Last night we went to downtown Palo Alto to relax at Watercourse Way. We left our home a bit late, and it took us a while to get there, so we found ourselves with half an hour for dinner. Taxi's Hamburgers looked like the sort of place we could get a quick bite.

Mike got a bacon cheeseburger, and he liked it well enough. He found it juicy, though not as juicy as burgers from Nation's. He'd have it again.

I had their pulled pork platter, which included a pulled pork sandwich (in a hamburger ban), some veggies and your choice of fries or onion rings. The onion rings were a bit dry, but tasty enough. They'd been better with some ranch dressing, of course. I wasn't thrilled with the pulled pork. It came with a side of a very generic bbq sauce. The pork itself was dry and tasteless.

The food came reasonably quickly.

The place itself tries to look like an old fashioned diner, with a lot of white tiles. You order at the counter, and a waiter brings your food and takes away your plates. They have self-serving soda machines and a potato bar. The food is a bit on the expensive side, it was a bit over $20 for what we had (including two sodas).

I'd probably go again if I was in a hurry, but I'd order a burger.

403 University Ave
Palo Alto, CA
(650) 322-8294

More restaurant reviews at http://www.marga.org/food/rest/

Last Friday, we took our friend Paz to dinner at La Note. I'd been there once before with my friend Regina, and while my burger hadn't been that good - Regina's dish had been wonderful. We'd won a $25 gift certificate at the Girls Inc.'s Women of Taste event a few months ago, and I figured I'd use it and give La Note another try. My experience, once again, was mixed. Mike had a great dish, while I had a merely OK one. Paz was too polite to complain about her chicken sandwich, but she didn't seem to enjoy it too much.

Once again, we started the meal with the Crotin de Fromage de Chevre Cuits aux Noix, "oven baked, nut crusted goat cheese served with french country toasts, roasted garlic & provençales tomatoes." As in my other visit, the combination was excellent and I think we all enjoyed it.

Mike had a large pastry pocket filled with a variety of seafood including scallops, shrimp, salmon fillet and crabs. He thought it was excellent. I had chicken with prunes (I think), and while the outside of the chicken was tasty, the inside was pretty insipid and the breast was terribly dry - so much that I could not eat it.

For dessert I had a flourless chocolate cake with berry coulis and vanilla ice cream. It was very rich and very good - though I don't particularly like the coulis (I have to remember to ask them to skip it next time). I'd order it again.

I hear that La Note has a very good brunch, but I haven't tried it yet.