January 19—29, 2017 special prix-fixe lunch and/or dinner menus at $20, $30, $40, and $50
Dragon Gate, Nido, Lungomare, A Cote, A16, Blind Tiger, Calavera, Camino, Dona Tomas, Duenda, Hawker Fare, Hopscotch, Juhu Beach, Millennuim, Miss Ollie’s, Ohgane, Pican, Shakewell, Soba Ramen, Tay Ho, Half Orange and many others. Looks like a pretty solid list this year for Oakland.
Nido has some new items on their menu for Oakland restaurant week. My favorite was the goat birria and it was the best version I have had. I havent had this dish a ton, maybe 5-10 times, but I order it every time I see it on a menu. The broth was savory and complex and black, I dont know how else to describe it.
The other entree offered was duck breast with mole, which was also very good. The mole was not sweet, which is rare, and I really liked that. Dessert was a delicious tres leches cake, the appetizers were fine but not remarkable.
I really hope they keep both entrees on their regular menu, especially the birria.
Forgot to mention, Nido has some new cocktails, and the birthday shot with hazelnut liquer and creme de cacao was excellent. Unique and so many ways it could’ve gone wrong, but it was perfect.
Restaurant week at Miss Ollie’s was deeelish. The menu comes with a yummy cocktail. The porridge with sea urchin was very comforting and a great contrast to Chinese porridge. The oxtails are sweet and begs for lots of hot sauce. I don’t like bread pudding but hubby and kid both enjoyed/devoured it. I go often and will continue to go often.
Our restaurant week lunch at Pican tasted good enough, but we had major service issues, mainly really long waits between courses. The table next to us also had service issues, but not as severe as ours. Our entrees took a long time to arrive, and we were offered an explanation about the printer not working. We arrived well before our neighboring tables and finished our entrees at the same time or slightly before our neighboring tables. They all recieved their desserts, ate them, paid, and left before our dessert was ready. One table even sent back their dessert and received a new one in that time. We were offered another excuse that the kitchen preferred to plate the dessert in batches. How is this a valid excuse? To add insult to injury, one nearby table received their desserts while they were still in the midst of eating their entrees, and before we received ours. We alerted the bus boy, waiter, and hostess about the delay and none of them could resolve the issue. Eventually the owner came by to apologize profusely, comped one of our meals, and we had to take our desserts in a doggie bag because I had to return to work. He was very nice, but the damage was done.
Homestead had a great RW menu that was duck themed. All three courses were excellent with no weakest link: duck terrine, duck breast with lentils, and duck egg white chocolate mousse. At $50 the menu is the pricier but that includes service so I thought it was a good value, especially considering the high quality of food and service.
