So for a Lenten Friday four weeks ago I just really wanted to get some good seafood, so I thought to myself, where haven't I tried that supposedly does good seafood...
Maritime East! For those of you who don't know, it's a relatively new spot in Berkeley on Telegraph about a half mile south of campus. It took over the old Zax Tavern location, which I also used to like, but which was a bit expensive.
Maritime East apparently is an East Bay expansion of an SF restaurant called Cafe Maritime. While the focus is on seafood, there's definitely enough variety that Veggies and Carnivores could have their fill as well. Since it is Lent, I restricted myself to the Seafood, hoping to go back for a taste of the much touted Cheeseburger they serve (reported to be one of the best in the Bay Area).
After first checking out their menu to make sure it wouldn't break the bank (definitely not a cheap eats kinda place, but you can get away with a very full meal on less than $40-$50/pp even with a drink) we proceeded through the door. Doublewong was once again my foodie partner in crime.
After a somewhat hilarious and surprising pyro mishap we reviewed the menu and asked several questions about the food and restaurant. Even though the cocktails sounded great, we decided to go dry that night, since I was going to be driving down to SJ right after dinner. To start, they offered the complimentary plate of bread, artisan & baguette slices along with soft butter and sea salt. Great bread! and you don't usually see the sea salt accompany the butter in too many places since most butters already have salt in them, but I did like to sprinkle the salt on myself in this case since I believe the butter was unsalted.
We ordered a couple of starters to begin with. Seafood Chowder, Brussel and PeaSprout "Hash" and a pair of raw oysters (Marin Miyagis & Nootka Sound) each since doublewong has never had raw oysters before. The oysters went over well, though I could've gone for a couple more. But at $2.5-3 each, that could get out of hand. Better to go oyster crazy during happy hour. The Seafood Chowder included clams, mussels, fish, fingerlings, bacon, leek cream. It was a lighter cream base than what either of us were used to, but it still worked. I didn't realize that there was going to be bacon until after it was ordered, but I just avoided it in the few spoonfuls I had. Very tasty and chocked full of goodies, a definite recommend. The "Hash" didn't go over very well. It was ok, just sort of bland. Actually it reminded the both of us of garlic sauteed peasprouts that you can get at most good chinese places, except this was more bland.
For our mains, dw ordered the “Deviled” Dungeness Crab with meyer lemon linguini, poached farm egg ($22) and I got curious and ordered Arctic Char fennel, olives, chick peas, saffron nage ($23.5) cause I didn't know what Arctic Char was (turns out it's closely related to salmon & trout and has characteristics of both). My first taste of arctic char was good, seared and roasted with a bit of salt and pepper I believe. A very interesting fish, it has the bright deep pink color of salmon and a similar texture but it had the flavor of trout. Cooked perfectly, it was still tender and not dry. I don't think it will be one of my favorite fishes, but a good option should I see it on other menus.
The real gem of the night though was the crab linguini. Housemade fresh pasta in a light sauce with nice big chunks of dungeness crab and mix in the poached egg on top and you have a winner all-around. dw enjoyed it immensely from what she tells me and I'll have to order it on my own the next time I go. I think we both made good choices though.
A comment on the space. There were two rooms to the restaurant, the regular dining room and the room with the bar. If I remember correctly, it's not much changed from Zax, maybe a little cleaner and the lighting is better. You could probably have a very nice but casual dinner there if not totally romantic. It did seem to get a little loud when things filled up as the even went on but not too bad that you had to strain to hear the person across from you.
And except for the mini-inferno on our table, the service was very good. Everyone was nice, all of 0ur dishes/utensils/drinks were promptly cleared/replaced/refilled when done, and the server was well informed, except for the oysters which she found out about for us.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Somerset - Rockridge area, Oakland
I got treated to a very nice dinner by doublewong the other night at a new restaurant for both of us. From my research, Somerset is a relatively new restaurant in the Rockridge area (less than a year old I think), with a somewhat standard California cuisine, casual/fine dine atmosphere.
Our dinner consisted of the following:
French Onion Soup
Wild Mushroom Tart
Garlic Lemon Prawns
Braised Beef Short Ribs with chantrelle mushrooms and soft polenta
Broiled Chilean Sea Bass served with savory white rice, roasted vegetables and a shallot parsley sauce
Molten Chocolate Cake with Raspberry sauce and topped with whipped cream
This was a hit and miss kinda meal. While overall it was good, it was very rich but I was disappointed by several things which should've been good considering the price point. I liked the French onion soup, but I only had a few spoonfuls. I could see how it could be too salty after having the whole thing. It was definitely a bit rich, but the soaking toast in the soup still had a nice texture. Plus I actually liked that it didn't have a think layer of melted cheese that most other places serve it with.
The mushroom tart was good. Flaky pastry and lots of mushrooms, I just wished it came out warmer and a bit bigger. I would've been a much bigger fan.
The garlic lemon prawns were a disappointment for me. While the garlic lemon sauce was okay, there wasn't much subtlety to it and it was even enough. Plus the prawns seemed a bit overcooked and somewhat small. Would not order it again.
On to the entrees. I'll start with mine, which was the Chilean Sea Bass...now I know what you're probably saying, and after thinking about it, I was saying it too...how could they be serving Chilean Sea Bass, isn't it supposed to be off limits. Mentally, I knew it wasn't a good thing to be eating a possibly endangered fish, but unfortunately, my mind got pwned by my mouth and stomach and I ordered it anyways before Brain could interfere, all the while hoping that this chef somehow found a source of sustainably farmed sea bass. My ethical guilt aside, oh man, I love Chilean Sea Bass...nicely roasted and sitting on a bed of savory rice. So good. Buttery, white succulent flesh...drool. While I was distracted by just the taste of the Sea Bass itself, the preparation was pretty standard and didn't really stand out in any way. I've definitely had better in more Sea Bass available days, years ago.
Double ordered the Braised Beef Short Ribs and really...how could you go wrong with those words. Fall off the bone tender and a savory seasoning and sauce. This was very rich and I only had a few bites of it, but what I had was thumbs up. Unfortunately the polenta nor the "chantrelle" mushrooms didn't do it for either of us. And in fact, we were pretty sure the so-called Chantrelle mushrooms were actually just regular old button mushrooms you'd find at Safeways dressed up in brown sauce. We were very disappointed by that.
While I was too full to consider dessert, Double had to try the Molten Chocolate Cake. Sounds good right? But boy, I was disappointed. I should figured it wasn't going to be what I expected when we ordered it at the end of the meal and not 20 mins to the end of the meal. There was nothing molten about this cake. In fact, it was flat! like a pancake almost. How sad, here we were expecting a nice little mini tower of chocolate oozing goodness and then all we get is a flat kinda flower shaped cake. It wasn't even warm really! Yeah, definitely ended what was otherwise a nice meal on a somewhat sad note. Don't get me wrong, we finished it though, we always finish it, but it was a disappointment nonetheless.
Service was pretty nice and friendly. Though they sort of messed up our reservation, thinking it was going to be four people. Luckily we were the first diners of the night and that was easily resolved. It was pretty casual, which is the vibe we usually give so I didn't mind that at all, though at times it seems like I was having a hard time communicating what I wanted sometimes with the waiters and waitresses.
Our dinner consisted of the following:
French Onion Soup
Wild Mushroom Tart
Garlic Lemon Prawns
Braised Beef Short Ribs with chantrelle mushrooms and soft polenta
Broiled Chilean Sea Bass served with savory white rice, roasted vegetables and a shallot parsley sauce
Molten Chocolate Cake with Raspberry sauce and topped with whipped cream
This was a hit and miss kinda meal. While overall it was good, it was very rich but I was disappointed by several things which should've been good considering the price point. I liked the French onion soup, but I only had a few spoonfuls. I could see how it could be too salty after having the whole thing. It was definitely a bit rich, but the soaking toast in the soup still had a nice texture. Plus I actually liked that it didn't have a think layer of melted cheese that most other places serve it with.
The mushroom tart was good. Flaky pastry and lots of mushrooms, I just wished it came out warmer and a bit bigger. I would've been a much bigger fan.
The garlic lemon prawns were a disappointment for me. While the garlic lemon sauce was okay, there wasn't much subtlety to it and it was even enough. Plus the prawns seemed a bit overcooked and somewhat small. Would not order it again.
On to the entrees. I'll start with mine, which was the Chilean Sea Bass...now I know what you're probably saying, and after thinking about it, I was saying it too...how could they be serving Chilean Sea Bass, isn't it supposed to be off limits. Mentally, I knew it wasn't a good thing to be eating a possibly endangered fish, but unfortunately, my mind got pwned by my mouth and stomach and I ordered it anyways before Brain could interfere, all the while hoping that this chef somehow found a source of sustainably farmed sea bass. My ethical guilt aside, oh man, I love Chilean Sea Bass...nicely roasted and sitting on a bed of savory rice. So good. Buttery, white succulent flesh...drool. While I was distracted by just the taste of the Sea Bass itself, the preparation was pretty standard and didn't really stand out in any way. I've definitely had better in more Sea Bass available days, years ago.
Double ordered the Braised Beef Short Ribs and really...how could you go wrong with those words. Fall off the bone tender and a savory seasoning and sauce. This was very rich and I only had a few bites of it, but what I had was thumbs up. Unfortunately the polenta nor the "chantrelle" mushrooms didn't do it for either of us. And in fact, we were pretty sure the so-called Chantrelle mushrooms were actually just regular old button mushrooms you'd find at Safeways dressed up in brown sauce. We were very disappointed by that.
While I was too full to consider dessert, Double had to try the Molten Chocolate Cake. Sounds good right? But boy, I was disappointed. I should figured it wasn't going to be what I expected when we ordered it at the end of the meal and not 20 mins to the end of the meal. There was nothing molten about this cake. In fact, it was flat! like a pancake almost. How sad, here we were expecting a nice little mini tower of chocolate oozing goodness and then all we get is a flat kinda flower shaped cake. It wasn't even warm really! Yeah, definitely ended what was otherwise a nice meal on a somewhat sad note. Don't get me wrong, we finished it though, we always finish it, but it was a disappointment nonetheless.
Service was pretty nice and friendly. Though they sort of messed up our reservation, thinking it was going to be four people. Luckily we were the first diners of the night and that was easily resolved. It was pretty casual, which is the vibe we usually give so I didn't mind that at all, though at times it seems like I was having a hard time communicating what I wanted sometimes with the waiters and waitresses.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Anh Hong - 7 courses of beef
Now, I've only done 7 courses of beef at one other place, so that is what I have to compare to. I was a little shocked to find that my favorite Japanese restaurant had been closed down and replaced with this Vietnamese food place. When I walked in, I was amazed by the new decor. This is one high-end looking place. Not what I'm used to when looking for a bowl of pho. And then another shocker, no pho.
The waiter approached us and was extremely friendly. He highly recommended their 7 courses meal. We chose to do that with a salmon sashimi - like appetizer and fookie ordered a glass of arnold palmer. The waiter looked confused at this request. Fookie carefully explained the makings of this drink and the waiter walked away still looking confused. He later returned with a creamed thai iced tea mixed with lemonade. He got it right after the second try though.
The food at this place though, was very good. The appetizer came first, about 8 slices of fresh salmon covered with a delicious sauce topped with fried onions. There was a plate of thinly sliced rare beef also drenched in a delicious lemony sauce topped with fried onion. Then came the beef salad, beef ball, grape-leaf wrapped beef, beef sausages. Hm... I'm missing something. There was even a person who came by to change our rice-tortilla dipping water. That's new. I really liked their rice wraps, they were thick but flexible, even I, the ultimate wrap-ripper managed to make pretty good wraps most of the time.
Lastly came the bowl of beef porridge, hot, a little watery, and topped with fried onions. By this time I was getting pretty full, but the porridge was tasty with bits of beef and green onions. I think I had a couple spoonfuls before falling back into a well-deserved food coma.
For 21 dollars a person, it was a very filling and satisfying meal. The server was friendly but didn't seem extremely experienced. I'm sure that he will only improve with time.
The waiter approached us and was extremely friendly. He highly recommended their 7 courses meal. We chose to do that with a salmon sashimi - like appetizer and fookie ordered a glass of arnold palmer. The waiter looked confused at this request. Fookie carefully explained the makings of this drink and the waiter walked away still looking confused. He later returned with a creamed thai iced tea mixed with lemonade. He got it right after the second try though.
The food at this place though, was very good. The appetizer came first, about 8 slices of fresh salmon covered with a delicious sauce topped with fried onions. There was a plate of thinly sliced rare beef also drenched in a delicious lemony sauce topped with fried onion. Then came the beef salad, beef ball, grape-leaf wrapped beef, beef sausages. Hm... I'm missing something. There was even a person who came by to change our rice-tortilla dipping water. That's new. I really liked their rice wraps, they were thick but flexible, even I, the ultimate wrap-ripper managed to make pretty good wraps most of the time.
Lastly came the bowl of beef porridge, hot, a little watery, and topped with fried onions. By this time I was getting pretty full, but the porridge was tasty with bits of beef and green onions. I think I had a couple spoonfuls before falling back into a well-deserved food coma.
For 21 dollars a person, it was a very filling and satisfying meal. The server was friendly but didn't seem extremely experienced. I'm sure that he will only improve with time.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Anh Hong - New in Berkeley. 7 Courses of Beef Baby!
So I passed by this restaurant about a week ago not realizing that TGI Sushi had closed down and a new vietnamese restaurant had taken over the space. Finally was in the area tonight and decided to give it a try.
Finally walking up to the door I noticed two things, 1) they've remodeled the space a bit (looks much nicer), new floor/decor/paint and converted the central sushi boat area to a central bar w/ flatscreen TVs overlooking the restaurant. 2) it was completely empty at 5:50pm. I know it's a little early, but still. Not a good sign.
Being the only customer in the place, I got treated pretty well and found out some info. They opened up for biz on 1/9/08 and the place is the newest branch of the Anh Hong family mini-chain of restaurants in the bay area and so-cal. The chef, named David was trained in the French Culinary Institute I was told and you can see some of that influence in the dishes. Though subtly. The menu is still in flux I was told, but the menu is primarily built around Bo 7 Mon (7 courses of Beef). There are also many other options including traditional and non-traditional vietnamese soups, salads, appetizers, rice dishes, sauteed antrees and noodle dishes. No pho though. And there's a decent drink list of sodas, teas/coffee, wines and beers, decent and inexpensive but nothing spectacular.
On to the food. Since it was cold and drizzly all day, I really wanted a soup and while I was initially disappointed that this new Viet restaurant didn't have the pho I craved, a good option turned up. Mi Anh Hong (Combination Rice Egg Noodle Soup).$8.50 description: Combination of Shrimps, Squid, Crispy Wonton, Chicken, and Bean Sprouts in Miso & Sweet Pork Broth. And I wanted to try one of their appetizers, which all looked appetizing. I asked Dan my server about it, mentioning I wanted to try something new. He figured that I was pretty familiar with the usually Vietnamese restaurant menu the suggested I try the Tuna Tai Chanh (Tuna Garlico Jalapeno) $10 for the small order and $18.95 for the large. description: Tuna Sashimi in Tai Chanh Sauce with Garlic and Jalapeno. I rounded out the meal with a glass of Pinot Grigio. $6. No dessert.
My wine came out first, a very generous pour, slightly chilled, of Coppola Presents. Not an expensive wine to be sure and not my favorite Pinot Grig, but it went well with the meal that came.
The Tuna Tai Chanh was a totally new dish to me, at least in the context of a vietnamese restaurant but it was wonderful. Nicely presented on a white plate, it came with I think 8 or 10 slices of good sashimi quality tuna. drizzled with toasted garlic, mild sliced jalapenos and topped with slices of red onions it sat in a small pool of "tai chanh sauce," which i guessed to be a tart nuoc mam ot sauce with a dill garnish. Whatever it was, it worked for me. I polished this off and enjoyed it immensely. The tuna was very fresh and went well surprisingly with the tai chanh sauce. I would've preferred hotter jalapenos but my tolerance is a little higher than most folks.
The Combination Egg Noodle soup came out soon after I finished the tuna and was pleasantly surprised by the quantity. It came in a large white curved bowl that seems to be popular with modern vietnamese restaurants nowadays. The soup was topped with big pieces of very large peeled prawns, butterflied squid, and crispy wontons which turned out to be of the seafood paste variety (probably shrimp) and green onions. I was actually most intrigued by the soup broth itself and tried it out first on its own. It's good. Distinctly different from any other noodle soup broths I've had. light, definitely miso-y, but feels like a vietnamese soup, if you know what I mean. Flavorful, but not overly salty. Definitely has my approval. The rest of the ingredients were fairly standard for this type of dish though I can say the quality was noticeably better than your standard vietnamese restaurant I would say. The shrimp and squid were cooked nicely and still retained their crispness. The noodles and the bean sprouts lurked underneath to round out the dish. A very pleasant meal and quite filling. I was too full to finish off all the broth, though I certainly wanted to.
I definitely can't wait to go back to try the 7 courses of beef. Though I was treated very well and was serviced very promptly and efficiently, it was hard to gauge their overall service since I realized that by the end of the meal I was still the only guest that had walked through the door even though over an hour had passed. I certainly hoped they make it, since that area of Berkeley could use a good Vietnamese restaurant. I think people haven't heard that they've opened but they're definitely worth a try.
Anh Hong
2067 University Ave
between Milvia St & Shattuck Ave)
Berkeley, CA 94704
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Sura Korean Restaurant - Temescal - Oakland
let's just assume that we've all had more than enough turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn and cranberry sauce to last us the entire year so I won't need to recap all of that shall we? now...on to the more interesting stuff.
So recent chowhound postings alerted me to a relatively new Korean restaurant in the Temescal area of Oakland. The name of the restaurant is Sura @ 4869 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609. In a newly renovated space it is very spacious in side, with fully built in table grills and ventilation systems that all full service Korean restaurants should have for BBQ. Though we didn't go for the table grilling this time, I'm looking forward to testing out the nicely designed tables on my next trip. My foodie partner in crime agreed to try out this new place sight unseen at the time. Glad to have another adventurer with me, we perused a very extensive menu fully of bbq dishes, noodle dishes, stews, tofu soups appetizers and much more. Definitely a place you'll want to go to again and again to try all the items.
okay, now onto the food. After much deliberation we ordered the pan fried dumplings to start us off, a spice beef and mushroom soon du bu soup(tofu soup) and a big bbq beef dol sot in a hot clay pot. With our meal of course, came the myriad banchan dishes. Probably more than I've ever seen at a Korean restuarant. There must've been at least 17 of them. Some we're hits, some were misses. In general they were good, though a few I felt could have been stronger or spicier. The dumplings we agreed were excellent. Our starting appetizer came with 10 I believe. crispy bottoms, flavorful middles. And just went great with their spicy, soy dipping sauce. We both really wanted to get the tofu soup since it was getting pretty cold that night and it hit the spot for me. Spicy, but not too spicy, it was packed with tofu, meat, veggies and mushrooms. Very savory and served really well over rice. If that was the only thing we had that night, I would've been happy, wells, perhaps if we had two servings, it was that good.
Our last dish, with the bbq beef is like a bib bim bap in a heated clay bowl. one of my favorite korean dishes cause it just makes the rice on the bottom crisp and crunchy from the heated bowl. If you've never had it, it's basically a bowl of rice, topped with several varieties of julienned veggies (pickled bean sprouts, carrots, cucumbers etc.) with some sort of meat (in this case, thick slices of marinated grilled beef) and a spicy sauce to mix it all up. At some other restaurants they serve it with a raw egg cracked on top that you cook when you mix it up in the hot clay bowl. This would be the main thing missing for me in the version they serve at Sura. An egg or two really does make this dish better. Even lacking the egg, it's quite good and I also added some of the tofu soup over several servings to mix some of the flavors. Very comforting I have to say.
All in all, a very satifying meal that didn't break the bank. I think all together, for two people the bill came out to be $35 after tax and tip.
So recent chowhound postings alerted me to a relatively new Korean restaurant in the Temescal area of Oakland. The name of the restaurant is Sura @ 4869 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609. In a newly renovated space it is very spacious in side, with fully built in table grills and ventilation systems that all full service Korean restaurants should have for BBQ. Though we didn't go for the table grilling this time, I'm looking forward to testing out the nicely designed tables on my next trip. My foodie partner in crime agreed to try out this new place sight unseen at the time. Glad to have another adventurer with me, we perused a very extensive menu fully of bbq dishes, noodle dishes, stews, tofu soups appetizers and much more. Definitely a place you'll want to go to again and again to try all the items.
okay, now onto the food. After much deliberation we ordered the pan fried dumplings to start us off, a spice beef and mushroom soon du bu soup(tofu soup) and a big bbq beef dol sot in a hot clay pot. With our meal of course, came the myriad banchan dishes. Probably more than I've ever seen at a Korean restuarant. There must've been at least 17 of them. Some we're hits, some were misses. In general they were good, though a few I felt could have been stronger or spicier. The dumplings we agreed were excellent. Our starting appetizer came with 10 I believe. crispy bottoms, flavorful middles. And just went great with their spicy, soy dipping sauce. We both really wanted to get the tofu soup since it was getting pretty cold that night and it hit the spot for me. Spicy, but not too spicy, it was packed with tofu, meat, veggies and mushrooms. Very savory and served really well over rice. If that was the only thing we had that night, I would've been happy, wells, perhaps if we had two servings, it was that good.
Our last dish, with the bbq beef is like a bib bim bap in a heated clay bowl. one of my favorite korean dishes cause it just makes the rice on the bottom crisp and crunchy from the heated bowl. If you've never had it, it's basically a bowl of rice, topped with several varieties of julienned veggies (pickled bean sprouts, carrots, cucumbers etc.) with some sort of meat (in this case, thick slices of marinated grilled beef) and a spicy sauce to mix it all up. At some other restaurants they serve it with a raw egg cracked on top that you cook when you mix it up in the hot clay bowl. This would be the main thing missing for me in the version they serve at Sura. An egg or two really does make this dish better. Even lacking the egg, it's quite good and I also added some of the tofu soup over several servings to mix some of the flavors. Very comforting I have to say.
All in all, a very satifying meal that didn't break the bank. I think all together, for two people the bill came out to be $35 after tax and tip.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Thanks to a heads up on Chowhound regarding the cheesesteak at Gregoire, I ordered it today along with the cheddar cheese gratin and the pumpkin bread pudding, whipped cream.
It was all excellent. The cheesesteak was not overly cheesy, filled with a decent amount of meat, cheese and grilled onions served on a toasted baguette. I admit it got all over my hands but wasn't overly greasy. The Gratin is indeed good, though it took me a few bites for it to grow on me. Initially I thought the potatoes were a bit undercooked, but that actually helps when it's so perfectly thinly sliced and layered and it thankfully wasn't overpowered by cheese. A nice golden cheesy crust on top and just enough in between to make it stick. Lastly, the pumpkin bread pudding definitely satisfied my fall craving for all things pumpkin. I was at first expecting a more pudding consistency, but it turned out to be more like a very moist and soft banana bread consistency. It was wonderful, subtly spiced and was amazing with the fresh whipped cream. I licked the container clean.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
appetite update
so a couple things i've been noticing on the food scene...
i'm not the only one crazy about tacos...apparently there's a mini-taco-truck-tacos resurgence happening. it's the in thing to taco truck hop, particularly down my neck of the woods (International Blvd, ie the Taco Truck Corridor). I've seen people creating google maps of all the trucks in East Oakland (over 30 of them) with reviews of the standard al pastor, pollo, carne asada tacos and the more exotic fare...lengua, cabeza, tortas and burritos. who knew there were other people out there right now also searching for the greatest taco that cheap wallets can find. I must locate them and share in my knowledge!
anyways...in other foodie cravings and news...Gregoire...a local fine dining take out place with locations in Berkeley & Oakland has something I want. recently posted was a great review of a Philly cheese steak sandwich that is apparently the holy of holies as far as sandwiches go. It's a special thing since Gregoire changes their menu monthly and certain items will only show up during certain months of the year according of fresh ingredients availability. I'm planning on ordering mine tomorrow before it goes away once again.
lastly...i've been participating in a food forum that many know as chowhound.com. a great website for foodies everywhere...where foodies let other foodies know where to find the good stuff and which places to avoid. sort of like a foodies help-line and advice column. seriously, there are foodie nerds out there that put me to shame. one of the great things about the online community there is that they organize chowdowns...foodie gettogethers with fellow foodies to fully explore hot restaurants. And reviews of one of their last chowdowns has piqued my interest...and it's at a restaurant just down the street from my office! woot! so if anyone is interested in joining me in a foodie excursion to China Village on Solano Ave, please let me know.
i'm not the only one crazy about tacos...apparently there's a mini-taco-truck-tacos resurgence happening. it's the in thing to taco truck hop, particularly down my neck of the woods (International Blvd, ie the Taco Truck Corridor). I've seen people creating google maps of all the trucks in East Oakland (over 30 of them) with reviews of the standard al pastor, pollo, carne asada tacos and the more exotic fare...lengua, cabeza, tortas and burritos. who knew there were other people out there right now also searching for the greatest taco that cheap wallets can find. I must locate them and share in my knowledge!
anyways...in other foodie cravings and news...Gregoire...a local fine dining take out place with locations in Berkeley & Oakland has something I want. recently posted was a great review of a Philly cheese steak sandwich that is apparently the holy of holies as far as sandwiches go. It's a special thing since Gregoire changes their menu monthly and certain items will only show up during certain months of the year according of fresh ingredients availability. I'm planning on ordering mine tomorrow before it goes away once again.
lastly...i've been participating in a food forum that many know as chowhound.com. a great website for foodies everywhere...where foodies let other foodies know where to find the good stuff and which places to avoid. sort of like a foodies help-line and advice column. seriously, there are foodie nerds out there that put me to shame. one of the great things about the online community there is that they organize chowdowns...foodie gettogethers with fellow foodies to fully explore hot restaurants. And reviews of one of their last chowdowns has piqued my interest...and it's at a restaurant just down the street from my office! woot! so if anyone is interested in joining me in a foodie excursion to China Village on Solano Ave, please let me know.
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