Category Archives: On Eating Around

A quick list of food related Commentary, Rants & Raves

Old School Lunch as a Post-Urban Walk Day

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Lunch today hit the spot; after a short walk from the Saulsalito Ferry dock, we decided on a visit to The Lighthouse Cafe. Now this is an old school – diner style spot. Nothing fancy or glam. In fact its barely got room for some booths/tables & counter. But the food rocks. Check out the “dance” the cook team do, as the three of them navigate the open grill/prep area. With a casual and welcome feel, it’s bound to feel like you are a regular from day one. 

I had the dish called the Great Dane; underneath this perfectly egg is an incrdibly cooked round of ground beef, homemade pickles & beets alingside perfect morning potatoes. 

Paul  went classic with the house chicken club; but this isnt your “sliced chicken loaf” version, instead its got thick bacon and fresh, real lemon marinated chicken breast cooked right in front of us.


This is definately an “insiders favorite” worth sharing. 

The Lighthouse Cafe, 1311 Bridgeway, Sausalito, CA 94965.  (415) 331-3034

http://www.lighthouse-restaurants.com

Rocken old school Turkish and Lebanese flavors done right at Agora

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On a recent visit here to DC for work, I got a chance to visit with some friends. On Friday night after a long workday my pal picked me up and we decided to take a walk for dinner. Not having reservations we were not really sure what we would find at 8 o’clock at night. We came by the restaurant, which he had tried before and spoke highly of, so figured we would give it a shot. Even without reservations, they really did great effort to fit a deuce in. Which in a busy city like DC or San Francisco you more often find the less then engaged hosts working the door barely raise an eyes when they say no reservation? 30 to 45 minutes wait and then they look back at the book. 
We were seated fairly quickly and by 830 had something to nibble on and wine at the table. The waitstaff could not have been more friendly or conscientious; while it was clear who was our waiter was, they definitely had a tagteam approach with other waitstaff walking by, offering to clear or bring something. So you had a feeling of being attended too without being smothered.

Dishes are tapas style which means several opportunities to taste lots of things We managed to polish, off between the two of us, six different dishes. I think the average they recommend is 2 to 3 per person. But ask the wait staff. They were great at suggesting (and telling me what I missed to note for next time). The octopus by the way was fork tender! Something not as easy to manage as sime think. The flatbread was crisp and lamb rich. Overall a win win place for drinks, md week dinner with pals, girls night out or special occassion. 

1527 17th St NW, Washington, DC 20036

Web: http://agoradc.net/

Menu: http://agoradc.net/menus/dinner-menu

Rainy Sunday Dinner

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Roasted glazed chicken & veggies for dinner adapted from the ONE PAN HONEY GARLIC CHICKEN AND VEGGIES recipe on Damndelicious.net with a few minor modifications such using chicken tenders over full breasts,  as switching sweet potatoes for red, adding carrots and maple sryup.


Inspired by the recent trip the Russian River over the weekend – the meal was a nice mix of local and regional finds. The honey I picked up at Beekind (http://beekind.com), they have a huge assortment of flavors to choose from and happen to be across the street from one of my fav resturants Hole In The Wall which we stopped at for lunch on the drive up.

 
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

The maple syrup came from my recent visit to KayCee Farm in CT which offers small batch, artisanal fresh harvested maple syrup. you can find them on facebook here

Then a special dessert picked up on our rainy drive back at Mom’s Pie, a local institution for those who love pies.

Me? At a Casino? Oh My…

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Being a fan of the Hash House from my time in Las Vegas – when looking for a place to eat while visiting the Mohiegan Sun Casino on Sunday with my Mom – I knew this Hash HouseIMG_9964 IMG_9965 IMG_9966 would work. My mom is a fan of down home basics, often with an italian flair – but basic american food works too. And thats that they do well here, hearty portioned and solid foods. While she went easy with eggs, the corned beef hash ( you actually get to choose from 4 types of hash including a vegetarian one), eggs over great potatoes. I opted for my general favorite the Friend chicken breasts and waffles (umm and by they way thats two breasts and 4 waffles – so be hungry or ready to share.) As expected the food was good – not overly spiced so most tastes will find it mild and may need a bit of hot sauce to heat it up. Portions are hearty as I mentioned above. Over all, given its in a casino attached to an arena – one of several good food finds!

My biggest beef, which they can’t control was having to through away my leftovers in order to enter the Arena to see the kids play post the Lacrosse game..

God-Kid Day Excursions in CT

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After living in CA for the last 25 years and not being back to visit family in over 6 years,  I wanted to get some time with each of my god-kids 1:1 while in town for my Mom’s 75th.IMG_0034

My god-son, Danny and I and I started our day last week with the ever popular breakfast and movie day. When trying to figure out where to go, he mentioned State Street Cafe and said the key words for me – old school! IMG_0029Well pegged that right. Not only does it have an old school diner feel, it is slowly weaving in new school treats like Chia seeds into the meals. We opted with the basics biscuits & eggsIMG_0031
with a hash side, and him getting omelette with some incredible potatoes, but from the looks of the other meals coming out of the openIMG_0033IMG_0032 air kitchen – its a try-all kind of menu. Sitting  directly next to a local cross-fit gym, the crowd is an electric mix of young and old, with the non-nonsense approach to eating that New Englanders do so well – but take it from me – this is not your “Mels Diner” type place..  so while it may not be fancy,  nothing about State Street dated – just good solid food.

State Street Cafe
346 State St, North Haven, CT 06473-3100 Hours 6:00AM – 3:00PM (203) 288-1425

 

Later that day, I started round two with my other god-kid Laura, IMG_0043be we opted for Sushi. Now face facts what does a 50-something gay man and a 15 year old young lady have in common? Food & boys. So after getting the low down on your new bf, and filling her in on mine and our little monster Dino. IMG_0045We started the food & nutrition chat; which even got her to try edamame for the first time, before starting back to her grandmothers house and dinner at my sister’s ( her mom’s). IMG_0044

So over all – we had a great day

Birthday dinner with the Gang at Broadway Prime

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Some of my friends and I, when we get together tend to aim towards a few favorite restaurants – but this week we went to a new place. Broadway Prime had been one on my list for a while to try as I havIMG_9750e been a huge fan of House of Prime Rib in San Francisco – so when one of us decided to pick Prime as the goto for a group birthday celebration, I was excited.

An easy drive south of San Francisco, located in a cute village like setting – it was easy to both find and park. With more than half of the group arrived -they seated us pretty fast up on the second level. (we weren’t happy they they had broken out group up into two tables which wasn’t what the host had asked for – but the only response provided was that we would have had to wait until the the other party ended) – not the nicest customer service (but I wasn’t the host so I didn’t say anything).

Now here is where the evening started to take a turn. With another large group up there and several smaller tables of 4, it looked like only one server was assigned. So it was well over 20 min before our drink orders were taken, then at least another 15 min for the food order. Luckily we were chatted and catching up and only a few side comments surfaced as to “gosh it was taking a while to get service”. Once the orders were placed, the meal came out pretty well timed after the salad course. IMG_9728

Ok so- the Strengths! The meats was great. At our table we had several different cuts, including one end cut, and everyone agr
eed they were moist, tender and had good flavor. The Baked potatoes were nicely steamy and melty good – always a treat when getting ready to toss some calories away.

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The Opportunities: Not all the plates arrived with hot food. Several of the meats were barely warm (including mine and I had the end cut) so that was a disappointment. The sides were on the bland side – both the creamed spinach and corn were lacking any “wow”. The spinach actually was almost pasty and lacked much in the way of seasoning at all. (maybe some nutmeg would have helped?) even salt and pepper at the table didn’t do much and again they weren’t particularly hot either.

We figured that they may have been hit with a rush, understaffed, or maybe the kitchen got slammed – but even the pop-overs which were good didn’t get to the table until well after we had started eating. I couldn’t see any bus-persons assisting and it felt as it we had one server to divide between the two large groups.

Overall – I would try the resturant again with a smaller group or a few couples when in the area. But not sure I would make it a destination again as a “must go to”.

 

 

Sometimes trying something new like @Sprig doesn’t leave a good taste in ur mouth

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Wow tried the food app service Sprig tonight and not impressed so far. After several recomendations earlier this week I placed my first order. 

 A short time later I happened to check email to find they issued a refund. Ended up calling to ask why a refund email was sent and about the status of the food.

Only to be told the order was cancelled with a vague mention that its a rare occurance but during my order placement an item ran out. 
But that doesnt explain why the system doesnt trigger a call, or text about placeing a substitution on the 86’d item. 

The phone support didnt seem very concerned and while they did offer some credit they didnt even have curtesy to initiate a “we can have an order out to you asap if you choose a replacement on us” instead he wanted to play word games about my telling him what I wanted as if it was on me that the error was made and to correct it.  I think more training is needed. 

I still think its a good concept but needs some work in its customer engagement and technical engineering. Unclear if I will risk another attempt in the future. 

   
 

Sunshine Cafe – Palm Springs

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Obviously I like a range of food if you ever have read my posts. So it often won’t matter if its high end or down home – as long as its good. Sunshine is a regular goto for us when in Palm Springs. Its got the attitude I like in a no-frills kind of place; great menu options and now serves dinner. From super breakfasts to burgers to full out dinner combo’s this is homestyle dining.  Located in the Cathedral City side of Palm Springs – this little cafe is tucked away across from Digs. Has on street parking as well as off street. My suggestion is not go if you are in a hurry – not because they are slow, rather they have a good crowd and turn tables quick -but they won’t rush you while you are eating. Great place to take a minute and eat, share and laugh.

Sunshine Cafe

www.sunshinecafe.com

36815 Cathedral Canyon Dr

Cathedral City, CA 92234

New Years at Manos Nouveau

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IMG_8670I waited a few days now to write this post as I struggled on how best to describe our experience at Manos Nouveau but this image I snapped in the men’s room seemed to echo my feelings.

We had been several times before so knew that it’s food was good. We made plans for the Christmas Eve special since we were planning to attend the Castro Theater later that night to see the SFGMC perform. We arrived on time and were seated within 10 mins. and thats when things started to go off kilter. Wth only one waitress and one hostess we expected a lot of movement.

IMG_8672 Our drink order was taken (they don’t serve much in non alcoholic beverages other than sparkling waters (bottled) and some “soda” specials so I started off that they didn’t have Iced tea for my meal as I don’t drink much in the way of sparkling beverages nor nor did they offer to let me make my own.)

Since it was a limited adaption of the regular menu – we placed our orders pretty quickly – then waited.. and waited… the appetizers arrived finally about 20 min later and as expected they tasted great… but 45 -50 min later we were still waiting for our meal to arrive (reminder timeline: Seated by 6:45, apps by 7:10, entree by 8:00)

There also seemed a lot of confusion – first we asked our hostess for some bread (they don’t serve any but do have crostini (bread toasted) since my app  needed some crunch to be better enjoyeIMG_8673d.

Then our waitress came to the table around 7:45 after a gentle side comment from me on the way to the restroom about our appreciating a status update. She explained that they were being plated now and would be up shortly. About 4 minutes later the Chef/Owner (?) came table-side to apologize and explain our ticket had been lost and that he would gladly comp us what we had eaten so far (apps) given we had a time line or he would go back and make our dishes himself.

I looked up and mentioned (in a rather casual was as I wasn’t yet annoyed either), that the waitress had just explained our meals were being plated less than 5 minutes ago and his response while not intending to be (perhaps) came out rather defensively dismissive, saying that he was the chef and knew best on what was up in the kitchen. We did a time check and agreed to let him prepare our plates, yet 5 mIMG_8675in later – our meals arrived.

So obviously – it was a mixed-bag night. The food was good – I can’t by any measure take that away. But the service seemed off. The Chef did reduce the cost of our bill (10%) for some for the trouble which was appreciated.

 

Manos Nouveau
3970 17th St (b/t Hartford St & Market St )
San Francisco, CA 94114
Castro