Friday, November 28, 2008

Lavanda

Dinner and drinks

Tristen loves this place so much, she went three nights in a row. I was there for drinks on night #2 and dinner on night #3. Really yummy (Tristen claims new chef) and great wine and atmosphere. You can sit at the bar for a nice glass of wine and snacks or wonderful sit down dinner.

Rabbit ragu is wonderful, as is their gnocchi. Brussel sprouts are supposed to be signature but unfortunately they had run out.

www.lavandarestaurant.com

185 University Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94301
(650) 321-3514

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Mamacita

Dinner with Shreni

YUM. Favorite fusion Mexican place in the city, it was so delicious. Ceviche was amazing, as was the guac. Both our entres were amazing. Really great margaritas too :)

You can get reservations for half of their seats, and rest is walk-in, so especially prime time, should definitely try for a ressie.

www.mamacitasf.com

2317 Chestnut St, San Francisco, CA 94123
(415) 346-8494

Lotus Thai

Dinner with Yell

Trendy Thai place. It was nice to sit on sidewalk with yummy drinks. I was somewhat limited by Yell's 'no meat, no spicy' but still had pretty good spring rolls, pad keemow and vegetables.

www.lotusthaisd.com

906 Market Street, San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 595-0115

Carpaccio

Dinner with Katy and Gerri

Kind of a funny scene - totally hopping for a weekday night in Menlo Park, but a slightly older crowd (say 40s). Yummy Italian food, quite full.

www.carpaccios.com

1120 Crane Street, Menlo Park, CA 94025
(650) 322-1211

Zanzibar Cafe II

Brunch with Yell

What a great brunch spot. Downtown San Diego, huge open windows to the street, tall airy space. DELICIOUS brunch. Eggs amazing, really fresh ingredients. Yell had this great looking latte too

(619) 230-0125

Sogno Divino

Dinner with Yell

My favorite place by far in San Diego. Middle of Little Italy, and it's basically a wine shop with a few dishes, but SO good. This eggplant wrap with cheese, tomatoes and goodness (I dont know what) was amazing, as were the paninis and salad.

http://www.sogno-divino.com/

1607 India Street, San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 531-8887

Kasadela

Dinner with group

Pretty cool izakaya type restaurant in the East Village. Had dinner with a group of 10ish GSB and NY friends - the place does not take well to large groups since it's a pretty small space. Cute bar, then dining room. They have great selection of sake and shochu. Dishes are good but a bit small.

www.kasadela.com

647 East 11th Street (almost corner of Ave C), New York, NY 10009
(212) 777-1582

Terzo

Dinner with Wiser, Shane and James

Mediterranean/Italian place that we went to during Heirloom Tomato Week in August. We were not so impressed with their one heirloom tomato dish but the rest was ok. Everything is good (not sure if great), and somewhat limited menu though it's because they source all of their ingredients locally.

www.terzosf.com

3011 Steiner Street, San Francisco, CA 94123
(415) 441-3200

Aburiya Kinnosuke

Dinner with Joyce and Eddie

Fantastic and authentic Japanese 'robata' grill restaurant. Lots of skewers of vegetables and meat, and their starters are true izakaya style dishes. Tofu is amazing. Good shochu too.

Service is Japanese = amazing. I had dinner with the Wu's before getting on Metro North at Grand Central a few blocks away. When I asked about train schedules, the host actually looked up all of the times online and wrote them out for me. Extraordinary for US, normal in Japan.

Same folks that do Yakitori Totto, which is another favorite

www.aburiyakinnosuke.com

213 East 45th Street, New York, NY 10017
(212) 867-5454

La Bodeguita Del Medio

Dinner with Kate and Kai

Yummy, if somewhat pricey, Cuban place on California Ave in Palo Alto. Great mojitos. Cute bar too.

www.labodeguita.com

463 California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94306
(650) 326-7762 ext 13