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
Friday, November 28, 2008
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
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
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
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 YellWhat 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
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
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
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
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
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
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Betelnut
Dinner and drinks
Great cocktails (bloody mary if you are in the mood), great food, a lot of scene, gets super crowded though
http://www.betelnutrestaurant.com/
2030 Union St, San Francisco, CA 94123
(415) 929-8855
Great cocktails (bloody mary if you are in the mood), great food, a lot of scene, gets super crowded though
http://www.betelnutrestaurant.com/
2030 Union St, San Francisco, CA 94123
(415) 929-8855
Friday, September 12, 2008
Academia de Cachaça
September 2008A low key bar in Leblon with incredible selection of the Brazilian liquor. While no one spoke English, we picked through their extensive menu (fortunately in English) and ordered 5R shots after the other, as well as other mixed cachaça shots. The Brazilian cherry one was kind of a miss, but I liked the shot with honey and brown sugar. My brother had had a shot of a really good cachaça at dinner – unfortunately the name is lost, but it was about 20R and totally worth it.
Rua Conde de Bernadotte 26G, Leblon
2239 1542
Porçao Ipanema
September 2008The Porçao in Flamengo is supposed to have wonderful view of Pão de Açúcar, but it was rainy for us, so we opted for its closer sister restaurant in Ipanema. Recommended by our concierge as one of the three churrascarias to go to (others being Espaça that we already went to and Mario’s which is a bit more expensive on the other end of Copacabana). 
This was definitely my favorite meal in Rio, with a great salad bar (Espaça had more selection but I liked this one better) and amazing meat. The waiters are incredibly friendly and we were quite happy and full after a few hours. We learned to ask for meat malpasado, which got us rare, bloody pieces of animal. The dessert cart came around when we thought we couldn’t take anymore, but of course we got flan, egg yolk pastry, ice cream and coffee. Yum. With two bottles of wine and a bunch of drinks, I think it was about 600R total (63R per person). 
They also have a bar area in front, with the most volume of Johnny Walker bottles that we (including my brother who works for Diageo) has seen.
Via Sete
September 2008Via Sete is a cute lunch spot around the block from the H Stern museum and flagship shop – convenient for us post shopping since it was raining. Ended up being a great, light lunch, ‘light’ being the operative word – we were all craving salads and wraps by day five of our Rio trip. Had a really yummy meat carpaccio and greens wrap with a salad. Cariocas kind of drown their salads with dressing, but besides that quite good. Also had a nice glass of mate, a Brazilian tea-like drink that I like from Argentina.
Osteria Dell’Angelo
September 2008Great Italian on Sunday night. Antipasti platter to start was fantastic, grilled eggplant, zucchini, warm baked parmesan, olives, marinated eggplant, fruta de mare. Appetizers of polenta with porcini was great, as was seafood salad and prosciutto. I had a veal and arugula dish that was quite rich, but my dad’s squid risotto in ink sauce was the best (and most famous) dish.
Rua Paul Redfern 40, Ipanema
2259-3148
Rio Scenarium
September 2008
Three story samba club in Lapa – Lonely Planet fairly described it as having a local-to-foreigner ratio of 50:50, but in September (off season), we found the “foreigners” to be from Sao Paulo or other parts of Brazil rather than real foreigners like us (though we could definitely point out the awkward dancing American pretty easily).
There was a line with several dozen people down the street when we got there around 10:30, 11pm, but we bought some bottles of beer to go from another bar and it wasn’t too long of a wait. There is a cover of something like 15-30R – they give you a piece of paper with your name, and the bartenders keep your tab on the sheet, so you pay for the cover and additional charges on your way out. Not sure what happens if you lose the paper…
The place is decorated in antiques – as Jesse described it, “it reminds me of my grandmother’s house.” Cool dark wood bars and walls with dozens of old school clocks, an old “drogeria” with rows and rows of corked dusty vials with “drogs” (that’s what they told my brother). The samba band plays on the stage on the first floor atrium with balconies that overlook the stage from the second and third floor.
http://www.rioscenarium.com.br/
Rua do Lavradio 20, Lapa
3852 5516
Three story samba club in Lapa – Lonely Planet fairly described it as having a local-to-foreigner ratio of 50:50, but in September (off season), we found the “foreigners” to be from Sao Paulo or other parts of Brazil rather than real foreigners like us (though we could definitely point out the awkward dancing American pretty easily).
There was a line with several dozen people down the street when we got there around 10:30, 11pm, but we bought some bottles of beer to go from another bar and it wasn’t too long of a wait. There is a cover of something like 15-30R – they give you a piece of paper with your name, and the bartenders keep your tab on the sheet, so you pay for the cover and additional charges on your way out. Not sure what happens if you lose the paper…
The place is decorated in antiques – as Jesse described it, “it reminds me of my grandmother’s house.” Cool dark wood bars and walls with dozens of old school clocks, an old “drogeria” with rows and rows of corked dusty vials with “drogs” (that’s what they told my brother). The samba band plays on the stage on the first floor atrium with balconies that overlook the stage from the second and third floor.
http://www.rioscenarium.com.br/
Rua do Lavradio 20, Lapa
3852 5516
Espaço Brasa Leblon
September 2008
Churrascaria with all-you-can-eat buffet and roaming waiters with slabs of meat – different cuts of beef, pork, chicken, adult and kid, and not sure what else, since we didn’t understand most of them. I think I actually like the salad bar better than the meat, though both were good.
Av Afrânio de Melo Franco 131, Leblon
2111 5700
2111 5700
Choperia Brazooka
September 2008Three story beer house that we happened to stop for lunch during out Rio sightseeing tour. Our tour guide kind of made fun of us for wanting to try feijeoda, a black-bean dish cooked with salted pork and other meats. It is served with rice and stewed kale, and typically eaten on Saturdays. Super yummy, though rich, we had several refreshing glasses of chope (draft beer) and also fried fish and cheese.
Rua Mem de Sá 70, Lapa
3474 3363
3474 3363
Garota de Ipanema
September 2008
We stopped in here for a post-dinner drink because the recommended bar down the street, Devassa, was too packed. No matter, we loved this place – got some chope, or draft beer and a plate of chicken hearts, which was perfectly grilled and super garlicky, we have been talking about it all week! I had a yummy spicy tomato juice, which we were split on whether it had none or a ton of alcohol, but good either way. This is also a hang out of Tom Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes, of the famous bossa nova “Girl from Ipanema,” bar eponymously named.
We came here again for our last Rio lunch. We had the chicken hearts again, and palm heart salad, pizza, fried fish, soup and sandwiches.
We came here again for our last Rio lunch. We had the chicken hearts again, and palm heart salad, pizza, fried fish, soup and sandwiches.
Rua Vinícius de Moraes, Ipanema
2523 3787
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Zaza Bistro Tropical
September 2008We had dinner at Zaza our first night in Rio. We sat on the outdoor patio with “French-colonial décor”, cute lights and nice ambiance. On the second floor, patrons take off shoes to lounge and eat on throw pillows. Everything is organic.
We started with wasabi-cream cheese, eggplant antipasti and herb butter to go with bread and crackers. Then the waiter recommended Germana cachaça shot... Yummy seared tuna for entre.
Rua Joana Angelica 40, Ipanema
2247 9101
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