Category Archives: Classic American

Berkeley… 9 years after graduation

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I had the sudden desire to visit Berkeley and have lunch at Intermezzo on Telegraph Ave, dreaming of their green salad and honey wheat bread sandwich.

On the way to campus, we got off the freeway at Ashby Avenue so stopped by Urban Ore. It’s a really cool place where they sell lots of reusable goods, including but not limited to: doors, blinds, sinks, tubs, toilets, wood, clothes, computers, chairs, desk, tables, cabinets, dishes, kitchenware, electronics, etc. It’s really useful if you need some stuff for home remodeling and don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for it but you also have to be patient and dig around for the gems. We got some simple stuff like plates and cups for me to keep at work but next time, I’d like to get a dresser, sand it down, and repaint and decorate it… I think it’ll be a fun project.

Afterwards, we headed to Telegraph Ave to find Intermezzo. We found the location but the restaurant has changed to Cafe Mattina but with the same menu as Intermezzo. Apparently ownership had changed and the name changed in December.

I ordered my favorite combo of half a green salad with poppy seed dressing and half a chicken salad sandwich. Plus a strawberry lemonade with free refills (the cashier was kind enough to let me know refills were free so that I didn’t have to order the large size). Lots of strawberry and lemon pulp in their strawberry lemonade, a good thirst quencher.

The salad seemed a bit smaller and the dressing a bit thinner but overall, still the same. It was missing the extra chunk of bread though that comes with the salad.

The chicken salad sandwich was thick with filling but the bread sliced thinner than usual. It’s still sufficiently too large to fit the entire sandwich into your mouth for a full bite but I remember it being at least 1cm thicker. Ron didn’t like this as much because it was too sweet, not enough dijon mustard is my guess.

After lunch, I went for a little walk on Telegraph and was sad to see how many of the stores that have changed. The Gap is now a Walgreens. Bath & Body Works is now American Apparel. The hair salon was closed. There’s a Subway Sandwich in one of the cafes. There was a Beard Papa’s on the corner. A lot has changed in the 9 years since graduation.

But some things remain the same, like Sather Gate (apparently newly restored). Beautiful weather at Sproul Plaza today.

After some additional shopping on Bancroft Ave, I met up with Ron at Caffe Strada. I ordered the drink that got me started drinking coffee: Strada Bianca Mocha topped with a dollop of whipped cream. I loved it back then but I think it’s too sweet for my taste now… but made me very nostalgic.

Good ol’ Berkeley. We bought Zachary’s Pizza for dinner to top off a great day. Yum yum. Order for pick-up, it’s the best choice if you don’t want to wait for a table.

Can’t wait for the next visit to Berkeley…

Urban Ore
900 Murray St

Cafe Mattina
2442 Telegraph Ave

Caffe Strada
2300 College Ave

Zachary’s Pizza
5801 College Ave

Nordstrom Cafe Bistro

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http://www.yelp.com/biz/n…o-san-francisco

Had a good day shopping with V today. Lots of sales going on for the holiday weekend. Added a few cute dresses to my wardrobe that I am looking forward to wearing soon. After a full afternoon of shopping, we stopped by Nordstrom Cafe Bistro for dinner. Surprisingly a very cute and quiet little cafe with a nice San Francisco view especially on this clear day.

We ordered the French Onion Soup. We were actually disappointed because they ran out of calamari. It was a bit too cheesy and a bit oily but the bread in the soup with the broth was yummy.

For main entrees, we shared the nicoise salad with salmon. This was quite filling in itself as it had roasted potatoes, boiled eggs, tomatoes, green beans, olives, the salmon plus lettuce and a nice tangy vinagrette. We were pretty full after the soup and just eating this.

Lastly, the ratatouille chicken pizza. I only had one slice and there was a bit too much bread, not enough topping. Plus the middle a bit soggy due to the sauce so a bit hard to eat with your hands, more of a fork and knife kind of pizza until you get to the outer crust.

Including two iced teas, our bill came to $38 and we still had 3/4 of the pizza to take home in a doggy bag. Not sure what was so filling but we left satisfied (except upset about no calamari).

Nordstrom Cafe Bistro
865 Market Street
Level N4 (I think)

IHOP, Tal-y-Tara, Kushi Tsuru & Joyce’s Visit

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A relaxing and beautiful San Francisco day. Ron & I started out early in the morning with breakfast at IHOP. We had a very filling breakfast.

I ordered the strawberry stuffed French toast combination with bacon, eggs, and hash. The filling was a bit like a Toaster Strudel that you can toast at home and it wasn’t really like French toast, more like a donut, but not bad overall. I love bacon and eggs over-easy.

Ron ordered the Colorado omelette with a side of Butterscotch Rocks pancakes. The Colorado omlette has bacon, pork sausage, shredded beef, ham, onions, green peppers, and cheddar cheese. It’s supposed to be served with salsa but I just realized they probably forgot.

Later in the afternoon, I had tea at Tal-y-Tara Tea & Polo Shoppe. Joyce is visiting from Singapore and we needed to catch up! Lisa & Patsy came to join in the fun.

The front of the shoppe sells things for horse riding including saddles and clothing. We were seated right away and had a few moments to look at the menu. We were seated inside but they do have a small patio in the back which would have been nice if it wasn’t so windy, great for a small party.

We decided to order the Classic Motorloaf which is a variety of tea sandwiches that include cream cheese and cucumber, egg salad and capers, cheese and chutney, smoked turkey and watercress, black forest ham with mustard, and lox, cream cheese and capers. The center of the bread is cut out and made into sandwiches then put back into the bread. The bread was a little sweet and nutty.

We also ordered the motorload bread with fruit and cheese, served with cream cheese and chutney.

We ordered two types of tea, each of these large pots serve two. The tea pot cozies were really cute. We tried the English Breakfast and Rhumba Rooibos Chai. I liked the spiciness of the Chai.

After the sandwiches, we tried their blueberry scones and the crumpet. The blueberry scones were served with blueberry preserves and cream cheese. The scones were a bit bready for my taste.

The crumpet came out nice and toasty but I still don’t really care for it much.

I was surprisingly full and was ready for a nap but ended up going to buy Misu some new cat food and some groceries. I hope he’ll eat the chicken wet food.

Ron and I then met up with Joyce for dinner in Japantown. We ended up at Kushi Tsuru.

We ordered the Pink Lady roll, agedashi tofu, the large sashimi plate, and tempura appetizer. Plus I ordered the katsu-don and Joyce had the oyako-don.

I would say the sashimi was good while eating but left a strange aftertaste. It was probably the squid with shiso that left the aftertaste rather than the fish. Overall the rest was pretty standard and this restaurant is a bit cheaper than the rest in Japantown. Too bad they don’t have ramen, only soba and udon.

So it’s been a full day of eating and it was good to catch up with Joyce, I’m hoping we can go to Singapore to visit soon!

IHOP
2398 Junipero Sterra Blvd
Daly City, CA

Tal-y-Tara Tea & Polo Shoppe
6439 California Street

Kushi Tsuru
1737 Post St (in Japantown)

Roadside BBQ

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http://www.roadside-bbq.com/

We actually live quite close to Roadside BBQ but haven’t had a chance to try it until tonight. Their pulled-pork sandwich is on the
The Big Eat SF: 100 Things to Try Before You Die list.

So surprising, we found a parking space about four cars up the street from the corner where the restaurant is. Upon entering, the man at the counter was really friendly and made some suggestions for things to try since it was our first time there. Of course we ordered the pulled pork sandwich along with the 2-way combo.

We paid then sat down to wait and we were surprised with a complimentary slice of banana cream pie. It was topped with shredded coconut, creamy, and the chocolate in between the cream and crust was yummy and kept the crust crunchy. That was nice of them but we’re not sure why they were so nice…

They have a small selection of beers so we tried this one, brewed with orange & lemon peels and honey! Light and crisp.

The two-way combo (baby back ribs and beef brisket) for $14.95 served with two sides (mac & cheese and sweet potato fries) and a cornbread muffin. The sweet potato fries were really yummy. Mac & cheese had a nice crunchy top. The meat overall was a bit dry but their sauces helped moisten the meat. The cornbread had yummy corn kernels in it.

The sauces available:
1. ketchup
2. mustard
3. Asian ginger BBQ sauce (couldn’t figure out what this would go well with, maybe chicken?)
4. hot BBQ sauce
5. mild/regular BBQ sauce

Pulled-pork sandwich with 1 side (grilled vegetables) for $7.95. The bread was really good, kept the sandwich together with a toasted outside and soft inside. They also had South Carolina vinegar to top the pulled pork to give the sandwich that something extra. It was pretty good considering the meat was pretty tender (very like kalua pork in Hawaii). I liked the grilled veggies too.

The bottle of vinegar to the left:

We were very stuffed. We’ll likely go back since it is close by to where we live. We’d like to try some other things on the menu just to see what it’s like since the ribs and beef were a bit dry near the end of their day, wondering if it is more moist during the daytime.

One more check for the list.

Roadside BBQ
3571 Geary Blvd (at 2nd Ave)

San Francisco Outing

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Enjoyed my last day of vacation by having a day out around Union Square. Virginia made lunch reservations at Campton Place since it’s Dine About Town time again. A group of 5 of us had their $21.95 3-course prix fixe menu.

The appetizer selection included a green salad, a mediterranean salad, or a mushroom soup. I had the mediterranean salad of chick peas, cucumbers, and squid. It had a bit of sourness and spiciness from the raw onions. Squid was nice and tender.

Main course selection included chicken, halibut, or gnocchi. I chose the halibut which was served with mussels, a cioppino. Fish was tender and fresh but mussels had a bit of a strong aftertaste of sea water. There were huge white beans which were good.

For dessert, strawberries with vanilla ice cream or lilikoi (passion fruit) chiffon. I chose the strawberries which also included thin slices of honeydew melon. Very refreshing!

After we were stuffed, we did a bit of shopping. My favorite find of the day was this dress from BCBG that is super long but so pretty that I had to get it, it was 50% off with an additional 30% off for friends & family… couldn’t resist!

I met up with Ron and friends for dinner at TK Noodle in Daly City. Apparently, our expert diner friend has been to this place often enough to know you can order extra bean sprouts and extra pork fat. This is the pork fat, seriously, fried fat, not bacon.

I had #1, a combination rice stick noodle. This is small and it was enough. I love rice stick noodles.

Ron had #5, the beef stew rice stick noodles. Beef really tender.

Lastly, we shared the fried rice cakes. It has egg all over it and some peanuts inside. By itself it’s a bit bland but with some sirachi and plum sauce, it tastes better. Although it is served with a vinegar-like soy sauce. It’s very filling too.

Although it didn’t seem like that much food, Ron and I were both really stuffed.

Sigh, back to work tomorrow. It was a good vacation.

Campton Place
(near Sutter/Stockton St)

TK Noodle
6917 Mission St
Daly City, CA