A Cote

5478 College Ave
Oakland, CA 94618

Occasion: Celebrating Ms. Annie Doan's Bday celebration party of 15. 01.20.12

Croque Monsieur

French Ham and Gruyere 

Definitely not something I'd expect to see on a dinner menu, but I'm not complaining because it was delicious.  The melted gruyere cheese with the combination of meat pressed together was absolutely delicious.

Mussels 

with Pernod from the wood oven

We got three orders of this to share amongst everyone.  So glad we did because you can never have enough delicious mussels.  It was delicious with minced garlic and a flavorful brothy sauce.  Dipping some complimentary bread into delicious broth is one of my favorite things to do.  Yum. It's a must order.

Pommes Frites

with Aioli

Their aoili is absolutely addicting.  It's a great filler to have between meals and the perfect snack when you're catching up with friends to great conversations.

Duck Confit Flatbread
with Sierra Beauty Apples & Cantelet 

I did not expect it to come out in a pizza form.  It was like a super thin pizza with topped with tender duck meat.  It was amazing and I wished we had ordered more.  We only had one to share amongst everyone. Another great dish ordered.

 Scallops

Most memorable thing on the dish was not the scallop, but the pink thing in the middle.  I'm not exactly sure what it was, but it was tart and pickled and definitely complemented the scallops really well.  Not to say the scallops were bad.

 

Rabbit Sausage 

I'm going to admit that I was a bit hesitant when we ordered it, but I am so glad I did.  It didn't taste any different than a regular sausage.  The meat wasn't too gamey and was sitting in some kind of a lentil soup and topped with some kind of horseradish/ spicy mustard.  Yes the combination of ingredients sounds weird, but it works and was actually quite good.  Just don't let the name of the dish scare you off.

 

Red Kuri Squash Gnocchi 

Chestnuts, Fontina Sauce & Kale 

Not one of my favorites of the night.  The texture of the gnocchi was chewy and I liked that, but it tasted pretty bland.  The kale on the other hand was overly salty.  I just didn't think the dish worked for me.  It was definitely not a favorite of mine.

   

Short ribs

with mashed potatoes

It wasn't that memorable of a dish.  It only came in a small chunk of short rib that was barely enough for two.

DESSERTS

 

Complimentary Beignets

Ice Cream Sandwich with nutella

Banana Cream Pie

Esperpento

3295 22nd St
San Francisco, CA 94110

Occasion: Catch up/ dinner date with my big sis! March 14, 2011. Yay another spanish/ tapas place for us to try!

Gambas Al Ajillo 

garlic shrimp

garlic + shrimp= delicious!

Champinones Al Ajillo 

Mushrooms sauteed with garlic

I love sauteed mushrooms, wish there were more!

 Lobster Paella

We had seen it as a special and it looked good, so we decided to order it.  Portion was generous and I thought it was pretty good.

Picaro

3120 16th St
(at Valencia St)
San Francisco, CA 94103

Occasion: Sarah is in need of some TLC dinner =] Yup that was the title of our email thread! This dates back to February 20th. Yes I still remember=]

Complimentary bread with dipping sauce

I kid you not, but this was the best part of the meal. We must have asked for what seemed like 10 baskets of bread and an additional big bowl fo the dipping sauce. I have no idea what was in that sauce, but it was absolutely delicious. We all LOVED it. Seriously the best starter EVER! I tried asking the waitress what it was made of and all she could tell me was that it was a vegetarian dip. I would seriously go back to this restaurant just for their free bread with dipping sauce. Once again...AMAZING!

Sangria

We had just missed it for $2.50 glass or $10 pitcher of sangria, but we still got a pitcher. Two glasses of this and I was buzzin'! My glass was more on the sweet side=]

Fried calamari

Can't really go wrong with calamari especially if you have a special mayo filled dipping sauce. Portion size could totally have been a bit bigger. Still satisfied tho!

Tortilla de Patata

Their deep fried potatoes with their garlic aoli was one of the best tapas we ordered. It was delicious! I love potatoes and I can definitely say that compared to cha cha cha's, Picaro has better deep fried potatoes. Must be the aoli sauce?

Mussels

Portion size was kind of small. Loved the bits of chopped tomatoes and the vinaigrette sauce it was cooked in. It wasn't too bad! I would definitely say it was one of our more favored dishes.

Grilled Clams

with garlic,parsley and olive oil

Again, nothing really spectacular about this dish. There were only about 10 clams in there, if not less. Anyways, wish there were more clams for what we paid for. The sauce was used for bread dipping, which I thought was pretty darn good.

Paella de Mariscos

Seafood paella with clams, mussels, shrimps and calamari

This was actually my first time ordering paella. It was hella hyped up for me, so i really was expecting something wonderful. When I took my first bite of this...it was not as wonderful as I had hoped for it to be. I was definitely disappointed. Maybe it's me because I've never this before, or maybe it was the place. I really didnt' think it was all that. This was the only thing that came in a great portion. Please note that it does take extra time for the restaurant to prepare for paellas so please order right away.