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Had a very good meal here a year or so ago, and was pretty disappointed this time. Papaya salad was tasty, but poorly presented: watery and uncrisp. Calamari salad was a lot hotter than the "medium" we ordered; I liked it, my friend couldn't eat it. Cucumber salad was only two bucks, but for another nickel they could have tripled the amount of cucumber and not served a salad that fit in a tablespoon. Chicken satay was generous, but rather boring and badly burned, with tasteless sauce. Worst Pad Thai I've ever had: big mass of tasteless glue with three tiny shrimp. OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but I rarely leave Pad Thai on the plate, and I did this time. Thai tea was watery and too sweet.
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Lotus Thai Cuisine
Cuisine: Thai
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Oakland |
4/4/2007
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First time I ever left a sushi place with four unfinished dishes on the table. Waitstaff seemed to have better things to do, and we overheard two or three other customers griping about it. Hot sake was lukewarm at best; likewise for the green tea. Very creative recipes look great on paper, but just didn't make it on the plate. Did the chef spill the chili? I like food pretty hot, but the tuna poki was too hot to eat. Strange tuna too; it was ground up, and you could see white stuff and other contaminants in it that you probably wouldn't eat if it was sliced instead of ground. Unlike the poki, the sushi rolls weren't bad, but they weren't good either. I thought some of the unusual flavor combinations had potential, but somehow just didn't get there. Huge plate of goma ae, not the little tablespoonfull you usually get, and it was smothered (really smothered) in half a pound of sesame seeds. But it was weak and watery to my taste; disappointing.
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Aki Sushi & Grill
Cuisine: Sushi
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Oakland |
3/10/2007
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Great Greek fast food or take out, on Piedmont Ave in Oakland. The dolmas weren't the world's best, but were very good. Good meat, pretty tomatoes, and thick fresh bread with yoghurt and spices in the gyro. Tasty hummus with pita wedges on the side. Couldn't resist an order of crisp onion rings; is this Greek fusion? Not much to drink; nothin but flavored sugarwater. Why don't they offer one of those Mediterranean yoghurt drinks?
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Simply Greek
Cuisine: Greek
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Oakland |
3/10/2007
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The wasabi garlic potato salad was an unusual treat. Quite a bit like regular german, or whatever, potato salad, but with snap peas, romaine hearts, soy beans and wasabi. The wasabi turns it into something very different. The spicy burdock and lotus root salad was really nice as well. Lots of interesting flavors. The salmon and sesame rice ball was a bit dry, and underwhelming. The potato croquette was excellent. They have a crab cream croquette, that seemed a little mushy at first taste, but I ended up really liking it. Turns out the mushiness is due to a creamy bechamel sauce with panir cheese; quite unlike any other crab croquette I've ever had. I'm definitely going back for more.
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DELICA rf-1
Cuisine: Japanese Deli
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Embarcadero |
3/9/2007
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Less than what I expected from Slant Door's back door. I've eaten a lot of steamed buns, and their chicken steam buns are the best I've ever tasted; just right, not dry at all, very tasty. I'll definitely go back for more of those. The Vietnamese spring rolls were good. Maybe I just like Vietnamese spring rolls; I'm not sure I've ever had a bad one. On the other hand, these were nothing special, and the last piece, which had no prawn in it, was pretty boring. The beef salad with orange was fair-t-midlin' flavorwise; but come on guys, when you're serving thin slices of beef tartare that have been barely warmed with a hair dryer, you need to use really good beef, and cut out the gristle before you put it on the salad. Half the beef was awful. Chew it for five minutes, then finally give up and swallow a mouthful of ropey fibers. Not what I expected from a place with Slant Door's reputation.
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Out the Door
Cuisine: Vietnamese
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Downtown |
3/4/2007
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Sort of a mixed bag at this anchor site for one of the Bay Area's great gourmet dynasties (Fonda, Jimmy Bean, T-Rex, Sea Salt). Long wine list; not much in the way of beer. Lots of small plates, a real plus for me. Two tiny crab chalupas with smoked chile crema and avocado were excellent. The fettuccine small plate consisted about six cubic inches of boiled and oiled noodles. Very nice, delicately floral rosemary and roquefort flavor was a treat, but faded quickly, leaving the task of chewing up non-descript pasta - no texture, no enduring flavor. I hate to say it, but it should probably be served with a pitt dish, like olives, so one could suck off the thin fragrant sauce and discard the noodles. Romaine, apple & walnut salad was top notch. Smoked salmon with buckwheat blinis & endive was unremarkable. Hamachi was very good. Green garlic sauce & olive pizzetta was pretty pedestrian, quite edible, nothing wrong with it, but... Nice lemon tart with some kinda red fruit ice.
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Lalime's
Cuisine: Californian Mediterranean
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Berkeley |
2/19/2007
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Excellent Indian food. Not heavy or greasy, like so many places. The naan wasn't burned; no blackened areas, like one so commonly finds. That may sound trivial, but to me it really defines why this place is a cut above the rest. The same kind of care obviously went into the light and subtle flavorings of the dahl and signature coconut milk chicken curry. Service was nice, but I received a sweet lassi, instead of the salty one I'd ordered. The sweet one was good though, some unexpected fragrant spice in it. This place really deserves its reputation.
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Chutneys
Cuisine: Indian
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San Ramon |
2/9/2007
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Would have been a better experience if the chef had been one of those curmudgeons who makes you eat the various small plates in just the right order, instead of leaving you to your own devices. Certain tastes were improved considerably by the tastes that immediately preceded them. Everything was excellent, or maybe better than that. Amazing stuffed mushrooms, very nice olives and olive oil for dipping bread. Great boiled mussels, seafood salad, sauteed peppers in oil, anchovies. My favorite was thin slices of poached octopus on sliced potatoes, sprinkled with pimenton. Bread pudding is tasty, staff very happy and friendly. Noisy, four bells; walk from wherever you live, no parking here.
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Zarzuela
Cuisine: Spanish Tapas
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Russian Hill |
2/2/2007
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Looks great on paper; "Indian fusion", good reviews, but what can I say - was it too heavy-handed? Maybe that's it. Pretty good calamari, but rather tiny pieces of squid. Not greasy though; if they'd give you more meat, it would be an exceptional dish. The veggie curry was very fruity and flavorful: tres fusion. I liked it a lot at first, but the more I ate the more oppressive it became, and I couldn't finish it. The fish curry was very good, but not particularly unusual. If you go there, try the Moru Vellam, a spicy, watery-yoghurty drink; that was very unusual. One glass wasn't enough. Samosas, naan, etc. were pretty run-of-the-mill; nothing to write mom about. The mango creme brulee wasn't; creme brulee, that is. There was definitely mango in it, but it tasted like watery pumpkin pie with a caramelized sugar crust. Definitely a Not in my book.
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Masala Indian Fusion
Cuisine: Indian Fusion
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Danville |
2/2/2007
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Ten bucks for a big crepe with lotsa good home fries, and non-descript lettuce salad. Lots of choices, salmon and avocado crepes, scrambled egg and salsa crepes, tofu Kyoto crepes, Greek crepes, Italian crepes... Half a dozen beers, including one of my faves, Lagunitas IPA on tap. Espresso drinks and dessert crepes with cherries, bananas, Nutella, etc. Located in Rockridge's gourmet ghetto.
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Crepevine
Cuisine: Crepes
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Oakland |
1/19/2007
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Nice place for matzo ball soup, and other Jewish traditionals, in Berkeley's gourmet ghetto. Good hummus, dills, and olives. Not the best Reuben sandwiches; really rather pedestrian, compared to some of the better places around (like that deli on Ninth and Lincoln). They have music, I think on weekend nights, and a big bakery section by the door. Hard to resist a few cookies to go on your way out.
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Saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen
Cuisine: Deli Jewish
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Berkeley |
1/6/2007
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Excellent fresh oysters at Berkeley's Fourth Street. Very nice mignonette sauce. Lots of people come for the hamburgers and fries, which are pretty good too. I've gone there a few times for oysters and ended up staying for dinner, which I recall as decent but not memorable.
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Cafe Rouge
Cuisine: Mediterranean
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Berkeley |
1/6/2007
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Skates has to be the world's best dining-view of the Golden Gate Bridge. The ambiance is casino-chic, you keep expecting to hear the clinks and clanks of slot machines. Sure, they ding you five bucks for a pint of IPA, but then you'd probably pay five bucks just to sit at the warm table and stare across the shimmering water to a sunset behind the Golden Gate anyway. Fifteen bucks for half a dozen oysters dressed with kind of a puffy tomato ice, and some horseradish whipcream. A little odd; sorta interesting, but not as flavorful, in my opinion, as oysters at Swan, or even Cafe Rouge at nearby Fourth Street. Two three-inch crabcakes for another fifteen, but they were tasty and well prepared, with a nice sweetish sauce, black poppy seeds, and a bit of pickled ginger. Oh - appetizers and maybe beers are half price weekdays 4-6 and after 10. Think I'll go back then.
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Skates on the Bay
Cuisine: Seafood American California
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Berkeley |
1/6/2007
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Some of the best Poki anywhere. If you like raw fish, it's worth a trip. Go there with your pockets full; the Pearl is basically an expensive place to drink, with some expensive small plates on the side. For the Poki though, it's unbeatable.
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Pearl Oyster Bar & Restaurant
Cuisine: Seafood Small Plates
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Oakland |
1/5/2007
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One of the better med restaurants around. The fresh-baked flatbread keeps coming. The hummus is great; just don't think about counting calories. While you're at it, get some of their walnut dip for when the hummus runs out - it's really a treat. Dolmas are good, salads are good, but don't go there if you're on a low salt diet, they dump it into everything. And speaking of salt, if you like salty lassies (no not ribald redheads) be sure to order a duogh (doog) to drink. It's yogurt, cucumber juice, salt, and spices - tastes a bit like a salty lassi, but different and interesting.
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Pomegranate Mediterranean Cuisine
Cuisine: Mediterranean
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Berkeley |
1/3/2007
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Maybe the best flan I've ever had. Texture was just right, syrup flavorful and not too sweet, lotsa coconut; might go back just for dessert. Latte was tiny and wouldn't have lasted through the flan, except that it was lip-burning hot till the flan was half gone. And speaking of lip burning, the jicama salad and crab broth soup had way too much chili. I like it hot, but my lips were burning 15 minutes after I finished those two appetizers. Shoulda been a warning on the menu, or somebody should be checking on the chef. I guess they used up all the chili on the soup and salad, because there wasn't a trace of it on the fish tacos, the refried beans, the rice, or the black beans. Fish of the day musta been guppy; tacos were mostly tortilla and deep-fried batter. Kinda put me in mind of that long-line-madhouse in Alameda where all the sushi rolls taste mostly of fried batter. Unbeatable guacamole though, but the promised second bowl of chips never arrived.
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Tres Agaves
Cuisine: Mexican
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Pacific Bell Park/South Beach |
1/3/2007
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If you like raw oysters, you'll love Swan. It's been there since before Columbus, and is still a family operation; real friendly gang, must be brothers and cousins or something. It's a tiny hole in the wall, long row of bar seats equaled only by the long line of people waiting to get in the door. Lots of variety, different kinds of oysters, seafood cocktails, chowder, beers. Also lots of fresh fish to take home, if you're in the mood. Best prices around for such fresh oysters. San Francisco institution; an experience not to be missed.
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Swan Oyster Depot
Cuisine: Seafood
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Polk St./Van Ness |
1/3/2007
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Great place to eat, if you can get a seat - and you probably can, but only if you're willing to eat at the pickup bar. Nice decor; I particularly like the iron grill pressure-rolled into the copper bar top - tres chi-chi, tres tech. Anyway, small plates, order anything you want; you won't be disappointed. Fusion food, poki, doo-dah rolls, seared ahi; I don't need to list it, everything is superb. Oh, did I mention the liquor? Please just close your eyes and point at the wine list - people are waiting, and if you read the whole list you'll be there all night.
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Va de Vi
Cuisine: Eclectic
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Walnut Creek |
1/2/2007
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I ain't a member of the church, so I just don't get standing in a freezing sidewalk line at bedtime, in the middle of winter, for a chance to partake of this ice cream. (For those who don't know: Mitchell's is San Francisco's only ice cream with its own religion.) When I heard about the cult, I thought this must be the place you can get durian and avocado ice cream. Been waiting for an opportunity to try durian ice cream for years, and avocado sounded pretty intriguing as well. I figured the line couldn't be too long at 8:00 PM and 5 degrees above freezing. I was wrong about everything but the avocado, which tasted a bit like green tea ice cream, but not as flavorful. To be fair, my friends had the Mexican chocolate and ube, which were good, but really not sacramental. I dunno, can thirty thousand San Franciscans be wrong? Mebbe somthin wrong with my taste buds?
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Mitchells Ice Cream
Cuisine: Ice Cream Dessert
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Mission |
1/2/2007
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Nice Italian place with big, warm, wood-fired oven. For a real treat, try their special potato and caramelized onion pizza, if you see it on the menu. Some of the best clams around, if you like them with a lot of spice and garlic. The rest of their menu is pretty pedestrian - just another good Italian restaurant.
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Cugini
Cuisine: Italian
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Albany |
1/2/2007
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Don't bother - you won't get a table. And if you are willing to endure the hour's standing wait, you'll just be making my wait longer. Great robata grill, excellent gindara cod. Nice little skewers of roasted calamari or baby lobster, with white sauce and tobiko poured over the top. Roasted potatoes, mushrooms, stuffed Japanese bell peppers, corn, all kinds of fish. The almond prawns are huge, deep fried, and completely covered with thin slices of almonds - a cholesterol nightmare, but take my word for it, they're worth it. If you like agedashi tofu, this is the place, complex and delicate, better than what they give you at those other Japanese places. The ohitashi spinach is just right. Better sushi than you'll find at most places, but you pay for it. You'll be lucky to get out for less than a hundred bucks for two - and that's if you take the house saki, and avoid the temptation to start sampling their long list of really expensive premium sakis.
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Kirala
Cuisine: Sushi
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Berkeley |
1/2/2007
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Nice place to eat in Albany. Upscale decor, upscale cuisine, mid-range prices. Some good appetizers and small plate offerings. Great beet stack with goat cheese. Don't miss the salmon pizzetta when it's on the menu. The salmon entree is my favorite, but sometimes comes seared-rare, and sometimes a bit overcooked. Good service and friendly staff.
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Beauregard's
Cuisine: Californian American Bistro
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Albany |
1/2/2007
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Why do I only eat at Picante about once every three or four years - I dunno. The food is really good, big servings, well-priced. Parking isn't easy, lines are often long, and the food comes swimming in heavy sauces. Maybe it's the heavy sauces that keep me away.
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Picante Cocina Mexicana
Cuisine: Mexican
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Berkeley |
1/2/2007
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Good small plates, but often really noisy. I like their IPA, but they have several other very nice beers. Nice calamari. Try the sardines if you see them on the menu. A variety of other taste treats.
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Thirsty Bear Brewing Co.
Cuisine: Spanish Tapas
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SoMa |
1/2/2007
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Quick counter service, but often long lines for one of the best burritos anywhere. Get the "super", with rice, beans, guacamole and sour cream. Great tender, lean, meat, never any tough dry spots or gristle. The corn quesadillas are dripping with lard, and I know I shouldn't, but they're only 7" tortillas, and I just have a hard time getting outta there without a corn quesadilla with guacamole and double hot sauce, to go with my superbeef. I feel better if I stop at one of the few in-store tables on my way out to unwrap the foil and sop up the grease from the quesadilla with a napkin. I usually order a pint of orange juice; seems to go well with the food.
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Gordo Taqueria
Cuisine: Mexican
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Albany |
1/2/2007
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Probably my favorite "nothing fancy" Mexican place. It really isn't fancy like Fonda or Tacubaya: no fancy sauces, no fancy prices, no thirty-page wine list, no teeny-tiny pheasant tongue tacos, or midget mole tamales. What makes it so special is that the food is light, great-tasting, non-greasy, in the best nouvelle-Californi style - and you can stuff yourself and get outta there with two people for twenty-five or thirty bucks.
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Christopher Nothing Fancy Cafe
Cuisine: Mexican
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Albany |
1/2/2007
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Fast-food environment, but really good curries. You'd think you're in an abandoned Taco Bell, or something. The food really deserves a better venue. A meal costs about as much as if you had gone to Taco Bell; but in my opinion, at least, compares with the Bay Area's best Indian restaurants. Not to be missed if you're a fan of good Indian food.
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Curry Cafe
Cuisine: Indian
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Albany |
1/2/2007
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Noisy, but worth it. Unbeatable small plates, and everything is good. Even their refried beans are memorable, just the right amount of chili, with some nice cheese on top. Refried beans are usually just bulk filler, but here they're gourmet. Little duck tacos, tiny tamales, scallop ceviche, jicama sticks in chili-lime juice, mushroom frou-frous; it's all great. Fonda is supposed to be a drinking place, with small plate offerings to soak up the alcohol; but eighty bucks or so will get you a great dinner for two.
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Fonda
Cuisine: Pan-Latin Tapas
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Berkeley |
1/2/2007
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One should know better than to order seared ahi at a ribs joint. But then this place is operated by the owners of Fonda, Lalime, Sea Salt, etc. - so you'd think the ahi'd be pretty good. It was served chuckwagon style - big, inch-thick slabba raw fishmeat; unusual, unappetizing, but Texas-sized - gotta givem credit for that. Decent Oysters, cornbread, and a few good appetizers and small plates. The ribs and burgers are pretty good... but well, what can you say about burgers and ribs? I prefer Nation's burgers, and there are several rib joints around that have more flavorful meat, in my opinion. I think the best thing one can say about T Rex is that it's the place to go if you want to eat burgers or ribs, in an upscale environment, with raw oysters for starters, blue cheese and pear on your salad, and a nice variety of good beers and wines. Very tasty chocolate bread pudding. I mistakenly assumed the Latte on their menu referred to Caffe Latte, but it didn't, as far as I could tell.
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T Rex Barbecue
Cuisine: Barbecue
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Berkeley |
1/2/2007
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Good but overrated. $5 for a cup of tea. Great house curry, but too hot for some folks. We'll go back just for the curry. Maybe the Bay Area's best calamari - tres ungreasy, but coulda been a bigger serving. Yellowfin Poke was good, as was the burned satay; but nothing you'd write home about. Gindara cod was very good, but when isn't it? Huge serving of string beans, but nothing special about them besides being green. Chinese chicken salad was good, but tasted just like all the other good Chinese chicken salad you've had in your life.
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Poleng
Cuisine: Southeast Asian
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Western Addition |
1/2/2007
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Gourmet Mexican fast food! Delicate flavors, not greasy, great meat. Not your one-sauce-fits-all Mexican. Don't miss the fantastic fresh fish taco for about 3 bucks; but the place's not exactly cheap overall. Great mole tamales, chorizo sopes with potato, health-food veggie tamales, tortilla soup, memorable enchiladas... If you like upscale, haute-Mexican, and shy away from the places with lotsa lard and heavy sauces, you gotta try it. Tucked away near Peets, at Berkeley's Fourth Street.
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Tacubaya
Cuisine: Mexican
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Berkeley |
12/28/2006
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Ahi & avocado was very good, but seasoning wasn't the best I've ever had. Tofu tossed salad wasn't special, although the six or seven tofu croutons were pretty interesting. Excellent Tuscan white bean & sausage soup, nice and peppery. Chinese broccoli with garlic was well worth it. Flank steak was unevenly cooked and unevenly peppered, but still quite good, with ordinary mashed potatoes and fresh, nicely-cooked green beans. Wonderfully succulent calamari steak, seasoned just right, with flavorful black rice and bok choi, shouldn't be missed. Big wine list, but only Sierra IPA and two Japanese beers. Lots of desert wines. Too-small cappuccino. Raspberry creme brulee and lemon-ginger curd were flavorful but a bit too sweet for my taste. With two beers it was a hundred bucks. Service was great, but the bread came after the soup, probably a mistake. Comfortable environs, pleasant art, relaxed clientele.
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SUMI
Cuisine: Fusion
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Castro |
3/15/2006
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