Today it was all about food. I don't think I consciously meant it that way - though I wanted to celebrate Mike's birthday - but I guess that's where my mind, and my kids, led me.

It actually started yesterday at the supermarket when I was deciding what to cook for dinner. Mike wanted pork chops, and that's what we got - but I saw some spareribs on sale and I suggested that for tonight's dinner. Then they had huge sea scallops on sale so I wanted to try those too. And then I thought of French toast - how long has it been since I've had French toast? And I love French toast, so... you get my drift.

It will come as no surprise to anyone - certainly not me - that Taqueria, the recently opened, well, taqueria, in downtown San Leandro, just couldn't make it. Though their pricing scheme (charging per item) was innovative, nothing else about it was, and it was competing against a very succesful, authentic, long-time operation (Los Pericos), which, frankly, has better food. So no, I'm not surprised they're closed.

According to a sign they're now doing catering only. I wish them well, but I can't help feeling sad about the possibilities the place had. There is certainly a need in San Leandro for a standard Mediterranean restaurant serving things like quality kebabs, kofta, pilafs, Mediterranean salads/platters and tons of little things in pastries. True, there is Luke's grill, but their quality is less than stellar, and they're expensive. And even then they're often packed. But I think Kolbeh-Taqueria owners just didn't have the resources to dedicate to a restaurant serving quality foods and they tried to concentrate on gimmicks rather than quality.

I'm still hoping someone will open a new restaurant in downtown San Leandro - we surely need it.

Not long ago, one of my blog visitors commented that her favorite Los Pericos (apparently there are 5 of them) is the one at the Los Pericos Market on East 14th & Stoaks. Of course that meant we had to try it.

The restaurant is located right inside the small supermarket by the cake section. The people are very friendly and the clientele is almost exclusively Latino. It's nice to go to a place where English is the second language. Both Mike and I had chicken special quesadillas (~$5), which resemble large burritos sans the beans and rice. Instead they have cheese, meat, salsa, guacamole, sour cream and lettuce (I always order mine without the latter). We found these to be good, but not particularly better than those at the other Los Pericos. The chicken super quesadilla (a small quesadilla with cheese, sour cream, salsa & chicken) we ordered with Mika, however, was very good. The chicken was in large chunks and it was very nicely grilled. We don't understand how come that wasn't the case in our quesadillas (the chicken pieces were smaller and less tasty).

In all, we thought it wasn't better than our regular Los Pericos and we wouldn't make a point of going there again.

There was a fire at Pee Wee's Pizza this morning. The fire - which we, as normal sleeping people, didn't see nor hear - had flames shooting through the roof and heavy heat on the inside. They still don't know what caused it. I daresay that Pee Wee's will be closed for a while :)

Update: Apparently the fire was set intentionally. There were prying marks next to the door and the door was wide open when the fire crews came. The restaurant is now just an empty shell, everything inside burned. So alas, no more Pee Wee's :( We hadn't gone for a while, but it's a real shame given how long the place has been in building. They have no insurance but they're planning on rebuilding. Apparently they've gotten a lot of support from their customers over the years and may get a lot of volunteer labor. If nothing else, the place will look better. So all I have to say is "Go Pee Wee's"

Yesterday I made tandoori chicken and brownies. We didn't eat them at the same time, so I can't tell you how well they work together, but they were pretty good separately.

The tandoori chicken was bone-in chicken, skinned and marinated for a while on yogur mixed with Parampara Tandoori chicken mix. We then grilled it on the BBQ. Mike thought it was quite good, I was less enthusiastic. I liked the charred parts, but I think the other parts might have had too much marinade. Next time I'll make sure to wipe some off before grilling. Parampara has a lot of other mixes, which I'll probably try as well.

The brownies where Trader Joe's Truffle Brownie Mix. They were also very easy to make (add a lot of butter and eggs) and they were scrumptious. Soooo good, so moist. I'll definitely not make them again, so I can avoid eating the whole tray.

A new Chilli's opened in San Leandro a few months ago, and today they were at the farmer's market handing out tortilla chips & salsa (and coupons for 1 free kids meal). I haven't been to Chilli's yet - but I mean to go, in this town even chain restaurants deserve a review - so I figured I should give the chips a try. They weren't bad. The chips themselves were very thin and pretty greasy, very similar to those at Chevy's, though not quite as good. The salsa tasted like the jarred stuff, it was pretty watery, not at all chunky, with a bitter afterstate and an all-around Pace-like flavor. Chevys' is much better.

Last night, and agains today for lunch, we had "Rancher's Reserve" tri-tip, grilled on the BBQ. Rancher's Reserve is select grade meat (i.e. fit for human consumption) that for whatever reason is supposed to be more tender than it should. And indeed it is. Flavor wise it's clearly inferior to Costco's choice meat, but it is probably just as tender. I'd probably buy it again if I couldn't get Costco beef.

Yesterday, St. Leander, probably the largest church in San Leandro, had its annual festival. It's a very fun and rather complex affair. They have jumpers and (rather poor) face painting, of course, but also a considerable number of semi home-made, semi-professional festival games where you can win tickets that you can then exchange for cheap toys (and really, cheap toys are best as you can throw them out almost guilt-free - there is still that environment thing - after they're done playing with them).

There was also food at the festival. There were stands selling Mexican, Portuguese, Filipino food and BBQ, and a stand selling cakes & sweets. For lunch Mika had a plain quesadilla, while Mike and I shared a Portuguese pork-loin sandwich, the name of which escapes me. The pork had been marinated in a vinegary sauce that suited it, and while it was a little tough the whole thing was pretty tasty. For $3 it was a bargain. Also for $3 we got 3 ribs accompanied by 2 slices of white bread, a corn-on-the-cob and a soda. The ribs were quite good, tender and tasty even if not very meaty. The sauce was clearly home made -they had a huge pot of it - but it tasted like it came for a bottle. It was too vinegary for our taste, and I'd say even a bit too sweet. Not a favorite. The corn on the cob just sucked. Even Mika, who is not very particular, wouldn't eat it.

We had one of those checkers sort of cakes and it was absolutely delicious. The chocolate squares were very dense, almost, but not quite, brownie like, and the yellow squares were moist and sweet. The whole thing had a great white frosting and was much better than we could have expected. Our thanks to the grandma who baked it for the church.

We also actually won a cake in a lottery (you bet on a number and if it comes up you win a cake). I chose the coconut cake but it turned out that the cake itself had a weird pinkish frosting. My best guess is that it's made of jam mixed with some sort of buttermilk frosting. The flavor is unique and it grows on you.

We also had some lollipops and some cotton candy (yes, we're pigs).

The festival was a lot of fun and I'm glad we went.

A few weeks ago I got a flyer from Mountain Mike's Pizza advertising their "all you can eat" buffet Wednesday nights ($6.50, 5-8 PM), and a couple of weeks later it came to mind when I was trying to figure out what to do for dinner. Eda, our friend Arthur's mom, was in town so we quickly arranged to meet her and the kids there. It was a good plan.

Mountain Mike is a chain, but doesn't really look like one. It could really be your neighborhood pizzeria, and I think that's what it strives to be for the Marina district. It has recently undergone a renovation, so the place looks clean and now there is a separate dining area towards the back. There are still a couple of video game machines to keep the kids occupied.

But the pizza is what matters and the pizza was good. All of their specialty pizzas were available - albeit not at the same time -, cut into slivers so that you can taste many of them, and all the ones we tried were very good. The all-meat was too salty for me, but I equally enjoyed the vegetarian, the pineapple chicke luau and the other types. The crust was on the thin side, the cheese was cheesy and the topings were generous without being overwhelming. Everything tasted like good qualities (relatively speaking, of course) ingredients.

Their "dessert pizza", a cinnamon-toast tasting pizza, was out of this world, specially as it was served very hot.

The buffet also included a salad bar. There were no fancy lettuces here (too bad, 'cause that'st he only type of salad I eat) but they had pasta salad and potato salad, as well as the fixings for your run of the mill salads. Other people seemed to enjoy them.

At $6.50 for all of this it's a great deal - and the pizza is good enough that we will order from Mike's next time we want pizza. Note that they don't have free delivery, however.

Mountain Mike's
2150 Marina Blvd.
San Leandro, Ca.
510.352.5954