I love international snack boxes, but they are usually a bit too expensive for my pocketbook. Alas, I found this box of Universal Yums Germany snacks at World Market on clearance for $9, or 55% off its regular price, as they were near expiration, and decided to give them a go. Most of the snacks expired in December, so the box wasn’t really appropriate as a gift, but there is nothing wrong with gifting yourself.
The box comes with a little booklet describing the snacks, that includes some trivia about German food and even a recipe. There is also a sheet for rating your snacks.
The first snack I tried was this package of Waffelz cheesecake flavored wafers ($3.10 at Universal Yums). This seems to be a relatively new brand of wafers of an old German baking company, and I was somewhat surprised the whole packaging was in English – which suggests it’s manufactured for export. The wafers were just OK. They weren’t as crispy as we prefer – whether this was because they were near expiration or their style, it’s hard to stay – but the main issue was the flavor. It basically tasted like a sour version of a regular vanilla wafer. It didn’t taste of cheesecake, however. I wouldn’t buy them.
Second, I tried the Lorenz Pomsticks, in sour cream (geschmack) flavor. These are very crispy, thin and short potato sticks seasoned with onion powder, parsley and yeast extract, as well as buttermilk powder and sour cream. They don’t have the very strong sour flavor of American sour cream and onion chips; rather, it’s more subtle. They are also less salty than their American equivalent. They are just as addictive, however, and I had eaten half the 2.5 oz package before I realized what I was doing. All in all, I preferred it to American chips, both because of just how crispy they were and how mild the flavor was.
While the chips are made in Germany, this particular bag seems to have been imported to either the Philippines, Malaysia or Singapore before making its way to the US. They were sold out at Universal Yum (previously $3.70), but they are available from other German food stores in the US.
The third and fourth treat I tried was this yum bag which came with five Kuhbonbon salted caramel candies (I ate one before the photo) and four or five unbranded candies. I felt that Universal Yums was rather deceitful about counting this bag of small candies as two treats, particularly as even put together they don’t amount to a full size bag of candy! This con would make me reluctant to buy a box at full price.
Fortunately, both candies were pretty good. The Kuhbonbon candies had a very strong caramel flavor, which was almost too intense. They were a bit crumbly, perhaps because they weren’t very fresh. The unbranded little candies – which came in green apple, grapefruit and passion fruit flavors – provided intense bursts of delicious flavor. Sure, they had only a passing relationship with the flavor of the actual fruits, but they were delicious anyway. Unfortunately, they are very small.
The fifth treat were Halloren O’s fudge in “Brownie” flavor ($5.50 at Universal Yums). The package came with a dozen bite size bombons with a soft center and a chocolate cover.
I was very disappointed in these brownies. They had no chocolate flavor whatsoever and instead they were just super sweet. It was also a weird sweetness, probably because, in addition to sugar, they are sweetened with “wheat glucose syrup,” which I’m going to guess is even sweeter than sugar. I struggled to finish one, and I’m going to leave the rest for low-sugar episodes, where flavor doesn’t matter. Update: they worked exceptionally well for that.
The sixth treat was a nice-sized bar of Böhme Pfefferminz Creme-Schokolade ($3.60 at Universal yums). This was one of two treats that actually had German-language packaging. This is a chocolate bar with a creamy mint filling. I’m not a huge fan of mint chocolates, and I particularly disliked this one (you guessed it, too sweet), but my husband liked it very much.
The last treat was a full size bar of Porta amarena kirsche ($5.50 at Universal Yums), chocolate with cherry flavored filling. None of us in the house are fans of cherries, so I think it will take a while before anyone tries it.
My daughter picked up this tiny jar of Luscioux Pistachio Spreadable Cream at World Market, and we all liked it. It had a strong and pleasant flavor of pistachios, though it was a little on the sweet side. I don’t have much experience with pistachio butters, though I know they are all the rage now because of the popularity of Dubai chocolate. Still, I preferred this one to the one we’d bought before.
At over $10 for a 7oz jar, it’s rather expensive – twice the price than in Europe (thank Trump’s tariffs), but still cheaper than most of the pistachio spreads you can buy on Amazon. As other spreadable, sweetened and emulsified nut butters, this product contains vegetable oils – sunflower and cocoa butter in this case. It is about 45% pistachios – which is much lower than the 90% nuts required to be called a “butter” here in the US (until Trump changes these regulations), thus the name “spread”. It’s till higher than the 13% hazelnuts Nutella has and it doesn’t have palm oil. Other ingredients in the label include powdered milk and whey (so it’s not vegan), olive oil, soy lecithin and “flavors”.
In all, I enjoyed it on top of a crumpet but it’s too sweet for me at my age, and I wouldn’t buy it again. My daughter might, however.
Disappointing fare at this once SF Valley favorite
A Thai restaurant has been operating in the strip mall on Topanga Canyon and Lassen, in Chatsworth, for over a quarter of a century. I’ve never noticed the change of names and ownership of said restaurants, but I’ve frequented them all as they are very close to my parents’ home. Alas, it’s the end of an era. Not only because life and death means we won’t be visiting the area for much longer, but because our last visit to the restaurant in the space, now named Amazing Siam Thai Restaurant, was less than amazing to say the least. Given the quality of Thai restaurants in the San Fernando Valley, I can’t imagine Amazing Siam has long for this world.
The restaurant itself looks as it’s always looked: it’s a rectangular space with booths on one side, some next to the window, and a wall bench on the other with tables and chairs facing it. It’s decore is muted, which has been the trend for Thai restaurants for at least a decade or two now. It’s a nice, casual place to stop by. The menu is pretty standard and prices are on the affordable side, with most dishes in the high teens – low for 2025.
We started with the beef satay ($14), five little skewers of pounded and marinated beef served with toast, peanut sauce and salad. I love beef satay, but it’s practically impossible to find it in the Bay Area – it’s a staple of LA Thai restaurants, however. This one was just competent. The meat wasn’t particularly tender and while it was nicely flavored, it needed a bit more salt. Indeed, that was my complaint about all the dishes at Amazing Siam. I liked the peanut sauce, though it was very sweet. Diabetics might want to stay away. The toasted bread was just that: toasted sliced white bread, but it worked for soaking up the leftover peanut sauce.
As my entree, I had the Golden Curry with beef ($19), and here is where things went completely awry. The curry consisted of slices of beef and large chunks of potatoes and carrots. It tasted as if each ingredient was cooked independently, unseasoned, and then just added to the curry. That meant that none of the food was able to actually soak up the flavor of the curry, and instead every bite was insipid. The curry itself wasn’t great either. It neither looked or tasted like a yellow curry, rather it resembled a watered down panang curry. There was no depth of flavor and while it was somewhat spicy, it was very underseasoned. There was no salt at the table to help it out either.
Mike ordered the Pra Ram chicken ($16). Here again, the chicken and spinach had been cooked on their own, unseasoned, and served with the peanut sauce. Once again, the peanut sauce was tasty, if very sweet, while the chicken was insipid – though as the sauce was thicker, it was a better conduit for it than the beef in the yellow curry had been.
The one highlight of the meal was the Pad Thai ($15), which my daughter ordered with tofu. The noodles were well cooked and the sauce was as delicious as one could expect, hinting also toward sweetness (which is not a bad thing unless you are avoiding sugars). If I went back to the restaurant, this is what I’d order.
Service was unremarkable, though the kitchen sent dishes when they were ready, which means the appetizer came after the curries (I’m guessing because the beef satay had to be cooked rather than just plated).
Before the invention of the air fryer, I would not have even bothered buying a frozen snack like this. I don’t like turning the oven if I don’t have to – toaster ovens annoy so much that I put mine away -, and I hate having to pan-fry anything that is store bought. If I can’t microwave it effectively – and microwaving something with pastry like this, will turn the pastry soggy -, I rather not eat it. The air-fryer has changed all that.
These snacks are small, and therefore perfect for an even small air fryer like mine – cook them for 10 minutes at 375F. They come out with a nice, think and crispy shell and a flavorful but not too spicy filling. There is a good ratio of filling to shell. The are pretty tasty by themselves but you can dip them on anything you want. I used honey mustard dressing, as I was going through a honey-mustard-on-everything phase.
Brazilian style cheese bread had a moment in the US, probably around the time Brazilian steak houses became popular in the country. Due to a very old prejudice, I missed that moment and visited my first Brazilian steak house only last year, when my daughter’s boyfriend mentioned he wanted steak for his birthday. While I didn’t write a review at the time, we very much enjoyed the experience, though my memories of the cheese bread are too vague to refer to it.
Meanwhile, chipá, Guaraní cheese bread, had been having its own moment in Argentina. I tried it at my lodge in the Iberá wetlands and was so unimpressed as not try it again. Judged by the Trader Joe’s version, I should have.
Chipá or Brazilian cheese bread (the Guaraní people live in a vast territory that includes all of Paraguay as well as parts of Bolivia, northeastern Argentina and southern Brazil) is made with tapioca flour, milk, egg and grated cheese and usually shaped as little rolls. Trader Joe’s sells its version frozen with instructions of baking them in the oven. I air fried them (for 7 minutes from frozen at 360F, without preheating) and they were perfect. They had a nice, crispy shell with bright, not-too-salty Parmesan, and a wonderful chewy, elastic interior with a subtle cheese flavor. They are naturally gluten free for those who care about that. I really think you need to eat them warm to enjoy, as the elasticity of the dough is the best part.
Not only did I enjoy these buns very much, but I learned something knew. I already knew that cassava, yuca and manioc were all different names for the same root. What I didn’t know was that tapioca was the name of the starch of said root – thus tapioca flour refers to cassava starch while cassava flour refers to the flour made from the whole root. If you make your own chipá, make sure you use tapioca flour. But given how good Trader Joe’s frozen Brazilian cheese bread is, you really don’t need to go through the trouble.
Some weeks ago, my husband and I decided to go on a lunch date and thought we’d give Farmhouse Kitchen a try. We had been there before, during the pandemic, and had had a lovely lunch on the patio – except for the noise from the construction next door. The restaurant had closed and reopened since, and we were hoping to have better luck – though as the weather was turning, we figured we’d have to eat inside this time. As it happens, Farmhouse Kitchen in San Leandro – part of a small chain – has turned into Farmhouse Kitchen Express and they no longer have indoor dining – the whole of the restaurant has turned into a kitchen. Indeed, they don’t even have waiters or even checkers to take your order: you have to order and pay online (better have a credit card). They do have a terminal in the restaurant you can use to order, however, though it’s a little bit clunky.
We did hang out in the patio while we waited for our order, and it’s nice-enough, though it seems in need of care. Of course, this has been a very rainy spring, so they might be waiting for the weather to turn nice before they work on their patio (I know that’s what I’ve been waiting for myself). Weather you eat there or not, the food comes in to-go containers.
I got the yellow curry with rice ($16) with beef ($4). It was good, but a bit on the spicy side. The curry that depth and it was well developed, but it wasn’t anything extraordinary. I think for the price, it should have been better. I also got a couple of crispy roti ($3) to go with it, and these were pretty good but they were swimming in oil. They were crispier and denser than others I’ve had, but they were still very nice with the curry. The oil, however, made limited how much of them you could eat.
Mike had the roti mataba ($15), a “crispy roti stuffed with curried potato and ground chicken,” which came with yellow curry, ajad (Thati cucumber salad) and a samosa. He enjoyed all of them very much. They were too spicy for my taste, but I’m a lightweight.
He also had the pad thai ($15), which comes with shrimp. He thought it was quite good for a pad thai, though nothing mind blowing.
In all, we felt the quality of the food was pretty high, but also that the prices were on the high-side and not really justifiable for take-out food. We probably wouldn’t go back, given other alternatives in town. But if we did go, we’d order from home first.
This Hayward Unicorn serves delicious and very affordable Indian food.
Shahi Darbar is one of the many restaurants which opened in suburbia towards the end of the pandemic, though I only learned about it a few weeks ago when I started researching restaurants to go with my friend group this month. I tend to look for restaurants close to San Leandro that are reasonably priced, vegetarian friendly and get good reviews. Shahi Darbar fit all of those requirements. And, indeed, it was a great choice. The food was delicious, the service excellent, and it was cheaper than most of its competitors.
My friends and I visited Shahi Darbar on a Wednesday evening. They don’t take reservations, but we didn’t need one. The restaurant is large and was relatively empty – they do seem to do quite a bit of to-go business, however. The menu is quite ample, including not only the Indian staples you get at all Indian restaurants in the West Coast, but a wider array of appetizers, breads, kebabs and vegetarian dishes (don’t miss the ones listed as “meals”), in addition to Indo-Chinese specialties. They also have monthly specials which includes dishes that I’d never heard of before. What they don’t have, very unfortunately, is my favorite: pasanda.
We started dinner by sharing two orders of fish pakora ($15). The little pieces of fish were very good. The breading was very crispy, perhaps a tad too salty but very flavorful. The fish had that melt-in-your-mouth quality that makes this dish so wonderful. We all enjoyed it.
I had the lamb korma ($15). It was probably the least successful dish of the evening, mostly because it was unlike what Indian restaurants in the West Coast usually serve as such. Kormas here are usually nut forward, creamy and with mild, somewhat fruity flavors. This dish tasted far more like a tikka masala sauce. It was average-to-good as that, but it’s not what I was expecting or wanted. The lamb itself was a bit tough, so probably from a leg rather than shoulder, but it was well cooked. I did order a chicken tikka masala ($14) to go, and this one was, surprisingly, nuttier (both in flavor and texture) and crispier, though it also lacked sweetness. I liked it better than the korma, however. Both dishes were ordered mild but they had a kick to them. It was fine for us, but it wouldn’t be for someone who can’t handle any spice.
Mike had the butter chicken ($14). He was very happy with it, and would give it an 8-9 in a 10-point scale. That’s quite generous, for him. I wouldn’t go as far as that, but I thought it was pretty good. I definitely liked it better than the korma. This one did taste like a butter chicken sauce. He ordered it “medium” but it was probably on the mild side of that, barely more spicy than our other two mild curries.
My friends Elektra and Donovan both had the Shahi Darbargoat curry ($15), one of their specialties. They both seemed to like it well enough, but I didn’t taste it.
Parker ordered the bhindi masala ($12), which included okra, onions and other vegetables, and she was very, very happy with it. She thought it was delicious.
But it was Katrina, who ordered the chole bhature ($13), a dish of puffed up bread served with a chickpea curry, who was the happiest. Indeed, she was close to deigning this dish the best thing she’d ever eaten. It was the combination of the flavorful curry with the bread that made it work so well. I wouldn’t be surprised if she became a regular for this dish alone.
We also got jeera rice ($5, for a portion large enough for two) and a bunch of butter nan ($3 each), which were pretty average but did their job.
I had a very tasty sweet lassi ($5), which seems to be sweetened by some red syrup. Whatever it was, it was good, if a tad sweet.
In all, we had a very good meal and we closed the place down – we only felt a tad guilty, but we did leave when they turned the lights on. The restaurant itself is quite plain – the darkness does help give it an ambiance -, but comfortable. Service was very attentive. We learned that they will do individual bills, if you tell them before you order.
In all, though we have several closer Indian restaurants to us, I’m sure we’ll return.
Shahi Darbar 26953 Mission BLVD , Suite F Hayward, CA (510)363-9286
This Hayward Himalayan restaurant has very good food
Last night, my friends group got together for our periodic “girls night out” – which now includes “boys” from time to time – and we decided to try The Gurkha Kitchen in Hayward. It had reviews, the prices were reasonable, and it’s relatively close. I’m glad we did, we were all very happy with the food, the service and the experience. I didn’t take photos, however, as I didn’t want to impose my hobby on my friends.
The Gurkha Kitchen serves Himalayan and Indian cuisine and has four locations in the Bay Area. The restaurant in Hayward is relatively small and pretty informal but pleasant enough for a casual dinner. They seem to have an outdoor space but it was a chilly night.
We started by sharing the fish pakora ($12) and buffalo momos ($16) appetizers. They were both served from the kitchen pipping hot. The fish pakora came in two-bite chunks. It had the right amount of breading and the fish was nicely seasoned. It was, however, pretty spicy – it left my mouth numb, though I have quite a low tolerance for heat. I’d order it again. I was quite impressed by the buffalo momos. These were larger and a different shape than the momos I’ve usually had and had a good amount of very tasty filling. The dough was chewy and thin, perhaps made with rice flower?, and it came with a bright and creamy “momo chutney” that we all enjoyed.
I hesitated between ordering the gurkha chicken ($18) and the Kashmiri lamb ($20). I was intrigued by the former as I don’t think I’ve had it before. However, I’m not a fan of bones in my curries and this included bone-in chicken. The Kashmiri lamb, however, was boneless so I ordered that – as did my friend Donovan. The Kashmiri lamb had a tomato based curry and omitted dairy. It was quite tasty, with the right amount of spiciness for me. It wasn’t quite as good as my yougurt-based rogan josh, however. The curries are served with plain rice.
Parker ordered the Thakali Thali Goat ($21) which came with small servings of goat curry, raayo ko saag (mustard greens), kalo dal (split black lentils), vegetable, rice, and achar (a condiment made with pickled veggies). She was very pleased with all the food and couldn’t finish it.
Aamani had the Aloo Bodi Tama ($15), I believe. She also quite enjoyed it.
We didn’t get drinks, but they have complimentary unsweetened chai which two in our party enjoyed.
We also got some butter and garlic nan. The butter nan didn’t seem to have any butter on it – not that I minded – and it was thinner than most nans I’ve had.
Service was very friendly and we enjoyed our time there. They also have a lunch buffet for $15, which includes momos on weekends. I’m sure we’ll try it.
A second visit to this popular San Leandro brewery
Last week, we met our friend William at Fieldwork Brewing in downtown San Leandro for a long awaited catch up. It’s amazing how time flies.
William suggested Fieldwork as he frequents its Berkeley location and we were game. Mike and I tried it a year or two ago, with our friend Elektra, and while we weren’t impressed by its expensive pizzas, we did appreciate the patio-like atmosphere.
Fieldwork is a small but expanding chain of tap rooms situated in the Bay Area and surrounding counties. They offer a wide variety of beer as well as pizza and other bites. The San Leandro location is at the Washington Plaza, in front of the downtown Safeway. It features a large enclosed patio, with both picnic-style tables and benches and lounge-type chairs around gas fire pits. It’s open air, though they have a retractable roof they can close down when it rains. They also have some indoor table and bar seating.
We were there before dinner time, so we just got some beers and appetizers. William had a tasting of 3 beers, and I went for a 1/2 glass of Hills & Valleys American pilsner ($5), which I enjoyed very much. It was a bright, easy to drink but balanced and flavorful pilsner, without the bitter tones often found in this style of beer.
We shared some Honey Calabrian Wings ($16), which were very spicy and quite messy. They probably weren’t sweet enough, but they weren’t bad. the portion was quite generous (or we weren’t that hungry).
We also got the Brussel sprouts ($13) and they were a hit at the table. They were nicely caramelized.
We had the pizzas once before and we also felt they were OK but overpriced – their small pizzas are $19 to $25. They are now offering all their pizzas in “Detroit style,” with a thicker crust, so I might enjoy them more. I’m usually not a fan of “Neapolitan style” thin crust pizza, their other choice.
What annoys me most about Fieldwork is their ordering system. You have to scan a code and order and pay online. You can also go into the restaurant and order at the bar, but of course that means waiting in line (if there is one). Waiters bring your food and drinks, but if you need anything you need to go inside the restaurant to get it.
Fieldwork Brewing 100 West Juana Avenue, San Leandro, CA (510) 564-4298
This meal delivery service has a complete new concept, but does it work?
I have been using Locale for about a year. In its original concept, it delivered meals prepared by local restaurants for you to reheat. Then, a couple of weeks ago, Locale announced that it was changing concepts altogether. Rather that delivering restaurant-prepared meals, it would prepare the meals themselves. They promised the meals would be “healthier” and they raised both meal prices and the price of delivery. They seem to want to compete with Factor, rather than with a local service such as Shef.
I tried the new concept – mostly because I still had over $100 in a gift certificate I needed to use – and while we liked a couple of meals, the lack of selection and the price led me to unsubscribe.
How it works
You subscribe to Locale and choose a plan of 4 to 12 individual meals to be delivered. You choose the specific meals you want to get by Friday and they are delivered to your house the following Monday.
Cost
The cost of each meals varies by how many you are subscribed to get. This ranges from $18.50 per meal when you subscribe to get 4 to $15 when you are subscribed to get 12. Delivery is an additional $10, and you need to pay a $1 deposit for the glass jars the meals come in. My initial 6-meal order came to $116.50 or about $19.50 per meal. That’s equivalent to a meal at a regular restaurant. There is no tax, however, as the meals are delivered cold.
Packaging & Delivery
The meals come in glass jars, which are placed in a cooler with a cardboard divider. A freezer pack keeps them cold. Locale picks up the cooler and jars when it delivers a new order.
The Food
Locale offers only 20 meals which change monthly. I’d describe the meals as falling within modern American cuisine. Locale advertises the meals as being high in proteins – and they do have generous portions of meats, so I believe that is true. Several of the meals I got, however, were also very high in starches – which are not particularly healthy. In all, these are large plates of food, though probably not large enough for two meals.
Locale also advertises the ingredients as being organic and the meats as being “pasture raised, grass fed, wild caught,” – but I take this claim with a grain of salt. For example, their chicken might be organic, but it’s not “pasture raised,” – it comes from Petaluma Poultry, a factory farming operation which doesn’t offer pasture raised chicken and has been accused of animal abuse. Its “Rocky” and “Rosie” brands are available at supermarkets.
How long the food keeps
Each meal had a “best buy” date which was 3 to 5 days after delivery. Everything was still fresh when we consumed it within this time period.
Making changes & cancelling
While their website is sparse and annoying to use – sometimes requiring multiple log ins -, making changes is quite easy. You can change how many meals your subscription to a smaller or larger amount of meals – the latter brings down the per-meal price. You can also easily skip weeks.
Cancelling was easy but confusing. When you go to the cancel page, there is a button that says “Pause my subscription”. If you click on it, it gives you a choice to “cancel,” instead. However, if you choose “cancel,” it takes you to another page. The trick is to not click on that button and simply provide the reason for cancelling.
Customer Service
Customer service has been pretty good, they respond by e-mail within a couple of days.
The Meals
Sesame Crusted Wild Tuna with Cold Peanut Soba Noodle Salad and Bok Choy
My husband enjoyed this dish very much. The salad had a variety of textures, which were brought together by the tasty, spicy peanut sauce. While the sauce was spicy in itself, it mellowed when mixed in with the rest. The tuna was flavorful and fresh, and this was overall a good dish. My husband thought it was worth the price, given that it was a generous portion.
Thai Organic Chicken Coconut Curry with Bone Broth Brown Rice and Thai Basil Leaves
This was another disappointing dish. The curry was light, bright and tasty, but ultimately underdeveloped. It didn’t reach the yuminess of your run of the mill Thai yellow curry. The chicken was cooked separately, and cut into very small pieces, probably to disguise its dryness and lack of flavor. The problem is that it then had no texture to add to the dish. The brown rice was fine. I did like the basil leaves on top, they added an extra element of freshness to the dish, but it probably could have used more. While the portion was sufficient, in all I felt this dish was too expensive for what it was. For the same price, I can get a much yummier yellow curry at any Thai restaurant.
Organic Chicken and Green Tea Piccata with Bone Broth Barley Risotto, and Roasted Rainbow Carrots
This dish was almost identical to the Thai chicken dish above, except that it came with a “green tea piccata” sauce, and it had carrots and spinach leaves instead of basil. The chopped chicken breast was the same, probably from the same batch, but here the sauce was too thin and too sparse to actually hide the dryness and lack of flavor of the chicken. The carrots were fine, but the raw, undressed spinach leaves added nothing. Who wants to eat raw spinach leaves? I did like the piccata sauce, even if I couldn’t really tell it had green tea in it, but there wasn’t enough of it to soak all of the rice in addition to the chicken. And once again, this was a very starch heavy dish – which makes it not at all healthy. I’m afraid I’ll be hungry again once my body processes all the sugars in the starches. I’d definitely not order this again – indeed, I only ate it because I was hungry and I had already paid for it (and almost $20!). I definitely wouldn’t order it again.
Grass-Fed Steak Fajitas Salad Bowl with Avocado Tomatillo Crema
I wasn’t fond of this dish, but this is partly my fault. I should have looked more carefully at the ingredients before ordering it. The main problem was that I am not a fan of most of the ingredients in the salad. I find lettuce hearts too crunchy, raw bell peppers and raw onions too strong and I just don’t like the texture of black beans. The tomatoes, which I normally do like, weren’t ripe enough. The avocado tomatillo crema was pretty good, but too spicy for me. Probably my favorite part of the salad were the pepitas.
As for the meat, when I read “fajitas,” I expect slices of medium-rare skirt or flank steak. That’s what was shown in Locale photo of this dish. Instead, I got cubes of what I think is probably top round – the meat was pretty lean, but it lacked the fiber and the chewiness I like in beef. The marinade was pretty tasty, however. This is not a dish I’d order again.
Grass Fed Steak Plate with Roasted Rainbow Carrots, Heirloom Marble Potatoes, and Chimichurri
Locale has been selling a similar dish out of its Tenderleaf kitchen, so there weren’t many surprises here. First, there was a lot of food. The portion of steak was perfectly adequate for dinner, and there were enough carrots and potatoes to feed an army. The few spinach leaves, however, seemed to be there pro forma.
Unfortunately, both the steak and “veggies” were unseasoned (or severely underseasoned); I’m someone who prefers to salt food before it’s cooked. The steak was tender and chewy enough, without having too much gristle, but I really didn’t like the taste. The chimichurri did a god job of hiding it, but what’s the point of eating steak then? The chimichurri sauce was fine, it had that acidic tone that most American chimichurris have, but there was nothing to complain about it. In all, it was a competent meal if not particularly noteworthy. I wouldn’t order it again, because it’s simply not worth the price and because pan grilling a steak is very easy and gives you better results.
Puerto Rican Grass Fed Beef Shepherd’s Pie with Okinawa Sweet Potatoes and Arugula Salad
This was an interesting dish. I wouldn’t classify it as a “shepherd’s pie” as it wasn’t a pie and didn’t have mashed potatoes; it was more of a picadillo mixed in with sliced sweet potatoes, peas and other undistinguishable ingredients. It had a gritty, interesting texture that my husband liked better than I. The flavor, however, was all there. It was bright and citrusy and very balanced. The arugula came with a lemon curd vinaigrette which was also pretty tasty. In all, a pretty good dish. My husband would order it again.
I have unsubscribed from Locale and don’t expect to try it again, given their very high prices.
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