Author: marga (Page 113 of 120)

Yesterday was Mike’s birthday party and we had a pizza party. I got pizza from 3 different places.
We got a meat lover’s and a vegetarian pizza from Marina Pizza Parlor, one of our regular places. Marina’s pizzas have a relatively thin crust and lots of toppings. They are better than Domino’s but otherwise unremarkable. On the plus side their pizzas are larger than average, while the medium is 14″ the large is 18″, compare that with Pizza Guys, another place from where we get frequent deliveries, where a large is merely 14″.
Marina Pizza Parlor
2004 Lewelling Blvd.
San Leandro, CA
510-352-9544
We also got a shish kabob pizza from Shish Kebab Etc.. The pizza was OK but I really liked the kebab topping – Mike didn’t, he doesn’t think kebabs belong on pizza.
And then we got 3 1-topping pizzas from Domino’s. I personally like Domino’s, though other people seem to be pickier.
Finally, we got an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. Their cakes are expensive (about $32 for a 9″ one), but what a great way to have your cake and ice cream too!

Regina had driven by Bacheeso’s (located on San Pablo and Dwight in Berkeley) many times and had always seen lots of people there, so when the question of where we’d go for brunch yesterday came out, she suggested we give it a try. It was a good choice.
We had to wait outside for about ten minutes before we got a table – though someone needs to stay inside to assert themselves when their turn is, they don’t seem to keep a wait list – but that wasn’t too big a deal. The restaurant is pretty small and crowded but convivial and quite child friendly. There were lots of parents with babies and toddlers around, though don’t count on a high-chair. I saw a very old one in the back, but I don’t think it’d have been practical to bring it to the table.
Bacheeso’s has a breakfast menu offering many staples (omelettes, french toast) and a lunch one with pastas and sandwiches. What draws many people to the place, however, is its brunch buffet which includes both breakfast and lunch items for about $9 ($5 for children). We all decided on the buffet which is why I’m not writing a formal review of the restaurant – we didn’t actually get to experience any of their “regular” food.
The buffet was actually quite good, not all items were great, but most of the food was at least a couple of notches above typical buffet faire. Apparently once upon a time they served a Middle Eastern buffet, but it has now become quite Americanized. One of the best dishes was chicken with BBQ sauce and their homemade mashed potatoes were a little bit lumpy but they rocked flavor-wise. Mike also liked the eggs and the pasta salad.
Their kebabs looked like long slices of meatloaf, but their was no mistaken their origen once you bit into them. They were moist and flavorful with a clear Middle Eastern spicing. The basmati rice didn’t hold up well under the juice from the roasted tomatoes, however.
A slice of what was either pizza or focaccia (the toppings had been fused together and were unrecognizable) tasted quite good, though it was a little tough. Indeed, all the baked goods suffered from a distinct lack of baking powder – they were flat and dense when they should have been fluffy. We encountered this problem on a chocolate cake (which otherwise tasted out of a box – not bad) and on the pancakes.
Other items were also lackluster, a roasted turkey was dry and Regina was underwhelmed by some of the other veggetarian options (there were several).
Desserts could have been better, but fresh strawberries with a chocolate swizzle were great.
The one thing that didn’t work well was the service, but the waitresses were clearly swamped. They were constantly going from one place to the other, so it was probably not their fault that we had to remind them about our drinks well after we were eating.
In all we had a good experience and felt that the food was a very good value. It’s probably not worth it for us to make the trek to go there for brunch again, but if we were in the neighborhood we might very well stop by again.
Bacheeso’s Garden Bistro
2501 San Pablo Ave.
Berkeley, Ca.
(510) 644-2035
Daily 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

I got a bunch of restaurant reviews back from Mike (who edits them, he’s so horrified at my grammar that doesn’t let me post them otherwise). Here they are:
–Pleasanton Hotel Mystery Dinner, we loved the mystery, didn’t enjoy the food.
–Casa Madrid in Pleasanton, poor tapas, good main dishes, great desserts and exemplary service.
–Pyzano’s Pizzeria in Castro Valley, good pizza, nice atmosphere.
–Village Bistro in Castro Valley, good, homey continental cuisine, just like mom used to make if she was French.
–Cafe Colucci in Oakland, good Ethiopian food
–Ethiopia Restaurant in Berkeley, different Ethiopian food in not as cool surroundings
–Jardiniere, bad service and uninspired food at this San Francisco landmark
–Shish Kebab, etc., middle eastern delivery in San Leandro
–Taqueria Guadalajara, not the best taqueria in town (San Leandro)
–The Much Box, a burger stand in Chatsworth with a long history
–Cha Cha Cha, a colorful Encino restaurant.

We’ve been eagerly awaiting the opening of the New Hong Kong Restaurant for several weeks. Though San Leandro does not need any more Chinese restaurants, this one is located only 3 or 4 blocks from our house. The more restaurants we have close by, the better for us.
My friend Jenny called me up last night suggesting dinner. She was left alone with her two kids while her husband worked, and Mike was still in a business trip so I was left alone with Mika. I figured that as a Chinese restaurant the place would be quite child friendly and we should give it a try.
All in all it worked quite well. The kids were loud and annoying, but the other parties eating there didn’t seem to mind too much (I apologized to them, of course). The place wasn’t very busy, but with only 3 people working there, service was quite slow and rushed. It took forever for us to get our bill – at a time when the kids were jumping around by the front door. And we never got the rice we ordered, but these are all things you have to expect from a restaurant that has only been opened 5 days.
The food was traditional Chinese-restaurant stuff and quite good and cheap (entrees averaged $7). We ordered a pork bun appetizer (~$1.50 for two buns), and the steamed, crustless buns were very good. They had a nice ammount of delicious pork and I’d certainly order it again.
The chow main was made with regular noodles (not the very thin type some restaurants serve) but I really liked the flavor. It was heavier on the noodles than on the bean sprouts and other veggies, which I prefer of couse.
The cashew chicken was good, but the dish was overwhelmed by the small, cubed water chestnuts. You actually had to hunt for the chicken amidst all of them. Unfortunatelly, Mika didn’t like them – but she loved the cubed zucchini and scarse carrots that came with it.
The good health chicken and veggie platter seemed too oily to be good health, but it was good. The kids all loved the veggies, though some more broccoli would have been better. As it was they all had to share one last crown.
I’ll write a full review of the restaurant next time I go there, but I figured this one would work for now.
New Hong Kong Restaurant
1750 E. 14th St.
San Leandro, CA
510.357.6288

Vatran’s, our favorite Eastern European deli, is changing ownerships. It’s not closing per se, but the store has been bought by two Asians so I cannot imagine it will remain the same. The former owner will stay there for a couple of months to handle the transition and train the new owners, but you can’t gain decades of experience in a couple of months. I hope to be wrong, but I can’t imagine the quality remaining the same.
Oh well.
We had lunch there today, the trip-tip sandwich was delicious as was the pull pork (though Mike didn’t like the accompanying potato salad).

I was set on going for Italian last night, but then Mika and her gnocchi obsession hit me. After clearing her plates all day, I couldn’t stomach the thought of another tomato sauce or pasta. Mike suggested Thai (of course) so I went on to search for a Thai restaurant somewhat nearby.
Here the East Bay Express dining pages came to my aid. It’s really a great resource for finding restaurants in this part of the Bay, specially given how little notice the Chronicle and even Citysearch give to us here. It’s particularly useful for finding small, out of the way restaurants and that’s exactly what Old Weang Ping Village was.
I will write a full review later (of course), but in a few words this is an old, quirky restaurant in a part of Oakland we had never visited before (near Mills College). Regina felt we were in another city altogether (as Mike told her, we were). The food is very cheap ($5-6 por appetizers, $6-7 for main dishes) and very, very good. They call it Thai country cooking and the flavors are somewhat different from everyday Thai restaurants. The curries are less blended and much more abundant in vegetables. But all we had was delicious.
You can check out the review at the Express