The Last Walker's Pie

.

By now, Walker's is long gone. A Solano institution, caput. According to online review sites, it kind of deserved it, but we had to have a pie before it was gone, so on its penultimate day of business, we went in and bought a Blackbottom Pie.

When we cut into it, we knew we had made a mistake: vanilla pudding over chocolate pudding. Brother.

But actually, it was pretty good. Much, much better than a pudding pie has any right to be. The chocolate was certainly not from a box, so that was good.

It's just too bad we'll never get to try their rhubarb.....

Gordo's (part ii)

.

We returned to Gordo's tonight for a couple super burritos, takeout. The chile verde was excellent, the carnitas pretty good. If you pay for the tomato salsa, you might want to consider the mild--the other had almost as many peppers as tomatoes (and not enough cilantro) and was muy violent on the mouth. I also learned that you can ask for their green hot sauce and they'll give you little containers for free. It's the same sauce they put on the burritos.

House of Curry

.

Today we swung by House of Curries to get a take-out lunch for us and the boys. It was good. Not the best Indian food we'v ever had, but it was good. Lady Steed says the Chicken Tikka Masala (O's order) was excellent--better than when she ordered it at Cafe Raj. It was sweet and reminiscent of tomato soup. Lady Steed asked for a yellow curry and Theric got her the chicken curry. It was good, pretty spicy, and curiously sour. Both chicken dishes had what Theric thought were enormous pieces of chicken--and they were, but smaller than the pieces at Cafe Raj.

Theric ordered something whose initials were P.P.--a spinach-and-cheese concoction that was somewhat hotter than the curry (but not unbearable) and tasty. The cheese was mild. Lady Steed liked it but isn't sure she would order again. She may make that decision after leftovers tonight now that the kids are in bed.

The basmati rice was, naturally, delicious. The garlic naan was enormous and, Theric thought, not that great. Lady Steed can only talk about its size and that it was good and very thin. They have about ten varieties of naan and if we return (which we probably will), we'll have to try another kind.

All three dishes were $5.99 and sufficient for that price. $5.99 was the most common price on the menu and nothing went over ten dollars.

The staff were friendly and gave Theric roughly a two-and-a-half-dollar discount for it being his first time. They also offer free chai. We don't drink chai, but that's a cool thing to do anyway.

We're looking forward to returning and trying them again. Good food, good price, good variety, close by. Good combination.

And they have really cool chairs.

Cactus Taqueria

April 12

Mom and Dad were visiting and agreed to get dinner for us but it had to be take out. Big O really wanted burritos so we decided to go here again.

We all got Burritos Mejor and paid the extra dollar for guacamole, though Mom and Dad did not detect any on theirs. Mine had it, but not very much--which was all pretty upsetting. Theric and I got the Chile Verde burrito, one pork, one chicken, with black beans and Mexican rice. Very good though the pork was FAR superior to the chicken. Theric says: "The pork was AMAZING!!!" and it was. The chicken was not. Which was strange since last time the chicken was so good. Theric points out that the chicken last time was shredded, while this chicken was just chunks which made it very uninteresting. Mom and Dad got the Carnitas burrito and were seriously underwhelmed plus they didn't get any guacamole after paying the extra dollar! Cactus is now off their list of acceptable places to eat. Big O got the regular bean and cheese burrito and he liked it. I had a bite of his leftovers a few days later and it tasted good to me.

I think the lesson we have learned is to watch them make your burrito if you order the guacamole because they might not put it on.

Mom and Dad paid for the burritos--thanks!

While Theric and I waited for our order we got drinks and cookies. Aguas Frescas: I had pineapple and Theric had Watermelon. They were delicious. The Alfajores (caramel filled cookies) were VERY delicious! Though at a dollar each rather overpriced.

Cactus does not make the best burrito, the search for the best burrito (close to us) still continues. However, I would like to try some of the other dishes they offer and might go back for Aguas Frescas and the Alfjores.

Cafe Raj

Cafe Raj: North Indian and Pakistani Cuisine

Ate here back on March 31, right after my dentist appointment. Mom took Oliver, Samuel and I out to lunch here.

I had been wanting to try Cafe Raj because anytime we have gone past it, especially on the weekends, it has always looked packed--which of course is an excellent sign that the food is good.

We went for lunch so it didn't seem very busy, though we did wait quite a while for our food. The atmosphere is casual. The servers were all very nice. In fact our waitress came over to Oliver, squatted down so she was face to face with him and had a little conversation with him--it was very cute. So, it's a comfortable place. Also, it is clearly authentic as everyone working there is Indian and all the voices come from the kitchen were Indian sounding.

I ordered the Chicken Tika Masala. This is the first time I have ever had this dish and I didn't really like it that much. I do not know if my not liking it very much is due to the way it was prepared by this establishment or just that I don't really like this particular dish. I also ordered it mild and there was no heat as far as I could tell, so next time definitely need to get medium. Mom had some sort of mushroom curry, which I did not get to try as Samuel was very unhappy and I had to walk home with him. I got to take about four bites of my food before leaving. Overall it was not a good dining experience but that was entirely Samuel's fault. Mom really liked her mushroom curry though. The next time she was over here she wanted to go again.
The Naan bread was very tasty.

Definitely need to try this place again. But from this first time eating there I would say it's good but not as good as Bombay House in Provo.

Subway, Berkeley

.

Two Subways on Solano--one in Berkeley, one in Albany. We had a giftcard so we walked to the closer one (Berkeley) and shared their new Carne Asada sub.

First: We went because of the giftcard. I don't really understand why someone would go to Subway when they have the cornucopia offered by Solano, but, well, people must. At least this one carries some allegedly excellent old-style San Francisco ice cream. Which, alas, we did not try.

So! We ordered the sub--came to nine bucks (!)--and then their computer wouldn't take the giftcard. On top of the register was a placard encouraging us to add more money to our card so we could buy with the convenience of the Subway Card! and their machine wouldn't accept our card. So we ended up Amexing it. We were annoyed but didn't feel like getting into an argument over it or walking out. (We just did this with our bank on Wednesday. We're not fully recharged yet.)

For nine dollars of our own money, we would have much rather eaten somewhere else. We walked by a new place (forget the name but it started with an L--need to find out so we can add it to the sidebar) that was gourmet central and they were selling little tiny gourmet pizzas that looked a lot better than....

Anyway, the sandwich. We didn't stay to eat (can you blame us?) so we walked a few blocks to the park and ate their. It was okay. It won't be replacing burritos anytime soon, but it was okay. It actually had some heat to it, which was a happy surprise and the flavors were fine, but there was nothing remarkable about it.

I like Subway fine, but it's rarely if ever what I want. More likely, it's just the only thing around. Besides McDonald's. And seriously--who eats at McDonald's? I haven't bought anything at a McDonald's since 29¢-hamburger Fridays back in '98. (But I won't lie: they were tasty.)

Subway is just so . . . dull. And although this sandwich was less dull, it was still far from exciting. Although, I should mention, it was easily the biggest sandwich I've ever gotten at Subway.

Still. If we were going to spend nine bucks on a sub, we would have gone to Safeway. Those people make a good sandwich. (And! They're on Solano!)

Zachary's Chicago Pizza

.

Good. Wildly expensive pizza. (Thanks Theric's dad!) Not like any other pizza we had ever had.

We should go back, take out a mortgage, and buy a slice to share.

This was quite a long time ago: November 21, 2006.

Next time we intend to buy one of their classic options.

Barney's

.

Eating here is noisy and we sat right next to the door where Theric got hit over and over as people entered and left the restaurant.

The garlic fries were truly garlic fried--truly amazing.

The other fried veggies were good too.

We don't remember it much better than that. Lady Steed's parents took us and paid so we don't recall things like pocketbook impact, but we've been anxious to return ever since.

Oh: fancy burger joint.

Cactus Taqeria and Gordo's

Cactus Taqueria - We each had burritos mejor. Lady Steed had a pollo con mole rojo and Theric had a pollo can mole verde, substituting cilantro rice for Mexican rice. We both had black beans. Theric substituted the hotter salsa, but no difference was detected. Lady Steed's decidedly tasted red and Theric's green. Just like they looked. We also had nachos with added guacamole. The guacamole and the salsa had excellent flavor. The nachos were good but a bit soggy--possibly because we did takeout. The food was good. Lady Steed gives CT 3¾ stars out of five. The meat (shredded chicken) she particularly liked--she calls it excellent, particularly good. Given the option, she would have been satisfied with just a big plate of that. And a bowl of the guac. The burrito's filling overall had a good flavor. Compared to Gordo's? Gordo's is more authentically Mexican and this more Americanized. She could not really detect a "chocolately" sense, but the mole was good. The ingredients were tops as promised--everything tasted newly made from veggies on down. We would eat there again and the search for the best burrito continues--but overall Gordo's wins this burrito battle. However, we must return to CT to try the agua fresca and the caramel-filled Peruvian shortbread, both of which looked delicious.

Gordo's - We had super burritos, but this was a few weeks before we began this listing. Both meats were good, Lady Steed's was better--she believes it was carnitas. Theric's was likely carne asada, but again, we are unsure. The flavors seemed more authentically Mexican and the atmosphere was more hole-in-the-wall, which is a plus with a burrito place, that mom-and-pop feel. The burritos were decidedly more greasy. But that's a good thing, right?

We hit both restaurants at night--both on Friday?--and both had lines nearly out the door and are obviously quite popular. Both seem to be run by Mexican families, but more Spanish is spoken at Gordo's if you're in to that sort of thing.