Category Archives: Restaurants & Reviews

Birthday lunch at Pear Street Bistro

 

Calamari and shrimp appetizer at Pear Street Bistro in Pinole California

Steve, Matt and I ate lunch at Pear Street Bistro (2395 San Pablo Avenue, Pinole) today to celebrate Steven having taken off this week — which is an occasion, believe me.  I was psyched because I wanted him to have the fried chicken, crab martini, and a couple of other things that are good there.  It’s also a really comfy space.  When we were given the menu, however, I noticed that they no longer had the fixed price lunch, the crab martini, nor the fried chicken.

Crab cocktail at Pear Street Bistro in Pinole California

In fact, they had eliminated all but sandwiches, salads and the like.  What to do?  I told the server about how we were all set for the things we had become accustomed to, and she said it would no problem for them to hook us up with a crab martini, and that the chicken was on the dinner menu only because it comes with mashed potatoes, which they make after lunch.  As long as we didn’t mind having fries, she said, they would do the chicken – or anything else they had the ingredients for, for that matter.  Excellent.

Matt and Steve at Pear Street Bistro in Pinole California

Steve had the chicken, Matt the fish and chips, and I the Cobb salad.  We started with said crab cocktail and their fried calamari/shrimp appetizer.  The chicken was to Steve’s liking, and it came with a side of gravy that he used for his fries that was something like Welsh rarebit.  My Cobb salad was made with romaine, which was good because nowadays you are likely to find Cobbs made with spring mix, which I don’t like because I need a strong lettuce to stand up to all those chunks of bleu cheese and chicken.  The appetizers were good as always, and we like that the crab cocktail comes with nacho chips and guacamole and the seafood with a wasabi sauce that you can use for fries, which the two guys had a boatload of between them.

Zaki’s Kebob Cafe in Albany CA

Shawerma from Zaki's Kebob Cafe in Albany CA

Shawarma wrap from Zaki's Kebob Cafe in Albany CA

The place that replaced the place that replaced the other place at the cursed location of Dartmouth Street and San Pablo Avenue in Albany seems to have caught on.  Zaki’s Kebob Cafe (1101 San Pablo Avenue, Albany) offers heartfelt Middle Eastern cuisine in a lovely setting.  This is a small place, but the owners have made the most of it by adding little touches.  It’s a family affair, so you’ll find mom in the back cooking and her two children serving out front.  Both times we went we were offered dates and greeted like old friends.  Now, I am not a huge fan of the kebob and pita-bread-with-dip sector of Middle Eastern cuisine, but I do like shawarma (spit-roasted, shaved meat), which is not easy to come by in these parts, so I’ll try any new establishment that has it on the menu.  On both visits I ordered the lamb shawarma wrap, which was very tasty, with plenty of flavorful and juicy meat – which they grind/shred themselves, by the way.  On visit number two, we also sprang for the mixed appetizer plate, which had fabulous hummus, made from dried chickpeas, not canned, excellent felafel balls, and smoky baba ganouj (roasted egg plant dip).  I find most of these kinds of dips I come across to be throw-aways, and it was nice to have some that actually tasted like something.  The only unremarkable things on the plate were the dolmas, which I believe were canned, though I did not ask.  My one kvetch about the place is they need to supply you with more pita bread with salads and dips.  While they are very generous with the bread over time, it is kind of annoying when it is doled out one at a time when you are a party of three.  This is a minor complaint, though, given how much we liked our lunches.  They also serve hot dinner dishes, and offer rotisserie chicken in the evening that can be purchased whole to take home.  Give this place a try and let’s end the curse!  Two sandwiches and a salad will set you back about $25 before tip, and I am told that a whole chicken costs $12.

Vik’s Chaat in Berkeley CA

Menu board at Vik's Chaat Corner in Berkeley

Menu board at Vik's Chaat Corner in Berkeley

We wanted the antithesis of a turkey dinner today so we went to Vik’s Chaat Shop (726 Allston Way, Berkeley) for some spicy grub.  The weekend is the best time to go to Vik’s because they offer their full menu.  We shared four items:  1).  One kathi kabob.  This is an egg-covered paratha wrap with boneless chicken chunks, onions and cilantro and comes with mint chutney on the side.  Paratha is a relatively thick, flaky, buttery whole wheat flat bread.  2).  One lamb baida roti, a wrap made using a flour roti (another flat bread) and spiced ground lamb filling.  This is a very savory item and I highly recommend it!  3).  One masala dosa.  The dosa is a crepe made of ground rice and dal (lentils) that is often stuffed – in this case with spiced potatoes.  On the side you receive coconut chutney and sambar, a subtly-spicy warm lentil sauce.  This dosa is large and hangs over the plate it is served on.  4).  One bhatura cholle.  We always get this vegetarian item, basically a huge puri (puffed, fried bread made of fermented wheat) served with chick pea curry and Indian pickles,  which are pungent and hot.  The big puri is the bhatura and the chick pea curry is the cholle. 

bhatura cholle at vik's 11-28-08

Bhatura cholle at Vik's Chaat Corner

When you order an assortment to share you wind up with several breads to dip into various sauces and condiments.  For example, most of the dosa stuffing is in the middle so you can tear off plain pieces of the dosa on the ends and apply them to whatever looks good to you on other plates. 

Masala dosa at Vik's Chaat Corner

Masala dosa at Vik's Chaat Corner

I love this place, and it is an antidote to bland food.  Update on 12/5/08:  Steve had off so we went back for lunch and had four different things:   keema samosa, pastry-wrapped minced lamb and peas with mint chutney; bhel puri, a cold dish of puffed rice mixed with potatoes, onions, cilantro and various chutnies, including tamarind, so it’s on the sweet side; uttappam, a thick rice pancake topped with tomatoes, onions and cilantro that comes flat like a pizza with sauces on the side, and lunch special B, which today was chicken do-pyaza.  The lunch specials come with a small serving of the main dish, chapatti (flat whole wheat bread), papadam (thin, crisp, chick pea flour bread), some kind of dal (lentil sauce), rice, raita (cold yogurt sauce) and pickle.  Lunch specials work well when you share because one provides three dipping options for crepes or bread.  The star of the meal was the samosa.  Oh, man, so savory with a deep, rich flavor!  Vik’s has the best samosa I ever ate – and that goes for the vegetarian ones, too, which are stuffed with spiced potatoes.  They manage to get real complexity in their dishes, and each is distinctive.  The potato stuffing in the masala dosa, for example,  is different from the one in the samosa.  The bhel puri was fine, but there was too much of it for two people given its sweetness and our use of it as a condiment.  The uttappam has an interesting texture and the toppings wind up being cooked into it, so you get it dry and can use it to dip into sauce. 

Bhel puri at Vik's Chaat Corner

Bhel puri at Vik's Chaat Corner

 The average cost of an item at Vik’s is in the neighborhood of $5.50, so it’s a great place for a cheap meal, but one thing to be aware of is that almost everything has some heat to it.  This would not be a good place to take people who cannot tolerate a slow, steady, pleasant burn as they eat.  The people who work in this huge industrial space a nice, and service is quick, but they get busy during lunch.  When we arrived today at 11:00 a.m., there was already a line and they had not yet rolled up their metal door.

Keema samosa at Vik's Chaat Corner

Keema samosa at Vik's Chaat Corner

Paul & Gino’s wedding

paul and gino on their wedding day in 2008

Today is Paul & Gino’s wedding day.  We BARTed to the station closest to Martinez, where the Contra Costa County courthouse is, for the event.  Pouring rain.  Never was to Martinez before, nor to most of the places BART traveled through to get there, like Lafayette and Walnut Creek.  Paul picked us up from the station and carted us around for the day, keeping us from having to drive on unfamiliar freeways in the rain.  Nice of him, considering he was one of the grooms.  The ceremony was lovely – very personal and not at all perfunctory, which one might think would be the case.  We drove next – in terrific rain – to The San Franciscan Restaurant (1525 Main Street, Walnut Creek) for the wedding brunch.  They gave us a large, airy space in the back, where the group could really spread out and have a blast.  The service was excellent, and the food was fair to good, depending.  The fried calamari appetizer, served with tartar and cocktail sauces, was solid, and the crab dip  better than average, with chunks of crab rather than it being a pulverized mass.  I was the only one who had the tuna poki, a type of tuna tartare, and was glad of it.  It was slightly sweet and salty — really good and a generous portion.  My “Coit Tower Monte Cristo” was big and flavorful, but it arrived cold and limp, which was a shame since this sandwich garners its strength from melted cheese and a crispy exterior.  Matt ordered the “Fisherman’s Wharf Crab Sandwich,” which was the exact same crab dip on toast with melted cheese, which seemed a little lame to me at $15.  Steven went with the “Clams and Linguine in Bordelaise,” which was not very good because the clams were overcooked.  Again, a shame to ruin a dish by making an amateur’s mistake with the key ingredient.  This is a restaurant with a lovely space and great service.  The menu is extensive and varied – even the lunch menu, which is what we ordered from – and focuses on classic, simple preparations that rely on excellent ingredients and solid techniques.  The latter fell short at our meal, which is something that, if taken care of, would make all the difference.  That and losing that crab sandwich.  At the end of the meal the spouses danced and a cake was served.  What a joyful day!  It was so nice to see Paul and Gino take their vows.

Food in Chi-town

Tuna tartare at Devon in Chicago in 2008

Tuna tartare at Devon in Chicago in 2008

Matt and Steve came back from Chicago the other day, so I have photos ready to post here.  Matt was visiting his ess oh and Steve was there as chaperone-at-a-distance.  Steve mainly went to diners and hot dog joints and Matt was treated in grand style to fancy places, like Devon (39 E. Chicago Avenue).  Steve was a tag-along at three meals, though, where he was able to eat off of real plates.  They went Gino’s, the famed deep-dish pizza emporium, where he sampled some tomatoey casserole masquerading as pizza.  I think Gino’s in Chicago is like Ray’s in New York City, with numerous places using “Gino’s” as some part of its name, with only the locals knowing where the real Gino’s is.  Even Matt can’t tell me which Gino’s he went to at the moment, and said he’ll “look at a map” tomorrow.  Food highlights included the tuna tartare and fried shrimp at Devon, cheap breakfasts at the Golden Nugget (various locations), and numerous Chicago hot dogs.  Matt was thrilled to be staying very close to Wrigley Field and an elevated subway line – capturing two of his obsessions, baseball and rail-based transportation systems.  He toured River North, taking photos of the kinds of buildings we don’t have in the Bay Area.  Oh, those wonderful, sturdy and warm brick apartment buildings!

Small brick apartment building in Chicago in 2008