48 Hours to Prepare

Fenton's Black and Tan

With Valentine’s Day approaching in less than 48 hours, I thought I would make a couple of recommendations for night out for two for any price range.

Big Dollars -- Acquerello

My wife and dined here a while back and have been anxious to return, but it has a high price tag has been a barrier. For Valentine’s Day Acquerello is offering a menu of 6 courses, highlighted with lobster and black truffles paired with Italian wines. The food and wine are worth the money, but it is hard to swallow the $180 per person for the experience.

On the romantic side Acquerello has it all. Ta warm and gracious atmosphere the moment they arrive. The former chapel, graced with arches and a rustic wood-beamed vaulted ceiling, and a warm Mediterranean coloring give this 50 seat dining room a unique experience. Acquerello has extensive collection of crystal decanters to allow your wine to breathe in class. Acquerello has received countless awards, including a Michelin star in the first-ever 2007 Bay Area guide.

A Few Bucks – Chenery Park

Located in the Glen Park Neighborhood, one of San Francisco's last undiscovered neighborhoods, is a rising restaurant scene and a staple is Chenery Park. CP is a charming neighborhood restaurant with excellent Southern-style goodness comes with great service. It can be tough to get a table, so call as soon as possible to book your reservation

A menu sample is the Spicy Seafood Gumbo with Scallops, Shrimp, Catfish and Smoked Bacon for $17 or the “Thursday Night Special” Pork Adobo with Napa Cabbage Slaw for $16. The cocktails are always well prepared in this full bar. For two people with drinks and wine you’re looking at about $100 bucks.

I highly recommend CP. Parking is easy and Glen Park BART station is only a block and half away.

Low Budget – Fenton’s Ice Cream

I always love low budget, because if done right can be very impactful and have a positive effect on the cash flow. So for this you have to know your partner and plan this well. In my case if we were in NYC I could get away with Gray’s Papaya my wife loves this place and a walk to Central Park a couple of cocktails on the Upper West Side could complete evening. But plane tickets would put this way over budget so here on the West Coast it has to be Fenton’s

This 114-year old Ice Cream Parlor is an Oakland Tradition. The first time we went on a date to Fenton’s, I thought I would be a big spender and let her order anything she wanted. She order the fresh crab sandwich, $16 in 1987, big dollars. You can still get the House Special Crab Salad Sandwich, along with other soda shop fare. Have one of their large sundaes, in our case it would be the Black and Tan, for dessert. These are Massive sundaes come to the table so loaded with toppings that extra saucers are needed to catch the overflow.

Fenton’s is located on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland, the line for a table can be long and the parking can be tough. For Drinks you can try the Tiki Bar Two blocks north. This use to be the Kings X, a great neighborhood bar, but it is now called the Kona Club or down the street is Cato's Ale House. Although you can take the kids to this one, perhaps the 22 beers and the $1 sake shots are best left to adults when the evening begins to age. One piece of advice: If you must order the catatoes -- those large, hard-to-swallow potato wedges -- make sure you have a pint of Guinness to help wash them down.

Acquerello, 1722 Sacramento St., San Francisco, CA 94109

http://www.acquerello.com

Chenery Park, 683 Chenery Street, San Francisco, CA 94131
(415) 337-8537

http://www.chenerypark.com

Fenton’s Ice Creamery, 4226 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, CA 94611
(510) 658-7000

http://www.fentonscreamery.com/

Gung Hei Fat Choy

农历新年

Gung Hei Fat Choy to all

Today is the Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year 4706, which brings in the Year of the Rat. Since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area 32 years ago the Chinese New Year has been a cursory part of my life. I have benefited from this joyous time of the year by taking in all it has to offer.

Chinese New Year (农历新年) or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays and for many this day is more important than birthdays or religious holidays. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. In the Bay Area, the Celebration will continue for most of the month and will be punctuated with the San Francisco Parade on February 23. The Bay Area events have taken on a very American Twist with the Chinese Community Street Fair, San Francisco Symphony Chinese New Year Concert, Chinatown 10K/5K Run/Walk, Miss Chinatown U.S.A. Pageant, and the Miss Chinatown U.S.A. Coronation Ball.

Traditionally, the Chinese New Year celebrations are marked by visits to kin, relatives and friends, a practice known as "new-year visits." New clothings are usually worn to signify a new year and the color red is liberally used in all decorations. Red packets are given to juniors and children by the married and elders. As a student in San Francisco, I remember receiving my first red envelops from a teacher with a quarter in it and boy I thought this was great holiday. Red packets for the immediate family are sometimes distributed during the reunion dinner. The packets contain money in certain numbers that reflect good luck and honorability. Twenty five cents in 1976 was very fortunate.

The great thing about most holidays is they generally surround foods. I know this week many people around the world celebrated Fat Tuesday (for all you lapse Catholics) and with it the food and drink, so too, with the Chinese New Year. So here are a couple of places to grab a bite.

If you are on the run or would like to eat home, stop in Oakland at the Delicious Food Company, 734 Webster St, for some tempting items. The Delicious Food Company's steam pork buns are awesome, grab some of the other steamed items and a six pack of Tsingtao Beer and you have the makings to start the celebration of the New Year in a low key style.

Looking to dine out for the Lunar celebration. If you are in San Francisco, try the House of Nanking, 919 Kearny St, the lines can be very long, but the food is good and is worth the wait. Nanking is located near the end of Parade route. Just two blocks North of Nanking is Brandi Ho’s, this has the look of a tourist trap, but the deep fried pot stickers and the Si Fo Chicken are worth the stop. Finally, if you are out late at night and have a little liquid in your stomach needing to be soaked up by a little food a stop at Sam Wo’s, 813 Washington Street, is essential. Sam's is a legendary for its late night service and less than customer oriented service.

So how does such a dirty, sticky place with shaky service at times get rave reviews from locals? It is easy when the food exceeds your expectations the food here is probably the best you'll find afterhours, plus it's after midnight and you have few choices in the City. As you walk past the kitchen and up a narrow spinning staircase to get to the upper level it has a very San Francisco feel. Even though Sam is now gone, the old lady will take your order, then tell you what you ordered is no good, and order for you, just charming in the Sam's tradition.

So enjoy the start of the New Year, my you find luck and success in 4706.

http://www.sanfranciscochinatown.com/

http://www.sfgate.com/cny/

http://www.oaklandchinatownchamber.org/index.html

Dopo -- Delivers Big

Dopo on Oakland's Piedmont Avenue

So the other night my wife and I, join our friends James and Brenda for dinner. The dinner was arranged by my wife and James, and it was suggested to go to Dopo, on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland. Now the reason was James and Brenda suggested the restaurant was because they thought we had dined there in the past, fact was a few years back we dined across the street at LoCoco’s. LoCoco’s is fine homey, down-to-earth, tasty pizza and Italian food place, but I had no idea that a mistake had been made, until later in the evening during dinner conversation, but this was a terrific mistake.

In all years eating on Piedmont Avenue, I had not been in Dopo so it was great to get a chance to try something new. James had a bottle of wine from the Piemonte Region, a 2005 Nebbiolo, Casina Morassino, waiting when we arrived, a very versatile vintage. A very good call by James. Dopo offers a very good selection of Italian wines and the list is designed to support the menu with good bottles from small producers. It’s easy to find a selection to pair with your meal. If you are craving a cocktail you will have to wait a while, Dopo currently has a limited liquor license, and they are petitioning to expand the bar offerings.

Dopo is sleek and sophisticated with warm lighting and abstract prints. Jon Smulewitz, a former cook at Oliveto in the Rockridge, assembles food from an Italian menu as tiny as the space itself. We started with Dopo’s house-cured salami; Copa, mortadella and Calabrian-style salami show there is a true passion for the pig in this kitchen. The plate was an excellent starter with our wine.

The second bottle of wine was from the Tuscany Region, a 2005 Morellino di Scansano, Erik Banti. This was a hardier bottle with a heavier taste. The table liked the first bottle, but you got to test them to know.

Our table had three pasta orders and a calzone. James and I had the braised short-ribs over pappardelle pasta. The sauce had an excellent flavor and complemented the meat. The pasta was cooked to perfection. My wife had the seafood (clams, mussels) spaghetti and Brenda had the calzone. The menu changes, so I will not go into the dishes in great detail, except to say that the quality of the food was fresh and full of flavor.

Even though no one at the table ordered pizza, you could tell it was a staple of frequent diners. Dopo uses a wood oven to create crackly, chewy pizzas: spicy peppers and sausage option, coated with vibrant tomato sauce and the buffalo mozzarella and basil flowed out of the kitchen. A must try next timed.

The desserts are simple but not boring, the offerings included a lemon tart, rich chocolate-almond torte and a cannoli. I had the cannoli, not the best ever, but very good for the West Coast.

Overall Dopo delivers. The service was good, although we were talking and enjoying the wine, although I truly did not notice the job the server was doing, which is a good thing. As mistakes go, this was one my taste buds could live with.

Dopo
4293 Piedmont Ave Oakland, CA 94611
Phone: (510) 652-3676
Lunch 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; dinner 5:30-10 p.m.
Reservations accepted for parties of five or more.
Credit cards accepted.
Beer and Wine.
Street parking is tough, tough, tough.

La Coco’s 4270 Piedmont Avenue Oakland, CA 94611 (510) 652-6222. Cash only.

Best Ride In Town

This mid-morning, I had to go over to San Francisco for my work department's holiday lunch at the Slanted Door. I have eaten at the Slanted Door several times and enjoy the food, no Cocktails on this visit -- work function, but it was the way we got to the restaurant that I enjoyed the most. We took the opportunity to ride the Oakland/Alameda Ferry over to our luncheon. It was the ride over that made me remembered why I like to commute on the Ferry.

First of all no driving and no Bay Bridge may be reason enough to take the ferry, but it is the view that the boat ride gives you is what makes this a special trip. See, I like to take photos and I remembered to bring my camera for the ride over and it gave me the opportunity to shoot a few photos. (To see some of my photos go to my Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/john-alameda/. Link also on the left.)

When you shoot photos you try to find view that very few people see or capture light that gives a shape or object a new feel. So the ferry ride provides this opportunity for a different view, a pleasant trip and if you are so inclined a drink. Coming back from San Francisco, I shot a container ship, with tugs almost the entire way down the estuary. Something I rarely can get close enough to capture a good photo, and today I was able to get a a couple good shots.

So grab you camera, get a drink and find that special spot on the ferry to get your photos.

To stay true to this blog, the Ferry also has a full bar and it the only public transportation in the Bay Area that I know that allows you to drink. So get a drink at the bar and head to the stern of the boat and enjoy the ride. For those of you on a budget, I have brought my own drinks on board for the trip over to AT&T Park for Giants games. I do not think any would notice if you found a spot and had a drink.

Flora

Flora, originally uploaded by John Oldham.

Tried this new restaurant in Oakland last week and was very impressed. Flora is in the former Oakland Floral Depot (1900 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA) at the corner of 19th and Telegraph across from the Old Fox Theater. This addition to the neighborhood is an island business right now, not much around this transitioning neighborhood. With Lukas Tap Room two blocks away the neighborhood is getting geared up for the thousands of new Condos and apartments that are being built in Downtown.

The dining room is very clean, the light jazz music is at the right level to carry a conversation and the staff was attentive. The menu has prosciutto wrapped swordfish and NY Steak that jump right out, but they have a pork dish, chicken and vegetarian dishes. The wife and I stuck to the Starters with a couple of cocktails. The red braised short ribs, pan gravy, crispy potatoes, cheddar cheese béchamel was fantastic. By the way I had to look up béchamel (Béchamel sauce also known as white sauce) thank to Wikipedia once again with the soup and a salad was just right for the late evening fare. The wine by the glass and beer list is very good. But take a gander at the cocktail list.

If you are looking for an inexpensive evening this is not it, the prices were a bit on the high side, $16-$25 for an entrée. If you are going to show at the Paramount Theater or looking for a casual but chic place to have a drink and some food, it is well worth the stop.

The San Francisco Chronicle did a small write up of the restaurant.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2007/11/14/FD9NT9P3K.DTL