Vanessa's Bistro, sweet and savory the Vietnamese way

“You girls know how to eat”, our hostess smiled at us, the check attached. Ten things. At a tapas place like Vanessa’s Bistro where everything sounds tasty, I’d say we did a pretty good job narrowing down our choices, and we asked for the house recommendations only three times. All rendered success.

The first decision was [...]

May 4th, 2012 | Tags: , , , | Category: Appetizers, Berkeley, meat and animal, Salad, seafood, sweet snacks and desserts, VIETNAMESE | 23 comments

I can't think of a title for Tofu Village

Lately I think I’ve reached a wall in terms of Korean food. To be precise, the Korean food that I can get my hands on, i.e., in the Bay and in Houston. Every Korean restaurant here, in strikingly similar manner to Vietnamese restaurants, has the same menu as every other Korean restaurant. The menu may [...]

April 1st, 2012 | Tags: , , , | Category: Bellaire, Comfort food, Korean, noodle soup, seafood | 7 comments

At the Waterbar

Going to the Waterbar on a nice-weathered Saturday afternoon is a silly idea: everybody and their twice-removed cousins are also hawking for the same precious seats around the bar to get the 1-dollar featured oysters. It’s crowded. Very crowded. It’s like parking in San Francisco. Mr. Global Eats recommended the place during the weekdays, I [...]

February 12th, 2012 | Category: American, San Francisco, seafood | 2 comments

Roe, roe, roe your boat

I’ve finally had it. Le pâté des mers. A sandy lustrous texture and a briny air of the ocean compactified in bright orange lobes.

It’s my first time, at a sushi house in Berkeley in early May, so I’m not gonna pretend like I had the faintest idea about uni. I’m not sure if it’s raw [...]

May 8th, 2011 | Tags: | Category: Berkeley, Japanese, seafood | 1 comment

Down the Aisle 8: Abba crab paté

Found in a furniture store. Refrigerated. In a tube, a tad bigger than a Colgate container. Cuz I haven’t seen any edible paste in a tube at Safeway or Walmart, I say The Swedes rule in design, again. But does the paste sing, too?

The band ABBA had four member, but the paté has at least [...]

April 10th, 2011 | Tags: | Category: Appetizers, Scandinavian, seafood | 2 comments

Dreams & Conference - Day 1, dinner at Oceana

Dear diary, I am sitting in bed, listening to the waves crashing into the rocky hill and the sand, and thinking back on how Puerto Vallarta confuses and amuses us.

1. At custom they tell you to push a button, if it’s green, you go through, if it’s red, you gotta do some checking, and from [...]

January 10th, 2011 | Tags: , | Category: Mexico, seafood | 2 comments

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