DA LIAN, BERKELEY

You've seen me write many times that Tom and I are big fans of a local food TV show called "Check Please, Bay Area." We've tried quite a few places that we've seen on the show, so when my parents came to town, we decided to try out a Chinese restaurant we'd seen on it, called Da Lian.

Da Lian is actually located really close to us, but it's not a place we would've tried normally. We tend to just walk by it, and check out other restaurants nearby. When we arrived at the restaurant, it was pretty empty, which was a good thing, since we had a party of 8. My mom and dad did all the ordering, and tried to gear it to more healthy stuff since my cousin, Cindy, was there and she's doing the vegan thing.

We started off with some vegetarian lettuce cups, which were pretty good. In the background, you can also see a grilled scallion/sesame pancake thing. Their version was quite good, and my little cousin, Max, liked it so much that we ended up ordering an extra one for him to take home.

Here's a pic of the lazy susan loaded down with food. I didn't bother taking individual pics of everything since there was so much of it and it all arrived pretty quickly.

Overall, Da Lian was a pretty good place. It wasn't the best Chinese food I've had here, but they made an effort to cut down on the sodium and make things a little healthier for us. Also, they did have a good variety of dishes, so I was glad that I was able to find a good place fo my parent's and Cindy's family. I don't think Tom and I will be going back on our own any time soon, but it's a good place to take a group, and I don't doubt that we'll be back at some point.