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.
