Mediterranean House Grill

Wow it has already been a month and a half that I've been married! I've eaten at a lot of places in the last 2 months since my last blog but I haven't been as diligent in reporting them. As for honeymoon, there were A LOT of food pictures taken on the cruise of all the food but maybe that will come soon... it seems these days the time to blog has been sucked away!

Anyway, yay for dinner with friends! I was able to have dinner with Carly at the Mediterranean House Grill on Castro Street. It was towards the end near El Camino, which is not the end of Castro I usually eat at, so I was happy to try new places! I had the chicken schwarma plate which included chicken, rice, choice of salad (I had Mediterranean salad), and a dip (I had hummus). It also came with pita bread and 3 different dips. It wasn't the best mediterranean food I have had, but it was pretty good. The chicken flavor was good, but it was a bit on the dry side. I also was not a huge fan of their hummus which had a bit of a kick to it.. more than I was expecting in hummus. The rice was flavorful and good, and the salad was nice and refreshing although I would have preferred less dressing. Then again, I'm not a huge dressing person and it is probably pre-mixed. Carly got the veggie deluxe plate which looked like a nice assortment of various items like falafel, the sour leaf wrapped appetizer, and several other items I can't recall right now. Her salad was the yogurt salad and she seemed to like it! The pita bread was good as well as the dips. The spicy chili dip was quite spicy so don't put too much on the first time!

I liked the service, and was pleasantly surprised that you get to choose between the various salads, as well as your choice of eggplant or hummus dip (baba ghanoush- sorry if I'm completely butchering the spelling). Though we didn't get dessert, they had several different dessert options that looked quite tasty including an awesome looking baklava. Overall, not an extreme favorite but if someone else asked me to go, I'd go again :)

Rick's Cafe

After church on Sunday a group of us decided to go to a fun sit down restaurant and went to Rick's Cafe in Los Altos. I had previously heard that they have amazing brunch type foods so I was all up for it! They were great in accommodating our group that ended up becoming bigger than when we had originally called in our party. There was even coffee outside for free to tithe over the people waiting in the cold until they get seated.

We were finally seated and the menu is so large it took us quite a while to decide on what to order. I ended up deciding on the Torino Crepe which was a lunch item. It was a crepe with artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, feta, and I can't remember what other goodness was in there. It also came with a side of potatoes and a green salad. The crepe was tasty, although I must say I'm a bigger fan of crepes that are a bit thicker, and I have realized I like sweet crepes better than savory. The potatoes weren't as good as I was hoping in my head since I was expecting more home fries type potatoes, while these leaned more toward hash brown form. They were stilll good, but just not what I was expecting. I tried some of Jeremy's banana wheat germ pancakes which were absolutely delicious! They were light, fluffy, and sometimes you got a surprise banana chunk which was to look forward to in every bite to see if you got a piece. Overall the food was really good.

The only downer was that they bring out a pitcher type thing of coffee in the beginning before you order and plop it down on your table along with water pitchers. I guess Jeremy and I were naive or something, but we didn't think they'd leave that if it was not ordered and it was not free, so he had half a cup to kill time before the food got there. I don't even like coffee but I was also killing time and figured I'd try this "free coffee". I ended up just taking a sip and leaving the rest of my fourth of a cup. To our surprise when the bill came around, they charged per mug that had coffee in it, and we were not happy. Our friends were mixed in their opinions, but we overheard several people later outside that had to clarify whether the coffee was complimentary. Jeremy thought it was deceitful and doesn't want to go back again even though the food was really good. I would give it another go and tell them not even to bring the coffee to our table. They ended up taking it off our tab once we explained our disatisfaction but it definitely left a bad taste in our mouths. If you go, just remember good food but don't touch the coffee pot unless you actually want to pay $2!

Habana Cuba

This entry is out of order, since a bunch of us went to Habana Cuba before Christmas and prior to my leaving for San Diego, but better late than never!

We started out the dinner with a pitcher with sangria which was really good. It wasn't very strong at all, but it was quite tasty. I still got my "asian glow" after maybe half a glass with my cheeks getting warm and pink. We had a big group, but Jeremy, Christina, and I were going to share a few things.

We started with an appetizer of bocaditos or cuban sandwiches which were delicious! The bread was toasted nicely and the slow roasted meat inside as well as the caramelized onions with cheese just melded perfectly! The sandwich seems so simple but they were so delicious! We then split the surtido (?) for 2 which includes 3 types of meat- the famous slow roasted pork, a beef with potatoes dish, and chicken with onions dish. The side dishes were really good with fried plantains being the highlight for me, as well as the white rice (I think loaded with butter) and black beans. The slow roasted pork which is the cuban specialty apparently was really good and recommended by me :)

One of my friends ended up getting some desserts- tres leches cake, flan and arroz con leche. The cake was DELICIOUS, with a great moistness and wasn't too sweet which is a turnoff for me if a cake is too sweet. The flan was a little firmer than what I'm used to, but still creamy and good. The arroz con leche was a bit soupy and on the sweeter side (from the bite I had), but everybody else seemed to enjoy it! Overall, a good first cuban dining experience for me!

Lolitas- San Diego

Another must stop when I'm in San Diego is Lolita's, usually in Bonita for some carne asada! It's not like we don't have good mexican food up here in the bay area, but there's something about Lolita's and the memories!  I usually get a Carne Asada burrito or a Carne Asada taco with an extra corn tortilla to make it 2 tacos :)

My friend is obsessed with the Carne Asada Fries or the California Burrito which is a Carne Asada burrito with french fries, sour cream, and cheese in it.  She also claims that the salsa is to die for, but I'm not a connoisseur so I just use a little of the hot sauce like any other hot sauce! I'm also not a huge fan of the fries and carne asada thing, so I stick with the traditional burrito or taco... oh so good... I usually get it with horchata to wash it down, but this time I just stuck with water since it can be pretty darn sweet sometimes.  We met up with my friends who had never met Jeremy before, so it was a good time of eating good mexican food and catching up on what's new in our lives. I had mentioned carne asada fries to Jeremy (since french fries are his favorite "vegetable") a few days prior to going to Lolita's but he had forgotten about them- for which he still gives me a hard time about! He greatly enjoyed his carne asada burrito but talksa bout trying this carne asada fries business next time we're down there!

Another place I would have loved to go to was Tacos El Gordo for some more of the small street style tacos, but I didn't get over there and decided I could survive without it.  Maybe next time! Man, I love the numerous and delicious mexican eateries in San Diego!

Sushi Ota- San Diego

If you asked me what my favorite Japanese restaurant is in San Diego, I would be VERY quick to say Sushi Ota in Pacific Beach!

Jeremy came with me to San Diego this year for Christmas, and we went to Sushi Ota one night so he could experience the glory. My parents took us and we got the chef's tasting menu of about 7 courses as usual. We started off with a crab wrapped in cucumber dish topped with daikon, dried pomegranate, and a ponzu type sauce on top. My favorite dish was the foil wrapped steamed dish with an excellent broth! It had cod, enoki mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, mizuna greens, napa cabbage, and as I said, AMAZING broth. It was so good that Jeremy, who normally does not drink the soup and only eats the solids in any soup, drank all the broth!

We also had really good sushi such as two different types of Aji (Spanish Mackerel my favorite), and a special toro (fatty tuna). We put Jeremy to the test by giving him uni (sea urchin) and ikura (salmon roe) which even many Japanese people don't like. It took me a long time to actually eat it, but I still don't choose to eat it over other sushi items. He definitely tries everything once, which I think is a great characteristic! We also asked specifically for a salmon skin handroll for Jeremy & I since I love them! I don't think they're as good in a regular roll because you don't get as much of the crunch factor when the crunchy items are distributed throughout a long roll. It was warm, very crispy, and absolutely delicious, especially with the extra salmon pieces added into the roll. Jeremy really enjoyed it too. You can get that roll in other places, and I may be biased, but I love everything about Sushi Ota. The place is pretty casual, not the elegant, snooty feeling restaurant you have to dress up for, but I love the food and Mr. Ota is fantastic. I have and will continue to go every time I'm in San Diego!!

Sonny's BBQ- Eating in Florida

My first time in Florida is this Thanksgiving to spend this holiday with my fiance's family.

Jeremy, Jeremy's mom, and I went to eat at Sonny's BBQ, which is a large chain of BBQ places around Florida.  Jeremy had wanted BBQ so we went for lun-ner on Tuesday.  Jeremy was excited for the sweet tea and all you can eat pulled pork.  I also had a sweet tea, which they served in ginormous cups.  Jeremy downed his first glass, but I'm not sure if I even finished the first big glass because they kept filling my cup.  I had to also get a glass of water because I'm not used to drinking so much of a sugary drink, but I must admit the sweet tea was very tasty, though even sweet tooth Jeremy thought it was a bit sweet.

For our meals, I got a half rack of baby back ribs with cornbread.  For my 2 sides I chose baked beans and green beans, since I'm usually lacking vegetables when I go out to eat.  The ribs were good but nothing special to call home about.  The meat was nice and soft, and the sauce was good- not overpowering in sweetness or smokiness.  I highly enjoyed the cornbread without butter, especially with the rest of the food that was very flavorful.  The baked beans were really good with ham or bacon pieces baked in.  It was on the sweeter side, but I still highly enjoyed it.  The green beans were good too.  They were very soft since they were stewed in a pork base, but very flavorful.

Jeremy got the all you can eat pulled pork with garlic bread and his 2 sides were fries and baked beans.  Apparently it's all you can eat on every part of your meal- great news for Jeremy! The first batch of fries for both him and his mom were cold but the second batch were oh so fresh and hot.  I had one of those, and yet again as usual, burned my tongue because of my lack of patience.  They were the normal crinkle fries- I'm not enough of an expert to say for sure that it was the frozen kind, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were. I didn't try any of his garlic bread but he says "It was AWESOME." He also got second helpings of it, so it must have been good. Now onto the main part which was the pulled pork.  That was actually quite delicious and I actually felt like I should've ordered that too.  It was easier to eat and scrumptious, especiall since you are able to doctor it up if you want to with the 4 available sauce bottles at the table.  I believe we used the "Sizzlin' Sweet" sauce on Jeremy's mom's recommendation which was a good one!

We were definitely too full for dessert, but the menu looked good.  Besides, there was superb homemade apple pie and Publix Cookies & Cream ice cream waiting for us at home when we were ready for it!  I would definitely go back to Sonny's again to try either something new or go for that pulled pork, cornbread, baked beans, and... I'll decide on that last vegetable side dish later :)

Thanks for Lun-ner Jeremy!

Royal Tofu House

A colleague and I went to Royal Tofu House recently for lunch, because it's really close by and I felt like something warm but healthy in the cooling weather.  I had been to other korean restaurants such as in Cupertino Village but had not tried this one, so we finally went.

Overall, it was good, but there weren't as many side dishes that came with our food as some other restaurants I have been to.  However, each of the side items were good.  A broccoli with tofu dish, little fish dish, bean sprouts, seaweed, and of course kimchi.  I'm not a kimchi expert, but I thought it was actually quite good.  I dipped it into my soup to spice it up a bit more, as well as eat it with my rice.  I can be pretty weak sauce when it comes to spiciness but this was just right for me!  So all you really spicy kimchi lovers may not enjoy it as much.  

I ordered the vegetable tofu pot, mild spice, and thought it hit the spot.  Of course I burned my tongue as usual since I'm so impatient when it comes to food, especially when I'm very hungry! Their rice was good too.  I would definitely go back again, especially with the proximity, but I can't say it was the best ever!