Restaurant Review - Thai Place (Alameda)

Thai Place
1405 Wesbster St
Alameda, CA 94501

Som Tum - Fresh shredded green papaya salad with dry shrimp, tomatoes, green beans, peanuts, chilies and lime juice.

Combination Platter - Chicken and beef satay, fish cakes, crispy tofu and veggie spring rolls with cucumber salad, peanut sauce and house plum sauce on the side.

Kang Keaw Wan with Chicken - Green curry sauce with coconut milk, bamboo shoots, peas, eggplant, bell peppers and sweet basil. (pictured with a side of brown rice for one person)

Bottom Line: $32 for 2. Definitely will come back when we're in the area.

Restaurant Review - Dave and Busters (Orange

Dave & Buster's
20 City Boulevard West Building G, Suite1
Orange , CA 92868

Parmesan Chicken Alfredo - exactly what it is. I know it sounds weird but this is the dish that I've been craving since moving up North. Nobody seems to go to this place to hang out up here so I haven't had a chance to go eat my dish. I love it because they do not smother the pasta with creamy alfredo sauce, instead they add just enough to coat the individual strands with enough flavor. As for the Parmesan chicken, cooked just right for me. It has always come out super hot, crisp and so tasty! Give it a try!

Bottom Line: $15.99 for the eat & play combo (comes with a $10 play card). Otherwise it's 12.95 for the dish by itself. Definitely would come back for this.

Restaurant Review - An Cuu Hue (Santa Ana)

An Cuu Hue
413 N. Euclid Street
Santa Ana, CA 92703

Banh Khoai - Rice crepe with shrimp and pork toppings. For those of you who are familiar with "Ban Xeo" this is a Hue take on this dish. Instead of a thin and light folded "crepe" served with fish sauce, you get a smaller, thicker, crunchy cake served with a peanut sauce. Very yummy. Heard from my companion that this is the only restaurant that has this.

Banh It Ram - Fried tapioca cake topped with steamed tapioca cake, each stuffed with pork and shrimp. Comes with Fish sauce. Very chewy and tasty.

Banh Bao Chen - Rice cakes with ground shrimp topping served in small plates. Comes with fish sauce. A familiar dish to most of us. Not something special to just this restaurant. Tastes good though.

Bottom Line: A Vietnamese restaurant specializing in the kitchen of central Viet Nam. $17.50 for two. Definitely would come back.

Restaurant Review - A Street Cafe (Hayward)

A Street Cafe
1213 A Street
Hayward, CA 94541
(510) 582-2558

We discovered this because it is next to an indian restaurant we frequent. From the outside, it looks like a sandwich place, but once you step inside, it's a fancy French restaurant.

-Cheese Platter (Manchego, Stilton, & Brie): Man, that's some good cheese!!! We'll keep these in mind when we go to Berkeley Bowl. Anneke is a huge fan of brie, so these won her over.

- Canard al' Orange: Roasted breast of duck with an orange demy glaze. The best duck was still at Clemantine's in SF (review to come!).

















- Crusted Sea Bass: Pistachio crusted sea bass served with ratatouille. I had this with a Pinot Noir, Traphiche, Mendoza wine. I love the subtle flavor of the seabass, and the pistachio crust did very little to enhance the flavor. This is the first time I had ratatouille. It was tasty, but I have no other comparisons.


















- Lava Cake - chocolate goo-centered goodness. Yummy.
- Creme Brulee - I never met one i didn't like. The sugar crust was especially thick on this one.




















Bottom line: $100 for 2. Pricey. The food was decent, but I could think of plenty of better French restaurants with better food & prices.

Restaurant Review - Englander (San Leandro)

Englander Sports Pub & Restaurant
101 Parrott St.
San Leandro, CA 94577

We always go here, so it's about time we write about it. It's sort of a place we can always go to eat if we can't decide on anything. The food is hearty and the atmosphere is fun.

- Snakebite or Black Velvet: I always start off the meal with this. It's Guinness and pear cider.



















- Fried Fisherman's Platter: Shrimp, scallops, stuffed prawns, and cod. Perfect with the snake bite and a Warrior's game. Everything is crispy and full of deep fried artery-clogging goodness!















- The Englander Pub Burger: 1/2lb beef patty served with a thick slice of cheese, linguica, and grilled onions. Anneke finally found a place that serves burgers she likes.














Bottoms line: $30 for two. We love this place. Certainly not fine dining (obviously it's a pub), but good fun & atmosphere.

Restaurant Review - Salang Pass (Fremont)

Salang Pass Restaurant
37462 Fremont Boulevard
Fremont, California 94536

Borani Kadoo - Pumpkin sateed seasoned with garlic and topped with a special yogurt sauce. We've never had pumpkin before so this a very interesting treat. The sauteed pumpkin had a nice sweet flavor topped with a creamy yogurt sauce. The broth that it was sitting in was delicious!

Aushak - Afhgani styled ravioli stuffed with leeks and seasonings, topped with ground beef and a delicious yogurt sauce. They seem to love their yogurt sauce! The leeks were a nice touch.

Quabili Pallow - Afghanistan's famous dish baked brown basmati rice with lamb seasoned professionally, toppped with raisins and juilenned carrots. The lamb was a little gamey, but the rice was stunning!

Firni - Delicious Afghani pudding, prepared with milk, rosewater, cardamom and sliced pistachios. Man, this was GOOD!

Jala (Faloodeh) - Traditional homemade ice cream served on a bed of rice noodles and ice, sweetened with chilled rosewater and syrup. The rice noodles was bland and didn't really fit in the dish, but the homemade icecream was soooooo good.

Bottom line: $43 for two. We would definately go back to try some of their other dishes, but the real moment here was the desserts.