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Got it today at Grocery Outlet. It's probably the worst food item I have ever bought. It's COMPLETELY inedible, you cannot bite through it, you cannot chew it, you cannot digest it. I don't even want to guess what it's made from and what stuff it has in it.
Whoever makes it should be ashamed of the product, and Grocery Outlet should be ashamed to sell it.
It's been a couple of years since our friend Eddie moved away from our dear San Leandro in search of hotter pastures. And in the meantime our monthly mom's night out dinners sort of stopped - mostly because of logistics. But Eddie was in town for a visit, so we /had to/ get together for another special dinner. This time Natasha had the great idea of going to Mua, a newish, trendy restaurant in downtown Oakland (now called "uptown"). Natasha had been there three times, and couldn't stop saying good things about the place. No wonder. In terms of food alone, this is probably the best restaurant I ever visited in the Bay Area. All the dishes we had ranged from very good to spectacular - and the majority fell in the latter category. All I can say is "Wow".
Mua occupies an industrial-style space, with eclectic decorations which range from the cozy (an out of place cupboard) to the post-modern (pseudo graffiti decorated panels). I'm not very good at describing, so you might as well take a look at the picture at the bottom of this review (which I reproduce from their website). The results are quite interesting and surprisingly inviting - though clearly the place is geared towards an audience younger and hipper than 40+ year-old moms. The only real issue for us was that this is a very noisy place, in particular because of the loud music piped into the dining room. The noise made it impossible for the six of us to converse when seated at a regular 6-person table, but they kindly moved us to a smaller table that allowed us to talk to each other without too much trouble.
Service, as you can surmise, was quite efficient and good. Our waitress forgot one of our dishes, but given how much we ordered that did not prove to be a problem. Water was refilled, dishes brought and removed at appropriate times (basically, our 13 dishes were brought in two stages, which worked very well).
Mua doesn't only serve great food (which I'll describe below), but it's well known for its cocktails (all $9). It has quite a variety of unusual mixes, and we found all of them delicious. Aamani had the Pepper Basil Caipirinha (leblon cachaça, black peppercorns, basil and lime), and she was very pleased. It had a small kick but it wasn't very spicy. Natasha and Eddie both ordered the Min Mojito (oronoco rum, mint, lime, ginger puree and ginger beer), and even though Eddie ordered it with little ginger, she found it too gingery for her taste. Both Natasha and I thought it was perfectly blended, but tastes differ. Parker's Cucumber Crush (leblon cachaça, cucumber, elderflower liqueur and lime) was incredibly refreshing, definitely a summer drink. It was very popular at our table. My Strawberry Ginger Lemonade (stoli citrus vodka, strawberry, ginger puree and lemon) might have needed just a tad more sugar and didn't really have much of a ginger flavor, but still was very yummy - quite reminiscent of a strawberry daiquiri. The real winner of the evening, however, was Dolores' Chamomile Whiskey Sour (chamomile whiskey, lemon, lime and egg white). I, personally, hate whiskey - it's too strong for me - but this drink was so well balanced, with just the right amount of sweetness and a caramelish creaminess, that I loved it. So did everyone else. I'd definitely recommend you try it (or really, anything else in their cocktail menu).
But as good as the drinks were, it was the food that shined here. If you go, try to do so with a large group so that you can taste more dishes. And really, skip the main entrees, I'm sure they are very good (we only tried the burgers) but you'll want to have the room for the small dishes.
The first dish I tasted were the Shiitake Mushrooms ($9). The perfectly sauteed mushrooms came on a crostini topped by bright green (I assumed herbed) goat cheese. The combination of the refreshing cheese and the savory mushrooms worked surprisingly well and I was lucky enough to manage to eat a whole slice (I think the dish came with three). The "mac & cheese" ($7) is made with butternut squash pasta and a light cream sauce (I presume) that has no cheese. I was surprised at just how delicious this dish was - if I could find the recipe I could say goodbye to Kraft forever. I hope they publish a cookbook very, very soon.
I didn't taste the crispy tofu ($7) - it never made it to my side of the table, indeed I'd say that Natasha pretty much monopolized it :-) - but I hear it was also a star. Less interesting was the beet salad ($8). It was very nice, don't get me wrong, but it didn't have the superlative flavors that other dishes showed. It was just a very good salad.
The dish that really won me over to vegetables (in case you are new to my reviews, I'm a complete meaterian, I won't touch veggies with a 6-foot-pole) was the collard greens. They don't appear on their menu online, so I don't know what they were made with, but the sauce they came with was pretty thin and must have had something like bacon. It was very savory and perfectly balanced, and the dish itself was my favorite. I could eat that forever. I'm really going to write and beg them to publish a cookbook.
I'm not fond of carpaccio ($8) so I wasn't overly impressed with this dish, though Parker, who had ordered it, was quite happy. I did like the arugula salad that came with it :-)
I'm not a fan of slimy food, so I didn't try the mussels ($13). The roasted tomato broth that accompanied, however, was also out of this world - nicely acidic and with only a subtle seafood flavor. Everyone was enchanted. I never saw the string beans ($8) which Aamani ordered, though I'm sure they made it to the table, but I don't recall anyone commenting on them (then again, there was so much food that I may have missed some specific dish discussions).
Eddie ordered the lamb cheeks ($10), which I never would have ordered myself, but given how good everything else was, I had to try them - and I was very happy I did. The lamb was very tender and perfectly cooked, and the wine sauce very tasty. I can't help but think that it needed just a tad of more seasoning, however. Perhaps the wine should have been reduced more. In any case, I liked it.
I didn't taste the asparagus, in the "Warm Asparagus-Marble Potato" dish, but did have several of the potatoes :-) They come with bacon and a mustard sauce and were also amazing.
The vegetarian Burger ($11) that Aamani ordered is made from chickpeas, bulgur, quinoa and walnut and comes with an aioli sauce. The burger was very nice but the sauce really transported it into the "delicious" level. Yum, yum, yum.
Along with the beet salad, the dish that least impressed me was the regular hamburger which I ordered with cheddar, bacon and avocado ($15). Don't get me wrong, it was very good - but ultimately just a burger and I've had others just as good, it not better, elsewhere. I found it just a little dry and just a little salty. At 1/2 lb it was also very big. This is probably the dish I'd skip next time.
The fries which came with the burgers and the mussels also failed to impress. They were thin, unevenly salted and just OK.
We were quite full after that meal, but we still wanted to try the desserts ($7?, I'm not sure). They all seemed quite prosaic - nothing seemed very original or provocative. We decided to split the creme brule and the brownie with caramel ice cream and fudge. They were both good but not great. I liked that the creme brulee was warm and not too sweet - the the brownie went very well with the ice cream, but I found the brownie a bit too dry. This is definitely a place to come for the food, not the desserts.
In all, we had an amazing time, both eating and talking (about our kids, of course) and I will definitely have to come here again (hopefully with another group so we can sample all the dishes we skipped this time). The bill came to $42.50 per person after tax and 18% tip, which was incredibly reasonable given the amount and quality of the food and cocktails.
So take my advise and go to Mua. Make sure to make reservations, however, as the place was full even on a Wednesday night.
Mua
2442a Webster St
Oakland, CA
(510) 238-1100
http://www.muaoakland.com/
Su - Th 4:30 PM - 12 AM
F - Sa 4:30 PM - 2 AM
Marga's Bay Area Restaurant Reviews
I had some steak and sour cream I had to use up, so I decided to make beef stroganoff based on this epicurious.com recipe. I made a few substitutions, most importantly sour cream for the whipped cream, and the results were excellent. Mika, however, did not like how sour it was, so if I make it again, I'd use whipped cream.
Beef Stroganoff is usually served on egg noodles, I used whatever pasta shape I had around.
Beef Stroganoff
Ingredients
Directions
Pat dry the meat and cut into thin, short strips. Sprinkle with salt.
Heat the oil over high heat in a deep frying pan. Working in batches, add a layer of beef and cook on both sides until medium rare, about 1 minute per side. Remove beef and repeat with leftover beef. Remove beef, place in a plate, cover and set aside.
Turn heat to medium-high and add 2 Tbsp. butter. Wait until it melts and add the chopped onion. Cook until tender.
Add the mushroom slices, and sauté until the mushrooms are soft and the liquid evaporates, around 12 minutes.
Add the beef broth and stir. Add the brandy, stir and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer uncovered until the liquid thickens and coats the mushrooms - 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the cream and mustard.
Return the meat to the frying pan, as well as any liquid that accumulated on the plate. Mix and simmer over medium-low heat until the meat is warm, about 2 minutes.
Sprinkle with dill and serve over pasta.
Like everyone else these days, I'm in search of healthy and tasty grains to feed to my family. Quinoa, a "pseudocereal" that originates in the Andes mountains, is high in protein, iron and fiber, and while it's high on carbs, it's still better than pasta or white rice. The grain also has the advantage of looking like couscous when cooked, and having the consistency of soft pasta, something that my kids like. Alas, its nutty and earthy flavor is not very pleasant, and my kids were not happy with it.
I've made it plain before, but yesterday I followed this epicurious.com recipe for Lemon-Scented Quinoa . OK, I didn't really follow the recipe - I eyedball the olive oil (and ended up putting too much), just boiled the quinoa without steaming it after (I don't think that made any difference, the consistency was perfect), I used lime juice instead of lemon and skipped the lemon peel. Still, I doubt that the changes really made that much of a difference. i think quinoa may just not be for us.
I served the quinoa alongside Roast Pork Loin with Garlic and Rosemary. The pork tasted great, the flavor permeated throughout the meat but, despite the fact that I checked on the pork every couple of minutes, I still managed to overcook it and it was dry. So I don't think I'll try making pork roasts again either.
Tonight on the menu Barbecued Tri-Tip with Caramelized Red Onions and steamed broccoli. I don't think I'll serve a starch. Hope it turns out well - if so, I'll copy the recipe here as well.
December 2010
I've been to The Vine several times in the last few months. I find it a nice place to have something light to eat and a reasonably priced glass of wine. Their tapas menu has expanded somewhat and they now serve desserts (which we haven't tried). Most of the tapas I've tried are good to very good. I particularly enjoyed the croquettes ($7) and the Spanish omelet ($5). However, my half-Spanish friend Paz wasn't as complimentary. Their wines, though, are almost universally good. They seem to no longer be open on Sundays, by the way.
August 2010 update
Well, I finally went to The Vine with a few friends a couple of nights ago and we had a very nice experience. The Vine has a limited selection of wines - two sparkling wines and no more than ten white and red wines - but what we had was good. I had a glass of the Cava and a glass of the Malbec. The Cava was light and bubbly, not too dry and easy to drink - I quite enjoyed it. The Malbec was very nice balanced, substantial without being tanic, a very good all around red.
A couple of my friends had the French something or other, it tasted like a cab and was deep and earthy. Also very enjoyable, though better with food, I'd think.
We only had a couple of their few tapas. The garbanzos were an all around favorite, I enjoyed them even though I'm not a garbanzo person. I thought the patatas bravas were fine, they basically were large chunks of country style potatoes served with a tomato-based sauce and a light creamy sauce. Other people were less impressed.
The room is very nice, quite sophisticated for San Leandro. Service was attentive and the waitress told us that they will be expanding their menu (and hopefully serving desserts) and may expand their hours as well.
The Vine Wine & Tapas
135 Parrott St
San Leandro, CA
(510) 969-7477
Tu - Sa 4-10 PM
Su 11 AM - 6 PM
San Leandro Restaurant Reviews
July 20th, 2010 blog post
The Vine, the new venture from the owner of The Englander, has finally opened. This cute spot is located next to The Englander (they displaced an old-time hair salon to do this, which is not very nice at all), but it's quite a bit classier. I stopped by to take a look, but I haven't eaten there yet. I'll report when I do.
For now I can tell you that they offer a variety of wines by the shot (2 oz, about $4), glass (around $7) or bottle (in the 20's) as well as beers. To eat they have pizzas ($5), a couple of cooked tapas (such as Spanish tortilla, $5) and simple things such as cheeses, cold meats and olives. Clearly they are focusing on the wine, not the food. No desserts, as far as I can see, which is a bummer as it'd be nice to have a place for dessert in San Leandro.
They have limited hours, they're open 4 - 10 PM Tuesday through Saturday, and Sunday 11 AM - 6 PM - which is a further bummer as I like having places to go late. But it's definitely a good addition to the San Leandro culinary "scene" .
The Vine Wine & Tapas
135 Parrott St
San Leandro, CA
(510) 969-7477
http://www.thevinewineandtapas.com
Tu - Sa 4-10 PM
Grocery Outlet has been carrying Edward's Singles for several weeks now. The cheap desserts consist of a dessert base which you heat up for a minute in the microwave, and a small cup of ice-cream with chocolate syrup/chips that you put on it. The ice cream melts on the hot dessert providing, working both as a cooling force and an antidote for the sweetness of the dessert.
Edwards Singles come with assorted bases. Grocery Outlet carries the molten chocolate lava cake, the chocolate chip cookie and the apple pie varieties. The apple pie is just OK, but the other two are delicious. I would never have expected such simple and cheap desserts to be so good, but they really are as good as something you'd get from a restaurant. The combination of the hot and cold, sweet and light, really works.
But the best part is that they are super cheap. A package of two desserts (and trust me, each portion is more than enough for a person) is only 50-cents now at Grocery Outlet. OK, that's because they are a month passed their "best by" date - but I'm betting that there is still nothing wrong with them (I certainly haven't gotten sick from the many I've eaten). Of course, the past-expiration-date issue means that they won't be on the GO shelves for long, and really, I'm not sure how much past their expiration date I'd be willing to eat them, but for the time being the kids and I are enjoying them.
BTW, Grocery Outlet also carries Edwards Singles pie slices @ $1.50 per package. I haven't given these a try.
Ming Tasty, a Chinese restaurant, opened in the space most recently occupied by La Cocina de Raquel a couple of months ago. That particularly space has in recent years also hosted andy & joe's, taqueria, Kolbeh and Casa María #2 - all of which served bad food and eventually failed. It's surprising that the owners of Ming Tasty were not spooked out by what, by now, could be considered an unlucky location - but after getting a $200K loan from the Small Business Administration, they decided to give their restaurant dream a go.
I've been doubtful about the prospects for a new Chinese restaurant in San Leandro. There are quite a lot of them - mostly serving mediocre-to-good Americanized Chinese food at rock-bottom prices. The high-end corner of the Chinese food market has, so far, been cornered by Daimo, only a couple of blocks away. I'm not a big Daimo fan myself, but it seems to be popular enough. Ming Tasty, meanwhile, seems to be taking a mid-way approach. They've developed a stylish and comfortable space (in the mode of the "Asian Bistros" that have invaded the East Bay), created a long menu with unusual yet typical dishes that reflect the influences of the Chinese diaspora, and settled on mid-level prices. Indeed, I can't find anything wrong with Ming Tasty's concept (though the name is too goofy to take seriously), but it fails dramatically in its execution.
As I hinted above, I was quite pleased by the appearance of the restaurant. They covered up the garish Mediterranean-villa murals that previously covered the walls, and decorated the room with muted tones and stylish touches. Those $200K were put to good use. Service was competent, if not as efficient as we'd have liked, but not deserving of criticism.
The problem with Ming Tasty was the food - and in particular, the lack of care and respect that the kitchen shows for its product.
Let me start with my biggest complaint. I ordered the crispy deep-fried fresh chicken ($8.50 for half) - and it was served cold. When I complained, they took the dish back to the kitchen and instead of offering too cook a new order or serve me something else, they microwaved it! Now, the whole point of crispy fried chicken is that it be, well, crispy. Chicken skin cannot stay crisp when you microwave it - not to speak of what microwaving does to the texture of the meat. In my book, this is an un-excusable mistake. Well, not really a mistake, as clearly they knew what they were doing.
Other dishes in the menu were also not stellar. I enjoyed the "house special salted pizza" ($3.50), which was very reminiscent of Malaysian Roti, but it would have been better if served with a curry sauce. It was also quite expensive for what was, all in all, a fairly small piece of bread.
The kids had a very mediocre chicken chow mein and Mike had an OK, but not exciting, broccoli beef ($8).
In all, why the food in general was not bad, the microwaved chicken will make sure I don't return.
BTW, Ming Tasty offers free delivery ($15 minimum order). They are also open really late (at least according to their menu), so it's probably a good place to go when everything else is closed. Just be prepared for microwaved food :-)
Ming Tasty
1668 East 14th St.
San Leandro, CA
510-895-6898
M-Th: 10 - 1 AM
F - Su: 8 - 1 AM
December 2010
I went back to Sylantro a couple of weeks ago with a bunch of people and had a great lunch. Everyone loved the squid appetizer (didn't try it, I'm not a squid person). I had their combo grilled meats plate (can't remember how they called it), and all the meats were delicious. Wonderfully marinated, well cooked and juicy. It's highly recommended. I don't remember what other people had, but they were all very pleased as well.
If you read my musings (and why would you?), you have heard me complain at the dismal restaurant choices in San Leandro. Yeah, it's pretty bad - so much so that tonight, when Mike and I found ourselves unexpectedly sans kids, we could not think of any place in San Leandro where we actually wanted to go to dinner.
Fortunately, our friend and future San Leandro mayor Stephen Cassidy stopped over for a short visit, and suggested that we head to Sylantro, a Vietnamese restaurant in Washington Manor. He'd been there a few times and had always had a good experience. We're always for something new, so we gave it a try. And we're so glad we did - Sylantro is definitely a great addition to our culinary "scene".
Sylantro is relatively new, it's only been open for about 6 months, but the family that runs it has been in the restaurant scene for over twenty years. They previously owned a restaurant in Oakland - but decided that they preferred the small town atmosphere that San Leandro has to offer. Indeed, it's that small town feeling which keeps us here as well :-)
Sylantro's menu is both familiar and innovative - though it's more in the style of the new Vietnamese bistros (like Le Soleil and Vo's in San Leandro than the more traditional Vietnamese restaurants like Le Cheval in Oakland. They have pho, of course, as well as a variety of other dishes - 123 in all, including appetizer and lunch items, but excluding sides and desserts. They serve pho, of course ($7-8). Dishes are reasonably priced, averaging about $10, and portions are generous. We split an appetizer and each had a main dish, and had leftovers to take home! The dishes are also beautifully arranged and presented - though such presentation is out of place in a restaurant that insists on having a large flat-screen TV turned on to music videos in its dining room (mercifully, the "music" wasn't very loud). Fortunately, we were seated by the window, away from the TV and other diners. I'd insist in sitting there on future visits :-) Also fortunately, the food and the service more than made up for the tackiness of the TV-centric surroundings.
Mike and I split the Crispy Imperial Eggrolls appetizer ($6). These wonderful rolls were filled with chicken and crab and had perfectly cooked crispy shells. They were substantial and not as fibrous as other eggrolls I've had. They were served with the ubiquitous nuoc cham dipping sauce, and came with cucumber slices, mint and lettuce. I'd definitely order them again. As our entrees, Mike and I shared the deep fried snapper ($11) and the beef with 3 kinds of mushrooms ($9). We liked both.
The fried snapper was perfectly cooked, with a thin breading. By itself it needed more seasoning, but it was served with a beautiful "fiery sauce". This sauce was tangy and intense, and delicious in itself - but way too overwhelming for the subtle flavor of the fish. Fortunately, the fish was wonderful with the nuoc cham, and that's how we ate it.
I was very happy with the beef with mushrooms. The sauce reminded me of a thinner and subtler hoisin sauce - it was dark and very well balanced, with sweet undertones. It went great both with the beef and the mushrooms (of which the buttons were my favorite), and specially with the thick-grained brown rice that Mike ordered with dinner. I'm not a huge brown rice fan, but the soft nuttiness of the rice really played well with the sweetness of the sauce. This is a dish I'd order again.
We didn't have dessert - nothing sounded that appealing, and with our 3 sodas dinner came to about $35 after tax but before tip. Not bad given the quality of the food.
Service was exceptional. Our waitress (the daughter of the owners) was friendly, attentive and eager to answer all of our questions.
In all, it was an excellent dinner and I'm eager to go back.
Sylantro Vietnamese Cuisine
967 Manor Blvd.
San Leandro, CA
510-351-9999
M-Su 9 AM - 9 PM
San Leandro Restaurant Reviews
Another great recipe from epicurious.com. It was quick and easy to make and it calls for few ingredients. It's not particularly unhealthy either. In addition, Mike, Camila and I LOVED it. Indeed, Camila asked if we could have that chicken every night. Alas, Michaela hated it - she found the honey mustard flavor too strong. So I don't think I'll be making this dish again, which is a pity as it's so good. If I were to make it again, I'd serve it with plain couscous.
Here is the recipe I made, somewhat modified from the epicurious.com one. It serves about 4 adults.
- 12 skinless/boneless chicken thighs
- salt & pepper to taste
- olive oil
- 2 cups orange juice
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2/3 cup honey mustard
Sprinkle chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Heat the oil over medium-high heat, in a wide, deep, frying pan. Place the thighs on the pan and cook until brown on both sides, about 6 minutes per side. You may need to do this in batches.
Drain any extra fat from the pan, return all thighs to the pan (if needed) and add the orange juice and chicken broth to the pan. Continue cooking (uncovered) over medium-high heat until the chicken is done, about 7 more minutes. Remove chicken and add the honey mustard. Mix well and boil until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes.
Just found these at Grocery Outlet in San Leandro. A 3-pack is $3, normally a single pack is that much at the supermarket.
I found the cheese to be quite good. It's very, very creamy and easy to spread. It has a milder taste than the regular laughing cow cheese, and no hint of French Onion (whatever that is) at all. That's a plus for me, as I was afraid the cheese would have an off taste because of the flavoring.
In any case, a good bargain and one I'm sure won't last.
I made this recipe from epicurious.com last week to serve along with crispy oven fried fish. The fish was good, but not outstanding, but I really took a liking to these fries. They were tasty, with very little hints of garlic, and deeply satisfying. They are not really healthy, given how much oil they require, but definitely worth making for the flavor alone. In the original recipe they are served with fried sage, but I didn't bother.
Preheat oven 450°F with rack in upper third.
Put the olive oil, garlic and salt in a blender and puree until smooth. Place sweet potato rounds in a large bowl and pour the garlic oil on it, coat well.
Spread sweet potato rounds in 1 layer in a large baking sheet. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until brown patches start appearing on top of the sweet potatoes.
This is an easy and excellent cornbread recipe I got from allrecipes.com. Very, very bad for you, of course, but we ate all the crumbs. I'm making a couple of modifications on technique here from the original recipe.
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup corn meal
- 1/2 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 375F. Grease an 8" x 8" square baking pan.
Put butter in a large microwave-safe bowl and microwave until it melts. Mix in the sugar. Add the eggs and beat using a whisk or eggbeater until well combined. In a separate bowl combine the buttermilk with the baking soda. Add the buttermilk to the butter mixture and mix well. Add the flower, cornmeal and salt and mix well again.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out dry - about 28-30 minutes.
Mika wanted squash soup for dinner the other night and chayotes were on sale, so I figured why not give them a try? I found this recipe at epicurious.com, which got great reviews, and without much consideration I decided to make it. It wasn't my thing in particular - then again, soup never is - but it did introduce me to this vegetable.
As I was preparing to make the soup, I found out that peeling chayotes can be a bit of a challenge. Chayotes have a white, milky substance inside that can be profoundly irritant to skin. Some people complain of prolonged itching and even peeling. That was definitely not something I was looking forward to. Fortunately I also run into a method for avoiding this problem (described below). Now, I can't say whether the method per se works, or whether chayotes just don't irritate my skin, but in any case, I was able to peel them without any negative repercussions.
HOW TO PEEL CHAYOTES
From a Chowhound posting
Cut the chayotes in side along the longest side. Wait a couple of minutes for the white milky substance to come out and solidify. Wash the chayotes thoroughly in cold running water, washing away all the white substance. Peel with a vegetable peeler. Voila!
This is not really a posting for public consumption. Rather, it's a place where I'll keep track of the recipes I've made that haven't impressed me too much. That way, when I come across those recipes again, I can just search to see if they appear on my blog and know what I thought of them. For the rest of my readers (specially those on facebook who get this plastered on their news feed), sorry for the noise.
- Chilaquiles Verdes - from epicurious.com. It was actually quite a tasty recipe, though it lacked umph. Still, the sort of thing you can go on eating until you're full. However, it was too sour for Mika (who is having trouble with any acidity in her food).
- Cornmeal Crusted Catfish - from allrecipes.com. I liked the consistency of the breading and it stayed on very well, but it had no flavor.
- Beer Batter Fish Made Great - Made this with sole. Took the advise of some of the reviewers and halved the spices. Not good idea, the batter wasn't very flavorful. I may try again, or may try something else.
- Classic Sole Meuniere from epicurious.com. This recipe was actually very good, I enjoyed it thoroughly, but it's basically fish swimming in butter - and for the calories it needs to be out of this world.
- Cider-Glazed Lamb Chops - from epicurious.com as well. The lamb chops per se were excellent, but the glaze was very mild and didn't really add much to them. A waste of good ingredients.
- Favorite Pork Chops - from allrecipes.com. OK, but not very interesting.
Last weekend Mike and I took the kids to Lassen Volcanic National Park, to see the sulfur pits, and we decided to stay at the Lassen Mineral Lodge. We had breakfast there, and in all it was a pleasant experience. Given your lack of other choices in the area, this is not a bad place to eat.
The restaurant at the Lassen Mineral Lodge is pretty cute, decorated in a country theme with plenty of wood and green. There are pictures of friends and patrons on the walls, cupboards with cute for-sale trinkets and, and here is the "and", stuffed deer heads. Yep, that sort of freaked out my daughter - specially after her father told him that the deer had been shot (rather than mounted after they died a natural death) -, so beware if you have animal-loving-children in your party.
Service was very friendly and quite good, though we did have to wait quite a bit for our food. Given how busy the place was early that Saturday morning (and we got there as it opened at 8 AM) in late August, that's not too surprising.
The food was uneven. My French Toast (6 thick half-slices for ~$7) was OK, it was sort of dry and not particularly interesting. The corn syrup was also lackluster. Mika's pancakes ($5 for 2 HUGE pancakes and one hot chocolate, a portion large enough for 2 kids) were actually pretty good, they were fluffy and tasted homemade. Mike had one of those egg combos ($8, I think), with fine eggs, really good bacon, perfectly acceptable hash browns (a tad overcooked) and toast. We drank hot cocoa ($1.75 a cup), which was nice and strong. Breakfast came to $24 before tip.
Lassen Mineral Lodge Restaurant
Highway 36 E.
Mineral, CA
(530) 595-4422
It's pretty pathetic to be reviewing a Denny's restaurant - indeed, it's pretty pathetic to be eating at a Denny's restaurant - but we were in our way to Lassen National Park, we were starving, and choices for food on that stretch of I-5 are all very poor. Willows offers you two alternatives, The Black Bear diner and Denny's. We went to BB a few years ago and weren't impressed, so Mike decided to give Denny's a chance. I hadn't been to a Denny's in many, many years, and the experience was just as I remembered it: thoroughly mediocre.
The Willows' Denny's restaurant has a very short menu - and they didn't have anything that really sounded appetizing. I might have gone for a burger, but they will only cook them to medium-well (I guess they can't trust their own meat handling). Mike had their bacon burger ($9, I think) and he wasn't impressed. The dryness of the meat wasn't as much a problem as the tangy, strange steak sauce that came on the burger. He'd had preferred a regular BBQ sauce.
I had the Philly steak sandwich, and it was also OK. The chunks of meat had been pot roasted and they were very tender, they were covered with a mild cheese. The bread had a nice garlicky flavor, but there were pretty much no mushrooms to speak of. I ordered my sandwich with hash browns, which I quite enjoyed.
My favorite part about Denny's are the kids prices. Yeah, the portions are tiny, but my kids never eat that much. Mika had the quesadilla ($2.90). The quesadilla was small and had some weird bright orange cheese, but Mika was happy with it. She had it with the veggies with ranch sauce - and I was impressed at the size of the portion. They made a meal into themselves. The carrots didn't look very fresh, but they were crunchy and tasted fine.
Camila had the cheese pizza with apple slices ($3.50). The pizza was your standard microwaved thingy, but Camila enjoyed it.
We had cokes, which tasted fine, but you will want to avoid the tap water.
Probably the worst part of the dinner was the wait. We got there are 7 PM on a Friday night, and though the restaurant wasn't very crowded, the kids food did not arrive to the table until 7:40 PM - ours came 10 minutes later. Service otherwise was fine.
In all, you could do worse than Denny's - but I'm hoping sometime to find a better alternative along that stretch of road.
Denny's
343 North Humboldt Avenue
Willows, CA
(530) 934-3231
I was looking in Grocery Outlet for something quick and easy for lunch and came across a Butter Chicken frozen entree by Archer Farms, a generic brand sold by Target stores. Now, I didn't realize that Archer Farms was Target, otherwise I wouldn't have bought the thingy, given Target's anti-gay stands. But as a food item devoid of politics this entree made for a good lunch.
The 10-oz entree is probably 2/3rds rice, and the other cubed chicken and sauce - though there is barely enough sauce for the included rice. The rice microwaved quite well, the chicken was tender and not as dry as it could have been, and the sauce was pleasant: slightly spicy, balanced but not very challenging. This is not a restaurant-quality dish, but you could do much worse for $1.30 (the price at GO) and 370 calories. In all, but for the Target association, I'd buy it again.
I have started buying Taylor Farms organic salad mix at Grocery Outlet and I'm quite satisfied with the product. The lettuces are always crisp and clear (they are triple washed) and taste fresh. They last for several days while stored in the plastic container they come in. At $2 for a 5-oz pack, they are a pretty good value. And they originate in Salinas, which means they are pretty local. In all, I'm quite happy with them.
My only complaint is that the packaging is made out of #7 plastic - not a particularly environmentally friendly product.
They have several salad mix choices at Grocery Outlet, I haven't noticed a remarkable difference in taste.
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