Author: marga (Page 75 of 114)

Paradiso restaurant – San Leandro – Updated reviews

August 9, 2007 / marga / 0 Comments

January 2012 Update

Do yourself a favor. If you have $10 (plus tax & tip) to spare, head over to Paradiso and have a burger. Paradiso’s burger is simple: a half a pound of chuck in a homemade bun with no accoutrements. When I first ordered it I was skeptical, no cheese? no bacon? no fancy sauces? And then I took a bite. And another. And soon I could swear it was, by far, the best burger I had ever tasted. The secret to the flavor of Paradiso’s burgers is not one you can easily replicate at home: they are cooked in their wood burning oven and are imparted with the smoky flavor of the burning oak.

Their sliders (3 for $11) are equally as good, though these are made from Kobe beef and served with good, though unnecessary, caramelized onions. When I ate them, I had to stop the waiter and ask if there were any condiments on the bun, I really couldn’t believe a piece of meat inside a bun could be so flavorful and moist. But alas, they were plain.

The rest of the food during a couple of recent lunches at Paradiso was also solid and good, though not particularly exciting. They continue using the same sides for all dishes, which I don’t like. In any cases, if I go back to Paradiso it’ll be for the burger.

—

2007 Review

Last night it was girl’s night out with my friends Penelope, Desiree, Victoria and Paz. We went to Paradiso for appetizers, drinks and dessert.

As usual, I got the filet mignonettes ($12), slices of beef pan seared and served on crostini with a marsala mushroom sauce. As usual, it was very good. Desiree and Paz shared the Calamari Fritti ($10) and the smoked salmon pizza with goat cheese ($15). I forgot to ask them how they liked it, but I will report about it as soon as I hear from them.

We all shared a bottle of the Salentein Malbec, from Mendoza ($32). I don’t remember what year it was. It was absolutely delicious – it had a good body, not too light, not too heavy, soft tannins and a hint of oak and fruit. I see they sell it at BevMo, and I’ll have to trek over there some time to buy a few bottles.

For dessert (all $6) I had their famous sundae. I wasn’t as impressed with it as everyone else seems to me. The ice cream was just OK, the chocolate sauce very good but scant. It wasn’t a particularly big sundae either. The rest of the team shared a couple of apple crisps and they all seemed to be very happy with it. They thought it was just right.

The only negative part of the evening is that they close fairly early, they threw us out by 10 PM (this was a Wednesday night). Still, we had a very good time and I’d recommend it for a mom’s night out.

Paradiso
685 Bancroft Ave
San Leandro, CA
(510) 430-9212
http://www.paradisosanleandro.com/

Original Review of Paradiso

Marga’s San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

Leg of lamb

August 8, 2007 / marga / 0 Comments

I can’t make it tonight 🙁 I forgot I had to take Camila to swimming lessons and it won’t give me enough time. I guess I’ll make it Friday, but meanwhile, what do I feed everyone tonight?

Burmese Beef and Potato Curry

August 8, 2007 / marga / 0 Comments

It’s been a long time since I’ve made anything from my international cooking project. In this project I cook food from around the world alphabetically. Alas, I’ve been stuck in “B” for about 5 years, which is very depressing. Part of the problem, the main part, is that I insist on making full-menus – with appetizers, entrees and desserts – and that I usually reserve these for dinner parties. If I’m going to make a formal menu, it’d be great if others could enjoy it. But Mike and I have been so busy since the kids were born, and of more importance lately, since he was elected to the School Board, that we no longer have time to entertain. Indeed, I’ll be having friends for dinner this weekend and I’ll be making a Brazilian menu (does anyone have a suggestion for an appetizer that will go with a feiojada?) , but that’s the first time in over 6 months.
So I’ve decided to start making these dishes nightly. I may not hit all the courses anymore, – but then again, the Western division of dishes into courses does not always suit other cuisines anyway – but at least I’ll make some progress.
Last night I made a Burmese Beef and Potato Curry. It wasn’t great, but it was good, comfort food. I didn’t start by liking it, but it grew on me to the point that I ate all of the curry 🙂 I served it with TJ’s frozen naan bread, which I thought was pretty good (even if I let it get a little crispy while I was busy doing other things).
I served it with leftover chianti, and it didn’t go very well with it. It basically stole away the flavors from the wine.
Tonight on the menu: Bahraini stuffed leg of lamb.

Cafe Americano

August 7, 2007 / marga / 1 Comment

UPDATE: THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED

Updated 5/11

Cafe Americano has been closed for a while now. I think the building is for lease.

Update 3/10 Cafe Americano is now under new management. They are serving simple breakfasts (bagels, eggs, bacon,sausage, ham), cold sandwiches (ham, roast beef, roast chicken, pastrami and turkey – all $5), salad sandwiches (egg, tuna, seafood, chicken, all $5) and several hort sandwiches, most $5. For the vegetarians they offer avocado & cream cheese sandwiches ($5). They continue serving coffee drinks at *very* reasonable prices. That said, I haven’t check them out so I can’t opine on the quality.

Cafe Americano opened a block away from my house a month or two ago, but it wasn’t until today that I visited it. I generally hang out at Zocalo, which is much further from my house but has a play area for children. Cafe Americano is very nice, it has newly painted orange walls and multi-colored chairs, but it’s small and there is no space for kids. It has, on the other hand, a full sandwich menu making it a great place to get both a latte and lunch.
Indeed, it was in search of lunch that we went there today. I had their spicy tandoori lamb kebab wrap, while Mike had their regular tandoori chicken kebab wrap. I liked mine much better. The ground lamb kebab had a strong lamby taste and it was nicely seasoned. It was spicy but not too much. My only complaint was that there wasn’t enough meat for the vegetable content (but it was a pretty large wrap, and at $5 definitely well priced). It was also a bit on the thick side, so it was difficult to get both the lamb and the veggies on the same bite. Mike really liked the chicken kebab, though the chicken seemed overprocessed to me. I’d definitely stick with the lamb.
They also offer a whole array of “American” sandwiches which I may or may not try again, as I said, I may just stick with the lamb 🙂

I didn’t try their coffee products, but they also have a whole array of cold drinks. We had a strawberry smoothie ($3.50 I think) and I was disappointed. It was more like a shake, consisting of ice cream and a strawberry product, and it tasted like fake strawberries. Mika drank quite a bit of it, but wasn’t too enthusiastic, and Camila didn’t drink hers at all. On the plus side, the smoothies are very large, and they were very nice in serving one smoothie in two cups.

Most of the pastries I saw were in plastic wrapped and did not look very appetizing. However, they had three types of refrigerated cake, including chocolate and carrot. They had canned and bottled drinks as well.

Cafe Americano also offers wireless but their service seems to be spotty, at least it was this afternoon.

Given that this place is so close to my house, I’m sure I’ll go back again, probably when I don’t want to prepare my own lunch 🙂

Cafe Americano
2150 Washington Ave (at Marina Blvd)
San Leandro, CA 94577
(510) 895-8044

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

2005 Aquila d’Oro Chianti

August 6, 2007 / marga / 0 Comments

I opened this wine tonight and I have to say it tasted like … chianti. Really, it had a complete chianti taste and aroma. It was easy drinking without being too light, a tiny bit sweet and fruity but with a slight tanic finish. It was easy to drink, and it complimented my TJ’s gnocchi a la sorrentina perfectly. I daresay this is a good a wine to sip by itself, or drink with pasta, stews and probably even beef.
Update: I tried the leftover wine with a beef and potato curry, which was mildly spicy, and it didn’t work out too well. The spice deprived the wine of its body, living it hollow with some bitterness around the edges. Not a good combination.
I also tried it with some milk chocolate treats (I’m not a big dark chocolate eater), and it also didn’t go very well, the hollowness wasn’t as pronounced but it was still there.
(note, the label on the picture is from 2003 Aquilda de’Oro chianti, I couldn’t find a picture of the 2005)
In any case, at $4 a bottle (I think), this is a wine I’ll buy again. A perfect (western?) table wine.

Three restaurant reviews

August 5, 2007 / marga / 0 Comments

gnocchi at zza's
These are places we went to recently, while the kids were away.
Zza’s is a very nice Italian restaurant that is also very child friendly. We liked the food.
Breads of India was a great disappointment. Mild Indian food without complexity.
Chili’s in San Leandro is a chain restaurant but they offer great ribs and a wonderful chocolate cake.

Burundian food

August 5, 2007 / marga / 2 Comments

I’ve posted my one-dish menu for Burundian food here. It was an unsuccesful dinner, with a dish that was very unflavorful.
Anyone who wants to comment about it can do so here.

Charles Shaw Chardonnay

August 2, 2007 / marga / 0 Comments

Two-bucks chuck chardonnay just won some award at some fair, and thus I wanted to try it. I read that sweet wine went well with spicy food, so I had it with the balti lamb tikka I made today for dinner. It was not a good combination. The lamb made the wine taste too sweet, an assault to my palate.
I tried it hours later and liked it more. It now tasted like semi-sweet white grape juice, with a sharp, bitter finish. It’s still a bit too sweet to sip much of, but it is a sipping wine. For $2, it’s very good.
Mike, however, didn’t like it.

Balti Lamb Tikka

August 2, 2007 / marga / 1 Comment

That’s it! I can’t cook Indian food. No matter how much I try, I always seem to fail. It’s a pity because I love Indian food, specially the one served at restaurants in California. I could eat the food from Favorite India every day.

This time I made balti lamb tikka, lamb marinated on yogurt with chili powder, cumin, coriander, garam masala, garlic, cilantro and tomato paste. It was a failure. Edible, don’t get me wrong, but in no way good. The recipe came from the Best Ever Indian Cookbook, which my brother and sister in law got me for Xmas a couple of years ago. I don’t think I’d used it more than once before.

Perhaps it’s my choice of recipes, perhaps it’s my technique, perhaps I’m just doomed. But I think I will keep trying.

Cote de porc à la charcutière

July 31, 2007 / marga / 0 Comments

Tonight we had pork chops with a white wine-dijon sauce from the Les Halles Cookbook, which once again I borrowed from the library. It looked like a relatively simple recipe and it turned out to be delicious – though I had to make a couple of substitutions. I served it just with peas – the only veggie I had at home – and unfortunately one of the kids ate just peas, while the other one had only a couple of bites of plain pork. They don’t know what they are missing. The following is my version of the recipe (which doesn’t differ that much from the original). I used gherkins instead of cornichons as I couldn’t find the latter at the supermarket, and instead of a high quality concentrated chicken or veal stock, I used “better than bouillon” chicken base. I also omitted the single chopped sprig of parsley that the recipe asked for (to add with the cornichons) because I wasn’t going to buy a whole bunch of parsley to just use one sprig.
Cote de porc a la charcutiere
-1 tbsp oil
-1 tbsp unsalted butter
-4 rib chops of pork
-salt & pepper to taste
-1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
-1 tsp all purpose flour
-1/2 cup white wine
-1 cup chicken stock
-2 tsp Dijon mustard
-10 cornichons or 5 gherkins thinly sliced
Preheat oven to 375. Add a tablespoon of oil to a large, oven proof sauté pan and heat. Add the butter and melt. Add the pork and cook on high until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Turn and brown the other side. Remove the pan from the heat, and place it in the oven. Cook for about 8 minutes, until done.
Remove the chops from the pan, put in a platter and cover loosely with aluminum foil to keep warm. Make the sauce.
Return the pan to the heat and add the chopped onion. Sauté until golden. Add the flour and stir for one minute. Add the wine and deglace, scrapping all the brown bits at the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken stock, mix well and reduce the liquid by half.
Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the mustard. Add the gherkins and any juice remaining from the pork chops. Mix well and serve the sauce over the pork chops.