at least a dozen pastries. There is no way all of those could be for the front. There were just too many. I am guessing most of them were for catering.

It looks like he's catering and the stuff in the front is only a small part of his business. How else could he have trays and trays of pastries and non-stop entree preparation? There's too much food for the front. I'm guessing he's probably doing pretty well. Whenever I stop by there's always someone ahead of me in line and the stuff just keeps on selling.

I had the chocolate buche and it was good. Everyone liked it and I would get it again next year.

If he does raise his prices, I will definitely slow down the pace at which I've been buying his stuff so I hope he doesn't do that.

They're open again? This place constantly seems to be going in and out of business. In any event, it's the salt that keeps me away - way too much to be healthy or palatable. If it weren't for the extremely high level of salt, the food would be good and I'm not a vegan or a vegetarian. Any kind of food can be vegan as long as it doesn't contain animal products.

I wasn't crazy about this place when I came in. It looks like just another sandwich shop. Cafe St. Honore had character. I also asked if she'd be having Ici ice cream but she said not until this summer.

Robert's food is very fresh and wholesome. Not too much salt. Not too much sugar. No preservatives or transfats. Try his soups. They are excellent and change daily. He aims to please.

Maybe they will have Ici ice cream. It was nice not having to wait in line.

We had the pumpkin tart. It was excellent. Tasted like there was bacon in the pumpkin. The crust was perfect.

We also had the apple custard tart. It was also fantastic. Crust perfect. Excellent.

Pecan pie tart. Excellent. Real maple syrup. A real rarety these days.

Finally, we had the chicken chausseur. It was excellent as well. The chicken fell off the bone. It was tender and juicy. The sauce was good without being salty. The potatoes, carrots and green beans were soft.

This place is getting off to a real good start!

Just hope he doesn't raise his prices because they are so reasonable right now.