I love sauteed mushrooms, but fresh mushrooms can be pretty expensive when they're not on sale (and even when they are), which is why I was happy to find an 8oz package of sliced mushrooms at Grocery Outlet for around $1.50. Unfortunately, these Green Giant sliced mushrooms are just not very good. I've bought them twice now, a couple of weeks apart, so I know it's not just one bad batch.

There are three main problems with them: taste, thickness and consistency. Flavorwise, they are just not there. They are not very flavorful, even when sauteed on butter and seasoned with copious amounts of salt and the flavor they do have is slightly off. The mushrooms are pretty big and the slices are quite thick, which makes them take longer to cook but also just overall less appealing. The texture is also a little bit strange, more rubbery than for most mushrooms. We just did not enjoy them - none of us. I think it's worth the ones at the supermarket are probably worth the extra buck or two.

Now, on other Grocery Outlet news

- GO is now selling 7oz jars of assorted dried herbs and spices for $3, which is an unbelievable price (though who really needs that much spices?). They are packaged by Gel Spice Company. I don't know much about them other that they had a serious repeat problem with rat infestation in the 70's and 80's (I can only hope they've cured it by now). The thyme leaves I bought seem fine, but really, I wouldn't know how to judge dry thyme leaves. I don't see why they would be worse than the stuff at the supermarket, though. Expire in 2014.

-Got a box of Near East Tabouleh Mix for 34 cents. It expired on 2/10/11 but it's a dry product so I think it should be fine for a while. I cooked it and didn't find any problems.

I am sad to inform that Marita's Sweet Potato Pie Co. has closed its San Leandro location @ Bancroft and Dutton. According to their website, they still have a location in Richmond's Hilltop Mall. This happened just months after they expanded into the old Cornerstone Cafe location in the corner. While I wasn't a regular customer @ Marita's, I really did enjoy their cakes and I had the red velvet cake for my birthday often. I hope The Golden Tea Garden in Hayward will still serve their red velvet cake, I'll report next time I visit.

A new bakery, Angelina's Pastries will be opening in the original Marita's space on Bancroft. I'm told that it's a venture by the people who own the building, but I know nothing else about it. Stay tuned.

I am also told that Mae's Southern Comfort will move from its Victoria circle location to the Cornerstone location in the corner. I haven't seen anything to indicate that, and I have my doubts as to whether Mae's is actually a functioning restaurant as it never seems to be open (I think they open at 1 PM and close at 7 PM, I guess they cater to afternoon eaters exclusively), but they have a bunch of reviews in Yelp, so apparently some people do manage to get food here. If they do open, I will give them a try.

I've lived in San Leandro for over ten years, but I first heard about Bakery Street today, when Mike mentioned he'd seen it mentioned online and had ridden by a sign saying "bakery sale". He wanted to give it a try and I wasn't going to say "no". I might have as well, I'm not in the least impressed by any of the baked goods we sampled.

Bakery Street seems to be mainly a wholesaler of baked goods (cookies, bars, cakes, scones) and a maker of speciality/wedding cakes. The pictures of some of their whimsical cakes in their websites look very cute. They have a tiny store attached to their factory, apparently open only Fridays and Saturdays, where they sell packaged baked goods to the public. Some prices seem good, some not so good. For example, their Red Velvet cakes get very good reviews in Yelp.com and were available at Costco, but at either $8 or $12 for a very small cake, I wasn't that eager to get one. Instead, we got a 9oz package of madelines and a 14oz package of chocolate chip cookies, for $2 each. We also got a couple of plain croissants and 2 custard croissants, each individually packaged in plastic, for $1 each.

The croissants were OK. The custard ones reminded me of cheese danishes, but with a very generous amount of custard. The croissant part wasn't particularly flaky or tasty, but it wasn't too bad. Not bad for $1, but not great either.

I'm used to getting Donsuemor madelines at Zocalo for 75-cents each, so I relished the prospect of getting almost a dozen for just $2 - but I guess you get what you pay for, as Bakery Street madelines just aren't that great. They seem a bit lighter than the Donsuemor ones, perhaps less sweet, but whatever it is, there is no boom of flavor in your mouth as you get from a really great madeline. I wouldn't bother buying them again (well, for $2, perhaps I would, but still....)

The chocolate chip cookies were worse still. They were dense and flavorless, the chocolate chips were clearly low quality (you could barely taste any chocolate) and the various hydrogenated vegetable oils in the cookies did not help the crumbly texture. But the problem was the flavor, it was just not there. I would not buy them again.

In all, I'm not impressed.

Bakery Street Inc
1465 Factor Avenue
San Leandro, CA
(510) 357-8880
http://www.bakerystreet.com/

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

Bay Area Restaurant Reviews

Just made Chicken Curry with Sweet Potatoes from an epicurious.com recipe, for dinner. I thought it was pretty good but not great, but Mika loved it so I'm blogging about it to remember it. It was easy enough to do. Next time I'd add 5 minutes to the cooking time for the sweet potatoes to be really tender. I skipped the chili paste to make it non-spicy.

I have re-started my international food project, a project to cook food from different cuisines alphabetically. I started this a decade ago, and I'm still on the "C"s. Part of the problem has been that originally I was making complete menus for each cuisine and serving them at dinner parties - with two kids, a constantly messy house and limited time, "dinner parties" have not been happening for us for years. So, I'm now going to be cooking a sample of dishes from each cuisine over a number of nights. That means that I'm less likely to make appetizers (which is not necessarily a bad thing, as appetizers are not as common in many cuisines) and even desserts.

In the last few weeks I've made Czech, Cuban and Creole food. I'm still working on the latter, but here are the recipes for the two former:

- Marga's Cuba Culinary Adventure

- Marga's Czech Culinary Adventure

Enjoy!

I didn't grow up knowing how to cook. Both of my parents worked and my mom specialized in making "minutas", meals that can be thrown together in minutes: steaks, milanesas, gnocchi, soups from bullion cubes. Once I lived on my own, I didn't even think about cooking beyond these very basic things but once I got married I found myself with lots of free time while I looked for a job and a desire to "feed" my husband. I didn't know how to cook much, so I hit the library for cookbooks.

One of the first cooks I discovered was The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors: Recipes You Should Have Gotten from Your Grandmother. I already knew the Frugal Gourmet from TV and the idea of cooking food from different countries intrigued me - Mike and I had gotten a guide to ethnic restaurants in the Bay Area when we were courting, and we had been expanding our culinary tastes. This booked seemed perfect for doing the same at home.

And so we did and in the process discovered many wonderful recipes. I haven't actually cooked from this book in many years, but it came to mind today while writing about Cuban food (I got the best recipe for ropa vieja from this book) and I thought I'd share the book with whoever reads my blog.

Now, one of the reasons why I really recommend this book is that the recipes are easy. These are home recipes, made by home cooks with no training over generations and passed from parents to children. Immigrants were usually poor, so the recipes don't usually require expensive ingredients or cooking equipment. They are ideal recipes for beginners and anyone looking for a simple intro into a new cuisine.

A few weeks ago, the San Leandro Patch had a little "story" about the 88 market on East 14th St. I'd been to the store once or twice before, in search of rare Asian ingredients, but it's not a place I'd normally hit. However, the Patch article mentioned that the 88 market has become a seafood emporium in the last few years, offering 150 varieties of fish, so when I needed some catfish earlier this week (to make Catfish a la Meuniere which was, btw, amazing), and Safeway was selling it at $9 lb (really? who are they kidding?), I thought we should give 88 market a try.

Fortunately or unfortunately I sent Mike to do the shopping. He was very impressed with the freshness of the fish. Indeed, it was alive and swimming in a tank until Mike ordered it, heard a big thump and a lot of flopping around. He didn't watch, and he was happy the kids didn't go along. He asked for the catfish to be filleted but again, declined to look at the process. What can we say? He's squeamish.

So he was not prepared, after he came home, for me to scream at him from the kitchen to come see what he bought: a bag of fish parts (head, tail, fins, whatever) with two very uneven, not fully descaled, bone-in fillets that would feed one person (if I chose to cook them, which I did not). Moral of the story? Go to 88 market for very fresh, full fish - but if you want your fish neatly processed, go elsewhere.

I will try this place again, however, when I need some type of rare fish you can't find at the supermarket - and I have time to learn how to fillet fish myself :-)

88 Supermarket
14405 E 14th St
San Leandro, CA
(510) 351-8200

Read below for a March 2011 dinner update of Aroma

I'm so happy with Hayward's Favorite Indian restaurant, that I have not felt the need to explore the other Indian restaurants in the area. According to my friend Alpana (who, btw, is a great family photographer - check out her website), a native of India, that has been a mistake. So it was on her suggestion that my friend Mauro and I headed to Aroma yesterday for their buffet lunch. Alpana was right - while I still love the California-Indian food at Favorite Indian, Aroma's more carefully crafted fare is definitely worth tasting.

Aroma prides itself in offering a higher quality product, using organic and fresh ingredients when possible. As the restaurant itself, their buffet lunch is small (11 or 12 items, including rice and dessert) and carefully crafted. During our visit, there were only 3 meat offerings (chicken tandoori, chicken tikka masala and lamb vindaloo), and that, of course, is what I tried. I was impressed, in particular on the tandoori. The perfectly cooked, moist chicken legs were infused with flavor and lacked the artificial red coloring that most Indian restaurants confer onto them. They were probably the most understated and best tasting chicken tandoori I've ever had.

I wasn't as fond of the curries but I had to confess that they were good as well. The lamb vindaloo had a nice quick, and tender lamb. The tikka masala was a bit too acidic for my taste, but it tasted fresh and bright. You can feel the quality.

Buttered naan is brought to the table, and the one had a very nice light consistency. I also tasted the dessert, some runny pudding made of rice flower with nuts and spices, and I enjoyed it quite a bit as well. Mauro wasn't as keen of it, but he did enjoy everything else he had.

While we only sampled the buffet on this occasion, Aroma has a full lunch and dinner menu, its prices are on the high side, however.

Aroma is located in a small space at a strip mall in Castro Valley Village, the small room actually looks quite cozy, the beautiful serving dishes and the faint scent of incense helps give it a non-tacky atmosphere. Service was very good, our drinks were refilled quickly and our dishes taken away.

In all, it was a great lunch experience. The buffet lunch for two, with a soda each, came to about $27 after tax and tip. Not a super cheap lunch, but this is not super cheap food.

A couple of nights ago my friend Aamani and I wanted to meet our friend Miranda for dinner somewhere in Castro Valley, and Aroma popped to mind. Though I've been there many times for lunch in the last year, I'd never tried them for dinner. It was just as good, solid food, fresh flavors and very good service. I'll definitely be back.

Aamani and I shared the chicken pakora (battered chicken served with a cilantro and a sweet & sour sauce, $6) and I was quite pleased. The chicken was nice, hot and tender. The batter was tasty, though perhaps a little soggier than I would have wanted. Still, I'd order it again.

I had the lamb korma ($13), one of my favorite Indian dishes, as my entree. The lamb was moist, tender and not too fatty and the sauce was creamy, well balanced and perfectly spiced medium, as I'd asked. I enjoyed the dish, though it didn't really awe me. That was Miranda's opinion of her navratan korma ($13), a vegetarian version of my own dish. She ordered her spicy, and she also said it fit the bill. Aamani had the dal saag (a spinach lentil dish, $11) and she was quite pleased. Aamani is Indian, but she doesn't like cooking so she may be less demanding. We ate everything with rice ($3 for a huge portion), which was quite good as well.

Aamani also enjoyed the keema nan (a bread stuffed with spiced ground lamb, $5), but I forgot to try it! I did enjoy the kabuli nan (called Kashmiri nan at Aroma, a bread stuffed with a sweet filling, $5), Miranda thought it was too sweet but it was fine for me. Miranda had a good masala tea with dinner ($2) and I enjoyed my sweet lassi ($2), though it also wasn't outstanding.

I don't usually order dessert at Indian restaurants, but Miranda was in the mood for something sweet so I ordered a kulfti (a pistachio froze dessert, $3). The ice cream itself was too icy and not that flavorful, but it came with a delicious condensed milk sauce. Miranda and Aamani seemed to enjoy their kheer (rice pudding, $3). I've had it before in their lunch buffet and, indeed, it's very good.

Service was very diligent. We stayed there late and they didn't make any moves to kick us out, which I appreciated.

The meal came to $88 after tax and tip, but I had a $25 off gift certificate from restaurant.com I'd gotten for $2, so really it came up to $65. Not bad for that quality of food, in particular considering that we had enough left overs for lunch for two.

Aroma Cuisine of India
3418 Castro Village Dr.
Castro Valley, CA
510-888-9555
http://www.aromacuisineofindia.com/
Everyday: 11:30am - 3:00pm, 5:00pm - 9:30pm

Marga's Restaurant Reviews

I'm a big fan of restaurant.com, a website that allows you to buy "gift certificates" for local restaurants at deeply discounted prices. I've been using it for years, and so far I haven't had any bad experiences. But there are some things you need to beware of:

- Price: $25 gift certificates usually cost $10, but some restaurants charge more. Some restaurants also offer $10 gift certificates for $5 and $50 gift certificates for $20. DO NOT PAY THOSE PRICES, however. You usually can find coupon codes for 70%-90% off those prices, so that that $25 gift certificate should cost you only $1-3. To find those codes do a search for restaurant.com codes , or go to couponcabin or retailmenot

- Minimum purchases: it's usually $35-50 for a $25 gift certificate, and that may not include the price of drinks. For some restaurants you will need 3 people ordering to get to reach those minimums. If you end up ordering more food than you would otherwise to reach the minimum, you may end up spending more than you would in the first place.

- Day/time limitations: Often times you can only use the coupons during weekdays, though some restaurants may have other limitations. For example, The Englander doesn't accept restaurant.com certificates on Sundays & Mondays. Most restaurants only accept them for dine-in meals, often for dinner only.

- Automatic tip: If you use a coupon, an 18% tip will be added to your pre-tax purchase. That's less than my usual tip, so I don't mind, but beware so you don't end up double-tipping (unless you want to, of course :-)

- Restaurants no-longer participating: Sometimes restaurants close down and sometimes they stop participating in the program. I've had the first happen to me, and restaurant.com gave me credit for another gift certificate. I don't know what happens in the latter case. For that reason, and also so that you don't end up buying coupons you don't end up using (because you forget about them, lose them, etc.), I recommend that you only get the certificate right before you go to the restaurant.

- Limited number of coupons: some popular restaurants (like The Englander) only sell a limited number of gift certificates and sometimes they run out.

- One certificate a month: you're only allowed to use one gift certificate a month.