I wanted a quick and easy dinner last night and this kit from TJ's seemed to fit the bill. And it would have, had it been good - alas, it wasn't.

The kit is, in theory, a good idea. All you have to do is microwave a bag of ravioli for 3 minutes, and then the bag of sauce for 1 1/2 minutes. I can't imagine a quicker meal. And while the sauce was pretty nice, albeit a bit mild, the ravioli itself were quite tasteless. Indeed, if they tasted of anything at all, it was of staleness. That's too bad because I love mushroom ravioli - the Safeway brand portobello mushroom ravioli are particularly good. Even with the convenience, and despite the fact that the kit is supposed to last you a month in the fridge so it could be there whenever you need it, I can't see myself buying it again.

Sunday morning we went to brunch at the Pelton Cafe. This used to be a favorite of Mike's (God knows why), but I've always felt the food to be a cut below sub-par. We hadn't been there in a while, though, and I think in the mean time the place changed owners, though the quality of the food stayed the same. Mike had his usual sunrise combo, or something of the sort, pancakes, eggs, sausage, you know, the usual. It was fine. Mika had themost pathetic happy face pancake ($4!). It was one large panckage with a happy face drawn with whipped topping. It didn't come out very well, however, and the face looked more frowny than anything.

I made the mistake (yes, memory can be short) of ordering a burger (comes with potato chips, not fries). It was horrible, McDonalds produces higher quality burgers. The burger was dried, fatty and I wouldn't be surprised if it included an additive of some sort. It wasn't very large, either, and while it was cheap given its low quality I felt ripped off. In short, don't order a burger here.

The Pelton Cafe served dinners for a little while, but I think they are back to serving lunch and breakfast only. Good thing.

(San Leandro Restaurant Reviews)

The other night we went to dinner at Grasshopper, and decided to skip dessert there and head to Leonidas instead. Leonidas is a Belgium chocolatier that produces and sells specialty chocolates. There are Leonidas shops all over Belgium, and apparently the rest of the world as well. My friend Adriana who lives in Belgium loves them, and I brought a couple of pounds with me after my last trip there (they are significantly cheaper in Belgium than in the States), but I'm less excited about them. Call me a plebe, but I prefer Sees Candies all the way.

While my friends were getting candy - and Eddie was nice enough to buy a piece for each one of our husbands -, I got some dulce de leche gelato ($3 for a small cup) and I was hooked. The gelato was almost as good as the one back home. It had a light, cool consistency, and yet was creamy and very flavorful. If you're in Rockridge make sure you get some.

Leonidas
6311 College Avenue
Oakland

I received the following message about a disappointing experience at the Black Bear Diner in Reno. While I clearly cannot verify what happened, I'm happy to provide a forum for people to tell about their dining experiences - good or bad.

I don't know if it was the name or the big apple in the flyer but I've been ordering food from Big Apple Pizza thinking that it was Red Apple Pizza. Big Apple Pizza is a small chain located on MacArthur Blvd. (not that you would know that from their flyer) that has only recently started sending me flyers.

The first time I ordered I got their fish and chips ($17 for a 10 piece meal). The fish was not coated on a traditional beer batter, but instead had some sort of gritty coating that was neither flavorful or good to eat. The very thin stripes tasted stale and it was clear that the fish had been bought frozen and then dumped into the deep fryer (or it might have been the microwave). It had a dark brown appearance and did not look at all like the picture in the flyer.

The meal came with fries, soda and bread. The fries were also soggy and soft, the type of fries you get at a school cafeteria. Frozen, no doubt, and maybe even microwaved. We probably could have made a better meal out of Safeway's freezer. The bread was standard sliced bread from a bag.

The mini cheese pizza we got for Mika, however, was pretty good.

Our second time we ordered their pepperoni & cheese pizza, which has a 4 cheese blend ($15 for their "x-large", probable a 16" pizza). We liked it. The pizza was on the thin side with a good amount of cheese and pepperoni. We'd order again.

You get your choice of wings, salad or a 2 liter soda with each combo pizza. We had the wings, they were fatty and came in a hot sauce that did not taste good to me. Next time I'll go for the soda.

Big Apple Pizza
360 MacArthur Blvd
San Leandro, CA
Daily 11 AM - 12 AM
(510) 638-1996

A couple of days ago I got a flyer from a new pizza joint called "Fiestas". It's located in Oakland but it serves San Leandro (and other parts of the East Bay)Its menu is pretty standard, basically pizza, salads and chicken wings, and I thought I'd give it a try. I went for their 3 2-topping medium pizzas for $15 deal, which seemed a pretty good deal.

The pizza was fine, one notch above Dominoes. There was a good amount of cheese and toppings. It wasn't anything special, but I'd order it again. I wouldn't say the 2-topping pizzas we ordered were "gourmet," though we didn't try their specialties.

Fiestas Pizza
6432 International Boulevard
Oakland, CA
510.777.0012
http://www.fiestaspizza.com/

Reader Michaele Maurer wrote me about her own experience at Tsuru Sushi, a small Japanese restaurant in downtown restaurant that I wasn't particularly thrilled with. I'm always happy to publish other people's experiences, specially well written ones.