Matt and I had lunch at Rico’s in Oakland.  Rico’s (400 15th Street, Oakland) is billed as a diner, but it is not really a diner inasmuch as it is a fun, hip place to eat.  It is a long, thin room with a “your first apartment” kind of decor.  There is also a wall o’ license plates.  You order at the counter and they bring the food to you.  Matt and I were looking for a real diner and were, at first, disappointed by the space and setup, but we were soon convinced that we were in a good place when we heard that most everything was made from scratch – including the fries.  Hello?  Could this be?  No 20 ton bags of blanched fries from Sysco hanging out in the freezer?  Matt ordered the Philly cheesesteak with fries.  No matter how many times he has been burned by ordering this sandwich in the Bay Area, he just cannot help himself.  I give up.  I requested the chicken steak with cream gravy sandwich.  It was all good.  The chicken on my sandwich was a large piece of breast meat that had been battered and deep fried.  It was all peppery and moist and sat under some cream gravy on an Acme roll.  Yumster.  Matt’s cheesesteak turned out to be thin slices of actual steak that had been griddled with onion and parked on an Acme roll melded with fluorescent cheese.  Said cheese was also on the first-rate fries.  You don’t believe me about the cheese?  Look at the unretouched photo.  They used great meat for the sandwich and were knowledgeable enough about the real deal to use bad cheese product!  Hooray!  After eating I wanted to wash my hands and needed to go through the kitchen to get to the rest room.  The kitchen was clean as can be and so was the restroom.  Nice place and nice people.

Cheesesteak at Rico's in Oakland