Yesterday I picked up a Bourbon chicken frozen entree at Grocery Outlet. I don't recall the brand now (and I already threw away the box), so I'll have to edit that detail in after I go to GO again. In any case, it was actually quite good. The chicken was tender and the sauce flavorful. The only minus is that the amount of chicken provided is somewhat skimpy for two people, but you can extend it by serving the chicken over rice (there is enough sauce for that). In all, I liked it and I'll probably buy it again - my only hesitation is that the $5 price is a bit stiff for the amount of food. Still, it's cheaper than going out to eat.

Also, right now Grocery Outlet has Ben & Jerry's NY Super Fudge Chunk ice cream for $1.50.

We stopped at Granzella's a Wednesday in November 2009 during a road
trip up north to visit my in-laws. The large signs by the freeway did
not necessarily convince us we'd find good food, but we thought the
place was worth a try. It was, but next time I'd probably try a
different restaurant.

Granzella's is as much a travel center as a restaurant, in the style of
Harris Ranch on I-5 heading south. There is a casual restaurant, a deli
counter, a coffee/gelato counter and a store selling a variety of
gourmet foods and drinks and cute knickknacks. Apparently there is also
a hotel associated with it. Unlike Harris Ranch, there is no stench of
cow poop around it.

The kids wanted to eat in the restaurant rather than the deli so that's where we headed. The
place has a cabin feel, with lots of wood, but the assorted decorations
are somewhat mismatched. The restaurant is pretty dark and not terribly
inviting.

The menu offers your typical family restaurant/coffeeshop fare. There
are burgers and sandwiches as well as pizza. I thought the prices ($9
for a plain cheeseburger) were a bit steep for this kind of restaurant
(and the quality of the food). There is a kids menu with your usual
choices for about $5; a soda or whole milk is included.

I had the bacon cheeseburger ($10), cooked medium rare as ordered. The
burger itself was probably fine, but it was served with so much yellow
mustard that it was impossible to taste anything else. I was not
impressed. The fries were average. Camila had the mac & cheese and it
must have been good as she ate the whole plate (not overly large). Mika
ordered the nachos, thinking it was the tortilla chip and cheese-whiz
concoction that she apparently gets at school, but refused to eat them
when she realized they had beans and not much on the way of cheese.
Mike had them later and thought they were mediocre. Both kids had hot
fudge sundaes ($2:50 each, I think), which they did enjoy. In all, I
thought the meal wasn't worth the $36 it came to after tax and tip.

I took a look at the cafe, deli and store and, as you may suspect, it
was grossly overpriced. I think 20oz cokes were about $2.25. Still,
some of their stuff is very cute and it may be worth a quick stop just
to browse.

Granzella's
451 6th Street
Williams, CA 95987
Restaurant: (530) 473-5583
http://www.granzellas.com/

Marga's Road Restaurant Reviews

Marga's Bay Area Restaurant Reviews

I think there are Sharis in California, but we have never felt
compelled to visit one until the night we were staying in Central Point,
OR and had nowhere else to go for dinner. Our expectations weren't
very high, so we were pleasantly surprised. While Sharis does not
offer anything close to a gourmet experience, the food is fine and
definitely merits a B ("Better than expected") in my
“road restaurant” scale.

The restaurant itself is your basic family restaurant/coffee shop. It
does not have a particularly gimmick, but it's pleasantly appointed; one
of its dining rooms has all booths and the other one tables and chairs.
We were offered a choice of a booth or a table, though we had to wait
for a few minutes for the former. Service was very good.

We all liked the thick beer battered onion rings, they were tasty
(though not very crispy) with and without the ranch sauce. My “baby
back” ribs ($10) were large and meaty, definitely not what you think as
babybacks, but there was plenty of meat. The BBQ sauce was very
average. It came with some mixed veggies, OK loaded mashed potatoes and
an absolutely marvelous slice of corn bread. Its texture was closer to
corn cake and it was rather sweet and quite delicious.

Mike had the fish and chips and they were pretty mediocre. He felt the
fish had too much breading and the fries were merely OK. The portion
was also not very large, though mine was generous enough to share. Mika
had the sliders from the kid's menu. Mike thought they were very dry,
but Mika loved them: “they tasted just like the ones from school,” she
said. Camila had the mac & cheese and was quite satisfied, but she's
not very demanding.

In all our dinner at Sharis was fine. I wouldn't go there if there was
an Elmer's around, but I'd definitely prefer it to a Denny's or Applebees.

Shari's Restaurant
210 Penninger St
Central Point, OR
(541) 665-7070
www.sharis.com

Marga's Chain Restaurant Reviews

Marga's Road Restaurant Reviews

Marga's Bay Area Restaurant Reviews

If you google "The Apple Peddler" the fourth link your get is one to my review of the Roseburg, OR location of that restaurant chain. I guess for that reason people have written to me with their impressions (read complaints) about the chain. In 2007, I posted this complaint about the Sutherlin Apple Peddler, and here is a recent one about the one in Burns.

We visited the Apple Peddlers restaurant in Burns Oregon on Sunday November 29, 2009, again, for the first time in several years . It was worse than the last time we decided to quit eating there, several years ago for the same reason.

The service was terrible, unfriendly and extremely slow. Waitress was more interested in cleaning tables and filling jelly racks than waiting on us and taking our order.

I ordered a hamburger with french fries. My husband ordered a senior omelet. When she finally brought our order, she brought two hamburgers and fries. She took the one back and reordered an omelet . My hamburger patty was so tough I could barely cut the hamburger in half, and the fries actually had ice crystals still on the inside.

I asked another waitress to return the fries and I received one that was just out of the fryer and quite pale, but edible. My Husbands omelet arrived and the cheese on it was not melted and it was very cold and tasteless, the biscuit was so cold it would not even begin to melt the butter.

We decided to give up and call it quits and took part of the hamburger to the dog. Dog refused to eat it ! So it was 17.99 down the drain as far as we are concerned.

We will not stop there again, which is very sad , as it is one of the few eating restaurants in Burns Oregon. McDonalds is a lot better and at least the food is cooked and hot when we receive it.

Betty McBee
Emmett, Id 83617

In the last few days I've gotten a couple of new (for me) cookbooks through swaptree.com, a service which allows you to trade cookbooks online. This is what I've got:

Ma Cuisine by Auguste Escoffier, the god of French haute cuisine. Ma Cuisine is directed to the home cook and I'm fully intending on doing at least a couple of recipes from there.

LA Vera Cucina Italiana: The Fundamentals of Classic Italian Cooking. I'm actually planning to read this book in addition to cooking from it.

I was also supposed to get The Cooking of Southwest France : Recipes from France's Magnificent Rustic Cuisine but the book seems to have been lost in the mail :-(

Anyway, I do have a fair number of cookbooks and I really should make a point of cooking a recipe from one cookbook (as opposed to epicurious) a week.

I've finally settled on my menus for my Hanukkah party and Xmas Eve and I have to say I'm quite pleased with both of them. Let's see how they turn out.

Hanukkah Menu

- Latkes with apple sauce & sour cream
- A salad (I've asked Desiree to bring it)
- Brisket with Tzimmes (from The Frugal Gourmet Celebrates Christmas)
-Yom Kippour Tajine (from The Great Book of Couscous), I'm making this for friends who don't eat red meat.
-Dreidle cake

I'm passing on the doughnuts (unless the cake does not turn out to look like a dreidle, in which case we'll have a quick trip to the doughnut store).

Xmas Eve Menu

Now this is the one important meal for us, which is my biggest production of the year:

- Curried Coconut Soup with Chickpeas
-Flamishe with mixed greens in a champagne vinaigrette
-Standing Rib Roast with Porcini & Bacon Sauce served with roasted vegetables, noisette potatoes and yorkshire pudding.
-Gladys' Peppermint Chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream

Made that last night, from an epicurious.com recipe, and wasn't thrilled. I liked the roasted grapes & shallots (Mike/kids didn't), but the chicken was sort of bland. Alas, I used rosemary instead of thyme, so that may have been the reason. In any case, not a recipe I'll repeat.

Yesterday we went for lunch at Taquería Guadalajara, where we hadn't been for ages and ages. After a meal there, I remembered why that was.

I had their special of the day, a smoked pork chop torta (sandwich). The smoked pork chop was delicious on itself, but there was too little of it to compete with the bread, condiments and vegetables - you could omit it altogether and there would be no difference in flavor.

Mike had a burrito that he found very average.

I liked the chips and salsa, the latter has a lot of cilantro and some other lemony flavor, though they took a while to come to the table.

In all, not a bad meal, but not a great one either. We'll continue going to Los Pericos instead.

Taqueria Guadalajara
14327 East 14th Street
San Leandro, CA
(510) 614-7060
www.taqueriaguadalajara.com

Original Review

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

Bay Area Restaurant Reviews

Got the Organic Classics Macaroni & Meat Sauce at Grocery Outlet a couple of days ago. I think it was a dollar or two for 10 oz - definitely cheap. Alas, it was quite unsatisfying. The meat sauce didn't seem to have much in the way of meat, and it just wasn't very tasty. The macaroni were just macaroni. It would have been better if I had some Parmesan cheese, but in any case I wouldn't buy it again.

I don't know why it's so hard to find brisket in this part of the Bay Area - or even find out if it's available. It's Hanukkah, brisket is traditionally made for Hanukkah, you'd think stores would understand that, but noooo.

The Safeways in San Leandro don't carry it, the Lucky's in San Leandro & San Lorenzo were out of it, Al Lunardi & Co's, a local meat company, had it at $2.50 lb, but each brisket was between 12 and 15 lbs. Galvan's, another local butcher, didn't have it. The meat departments of P & W in Castro Valley, Draegers and Farmer Joe's wouldn't answer the phone. Sheesh!

I finally found it (the flat kind) at Smart & Final in Hayward. The smallest brisket was 9lbs, but it was only $1.80 a lb, so I can't complain. Now I'm not sure if I want to cook it all at once or cut it in two and freeze one half. I like having leftovers, but if we have too much we probably won't eat it. Decisions, decisions!

The San Leandro Education Foundation, an organization that fundraises to support local school, has a new program called Eat Out for Education. On the first Wednesday of each month participating restaurants give 10% of sales to patrons who present an Eat Out coupon. This is a great opportunity to support both schools and local businesses at the same time.

This December we decided to go to Mama Lupe's Cocina Mexican Restaurant in Washington Manor simply because I hadn't been there before. Unfortunately the experience was less than stellar, and I don't think we'll be going back coupon or no coupon.

I should say at first, that my personal experience wasn't too bad. I liked the chips and salsa and my chimichanga (basically a fried burrito) came with a wonderful green sauce, nicely citrusy and a bit piquant. The sauce almost made up for the fact that the chimichanga was 95% rice and only 5% beef. I could not believe how stingy they were with the meat, they might as well not include it at all.

Mike was not thrilled with his flautas, which he thought merely ordinary - but our friend Blaine was quite unhappy with his salad with grilled chicken. Alas, I don't remember why.

Mika, my 7yo, really liked the rice and Camila, my 5yo, was OK with her quesadilla. They both really liked the Mexican hot chocolate, and I should buy some to make at home.

On the plus side, dinner was very cheap, less than $50 for 3 adults and 3 kids. Still, it wasn't cheap enough to justify the mediocre food.

Mama Lupe's Cocina Mexican Restaurant
15033 Farnsworth St
San Leandro, CA
(510) 483-4545

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

My friend Mauro brought this wine to my Hanukkah party last night, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. It has a fresh, crisp flavor, somewhat bitter, and yet it managed to be fruity as well. Very easy to drink. I'd buy it.

I got a package of Hibachi House Sesame Chicken at Grocery Outlet as a quick lunch. It wasn't cheap, $4 or $5 if I well recall - and while the box says it has 4.5 portions, nobody but a supermodel would be satisfied with one cup of rice and chicken for lunch. And it's mostly rice, I was surprised at how little chicken it came with. I felt ripped off. On the plus side, the sauce was quite good both with the chicken and the rice.

All that said, I wouldn't buy it again.

Grocery Outlet (at least the one in San Leandro) has Walkers Shortbread Box Festive Shapes cookies, in a 6.2 oz box, for $2. They are over $6 at Amazon, though just $2.50 at Safeway (so it's not /that/ good a deal). Still, it's not a /bad/ deal.

Today I saw Vienetta Triple Chocolate dessert at the San Leandro Grocery Outlet for $1.50 or $2. I didn't taste it, so I don't know how good it is, but I know that Vienetta has a lot of fans and it's hard to find, so I figured I'd post about it here.

Every year I put a bunch of cooking stuff in my Xmas list - and this year Santa (aka my friends/family) have obliged.

My friend Lola got me a copy of the Bouchon cookbook - which I've wanted for a long time. I've never been to Bouchon (one of the restaurants of acclaimed chef Thomas Keller), but I've been to the The French Laundry, albeit many years ago, and that was definitely the culinary experience of my lifetime. My friend Regina got me The French Laundry Cookbook a few years ago, but the recipes there were impossible to make for the home chef. I didn't even try.

I am looking forward to cooking from this book, though. At first glance, the recipes seem approachable; Bouchon is a bistro and thus it serves bistro food, which (to a limited extent) I know how to cook. The book, however, suffers from the disability of being *big* and *heavy*. According to Amazon, its dimensions are over 11" x 11" (closed) and it weights over 5lbs. It's also beautiful, which may make me think twice before using it in the kitchen. But, I do have one of those multi-use printer/fax/scanner thingies, so I may just photocopy the recipe I want to use and leave the book on the coffee table :-)

I got three other culinary gifts.

My brother got me a set of beautiful serving-size wooden bowls. They are very pretty and serviceable - and I'm aghast that my brother actually has such good taste.

My sister Kathy got me a Knife Sharpener (Farberware Platinum), which I asked for because last year I got a couple of nice knives, which have not been sharpened since. Mike, meanwhile, got me a J.A. Henckels International Classic 10-Inch Sharpening Steel. As far as I can tell, a knife sharpener /sharpens/ knives, while a sharpening steel keeps them sharpened, so it's useful to have both things. We'll see how they work out.

And I think that's it.

A good Xmas loot, all in all - now I have to clean my kitchen from Xmas Eve dinner/Xmas breakfast so I can actually start using the stuff I got :-)

For Xmas morning I made buttermilk pancakes, with butter & maple syrup, and bacon (from TJ's). The pancakes were absolutely delicious, very fluffy and light and with a good flavor of their own. I made them from this recipe (also copied, with modifications, below) from allrecipes.com - but I added a little bit more sugar to the batter and substituted milk & cream for a third cup of buttermilk, as I didn't have enough. So, if you don't have cream, you can just use 3 cups of buttermilk and 1/2 cup of milk.

The original recipe asks that you don't mix the dry ingredients with the wet ones until you are ready to cook the pancakes. I did so for my first batch, but a few ours later I wanted some more and I used the leftover batter (which I'd left on the counter); I did not perceive any difference in quality. I did follow the original instructions about gently mixing the dry with the wet ingredients, until the former were just moistened. Though that meant the flour wasn't fully dissolved, this was not an issue when cooked.

Buttermilk Pancakes

3 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup milk
1/2 cup whipping cream
3 eggs
1/3 cup butter, melted + butter for cooking

Mix the flour with the sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl combine the buttermilk, milk, cream, eggs and melted butter. Pour the buttermilk mix onto the flour mix and gently mix, with a fork, until just moistened.

Heat up a large griddle to medium/medium-high heat and melt a small pat of butter. Pour about 1/2 cup (I used a ladle filled half-way) batter onto the griddle and cook until the bottom starts to brown, flip and repeat. Serve with butter and real maple syrup.

Marga's Best Recipes

We have returned to Boulevard Burger many times since it opened in December 2009. I'm always pleased with its perfectly cooked, juicy burgers. Their fries and onion rings are fine, nothing exceptional, as are their shakes. The menu now has several kids' choices,including chicken strips, for about $5. In all, Boulevard Burger is a great place to grab a burger.

Note: Here is an account of a not-so-pleasant experience at BB

I've been looking forward to go to Boulevard Burgers since I first heard it was opening, back in August. But I don't go out to lunch that often, so the opportunity didn't present itself until today - when our empty stomachs and a very dirty kitchen convinced us that a lunch out was a good idea. And, indeed, it was. Both Mike and I were very pleaed with our burgers and are sure to go back.

Boulevard Burgers is the latest venture from restauranteur Mike Wiesner, the owner of Paradiso. It occupies the space on MacArthur Boulevard where Sonoma's had been until a few months ago. Sonoma's had attempted to be a "nice" restaurant, but I was never enthralled with its food - though I hope that my negative review wasn't a major reason why the venture failed. Boulevard Burgers is a much less ambitious endeavor. It's basically a semi-upscale burger joint. Upscale in that they use "grass-fed, grain finished California Angus which has no steroids, antibiotics, hormones or pesticides" and which comes from a nearby ranch - but not quite gourmet as the burgers they offer are quite basic; toppings include four kinds of cheese, avocado, mushrooms, grilled onions and little else. Don't come here expecting a Kobe burger with saute foie gras and homemade Dijon mustard (if that's what you want, Hubert Keller's Burger Bar in San Francisco will be more your thing).

The important thing, however, is that the burgers are good. Both Mike and I had ours medium-rare, and they were perfectly cooked and very juicy (so much so that they did manage to soak the bottom part of the bun, a problem easily solved by just turning the burger around :-). I had jack cheese, bacon and avocado on mine - and the combination was very good. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The burgers are between 6.5 and 7 oz, a good size for a good appetite; I couldn't finish mine. They range in price from $5 for a simple hamburger to $8 for the "Whole Enchilada", a burger with avocado, bacon, sauteed onions, mushrooms, jalapeños and cheese. I think the prices are quite reasonable for the quality of the food. The burgers come solo, but you can order fries ($2), sweet potato fries ($3.50) or onion rings ($3) on the side - we got the fries (a HUGE portion) and found them to be un-exceptional. Thin, crispy and tasty enough, but not addictive.

Boulevard also offers grilled chicken sandwiches and a portobello mushroom burger. There are also salads. We didn't try them.

At Boulevard Burgers you order at the counter and have the food brought to your table. Service was quick and very efficient, and the servers/counter people were very attentive.

In all, we had a very pleasant experience and I'd definitely return.

Boulevard Burgers
1027 MacArthur Blvd.
San Leandro, CA
510-632-3100
http://www.boulevardburger.com/
Open 11 AM - 9 PM

Marga's San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

I got a bottle of Villa MIlena Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I don't remember how much I pay, I'd guess about $7-8 for a 1 lt bottle) at Grocery Outlet a couple of weeks ago because I had ran out of it and I didn't have time to go to Trader Joe's, where I usually buy my EVOO (I get the Greek Kalamata one in the large bottle, it's quite good and cheap). I wasn't expecting much, but I still managed to be disappointed. The oil is a green-yellow color and has a fruity beginning, no middle whatsoever and a *very* bitter finish. Indeed, it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth when you are done.

I've used it for sauteing/pan frying and it's fine for that, but definitely not for salads or with bread.