Boot & Shoe Service ***

In order of preference:

Boudin Blanc
Pasta
Toast w ricotta and fava beans
Pizza w sausage, panna and hot peppers
Dessert with a chocolate sauce Asparagus w beets

Grand Ave, Oakland

CHAMPA GARDEN ***

Champa Sampler - toasted rice, spring roll, sausage, romaine with basil and parsley. Loved this. 8th. Ave Oakland.

B Side BBQ **

Beans - tasty, nice acid balance
Dark & Stormy - Ribs great, with or without sauce
Coleslaw - good
Cornbread - good
Brisket - smoky but dry, the tomato based side sauce not to my taste
Smoked Sausage - good, not special
Friendly staff

De Afghan Kabob House **'

Fremont


Tekka & Chapli Kabobs - tekka was excellent tender beef with nice smoke and char from the grill. Chapli is the ground beef patty mixed with spices and green onions and crisped up on the flat top.  The ratio of green onion to meat was a little too much green onion for my tastes, but I liked their general approach.  The rice is very good and the little side salad of potato in a vinaigrette was a nice foil to the rich meat.

De Afghan Kabob House **

 FREMONT

Kochaka Bolani - grilled stuffed flatbread, spicy and good.

Oliveto Oceanic Dinner 2011 ****

This year Oliveto did two Oceanic dinners one sourced from California and the other from the Mid-Atlantic.  At each dinner we had the majority of the menu.  Here were the highlights:

California Coast

Oyster Shooter nice and briny though bitter finish I still liked the texture.

Halibut crudo great balance texture perfectly seasoned.

Sea Urchin panna cotta crostino w/ vanilla sea salt, awesome creamy texture deep urchin flavor.

Trompetti w/ clams, I liked this very much, the texture of the trompetti very nice and the wheat worked well with the clam.

Steamed petrale sole w spumato a delicious delicate sauce over a great piece of fish.

Sand Dabs stuffed with fregula was also excellent, the savory fregula adding a meatiness to the sand dabs and the heat from Calabrian pepper.

Mid Atlaantic

Crudo of fluke with roasted Gypsy peppers, fried shallots and Piccolo Fino basil - nice though slightly underseasoned.

Lobster roll on house-made brioche - good filling, though the brioche was a bit too sweet and flavorful distracting us from the sweetness of the lobster.

Cold-smoked salt-cured striped bass with horseradish crema, oil-poached Yellow Finn potatoes and arugula - we loved these sashimi sized pieces of fish.

Three large razor clams in a umami packed sauce with octopus tentacles.

Tajarin with butter poached lobster - this was a beautiful pinkish colored sauce with chuncks of lobster on a tender noodle.

Lumache with house-smoked green eel and summer savory crema - the meat in the sauce had a delicate clammy flavor with a clam texture, perhaps we had a clam version of the dish.

Spit-roasted bluefish with creamed corn and crab stuffing - we liked this but it was a little overwhelmed by the bacon wrapping, overall meaty and flavorful.

Farewell to Mario's La Fiesta

After reading an article that the original owners of Mario's La Fiesta were retiring after 52 years of running the restaurant, J and I headed back for a bit of nostalgia. As we searched for the address we discovered that they were no longer at their original Telegraph location, but across the street nearer to People's Park. When we arrived and looked over at the original Telegraph location, we immediately felt out of date.

Any concerns that things had changed substantially were quickly dispelled when we discovered the present location had the same decor, tables and benches that made the booths in the original location. The menu looked exactly the same as it was over a decade ago, even the prices appeared unchanged. We both looked at each other in disbelief. It was a bargain back then, so much so that one of my closest friends on a tight budget would always get a super burrito which probably weighed about two or three pounds to have food that would last him for the next few meals. I remember loving the vegetable soup they served at the beginning of each meal and that this was the place that introduced me to agua fresca.

I ordered red beef enchiladas and an agua fresca and asked whether they were still serving the vegetable soup. The server smiled and said yes of course. We were excited to find that the soup tasted exactly the same as did the salsa always sitting on the table and the unsalted bowl of chips. At that point I started to remember what the red enchiladas tasted like and the times I had eaten them, once an infamous night when I had overdone it. Then our dishes arrived and I felt transported back in time. The red sauce that I had forgotten was now completely familiar like having a chance meeting with a long lost friend and finding that you can pick up exactly from where you left off so many years ago. J said that her favorites were the same as well. We talked about the old days and the amusing things we did as kids. I'm not sure whether it was all the memories tied up with Mario's or the idea that as much as I've changed over those years something somewhere had remained exactly the same, but these were some of the best enchiladas I've had in a long time.

Souley Vegan*

We had a sampling of various items, mostly traditional soul food side dishes. Everything had a lot of flavor, though not necessarily to my tastes. One thing I really enjoyed was the toastie. It's a burger of sorts with a fried tofu patty crunchy exterior with a creamy interior and a sweet tart and spicy barbecue sauce to cut through the tofu. Items I'd get again: toastie w/ fried tofu and bbq tofu, potato salad, collard greens. Oakland.

Oliveto Whole Hog 2011 ****

Highlights were the terrine of pork trotters with spiced fruit compote, the proscuitti and the alla reuben preparation. Last night they were preparing the reuben with shoulder instead of tongue. We also enjoyed the polenta with ragu of pork heart and the chocolate caramel tart.

The presentation of the zampone was fitting for the occasion, cross sections of the leg cut into large rounds of cotecchino wrapped in skin and then one entire trotter -- toes and all on the plate. I liked the flavor of the cotecchino though others were overwhelmed by the fat of the dish and preferred the other items. Same with the gnocco fritto, which highlighted the excellent lardo and guanciale, but was overshadowed by other excellent dishes.

Everything was excellent to very good. This was my first time back since the chef change and it feels like the kitchen hasn't missed a beat. Looking forward to returning for the regular menu.

Crisp terrine of pork trotters with spiced fruit - excellent

Corned pork tongue "alla Reuben" - excellent

Tasting of prosciutti*: Olli Ossabaw, La Quercia acorn-fed Berkshire - excellent

Gnocco fritto: small pillows of fried dough with lardo, guanciale, and pancetta - good

Red Flint polenta with ragù of pork heart - good

Pancetta-fried potatoes - ok

Zampone - trotter stuffed with cotechino - ok

Prosciutto Wrapped Sea Bass - ok

Chocolate Caramel tart w/ candied bacon - excellent

Puff Pastry w/ blood orange and raspberry - good

BOOT & SHOE SERVICE ***

This place was packed on a Saturday night but cleared up by around 8, I guess folks in Oakland eat early.  Excellent pizza - Margherita buffala w/ calabrian peppers.  A NY Neapolitan style, thin, soft and chewy crust with some char and light crispness on the edges, not soggy in the center.  Delicious bright tomato sauce a drizzle of oil on top would've have made it perfect.  J&A love the clam pizza.

PLUM - January 2011

The food keeps getting better and better.  I'm becoming a fan of Chef Charlie Parker.

We had the whole menu.  Many of the dishes we had had before though the names sound the same they are all tweaked a bit.  The chicharrones had an added bit of flavoring. The oyster stew was very creamy (the one item where I prefered the prior version).

Standouts:

Wild Greens Panisse
Braised leeks - though it was different this time with an added bit of cheese
Short Rib 
Squid dish with smoked lentils - my favorite of the night
Sardines

Desserts were not as impressive as on previous visits.  Cheesecake in a jar was not nuanced and not up to our previous visits.   Chocolate parfait dessert was just o.k.  Plating of the gingerbread cake dish was odd and though the flavors went well together it was a bit of a pain to put it all together in one bite as everything was strewn about -- kudos for the mini merenge batons.

Bay Area Pizza Taste Off

The cooking club decided to do a little series of pizza tastings, one in the East Bay and another in SF. In order to taste pizzas from a variety of places we had to do take out pizza only. Each of us were assigned to pick up pizzas with no specification on toppings. In other words, this was not intended to be a scientific comparison, but rather a fun exercise in overindulging on pizza. Each taste off had more than 14 eaters.

Summary of Results
East Bay overall winner was Pizzaiolo.  It won the thin crust division and then went on to beat Zachary's, the winner of the deep dish division. Eaters had a set number of votes they could cast. We were all a bit surprised by how much we enjoyed Zachary's. Some folks were disappointed by the pie we got from Little Star in Albany, feeling that it wasn't as well executed as pies from the Mission location.

San Francisco's overall winner was Little Star with Pizzeria Delfina's Margherita coming in a close second. We decided not to divide between deep dish and thin crust and Joe conducted very scientific computerized rank choice voting. This seemed like a very close contestant views were fairly divergent except for the top two. Because we had a variety of pizza styles, Chicago, Neapolitan, NY Neapolitan, NY Street, it was difficult to compare as most felt that they had a preference based upon style though thought that all of the pizzas were good representatives of their particular style.


East Bay - hosted by C & J

Thin Crust Division
Pizzaiolo - Monterey squid, tomato sauce and aioli - 21
Cheeseboard - jalapeno and something I've forgotten - 20
Arizmendi Lakeshore - forgot - 19


Deep Dish Division
Zachary's on College - Special, sausage, green pepper, onion and mushroom - 29.94
Little Star Albany - forgot - 29.06

Overall favorite between the winners of each division.
Pizzaiolo 7
Zachary's 5

SF - hosted by E & P

Overall Rank
1. Little Star (deep)
2. Pizzeria Delfina Margherita
3. Zero Zero & Pizzeria Delfina Clam
4. Patxi's (deep)
5. Tony's Pizza Napoletana
6. Arinell's & Amici's

There were a few well known places we would've included, but we discovered that not all places offer take out and some were closed on the particular evening of our gatherings.

Holiday Eating

Plum - Dinner at Plum and we ordered the whole menu again.  It's getting better and better.  I can't think of any misses.  Highlights were the: Wild Greens Panisse, Leeks in Vinaigrette, Braised Cauliflower, Oyster and Potato Stew.   Desserts took a while to come and were good under the new pastry chef, though the parfait was cold and a bit stiffer than before.  The chocolate creme was delicious but not as impressive as the parfait and cheesecake.

Chez Panisse Cafe - Lunch at Chez Panisse Cafe - loved it and they happened to be doing a menu inspired by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock, a sign of a place with great class!  Loved everything: black sea bass cotechino, beets with romesco cauliflower, squid, fried oysters (tender and perfectly fried), hand cut pasta with mushroom ragu.  Grace likes the cafe more than the dinners she's had downstairs.  Though I've had limited experience with dinner downstairs, I agree that I prefer the cafe.

Mission Chinese Food - Each time I go there are new items on the menu and the other dishes evolve.  Standouts: rice porridge - a play on a westlake soup, deep flavor in the porridge itself, then topped off with bits of beef crab and other goodies, Taiwanese eggplant is indeed one of the best versions I've tried, Hainan Chicken Rice really clean flavors and delicious. Liked the salt and pepper crawfish but am a bit too lazy to have to pick out the meat.  The lamb soup reminded me of niou rou men.  On the cold appetizers, the tofu was nice.

Champa Garden - a lunch near J&A's place. A great meal.  Standouts were the fried fish dish with the gravy, the crispy rice in the appetizer platter, I loved the lao sausage in the app platter too.  Nice Larb and Noodles.  So good.

Koi Palace - duck dinner, lobster yi-men and a lemongrass beef dish.  W wanted the beef dish, it was full of umami though I probably wouldn't get it again.  A nice version of lobster yi-men though the lobster meat was not a sweet as I expected.  The peking duck was good as was the soup.  I thought the noodles with duck was ok, others said it was very ducky.  Overall a decent dinner though probably just on par with the food at New Canton in Sacramento.  Next time the Shanghai Style Crab two ways.

PLUM ***'

A very nice dinner at Plum in honor of J&A's birthdays. We tried most of the menu and were impressed.  Starting with the snacks, I liked the crunchy texture of the "chicharrones" a nice way to start the meal though it could've used some acid or other seasoning, though I couldn't stop eating them for the enjoyable crunch.  Among the vegetable based dishes, the potatoes with lardo and arugula was the standout, the lardo very thin and just melted away on top of the potatoes.  I also loved the burger which was a loosely formed patty made of short rib type beef caramelized on the surface and a soft texture as I bit into it -- deep beef flavor from the meat and the caramelized beef exterior.  A smear of slightly tangy and peppery horseradish mayo brought the whole thing together.  I knew I'd be back for this one.

12/3/2010

Stopped by for lunch on the way back from Fremont.  Burger good as I remembered.  Mac n Cheese fries mostly noodle, not much cheese flavor.  Other items look promising.

Oliveto Whole Hog Dinner 2010 ****

Nothing beats the special dinners at Oliveto. Even with my high expectations, I have never had a disappointing meal at this restaurant and I'm in good company.


In order of most to least favorite dishes of the night:


Antipasto of pork tongue, artichokes, and black truffles - tender pork tongue and quartered artichokes in a earthy cream sauce.


Canederli: Friulian bread and pork dumplings with pork and date sugo - definitely one of the standouts of the night. Soft meatball-like dumplings on a slightly sweet date sauce that complimented the pork perfectly.


Spaghetti with pork coppa confit, Calabrian hot peppers, breadcrumbs, and oregano - a favorite from last year, and another favorite at our table again. Beautifully textured and cooked spaghetti dotted with chunks of pork coppa, in a porky, spicy sauce with nice crunch from the breadcrumbs.


Pappardelle nere with pork heart and wild mushroom ragu - You just can't go wrong with the pasta here, perfect texture and seasoning. The wild mushroom ragu was so deeply flavored with wild mushrooms it tasted like they had distilled an entire forest of mushrooms into the sauce -- it worked with the strong flavors of the pork heart.

COMMIS ***'

A Fall dinner at Commis in Oakland.  The food is sophisticated and creative, imparting a strong sense of the chef's personality.   The meal aimed to entertain the palate.  The many offerings ranged from something fun like red shiso soda - so brightly colored and fizzy that it looked like old fashioned soda from a soda fountain, to a poached egg and pork belly with black garlic - common ingredients paired with the unique flavor of an unexpected element.  Then an expertly prepared guinea hen with leg confit, high on flavor and style.  And for dessert, a whimsical take on celery and peanut butter. 

Overall, a nice departure from straightforward execution of crowd pleasing standards.  Hooray for expressive cooking!  I look forward to returning to see what's offered when the season changes. 

Here's everything we tried (the menu is from A's memory):

Red Shiso Soda - brightly colored sweet sparkling soda packing a good punch of sweet and sour, a nice way to wake up the palate. 
Hen Egg Yolk over onion soup date puree and sesame

Beet salad

Poached Egg, pork belly, black garlic - I love this use of black garlic. The pungent garlicky and slightly sweet flavor played nicely against the hearty yolk and fatty pork belly.

Monterey Bay squid w/turnips

Kabocha squash soup w/some kind of cream, vegetables, and herb (kaffir lime?)

Cod over celery puree, mustard, vegetables

Sirloin tip cap, fennel salsa verde, wilted spinach, pearl barley, some kind of celery/rhubarb - The description didn't sound as exciting as the actual dish.  Fork tender beef with a combination of salsa verde and spinach that came together as a multi-dimensional mix of flavors.

Guinea Hen breast w/ leg confit, caramelized sunchokes and chanterelle mushrooms - this was my favorite of the night.  I anticipated the meat to be dry or tough.  It came in one piece with both breast and leg confit in one roll, so simple looking but skillfully prepared -- tender, juicy and perfect with the earthy flavor of mushroom and sunchoke.

Roquefort with plum compote and pistachio

White Cheddar Cheesecake with green apple and toffee threads

Celery Cake with celery ice cream over grape jelly and crushed peanuts - an interesting play on celery with peanut butter. 

Absinthe gelee

Oliveto Tomato Dinner 2009 ***

Tomato Bloody Mary - good fresh tomato flavor, not a heavily seasoned style of bloody mary; Lightness on the spices showed off the tomato.

Insalate di carne cruda of Watson Farm lamb loin with green tomatoes and grappa*

Crudo of salted Atlantic cod and local albacore with Black Cherry tomatoes, Lipstick pimentos, and almonds.

Half dozen Miyagi oysters with Marvel Steak tomatoes and rose vinegar mignonette*

Cornetti of Oliveto wild boar prosciutto and arugula with Pineapple tomatoes and Parmesan cheese*

Panelle with San Marzano tomatoes, basil, hot peppers, and aged Provolone cheese*

Fried green tomatoes with tomato mayonnaise*

Sicilian-style ravioli of tomato conserva with Oliveto ricotta, pinenuts and marjoram** - the conserva was excellent, an ultra concentrated tomato flavor created by reducing a huge quantity of roma tomatoes into a jam, balanced well with the ricotta and pine nuts, a favorite.

Cannelloni neri of Monterey Bay squid, tomatoes and breadcrumbs** - cannelloni with deep squid ink flavor, this was another favorite. (pictured above)

Tomato Polenta torta with garlic crostini, Rossa Bianca eggplant, and smoked mozzarella* - loved the textures and comforting flavors in this one.

Tomato Penne with Manila clams, smoked king salmon, and Flamme tomato coulis. - good pasta, these guys are masters at pasta making.

Pancetta wrapped Jones Farm rabbit braised in tomatoes confit with Flageolet beans - this was a rather small portion and did not stand out.

Spicy red tomato and red miso glazed black cod with Crostata Romanesco squash - this dish was a miss because the glaze was overly sweet and lacked other flavors to balance.

Green tomato and Gravenstein apple pie with honeyed Crescenza cheese ice cream - pie was good but the cheese ice cream was a bit overpowering.

Torta di Verdure with Sweet 100 tomato compote** - this torta was made with beets and that played well against the complex savory sweet compote.

Warm Marvel Stripe tomato jelly doughnuts with brandied creme anglaise - good doughnuts, though not much tomato jelly or tomato flavor.


The pasta dishes were outstanding. Service was excellent -- this is definitely worth a trip for tomato lovers.

PICAN ***

Who knew that so many restaurants in Oakland are closed on Sunday? Lucky for us, Pican is the exception. We sampled Southern Foie Gras - fried chicken livers with a nice bright slaw to counterbalance the crunchy fried goodness. Even Brett who normally doesn't prefer chicken livers, enjoyed them. Our second starter was Heirloom Tomato and Nectarine Panzanella another well dressed and balanced dish. Shrimp and Grits starter was also tasty, a few large shrimp and some very good grits. We moved on the Fried Chicken accompanied by a Mac n' Cheese. The fried chicken was well seasoned and delicious, with a thick crunchy crust. I think I prefer the slightly less thick crust at BSK, but I have plenty of room in my stomach for all styles of fried chicken! They brought us some of their house chili vinegar which was an innocent looking pale yellow vinegar with a hidden super punch of spicy chili. It was so good that we could not stop dipping pieces of chicken into it. The Mac n' Cheese was particularly good with the slight tang of the gouda cheese and a perfect sauce that was smooth and creamy without being overwhelmingly thick and cheesy. The Laquered Duck was excellent as were the light fluffy mashed potatoes. The decor and the atmosphere of Pican is upscale but not stuffy. The service was friendly and the courses well timed. We had a good view of the kitchen and it was very clear that it is a well run efficient operation. Dish after dish of picture perfect food coming out very quickly.


Photo by Rebecca

It was nice to see so many people enjoying Sunday dinner in downtown Oakland. The menu is fairly large and I'll definitely return to try some more, definitely the ribs and a few more of the starters.

BAKESALE BETTY **

Fried chicken sandwich, crispy, spicy, vinegary slaw, wish it had different bread. Nice outdoor seating using ironing boards as tables.

WOOD TAVERN ***

Sunday supper with J, A, and Jay. Wood Tavern has excellent food, generous portions and friendly service -- the makings of a great neighborhood restaurant, if I lived in that hood. Cutting board of pates and charcuterie was delicious, a nice variety of salty, pungent, sweet and savory flavors. Both the Burrata with heirloom tomatoes and the Pork Belly starters were good but very standard. The strength of this place was in the meat entrees. My favorite dish of the evening was Duck with cherries and a slaw with hazelnuts. The sweet tart cherry sauce complimented the duck and the finely shaved slaw was light and crunchy offsetting the richness of the duck.

The second entree of Rib Eye Steak was surprisingly good. I rarely order steak at restaurants because I'm happy with the steak I prepare at home. This rib eye was cooked to a perfect medium rare, nicely charred on the exterior, extremely tender and dressed with a red wine reduction. The sauce was good, but the tenderness of the steak was surprising. I have prime cut rib eye at home, but this was one very well marbled piece of meat. Again, portions large enough for two. The only miss was the halibut. The fish was a little dry, though the dish was somewhat saved by the creamy corn accompaniment. I would not hesitate to return to this place for some of its high quality meat dishes.