Author: marga (Page 82 of 114)

A new Chilli’s opened in San Leandro a few months ago, and today they were at the farmer’s market handing out tortilla chips & salsa (and coupons for 1 free kids meal). I haven’t been to Chilli’s yet – but I mean to go, in this town even chain restaurants deserve a review – so I figured I should give the chips a try. They weren’t bad. The chips themselves were very thin and pretty greasy, very similar to those at Chevy’s, though not quite as good. The salsa tasted like the jarred stuff, it was pretty watery, not at all chunky, with a bitter afterstate and an all-around Pace-like flavor. Chevys’ is much better.

There was a fire at Pee Wee’s Pizza this morning. The fire – which we, as normal sleeping people, didn’t see nor hear – had flames shooting through the roof and heavy heat on the inside. They still don’t know what caused it. I daresay that Pee Wee’s will be closed for a while 🙂
Update: Apparently the fire was set intentionally. There were prying marks next to the door and the door was wide open when the fire crews came. The restaurant is now just an empty shell, everything inside burned. So alas, no more Pee Wee’s 🙁 We hadn’t gone for a while, but it’s a real shame given how long the place has been in building. They have no insurance but they’re planning on rebuilding. Apparently they’ve gotten a lot of support from their customers over the years and may get a lot of volunteer labor. If nothing else, the place will look better. So all I have to say is “Go Pee Wee’s”

Not long ago, one of my blog visitors commented that her favorite Los Pericos (apparently there are 5 of them) is the one at the Los Pericos Market on East 14th & Stoaks. Of course that meant we had to try it.
The restaurant is located right inside the small supermarket by the cake section. The people are very friendly and the clientele is almost exclusively Latino. It’s nice to go to a place where English is the second language. Both Mike and I had chicken special quesadillas (~$5), which resemble large burritos sans the beans and rice. Instead they have cheese, meat, salsa, guacamole, sour cream and lettuce (I always order mine without the latter). We found these to be good, but not particularly better than those at the other Los Pericos. The chicken super quesadilla (a small quesadilla with cheese, sour cream, salsa & chicken) we ordered with Mika, however, was very good. The chicken was in large chunks and it was very nicely grilled. We don’t understand how come that wasn’t the case in our quesadillas (the chicken pieces were smaller and less tasty).
In all, we thought it wasn’t better than our regular Los Pericos and we wouldn’t make a point of going there again.

It will come as no surprise to anyone – certainly not me – that Taqueria, the recently opened, well, taqueria, in downtown San Leandro, just couldn’t make it. Though their pricing scheme (charging per item) was innovative, nothing else about it was, and it was competing against a very succesful, authentic, long-time operation (Los Pericos), which, frankly, has better food. So no, I’m not surprised they’re closed.
According to a sign they’re now doing catering only. I wish them well, but I can’t help feeling sad about the possibilities the place had. There is certainly a need in San Leandro for a standard Mediterranean restaurant serving things like quality kebabs, kofta, pilafs, Mediterranean salads/platters and tons of little things in pastries. True, there is Luke’s grill, but their quality is less than stellar, and they’re expensive. And even then they’re often packed. But I think Kolbeh-Taqueria owners just didn’t have the resources to dedicate to a restaurant serving quality foods and they tried to concentrate on gimmicks rather than quality.
I’m still hoping someone will open a new restaurant in downtown San Leandro – we surely need it.