Month: April 2013

Habana Cuba, located in San Jose, serves up traditional Cuban food. The interior decor is meant to evoke a tropical house, perhaps one you might find in Cuba. It’s tucked along a commercial street near downtown San Jose.

Theresa’s cousin Larry and his wife Han were generous enough to give us a gift certificate to Habana Cuba as a gift. They also got one for themselves, so we decided to all go one night to try it out.  Each certificate was good for 2 people and included one appetizer, 2 soups or salads,  2 entrees, one dessert, and pitcher of sangria. We decided to go family style so we could sample the various offerings.

The Sangria came first, containing the requisite crushed fruit, served in pitcher for the table. Nothing that was outstanding, and about average on the spectrum of sangrias I have had in the past.  Appetizer were served next: Prawn Ceviche and Cuban Sandwich

The ceviche contained cooked shrimp marinated in a cucumber mango salsa accompanied by fried plantain chips.  The crisp starchy chips served as a good counterpoint to the acid and moisture of the ceviche.

The Cuban sandwich (bocaditos) contained the house slow roasted pork, along with the traditional mustard, pickle, and cheese on a grilled and pressed roll.  The pork was definitely the star of the sandwich, outshining the other ingredients.

A nice sized bowl of chicken soup with noodles, potatoes, and corn (sopa de pollo).  From the color, you would expect a very tomato-y, acidic soup, but surprisingly it was not and best described as “homestyle” cooked.

We ordered a variety of stews: Carnos con Papas (beef),  Chilindron De Cordero (lamb),  and Ropa Vieja (beef). And we ordered the Lechon A La Cubana (slow roasted pork). Entrees were accompanied by rice, grilled plantains, and black beans. The pork was definitely the best dish we ordered, flavorful and making you want to eat more.  The stews all seemed to share the same taste profile, as we could not differentiate much difference among the three stews we order. I think next time, we will stick to the roasted pork, skip the stews, and perhaps try some of the other dishes there.

For dessert, we opted for the flan and the coffee tartufo (coffee gelato with coffee sprinkles). The portions were a bit smaller than I would have expected from a standard dessert, but that could have been because they were part of a larger package. Both were average, with no real standout features.

Verdict:
Not having much experience in eating Cuban food, I am not able to judge the authenticity of Habana Cuba’s food or how it measures up to similar places in Miami. The food resembled “homestyle” cooking, like something I would imagine a typical Cuban family would produce.  The roasted pork is worth a trip, so definitely order that when there.  However, as I mentioned before, if sharing, I would only order one  stew and try some of the other dishes. Portions are pretty generous, so getting appetizer, soup, entree, and dessert was quite a bit of food. Sharing appetizers and one entree per diner should be plenty and satisfy all but the largest of eaters.  I would skip the dessert and go elsewhere for that. I would not put Habana Cuba in my regular rotation of “favorite” restaurants, but it is a  a good “destination” restaurant for groups that are looking for something a bit more ethnic.

After a morning of light hiking, on a recommendation from Theresa’s co-worker, we decided to try out Alotta’s Deli in Los Altos.  What makes Alotta’s unique and what a lot of folks rave about is their fresh baked sourdough bread. Bread is always 1/2 of the equation in a successful sandwich, so we had good expectations going in.

We had a somewhat difficult time locating the right section of Grant Road that Alotta’s was on.  We thought it would be near the corner of Foothill Expressway and Grant, but it’s actually located on a section of Grant that runs parallel to Foothill Expressway. After a couple spins around the block, we finally got pointed in the right direction.

We were there around 1pm and traffic was brisk, with a few folks waiting for their orders.  The signature ingredient of an Alotta’s sandwich is their homemade sourdough bread, which they bake fresh on a continuous basis. Workers brought out 3 pans of bread for cooling in the time span between when we ordered and when we got our food. The loaves were pre-scored into 3 segments so workers could easily slice off the correct portion each time.

You place your order at one station in the back and then wait for your order. You can pick various canned drinks from the cooler  and chips from the rack and then pay for it all at the other station when your sandwiches are ready.  Other side dish selections include  a “salad bar” of around a dozen different salads (e.g. potato, fruit, cole slaw, pasta, etc, sold by the pound) and a hot bar with daily specials.  The day we went there was macaroni with 4 cheeses and spaghetti.  

We ordered the chicken salad sandwich and the hot pastrami.  All sandwiches come with lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnaise  mustard, pickle, onion.  The hot sandwiches also come with provolone cheese.

 

The bread was definitely the star of the show.  Wide and with the right amount of crispiness with a chewy, sour interior that stood up well to the filling. It might be a little dense for some, but definitely not as dense as some German breads out there.  The quality of the fillings was much better than your run of the mill Subway or Togo’s, but perhaps not as generous in quantity, so don’t expect filling to ooze out the sides as you make your way through. Portion-wise, a single sandwich will satisfy most appetites because of the bread density as well as the length of the sandwich. All in all a well balanced sandwich made with quality ingredients.

If you are a bread fan/connoisseur, it might be worth checking out. As far as sandwiches go, it would rank in the middle of the pack for me. Alotta’s is a nice place and  probably draws many lunch regulars from the surrounding neighborhood. Would we return to Alotta’s? Perhaps if we happen to be in the area, but I would choose to make a special trip out to Little Lucca before Alotta’s.

Hours are 10am – 6pm and they are closed on Sundays

Side note: Yes, I did make a lot of jokes about the character in Austin Powers that shared her name with this place when Theresa mentioned it to me.

Had dinner at Asteria Grill in Sunnyvale. The location is a bit hidden, tucked in the area between Mathilda, 237, and US 101, located next to a motel. Unless you know where to look, you would most likely drive right past, as the roadside sign is not obvious.  Having served as a steakhouse/diner in a former life , Asteria took the place of a Chinese buffet place that moved in after the steakhouse went bust.  Supposedly the chef is from Athena Grill, another Greek place in Santa Clara that served the same style of food.  Lunch is semi-table service where you order at the register, take a number, seat yourself, and food is then brought to you by runners. For dinner, it is full table service.  Specials are posted when you walk in.  Asteria has all the standard Greek fare, including gyros, souvlaki, lamb. mousaka, and wraps.

After ordering, we were served house made hummus and a bread basket with warm pita and french bread. The hummus had a  consistency similar to chunky peanut butter, but instead of peanuts, the small chunks were cooked chickpeas.  This gave it a nice rustic feel which is different from some of the paste like hummus served at other Mediterranean restaurants.  A nice way to start the meal off, also eliminating the need to order an appetizer.

Greek Salad came next and is included with all the dinner entrees.  Pretty standard with lettuce, feta cheese, olives and lightly dressed in vinaigrette. Perfectly serviceable salad, but nothing extraordinary.

I decided to order the grilled swordfish and Theresa opted for the grilled Filet Mignon medallion with grilled shrimp  We had a choice of vegetables, rice, or fries. I opted for the veggies and Theresa the rice.

Meats were grilled well, with the steak remaining juicy and cooked to medium as requested. The swordfish remained moist and had the proper level of seasoning.  As you can tell portions are pretty generous, so between the bread, salad, and entree,   our friends Kat and Nate ordered the gyro plate and the lamb chop special. Both plates had generous portions, with the pita piled high with gyro meat and french fries for Kat, and 3 lamb chops came with Nate’s order.  So portions should be more than enough to satisfy even larger eaters.

Taken together, Asteria is a place we would put into our regular rotation of food, especially if we wanted Greek food. It also delivers good value, as you will not leave Asteria hungry and might have enough left over for lunch the next day.

Open Monday to Saturday 11-9. closed on Sundays

 

We have been to TGI Sushi’s store in Campbell, where the food was great, but the restaurant was small, holding about 30 people maximum. So there is often a wait during meal times.  When we saw TGI Sushi opened another restaurant off Saratoga Ave in San Jose, we wanted to try it.  The San Jose restaurant is much larger with a couple dozen tables, with a large sushi bar in the center of the restaurant. We did not have to wait and was seated immediately.

Portions are generous, with their specialty rolls being sufficient for an entire meal.  We decided to order and share amongst the four of us at the table, ordering the sashimi dinner, rolls, and a couple of nigiri.

Sashimi was the standard tuna, salmon and himachi, with each of the 12 cuts being very large and thick. Was fresh, although the hamachi was a bit on the “too cold” side, indicating either it sat in a cooler for too long or perhaps experienced some freezing during the shipment process.

Nigiri was standard fare, nothing specialWhat differentiates TGI from other Japanese places is the variety of rolls and the spin that it puts on them. And the fact all their specialty rolls are huge.  Someone ordered the Gangham style roll last time, so we decided to go with it. The roll has hamachi on top and surrounded with tempura flakes and drizzled with a Srirachi/Ponzu sauce. The Hailstorm roll (in the background) was spicy tuna, salmon and cucumber.

Kevin’s Special roll with avacado, tuna and Macadamia nuts and topped with unagi.  I was expecting the nuts to be sprinkled on top, but they were wrapped inside the roll. The nuts added a nice texture contrast and unique flavor to the roll.

Prices are reasonable given the amount of food you get. In addition to sushi/sashimi, they offer the standard bento box fare for those who want cooked food.  The menu is extensive and it will take a number of visits before you make a dent in it.  Would recommend ordering and sharing so you can taste a variety of their food. The service staff was not as well oiled as the Campbell store, as sometimes it was hard to flag down our server. But I expect it to improve as the staff gets more settled in and things settle in after opening.

Met a work colleague in Downtown Mountain View for lunch and decided to pop into the new Steins Beer Garden for Lunch.. Steins was formerly a Chinese Restaurant named Golden Wok, and for a brief time a buffet place named Villa 8 that failed to gain traction as well.

The lunch menu consists of various sandwiches, salads, and smaller entrees. After ordering, a jar of pickled veggies came to the table.

I opted for the Rueben sandwich and my colleague Mark opted for the beet salad.

Beet salad was well presented and fresh, but as Mark noted, was not very substantial, and he was expecting more given the price.  Rueben was decent, made with good quality pastrami, but nothing outstanding and average among the ruebens I have. The service was still getting settled, and our server was not particularly familiar with the menu.  Since it was lunch on a work day, did not try any of the beers.  I think I will revisit after Steins has ironed out its operations and for dinner rather than lunch.

After her Lenten prohibition on eating red meat, Theresa was ready for some red meat.  What better way to celebrate the lifting of the prohibition by doing seven courses of beef, Vietnamese style. Off we went to Anh Hong, which has 3 restaurants in the Bay Area: San Fran, Berkeley, and Milpitas. We opted for the Milpitas one, which is located in a strip mall/shopping plaza off Calavaeras Blvd.

The seven courses are: beef special salad; beef fondue in red wine vinegar sauce; steamed beef patty; grilled beef sausages; beef wrapped in hawaiian leaf; beef rolls with onions and lemongrass; and beef rice porridge.  All of this is served with rice paper, lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, bean sprouts, and large sprigs of mint so you can create your own wraps with the various ingredients.

Condiments included chunky hot pepper sauce, fish sauce, and a slightly sweet shrimpy sauce (first time I have come across something like it), allowing you to mix your own dipping sauce and set your own spiciness/heat level.

Course #1 – Beef salad – Slices of cooked beef over shredded daikon, carrots, sliced celery, topped with peanuts and mint, and dressed in a light fish sauce based dressing. A nice, clean, fresh way to start off the meal.

Course #2 – Beef Fondue in red wine vinegar sauce – A hot pot of vinegar based braising liquid warmed by sterno was brought to the table along with slices of raw beef.

You dip the raw slices of beef into the steaming liquid until it’s medium rare…………

then you can wrap it in rice paper or lettuce with the accompanying veggies and top or dip in the sauce of your own making.

A note about the rice paper, which come to the table in its dried form along with large bowls of warm water. To make the paper pliable and edible, you need to quickly soak them in the  warm water. Getting the right amount of soakage to obtain the right pliability takes a bit of experimentation. Creating a nice looking wrap can also be a challenge as the paper becomes really sticky and adheres itself to your plate. I guess i am still a newbie at it, but with some experience, I’m sure it becomes a lot easier.

Or if you don’t want to bother, you can go the low carb route and just use the lettuce and other vegetation to create your wraps.

Courses #3,4,5,&6 – Two types of beef rolls, grilled beef sausage, and meat cake (which actually is more like a Vietnamese meatball or meatloaf).

 

Rolls can be eaten standalone or in your own homemade rolls. Dipping sauce is optional as they are tasty without it.

 Course #7 – Beef Porridge – To wrap up the meal, a hot steaming bowl of porridge with bits of beef.

I was expecting this to be fairly heavy meal, given the name, but having a good mix of fresh veggies, grilled meats, and finishing with a rice soup made it nicely balanced overall.  It was also a great way to sample different types of Vietnamese cooking and Anh Hong pulls it off well, all at a reasonable price.  Good for larger parties with the added fun factor of customizing your own food. I would characterize the seven courses as a “sampler” type of menu item. While the menu states each order can feed two, if you have  bigger eaters, you might want to order something else like a starch or other dish as a supplement, as each order comes with a small portion of salad,  2 or 3 rolls/slices of each type of beef, and a single bowl of porridge.   If you are only getting the “seven courses”, Theresa’s general rule of thumb for larger eaters is to take the number of people in your party and subtract 1 to get the number of orders you need. Anh Hong should definitely be on our rotation of places for satisfying the hankering for beef.