Category Archives: Restaurants & Reviews

Koreana in Richmond

koerana restaurant in richmond ca in 2008

Koreana in Richmond, California, in 2008

We tried Koreana, the new Korean place in Pacific East Mall in Richmond.  (You know where the mall is, right?  It’s on Pierce not far from Central.  Central is the street Costco is on.  The intersection of Central and Pierce is the one with all those gas stations.  It serves as the gateway to many, many freeway on-ramps.  If you think you’ll be killed instead of reaching Costco when driving west on Central– particularly if you dare to stay in the lane on the right when all those people behind you want to go right on red and onto route 80 — then you know the intersection.)  I have to admit that I never much liked Korean food, but I think the availability up until the last few years has not been representative of the cuisine, so I don’t have much to go on.  At Koreana, they have lots of photos of the dishes outside on the glass wall to give you an idea of what some of the dishes look like, so I settled on a special that came with bibimbap, which is a rice bowl topped with strips of meat and veggies arranged nicely in a circle with a fried egg atop the whole thing, and assorted tofu soup.  The bibimbap, which is eaten with chili sauce, was pretty good, I have to admit.  The tofu soup, served in a hot iron casserole, contained soft tofu in a broth along with a few tiny crustaceans.  I think there was soybean paste in the broth but I can’t swear to it.  The soup contained only a tiny bit of seafood, which proved to be more of an annoyance than anything else, so next time I’ll get it plain.  I don’t need one tiny shell-on shrimp, to be honest with you, since the thing was more eye than meat.  If you like silken tofu you’ll like this soup as it was chock full of it.  I was a little pissed off that they did not include the raw egg.  When I asked about it at the end of the meal I was told I had to request it.  It would have been nice if they mentioned this when they took my order.  My special also came with a number of condiments, like kimchee and cellophane noodles, which were a Godsend to Steve, whose beef rib soup was an anemic affair.  Next time he’ll look at the photos before he orders a soup  We’ll go back, and I’ll be sure to request a raw egg.

Hong Kong Snack Shop in Richmond

The Hong Kong Snack House in Pacific East Mall in Richmond is pretty good, I can report, for a little bite or even a whole assortment of goodies to combine to make a meal for your brood.  They have excellent Vietnamese sandwiches that come on good, crusty French bread with crispy veggies and a sweet/sour sauce for around $3.50.  Try the combo.  We have not yet worked our way through the entire menu, but are able to vouch for a few other things, like the egg puffs and waffles, but I would advise eating these items while walking around the mall.  The sandwiches travel fine, though.  This place has a display table of brightly colored snack items that we have not yet selected from, and it was decked out in spades for Chinese New Year.

Breakfast at Jimmy Bean’s in Berkeley

Sage in 2008

Our niece, Sage, was here for a visit this month, which was nice since I have not seen her for almost 10 years.  She and Matt are the same age, give or take.  Sage is majoring in environmental studies at the University of Vermont, and currently spending a semester looking at water-related issues here in the West, so this afforded an opportunity to come see us.  She ultimately wants to become a nurse practitioner in the area of women’s health.  Matt, Sage and I discussed all of this and more over breakfast at Jimmy Bean’s (1290 6th Street, Berkeley) today, which was fun.  We all had breakfasty things, like eggs and/or potatoes.  Matt had a goat cheese and mushroom omelet, so he was the most “Berkeley” of the three of us.  On the way to drop Sage off at the BART station for her foray into SF, we stopped so I could use the restroom at the little collection of shops at Gilman and 10th street.  I know, I know, I should have gone at the restaurant.  The delay was fortuitous, though, in that Sage ran into one of her UV professors at the BART station, which would never have happened had we not made that pit stop.

Great Szechuan in Richmond

Szechuan spicy fish in 2008

Szechuan spicy fish fillet from Great Szechuan

A meal today at Steve’s new favorite restaurant, Great Szechuan (3288 Pierce Street, Richmond) at the back of Pacific East Mall.  I’ve written about this place before but did not have any photos until this trip.  I again ordered the Szechwan spicy fish and again was not disappointed.  As I reported last time, this dish is generous, with many deep-fried fillets served on a wooden tray under hundreds of chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns.  Hot.  Numbing.  Steve had the hand pulled noodles with pork, which he said was very good, with no heat whatsoever.  Jon ordered the seafood chow mein, crispy style, which he made short work of.  If you can’t deal with hot dishes they serve a number of mild things, so no worries there.

Matt and Jon at Great Szechuan in Richmond CA in 2008