Lukas Taproom and Lounge

2221 Broadway

Oakland, CA 94612


Occasion: Dinner date with Anne K. Lee in Oakland. 11.10.10

 Seared Bacon Wrapped Yellowfin tuna

with new potatoes, hard boiled eggs, celery greens and sauce Gribiche

I'm not usually a bacon person, but for some weird reason I have liked any dish that had bacon wrapped around it.  It sounded really appealing so we decided to get it.  It was amazing! I love how it was served in slices. I built it into a sandwich form before I bit into it. First the layer of the sliced boiled egg, then the bacon wrapped tuna, then the picked veggie.  As I bit into it, there were a burst of flavors from the fresh fishy taste of the tuna, to the salty bacon to the tangy picked veggie. It's definitely something to try.

 Squash Soup

with roasted pepper and creame fraiche

Very flavorful and creamy. Again perfect, a soup kind of day.

Ricotta and Porcini Gnocchi

with chanterelle mushrooms, kabocha squash, rapini and frisee with a porcini sherry broth

I think this must be the first time I've had gnocchi.  It's like a pasta dumpling, stuffed with ground meat and other things. It's not that bad, but not something I'm that fond of. My favorite part of this dish were the chunks of squash, which were soft and sweet. I loved the consistency of it.

 

Luka's Burger and Fries

with lettuce, tomato, onion and extra added avocado

It was good and very filling. Nothing too special or extraordinary from other burger joints

Osha Thai

149 2nd St
San Francisco, CA 94105

Occasion: Girl's Night Out Dinner. Party of 6 family style. 11.09.10

Tuna Tower

Tuna Tartare with cilantro, mango, avocado, garlic chip and Sriracha-sesame sauce served with fried wonton
I love eating tuna tar tar and I can never go wrong with this. I love the combination of tuna, avocado and diced mangos all served on their wonton chips.

Tom Kha

Spicy coconut soup with lemon grass, galangal, Kaffir lime leaf and mushroom
It was perfect for the cold rainy weather. I love the flavor of lemongrass and coconut. To my surprise it wasn't too spicy. It helped warm me up.

Volcanic Beef

Wok-fried grilled premium flank steak with basil, black pepper in Lava sauce garnished with fried onion rings
A little spicy, but the black pepper sauce is so good. One of my favorites here!

  Pineapple Fried Rice

Fried rice with egg, tomato, onion, green onion, cashew, raisins, pineapple, chicken and prawns
Besides the presentation, nothing too special. Just another fried rice dish to me.

Spicy Eggplant

Choice of sliced chicken, beef or pork stir-fried with eggplant, basil and red bell pepper
It wasn't as spicy as I'd thought it would be, Thankfully bearable. Wish they had more chunks of eggplants. I would have enjoyed it more if there were more chunks of eggplants.

Spicy String Bean

Stir-fried string bean with chili paste sauce with chicken
Everyone loves string beans, so you can't really go wrong with that. It was tasty!

Grilled Sea Bass

Glazed with sweet hot mustard, served with steamed Baby Bok Choy and homemade spicy tangy sauce
I love seabass and I like how it was prepared here. I love the sweet glaze.  The meat was nice and tender and the outer skin had a slight crisp to it. Yummilicious. You can never go wrong with seabass!

Chocolate Souffle

Warm chocolate cake with a heart of creamy 'A' grade chocolate.
It was not what I thought a souffle would be. The cake tasted like it was made with some mix from walgreens. The cake itself was dry and there was not much of a creamy chocolate filling. This was the no bueno.

Fried Banana with Ice Cream

choice of Vanilla or Coconut ice cream
It was ok, I've had much better! Did not satisfy the sweet tooth craving.

Vanilla Sky

Crispy Roti served with vanilla ice cream
If only the roti was softer. It's too crispy and fried for my liking.

Fat Apple's Restaurant and Bakery

1346 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd
Berkeley, CA 94709

Occasion: Susie brought in cakes to celebrate Dr. Wong's Bday! 11.09.10

Chocolate cake

Super rich and decadant. I've never been a big chocolate cake fan, but it was very moist and sweet.  I would not choose to have a chocolate cake for my birthday.

 Carrot cake

The favored of the two cakes. The carrot cake was super moist and it was delicious with the cream cheese frosting and filling. I am such a fan!! I couldn't keep my eyes off of this cake and kept on going for little slices.

Amici's East Coast Pizzria

2200 Lombard Street
San Francisco, CA 94123

Occasion: After shopping dinner and catchup session with the BFF! 11.08.10

Manhattan Red Clam

Our special mix of Clams, Garlic, and Seasonings with Tomato Sauce

Between the two of us, we ordered the small, which was perfect for us. We each had about three small slices each and it was very tasty. Love tomato sauce pizza especially ones with garlic.  I really did enjoy their thin crust pizza.  I am a big fan of pizza, I like all kinds, but I have to admit, East coast pizza is better than Midwest pizza. So glad we came upon this place to give it a try.

Baked Penne Parmigiana with Eggplants

Loved it. Cheesy, tomato pasty and soft smushy eggplants with penne pasta (my favorite). It was filling and again, perfect amount for the two of us. Yummay!

Tacolicious

2031 Chestnut St

San Francisco, CA 94111

Occasion: Friday night snack before we head into Circa. 11.05.10

Meatball Taco

This was their special taco of the week.  Never had a meatball taco before, so Ella and I each got one to try.  It was delicious with guacamole and sprinkled with what seemed to be either goat cheese. It was small, the perfect amount right before a late night event. We had tacos, plantains and a margharita each. Yum.

Plantains

They were ok, but not as sweet as I'd like for them to be. On both sides, there was some kind of dipping sauce. One seemed to be some what of a bean sauce, which we were not that fond of and the other was some kind of white creamy sauce. They did not hit the spot, but were decent. We've definitely had way better.