Category: SF Bay Area

Smashburger is the latest trendy fast casual burger joint serving a more “upscale”  burger. The differentiation from an In n’ Out or Five Guys is the cooking process. They roll up the burger in a ball and “sear” the outside before flattening during the cooking process, resulting (at least according to its marketing), a juicier burger. The also offer better buns and toppings than a McD’s, Burger King, or Carl’s Jr (e.g. arugula instead of iceberg lettuce, sauteed mushrooms, fancier buns).  Smashburger also tweaks their menu within each region, and being in California, the one we went to offers avacado, “truffle mayo”, and ciabatta buns as options.  Sides include shoestring fries, with “Smash Fries” which are flavored with some rosemary, sweet potato fries, onion strings, and flash fried carrot sticks and green beans.  Milkshakes come in the standard chocolate and vanilla, but also come in flavors like oreo cookie and nutter butter.

Food is made fresh to order, and if you are dining in, runners bring the food to you when it’s ready. Despite arriving a bit later in the evening on a weekday, there was still a fairly long line to order and all the seating in the store was taken. Since this is the first store in the area, I suspect furvor will die down as time passes and as other locations open up (similar to when Chick Fil-A first arrived in the Bay Area).

Theresa and I ordered the Bay Burger and the Truffle Mushroom Swiss burger, with a side a Smash Fries and a Nutter Butter shake.

Bay Burger

Truffle Mushroom Swiss

Smash Fries

 The burgers were very juicy, as advertised, making additional sauces or condiments unnecessary. Buns were nicely toasted and the ingredients worked well together. The Smash Fries were surprisingly good, with the hint of rosemary, and not overly greasy or dry. The shake was made with Haagen Daaz ice cream and was on par with other shakes at fast casual burger joints (like Red Robin) and better than Five Guys or other fast food joints.

If you are a burger person, Smashburger should be on your list to try and perhaps put in your regular rotation. The market for “upscale burger” seems to be getting more and more crowded, but I would rate Smashburger in the upper tier, mainly because the ingredients and cooking methods make a tasty juicy burger.

Decided to seek out and try some new brunch places and found Pastis in Palo Alto. Located on California Street, not far from La Bodeguita Del Medio, a restaurant we had been to before. Pastis bills itself as an authentic French bistro serving brunch and light lunch fare.

A good sign of Pastis’ French authenticity was the wait staff all communicated in French. In fact, several Yelp reviewers stated that French ex-pats frequent Pastis. Further research on Yelp revealed the pain perdu (aka French toast) was popular and a signature dish.  We decided to also order the open faced croissant sandwich and the French  onion soup.

Open face croissant with ham, cheese, 2 sunny side up eggs

French Onion Soup

Pain Perdu with Chocolate Hazelnut spread and bananas

The pain perdu had the proper custard texture/feel and ranked above the run of the mill “French toast” you get at greasy spoons and diners. A minor complaint was I felt there should have been more banana in the dish, but this is more of a personal preference than anything else. The eggs on the croissant were properly sunny side up and worked well was an open faced sandwich. Surprisingly, what I liked the best was the French onion soup.  More often than not, American interpretations of French onion soup are salt bombs topped with globs of rubbery cheese. Pastis’ French onion soup had the proper amount of salt, nice beefy broth, and just enough melted cheese on top.

Menu prices are typical for a restaurant with a Palo Alto address (although not as high as Parisien cafe pricing). In exchange you get food that is well prepared with fresh high quality ingredients and an authentic French touch.  After Sunday brunch, you can walk out onto California for the farmer’s market, or on other days explore California Avenue.  Pastis certainly delivers on the French experience and is a good brunch spot.

Theresa and I decided to hit the Livermore Outlets one afternoon and arranged to meet our friend Kulwinder for dinner.  After throwing around a few suggestions, we settled on Sauced, which is located in the main downtown area.

The restaurant was packed on a Saturday night, with over an hour wait for a table. The restaurant is split roughly in half, with half being traditional tables, and the other half being the bar with a bunch of counter height table and stools.  There are several TVs set up along the walls, so you can catch your favorite games while downing a beer and some appetizers. Several tables ordered the pulled pork nachos, which looked tasty and was huge. The place definitely has a Southern feel to it. They even serve you water in large Mason jars.

Seating in this area is open, so you can grab a table as soon as people leave.  We were pretty hungry when we arrived, so we hovered a bit near some folks in the bar area and pounced on their table as soon as they left.

The menu consists of several forms of BBQ meats, your usual BBQ sides, and appetizers.  Their signature meat is “burnt ends”, which from what I gather are the fattier ends of the briskets that crisp up during the cooking and are then chopped up and mixed with sauce. Quantities are limited, and by the time we ordered, they were out. Evidently it sells out quickly on weekends.  We decided to share the two meat combo platter and a full rack of ribs amongst the three of us.  The two meats we chose was the pulled pork and the brisket. Sides were mac n cheese, cornbread, and fries.

All the meats had a nice smokiness to them, with most of the fat rendered out, but not overly dry, indicating a low and slow cooking BBQ method. The pulled pork was Carolina style, with a sweet and slightly sour sauce mixed in it.  The brisket came “dry” (i.e. no sauce), but none was really needed unless you wanted to punch up the flavor a bit more with one of their homemade BBQ sauces (see below).   The rib meat fell right off the bone and was glazed with a bit of the Tin Roof sauce. The sides complemented the meats well, but nothing really stood out as outstanding. The cornbread had a honey glaze on top, which was a bit different than other cornbreads I have had.  Portions were generous, and I would recommend sharing the platters among your party.

On the table were 4 different homemade sauces: Pig Candy, Tin Roof, Hot Tin Roof, and Georgia Gold.
The Pig Candy was fairly sweet sauce, while the Georgia Gold was very vinegary.  The Tin Roof would be the middle of the road in terms of sweetness and acidity. It is also what the ribs were finished with. The Hot Tin Roof had a kick to it, but was a fast burn, meaning it did not linger with you like a Thai pepper would.

Overall I would recommend Sauced if you are ever in the Livermore/East Bay area. While the BBQ at Smoking Pig is better, Sauced’s BBQ is very good.  Coupled the food with the atmosphere, especially in the bar area where we were seated, it all adds up to an enjoyable experience.  This would be a perfect place for happy hour, watch a game, or just chow down on some BBQ while downing a few beers.

Been meaning to try The Melt after hearing the hype in the media a couple of years back.  The Melt, a chain of restaurants based on grilled cheese sandwiches was started up and financed by the founder of Flip Video, Jonathan Kaplan.  I guess after making a fortune in selling Flip video cameras and then selling the entire company to Cisco, Kaplan turned his attention to the problem of making the perfect grilled cheese sandwich in a fast food environment.  He came up with a high tech solution.

He sunk some money into engineering a machine to take the guess work out of making a grilled cheese sandwich. Instead of relying on the traditional method of flipping it on a hot griddle, workers just place the assembled sandwich in to what amounts to a fancy panini press and close the lid. At the appointed time, it pops open, letting the workers know it’s done.

Other techie touches includes an order board, where you can see the status of your order with expected wait times and the ability to send in your order online.

You can order the standard grilled cheese on white with cheddar, but there are other cheese choices. You can also add turkey, short ribs, and ham into your sandwich for a small charge.  There are also 4 soups to choose from, including the traditional tomato soup.

I ordered the “classic” grilled cheese on white and a cup of tomato soup, while Theresa got the S’hroom sandwich and added short rib.

“The Classic”

“S’Hroom” with added short rib

“Two Tomato Basil” soup

I found the classic to be not really remarkable and the tomato soup very average.  Theresa’s sandwich was better, with the sourdough, swiss, and short rib adding a bit more punch, but it would not rank among the better hot sandwiches I have had.  One nice thing I did notice was the bread was much less greasy to the touch compared to other places and had a nice crispness/toastiness to it. Maybe as a result of all that engineering and testing?

Prices can be on par with other sandwich places, but if you add meat to your grilled cheese, and soup on top of that (a pickle being the only side included with your sandwich), your bill will go north of $10.  The portion (both sandwich and soup) is not very large, so more than likely you will get hungry in about 3 hours, making it a not so great value in my book.

While the quality of the ingredients are better than your typical greasy spoon or company cafeteria and the high tech cooking machines draw people in, I would not characterize the sandwiches as a “must have” experience (e.g. like when Krispy Kreme first came out or getting your burger fix at In N Out.). I think the format will do well in high traffic areas like Stanford Mall, and cater to those looking for something beyond just burgers or pizza.  I would have to have a real craving for grilled cheese before I would return to The Melt, and since it is a 25 minute drive away, I would probably opt for something closer to scratch that itch or even make my own.

Tucked in a strip mall close to where Theresa works is BiBimBowl, which offers Korean rice bowls and tofu soup.  I

Diners can build their own bowls by choose the type of bowl (regular, stone, sizzling platter), rice (white/brown), protein, and sauce/spice level.

I have always like Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap because the stone bowl it comes in crisps up the rice and adds texture to the meal and BiBimBowl delivers a decent one.  Reasonable pricing and fairly fast service makes this a popular place for lunch, with the restaurant filling up fairly quickly by noon, so expect a wait if you get here a little after noon.  There was also a fair amount of to-go business as well, so if you don’t feel like waiting for a table, that is always an option. If a Korean food craving strikes you while in Mountain View, give BiBimBowl a try. If it matches my experience, you should not be disappointed.

Having gone to school in Texas, I am partial to their style of BBQ, especially  beef brisket.  Was craving some good BBQ over the July 4th weekend, so decided to look up some BBQ places on Yelp.  Found The Smoking Pig and according to the reviews seemed pretty good and located fairly close to us in San Jose.

Smokers outside

 Real hardwood for smoking

Pulling into the parking lot, you are greeted with the smells of smoky goodness.  Often when dining out, you can not see a restaurant’s kitchen setup. But for the Smoking Pig, it’s in plain view behind the restaurant – large black smoke boxes fueled by real burning hardwood and seasoned with years of smoking meats on a daily basis.

The menu consists of some appetizers, including their signature one, Wolf Turds, which are stuffed jalepenos wrapped in bacon, then smoked in the BBQ pit. We did not try that, but I glanced at another table which ordered it, and it looked tasty.  Entrees include personal platters consist of 1, 2, or 3 meat combinations that come with cornbread and  personal sized side order, which includes cole slaw, potato salad, etc.  Since we were a large group (5 adults 3 kids), the waitress suggested we do the a la carte option and order the meats by the pound and share. We opted for pound each of the pulled pork and brisket and a full rack of ribs. I had also seen pictures and read rave reviews of the mac and cheese online, so we ordered the quart size to share.

BBQ Beef Brisket

The beef brisket was by far the favorite around the table. You can request whether you want “fatty” or “lean” cuts of the brisket, and we opted for a 50/50 split. Slow smoked/cooked Texas style, the flavor of the rub and smoke penetrated deeply into the meat, which really required no BBQ sauce

The Ribs

Ribs were done St Louis style, slightly dry but with a slathering of sauce on it. Ribs were meaty and well prepared. BBQ sauce is optional on this one, depending on if you are a fan of wet or dry ribs.

Pulled Pork

The pulled pork was prepared Carolina style, and came shredded. with a good combination of crisp , burnt edges and moist interior. Unlike the other 2 meats, I think BBQ sauce is a must on this one with the Carolina style BBQ sauce pairing well with this.

3 Types of BBQ Sauce

Like any real credible BBQ joint, Smoking Pig makes its own homemade BBQ sauce, three types in fact.  The Carolina Sassy has a vinegary profile with a bit of mustard and as mentioned before pairs well with the pulled pork. The Kansas City Hot is powered by habeneros and has a nice heat kick at the end, just enough to burn a few seconds and fade into the background. The California Honey was a bit on the sweeter side, a bit too sweet for my personal preference, but went well with the brisket.  I mixed the KC hot with the Carolina Sassy to create a more balanced sipping sauce for the pulled pork.

Mac and Cheese with bits of BBQ meat in it

I am a big fan of good mac and cheese. I’m not talking about the ones with the sauce you make from a powder, but from real cheese in a bechamel sauce poured over pasta, and sometimes baked off in a casserole dish.  i was anxious to try The Smoking Pigs version because I read they also incorporate bits of their BBQ into the sauce.  When the waitress bought the quart sized container to our table, I could tell it was gonna be good because of the weight. This stuff was dense.   Scooping some out, you get a satisfying thud as it hits your plate, meaning this stuff is rich, and met my expectations of how a good mac and cheese should be made.  The bits of BBQ lent a nice smokiness that differentiates it from other restaurant’s mac and cheese.  My suspicion is if you were to refrigerate this overnight, it would solidify back into its natural, unmelted, cheese block form, which means it was made right (in my personal opinion at least).

Verdict:
The Smoking Pig is definitely a place I would recommend for good BBQ. They do it well and prices are pretty reasonable.  The brisket is a must order,  although the ribs and pork are no slouch food either. Worth a trip from anywhere in the South Bay, especially if you like really good BBQ.

Tips:
We went for an early dinner because Theresa read it gets crowded during the peak dinner hours. When we left, I noted the dining room was almost full, and the parking lot had no empty spaces.  Since slow smoking takes a while, they can only cook a set amount of meat a day, so if you go later, there is also a danger they will run out of meats. So my advice is to come early so you can to ensure you can get what you want. They also do take out orders, which we will definitely do in the future.

The owners of Red Hot Wok have opened another restaurant, Mango Garden in Cupertino. We actually stumbled upon Mango Garden because Theresa called Red Hot Wok asking for Oliver or Dominic, and was told “they are at the new restaurant”.  We were very eager to try it, especially since the cuisine is Singaporean.  Equally exciting was they carried over their “snow” desserts from RHW, which we really enjoyed.

We started off with Roti Prada and Chicken and Beef Satay. Both came with a curry dipping sauce. The roti was nicely made, slightly sweet, which complimented the spicy curry well. Satay chicken and beef were tender and flavorful.

Belachan Okra

Belachan is a shrimp paste/sauce used in Singaporean cuisine and often serves as a seasoning agent and stir fry sauce for vegetables and meats. The okra did not have the typical “slime” you associate with okra, but the dish was a little wetter than previous versions I have had before.  My personal preference is to have it a bit drier, but most people will like this dish.

Sizzling Penang Prawns

Brought to your table on a black hot plate, Sizzling Penang Prawns come in a creamy sauce with onions, peppers, and in this case curry leaves.  You can really taste the buttery goodness, and the sauce is really good over rice, so make sure to get a bowl or two.

Siam Salmon- Spicy/sweet sauce with mango.

Stir Fried Crab

Oliver made a suggestion for the crab, which is not on the menu, a mix of their sambal and special curry. The sauce clung to the crab similar to the way a dry rub clings to ribs, which is a good thing.  While I am not the biggest crab fan, Theresa and her cousin are, and they were all over this one. The sauce was very tasty, and and goes well with rice.  Will definitely have to try the other flavors on our next trip.

Mango and Taro Snow

Milk Snow with strawberries, sweet red beans and coconut jelly.

The dessert is a carry over from their other restaurant, Red Hot Wok.  It’s a “snow ice”, which is basically like Italian shaved ice. The mixture consisting of ingredients similar to sorbet or ice milk are frozen in a block and then run across a blade to create shavings. This creates a fluffy textured dessert. This is then topped with fresh fruit.  My table mates were the most excited about this part of the meal, especially since it was a rip roaring hot day in the South Bay.  Rarely do I cite a dessert as the must have dish when you go to a restaurant, but this is one of those instance. Save room, as this is worth it.

Verdict: 
Mango Garden will definitely be on the regular rotations of restaurants we dine at. Lots of choices, and great take on Singaporean food.  If that was not enough, it has the snow desserts that we crave. Would highly recommend it for fans of Singaporean food and a great addition to the Cupertino area.

Jang Su Jang has a two locations in the Bay Area — Santa Clara and Milpitas. They are known for Korean BBQ, although if you get a non-grill table, you can still get BBQ that is served on a hot/sizzling plate and brought to your table. They also have noodle, dumpling, and tofu soup dishes.

If you order the package meals, it comes with a selection of meats that the staff cooks on the grill in the middle of the table for you.  We order the brisket and marinated short rib. Each person gets their own dipping sauces.

As with most Korean BBQ places, you get rice and a number of side dishes, which you can get refills. There was one with beef chunks that was really good, but that one was not refilled, so we only got some for the table.

Verdict: 
Staff was efficient at rolling out orders and  cooking the meats at the table. Sides were tasty and made you want to eat more rice.  The Santa Clara location is pretty popular, so definitely expect a wait if you walk in during dinner time.  I would suggest making reservations, especially if you want a grill equipped table. A group of 4 or 6 is probably ideal, as you can order a larger variety and share.  Definitely would put on rotation of restaurants that are good for small groups, especially those that love to eat meat. I have been to the Milpitas location for lunch, ordering the lunch specials. Experience was the same, so if that location is closer to you, would recommend you try that one.

Theresa and I made some last minute plans to meet up with our friends Steven and Stacy last Saturday night.  Since they live further up the Peninsula, we figured it would be better to meet somewhere in between there and the South Bay so no one had to drive too far, and decided on Palo Alto as a good in-between point.  Theresa yelped this place, and it got decent reviews so we decided to check it out.  La Bodeguita del Medio is a Cuban restaurant located on California Avenue, which is away from the main hustle and bustle of the trendier and much busier downtown area/University Avenue.

Entering the door beyond the hostess stand is the lounge/bar area where you can grab drinks from the house bar and order some small plates/appetizers.  If you are there for a full meal, you would be seated in main dining room off the main entrance to the right, which is where we were seated.

The menu consisted of typical Cuban fare like roasted pork, seafood dishes, stews, plantains, rice and beans, etc.   We looked around at the other tables and noted that entree portions seemed generous, so we decided to do family style and share dishes. The hostess and waiter both recommended the Ropa Vieja, and from our casual scans around the dining room, the paellla seemed to be pretty popular too, so we decided to order that and round it out with a side order  of plantains.

The plantains were nicely caramelized but were softer, less starchy, and a bit sweeter than what I was expecting, having a mouth feel and taste profile closer to bananas.  I am not being necessarily negative on the dish, as it was well prepared, just a matter of personal preference.

The Ropa Vieja is shredded skirt steak with chilis, peppers on a bed of rice and plantains and accompanied by a fried plantain chip.  This dish reminded me of Carolina pulled pork in terms of mouth feel and consistency, but with Cuban seasonings.

The paella had clams, mussels, fish, chicken, chorizo, and shrimp in “spiced” yellow rice and came in a traditional paella pan.  It’s a bit tough to gauge the size of it based on the picture above, but it is substantial.  The menu stated the paella “serves two”, but when it arrived at the table, we were all a bit taken aback by how much food was in the pan.  Easily could feed 3 people with pretty hearty appetites or 2 really really big eaters, so plan accordingly.  The clams and mussels sat atop the rice, with the other proteins mixed into the rice.   Stacy and I both noted it was a bit wetter than other paellas we have had in the past, and overall, I would put it in the middle of the pack of all the paellas I have had.  Nothing too stellar to make it stand out, but I would recommend ordering if you do come here.  Bodeguita also has a Ajaico, which is basically a stew with a whole variety of seafood served in the same large pan with a side of rice and beans. We had seen other tables order it and it looked really good. Definitely want to try that on our next trip.

Steve had been eyeing that night’s dessert special, the Banana Tres Leche, since he saw it on the menu, so it was a must order when dessert time came around. We also ordered the key lime tart.

Sometimes when you  go to restaurants and they feature a dessert that is flavored with something, what they actually do is top the dessert with that ingredient or element, especially if it’s fruit. We asked the waiter if this was the case, and he stated the banana was actually incorporated into the tres leche cake and topped with a rum whipped cream.  Nice combination of flavors, but like the Ropa dish, I felt it was decent, but nothing super memorable about it.

Everyone’s first reaction when tasting the key lime tart was “wow that’s tart”.  The baker definitely did not spare the lime juice when making the filling. On the spectrum of all the key lime desserts I have had, this one definitely is one of the tartest.  If you’re like me and really enjoy sour and tart (think sour patch kids candy or lemon drops), then this was a good dessert. Otherwise, I would skip this in favor of something else.

Portion-wide, the desserts were of decent size. If you are a dessert person and have/save room after the meal, then order one for yourself, otherwise I would recommend sharing.

Verdict:
I would classify Bodeguita as good casual. semi-upscale place with fun atmosphere. The bar seemed to be hopping when we left, so i can see it being a good option drinks with friends, especially if you don’t want to fight the crowds of downtown Palo Alto.  I have only tried one other Cuban restaurant in the area (Habana Cuba, San Jose) and never having been to Cuba, the Caribbean, or Miami,  I have little to compare how authentic Bodeguita’s Cuban fare is. My impressions were that the food was well cooked and service was nice, but nothing that night stood out as an overarching reason to return in the near future or go broadcasting to my friends that this is the new “must try” place along the Peninsula.   I would, however,  keep this on my list of suggested Palo Alto restaurants, especially if my fellow diners want something a bit different than the normal Asian, Italian, California cuisine.