Category: Restaurant

Posted on

8.10.2014 | TI8

SUNDAY I ATE

Breakfast: Leftover waffles

Lunch: Pizza at Gilroy Gardens. In all honesty, the pizza does not have much to recommend it, but in other respects, Gilroy Gardens is an amazing place. If you have kids between about 4-11, it’s a great day. Think of going to the fair, but without the whining for tickets. There is a water play area that is great on a hot day (i.e., most of them in Gilroy) so have them wear swim clothes. Eliza couldn’t believe that they just let her stay on the spinny Mushroom Swing ride as long as she wanted.

Afternoon snack: Popcorn

Dinner:  We had promised Eliza a burger, but then ate pizza for lunch. Truly, we thought we’d be home by dinner, but we were having such a good time at Gilroy Gardens that there was no way to make it home in time. Punched in “Burger” into Waze from on the road and selected one that wasn’t too far off the route. It brought up The Counter, which I”d just noticed in an airport last week. What we didn’t notice was that this one was at Santana Row, a fancy shopping mall. Nor did anyone realize what a zoo that would be on a Sunday evening. It turned out to be a 45 minute wait, but it was a gorgeous night. After 15 minutes of waiting, we finally got smart to the fact that we could order to go and sit at a lovely outdoor table to eat. The build your own burger is great. I highly recommend the fried onion strings, both as a side and on the burger. But it’s also a chance to experiment with stuff I wouldn’t normally put on a burger, like pineapple (not bad). Next time, I’ll go when it’s less crowded and check a few more boxes and see what I get.

 

Posted on

8.6.2014 | TI8

WEDNESDAY I ATE

 

Lunch: Chicken ceasar salad from Carolyn’s Seaside Cafe. Fair, but not great. The service was slow (at the height of the lunch rush) so I had to get it to go. Which meant that the dressing came in a little cup, which means it ended up in blobs. Honestly, the reason I like salads at restaurants better than at home is that they are generally willing to get a big bowl dirty tossing the salad and dressing evenly.

Afternoon snack:  Frapucchino sort of thing.

Dinner:  Leftover tomato onion tart. This is one of my favorite things to eat in the world. Only problem is that it was a small piece.

Posted on

8.5.2014 | TI8

TUESDAY I ATE

Location: San Diego

Breakfast: Jamba juice.

Lunch: Carnitas buritto from Chipotle. I actually really like Chipotle, but I never can remember that I prefer the chicken to the pork. Maybe next time.

Dinner:   Grilled Romaine Salad at Karl Strauss Brewery. Honestly, I was skeptical of this one, but it turned out to be pretty good. I’m not a huge fan of warm lettuce, but the dressing was tasty, and the chicken with it was great.

Dessert:  I also had a brownie sundae, which was forgettable. It had great ice cream, but the brownie was bland and then they squirted canned whipped cream all over the top.

Posted on

8.3.2014 | TI8

SUNDAY I ATE

Breakfast: Grapenuts with cranberry juice and fresh strawberries

Lunch: Leftover pizza

Afternoon snack: Kettle corn

Dinner:  Ceasar salad, fried chicken at Casa Orinda. This place has such an old-school feel, it’s incredible it still exists. I mean, there’s a moose head on the wall, plus a bunch of long horn cows. And waggon wheel chandeliers. Plus, if what you’re looking to eat was popular in the 50’s – 60’s (think steak or fried chicken), this place will do it with rare skill.

Dessert: Hot fudge sundae

Posted on

8.2.2014 | TI8

SATURDAY I ATE

Breakfast: Doughnuts from Toot Sweet. First time here for doughnuts (though I think I’ve had cake from here). I would probably rate them as mediocre. They were out of the custard filled by 9:00. The saving grace, though, was the buttermilk doughnut with chocolate glaze. This was just a different take on the genre, and I loved it. Suzanne described it like a biscuit, deep fried and covered with chocolate.

Lunch: Leftover pizza

Afternoon snack:  Chips, salsa, watermellon, a ham sandwich, and some birthday cake with ice cream. Sweet jesus. Birthday parties are trouble!

Dinner:  Baked potato with leeks, tomato, cheese, and salsa.

Dessert: Popcorn (while watching movie)

Posted on

7.29.2014 | TI8

TUESDAY I ATE

Breakfast: Grapenuts with cranberry juice and fresh strawberries

Lunch: Pork chili verde burrito from Burrito Express

Dinner:  Salad (from the garden) and an artichoke

Dessert: ice cream and some of this hot fudge I just found in the fridge

Posted on

7.26.2014 | TI8

SATURDAY I ATE

Location: Home -> Feast of Lanterns

Breakfast: Grapenuts with cranberry juice and fresh strawberries

Lunch: Bacon cheeseburger from Jeffrey’s Hamburger’s in Palo Alto. Pretty decent burger, good fries, good shakes.

Dinner:  Ribs and other yummy potluck food. Thanks Luke

Posted on

7.13.2014 | TI8

SUNDAY I ATE

Breakfast: Grapenuts with cranberry juice

Lunch: Turkey sandwich with avocado, ripe tomato, and some really spicy hummus

Afternoon snack: Ice cream. From Smitten Ice Cream.

smitten ice cream

Wow. This place is crazy. They individually mix up your ice cream in a couple of minutes using special mixers and liquid nitrogen. It really gets a wonderful consistency… just past that super soft, just out of the churn stage, so you can actually scoop it up. The salted caramel was great, the brown sugar and cinnamon was so good I thought I was eating an apple pie (apparently, no apple. Turns out, I really think the ice cream is the critical flavor in apple pie). The mint chip, sadly, was just a touch disappointing. It’s made with fresh mint, which was cool, and all, but it came across as just a bit too earthy. I’ve made my own ice cream with fresh mint and thought I’d just done something wrong, but apparently that’s just the flavor. I like my mint ice cream almost like a tic-tac where it takes your breath away and the chocolate is the mellowing influence. 

I was all over the N2 ice cream machines, though. In a way, it’s a sign of my own failure as a gadgeteer. I used to make a lot of liquid nitrogen ice cream in graduate school… whenever there was a big party, we’d always fire it up. And I was always disappointed. It was a great schtick, and it impressed the hell out of visitors, but the ice cream was always too fluffy from too much vigorous stirring, by turns soupy and icy, and never as good as what I’d make with rock salt and a churn. I just assumed that was what it was… but this Smitten person looked beyond the problems and saw something beautiful and made it so. I’m so impressed, I didn’t even cringe at the price ($6 for a standard dish)… hot ticket: buy a pint for $11 and share with 4.

Dinner:  Sloppy Joes. On the brioche rolls. Damn good. I followed a recipe from The Pioneer Woman, and it was pretty good. Only thing was it was just a bit too sweet. I’d skip the optional tomato paste, or maybe 1 Tbls of brown sugar next time.

 

Posted on

7.12.2014 | TI8

SATURDAY I ATE

Breakfast: Doughnuts from All Star Doughnuts in El Cerrito

Lunch: Roast beef and rocket attempt. This is the first time I tried since our trip to Friday Harbor. Since Laurie at Market Chef casually mentioned a bunch of things that weren’t in my earlier attempts (like mayonnaise and lemon juice) I had pretty high hopes for this one. The sauce was much, much closer to the original; close enough to make me really suspect that the prepared horseradish from Trader Joe’s is just kinda not that good. It has the smell like it’s going to bite, but then, even with a ton of it dumped in, it just sort of whimpers on the tongue. I need to try something better. I also need to roast my own beef. Not that the packaged stuff is bad, but I always feel like that’s a place to improve. The bread here is the brioche bun that Suzanne has been making every day for 2 weeks while she tries to figure out how to stop them from cracking. This one didn’t solve that problem, but cracking doesn’t stop it being delicious. The rocket, at least, is fresh from the garden, natch.

2014-07-11 08.10.37

Dinner:  Pizza from Little Star.