Amber India, Mountain View

This past weekend, we found ourselves dining in Mountain View two nights in a row ... And both times, someone else did all of the ordering for us. And it was a few nights ago, so my memory of the evening is already hazy.

So this is yet another recap with no detailed menu items to speak of. Sorry!

But really, the important thing here is: If you like Indian food, you should go to Amber India. The food is tasty, and there's lots to choose from. I'm pretty sure we started with the Assorted Tandoori Hors d’Oeuvres (chicken tikka, seekh kabab and Anari kebab)and the Assorted Vegetable Platter (samosa, pakoda, harra kebab and papadum) — both of which were great. (I do love the sampler platters! Especially if there are deep-fried items involved.)

Of the main dishes, my favorites were a lamb curry and a chicken curry. Again, apologies for not being able to give any real useful details here. Nothing that our table ordered was bad though, so I'm sure whatever you order — assuming the description appeals to you — will be good.

The service here is so-so. Our party was rather large (about 15 people), and we had a 7:30pm reservation. Yet we didn't sit down until just after 8pm. And there was some confusion because two different waiters tried to take our order. And things were coming out from the kitchen rather slowly. But this place is so popular and crowded, I guess you sort of expect that.

Amber India
2290 El Camino Real, #9
Mountain View, CA
(650) 968-7511

Spice Island, Mountain View

A while back, Jon and I enjoyed our first Singaporean dining experience (at Shiok Kitchen). We didn't know much about the cuisine, but were happy with what we ordered. Afterwards, however, we decided to extend a dinner invitation to a Singaporean couple we met through Jon's grad program. Yes, they would be our culinary guides!

So on Friday night, the four of us went off to Spice Islands. Located in downtown Mountain View, it appears to be one of a zillion restaurant options in the area. Even with all of the parking lots they have there, it took us 15 minutes to get a space! And that was after some serious stalking!

But it was worth it. I wish I could tell you exactly what we ordered, but I'm not sure. Our friends consulted with us, but did the actually ordering for the table. For the appetizers, there was a spring roll type of thing and some sort of layered egg dish. Both good. The entrees included curry fish head, okra, short ribs, and noodles with seafood.

Although I liked the flavor of the curry for the fish head entree, I can't really recommend it. The fish part was such a pain to eat! Too many bones. And in the thick sauce, I couldn't make out what I was spooning out; more often than not, ended up with a chunk of bones. No fun. My favorite item was the okra, which I generally just love anyway. But the flavors were sensational here — spicy with a hint of shrimp paste. And our dinner companions explained to us that in Singapore, okra is called "ladyfingers." (Quite different from the spongey cakes that we refer to as ladyfingers.)

So I guess this is only a semi-useful summary of our Spice Island experience, since I can't properly tell you everything we ate. But if you're craving some Singaporean food, you'll have to trust me — and our friends &#151 on this one and try the place for yourself. On a weekend evening, just give yourself plenty of time to find parking!

Spice Island
210 Hope Street
Mountain View, CA
(650) 961-0628

Quick Brunch Bites

Just a few brief notes on a couple of recent places I tried ...

Let me start by saying that I absolutely adore brunch. It is my favorite meal — partly because it really is two meals in one. You can have your sweet or your savory. And you don't have to get up early.

A few weeks ago, I went to Cafe Brioche for the first time. I had read all sorts of rave reviews about how it was supposed to serve one of the best brunches in Palo Alto. As I expected, there was a short wait for a table for two when I arrived that Saturday morning. I wish I could tell you what I ate, but it really was THAT unmemorable. Nothing special. At all. So I'm not sure why there's so much love for Cafe Brioche. (Maybe I just made a bad menu choice?) The service was friendly but oh so very s-l-o-w. Even though I can't remember what I ordered, I do remember waiting 30 minutes for the check. And asking for it TWICE.

This past weekend, I met some friends for brunch at Scott's Seafood in Town & Country Village. First of all, I probably should have known better than to pick a brunch spot that has the word "seafood" in its name AND is a sort of a mini-chain here in the Bay Area. And secondly, that strip mall is one giant mess. The parking lot is a disaster — with people and cars behaving badly. I ordered an omelet that was decent, but not better than anything I can whip up at home (and that's saying a lot since I don't even like to cook). The accompanying home fries and biscuit were horrendous. I am a firm believer that it is really hard to go wrong with potatoes, but these? These had some sort of funky taste to them that I just couldn't figure out. The service at Scott's was very good, but it didn't make up for the blah food.

I wish I had better things to report. But after these two experiences, I think I need to go back to Alana's for my next brunch outing.

Eating Elsewhere: Carmel

Poor neglected blog. Last January, I posted 28 times. This January? Not so much. This is just my second post of the new year. What's even sadder: The January 2007 posts thus far are not about the Peninsula!

It's pathetic, I know. But I can't complain because I've been busy with fun freelancing work and fun traveling. Jon and I spent the recent three-day weekend in Carmel Valley. To celebrate my sister's birthday, we had dinner at the Chef's Table at Marinus. SO AWESOME. Everything about the evening was amazing. We ended up consuming 10 savory courses and 3 desserts.

The next day, Jon had the brilliant idea to drive down Highway 1 to one of my favorite places on the planet: Big Sur Bakery. I love this place. It is so cozy and charming. And the food equally comforting (and delicious!). Behold the breakfast pizza:

After Marinus and BSB, I thought dinner at Bouchee in Carmel would be a let-down. But it so wasn't! Another great meal. Jon enjoyed the Kampachi Sashimi and the Free-Range Sonoma Chicken. I had the Monterey Abalone and the Beef Short Rib "à la Bourguignonne". Dessert was just as good: Churros with Hazelnut Hot Chocolate. (I was considering the beignets, but since they're chocolate, and I like mine plain and straightforward, we only ordered the churros.)

More pictures and descriptions from our Marinus and Big Sur Bakery visits can be seen/read here.

Oh, you know what our first meal was once we got home? Quizno's. We are so all over the map when it comes to food.

Eating Elsewhere: Turks & Caicos

It's been a few weeks since my last post, but I've got good excuses for my blogging absence:

1) The obvious one - The Holidays.
2) And I was on vacation.

#1 involved lots of good eating, family time, post-Christmas shopping, gift-giving and -receiving.

#2 involved Hilton Head Island, SC, and Providenciales, Turks & Caicos. Jon headed out to the East Coast a few days before me (work gets in the way of all the fun!). So we met up in HH for New Year's. And a couple of days later, we were off to the Caribbean.

Since this is a food-related site, let's talk about the food. We made it a priority to hit up the usual/favorite HH spots. It was my first visit to Turks, however, so we mainly took the advice of others. In case you're ever in Provo (which is how most folks refer to Providenciales), here are my dining-out picks:

• Fancy Meal: O Soleil
• Casual/Expensive Meal:* Bay Bistro
• Casual/Cheap Meal: Da Conch Shack
• Meal with a View: Magnolia

Prices were high pretty much everywhere we went. So your belly may be full, but your wallet will be empty. The best value was Da Conch Shack — where, for $12, I got a plate of fried conch; mac'n'cheese (it was baked-up so crispy, it was like a slice of mac'n'cheese); and fried plantains. So so good!

You can get more details on Provo restaurants here.

* This category explained: You don't have to dress up to dine here because the ambiance is very casual, laid-back, beachfront. But the entrees are still around $30.

Sibby's Cupcakery, San Mateo

Where does the time go?

I've been meaning to post about these mini-cupcakes from Sibby's for over a week now:

They are just as delicious as they are adorable. Jon and I ordered 2 dozen for a recent holiday dinner party. Since we believe in variety, we went with the Sibby's Sampler — which I'm told is anywhere from 4-6 flavors.

We were quite pleased with ours: mocha, grandma's teacake (chocolate), gingerbread, snickerdoodle, eggnog and carrot. In fact, we — and our guests — enjoyed them so much, Jon and I are now scheduled to bring a batch of Sibby's mini-cupcakes to Christmas Eve dinner.

Here's the thing about Sibby's though: There's a minimum order of 1 dozen for the regular cupcakes or 2 dozen for the minis. And they don't have an actual storefront. You call/email your order and they'll either deliver it for a fee, or you can stop by their San Mateo location and pick up yourself. Whichever way you go, it's definitely worth checking out.

Sibby's Cupcakery

Bistro Vida, Menlo Park

Over the past couple of years, Jon and I have enjoyed dinner at Bistro Vida on numerous occasions. I love the ambiance (feels much more like a bistro in Paris than its neighbor, Left Bank restaurant) and the food is usually quite tasty. BUT ... the service is not the greatest. Friendly, but slow.

I kept hearing that the weekend brunch was the real reason to come here, so I finally got around to stopping by on Sunday morning. It was around 11:30am, and the restaurant was about half-full when I walked in. But over the course of my two-hour meal, it filled up almost entirely. Families. Small clusters of friends. Couples. Bistro Vida clearly has widespread appeal.

I ordered the French toast along with a side of frites (which are great here). Maybe my expectations were too high, but I didn't find myself loving the French toast. It was fine, but not addictive — as other diners have deemed it. The texture was more crunchy than eggy, so it's different than most French toasts that are served in restaurants. Different can be good thing, but in this case, it wasn't for me.

I'm glad I made it to Bistro Vida for brunch, but I think I'll stick to the dinner for future visits.

Bistro Vida
641 Santa Cruz Avenue
Menlo Park, CA
(650) 462-1686

Tanglewood, Santana Row

When my sister heard that her absolute favorite server from the The Grill on the Alley (in the San Jose Fairmont) had been hired at Tanglewood, she immediately made a reservation for the Santana Row eatery.

Now I have to say, I haven't had the greatest dining experiences at the upscale shopping center. Food sometimes seems far too pricey for what you get. Stunning decor, but service is lacking. A lot of the restaurants in Santana Row are offshoots of well-known/successful local establishments (e.g., Chris Yeo's Straits Cafe and Sino, Bradley Ogden's Yankee Pier).

Tanglewood comes with a nice pedigree as well. The restaurant's proprietor is Roland Passot -- who is behind San Francisco's highly regarded La Folie. And Chef Quentin Topping is a graduate of Harvard University as well as the California Culinary Academy.

When I went to the Tanglewood web site the afternoon of our dinner reservation, I spotted a buttermilk-fried quail dish that sounded incredible. Did I mention that it comes with honey-butter mini biscuits? Drool. Sadly, it wasn't available the night my sister and I were there. But they had another quail option, served over grits and with a small salad topped with a fried quail egg. Although the quail itself wasn't fried, it was still quite tasty. And those grits were awesome. I could have eaten an entire bowl.

My sister opted for the Ahi salad that I don't remember much about. All I know is, she practically licked her plate clean. So it scored high marks with her.

Given that the Chef spent some time in the Boston area, I decided that my main entree should be a "Real New England Lobster Roll" (as the menu describes it).

I was a bit hesitant because the roll comes dressed, instead of naked, but the lobster mixture was delicious. There were chunks of sweet lobster meat, crunchy chopped celery, creamy mayo, and even a hint of curry. It was a nice combination of flavors and textures. Oh, and they did the bread right (i.e., a buttery New England-style hot dog bun). The onion rings were also very good.

My sister ordered the chicken, which was sort of a take on the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. It was served over mashed sweet potatoes, with tiny marshallows sprinkled on the plate (even toasted -- a sweet detail!) and some cranberry sauce. Tasty. But I looked at her plate after she finished off her meal, and there were just too many bones to have to pick through. I don't like to work that hard to get some meat.

Next up were the desserts: a triple-layer carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for me, and an apple tart with salty caramel ice cream for her. They were good, but her ice cream was the only stand-out on both of our plates. (That's a little glass of cold apple cider in the photo below.)

The service throughout the evening was top-notch. The server my sister had come to see was actually off the night we dined at Tanglewood (bummer!), but I'm sure he couldn't have done much better than our waitress did. This restaurant, by the way, is beautiful. Dark wood, patterned silk upholstery on the banquettes, and this cool sueded table liner (instead of the usual white paper that sits on top of most restaurant tables). I loved watching the kitchen's sliding glass doors -- such a simple idea, yet it makes so much sense (you get to peek into the kitchen, the servers can see each other and there's no risk of bumping as someone comes in and someone else goes out).

Okay, so is there any downside of this place? Yes. The portions are small. And they're not cheap. My sister and I are not big eaters, yet we found ourselves still hungry after our three-course meal (that was just over $100, pre-tip). If I go back to Tanglewood, I might have to order a couple of appetizers in fill me up. I'm sure they'll be delicious, but whether or not the bill will be worth it is another question.

Tanglewood
334 Santana Row, #1000
San Jose, CA
(408) 244-0464

Shiok, Menlo Park

I hadn't heard of this restaurant before Colin emailed to tell me about it. But once I took a look at the menu, I put it at the top of my list of places to try.

First of all, I have to say: Since we didn't have any prior experience with Singaporean food, we went into this rather blindly. We didn't know what the go-to Singaporean items were -- the Pad Thai or Shaking Beef of the cuisine, if you will. So we just picked what sounded good (from the lengthy menu) and crossed our fingers.

We chose well.

Since it was a chilly night, I quickly ordered myself a cup of the delicious, sweet honey-ginger tea. For our starters, Jon and I went with the Beef Samosa with Yogurt Mint Sauce and the Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce. The lightly breaded chicken was good (you definitely need to dip it into the sauce), but the samosas were outstanding. Inside the crispy pastry shell was a minced beef, onion and potato mix that was flavorful but not too spicy.

Noodles and rice -- comfort foods to me -- seemed like perfect entree selections for the evening. The Hor Fun is described as stir-fried broad rice noodles in rich egg gravy, with vegetables and your choice of seafood, beef or chicken. We opted for just the veggies. While we were expecting a heaping plate of noodles, what we got looked more like a stew. This is because that egg gravy is really thick. But there were definitely a lot of noodles in the bowl, and it was a satisfying dish.

Because I love Chinese sausage and claypot dishes, the next entree was a no-brainer for me: The Claypot Rice with marinated chicken, Chinese sausage, mushroom and bok choy. Simple and tasty. It reminded me a lot of a meal my mom used to make quite often when I was growing up.

Finally, we got to the dessert menu. In keeping with the theme of ordering food that's reminiscent of my mom's cooking, I ordered the Banana Roll (sans the ice cream -- it was just too cold!). Again, the beauty is in the simplicity: Just sliced bananas in a spring roll-wrapper that had been deep-fried. Awesome. Jon ordered the Fried Ice Cream, which was coconut ice cream with a layer of sponge cake around it, deep-fried and then drizzled with chocolate syrup. I didn't sample his, but since he ate it all, I can only assume it was good.

The decor here is attractive, but nothing fancy. I was a little thrown by the melamine cups, plates and spoons; it just seemed a tad too casual. When our bill arrived, we were surprised that our three-course meal was under $50. Maybe all of that plastic dishware (less breakage) helps them keep costs down?

Shiok Kitchen
1137 Chestnut Street
Menlo Park, CA
(650) 838-9448

Dairy Queen, Redwood City

After picking up Jon from the airport on Friday night, we drove by the Dairy Queen on Woodside Road. It was 9:02pm and the lights were off, the place totally shut down. Weird, right?

The next night, while on a KFC run (please don't judge me!), we noticed that across the street -- where DQ sits -- it was all dark again. Two nights in a row. Nothing going on at the DQ. Was it closed? Say it ain't so!

Jon spotted a sign in the window and decided to drive through the deserted parking lot to check it out. Turns out, they were just closed for the Thanksgiving holiday week (yes, an entire week) so they'll re-open this Wednesday.

Phew.

Jon always gets some sort of peanut butter-related Blizzard (I think) and I'm all about the kids' size chocolate-dipped cone. Of course, now that I'm writing this, I really want a DQ cone. Just 48 hours until the doors open again ...

Oh! BTW, did you know that there's a Foster's Freeze in Menlo Park? I had no idea, until the other day. So I guess if DQ ever does close (which I hope it never does), at least we know that's nearby.

John Bentley's, Woodside

After talking about going to John Bentley's for months and months, we finally ate there this past weekend. Located in an old firehouse, the restaurant is quite charming. The front dining room isn't very large. The focal point of the space is the rather modern fireplace that I really liked (you know, the whole juxtaposition between old and new thing). We were seated in the outdoor-ish dining room. I think it's technically a porch, but it totally doesn't feel like it because of all the enclosures and heat and comfy banquette seating that they have going on back there.

To start, I had one of the evening's specials: figs stuffed with blue cheese, served with greens and crostini. I could have done with a little less cheese in my figs, but it was fine (I spread some of the excess on the bread). Jon had the Dungeness crab cakes, which were tasty, but hardly special in my book. (Note: Maybe I've just never had outstanding crab cakes -- even in Baltimore -- so I don't know when it's really impressive and when it's not.)

Moving on.

For my main course, I enjoyed another special: halibut served over wild rice with green beans in a delicous beurre blanc. Loved it. The fish was so tender and flaky. Jon ordered the roast rack of lamb with scalloped parsnips and a grain mustard sauce. Parsnips! What a nice change from the usual potatoes. Very very good.

Finally, for dessert, I went with the panna cotta with strawberry and mango sauce, while Jon chose the apple tart with (some flavor I can't remember) ice cream. His was better, hands down. The tart was fairly large in diameter, but it was also pretty flat. There was just a thin layer of sliced apples in the puff pastry shell. Excellent. My panna cotta was a little too soft for my taste; sure, I like it creamy, but firmer (more gelatin, please!).

All in all -- food, service, ambiance -- it was a good meal, but nothing spectacular. For the most part, the dishes seemed fairly safe.

Although I'm glad we finally tried it, I think the next time we feel like spending $150 on dinner, we might have to drive right past John Bentley's and over to Village Pub instead.

John Bentley's
2991 Woodside Road
Woodside, CA
(650) 851-4988