VEGGIE OPTIONS IN THE BAY AREA

Living in Northern CA, we have lots of vegetarian options. And many of them have been rather tasty. While working at the SF Chocolate Salon in Fort Mason a few weeks back, I was able to have a sandwich from Greens To Go, the take out arm of the famed Greens Restaurant. For those of you who have never heard of Greens, it's a vegetarian restaurant that's been around for almost 30 years and founded by the SF Zen Center ( I read an article about Zen dining and food yesterday, and it totally confused me) and it's known for having just really great food.
So I ordered a sandwich featuring an olive tapenade, arugula, yellow peppers and cheese.
It was actually quite tasty, but this tiny little sandwich cost $6, so not exactly the greatest value. I look foward to going back in the future, though. It's a beautiful restaurant with a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the menu does look delicious.

Another vegetarian restaurant that we tried out recently is a South Indian restaurant called Udupi Palace. We learned about this restaurant after watching a local show that we enjoy called Check Please, Bay Area. It's a show where people suggest their favorite restaurants and after you watch this show, you can see why food is so good in the Bay Area. People are so demanding, vocal and passionate about their food, and they interview all locals and restauranteurs have to keep up to meet these tastes.

My high school friend, who was born in Qatar, is a vegetarian and attended both UCBerkeley as an undergrad and PhD student gave this place a thumbs down. He said we could find much better South Indian food in the South Bay, but we figured we'd try it out anyway, since we aren't really connossieurs of South Indian food and it's close to where we live.

We decide to go for an early lunch, and despite the restaurant being nearly empty, the servers were not very welcoming or friendly. It was our first time there and we were unfamiliar with their food, but they didn't offer to help us out at all. This place is famous for their dosas, so we each ordered one, and we also ordered some appetizers. We started off with this dish below, described as Fried Lentil Donuts served with Sambar &Chutney.
This was actually our favorite dish of the whole lunch. It was served piping hot and all that fried, crunchy surface along with the soft center made a tasty combination. Of course, I didn't realize until later that the bowl to the left was a soup and not a dipping sauce (it would've been nice had someone explained that to me).

I also ordered some potato samosas, which were ok. I didn't love the texture of the pastry on the exterior, but the flavor was pretty good.
Tom also ordered this big puffy fried bread called a partha. I only tried a little over it, because it was so greasy I just didn't find it too appealing.
And now for the main event. The dosas, are basically large pancakes stuffed with different fillings. We each ordered one and they were both huge. Here's Tom's dosa, stuffed with a potato mixture. He thought it was OK, enjoying the cripsy edges of the dosa, but there were too many potatoes for him and the pancake itself got very sticky and soggy after it'd cooled down a bit.
Here's my dosa, stuffed with potatoes and spinach.
I thought the filling was pretty tasty, but I agreed with Tom about the pancake, it just got too soggy and sticky and rather not enjoyable.

Overall, I thought our lunch at Udupi Palace was pretty good, but I don't think we're be back due to the neglectful service which made for a rather unpleasant dining experience. But we'll continue exploring veggies restaurant in the Bay Area and will report back to all of you.

MY DAY WITH MAX

Hey guys, so this post is a little out of order since it happened today, and I'm still working on a whole back log of posts, but I just wanted to get this one in before I went to bed today. Mainly to show you a pic of my adorable little cousin, Max. Look at those cheeks!

So Max is enjoying a free strawberry breakfast smoothie courtesy of Jamba Juice. I think you guys all know what Jamba Juice is, so I'm not going to explain it to you here, but they were doing a promo today for their new breakfast menu that included getting a free 12 oz. drink of your choice. I got Max a strawberry smoothie, which he enjoyed a lot. I got a mango, passion fruit, orange juice, which was pretty good, and I got Max's mom a blueberry smoothie with granola topper.

I spent most of my morning and afternoon of my one day off this week with Max. It's his spring break and since his mom's got a cold and is still recovering from surgery, I wanted to help her out a bit. In the morning, Max and I went to the Jamba to get our free drinks, then headed over to the farmer's market, where I bought fresh strawberries and where we shared a chicken sausage (which we both enjoyed).

After visiting the YMCA for kid's play time (like 20 kids in a room running around and playing on toys, swings, etc- man it was tiring) it was time for lunch. Cindy, Max's mom, plus Max and I all headed out to Vik's Chaat Corner, which I had suggested.

Now the SF Chronicle just came out with it's annual top 100 restaurants in the Bay Area list on Sunday and after looking at the restaurant in the East Bay, I realized that we'd already been to most of them (and I didn't think most of them deserved to be on the list, but whatever), but one we hadn't visited was Vik's Chaat Corner. Now, I knew that Vik's existed, but I had yet to make my way over there, and this was a great chance.

Now the review of this place was pretty spot on. It's a pretty nondescript building in a warehousey area (actually the wine.com warehouse was immediately across the street). Here's the view from the exterior. Other than this little sign on the right you'd never know if was there.

We got really lucky and snagged a parking space just outside, but when we entered, we found an enormous space with super high ceilings and there was already a lunch crowd there. As the review described, it was filled with a mix of people- we saw the construction worker, the Berkeley cops and lots of co-workers out for lunch. We perused the menu (which wasn't very long) and got in line. Every day, they have a different special- either veg or meat. I got the meat special (chicken korma) and Cindy got the veg special (veg curry). I also got an appetizer of Sev Puri- Crisp flat papdi topped with potatoes, onions, cilantro, mint, and tamarind and garlic chutnies.

This place was quick and efficient. You seat yourself and wait for your named to be called. And when you get your food, it's served in these specially designed plastic trays (which kinda reminds me of prison trays). You get all this stuff with your meal, too. Here's my chicken korma, which came with a side of daal, yogurt, rice, bread, a papadam and spicy pickles. It was actually pretty good. The chicken korma was a bit spicy and I really liked my papadam. And it was just $6.95. My cousin also enjoyed her curry and little Max liked the daal with rice (and he stole our bread and papadams- he's a carb monster).

And here's a pic of my Sev Puri. It ended up being good, but a bit spicier than I'd expected. I had about three before I gave up, but it certainly cleared my sinuses.

Overall this wasn't the best Indian food I've ever had, but it certainly was a great place for a quick, cheap meal. I can certainly see why it's so popular and on our way out, the line was almost to the door. I did some grocery shopping at their store next door and stocked up on some Indian cooking supplies and I do plan on taking Tom once he returns.

HOUSE OF CURRY

Tom and I are continuing in our search for good Indian food, and we've found a decent enough quick place called House of Curry. It's a little restaurant that sits on Solano Ave. in Berkeley, and though the food isn't spectacular, it's pretty good and the best part is that it's super cheap. We've been twice so far, but the first time we went, we actually ate in. The place has really simple decor, and it's pretty much self serve, but the staff is nice and they give you free chai while you wait.

We shared a lunch special, which was any two curries, and rice and naan. Here it is below- a plate of chicken tikka masala, some tandoori chicken, rice and naan.

All of our food was pretty decent. It's no India Quality, but we've already been back once since our first visit, and I think it's going to become a regular place for us when the craving strikes. So at least we've found a temporary place for now, and we'll continue looking for a truly great Indian place.

I MISS INDIA QUALITY

I think I've written about this in a previous post, but I miss India Quality. I didn't expect to. It was just the local Indian restaurant where I'd get take out every once in a while. But who knew that I wouldn't find Indian food just as good in the East Bay. In our continuing quest to find good Indian food, Tom and I headed over to Indus Village, a place that my co-worker had suggested (I often find restaurants based on his suggestions). It's the place he goes to get Indian take out, though it's not exactly Indian- it's Pakistani. So I guess that could account for some of the difference.

When we entered, we found a true hole in the wall restaurant- minimal decor, florescent lighting and some very ornate and truly uncomfortable chairs. We took a seat and perused the menu, which was very reasonably priced. I started off with some of these fried thingies and I can't recall the name right now. They were pretty good, well seasoned and crispy, but just not as good as the ones at India Quality.

Then I ordered this combo plate of chicken tikka masala and saag paneer. It was pretty good, though there could have been more chicken. Oh, the warm naan it was served with was really good and I definitely finished that off.

Meanwhile, Tom also ordered a combo plate. And he had ordered lamb curry, but accidentally given him chicken curry. But when they noticed the mistake, that brought over a whole new portion of lamb curry for him.

Service here was pretty friendly, but often neglectful, but really, it's a take out joint. They're really not there to provide great, friendly table service. After dinner, we hopped next door to check out a Halal market. Even thought it was a bit later, it was packed with people, and we picked up some lentils, chickpeas and pita for cheap. I think we will be back here at some point, when the craving for Indian food strikes. It was certainly better than the places that I had visited on Solano Ave., but I'm starting to feel that I'll also be making a trip to India Quality on my next trip to Boston.

THE DAY AFTER TURKEY DAY

So the day after Thanksgiving, I had to work. But it was my uncle's birthday, so additional cousins came up from LA to celebrate. In all, there were 12 of us. My aunt made a traditional birthday food, which is noodles with marinated eggs. You usually have stewed pigs feet with this, too, but we used left over turkey meat instead. Here's my bowl.

This is the perfect thing to have on a cold morning- steamy, warm and delicious, it got me all ready to head off to work.

While I was at work, my sister spent the day with all the cousins and kids, which ended up wearing here out. (There were 4 kids, all under the age of 5). We were supposed to go back and have dinner with them after my shift, but my sister just couldn't deal with any more crying, so I picked an Indian restaurant for dinner.

I'm still trying to find some good Indian in the East Bay, but after speaking to my friend last week, it seems that this may be more difficult than I had planned. Anyway, we ended up going to Cafe Raj on Solano Ave., which I had been told is a pretty good place. When we arrived, the restaurant was packed, but luckily we were able to grab the last open table.

After taking a look at the menu, I decided to get my old stand by, which I use to gauge all Indian restaurants- the Chicken Tikka Masala. But first I got a few starters. Here's the order of papadams I got. They were ok, though not very flavorful.

Then I got an order of veggie samosas. The exterior on this was a little different- much more similar to a spring roll wrapper cause it was so thin and crunchy. It actually wasn't too bad, but I prefer to have tamarind as a dipping sauce, and here, they just gave you a mint sauce.

Lastly, here's my order of chicken tikka masala. I had ordered this medium, but it seemed to have no heat to it at all. It's a pattern that I'm noticing for restaurants on Solano- they just don't like to really spice things up. The flavor was Ok, but I disliked the fact that there were raisins.

Overall, this was another disappointing venture into the world of Indian food on Solano Ave. Also, the service wasn't so great. I realize they were busy and only one us was eating (my sister had already had dinner), but it took forever to get our bill, or even a refill on water. I don't think I'll come back here, but I'll keep searching for a good place while serious missing Gourmet India of Comm Ave.

GOURMET INDIA, COOLIDGE CORNER

Ok, I've had dinner two nights in a row in Coolidge Corner, and I've actually tried two different places both nights. On Thursday night, Katie and I visited the Brookline Farmer's market and eventually made our way over to Gourmet India for dinner.

So first let me tell you about the Brookline Farmer's market. Actually, if you remember at the beginning of summer, I had made a vain attempt to visit it (The market hadn't opened yet). And at that time, I thought that was my last shot to go to the Brookline market, since I normally work all day on Thursday. But lo and behold, I got a Thursday afternoon off (a rare occurence indeed) and so off I went, looking for heirloom tomatoes at the Brookline Farmer's market. When we arrived at 4:30, the place was packed. I was happy to see a large number of booths and a really great selection of produce, but I was a bit dismayed at the long lines and the tons of children running rampant. There was an ice cream truck there, and I totally wanted some, but the line was just too long and so I set about my goal to get heirloom tomatoes. I was not disappointed by the large selection of variety of tomatoes. I eventually ended up getting like 4 different varieties and paid nearly $10 for just tomatoes. I was also really disciplined and only spent money on that singular thing, though i really did want to run rampant, and buy turkey pot pie, a mini mixed berry pie for Tom (I resisted, he's trying to lose weight and I feel responsible for some of his weight gain), some fresh fish and other goodies.

Maybe next year I'll be able to get more time off and can visit the market more frequently. We can all dream, right? I do have a trip planned for LA in December, though, so i can visit my all time favorite farmer's market when I'm home.

After Katie made herself a batch of rice pudding, we set off for dinner. Katie decided to make the rice pudding after trips to Gourmet India's buffet lunch, where they set out their version of rice pudding, so we decided to go there for dinner. Now, I drive past Gourmet India all the time, but I'd never been there and I'd never even looked in. I expected it to be a normal restaurant, but it turns out that it's a take out type place, much like the ones you find in malls, like an Indian version of Panda Express (which makes sense since they have like 6 locations, most of them located in malls.)

After I took a quick look at their menu (which is all really really cheap-nothing's over $9) Katie and I ended up order the exact same thing. The combo #1 with Chicken tikka masala, Gobhi Mutter and a side of rice (you could get naan instead of rice if you wanted). Total cost was $6.25. I actually also ordered an orange Fanta (which I almost never get in the U.S.) and it tasted exactled like Sunkist Orange soda. I was so disappointed that I personally think they were serving the Sunkist Orange and just had the Fanta label up. I mean, Fanta in the U.S. can't really be that bad is it? I'm accustomed to the European formulation (yes, it's really that different). It takes a lot more like Orangina in Europe. I've still got two cans of it in my fridge at home, that I brought back from Spain in my backpack- too bad i won't be able to do that on my next trip to Europe. Anyway, here'a pic of my dinner:

As you can see, it's a pretty generous serving. Actually, I'm kinda hungry right now and wouldn't mind having that for lunch. And the food was pretty good. Especially for a take out place. I definitely wish that the food was hotter, it was more lukewarm than hot, but for the price, I think it's a great deal. Katie was telling me that the lunch buffet is also a great deal, so I think i'll be back in the future to try that out and a chicken naan.