Mike took me to the Pleasanton Hotel last night for a mystery dinner. It was great. The food was only so-so, but the whole evening was a lot of fun, nonetheless because Mike figured out who the murderer was 🙂
I wrote a longer review and will post it to my website later.
Category: Restaurants (Page 52 of 53)
I just posted two reviews from my trip to Los Angeles.
We stopped at Mike’s Roadhouse Cafe in Kattleman City in our way to LA. It was just OK, better than Denny’s. They have a beautiful collection of (overpriced) pedal cars, however.
In LA, we had dinner at Patagonian Gourmet, a whole-in-the-wall Argentine restaurant in Tarzana that was actually quite good. They have a killer chicken escabeche that you have to try.
I haven’t posted anything to this blog, or my other one, because I’ve been gone for the last week. Mike and I went down to Southern California, left Mika with my parents and took a 4-day cruise. It was relaxing and the food decent, though not actually good 🙂 I hope to write more about the cruise and the food I’ve had lately, we’ll see if I can manage the time.
Anyway, I just posted two reviews of San Leandro restaurants that I wrote before I left.
The Blue Dish is a small deli-like restaurant serving light American, Middle Eastern and Mexican menus. We tried the Middle Eastern stuff (prepared by a Latino cook) and our experience was mixed: Mike like his salad while I felt my shawerma was overwhelmed by the tahini sauce.
The Sandwitchery is, as it name suggests, a sandwich joint. They offer a large variety of sandwiches which are better, and more expensive, than those at the chains (there is a Subway and a Quiznos nearby) but otherwise not remarkable.
On a final note, I’ve heard that Cafe Zula closed. I’m not surprised given its out-of-the-way location and a menu that did not justify its prices. Unfortunately it isn’t going to be replaced by another (better) restaurant, Trader Sports has expanded into that space.
Zachary’s Pizza has, without doubt, the best pizza in the Bay Area. Indeed, probably the world. I’ve never really had pizza in Chicago (whose pizza Zachary’s tries to imitate), but I just can’t imagine how it could be any better.
Zachary’s offers two types of pizza: thin and stuffed. I have never had the thin pizza and I never will (that would seem to me to be a waste of a visit to Zachary’s), so I can’t comment about it. The stuffed pizza, however, is heavenly. What you get is more a cheese pie than a pizza. A bottom layer of dough is covered with tons of cheese (but I always order extra-cheese anyway) and toppings and then topped by another layer of dough. This whole thing is covered by stewed tomatoes. The description, however, doesn’t do justice to the result. You really need to try it to know why it rocks.
Zachary’s has two locations, one on Solano in North Berkeley and the other in Rockridge. They both have an eat-in section which are fairly nice. The walls tend to be decorated with children’s drawings of Zachary’s pizza. Getting a table is usually very hard, specially during peak eating hours. You have to be prepared to wait (or go, put your name down and stroll through the neighborhood). They don’t take reservations, but you can pre-order your pizza when you put your name down, so that it’s ready once you your table is ready.
What we usually do is get take-out (Zachary’s doesn’t deliver, it also doesn’t take credit cards, it’s a cash-only place). We live a 20-minute drive away from the closest Zachary’s (the one in Rockridge) but the pizza is still warm by the time we get it here. My favorite pizza is the plain cheese (with extra cheese), though last time we had one with Canadian bacon and pineapple that was also very yummy. Mike prefers the ones with toppings. His favorite is the Mexican chorizo, a spicy pizza with green chiles and Monterrey Jack cheese. We had both of these last Thursday night and we were all very pleased. A large pizza has 8 slices. We usually each eat two slices for dinner or one for lunch.
It usually takes 40 minutes for the pizza to be ready so order accordingly. I’ve found that the leftovers microwave well, but make sure not to overheat it. I use 2 minutes on high but I have an old microwave.
2011 Update It’s been 20 years since we started going to Zachary’s pizza (and 7 years since my review) and Zachary’s continues to make wonderful, delicious stuffed pizza. From time to time they add more varieties to their menu and prices, of course, go up. Last night we had their Carne stuffed crust pizza ($28 for a large), which comes with Italian sausage, pepperoni, salami, chopped bacon and mozzarella. It wasn’t my favorite. There were too many toppings, they were too salty altogether, and they didn’t let the flavor of the cheese shine through. It was still a great pizza, but not as good as their plain cheese pizza (still my fave). Zachary’s has added a new location in San Ramon now, which we haven’t been to. They take reservations there.
Zacchary’s Pizza
5801 College Ave.
Oakland, CA
510-655-6385
Sun-Thur: 11am-10pm
Fri-Sat : 11am-10:30
http://www.zacharys.com/
We went to La Bella Italia for lunch on Thursday. This is the restaurant that took over Pring’s, our favorite coffeehouse, when the new owner couldn’t make a go at it. I’d gone to Bella Italia twice before at this location, and my impressions of the food had been mixed. The non-pasta dishes had been pretty good while the pasta had been blah.
The lunch menu offers salads, pasta, pizzas and sandwhiches. When Bella Italia was at its old location, lunch there was a steal with pastas at $4 and pizzas $4-5. Prices have gone up a couple of dollars now, so that while the prices are reasonable, Bella Italia is no longer the bargain it was.
Mike had a sausage sandwich and I think he liked it, though it wouldn’t win any awards. I had the tortellini bolognese, the same dish than Mike had had in our first foray into this restaurant, and my impression was similar. It was better than the other pasta dishes we had sampled there since, it was homey and perfectly eatable, though it was more a tomato sauce with meat added than a regular bolognese sauce.
Bella Italia is owned by a Sikh family. Supposedly the owner hates Indian food, which is too bad as I love it, and if there was an Indian restaurant in San Leandro I’d go there all the time.
Here is my previous review of Bella Italia.
Friday night was “girls’ night out” for my friend Lola and I. We decided to go to Asena, a Mediterrenean restaurant in Alameda. The food was wonderful and I liked the casual atmosphere. It’s not a place for tots, though, so I doubt I’ll go there again aytime soon.
After Asena we briefly considered going to Tucker’s for ice cream but we were too full. Instead we headed to our usual hangout, Horatio’s, a local steakhouse that also has a very nice lounge where you can eat dessert. Their desserts are very good and it’s a nice place to hang out.
*Update*. We’ve ordered pizza from here a few more times. My impressions continue to be the same, good, standard pizza. For future reference, my friend Tita, who likes thin pizza, didn’t really like this one. Also I hadn’t realized this but they charge for delivery.
—
Pizza Guys is a northern Californian chain with a location in San Leandro. As far as I know, it
It doesn’t take much to get a last-minute table at a good restaurant in New York, just a $20-100 a bribe. At least this is what James Beard found out in his bribing experiment in New York. I don’t know if it would work just as well in the Bay Area, but it might be worth finding out.
EPICURIOUS: GOURMET: JAMES BEARD: POCKET FULL OF DOUGH
My sister Katherine spent her spring break with us and very graceously babysat Mika most nights she was here. This and the fact that I didn’t felt like cooking all week, meant that I ended up going out for most meals. I talked about the early part of the week, but there is more.
Thursday, Kahty, Mika and I went to lunch at Fontina in Pleasanton. We all enjoyed the sidewalk dining, the wheater once again was beautiful. Michaela behaved wonderfully. Alas, we found the food overpriced and not very good. I’m still hoping to find one good restaurant in downtown Pleasanton with outdoor dining where I can return again and again.
Thursday night is Survivor night so we didn’t go out (poor Lex got bamboozled!) and instead got Panda Express take out. I’m not very fond of chains as a matter of principle, but Panda Express actually produces some fairly descent Chinese(American) food. The mandarin chicken is particularly tasty.
Friday we all had lunch at Emil Villa’s, a local coffeeshop which seems to be operating under new owners. The food was quite decent (it usually is) and I found their grilled cheese sandwich particularly tasty (though also a bit overpriced).
For dinner we went to Benihana the chain “Japanese steakhouse” and a favorite of Kathy’s. The food was fine and the “show” kept Mika’s attention for a bit. Most importantly, Kathy had a good time.
Saturday we skipped lunch and Mike and I went to dinner at CreAsian, a local upscale fusion restaurant. The little restaurant is interesting but needs some more variety in its menu (it doesn’t seem to have change since our last visit there over a year ago). Still, we had a good, if too-quick meal.
Today we took Kathy to brunch before her flight back home. We went to JD Restaurant in Castro Valley. Big portions, OK food, Kahty was happy again.
Finally, for the grand finale, our friends Regina and Boris took us to dinner at Pomegranate, a Mediterranean restaurant in Berkeley. It was one of the most affordable places we dined at this week and probably my favorite. The food was simple, hearty and very tasty; the atmosphere managed to be elegant/casual and comfortable at the same time and people didn’t even seem to mind Mika going beserk (she was in too good a mood, sometimes a crying child is easier to control than a too-happy-child).
This week I’m planning to eat in, eat in and eat in. And cleaning up the pantry is not out of the question.
With my sister in town babysitting Mika, Mike and I had been doing a fair amount of eating out (and expect to do some more). Our last three meals have been at restaurants and in all they’ve been satisfying.
Tuesday night we had dinner at A Cote, a “small plates” restaurant in Rockridge We weren’t as impressed by the food as we were in our first visit, but we had a good enjoyable meal.
For lunch Wednesday we went to Boci in Pleasanton. We enjoyed the sidewalk dining and the linguini carbonara, though the ravioli bolognese was a dissapointment.
Finally, for dinner tonight we went to Jojo on Piedmont Ave. We had a very nice meal in this unassuming French restaurant.
As usual, full reviews of the restaurants will be available at http://www.marga.org/food/rest/
Recent Comments