Sandwiches and yogurt: Zarri's Delicatessen Kim's Cafe Solano Yogurt & Ice Cream

.

Zarri's

Little Lord Steed and I took a long walk today and not long after we started I realized that I hadn't had breakfast and now it was lunch time. So we stopped at Zarri's which is supposed to have Solano's best sandwiches.

Instead of ordering off the regular menu I ordered today's special, a tri-tip sandwich for $5.50. On the man-behind-the-counter's recommendation I took it on sourdough and it was delicious if not transcendent. But eating it reminded me that I had had their poor boy before when my boss bought me one. That also was good but not transcendent. In both cases, however, the sandwiches left me with the belief that transcendence is possible from this place. I'm all for ordering more sandwiches from Zarri's.

Also, the deli's just cool. And their prices on sliced meats and cheeses are reasonable, so one could certainly order their make-at-home sandwich fixins at Zarri's as well.

Cash, debit, or local check only.


Kim's

For dinner, Lady Steed, Little Lord Steed and I decided to hit up Kim's Cafe, which I think is the newest restaurant on Solano (Patch article). Lynsey was excited about having Vietnamese sandwiches as This American Life just replayed their episode that talks about them on Saturday.

We arrived about ten or fifteen minutes before they closed. The place was empty but charming and the woman who runs it was supernice. She warned us against ordering one of the sandwiches (she's about to replace it with something better) and gave Little Lord Steed a free length of baguette (the same length as the sandwiches ordered by the grownups) with their "homemade butter".

Lady Steed ordered the Lemongrass Chicken and I the Black Pepper Pork. Both were great. Both came with green onions and (pickled?) shredded carrot and cilantro and some pepper (Lady Steed says jalapeno; I don't think it was hot enough to be that) and were terrific and crazy cheap (at least compared to Zarri's). We spent $7 total (another nice thing: the tax is built into the price).

We'll definitely go here again. The price-to-fun-and-flavor ratio is unbeatable. Check it out. We need to keep this family in business. Best customer service I can recall in ages. I mean --- a free sandwich for the baby? That's crazy!

. . . and yogurt

I think we've never been here before simply because the signage is so forgettable. Apparently it's an old neighborhood standby, but I've barely been aware of it.

We walked here after eating our Kim's sandwiches in front of Flowerland (LLS though, instead of eating, threw his tennis ball around and generally laughed himself silly until his ball rolled under their closed gate and disappeared from view) and the service here was just as friendly and likable as Kim's, even if they didn't give us any free food. We came with the specific plan to eat yogurt and she let us try the most interesting sounding flavors (Valencia Orange and White Chocolate & Macademia), both of which were sugarfree. (Note that all the yogurt is softserv and all the ice cream is in barrels.) The WC&M was terrific and so we got a medium cup for the three of us to share and we were plenty satisfied.

Like Kim's, the tastiness is cheaper here than at its Solano competition.

Nature's Express

.

We took the boys here today for some vegan fare and I'm happy to say that we enjoyed our food quite a bit. And given the nature of eating out with our kids, everyone got to try everything. I ordered a burger (Southwest / Spicy Black Bean / / Whole Wheat). Delicious. The patty lost its form as I ate and started to squish out the sides, but that was okay. Would've been perfectly okay had I not been sharing with people too young to adapt to shape-shifting food.

Lynsey got the quinoa wrap which tasted like fresh air. (Why is it that ginger has that effect?) The quinoa was just right and the veggies perfect and the whole effect was on spot. The Big O and Large S both said they want this next time we come. (And mine the time after that.)

The Big O ordered the Spicy Rizo burrito which was spicier than expected (which meant Large S didn't eat much of it) but O said his mouth got used to it as he ate and that it was delicious.

Large S ate the Grilled Mac & Cheese which was a good example of restaurant mac and cheese. S was particularly taken with the shredded carrots on top.

We also ordered the Air-Baked Sweet Potato Fries which were the only thing Little Lord Steed even touched. They were good. I suppose the better examples I've had were probably fried. The house ketchup tastes like fresh tomatoes. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

So good vegan cuisine. Check it out. We all enjoyed our food.

(Note: Because the boys were with us we didn't try out any of their exotic sodas, but I hope to sometime. I can't believe I've never had a rhubarb soda before!)

Kathmandu Restaurant

.

Something about this restaurant's awning has always caught my eye. Not sure what. It's just black and white. But it's still taken us this long to get to it.

=====================DIGRESSION===============

We're experiencing a bit of Solano fatigue. If you eat out as much as most Americans and you see, by looking over this blog, how rarely we eat out, this might amaze you. But it's true. Part of the issue is we don't like to feed our kids at restaurant prices so we generally go when the older two are visiting grandparents. But that still leaves us with the baby and come dinner time, not too many places we want to take that guy.

Solano does still have some places we're anxious to try, but when will we go? Keep in mind, we've never paid for babysitting in almost eight years of parenting. We're not good at this going-out stuff.

And so we have to do takeout which mostly means, if we're going somewhere new, Asian. And while, sure, Thai and Chinese and Nepalese and Vietnamese and Japanese foods are distinct and certainly not identical, they do have certain similarities and we are, as stated, experiencing fatigue.

Just, you know, in the interests of full disclosure. Back to Kathmandu.

=================END=DIGRESSION===============

Reading the reviews on the wall as I waited for our order, I think we might have been best off just ordering a plethora of appetizers. But I guess we'll never know now.

We bought two entrees:

Luksha Shamdeh:

Tibetan style lamb curry; lamb marinated in yogurt and spices cooked with potatoes & herbs.

Kathmandu Specialty:

Thick curry of nineteen varieties of beans cooked in fresh tomato, cilantro, ginger, garlic, and green onions.

Sounds great! And it was all well made, textures were good. Flavors were a bit bland. And, you'll be surprised to hear this having read the description, the two dishes were pretty similar in taste. Weird, right? But true. The flavors lacked strength, interest, personality. And all we really want when we check out a new nation's cuisine is a surprising new mix of flavors. Kathmandu did not deliver on this point.

The place was nice and I would recommend eating in. The couple that runs the place were clearly kind and good people. Just, before you order, ask them what on the menu will offer a surprise. Then order that.

(menu; believe the prices are out-of-date)

Little Star Pizza

.

It's actually been about a month since we visited Little Star so this review may be a bit imprecise. In brief, we had a Groupon so our goal was to hit a certain dollar amount as closely as possible. We ordered two personal pizzas and garlic bread. Let's talk about the garlic bread first while Lady Steed runs off to see if she remembers where she put the just-recovered receipt.

Garlic bread

Surprisingly boring. The plating was great. Bread sliced through to the bottom crust (maybe a third of a loaf or half of a small loaf) and then near-liquid butter and a head of roasted garlic. So it was fun to take a knife and spread the butter and pop out the garlic cloves and spread them over the toasted bread, but, sadly, the overall taste effect was disappointing. Sounds great though, right? Order it and you'll see it and think delicious (I did; Lady Steed was more appalled by the amount of bread). But we almost didn't finish. If the pizza had come out quicker, we wouldn't have. Lady Steed stopped eating it well before I did.

And we're bigtime garlic aficionados!

$5

Deep-dish personal pizza

Don't quite remember what was on this. Artichoke hearts? Olives? I think it was Greek-themed. Let's see if their website will help out.

Found it!

Mediterranean Chicken – Chicken breast, artichoke hearts, red bells, green olives, onions, feta $18.50 / $23.50

For $18.50? Crazy. A nice pizza. I'm a little mystified at the awards they win. I mean --- it was good but the best of the Bay? And twenty bucks for something so tiny? Were it not for the Groupon, I would feel robbed. Lady Steed feels robbed anyway.

White Pie – Garlic olive oil base, mozzarella, roasted zucchini, fresh tomatoes, feta $17.50 / $22 (actually ten dollars because we went at lunch)

Here's the thing. The ingredients were fresh, the pizzas were good. But we didn't leave feeling like it was money well spent. Unlike, say Chez Panisse, which was much more expensive, but transcendent and worthy of the outlay.

Conclusion

So if you're a pizza snob and need to try them all cost-no-object, then definitely go. It's good. If you hate being bled, perhaps you should stay away.

The space is cool, service was great, pizza was good, garlic bread was weak, all a bit expensive.

I don't think we'll be back.

Too bad.

iScream

.

More of a traditional ice cream than Ici or Tara's, but a very similar place all the same with the metal tasting spoons and everything else biodegradable. One nice feature is that you can mix two flavors in a single scoop. I mixed chocolate (good) and peanut butter (probably the best peanut-butter ice cream I've ever had). Lady Steed mixed salted caramel and ginger. (At Ici earlier this week she had basil and candied meyer lemon; I had candied meyer lemon and cocoa nibs).

As a Great Thing, I like Ici and Tara's better, but I don't think iScream is really competing directly with them. They have more traditional flavors but sell like them (though the store itself not as ambientic) . . . . I guess they're like a cross between Fenton's and Ici.

Anyway, quite good, not overly expensive (but they do only take cash), and close to home. I imagine we will go again.

Taqueria Talavera

The older kids are off at cousins camp this week, which means that we have been going out to eat much more than usual. Tonight we chose Taqueria Talavera mostly because it was not Asian food (have you ever noticed how many Asian restaurants are on Solano? The majority are Asian and we had Thai last night so we needed something different) and it was still open after 8pm.

I remember reading reviews of Taqueria Talavera a few years ago on and they were not favorable. Very negative in fact and mostly about the extreme rudeness of the staff. But I am happy to say that we did not have a negative experience.

Baby A got the child's bean and cheese burrito. He loved it. He ate two thirds of it and it was a good size for a child's burrito. It was just black beans and that yummy mexican cheese but it was very tasty. Yes, I took a few bites, mostly when I needed a break from eating the spicy burrito Theric ordered.

Theric and I each picked a different burrito and then split them so we each got a half of each burrito. We had planned to eat in the restaurant but Baby A started throwing a fit so Theric went and changed our ordered to go, which they kindly did. So, our experience with service there was positive. The cashier was very friendly and even answered my question of "Which do you prefer" when I was trying to decide what kind of mole burrito to get.

Theric ordered a burrito made with lamb meat. This burrito had a fancy name but we can' t remember it, but it was the only item on the menu with lamb. Inside was roasted, shredded lamb, rice, black beans and supposedly some tomatillo salsa. The salsa application was very light, too light in fact. The only way that I knew that some salsa had been put on this burrito was because I kept seeing large pieces of cilantro and little tomatillo seeds. The cilantro was appreciated though; it added a nice contrast to the super spiciness. This burrito was fine, just not amazing or even that interesting, which was what I was expecting since it had lamb--the lamb flavor was not strong and the overall flavor of this burrito was just spicy with hints of cilantro. Very spicy. Theric however thought it was very very lamb-y tasting and thought the chunks of lamb were too large. I would not recommend this particular burrito.

(The issue might, of course, be that sometimes one half of a burrito is not the same as the other half of a burrito. If you've ever been to a taqueria, you know what we mean.)

I would recommend the burrito I ordered which was a pork mole burrito. There were two moles to choose from and I went with the not-sweet one. It was so good, I loved it. That burrito was filled with pinto beans, rice, shredded pork, pickled onions, and the mole, of course. It was delicious. The onions were a nice addition--they added a nice crunch and a tang which complimented the mole flavor. Theric thought the mole burrito was very good, great in fact and he doesn't even like mole. We both agreed that when we bit into it we thought "Oh wow, this is something new and delicious--let's put more in our mouths!" Yum yum! Order this burrito when you go.

As for cost, it wasn't super cheap but not too expensive. I think the burritos were around $8 and the child's burrito was $4.75. It also came with some really delicious tortilla chips, freshly made and we took home a little bit of each salsa from the salsa bar. All were good, but our favorite was the avocado salsa. Overall a satisfying meal.

Bangkok Jam

.

Bangkok Jam (this one not this one) is at the top of Solano, right at the corner of MLK It's door calls it Michelin recommended and they do take out. Which is good because we didn't want to take the baby to a restaurant at 9pm.

Pad Thai (with beef) $8.95

Of course when visiting a Thai restaurant for the first time one must order pad thai. How else can one compare it to every other Thai restaurant one has visited?

It was very good. The only thing the baby ate in fact (noodles only). We now know that Baby A loves pad thai.

For my taste, not enough bits of peanut and the beef and tofu were notably overcooked, but overall a perfectly passable pad thai. Nothing much else to say about it. It was pretty average and we have certainly had better pad thai. If we go back, we won;t be ordering pad thai again, unless Baby A is with us.

Bangkok Street Dish: Ginger Dish (with chicken) $8.95

This is a ginger-lover's dream. This might pack the best ginger punch of any non-candy, non-straight ginger food I've ever eaten. And it's good too. I enjoyed the pleasant ginger-y burning it left in my mouth. It had chicken, carrots, green beans, onion, ginger slices and mushrooms in a gingery sauce (not creamy). The chicken was cooked just right, very tender. Better than the pad thai, more interesting, more fun to eat.

Pumpkin Lover (special) $9.25

This looked rather currylike but was not a curry (says Theric; Lady Steed says yes it did so have a curry flavor to it). It too was much more fun and interesting and tasty than the pad thai. Lady Steed is learning she loves Thai foods featuring squash. It also had chicken and other vegetables. The sauce was creamy. Plus there was basil--it was delicious!

The Rice

White was normal. Brown tasted normal but looked purple, not brown. The brown rice we make at home is always brown so purple rice was surprising but also very pretty.

Conclusion

The dishes came together into a nice meal. We would certainly eat there again, but probably won't for some time. We've still got a lot of places left to try.

Oh, Solano. Thou art so crowded with restaurants.

Everest Cafe

.

I picked the Everest Cafe purely because it was at the intersection I parked at. I walked across the street and inside and was greeted by a pleasing medley of aromas. Mentioned I wanted to get take out, was handed a menu, picked three items without much forethought, turned to sit down but first waited for the server to walk past carrying a massive skillet of steaming and smoking delight. Don't know what it was, but next time I want that. It made the room hazy and nice smelling the whole time I was there. Without request, I was given a cup of chai which smelled terrific and I held it under my nose during much of my wait. (Didn't drink it though. Too hot, for one thing.) I suspect it was a tea with milk and cinnamon, but no matter what it was, it smelled great. And everyone was supernice throughout. The place has only 11 tables and was about half full (8pm on a Thursday). All very pleasant.

I ordered:

Bheda Ko Masu Ra Saag Boneless lamb cubes mixed with spinach curry and homemade herbs and spices. ($11.99)

Chicken Thukpa Special nepali dish of sherpa. Noodles, fresh vegetables and marinated chicken breast with homemade sauce and healthy filling soup. ($6.99)

Garlic Naan ($2.49)

The saag was smaller than I expected, given the price, and was green enough to be an extra on Troll 2 and, even though it was small, didn't have a lot of flavor. That last complaint can go for the bread as well (save fifty cents and just get the plain naan --- something I've been thinking almost every time I buy garlic naan anywhere).

The thukpa however was amazing. Absolutely terrific. The chicken seemed a but overdone, but the flavors were great. Lots of cilantro, but with equally forceful counterpoints. Great soup. I would get that again.

One general note, when I ordered and was asked how spicy I wanted things, I said "Pretty spicy"; I'm not sure how he interpreted that but nothing was spicy. A few pepper flakes in the soup but no kick in the other dishes at all. Which would have definitely helped the saag.

So: Prices reasonable. Food good. Chicken thukpa great. Service stellar. Smells outstanding. Atmosphere cozy.

Check it out.

King Tsin

.

With the two older boys out of town and our original plan shut down for Passover, we went for Chinese (now I know that Christians go the same place on Passover as Jews do on Christmas).

King Tsin has been serving up Chinese food since 1967 and Lady Steed's long been attracted by the large painting of a dumpling in the window with the caption DIM SUM and something about it being fresh daily. And because Emerson Cod loves dim sum so much and she's never tried, it, she really wanted to go here and try this.

We had twice-cooked pork, and umbrella egg over pork and noodles, and pork dim sum (not their precise menu names, but close enough).

All three were quite good. A bit more oil than per my preference, but reasonably delicious. Didn't rock my world or anything, but quite good. The twice-cooked was supposed to be "SPICY" but it wasn't. Which was kind of our entire experience in a nutshell. Good, but lacking in pizazz.

The staff was friendly and we and the baby enjoyed our meal. We arrived around, oh, 6:15 Monday evening. The place was maybe 25% full (by the time we left --- not even close when we arriced) and I had the sense that many of these people were regulars. So maybe they know which dishes are the best to order.

And what did Lady Steed think of her dim sum? She was pretty disappointed. Especially because it had a big shrimp in it. She ordered pork! What's this seabug doing in here my pig???

She did, however, think it was very pretty. And is considering returning to try the dim sum again. (So many options!)

(Note: come to think of it, I actually ordered twice-cooked LAMB, but I was too hungry to send it back. The lamb probably would have been more interesting.)

inal cost for three meals (less tip): $27.71.

Sophia Cafe

.

Mr Fob and FoxyJ were in town to visit and Foxy had been speaking of falafel and we have a falafel joint near our house (plus it had yet to be marked off Eating Solano) so we went there yesterday for dinner. They shared a falafel sandwich (as did we). We also got a "Kufta (Mediterranean style burger)" and some extra falafel and cigars ("fried pastries with ground beef, garbanzo beans and fresh cilantro") to share with the kids. They also got a platter with some eggplant stuff and a bunch of hummus and pita and I don't know what all. Then we walked across the street and sat at a table in the Greenway and ate. When the kids finished they threw baseballs against the BART supports.

The boys found the falafel too spicy (something I find bewildering as they prefer their Mexican with some kick) but still liked most everything well enough. I've never quite gotten the appeal of falafel myself, but really loved the kufta. If we go again I suspect I'll get that. The hummus was thick as clay and too tahina-ey for my taste but very good when part of a sandwich. Just not alone. I think it may also not have had lemon. Anyway, it's not the way Lady Steed makes it and that's how I prefer it. So it may not be fair to judge. I have this bias.

Anyway, all that food cost about $30. Not quite but almost.

Then we went back for dessert. First up: marzipan-stuffed crunchy pastry (x4), ends dipped in chocolate. Baklava (x2) with superdry crispy flakes atop as everyone seems to prefer it and rose water-infused honey atop. Me though, I like my baklava more chewy than dry in terms of mouthfeel, but I recognize this is because I'm Wrong. I can deal with that. It was still good of course, but the sticks were the definite favorite. Dessert was another $15.

Final decision? I liked it all. I would be happy to accompany someone there. But even my favorite thing (the kufta) did not beat my remembery of Jerusalem's burger. So if I want Mediterranean ground beef, I might well go there instead.

LADY STEED's ADDENDUM

I liked the falafel sandwich but I really liked the falafel on its own better. If I were to get falafel again I would just get it as falafel balls. They would be like the french fries to the burger. (I loved the kufta.) Plus I really loved the cigars.

I wouldn't get the baklava again. I agree that I want my baklava more chewy. And those other cookies we got were A MA ZING. I would get them again. But the baklava was way too expensive. Too small for $3.75.

Anyway, I liked it. It was good. I would go there again. Try some of their other things, maybe. But not the baba ganoush (the eggplant thing Fob and Foxy got). Mostly because it had the same texture as snot.

Sunny Side Cafe

.

Saturday morning, February 19, in the rain

Theric had orange french toast. And it was delicious. Could it have been more orangey? Yes. Was it absolutely necessary? No. Was is utterly satisfying as it was? Yes.

On the menu this was described thus:

Orange French Toast made with poppy seed bread

Lady Steed's:

The Alameda mushrooms, Hickory smoked ham, roasted tomatoes and emmenthal cheese, sandwiched between two pieces of savory French toast. Topped with two eggs over-easy, Hollandaise sauce, and a balsamic reduction

This was delicious. And enormous. So enormous, by the end, you almost wish it wasn't so delicious because then you could just stop eating it already.

New rule: everything will always be better with a balsamic reduction. Holy. Crap.

So good.

We also had orange juice and hot chocolate which were merely a normal sort of good. One almost wishes for Tropicana when the oranges being freshly squeezed are heading out of season. And a small glass costs as much as half a gallon of the Florida stuff. Besides, green or not, ain't no such thing as local cocoa so they might as well have matched.

The whole menu looks delicious. Even including all the things soaked in bourbon and dipped in espresso.

We didn't have to wait for a table on a (rainy) Saturday, though Little Lord Steed, in his first restaurant appearance, had plenty of people to watch.

So a delicious breakfast. A "green" breakfast. And, really, a rather expensive breakfast.

But still. Did you read the description of The Alameda? You should totally go.

Bua Luang Thai

.

The beef pad thai was mediocre to pretty okay, but let's talk about that pumpkin curry!

Now, I'm pretty sure it was actually --- I don't know --- acorn squash or something, but that doesn't change the fact that this curry is wholly delicious and one of the best darn things we've had in a while. A sweet, orange curry (we got chicken) with the squash, bell peppers, this and that. Terrific.

The pad thai serving was very generous and the pumpkin curry was about what you would expect. We may return for the curry, but will probably pass on the noodles.

Another Gordo's Post

.

Lady Steed says: Just get the pork. Nothing else. But considering our goal is to eat all of Solano and we've been here before, it's clear what's our favorite.

Theric says: This time we had a carnitas and a beef super burrito. Both had the yummies well distributed. But now that Lady Steed is a master of shredded pork herself (to say nothing of our mastery of salsa and sauces), I'm not sure there's much point in going to Gordo's anymore. Was it good? Yes. Was it excitingly massive? Yes. Was it worth it? I'm not so sure.

(previous Gordo's posts)

La Farine

We drive past this bakery often, but I always take real notice of it when we drive past it on our way to church each Sunday morning. So many people heading there or leaving there or hanging about outside, sipping coffee and eating some bakery item. It is clearly a popular spot and so I finally got around to trying it back in August 2010.

I can not recall exactly what I got but I do remember that everything seemed pretty expensive and good....not GREAT mind you, just good. Which means, I suppose, that the cost didn't measure up to the taste. Which is too bad. It is a lovely patisserie though. Very bright inside, good smells, and the cases are filled with so many delicious looking things, it was very hard to decide what to get. I had to let at least two or three people go ahead of me since I knew it would take me a while to decide on what to purchase. Unfortunately I can not recall everything but I do remember a few of the items:

Focaccia breads: I got two or three different flavors. One had olives on it. They were the perfect size for a little lunch. Theric and I split them. They were fine but not that great. We both said we wouldn't buy them again.

Chocolate croissant: Very tasty. I haven't had one of these for a long time so it was nice to taste but it did not at all measure up to my gold standard; the chocolate croissants I ate when I visited Paris when I was in high school. Of course, no American croissant will probably measure up to that standard.

Tea cakes: These were little cakes in a daisy like shape. They were very cute. And they were definitely the best thing we got. Moist, tender and, best of all, almond flavored. There may even have been marzipan in them. If I stop by La Farine again I will be purchasing one of these lovely and delicious little cakes.

I purchased at least two more items because I let Big O pick something out for himself and something out to bring home to his brother (the Big O and I went to La Farine after he finished up at his dentist appointment), but I can not recall what the items were, probably cookies, gingersnaps? I am sure the boys liked them.

I probably won't go here again. While everything was good I only consider one item to be worth going back for and the cost of the items just didn't measure up to the tastes.

Shik Do Rock

.

Shik Do Rock has long been high on our list of places to go, being that I've got Korean food in my blood, but our laziness at going out to eat means it wasn't until this week, with the kids gone, that we swung by for takeout. The inside of the place looked nice, but we didn't eat there so let's move to the food. We ordered three dishes.


잡채

We selected japchae for two reasons: It's generally good, no matter where you buy it and because we were trying out foods palatable to a general American taste for an event we're hosting next week. The Japchae scored. I can't remember when I had a better example of these meaty noodles and I can't wait to have them again. Lady Steed and the baby agree.

불고기

Though delicious, the bulgogi was the most disappointing thing we tried. Like japchae, we bought it because most Americans can dig bulgogi, but while tasty, this meat was unremarkable.

김치찌개

Unlike the other two, I bought this just for me. I had been craving a kimchi jigae (a stew made, basically, from throwing kimchi and a couple other whatevers into boiling water) for days. And it satisfied me immensely. Wonderful, Wonderful stuff. To my amazement, the baby loved it too. When we ran out of japchae I tried giving him some of the tofu out of the jigae and he ate it as fast as I would give it too him. Today, eating leftovers, we wanted some again, but I'd already given him all the tofu, so I gave him kimchi, onions and zucchini. Everything in kimchi jigaie is stained red with Korea's national condiment but that didn't slow him down. I think I have a new favorite son.

Lao Thai • Soul Food Kitchen

.

2. Sa-Tay 6.50

Grilled skewers of marinated chicken served

with cucumber salad and peanut sauce.

The chicken itself was so-so, a bit dry and not super flavorful. But the peanut sauce....oh man, that was fantastic. The peanut sauce made this dish. The cucumber salad (cucumber chunks with super thin slices of red onion in dressing) was very tasty. Again, it was the dressing that made this so very tasty. It was clear and on the sweet side. Yum. Wish there had been more.

17. Larb* 6.95 (with duck 7.95)

A Laotian staple made with your choice of chopped

chicken, beef or pork and seasoned with lime juice,

powder, cilantro and mint leaves.

With a name as unappetizing as Larb we thought this would be the adventurous dish to try. I was skeptical when I saw it, it is not a very pretty looking pile of food. We got the pork. The most striking thing about it was one particular flavor which we think was lime leaves, even though lime leaves are not mentioned in the description, I suppose they could have been mint but the flavor was not exactly 'minty'. This dish was spicy but not overpoweringly so. There was also a slight chemically taste to this dish which we think was the lime leaves. With each bite I was thinking, "Hmmm, I like this, wait no I don't, ....wait, now I do..." By the end of our meal I had decided that I did in fact like Larb, despite the fact that it contains an ingredient referred to only as 'powder'.

42. Pineapple Fried Rice 8.95

Steamed rice-fried with eggs, onions, pineapple,

cashew nuts, tomatoes, prawns and raisins.

I love pineapple so when I saw Pineapple Fried rice I knew I had to try it. Sadly, this dish was disappointing. The overall color was yellow, which made me think it might have a slight curry flavor, but no. Rather there was no flavor. All the additions to the rice, the nuts, raisins, onions, etc all tasted as they should and thank goodness for that because otherwise this dish would have been colored rice, that didn't even taste all that much like rice. So, I think this rice is meant to have something very flavorful served on top of it, fortunately we had Larb and some of that peanut sauce. The rice, with either of these, was then a very delicious meal. I wonder what made the rice yellow? Was it supposed to add flavor? Because I suspect that it was actually a flavor remover.

When Theric picked up our order, the place was free of customers, but the kitchen was busy with takeout orders which were slowly piling up.

You can see more of their menu here.

House of Curries

.

Tomorrow Lady Steed's brother's wife is making the family Indian food and we are in charge of bringing naan. So, House of Curries. But naan costs fifty cents more if that's all you buy, so we decided to get Sada Karayla (Bittermelon Cooked with Ginger, Garlic & Onion 5.99) and Chicken Vindaloo (Chicken Cooked with Potatoes in Special Vindaloo Sauce 6.99) to accompany our eight naan. But they were out of bittermelon so instead we got Daal (Yellow Lentil 5.99). And those we ate tonight. (We'll bring the leftovers with us tomorrow.)

The Chicken Vindaloo was excellent. Highly recommended. The Daal was okay. Lady Steed thought both were too spicy to taste.

We called our order in and the noise there was bad. They did not ask how spicy we wanted it, so we don't know how hot or not it was intended to be.

Note also, in the sidebar, that House of Curries now has a website.

House of Curries

.

Great again. The idea was to feed the kids so we kept everything mild, but they still decided to mix hummus into their chickpea rice to cool it down. But the chicken curry was sufficiently mild.

One word: the naan is huge. Keep that in mind when ordering.

Jerusalem Organic Kitchen

.

It's been a couple weeks so please forgive the paucity of details.

Lady Steed ordered a Jerusalem burger, which is a lamb burger and she loved it. It was filled with tasty herbs and spices and whatnot. Her original plan was just to get a standard cow burger, but switched over and did not regret it.

I had a --- I think it was called a schwarma? It came in chicken and lamb and I also went lamb. And let me tell you: this was one of the most exciting things I've eaten in a long time. It punched my face with the spicy, and it provided a medley of flavors I was utterly unfamiliar with. Would that all meals could be so filled with delicious novelty and intrigue!

It's not as varied as the menu at Barney's, but I can certainly see why it's Solano's "other" burger place. And it's the one I'll vote for next time.

(And next time we'll write up our experience quicker.)

(Also: We got Dr. Brown's sodas which are always a treat. Lady Steed got Black Cherry and I got Cel-Ray which intensified in flavor the more my mouth burned. I plan to get that again our next trip to Jerusalem as well.)

Jodie's

.

Jodie's is one of the tiniest restaurants I've ever seen (seats only six on the inside), but I've walked past it numerous times to enjoy the smells and a few words with Jodie himself. This visit was waaay overdue.

Jodie's is famous (literally) for two things: breakfast and fried chicken. We went for the fried chicken this time and although I'm not much of a fried chicken connoisseur, I must say: this may well be the finest fried chicken I have ever eaten. And the fries were tasty too. Spicy! And the toast! And, again, I'm not a connoisseur of toast, but this was delicious. I think it must've been made on the grill.