chow - park (sunset) & church (castro), san francisco

a great local dig to dig your appetite into, chow is a great small business that focuses on retro delivery such as their insignia to their simple yet complex dishes. acme bread alone shares a glace of the class of detail that chow provides. in san francisco’s church street location, a quick bite to eat is endorses. from burgers to salad and pasta, it submits both small and large hungers to rest. the park chow, located in the sunset across from golden gate park is a sit my hungry ass down after work dinner location.

food. now! order the

pork chops. the large order, which provides the critic with two bone in grilled to perfection chops, with marks to prove it. it comes with a polenta cake which is crisp and very complimentary to the side spinach sautée. dee ordered the pasta with “fusilli of chicken, fennel sausage, mushroom, tomato & cream.” that acme bread I mentioned earlier comes in handy. the chicken is tender and the semi-spicy sausage compliments creamy tomato sauce very well.

the food is albeit great and the service is solid, but nothing will beat the drink, which ordered not only at church but at park seemed to bring the most joy of the night. it comes in the form of an order of coke, but the delivery is shared with a short glass filled with ice, and i know that the soda runs out fast, but the mini-chalice of happiness lasts.. forever *tear*

haha, a part from the overly dramatic coke, i cannot wait to go back because i hear the "linguini with clams, squid, prawns, garlic, parsley, chiles & lemon" calling my name.

4 out of 5 kettlekorns

fenton's - piedmont, oakland

everyone knows about fentons. and if you haven't, you should watch UP or just mosey on over to piedmont where this joint poppin into the wee hours of the night, even when it's cold outside.

we've been to fenton's several times. many times during college with my buddy jumper who used to pick me up from berkeley to get some fries + other unhealthy things at fentons, but lately especially after I moved home haven't been there much.

so a couple weeks ago ruel and i (+ other cools buds like jump, peter, p'khob, tim) volunteered to help with the berkeley thai temple's annual khon (thai classical dance) show. it was a beautiful production at the molonga theater in oakland. ruel, peter and jump were the elusive backstage curtain handlers and HANDLED those curtains flawlessly.

after the show we met up with gift and issy and were HUNGRY after all day of getting ready for the show and the show itself. unfortunately gift tripped on the stairs before the show and had an ankle the size of a baseball by the end of the show.

Our game plan: (1) drop gift off at kaiser urgent care (2) grab a bite at fentons YEE


so we caravan-ed to kaiser and headed to fentons which was still packed at 9pm on a sunday night. luckily we didn't need to wait too long to get our meal. ruel and i shared a chicken club and french fries (my usual) and a mocha sundae for dessert. yum yum. it's hard to pass up dessert, even when you are hella full, at fentons. it's like ice-cream heaven. peter got his usual mint chocolate chip and our bud issy got a biggie milkshake. (the milkshake photo is a la his iphone)

overall fentons is a classic place to go to for old-skool diner-ish food and some ice cream. reminds me of JURASSIC ICE CREAM for those who might remember that place from way back when. too bad it is no longer. the food wasn't amazing, but the experience is def worth the drive over to oakland and is a fun place to kick it with friends late on a sunday night.

i would definitely love to go there again..it's fentons!
3.5 out of 5 kettlekorns


P.S. ms. gift was fine. she just had a sprain and got some sliders from fentons after her hospital visit. trooper.

shanghai restaurant - oakland, chinatown

So a couple weeks ago, I had a late work meeting in Oakland Chinatown so we decided to meet up in Oakland (me via BART) and him (via his car) after work and get an early dinner before my meeting.

We had initially decided to go to Shan Dong, a place we've been a couple times before with BOMBASS handmade noodles and dumplings that Ruel's hearts, but are so so for me. Nonetheless we are looking forward to some yummy Chinese food. But unfortunately it was Columbus Day and apparently a lot of places in Chinatown are closed (or just happened to be closed) that day. So we walked around the vicinity and peeked into small restaurants and bakeries and finally settled on Shanghai Restaurant, a really small kind of hole in the wall place that had customers in it at around 5:45pm.

We decided to give it a try and I'm glad we did. We got noodles (which i was CRAVING) and some garlic chicken, at the recommendation of our waiter/chef. Two dishes were more than enough for us and we even had some left overs for lunch the day after. The place was quiet and a good place for us to catch up about the day while enjoying the sour and spicy chicken and thick noodles.

The food was quick and we were in and out in 45 minutes without feeling rushed. The price wasn't too shabby either, I think we spent 16 bux for the two dishes and rice. Quick and tasty food, big quantity & small price, and of course, good company was just what I needed to get through a long work day.

Would go back to this place, especially for a quick bite. But I think I would need to think twice about it if Shan Dong was open and I was really craving those noodles. =]

3 out of 5 kettlekorns.

We're trying to spice up rudee.foodie by adding some pictures. Don't ask me why everything in Ruel's picture is a shade darker and the noodles are like 3 shades darker. shruggs.

red lobster - fremont blvd, fremont

let me start by sharing a few statements of advice. if you are hungry, do not venture into a place that will make you wait 30 minutes or more. second, make sure you avoid red lobster. this was my first visit, and my last. third, w, h, a, c, k. WHACK! that is all. enjoy your meals at strizzi's instead, which will be reviewed on rudee.foodie soon.

0 out of 5 kettlekorns

akasaka sushi - telegraph ave, berkeley

today, dee and i celebrated rachel molano’s birthday at akasaka sushi, located close to the university of california, berkeley. before i continue to review the food, let me state that amount of food that was consumed massed 30 people worth, yet there were only a mere 15. wahwahweewah. although this blog is indeed no endorsement for borat, i felt like we were having a feat for a small village, or so it seems. the company for dee and i were favorable, and many santa cruz alum’s united for a thoughtful meal. plus beer :-). a sapporo pitcher would compliment any meal, but the sushi needed no additions apart from the wasabi infused [lite] soy sauce (the green kind, right babe?!). dee ordered a bento box with sashimi and teriyaki salmon. it came with a complimentary salad with miso dressing (unamusing yet not bad) and miso soup as usual, but the soup had a surprising addition of noodles, yum! i ordered a rocky roll, a avocado and unagi roll topped with salmon and large roe (fish eggs). it had a very smart addition of crunch on the side; panko rather, to be technical. the second roll included wonderful spicy tuna with rainbow of fish on top with a trio of sauce that included sriyacha! it was interestingly the same art that the menu offered, which equates to honoring their advertised meal, issuing this: thank you akasaka sushi, i would tip you at a true 15% if it wasn’t already included in the meal. regardless of the never ending sushi endeavor of today, or the lack of inclusion of comical conversation throughout the night, the red velvet cake and green tea ice cream certainly continued the wonderful tastes the night included. unfortunately, dee nor i could continue past a few bites of cake as our embellished dinner with old and new friends was accompanied with the rightfully so “sushi-itis.” again, thank you very much. arigatou gozaimasu.

happy birthday rachel!


4 out of 5 kettlekorns

katana-ya ramen - union square, san francisco

best ramen place so far. i never really liked ramen before, probably because i had never found the right place, but this place made me LOVE ramen.

katana-ya ramen is near union square and i first went there with my girlfriends who found it on yelp. there are many different options at katana ya, ramen, sushi, udon, soba, etc. but the ramen is by far the best thing to get there. we've been there several times (5+) and ruel had sushi once. the sushi was so-so and was really expensive. weve also had the udon which was pretty good too, especially if you like clearer soups. but by far their ramen was the best deal. each bowl is about $8.50 and will definitely fill you up. each order comes with a lot of different things in the ramen so you don't need to spend more money on add-ons for things like corn, meat, etc like you have to do at places like santa ramen in san mateo.

i always get butter corn ramen with lite miso soup (you can pick between miso or soy sauce, and then lite or heavy). it was very good. the butter corn comes with a piece of butter on top but you can ask for it without. there was not too much meat, which I didn't mind, because there was a lot of really good ramen noodles and of course corn.

i really love this place and find myself craving it every once in a while. how fortunate ruel and i both work in the city. we usually park in the union square lot and have a nice walk to the restaurant. we've had to wait there once or twice but most of the time get a table right when we walk in. we've brought many of our friends there and for the most part everyone has really enjoyed it. they also have a nice green tea that is a great compliment to a delish warm bowl of ramen, especially on a chilly day.

i hear it's going to start raining next week, maybe it's time to get a bowl of katana-ya corn ramen soon. ;)

4.5 out of 5 kettlekorns

café divine - north beach, san francisco

for those that may travel a la pied (by foot for those who do not speak français) in the north beach neighborhood, you may stumble on a quaint cafe that may catch your eye. whether it is a grateful homeless man who received his daily breads (physical & spiritual), or for those who want to embellish their taste buds in fancy espresso with small ass cups, this may be a place for you. across the park from saints peter and paul church, cafe divine also boasts a hefty wine list, which for little italy, is the norm. the great north beach pizza is but a block or two away, and alongside many gelato creameries, cafe divine would have a small shot a being a place for a pre-dinner meal.

onwards to the food then. dee and i found cafe divine by chance, and as we sat down for coffee, which seems all the less caffeinated these days, ordered items less traveled than a plain ol' cup o joe. it was decaf espresso (who knew?) and a slice of gingerbread cake (served a la mode). the first bite of the cake was "delish" © rachel ray. the a la mode went well with the small ass cup of decaf espresso and sooner than later, the cake was gone with the small ass cup of espresso still stared at us in the face. hmm. the random lemon rind did not help and we left, paying for what it seems like a bad shot of alcohol that no one wanted to finish after the buyer made a face when smelling it. its time to take a nice walk-of-the-dessert walk.

lets cut the rambling and rate this damn place.

3.5 out of 5 kettlekorns.