The Vestry

Shirley:

It's been a long time since I've had the typical Fried Chicken - Collards - Mac & Cheese combo. I even passed up the Meatballs. 
The Vestry is a good thing. It has tasty dishes, fun, professional staff and an intriguing history. We were there for dinner, but check out their website: thechapelsf.com. There is information about their Chapel Bar and entertainment venues.
The elements on my plate, individually and in combination, were in everyway delicious. The chicken had been brined and dipped in a thin batter and deep fried to perfection. The meat was juicy and well-seasoned, the coating stayed crispy until the very end. The collards were cooked just to chewable but not mushy. The leaves were sliced into long shreds and got to my mouth by twirling them around my fork like spaghetti. And the mac & cheese! Oh the mac & cheese! A tiny little bowl of the creamy, cheesey mac with a crispy, buttery breadcrumb crust. 

I completely supported Barb ordering the "It is It" ice cream with a hardened chocolate sauce. Poor Barb - she thought requesting 4 spoons would be a generous gesture when, in fact, it was just brought out the greed in her dinner partners. Or at least, in me.
I did not taste the other orders, but all plates were pretty much wiped clean. That was partly because of the quality of the food and the other part due to the size of portions. They were elegently minimal, yet not stingy, with portions more like a real restaurant instead of a truck stop. 
The building has a great history. I remember it as housing New College before sitting empty for years. It was a funeral home from 1914 until the 1970' s and, according to online sources, the restrooms were the elevator that transported bodies to and from the embalming room downstairs. (Look for the huge gears that worked the lift)
We had a changing of the guard during our visit and both servers were smart, funny and efficient. All and all, it was a great place. Not for everyday, but definitely for a special occasion. It's my second favorite place, so far. Beretta is a hard act to follow.

Jesse:

    This place is huge, it goes on and on, room after room. An outdoor dining area with strings of lights above, a main dining area with full bar, another large dining area with another full bar, but this room feels more for serious drinking and socializing, while enjoying the Vestry's full menu of course. It's closer to the Chapel itself, where all the music happens. And another full bar is located. They make it very easy to get a drink. I found the Chapel room gorgeous. High ceilings with arching religious ribs, complete with huge disco ball in the center. Nice place for a concert.

    Every wall is painted a dark, warm charcoal, which works except for the bathroom where you can hardly see where you're going it's so dimly lit and darkly painted.
    We arrived at 5:15pm. We had a reservation but it wasn't necessary. Had the place to ourselves pretty much. Tonight the joint didn't start to fill up until 7pm and then it was only half full. This place can hold a lot of people.
    The menu is outstanding. So enticing, we had to take a bit longer to ponder it.  

    I ordered the Mussels in a tomato sauce with preserved lemon, cream, chili flakes and a grilled baguette. The baguette is lightly coated with olive oil and garlic but due to my limitations I had the mussels without cream and baguette. All for $18. Tonight they offered $1 oysters on the half shell, so two of those please. They were accompanied by two sauces, a yummy, spicy red, and a salty, vinegary clear. The red sauce was my fave.
   For dessert we shared the house...It IS It, their take on the San Francisco classic -- a sundae with creamy vanilla ice cream, oatmeal cookie, and bittersweet chocolate magic shell for $9.
    Everything was delicious. My only ding would be that the portions were a wee bit small on 3 out of 4 dishes we ordered.
    Our waitstaff was very attentive, extremely pleasant, and added to the enjoyment of our evening.

Mary:

Not much left to say. I agree with everything both Shirley and Jesse said. The place was     almost empty when we arrived at 5:30, so we could choose our seating. Always fun to sit at the window in a restaurant on Valencia. The street traffic, both cars and people, is constantly interesting. When I got up to take pictures, I almost got lost inside the building. It goes on and on, and there are stairs leading up and down that I have no idea about their destinations. 

I ordered the meatballs. Wow. Probably the best I've ever had, and that's saying something. Only problem was I could eat several more when I was done. 

Fortunately Barb, who accompanied us this evening, couldn't eat the last of her pulled pork slider, so I got to eat that too and can say it was very good. I liked the help, I liked the food very much. The prices put the food into a "sometimes" category. 

Couldn't eat here often and mind the pocketbook too. But as a treat, it's not disappointing. I loved the way the silverware was presented, as if someone had tucked it into bed for the night.

Ali Baba's Cave

Mary:

I’ve eaten here before, years ago. Funny I don’t remember that until I get inside and see the “cave” or quasi-cave in the side room…an area just big enough for six people to sit on the floor around a low table, surrounded by material hanging from the ceiling and pulled to the sides. Kind of a junior-high school stage set made from old Indian madras bed covers.

And after I eat I know why I don’t remember. The lamb schawarma that I order is as tough as shoe leather. The rest of the food is good: hummus, salad, rice. Turns out that the schawarma spit is almost empty and I got close to the last carvings. Learned something. I’ll check that before I order next time at any restaurant that serves schawarma. It’s easy to do here because Ali Baba’s is deli style in the front, and sit down style in the back, so you can see everything before you order.

This is one of the oddest interiors I’ve been in. It has almost bare walls, and no official decorations except the “cave”. Coke bottles in cases stacked up one wall; three paintings of flowers way too small for the high-ceiling walls. It feels like it was designed by guys who just got out of dormitory life. I kinda like it. There’s nothing pretentious about it and I know that I’m not paying for the décor.

Shirley:

Ummm, Ali Babas. One of my favorites. How can you go wrong with lemon and garlic and olive oil? I always like eating here. I love the Mediterraen flavors that extend from Spain to Morroco, with all the coastal countries between. Except eggplant. Not sure why it has found a place on the planet. But throw in some mint and cumin and a little heat and I am in heaven. These are the cuisines closest to vegetarian that make me happy, body and soul.

I've tried everything on the menu and this time chose the Shawarma Plate with Lamb served on a rice pilaf. It includes Hummous and your choice of salad topped with Lavosh. I opted for the Tahini Salad; tomato, cucumber, parsley and mint mixed with tahini sauce. It was really good. The lamb had bits of charred edges, which gave it a smokey taste. The Hummous was creamy and lemony and the Tahini Salad was crisp and flavorful. I love the warm Lavosh and the finishing touches to the plate, like the olives and thinly sliced red onions.

Is it the best Middle Eastern food I have ever eaten? No. Is it consistently good and satisfying? You betcha. 

The cave part in the name is a little misleading in a comical sort of way. They do have a niche decorated in a Disney-esque Arabian Nights sort of way. The rest of the place is pretty utilitarian. It is more of a do-it-yourself place then full service, but the folks are polite and efficient. I like leaving a place feeling full but not stuffed and this type of food hits that mark every time.

Jesse:

    When you enter this joint, there's a long counter. Looks like a buffet counter but it isn't. You can see the food they offer and at the end of the counter you place your order. I ordered a lamb swerma dinner, the meat was dry and bland. I also ordered a mint tea. I received a cup of earl grey tea with a sprig of mint.
    This place looks like their food would be good but it just doesn't turn out that way.
    I would not recommend alibaba. If you want a good lamb swerma, go to Good Frickin Chicken on mission and 29th.

Valencia Pizza & Pasta

Jesse:

Mary:

This outside of this place is kinda faded. It has that look of invisibility that old restaurants get when they have been in the neighborhood for a long time and newer, trendier places have been built around it. The inside is more visually lively and includes a strange mix of old furniture and a Denny’s kinda menu on a white board. We originally said we would pass up pizza parlors because Jesse and I would find little to eat there; but this place had a menu more like a diner in spite of it’s name. In fact, I had a lot of possibilites—and I chose short ribs. I was looking forward to its melt-in-the-mouth tenderness. The ribs were disappointing, stringy and needing a lot of chewing. I kept looking at the other options that I had passed up for ribs, sorry for my choice.

The disappointment was made keener by the fact that I like the place. I appreciate the old feeling. I like the sense of a family operation and the aura of history that this place exuded. That aura accumulates in the walls; it can’t be built into a new place. I wanted to like the food. The staff (probably not quite the right term: mother and daughter or niece?) was welcoming, friendly and efficient. I watched several families with elementary school-age kids eating together, and reckoned that it was a good place to come to when mom or dad didn’t want to cook. It had that neighborhood status and the owners knew a lot of their customers by name. I can dis the ribs, but I can’t dis the place.

Shirley:

I was really looking forward to trying out this restaurant. I have often walked past but never tried it. It has a "not open" vibe that I just assumed was real. In fact, it is open most of the day; breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The place has multiple personalities. The exterior is "new, sweet, clean" with an interior that looks more like it has been kicked around by someone wearing combat boots. The menu that was handed to me read as simple diner food with a shallow overlay of Italian-American, but if you add the specials posted on the wall, it is a very complicated mixture of European cuisines, including a large range of seafood and speciality items.  All and all, it is a very courageous menu, not just for their chef, but for storage considerations as well.

I chose the Spaghetti With Meat Balls and tomato sauce from the table menu. It is my standard of comparison for any place that serves it. If you have ever eaten a really good meatball in marinara sauce on perfectly cooked pasta, then you know what life is for. There used to be a resataurant in New Jersey, call Bonvini's that actually had grandma Bonvini sitting at one of the red checkered cloth covered tables, shaping meatballs by hand, piling them up on a tray. I would watch as each layer built a taller and taller pyramid. Her son would carry the heavy tray to the kithchen where a miracle of flavors would be born.

Did the Valencia Pizza & Pasta live up to this idealized standard? Of course not. The marinara sauce was pretty good and the pasta was okay but the meatballs were a sad representation of the good stuff. They were spongey from some sort of filler and fairly bland. Texture is very important in a meatball and a too-high ratio of grain to meat completely ruins the chew quality. The plate included some excellently sauteed vegetables and okay dressed salad. Garlic bread was placed on the table as soon as we sat down. There was plenty of food. Mounds of medium cuisine.

Would I go there again? I think it would have been a great place to take my kids when they were young. I could have filled them up on okay stuff without a huge bill at the end of the meal except I raised them to appreciate good food and although they would have eaten everything put in fron of them, they would have had something to criticize for every bite. In fact, the powdery, industrial parmesian in the shaker jar on the table would have been immediately spotted and the comments would begin.

The folks were really friendly and helpful, It had the distinct feel of a relaxed family-run, down home restaurant, not the over-slick places popping up all over Valencia. No need to wax and buff anything, a good place for large portions at the end of your pay period.

Jesse:

overall rating: low prices for mundane food and ambiance

     The menu and ambiance of this place really reminded me of a midwestern town diner. The type of place where you could still order a blue plate special.  

     The ambiance was, well uh, not really to be found. There’s just one big dining area with 5 tables and an open kitchen in the rear. They probably bought the furniture from a used restaurant supply house and it hasn’t changed since they opened in 1995. 

     Not a lot of thought went into decorating. It’s more of a mish-mash with a huge odd flower painting on the main wall.

     The menu though, is extensive! You can order prawns, ahi tuna, meatballs, crab cakes, ravioli, salmon steak, pork chops, chicken, pot roast, lamb shank, catfish, meatloaf, calamari, and fried chicken. And they’re open for breakfast. wow.  

     The waitstaff is friendly and warmly welcomes your arrival. 

      I ordered a New York Steak with mushrooms and grilled onions. With a choice of soup, green salad, fries, mashed potatoes and pasta. Due to my food allergies, I had fries, mashed potatoes, a green salad and broccoli.  All for $17.95

     The steak and broccoli were cooked very well. A nice medium rare as ordered for the steak and the broccoli was pleasantly crisp. Mashed potatoes were a bit lumpy but good.

     I probably wouldn’t eat here again. There are just too many restaurants nearby that have outstanding food. Valencia Pizza has low prices but I would rather pay a little more and receive much better tasting food. And there are great cheap places around too. Granted, they’re starting to die out, but for now, I can do better with my food dollars.

      I did love their bathroom. It is a classic San Francisco  restroom setup. You go through the kitchen, through the back kitchen, down a very steep, short flight of stairs, to a TINY bathroom. Tall people beware. You might not fit. There’s not even enough room for a sink. For that, you go back outside, up the stairs and into the back kitchen to use their sink and towels. But it works and you have a tiny S.F. adventure.

Bon Appetite!

Burger Joint

Jesse:

Food: 4 out of 5 stars

     I ordered a Niman Ranch natural beef burger without a bun, garden salad with balsamic vinegrette, for $9.45. The price of their burgers continue to go up and tonight I realized that the burger patties were becoming thinner as well. But both the salad and the burger were very tasty. 

     I have been eating at Burger Joint for many years and it continues to be one of my favorite hamburger joints. It’s also a favorite of the teenagers in my life, in spite of all the other great hamburger places nearby.

     I love, love the interior of this place. It is by far the “coolest” hamburger shop I have ever eaten in. Well, Ok, Hamburger Mary’s was better, but Mary's is sadly, long gone. 

     Burger Joint also has the best music of all the hamburger joints I’ve haunted over the years. Awesome hits from the 50’s thru the 80’s. Makes you want to dance or at least sing along. It’s my theory that the great music is also a great digestive aid, which is quite necessary at a hamburger shop.

     Their bathroom is sweet too. Nice lines and colors aesthetically, and always clean. 

     I would highly recommend this restaurant for when you experience a hankering for hamburgers, fries and a good milkshake.

     Bon appetite!

Mary:

One of the favorite photographs I've taken is of the neon green and maroon back of a booth, with mustard and ketchup bottles on a formica table-top, shot through the window. It's of Burger Joint. And the experience of eating there matches the good feeling I get when looking at that picture. Burger Joint is the place to go for a full gustatory, visual, auditory treat. If you're Jones-ing for a good burger and fries, this is definitely one of the top places to go to in the city. It's got a retro feel with the formica table tops, booths, oldies playing on the sound system, and good burgers and fries that satisfy that multi-decade continuum that is "the memory of burger eating."

What can you say about burgers and fries? That what you order should satisfy your memory of all good burgers that you have had. Burger Joint definitely does. The fries are fat, a little on the soft side, and very tasty. The burger was cooked to my medium rare specification. The lettuce was crisp and so was the tomato slice (a slice of tomato that looks like it is dying of anemia is a definite appetite suppressant).

Burger Joint definitely satisfies.

Shirley:

The Burger Joint
Burgers and milkshakes and fries, oh my!
I like the Burger Joint. No matter what I order, it's good. Especially the milkshakes. I don't have them often, but they are so good.

My burger with cheddar was right on medium, just the way I ordered it. The bun, onion, tomato, piclke and lettuce were fresh and tasty.
The chrome trimmed 50's style booths and tables, the half-tone comic-like graphics on the walls and the doo-wap music create a fun, comfortable atmosphere.
Go there, eat there, try a milkshake and have a good time.

Phoenix Cafe and Irish Bar

(Sorry, no photos at this time.)

Jesse:

Phoenix Café and Irish Bar

Food rating: 2.5 stars out of 5 
Bathroom: 3 stars

    We were Really hungry when we arrived and I believe that improved our meal greatly.
    Upon entering you see a nicely appointed long bar on the left with a long line of well attended stools. There are several TVs tuned to Bay Area sports teams, or teams with former Bay Area players. That was the case tonight. Pablo Sandoval was playing with the Red Sox on one screen. I didn’t pay much attention. He made his choice and now I choose to be unimpressed.
    On the right are nice booths with copper covered tabletops and lots of dark wood trim around the room.
    The overall effect is warm and inviting. I like this place. I could hang out here, and we did. After we finished our so so meal, we did linger comfortably, talking amongst ourselves. 
    But let me get to the meal. The waitress was great and very helpful with my allergy questions. No complaints there.
    I ordered a burger, $15, cooked medium rare with bacon, avocado and a salad.
    The burger was a little dry and the bacon was a bit of a tasteless wad. How you can get bacon to a state of tastelessness is a mystery to me, but they did it.
     The salad was the best tasting dish on my plate. 
    There were two restrooms. The women’s had two stalls and was clean, with the same warmth as the rest of the joint.
    I probably wouldn’t choose this place again for a meal, but it looks like a great place to have some beers and watch a game. Come to think about it, I bet after a few beers the food is pretty damn good.

Mary:

The Phoenix bird can represent rising from the ashes, or it can depict the crash and burn part of the cycle that precedes the resurrection. Regarding the eating part of the Phoenix bar and restaurant experience last Friday night, it was unfortunately the crash and burn segment that we encountered. 
A good Rueben is my gold standard for a restaurant. Evidently I'm not alone, both Shirley and Barbara ordered one too. We were all ravenous (watercolor painting which precedes our Friday night restaurant excursions, can be an energy-depleting experience. Who knew that moving a brush about could burn so much energy.) So we would have been easy to please. It took me five or six bites to realize what was wrong. Not enough cheese, no sauerkraut, not enough thousand island dressing. And, the meat was not piled on. Ruebens taste great with just the right amount of excess. These sandwiches were anemic and disappointing. So sad. Barbara only ate half of hers and didn't get a to-go box.
But the environment was great. A nice place to hang out. Just don't go ravenous and expect good food.


Shirley:

Hurray! A place I've never eaten before. I was definitely looking forward to something new and different.
The Phoenix is an Irish pub, a place to knock back a sandwich and a couple of beers after work. There is plenty of memorabilia on the walls to keep you occupied while waiting for our order and the noise level ran high enough to have us shouting across the table to each other. It was dark, noisy and very friendly.
The menu was Irish/British/Mediterranean? fare, Shepherd's Pie, Bangers & Mash, Irish Potato Nachos, Chicken Strips, you get the picture. It is what I would call an American mix and very varied for bar food.
Now, I love a good Reuben. I have eaten them from New York to San Francisco. Corned Beef, Swiss cheese, Sauerkraut on Rye, grilled until it is all melty and crispy and gooey but not greasy. That is a good Reuben. Some like it with Thousand Island dressing, I slather it in a good mustard. Either way is great when the sandwich is up to par.
The Phoenix makes what I would call "a pretend Reuben". It followed the basic recipe but left some key elements. The quality of the beef was mediocre, the sauerkraut sparse and the bread, if it was not rye as I know it. If there was rye flour in the bread, it was hiding. And, the concoction missed salt. I found that strange because most bar food is build to keep customers ordering thirst quenchers.
So, not a great rendition. But I was hungry and the place was fun, so if you are not a food snob, it's a good place to hang for a bit. I am curious about the Shepard's Pie. I don't see it on menus very often but I fear disappointment and will have to seriously contemplate the possibility of not being satisfied by the Phoenix version.
I liked the place but the food is not the primary draw. For a rowdy evening, check it out. No pretension or pressure, just old dark wood, water served in jars (okay, just a little pretentious) and a full bar. Try it when you're in the mood.

OSHA THAI RESTAURANT

Mary:

I've eaten lunches at Osha before, and always enjoyed the food and the decor, especially the amount of light that enters from the wall-to-wall front windows. It gives the place a clean, crisp feeling. Someone has been overdoing the decorations (flowers and birds on the metal cut-out panels on the wall). It looks a little kitschy now, downgraded from elegant artistic.
I decided to eat off the appetizer menu. It seemed easier than trying to pick out an entree--mainly because they all sounded so good. So I had the lettuce wrap (Jesse did too, so I'll let her describe the ingredients.) The wraps were very good. The stir fried chicken and minced veggies were blended with a great-tasting sauce. The leaves of the lettuce were crisp and rounded so they were easy to fill and eat from. No juice and tidbits dripping down my fingers and arms. 

The Beef Wasabi Rolls were formed around julienned carrots and celery, with mint, wrapped with sliced grilled steak on watercress with a rich wasabi sauce poured over the top. I liked them, but they didn't quite make it to perfection. Something to do with the sauce and how it didn't blend into the other ingredients. I liked the bite and flavor of the wasabi sauce, and the best part was eating the watercress at the bottom which had been sitting in the sauce. It was more pungent and hot than what remained on the meat. The sauce on the saturated cress came just shy of opening up my sinuses. Just how I like it.

Shirley:
Osha is good corporate Thai food.  There are a bunch of them, so consistency is key. I always appreciate the thought and care given to please the eye in all their locations. Not sure I like the current trend in many restaurants toward hard surfaces that amplify sound, and I miss the dark grey mesh that separated the wall decor from the dining area. It created a subtle suggestion of depth that the black adorned grates lack. And the touch of whimsy of the "butt" chairs always tickles my fancy.

I enjoyed my meal a lot. It may be my southern background, but good peanut-butter makes me happy. So I chose two dishes that were "peanutty" and very satisfying.
The Osha Fresh Spring Rolls with tofu (you can get shrimp instead) had carrots, cilantro, lettuce, mint, all very fresh, and wrapped in rice noodle skins. The sweet & sour peanut dipping sauce was thick and tangy, with a tiny bit of heat.

The Beef Praram with peanut curry sauce and steamed spinach was served with rice. There were other options for meat (tofu, shrimp, pork, chicken) and options for rice (Brown Rice, Coconut Rice, Ginger Rice, Curry Rice or Sticky Rice). It's fun to mix and match. The beef was tender, the spinach sauted just right, bright green just barely wilted. A few slices of brocolli stem were thrown in there it give it some crunch. Altogether, a nice, well-balanced dish. And, of course, the peanut sauce was just what I needed.
The staff was pleasant and helpful. Some language confusion made for a slight challenge, but not enough to greatly hinder communication. Try asking a waitperson "What's in the shrimp-paste?" if you want to kill some time.
So, we are back to acknowledging Ray Crock for the concept of standardized menu and food prep. Osha is a chain, but one of the good ones. Give it a try on a medium-exciting day.

Jesse:

   I love the interior here. Very restive and a bit of elegance and whimsy. An orchid flower is served with most dishes.

     As usual I started by informing our waitstaff of my food allergies to see if anything I was interested in would be ok for me to eat. I was heartened by the statement at the bottom of the menu: Please advise us of any food allergies before ordering. Perfect, they are aware and knowledgable of food allergies.

     They turn out to be very helpful but as Shirley hinted at, there is a language barrier here. Their first language is not English so I could not be 100% sure that my food was really void of allergens. Here's an example. I was interested in their crab fried rice which contained shrimp paste. When I asked what was in the shrimp paste, I was told it was in the crab fried rice, and around in circles we went as if we were in an Abbott and Costello skit. 

     

So we decided on the Lettuce Wrap with Wok-fried minced chicken, red & green onion, cilantro, mint, lemongrass in sweet chili paste served with lettuce for $9.95. I asked for medium hot chili without soy sauce. It was good but had no heat at all and was pretty bland. Fish sauce and chill oil didn't even help too much.

     I also ordered the Crab Fried Rice, with crab claws & shredded crab, shrimp paste, green peas, carrots, egg, onions, garlic, cilantro & green onions for $14.95. No soy sauce and medium chili. It was even more bland and unimproved by liberal doses of chili oil and fish sauce. I would not order that dish again. Too expensive for too much bland. 

     The interior of the bathroom is similar in tone to the main dining area. Restive and a bit elegant. I love their floor tiles made to look like river stones.

Ratings: 1-5 stars. 5 being tops

Food: 3.5 stars 

Bathroom: 3.5 stars

Ambiance: 3.5 stars

     I would eat here again but probably just for a lunch. I would not come here for a big, celebratory meal. Their food isn't quite good enough for that.

OSHA THAI RESTAURANT Mission Street

				OSHA THAI RESTAURANT Mission Street Welcome to Osha Thai Restaurant on Valencia
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La Rondalla

Shirley:
Ah, La Rondalla, your history and reputation inhabit a friendly space in my memories. I used to eat regularly at your old incarnation, waited patiently through your remodel and drama and finally ate in the clean, spacious place you have become. Your food is great but I have some issues with both the food and the environment.
My suspicion is that this restaurant went the way of the old Roosevelt's Tamale Parlor on Mission - same place, same name, but gentrified and fusioned by different owners. La Rondalla used to be a "mom's-cooking-in-the-kitchen" kind of place, nothing fancy, just standard Mexican fare. It used to be dark, dingy, even a little dirty, with so many layers of years of decorations that you almost missed the archival photos of dead animals and fish on the walls. Almost.
It is not that now. So, I will refrain from comparison.
The Burritos Mojados De Chile Verde Y Chile Colorado (two wet pork burritos of chile verde and chile colorado topped with sour cream) were delicious. The pork was cooked to perfection and each sauce was a distinct delight, yet complimented the other. It came with a little salad with the Mexican version of Thousand Island dressing; nothing to write home about, just a little crunch of iceberg. The sauces were deep and flavorful. So, good food. Not homey Mexican good, more upscale, modern good. 
As for the interior of the restaurant, it was cavernous, cold and loud. Even the warm colors and leftover St. Patrick's Day decorations (?) could not warm the place up. Sound ricocheted off the hard walls, ceiling and tile floors, so that any conversation had to be conducted in a shout. I cannot image what the sound level is like if the place is busy because it was pretty empty when we were there and we left soon after eating, just so we could talk to each other.
So, if you want some good almost-Mexican food, it is a great place to eat. But do not go if you are nostalgic for the old La Rondalla because it has gone through a metamorphose into something not better, not worse, just different. I actually resent establishments that are trying to attract folks back to something that no longer exists. I would prefer they be open about their new interpretation of an iconic destination and not try to pass themselves off as something they are not.
Eat, drink and be merry

Mary:

I’ve been hearing about La Rondalla for a long time. It’s been shut for about ten years and whenever we walked past it’s empty self, I wondered what would become of that site. So it’s opened again, same site, same name and the manager is a relative of the original owner.

The food was excellent. I had Fajitas De Carne Asada: grilled skirt steak sautéed with tomatoes, onions and bell peppers served with sour cream, guacamole and pico de gallo. ($15.50) I ordered this dish because it reminded me of my favorite meal at the now defunct Mom is Cooking. I wasn’t disappointed. The meat was tender, and the vegetables were fully cooked and crisp…pulled off the heat at just the right moment. Very delicious. A sweet old gentleman passed by our table several times asking if everything was to our satisfaction. We muttered that it was, with our mouths full. I wish I had spoken more to him because I suspect that he was the original owner…but I was distracted by the good food. I tasted from the plates of my tablemates, and everything was good enough to consider ordering. 

The décor was bright, clean. The ding to this experience was the din. La Rondalla is large with high ceilings, so it’s almost impossible to hear the conversation at a small table for four. La Randalla is definitely a good place to savor good Mexican food. It’s definitely not a place to converse and expect to hear or be heard.

Jesse:

     At long last, La Rondalla is back!!!! WOOHOO!!  I am delighted to see what the new restaurant is all about. In my twenties, I spent many hours, after hours actually, sitting in one of their booths after a delightful evening of dancing on Valencia St. I loved the decor. Their food was so so, but the decor and patrons were great. So many layers of Christmas decorations sparkled everywhere. I loved it. I'm a big fan of Christmas and Mexican food, but not so much the photos of the hunters, fisherman and their dead animals that also decorated the walls in this establishment. But somehow, it all worked and I was very comfortable here to eat, lounge and  watch the  people go by. Yum.

     Well, the new place is very different. Same huge interior. The bar is in the main room now and there are still two large dining rooms with high ceilings. No more lovely funky decorations tho. I didn't really expect it, but I hoped it would have some character. This place looks like all the other modern Mexican food joints. A bit boring. Clean and boring. So, hopefully the food will be better. One good thing is the kitchen is open and you can watch while they cook. I always enjoy that.

     As my friends have mentioned, the high ceilings let the place get  LOUD really fast. It was maybe a third full and it was already too loud to hear each other. 

     So we speak really loud and commence to enjoy our food, which is really, really good. Much better than the old place. The waitstaff is knowledgable and helpful with food allergies. I ordered the Tampiquena, strips of tender beef sauteed in a home - made red salsa with sautéed potatoes (french fries), jalapeno chile, onion, tomatoes and bell peppers for $13.50. Yum. Would order this again even if I had to yell to do it.

     They have two bathrooms and one has a diaper table. Boring but pretty clean.

Ratings: 

Food: 3.7 stars out of 5

Ambiance: 3

Bathroom: 3

 

Herbivore

Jesse:       

     We thought we might have to skip this restaurant. Many of their entrees were made with soy, including the meatless meat dishes. But I decided to call first before we scratched them off our list. Hey, if Dosa could whip me up something to eat when most of what they serve includes coconut, then anyone could right? Wrong. 

     I call the restaurant, and start by just asking about soy and it took all of 10 seconds for them to tell me in a very bored tone that No, there was Nothing on their menu that I could eat. Hum, I got the distinct impression that they did not give a rat's ass about accommodating me.

     Farewell Herbivore, I'm glad I didn't get to know you.

Rating:  0 

Udupi Palace

Shirley:
Ah, the Udupi Palace, another well-frequented establishment in my general work area. I like the place but be aware, the excitement scale, it ranks as "been there, done that, many times". It is a fine place, I am just a little impatient, looking forward to some gastronomic exploration in my future.
If you are extremely hungry, try a Vada appetizer. These deep fried lentil donuts (remember my philosophy on deep fried?) are excellent and will anchor you to your chair. They are dense and crisp and marry well with the sambar (soup) and chutney.

I ordered the Northern Indian Thali, which is a cornucopia of dosa and uthapams (lentil crepes, either thin or thick), sambar, curries, poori, raitia, chana masala and a sweeten rice pudding. I know this sounds like I know what I am talking about, but I actually didn't quite know which was which for a lot of different dishes, but most were good anyway. It is a fun dish if you have a short attention span and I do. I believe the entire tray is carefully balanced with the sweet-salty-hot-mild-thick-thin-/hot-cold mix. It may be based in Ayervedic traditions, but I an not an expert on that, so it is only conjecture.
And, may I say, I love stainless steel dishware. Always have, don't know why. All the trays and little dishes and the heft and shininess all contribute to a happy place inside me.
My poor friend, Barbara, was a bit discombobulated by the whole experience. The chai tea was not her normal PG Tips and she was never quite sure of what she was eating. She is a game old bird, though, and muddled through. She did not order dessert nor did she ask for the remainder of her meal be packed to take home, telltale signs that it was not her favorite place for dinner.
Our waitperson was careful and knowedgable about ingredients, only winced once when we started messing with the menu and kept watch over who was eating what. We were again in the window table, so Valencia street was its usual entertainment. Funny how sometimes I feel like I can see out but they cannot see in. Not true of course, but it does seem a little voyeuristic at times.
Try out the Udupi Palace if you want to try something a little different from your usual Indian fare. It's interesting and comfortable and the donuts are killers!

Jesse:

    Again, at 5:30pm, we were the first patrons to arrive so we were able to grab a table by the window. By 6pm, the palace was about half full tonight. The ambiance was warm, comforting and interesting. They're playing pleasant Indian music that fits nicely with the Indian instruments displayed on the wall.

     Our waiter was very friendly and helpful with my list of food allergies. On their appetizer menu they actually serve a donut I can eat!  I haven't eaten a donut of any kind for many years. These are called Medhu Vada, you receive two donuts made from fried lentils served with sambar and chutney. Everyone loved them. We ended up eating two orders between the four of us. Later we regretted eating so many donuts  as we were a bit full and couldn't eat quite as much of the entrees as we would have liked. But we happily groaned and soldiered through. The kitchen made a special dipping sauce just for me and the waiter was very protective by cautioning me to not eat any of the other sauces, which I appreciated very much. 

     My entree was the Masala Dosa. A huge dosa, two foot long, made of crispy rice. Luckily their dosa batter does not use coconut and I could safely eat it.  All of our food came on metal lunch trays with impressions for several sauces. My dosa had a small metal bowl inside filled with a delicious spicy mix of potatoes and onions. I would definitely order this again.

     Everyone was having a good time during our meal. Being big fans of South Indian Cuisine we appreciate when it's done well.

     Well, time for the bathroom review:

     I was surprised to find it a bit littered. It was generally clean but looked a bit ragged around the edges. It could use a little paint here and there, but their nice use of tile kept it from looking too funky.

Bathroom rating:   2.5 out of 5 stars

Udupi Palace rating:   3.5 out of 5 stars

Mary:

This is the third Indian restaurant in a row that we have reviewed. So it feels that I am comparing Udupi Palace with Dosa and Aslam’s Rasoi more than with other kinds of restaurants. For example: dosas. Dosa, of course, specializes in them; Udupi offers them and other South Indian cuisine, but in a Hindu meatless style. I liked Dosa's dosas better because they were lighter, thinner, and were infused with a light coconut flavor. Udupi’s dosas were thicker and not as crisp.

I ordered sag paneer: spinach with cheese. Always a favorite of mine, and I was not disappointed.

The donuts took up a lot of space in my belly. Beware heavy donuts! We tasted off each other’s plates and I enjoyed sampling the delights in Shirley’s thali. It brought back images of eating this dish in Kovalam Beach, India, in the traditional way. The tali there was served on a large piece of banana leaf and was eaten without silverware. It was made more delightful by being served in a restaurant outside with sand under my feet and palm trees over my head. But it tasted the same here at Udupi Palace as it did in my memory of India.

The sauces were excellent; the spices pungent and well blended. The service was good. The décor was typical for an Indian restaurant. My palate, however, was a little jaded. I look forward to another type of cuisine…then maybe a return trip to one of these three Indian restaurants.

DOSA

Mary:

DOSA

This was a more than pleasant experience, beginning with calling for reservations, which was done through an answering service, and done well—right through dessert and paying gladly for the mixture of cuisine and waiter and atmosphere. I felt very well taken care of.

The food was great. The first edibles on the table were papadoms, and they came just in time. We arrived hungry, and were joking about gnawing on each other’s shoulders but the thin tasty wafer bread, made from garbanzo bean flour and therefore edible by both Jesse and I, kept us from being inappropriate at the table. I ordered Paneer and Pea Dosa…toasted just right like a quesadilla so that the melted cheese and crisp dosa made a great crunchy texture as I bit into it. The taste was a thoughtful blend of flavors. The dipping sauces were good too…several different ones to choose from with differing degrees of heat. The side order of raita, besides being a good treat, helped to cool my mouth when it got heated up by the spices.

Our friend, Barbara, was with us, and she liked the taste of the lamb korma she ordered, but it proved too hot for her. So I traded one of my dosas for half of her korma, and enjoyed the high taste of blended spices (coconut, ginger, garlic and cardamom) in the traditional sauce covering well-cooked lamb cubes, (too often they are overcooked.) Excellent. And good with the raita.

I have spent time in Kovalam Beach in South India, and I am used to and enjoy their particular foods, which differ from the food I eat when I am in Bombay. I thought Dosa did an excellent job of bringing this ‘southern’ cooking to the American table.

Barbara and I were the only ones with any room when we finished our main courses, so I went off my minimal-sugar and carb diet (first time I have been tempted to do so at one of our blog dinners) and split a pot au crème with her. Good, creamy, probably should have done without it

.

The waiter was excellent and worked hard to make our meal memorable. Loved the hanging light

Taj Hotel in Bombay. I've had afternoon teas there.

shades and the way the décor was done: elegant street chic melting into the background. Nice photograph montage of the Taj hotel in Bombay on one wall. For some reason this was the easiest restaurant to hear ourselves talking at our table, even when the restaurant was full. I felt like everything possible was done to make the diners and their dinners the centerpiece; and to send them out the door feeling well taken care of. That’s how I felt when I left.

Dosa in the evening light when we left.

Shirley:

Even the water was good!

I have always had a great meal at Dosas. It is southern Indian food at it's best. Although there are the usual curry, lentils and rice found in an Indian restaurant, there are many unique and delightful additions to the menu.

Any time dinner starts with a bowl of crispy papadam, I am happy. And I was not kidding about the water - it's filtered through coconut husks and was noticeably good. I am usually just fine with tap water, kind of a "water is water" girl, and thoroughly enjoyed the drink.

I ordered the Paneer & Almond Kofta (veggie “meatballs” made of parsnip, squash, potato, mint  with a side of the recommended coconut rice. This was so good that I groaned a bit with every bite. The creamy sauce was plentiful and delicious and the balls  had a velvety, rich texture. It was all great.

My friend Barb tried the Lamb Korma (boneless, dried coconut, ginger, garlic, green cardamom) with lemon rice. The waiter was careful to ask everyone about their heat preferences and the kitchen was very careful to get it right. Still, Barb is an ex-Brit and even the mild heat was a bit too much for her. Too bad for her, really good for Mary and Me. Mary's Paneer & Peas (like an Indian quesadilla) was perfect for Barb, so we swapped some plates around and we were all very happy. And all the little dips that came along with Mary's plate were great.

So, the food was great, the water was great and that is just the beginning. I have never experienced the high level of care and knowledge that was brought to the table, not just from the waiter but from the entire staff. We had some challenges to get everyone exactly what they wanted, but everyone worked together that night to make everyone happy. In fact, they went out of their way to accommodate some tricky obstacles to a great meal.

It is a pleasant environment, the people taking care of you are considerate and smart, and the food is fantastic. Go try it and see if it isn't a great restaurant!


Jesse:

 As person with so many food allergies, I was impressed when the woman we talked to taking our reservation asked if anyone had any food allergies and asked for a list of them. Unfortunately the food allergy information did not reach my waiter so it wasn’t very useful but it turned out that the restaurant did take food allergies seriously. When I informed my waiter of my allergies, I was brought a separate menu that listed all Nut, Dairy and Gluten allergies. It looked very helpful but I found it a little overwhelming trying to order from a graph. Plus I am allergic to all those ingredients plus coconut and coconut is in all their Dosas,  Curries and  Uttapams, which comprise 85% of their menu. Coconut husk is also used to filter their water. I was told the water was delicious but their menu left little for me to eat and left me thinking maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

 It seemed from my chart/menu that only a couple of vegetable dishes were ok for me. Our waiter turned out to be fantastic and really came through. He worked with the chef who made a non-coconut curry from scratch and cooked up a Kuttanadan lobster tail, rice and the Shikampuri Kebab lamb sliders, allergen-free as well. Our waiter’s name was David and we voted him best waiter of Valencia St. He even gave us an education of Southern Indian cuisine and the items on the menu.

      I was able to eat the Papadam. Yum. Delicious on the first bite and then a couple of seconds later comes another wave of great tastes.

My lobster, curry and rice dish was really good. Really, really good. I haven’t been able to relax around a curry for a long time and here, I am 100% sure I can eat it without problems, which meant a lot to me. The lamb sliders were two small disks of lamb and herbs that were screaming spicy hot. It came with a delicious sauce of red peppers and garlic, also very, hot. I had forgotten to ask for the spice/hot level to be adjusted. The sliders were overcooked but everything else was delicious.

We ordered a second bowl of Papadam to sop up all our leftover delightful sauces leaving nothing on our plates.

      

After dinner I made it a point to thank the chef who made sure I was able to enjoy my food without any health issues.

Well, on to my least favorite section of my review but nonetheless important to many. The bathrooms. There are two here and one has a diaper changing table. Yay! An important and helpful item. They also had kleenex dispensers which came in very handy. After eating the hot, spicy food, my sinuses were cleared out and watering. I do have to say that I was very surprised to find one bathroom dirty. The floor needed mopping and there was toilet paper strewn about. And this was at the beginning of the evening which does not bode well. They were modern, a bit boring but managed to have a bit of warmth.  I give the bathrooms a 2.5 out of 5 stars. 

   

Overall, tonight, my friends and I were excited when our food arrived and continued being excited and happy while eating. These are the best of dinners out with friends. A good restaurant with it's great food and lively, warm ambiance is like live theater, heartwarming and sensorially stimulating. Fulfilling in many ways.  

I give Dosa  4 out of 5 stars and happily recommend it.