Hey Cupcake!

February 2009

YUM. I don't even like cupcakes, but YUM. The Double Dose, with chocolate bottom and top, was amazing. And they sell cartons of 2% milk. Which I also don't like but was really good call with the cupcakes. Oh and did I mention it's sold out of a trailer?

http://www.heycupcake.com/

1600 South Congress, Austin, TX 78704

Amy's Ice Cream

February 2009

Huge fan. Had Amy's three times over the course of the weekend - at the airport when I landed (Mexican vanilla with cookie dough), at the South Congress shop (some strawberry neopolitan one), and at the airport on my way out (again the Mexican vanilla with cookie dough).

YUM.

Cissi's Market

February 2009

We came across Cissi's when Jo spotted the enormous flourescent letters on top of the building that read WINE BAR. Turns out Cissi's is also a great gourmet market, bar, and cafe, with super nice people. We sat outside on the street with a bottle of wine, but the folks inside looked like they had some pretty amazing meals too. I'd go here a lot if I lived in Austin.

www.cissismarket.com/

1400 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78704
(512) 225-0521

Bess Bistro on Pecan

February 2009

This was our big birthday dinner, at Sandra Bullock's restaurant Bess. I actually don't remember enough about it because the drinks were free flowing, but we had yummy shrimp appetizers with the most amazing sauce that we sopped dry with bread. I had a great rare filet.

www.bessbistro.com/

500 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78701
(512) 477-2377

Lamberts

February 2009

By far my favorite restaurant in Austin. We went down to West 2nd Street for Saturday brunch, and it was amazing.

Started with some of the best bloody mary's we have had (and we drinks lots of bloodys). Appetizers of deviled eggs, fried green tomatoes on a bed of some goodness (amazing), and wild boar spare ribs, followed by a brisket and jalapeno sausage link sandwich with a side of mac and cheese. I mean really, does life get any better?

Super cute place, and their upstairs area has live music at night!

http://www.lambertsaustin.com/

401 W 2nd St, Austin, TX 78701
(512) 494-1500

San Jose Hotel Lounge

February 2009
So maybe this is more bar than restaurant, since they only have small snacks like seasoned edamame and nuts. Super cute outdoor space in "SoCo" neighborhood in Austin. Only beer and wine, but they have some interesting drinks like a cava with bay leaf and some fruit infused champagne.

A little chilly but they have heat lamps for nighttime, which is key.

http://www.sanjosehotel.com/

1316 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78704
(512) 804-2418

South Congress Cafe

February 2009

Nice and reasonable restaurant in the "SoCo" neighborhood in Austin. We showed up around 9pm and had about a 30 minute wait, but the staff was nice and we perched at their bar area, which is actually pretty big (looked like some were eating there too). Our group of six got a cute corner booth.

We weren't super hungry but were pretty happy with the small plates and appetizers. I had the special beef chili (yum) and a blackened beef dish with horseradish hash. We had several drinks, and wine. Amazingly our final bill was about $22 per person, not bad at all

http://www.southcongresscafe.com/

1600 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78704
(512) 447-3905

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

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

http://www.zanzibarcafe.com/

707 G St, San Diego, CA 92101

(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

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

Academia de Cachaça

September 2008

A 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 2008

The 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.

Rua Barao da Torrs 218, Ipanema