Current status. We took a pause for quite a while. Turned out that my addition of taco joints to the main list wasn’t appreciated - we now have a separate “taco sheet” when we’re in the taco mood. This pause has caused us to get far behind. Last night we hit an italian place in the stanford barn, with pretty good food, but weird ambiance ( felt like you were eating in a barn ).
This place?
Yeah.
What did you like?
Felt like I got the B team during my lunch.
The stuffed pasta had that snap of fresh pasta and a decent cheese taste.
The pizza was “fine” although now that we’ve become accustomed to Pizza Napolitano and 00 and Vesta and Howie’s and Delfina I would call it … “fine”. Not exemplary compared to the ones I really like.
The cocktail was the barrel aged negroni - fancy word for premix 
- and it was just right.
Pulpo app was a little buttery but the tentacles were fresh and the underlying green stubstrate was tasty. It was a little “greasy” but the grease was butter and butter is good.
Was it better than Vesta? Very different menu, more “cal” than “ital”.
Our standards are just terribly high these days.
Bevri, the new Georgian place, literally across the street, and we really liked it. The cheesy bread that’s part of their logo was very, very addictive. If you come for Nagi and the time doesn’t work, consider walking across the street.
Recent Restaurant Roulette “The Next” update. Last night we spun the wheel and up came La Boheme on California Ave, which we never went to because we’re partial to Cafe Brioche. La Boheme is more parisian than country food, and it was “fine” ( solid for what it was ) but not enough to write a note about one way or the other. Service was somewhat slow, the place was packed and the kitchen was working very hard but struggling - it’s just a small kitchen. The most exceptional thing is the wine list, which includes quite a few multi-thousand-dollar bottles, which I would expect from Joya but not from a place that’s a little run down with laminated menus and (at the bar) plastic tablecloths. It certainly won’t make high rotation, especially after the hot chocolate which was literally nesquick.
I’m sorry ( obviously not sorry enough ) I keep hijacking threads. It’s my way.
UNION LOCAL has reopened and has a lot of space.
On a rainy saturday night RAMEN NAGI had a short line, and amazingly, actually emptied the line while I watched. The set of restaurants in each of the DT areas (MV, CaliAve, PA, RWC) seems to have stabilized, those who are surviving have survived, those who didn’t have the pockets didn’t make it).
Last week we ate at NOLA in DTPA and it was good. We sat slightly inside, first time, right at the line where the large french doors were open. Memorable because of oysters. It’s been a long time since I’ve had oysters, I don’t tend to buy them at market except for Christmas. Nola has brought back some of my favorite dishes, like the Clover Burger, the food seems slightly revived from a low point a few years back when clearly there was massive kitchen turnover.
LEFT BANK in Menlo Park has a HUGE outdoor expansion, now with more tables than I can count. They have not only the “parking spaces” but the traffic lane as well. The french restaurant next door, Vida, also has a LOT of tables. I saw a person at the bar in Left Bank (technically, a table next to the bar) as San Mateo is still Red tier. some indoor dining is allowed. I mention space because with the shorter open times, it seems hard to find a table at 6pm on a Friday and Saturday, even more so than before. I suspect that places like Left Bank with large kitchens but were table-limited are starting to see benefit (although, if it’s a rainy winter…)
FARMHOUSE THAI in Menlo Park’s first few weeks seem to have gone well. They’re in a cursed location across from the train station, recently home to Bradley Ogden’s BFD and something forgettable before that. They do upscale insta-worty THAI, and have outfitted their patio with a handful (maybe 10~15) of larger tables, under their roof, so good for a rainy night. Reviews complain about the noise from the train, which is true, but the food is pleasantly refined, with a lot of taste (and “palo alto” prices). Every time I’ve driven by so far, the place has been full.
CAFE BARRONE and MARKETBAR (same owner around the corner) are doing well. In a recent visit, given the lack of heaters set out on the patio, they sent us to the Marketbar seats, which have plumbed overhead heaters (I think they’d bring out the heaters if they were busy). The wine selection (by the bottle only) at Marketbar is pretty good, we had a 100% grenach from sonoma county that was interesting and tasty, although the servers are kids who didn’t look old enough to have legally tasted their first glass.
ZAREENS (now also in RWC) and HOWIE’S pizza and RANGOON RUBY (PA, SC, etc) are go-tos for us now. The styles of indian/pakistani/etc that Zareen’s makes travel well, and they do a large takeout/delivery business. RR only has a few great dishes, but that tang of Burmese / Northern Thai / Cambodian is so pleasant. Howie’s might not be quite as good as VESTA but it’s closer to my house and has a better reputation for cranking out the pies on time (I had a 45 minute SNAFU with Vesta and they were incredibly apologetic and threw in a complimentary bottle of wine, it’s just they have a small oven that can’t be scaled up. That oven makes much tastier pizza than Howie’s commercial units, tradeoffs.).
PYLOS in San Carlos did us a very nice meal a few weeks ago. Again, one of those days when everything was full. TOWN doing a land-office business, PYLOS up the street was empty. That style of restaurant has been multiplying and I don’t love paying those kinds of prices for simple food I can make myself, but the restaurant had super-clean tastes, surprisingly large portions, and friendly staff. Not worth a detour, but a great overflow if you’re in san carlos.
I’m thinking of trying to get out of the local area a bit more for eating. An errand took me to Cupertino so I randomly tried XLB Kitchen. I wasn’t terribly happy with the dumplings (the SJB were overly cooked and needed soup, the XLB were OK but not as good as Chef Zhao Kitchen in PA), it was still sure nice to just see a new menu and a new face.
3 Likes
What do you like at Zareen’s and Rangoon Ruby? Coming up to Menlo Park for a week and need some new places. We only do takeout. In October we got Tamarine, Tam Tam, Portola Kitchen and Amigos Grill (both in our old neighborhood Ladera). We love Ramen, but I’m assuming Nagi doesn’t deliver. I did see a new ramen place in RWC that delivers. Also favorite Chinese place? We have great Thai, Malaysian, Indian and Mexican in Santa Barbara but chinese is not good.
-
Rooh, I know you said not indian, but Rooh is a place worth tasting even next to every place in Sunnyvale. It’s rather like Tamerine when it first opened in that the tastes were surprising and fresh. And just read the menu at Ettan, it’s in the same category of a serious up-level of indian.
-
Zareen’s - literally everything is good there, but the Silver Spoon Rolls (a version of a Frankie roll), Madras Curry, Chicken Curry, and Chai are my usual. The Chai is not very sweet, it’s magical. It’s a very casual place.
-
Rangoon Ruby - The tea leaf salad is honestly meh but we get it every time because TEA LEAF SALAD. Minted jalapeno chicken and the Kebat (all protiens). Spice levels are not hot so we typically do HOT and sometimes VERY HOT.
-
Chinese - which region? The most authentic is Da Sichuan, second place in sichuan would be Taste; Mandrin Roots is fun with inventive dishes, Chef Zhao for Shanghai, Crouching Tiger for a good all-around-er (like the boiled beef) but it can be heavy, and I’d give a nod to Noodle Talk, not sure exactly the region they do. If you’re talking specifically about University Ave, Steam’s pretty good, and the dim sum dishes are pretty good (same owners as Tai Pan).
-
I am not a Ramen connoisseur. I think you are talking about Orenichi in RWC and they taste pretty good to me but I’ve only had them a couple of times. I would get my fix at Dohatsuten (office was near) in MV but people who know better say Orenichi.
1 Like
Yeah, Rooh looks good. What are your faves there? I have crouching tiger written down for our last trip and never ordered from there. I wrote down bon bon chicken, spicy dumplings and boiled beef as good choices. Probably from one of your threads! We ate at Steam at least once, I remember dumplings were decent. RIP Andales, one of our go to places for years with our kids.
Have eaten at Rangoon Ruby’s long ago. Those choices sound good. Yeah, gotten get the tea salad.
The Goan prawns are fab.
Sunnyvale Indian spots have their places, but Rooh is in a completely different league, and price point, and decor, and cooking finesse altogether. I really like it. Never saw much takeout business during the recent months. I hope they can make it.
Now coming to Menlo Park every month and wanted to see if any feedback on new places. I was reading about the Mandarin and it’s got some good reviews on Yelp. Any recs for dishes to order? We’ve been getting Tamarine delivered and sort rediscovered that restaurant during covid. I’d love to get some new places-Italian and chinese. We do get Delfina to go and go to Portola Kitchen and Parkside Grill. After reading through this thread I realized I’ve got to try the new Indian restaurants in PA. Tried to to go to Alpine Inn last month and couldn’t even get in the parking lot. Did end up at the Dutch Goose one night and had decent pizza and sat in their new front outside eating area with heat lamps. We also discovered that although verve makes a good cappuccino the Coffeebar in MP is just as good and a lot less crowded.
I have not been to Mandrin, not really for a good reason. There was a glowing review in the Palo Alto Daily. You’re hitting a lot of the “old school” places which is fine.
- Beer and burgers - The Refuge (menlo park). If you want burgers and beers, there is no finer place within 5 miles. Burgers are great beer list is great. The Refuge has the Mole Burger particularly. Freewheel brewing gets a lot of my business too. Although the burgers aren’t quite at the same level as some, they’re good, and the beer is excellent - they do british style which is such a break from all-hazy-all-the time. Our other favorites for that style are Stein’s in MV, Eureka! in MV, and Olympus Cafe in MV. Since these are all within a block of each other we just walk to one and if its crowded we move along. There’s another place in MV that we haven’t tried yet - used to be a favorite but took a long time to reopen after covid and we haven’t gotten around to it. We avoid BBC like the plague because the last renovation was very unfortunate. Alpine is good atmosphere but too hard to get into and the beer list is really all IPA except one russian river.
- Italian. Everyone loves Terun. I love Vesta in RWC. Osteria used to be a “no body goes there because it’s too crowded” but they now have MASSIVE street space - it’s not northern like Delfina. Check Donato Enoteca in RWC, or even more fun is CRU owned by the same people.
- French. Zola! Bistro Vida has been on the upswing, and between them and Left Bank there’s live music on Fridays. Zola s great if you like cocktails and great generally.
- Coffee. Neglect not Cafe Borrone, and they have live music sometimes, and their dinners are quite good. Short beer and wine list, but everything’s very good. The coupa chain is going wild and their spicy maya chocolate is a thing of beauty - they’re on campus and in RWC, too. They’re also the only source of quality arepas around, and the burger & fries are underrated. My local is Cafe Zoe they have very good atmosphere and live music on fridays sometimes and the coffee might not quite be coffeebar but they’re a bit more local.
- Chinese. If you’re down for regional chinese with a bit more… authenticity… you’ll want to hit Da Sichuan. Get the sichuan classics (eg, boiled lamb). Steam and Taste are also pretty good, although the prices at Taste seem high even for PA. Steam fell off our list due to bad service but last visit was OK. Steam is dim sum - same food as Tai Pan (same owners). Chef Zhao is great - all shanghai all the time. XLB and Dong Bo Pork and whatnot. Oh, and the two Burmese places in DTPA are good, we eat there a lot (same owner same dishes). Best dish is Chicken Kebat, the Minted Jalapeno Chicken is also good. They are not that spicy. If we’re going to maybe think Burma is china, then we can maybe think singapore is burma, Singapore would be Killiney Koppitam. Very worth a casual stop. Shiok should be good but don’t get that dish with the oysters it’s a bit too authentic. And since we’re in pan-asia, Farmhouse Thai is great. High end thai from an ingredients perspective and price perspective but the flavor is gangbusters.
- Indian. Darbar is very polarizing. It’s not as regional and authentic as other places, but I have a few (white) friends who love it. Price is really nice - you get naan and rice with your entree. I think they are takeout only. Zareen’s is not polarizing - it’s amazing. Three locations now. I could eat there almost every day. LInes are kinda long but they move along. Newer place Dosa Point is pretty authentic southern dosa place - don’t look to your “american favorites” even if they’re on the menu. If you are willing to go to sunnyvale the indian world explodes. If you want one Sunnyvale rec, it would be Aachi Aapakaadi. If you want northern with serious spice, it would be himalyian kitchen. There are two very notable indian places in PA - Rooh and Ettan. Rooh has a TON of taste and is very modern. NOTHING on menu that you’ve ever seen in an Indian restaurant before. Get the small plates & cocktails. Ettan focused more on veg and has bright veg flavor, and the cocktails are good too. Ettan is super popular now and hard to get a reservation, it’s also on a very pleasant courtyard with a lot of nice outdoor seating. Ettan also got their Michelin star.
- Old favorites. I don’t mean to be snooty but I went to Tamerine a few months ago after about a decade away, and was like meh. Taste just wasn’t there. Evvia however continues to be a powerhouse. I just get whatever lamb is from the grill, any restaurant willing to put that big a grill in a place is doing it right. NOLA is doing ok. They’ve put back on their menu some of the favored dishes like the Clover burger. Old Pro is beloved by many but I’m no longer ordering a 100oz beerzooka.
- Random notes. Do you like wine? Wine Bar (no food) and Vino Locale (which has food). Try Bevri, it’s made a couple of lists recently with that freakishly good pizza-like thing with the egg - and the georgian wine selection is fun. Camper in MV, nothing wrong with it, but we’re small plates people not big entree people so we haven’t been back since pandemic. Flea St is on our shit list for bad service but as long as you’re in a mood to linger you should go. Village Pub is a really fun splurge if you haven’t been - you can eat at the bar. 1 star. For ACTUAL high end dining that would be Protoge, they are rolling the tasting menu again and it’s really quite good if you like that kind of thing. I am meh on Telerfic Barcellona, if you go in with moderate expectations and fun friends you’ll be fine but it’s not great dining. Get the paella mixto crispy.
There are a lot of other places people talk up, but these are my favorites. In the interest of time I’ve only moderatly touched on RWC and MV and not gone beyond there. MV’s closed street is a food wonderland - the hidden gem is Kapo Nami Nami.
6 Likes
I just saw this great response you wrote out. I’m going to go over it and thanks for the Chinese recs especially da sichuan. I just asked all these questions on another thread (embarrassing lack of short term memory that I had already asked all this stuff in December!). The Dosa place sounds great. Will definitely check out. I called village pub last month when we were in town and their bar menu, which we prefer, is only served indoors. We’ve been only eating outside so I was bummed about that. We did do zotts last month and had a fun decent meal out on their big patio. Everything is ordered online which works out well when you’re there with a group. Thanks again for your detailed response. We do tend to go back to the same places from our past and with little kids now we need casual. If you ever need recs for Santa Barbara let me know. It’s an astonishing great town for food.
Also just checked out Zareen menu and it’s looks great. Do you have some favorites?
Paratha rolls, madras curry, but everything that sounds good, is good. Not a miss on the menu. Don’t see forget the chai. It is sweet but tasty, and the mango lassi they sell by the hogshead
Is the PA location better than the redwood city I’ve? Tried the latter and was, unfortunately, underwhelmed.
I heard Gombei in Menlo Park closed. Something about relatively large lot and new housing.
What did you try on the RWC menu - it’s close by and we tried it once and overall good but nothing outstanding
Chicken biryani, paratha roll with chicken, aloo methi, masala fries. All were pretty salty and lacking in spice/depth of flavor. Their takes on the kachumber salad was tasty, though, as was the dal.
