Restaurant Location
Kirin Mandarin is a well-respected Chinese restaurant in downtown Vancouver, which is named after a mythical dragon like monster. They have five locations in the greater Vancouver area. This particular location focuses on Northern Chinese cuisine and opened in 1987. Sherman recommended we visit this restaurant. Dim Sum Lunch is covered separately.
Araxi Restaurant + Bar is a popular restaurant in Whistler’s village. They focus on British Columbia cuisine with lots of seafood. Executive Chef James Walt celebrates carefully sourced local ingredients including the freshest seafood. This restaurant is renowned to be the top spot in Whistler. Araxi has 3 well regarded restaurants in Vancouver.
We recently visited the greater Vancouver area. This week we feature reviews from our neighbor to the north.
Marzano is a casual neighborhood Italian trattoria restaurant in Oakland with two locations. Their specialty is woodfired oven neapolitan pizza. We dined at the location on Park for brunch. Their sister restaurant is Garibaldis.
Super Duper is a new hamburger restaurant in the Castro. It was opened by the folks behind Delarosa, Beretta and Starbelly. They use Niman Ranch meats. This restaurant opened in mid-April 2010. They have grown to several location in San Francisco as well as North and South Bay. We returned to this location in 2016.
Decor, Vibe – Brand-new Burger restaurant with some retro decor and stainless steel seats. The place had a couple younger folks stop by for a quick bite.
The Original Falafel’s Drive-In opened in 1966 and has been serving up falafel’s duty ever present lines since. The restaurant is located in San Jose not far from the Santana Row shopping center.
Decor, Vibe – Small dining room inside with picnic tables outside. Old school drive-in decor, with ordering from window. Mostly younger folks were ordering when we visited.
Sichuan Fusion is a new Chinese Restaurant located in way in the back of Richmond’s Pacific East Mall that opened in 2009. We came here because it was new, busy, and had people waiting. The focus here is on SPICY Sichuan Chinese food. Our normal goto place in this mall is Asian Pearl.
In-N-Out Burger opened way back in 1948 in Baldwin Park, California focusing as a drive through hamburger stand. Their motto is “Give customers the freshest, highest quality foods you can buy and provide them with friendly service in a sparkling clean environment.” They have locations in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah.
Sumika is a small low key Japanese restaurant in downtown Los Altos, hidden away on a sidestreet. You really need to seek out this two year old restaurant. The focus on home style comfort foods with rice bowls during lunch and Kushiyaki or Charcoal Yakitori grill for dinner. They use organic chicken and other ingredients.
La Pinata Mexicatesen is a Salvadorean/Mexican restaurant in San Mateo, near the Caltrain station. It is located in an area that is full of Hispanic businesses and opened in early 2008.
L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon is a ‘less’ formal restaurant from “Chef of the Century” Joël Robuchon. He has more Michelin stars than any other chef in the world. This restaurant is located on the Las Vegas Strip in the MGM Grand, right next door to the more formal Joël Robuchon at the Mansion restaurant. This restaurant received One Michelin star. Elegant French food is created right in front of you and served on the counter or on one of the surrounding tables. Our meal at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon was right before a show, so we tried their new low cost pre show menu.
Tao Restaurant is a Asian fusion restaurant located in Las Vegas’ Venetian Resort. It opened in 2005 and is the #1 grossing restaurant in the United States. Tao has an outpost in New York City. This place is home to lots of celebrities. They focus on Hong Kong Chinese, Japanese, and Thai cuisines.
Chuen Kee Seafood Restaurant is a seafood restaurant located in Hong Kong’s northern Sai Kung area, about an hour subway and bus ride from tourist central Tsim Tsa Tsui. Take the MTR to Choi Hung (Kwun Tong line), exit through at Exit C2, walk a couple feet forward, and take bus 92 or 96R at the bus stop (arrives every 5 minutes), and get off at the end of the line after a 25 minute bus ride. This restaurant opened in 1988. Chuen Kee Seafood has another location a block farther down the promenade.
Baby Blues BBQ is a new BBQ restaurant in the Bernal Heights area of San Francisco that opened in late 2008. They have locations in Venice, California and West Hollywood. They have hybrid BBQ Memphis style rib and sauces that hail from North Carolina. Their racks are slowly smoked and rubbed with pepper and spices.
Jin Sho Restaurant is a ‘Executive-Class’ Japanese restaurant run by 2 chefs formerly of Nobu in New York, Noriomi Kaneko and Ichiro Takahashi. They bought several dishes with them from their past experiences. It opened in late 2007 and is located in Palo Alto’s California street shopping district right off of El Camino Real. They serve everything from classic sushi rolls, sashimi, omakase, to more western entrees.
Commis is a hot restaurant in Oakland run by James Syhabout. He has cooked at several superstar restaurant; Manresa, The Fat Duck, el Bulli, Mugaritz, and Alkimia. Commis focuses on Contemporary California cuisine with a focus on local, sustainable, and eco friendly practices. The restaurant is located in the Piedmont Avenue area of Oakland, home to hot spots like Bay Wolf, Dopo, and Fentons. Commis received one Michelin star in 2010.
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Shabu House is a Japanese Beef Fondue restaurant with locations in San Francisco and Burlingame. Shabu Shabu is a Japanese culinary dish which inspired from the Mongolian tradition of nabemono, or “one pot” cooking. In traditional shabu shabu, thin slices of beef are placed in a communal pot of boiling water and swished back and forth until cooked. We went to the new Burlingame location, open since late November 2009. The San Francisco one opened in late 2007.
Ideale Restaurant is an Italian restaurant in San Francisco’s North Beach serving authentic Roman cuisine for over 12 years. They focus on hand picked ingredients, homemade pastas, and breads.
San Mateo Prime restaurant opened in late 2007 in Downtown San Mateo. They specialize in dry aged prime rib cooked with rock salt and slowly roasted. We have driven by many times and decided it was time for a prime rib dinner. San Mateo Prime is modeled after places like House of Prime Rib in San Francisco and Lawry’s The Prime Rib. Entrees come with hot corn bread, salad, popover, and choice of two side dishes.
Cheung Hing Restaurant is a low cost Chinese restaurant in downtown Millbrae serving Seafood and Hong Kong Style BBQ. They also have a location in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset district. They specialize in items like BBQ pork, Roast Duck, Roast Pig, etc.
Hong Kong Saigon Seafood Harbor is a popular Cantonese Chinese restaurant in Sunnyvale. It has been located in a strip mall for about three years.
Cetrella is located in Half Moon Bay and serves Mediterranean cuisine with local ingredients from named sources. The restaurant closed for a winter hibernation, then reopened in May, 2009 with a new chef, Sylvain Montassier (Boulevard, Alinea). We were fans of the previous chef and hoped the food would live up to our expectations. It was great to find a solid place for food after a day at the beach. Tourist places like Half Moon Bay are always difficult places to find good food. They have live Jazz on Friday & Saturday nights. Menu changes all the time, plus you can order off the bar menu.
Amigos Grill is a Mexican restaurant in Portola Valley’s Ladera shopping center, about 1/4 mile west of Highway 280 on Alpine Road.
Silver House Restaurant is a long standing Cantonese Chinese restaurant on El Camino Real in San Mateo, just south of Highway 92.
Pho Miss Saigon is an inexpensive Vietnamese noodle place in downtown San Mateo. You can order a bowl of noodles and have them in 5 minutes, making this a good alternative to fast food.
Lao Tseu, which means Old Master in Chinese, is a Restaurant Chinois or Chinese restaurant in Paris’s 7th right on busy Saint Germain Boulevard. We were looking for some non French cuisine to vary things a little bit.
Chez Vong is a fancy Chinese / Vietnamese restaurant located in the 1st Arrondissement, specifically the Les Halles area of Paris. We wanted some Chinese food for a change, so we decided to try this place.
L’As du Fallafel is a very popular, low cost Middle Eastern Fallafel restaurant and is known as the favorite fallafel place of Lenny Kravitz. They have a walk up window that seems to always have a line, as well as a sit down restaurant. Opened in 1979, it is located in the stylish Marais neighborhood, 4th arrondissement, not far from the Musee Picasso. This place is covered by the usual tour books.
Emilia’s Pizzeria is a new small pizza place in Berkeley, located about a block from Berkeley Bowl supermarket. Keith Freilich, the owner, has worked at Pizza Hut, Grimaldi’s Hoboken, Pizzaiolo, and Flour + Water in San Francisco and serves up ‘New York style’ pizza. Emilia’s sells pizza by the slice and pie. Regular and sausage and onion were the pizzas available today. They often sell out, so go early and check their Twitter feed. The place was recently on serious eats.
Decor, Vibe – Tiny pizzeria with two small tables run by one person. Most people got pizza to go. Pizza foodies and locals were the main ones eating.
Le Cinq is a famous two Michelin star restaurant in the Four Seasons George V Hotel in Paris, right near the Champs-Élysées. The restaurant had earned 3 Michelin stars in the past. Eric Briffard, formerly of Paris’ Les Elysées has been head chef since 2008. He is known for dishes with a precision of flavors. They serve classic French Haute cuisine using classic French culinary techniques. Le Cinq embraces newer, lighter cooking styles, and always incorporates the freshest regional ingredients. Le Cinq serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner and has been open since 1999. A la Carte as well as two prix fixe menus (160, 230€) are available at dinner. We choose the cheaper Decouverte Gourmande Summer Menu de l’ete. (160€)
L’Ardoise is a charming French Bistro located on a quiet street in the 1st Arrondissement, a block from the Jardin des Tuileries, and not far from the Louvre. They have a very affordable 34€ three course meal as well as an a la carte menu. We ordered two of these meals, plus and extra entree. If you need an early dinner, this is one of the few that start dinner at 6:30pm. L’Ardoise is mentioned in many tour books.
L’Arpege is a famous three Michelin star restaurant in Paris run by star Chef Alain Passard. This famous spot opened in 1986. They serve classic French Haute cuisine focusing on seafood, poultry, and vegetables. Their three organic farms outside Paris grow their produce. Vegetables are bullet trained to the restaurant several TIMES a day, to maximize freshness. Alain became bored with meat and removed it from the menu several years ago, but later adjusted to include seafood and poultry. We came for lunch Menu L’Ete des Jardins (The Summer Garden) (120€) available July-September 2009, to lessen the damage to the pocket book. It looked like everyone else ordered it too. They had actually lowered its price by 15€!
Since 1935, La Poule au Pot has specialized in chicken hot pot. They have an extremely good value 35€ three course fixed price menu. We ordered two of then plus an extra entree. This restaurant is located in the Les Halles area (Lots of shops and restaurants), and stays open very late.
Chez Georges long standing French Bistro located in the 17th Arrondissement that is known for its Rib Roast, Leg of Lamb, Steak Frites, and desserts.
La Fontaine de Mars is the known as the famous bistro in the 7th Arrondissement where President Obama went. There is a fountain right outside the restaurant that helped name this place. It is not far from the Eiffel Tower, making this a good place for a meal before/after a visit. They have serve South western French Cuisine including foie gras, duck, and cassoulet since 1908.
Restaurant Guy Savoy (Pronounced G Savoy) is a three Michelin star restaurant in Paris named after the chef owner, who often greets visitors. The Arc de Triomphe is just a couple blocks from here. It was opened back in 1980 and earned 3 stars for the first time in 2002. Guy Savoy has a location in Caesar’s Las Vegas as well as less formal restaurants in Paris. His motto, “Cuisine is the art of instantaneously turning produce suffused with history into happiness.” We had eaten at Guy Savoy Las Vegas and were hesitant to eat here, but one step in the door, eased our fears.
Le Comptoir du Relais Saint Germain is a quaint Left Bank brasserie in the 6th that serves up classic French fare. It is connected to a 4 star hotel, The Relais Saint Germain and a couple blocks from the Jardin du Luxembourg. The owner, Yves Camdeborde, used to work at the famous Crillon restaurant. Lunch is bistro menu based, while dinner follows a more formal daily changing multi course prix fix menu. We had to wait about 20 minutes for a table during lunch. Dinner reservations must be made well in advance. This place is in many tourist guides like the Fodor’s and was on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations.
Pain de Sucre (Sugarloaf in English) is a Foodie must visit patisserie in Paris’s dynamic 3rd Arrondissement known as The Marais. This shop is located a couple blocks from the Museum Pompidou. We visited many food shops in Paris and this one still stands out. The owners used to work for 3 Michelin star chef Pierre Gagnaire, but left to open this store in 2004.
La Fourchette is a Provencal cuisine bistro located in Avignon about a block from the main street with the Palace du Papes. They specialize in Vaucluse caillettes, Les pieds et paquets, or a great Avignon daube. Their three course prix fix dinner costs a reasonable 30.50€.
Hiely Lucullus is a popular restaurant in Avignon, France on the second floor above a clothing store on a main Avignon street. It reigned supreme for years as the top restaurant until Christian Etienne opened and got a Michelin Star. The haute cuisine served is predominantly French, Mediterranean, and Provencal. Grilled Alpine lamb is their specialty dish. They have some very good deals during lunch (19€). We can for dinner and were allowed to order a lunch deal as well two dinner Menu Carte (35€).
L’ Epice and Love is a quirky but small restaurant in the heart of Avignon, France. Modestly priced, they serve simple food that is well prepared. Madame Marie is the chef and owner and speaks English. The place is rated #1 on Tripadvisor for Avignon probably because it only costs 16.80€ for a 3 course dinner.
Chateau Eza is tucked away in the thousand-year-old medieval mountain top village of Eze Le Village, overlooking the Mediterranean. We saw Eze Le Village in a Rick Steves’ TV show and knew we had to visit. It is located in a Hotel that used to be the winter getaway for the Swedish royal family.
La Pizza Nice has served Italian cuisine including pasta, salads, and (You guessed it) pizza since 1956. Their menus do list English translations. They have 3 restaurants in Nice and one in Cannes. They have huge custom made ovens and use volcanic ash baking stones.
Decor, Vibe – Old traditional french decor with lots of dark wood decor and tables. Sidewalk seating was where most people sat. Lots of people watching as this street of shops is very busy.
Restaurant Acchiardo is a small family run restaurant serving reasonably priced simple traditional French Provencal nicoise cuisine. It is located in Old Town district which is a maze-like labyrinth of small streets. This restaurant is listed in several travel guides.
La Réserve de Nice is situated on huge rock overlooking the harbor entrance to Nice, France. It has beautiful panoramic views of the water. It earned one Michelin star in 2009. Their menu changes daily with best values in their prix fix menus. We order one of each prix fix menu plus a Bouillabaisse. They have an upstairs dining room that was closed.
