HAWKER FARE - Thai Has Come Today



Beer.  They have Beer!


Yesterday I had the pleasure of dining again at Hawker Fare, James Syhabout’s recent addition to Oakland’s gloriously vibrant dining scene. The magic in the kitchen is wonderfully realized by Chef Justin Yu, ably assisted by Sous Kelly Ng and Josh Brigham.


I’ve been to Commis, his inaugural effort that managed to garner Oakland its very first Michelin Star. (Score one for Oaktown). Imagine my delight when I heard the genius behind this premier establishment was opening a “Thai street food” venture in my own backyard. (Hawker Fare is on Webster Street in Oakland, right on the corner of Webster and 23rd). I quite literally work right across the street. I am soooo lucky.



Green Beans sauteed in bacon and
sprinkled with sweet chili paste.
Yeah Baby!

 The BH and I went again yesterday. I’d read an “article” in SF Eater purporting to discuss whether or not the success of Hawker Fare was approaching the acknowledged success of Commis on Piedmont Avenue. Rather than discussing the merits of Syhabout’s newest effort, or researching whether it was hitting its stride with the public, the piece was nothing more than a selected regurgitation of snippets from other on-line blogs on restaurants, some good, some not, but none original. “Articles” like this do nothing to further any understanding on the part of the reader as to whether or not Hawker Fare was “garner[ing] star cred in the casual cuisine realm.” It kinda pissed me off. So to balance the flow of constant unreliable information echoing through “Yelp” and other such sites, I thought I’d go back again and read you in on my first hand accounts. I am such a selfless gal.



Mussels in magic broth

 We’ve sampled a great deal of the menu over our several visits. On this one, we had starters, just to give a better variety to the reader. I know, you’re thinking how generous of me to eat extra dishes so I can fill you in. I had the Haricots Verts a lovely dish of sauteed green beans, cooked with bacon and a light red chili paste that leaves them just a little sweet, just enough spicy and yeah. Bacon flavored. Delicious.

They’ve added beer to the menu!!!, so I had a Singha with my lunch and BH had the vanilla creme soda.

The BH had the Mussels Starter. The crustaceans themselves were moist and beautifully seasoned, floating in a creamy broth that resembled thom kha gai (chili coconut broth, lemongrass, mint, cilantro). It was a blissfully well prepared version of one of his favorite all time treats. If you’ve ever tried mussels, you know it’s all about the broth. The tiny mouthfuls of seafood, the bread, all have to be dipped in the broth. When the broth is ambrosia, well that’s what makes the dish good.



Lemongrass Chicken

 We each ordered a main, and they were up next. I had one of my faves, the Lemongrass Chicken. Hawker Fare’s lemongrass chicken is not at all what you’d picture if you’ve ever ordered the dish in a more traditional Thai restaurant. It isn’t the white strips of chicken meat laid over greens with a sprinkling of some peanut sauce or other. This dish is nice thick slabs of grilled meat, boned and infused beautifully with tumeric and coriander, the macerated chiles giving just the tiniest bit of heat. with lime, garlic and fish saucespices. It’s a rice bowl, so it comes with a nice scoop of slightly sticky rice to soak up any sauce that might escape the chicken. All of their rice bowls offer an optional farm egg “topping.” The egg is ever-so-lightly fried, with the yolk left soft and runny so one can break it and let the golden puddle of sauce run across the chicken meat, mingling with the spices and making it something well, really special. Have I mentioned I belong to the Wiley Dufresne school of egg worship? Yeah, you heard me, I’m an egg whore.

BH had one of his Hawker usuals, the Beef Short Rib done “satay” style, with a coconut milk marinade and then grilled. Its got a lovely savory peanut sauce and a few grilled scallions to balance it out. He loves it. I’ve tasted it, and I heart it too.



Isn't she lovely?
and she tasted GREAT!

 After we neatly polished off our lunches, we ordered the Hawker Sundae - a bowl of fluffy vanilla soft serve crafted from condensed milk that’s been cooked down into a delicious dulce de leche flavor airy puff of chilly goodness, coated with salted palm sugar caramel atop a bed of candied red beans and puffed rice. The whipped cream is infused with fresh lime, so every rich sugary bite has a citrus kiss to finish it off on the palate.

This is a first rate eatery. The staff is helpful, knowledgeable about the food, and very professional. Diners will get "Commis" treatment and brilliantly prepared simple fare, all on a fast casual budget. We ordered half the menu, including drinks and the bill was just about $50 with tip. Ordinarily we can get out of Hawker without spending more than $30 for lunch. Now that’s a good deal.

I say go for yourself. Check it out, bring a loved one or a good friend, and make a memory of your own.

Hawker Fare
2300 Webster Street
Oakland, CA 94612
Phone: (510) 832-8896
http://www.hawkerfare.com/

Owner: Chef James Syhabout
Exec. Chef Justin Yu

Table size: adequate
Price: inexpensive
Noise Level: If I could come up with any criticism, it is that the music is too loud for those of us who have any hearing loss. But they are lovely about seating us away from the speakers.

Postscript: Everyone knows the first rule of credible journalism is impartiality in reporting. One is not supposed to have any interest in the facts falling one way or another. A good writer will report those facts and let the reader come to his or her own conclusions. Sadly, these days anyone who is remotely aware must recognize that internet journalism often isn’t journalism at all. When you are reading articles about food and restaurants, particularly those that purport to give you the valid opinions of others, consider the source. Yelpers are just as often trying to garner attention for themselves as they are trying to inform a diner about where to eat, or what that experience might really be like.

If sites like Yelp are to be at all useful (and I would argue that their use is limited at best, given that all contributors are encouraged to be funny or cool or smarmy, rather than insightful or informative). Remember that any good statistician will tell you to throw out your outliers. So negative quotes must be weighed against the majority. Just sayin’

ROAD TRIP: Los Angeles - Land of the Pretty, Golden People Eating Loads of Magical Food



Chocolate Mousse, Semifreddo - in Three's at XIV

 Fairly recently I lost the frequent company of my youngest daughter to the gaping maw that is Southern California. Initially, I fought it a bit. When she first moved to Santa Barbara to attend UCSB rather than UC Berkeley, she reassured her mother that she merely wanted to be near a beach during college. Her move to the South wasn’t more than that. A temporary stay at a desirable institute of higher learning. I let myself succumb to maternal delusions of impermanence. We believe what we want to believe.

Some time later I was, of course, thrilled when she was accepted to Boalt Hall School of Law. Her first choice of law schools, I knew this would necessitate the then Grad Student’s move back home to attend classes in Berkeley. It did and she was close once more. I saw her often. I allowed myself to adopt a false sense of security. She would settle in San Francisco once she passed the bar. Life was good again.



Another tasty protein at XIV, this time Filet of Beef 

 But, that’s not how it worked out. After completing her first year at UC Berkeley Law, she spent the summer interning for a Big Firm in Century City (living the dream in West Hollywood with another young beauty, both having the time of their young lives). When the internship concluded, she was offered a job at that prestigious Los Angeles law firm, and in case you weren’t aware, there’s a recession and high-paying jobs for young people fresh out of law school are hard to come by, even for top ten school grads. So that was that. At least for now.

The part I haven’t shared is that as a result of all this Los Angeles and SoCal living, the Baby Lawyer (she has graduated, so we can clearly no longer use her former moniker “Grad Student”) had gotten a taste of a lifestyle she’d not previously experienced. Raised in a suburb she now lovingly refers to as “the ghetto” BL hadn’t ever seen the inside of anything much fancier than a Hungry Hunter until she was about seventeen or so. She was fond of cheese and beef and not much else. But college gradually changed all that, and after the BL’s summer in WaHo, she was ready for the big time. Nice clothes, good food, and a fancy car. The better life that’s what we all want for our kids, yes?

The Big Firm treated her to meals at some of LA’s nicest eating establishments, and the Baby Lawyer began to acquire quite a discerning palate. Her favorite appetizer used to be cheese sticks, now it is seared fois gras. She has definitely developed a taste for the finer things in life. Her father and I visited her over that first summer, and I found we really enjoyed sharing our mutual love for food-based outings with our adult child. During the three years she spent at Berkeley, we spent many evenings (and if you read this column, several afternoons as well) enjoying some of the best restaurants in the East Bay.

 As a result of her relocation, we have discovered that it eases the pain of our separation to visit the BL in Los Angeles and continue to share our newfound hobby of breaking very fancy bread. We enjoyed our first visit two years ago so much that we again made a point to visit her while locked away during this most recent summer studying for the California Bar examination. We decided as a family that the best respite from homework overload is a yummy prix fixe menu. Which brings me to the food we enjoyed on this most recent trip.


Ravioli with Truffles at XIV




First night there, we arrived in town around five-thirty, in time to check in at the Marmont and dress for our dinner reservations at Michael Minna’s XIV. This visit, we changed hotels from the Roosevelt to the Chateau Marmont, having had an erratically odd stay at the Roosevelt on the last go round (another story all its own). The BH and I both felt the Marmont was a far superior experience for many reasons, not the least of which its attention to its guests. Though we are not celebrities, we were made to feel like we were. It was more than chic, it was downright homey.

The Marmont is within walking distance to XIV, being maybe half a block away. This may be why the BL selected XIV as our first outing. None of us had been there before, so we were able to discover its attributes together. The service structure is uniquely inventive. They have a prix fixe menus that allows diners to select either seven, eleven or fourteen items, provided everyone in the dining party picks the same maximum number of items.



Lobster Pot Pie, ala Michael Mina



The items arrive in perhaps the cutest presentation I’ve ever seen, and though it is painfully cute, it serves a practical function as well. All dishes arrive on these clever little trays designed to display each diner’s portion. They give the impression of an hors d’oeuvres platter that just keeps coming, each time with a new treat and presentation. We happened to be a trio of diners, so each of our selections were presented in threes. Each dish blissfully tasty. I don’t take detailed notes on vacation, so I can’t describe each dish, and for that I apologize. There are however, a few exceptions.

The first is the Lobster Pot Pie. The BH and I first tasted this dish at a Valentines’ Day dinner at Michael Mina in Las Vegas a number of years ago. We were both really impressed. The name alone conjures up memories of childhood chicken pot pies, fresh out of the oven, steamy and chock full of chicken stewy goodness and carbs. Remember those inexpensive ones you had as a kid that let’s face it, really were tasty? Mina’s is something more high end, with a crust so light and flaky it could be clouds baked in butter. There is nothing more pleasant in the mouth than a bite of perfectly prepared pie crust. Michael Mina’s genius with seafood also expresses itself magnificently in this dish. A perfect rendition of those yummy pie of childhood, but instead of chicken it is chock-full of lobster. Simple hearty perfection at its best. You cannot possibly consider leaving this world before you have tasted a Michael Mina Lobster Pot Pie.

The other standout that comes to mind was the barbeque pork sandwich I had at Ford’s Filling Station in Culver City. BL took us there the first summer she spent in LA. The folks she worked with at the Big Firm had taken her there for lunch one day, and we were likewise immediately enamored of the food at Ford’s. Ford’s Filling Station is owned and operated by Harrison Ford’s son, and seems to be a sort of throwback-homage to the diners of the forties. Actually, Culver City is a food haven worth exploring on its own merits, not to mention the star sightings one almost always makes there, given its proximity to Sony. The meat on this sandwich was smoky bliss, gently blanketed by a tangy dressing. The side of baked beans was creamy and flavorful.

The highlight of our trip was to be a trip to Melisse in Santa Monica, which is a spectacular restaurant headed by Chef Josiah Citrin. Long story short, I didn’t make it due to a last minute health issue, so I had to send my family off for the meal of a lifetime. They didn’t even feel guilty. They returned to the hotel with stories of champagne, celebrity spotting (Brandon Routh was celebrating a birthday at the next table) and fois gras. Grr.


Pork Sandwich @ Ford's Filling Station

 The little one has secured an apartment in Santa Monica, right on the beach. She begins permanent residence in SoCal as soon as she returns to the States from Europe. Though I’m a Northern California Girl, and Los Angeles in my mind will forever be the place that teems with perfectly groomed, blindingly shiny, overly brand-conscious people, I must say when I think about the food, I find I am looking forward to future visits with an emotion that does not resemble dread at all. If you too, are planning a trip South, check out any one of the following restaurants. Air kisses to all, and Bon Appetit! .

XIV (high end small plates - multiple prix fixe - emphasis on sea food)
(by Michael Mina)
8117 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA
(323) 656-1414
http://www.michaelmina.net/ - select XIV (Fourteen) from California menu

Melisse Restaurant (even higher end dining, seasonal California Upscale)
1104 Wilshire Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 395-0881
http://www.melisse.com/

Ford’s Filling Station (upscale diner)
9531 Culver Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232-2618
(310) 202-1470
http://www.fordsfillingstation.net/

Rock Sugar Pan Asian Kitchen (This is in the mall. It has a huge menu of Asian Cuisine selections: Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc., including some fusion dishes)
10250 Santa Monica Blvd # 654
Los Angeles, CA 90067-6609
(310) 552-9988
http://www.rocksugarpanasiankitchen.com/

Next “away game” will be the saga of my pre-Fashion Week trip to the Big Apple to visit with my eldest daughter. The Makeup Artist who has settled in comfortably on the Isle of Manhattan, finding herself in high demand every Fashion Week, as NYC scrambles to stay one step ahead of every trend. It’s a similar story of maternal angst, fabulously talented offspring and great food. Stay tuned.

TAMARINE - Dinner on the Orient Express...

I found myself at Tamarine, in Palo Alto, on the occasion of my birthday.  Actually, it was for a dinner fete several weeks following the actual date, but its purpose was to celebrate the anniversary of my birth, nonetheless.  What can I say, I'm a lucky girl.  I got a "re-birthday" celebration.

When we arrived we couldn't find the door.  After much stumbling around at several locked glass doors, we noticed a large party conversing against some curtains, and I realized they were blocking the doorway.  We made our way around this rather thoughtless crowd (a story for another day) and into the restaurant.  Our companions had already been seated and waved us over, so I took this opportunity to thoroughly check out the restaurant's decor and furnishings on my way to our table.  My impressions were all extremly positive.  After spending a large part of the past twenty years mounting theatrical productions, I believe I have developed a deep appreciation for the "staging" techniques used in other mediums.  Restaurants that set their stage well can by doing so, successfully enhance the diner's pleasure. This is such a place.  It's a study in light airy fixtures, smooth laquered wood, beautifully laid out spaces, a lovely bar.  It is a setting that evokes adventure, and then there's the name...  Tamarine. 

Tamarine checked her bag for her ticket as she entered the dining car.  She found a seat at the first empty table, the one closest to him.  Her pale skin reflected the moonlight streaming through the window as the train sped through the mountains.  Tamarine tapped her cigarette against the teak of the windowsill.  She flicked her lighter open unsuccessfully.  Her hands were shaking.  She was nervous.  She needed a stiff drink.

I ordered one of the house specialty cocktails.  The Orchid   The drink was pretty and strong.  A winning combination of rum with yuzu. Sweet but not too, too --- mostly really refreshing.  It had an odd familiarity, it tasted like a lightly chilled, not-so-hot toddy.

The waiter brought her the cocktail. She raised the frosty glass to her lips. Was that the scent of cinnamon? Thankfully, the rum would settle her nerves. She took another sip just in case. My, this was good.

Quite a few of the appetizers here looked intriguing, so we ordered several.  The Shrimp Croquettes were a study in crunchy and moist.  Crispy-crusted  meatballs with a soft shrimpy center.  They arrived in a cute basket of noodles that formed a little nest, like some mama bird had just laid several perfect little fuzzy eggs o' goodness.  A well-plated dish. Perhaps a tiny bit prettier than it was tasty, as without sauce, the exterior or these meatballs tended towards the dry side.  Thankfully the addition of a sauce of sweet chilis, enhanced with a pinch of coarse grain mustard gave them a juicy kick.  The heat of the sauce cut the fleshiness of the shrimp and gave the mouthful a better balance.

The next item on our list was a dish called Tammy’s Banh Bap.   A steamed corn cake is steamed in a banana leaf, then a generous helping of pulled pork is layered over the cake and the dish is finished off with a healthy glazing of  chili-coconut cream sauce.  Complex & tasty, I really enjoyed this one.  I can't seem to say no to anything corn, and don't get me started on juicy barbequed pork.  The corncake was sweet, and --- oddly enough --- it had a consistency a bit like rice pilaf.  The starchiness of the cake formed a moist, absorbant base for liquid coating the strands of pork atop it.  The meat was well-seasoned, savory and juicy, it's smoky flavor resonating with hints of black and maybe a bit of red chili pepper.  The juices of the meat mingled with the chili-cream sauce, and all these liquids flowed together, downwards, ending in puddles under the starchy corncake.  Little pools of golden-brown deliciousness.  I found myself chasing the damp bits of the underside with my fork, determined to find the places that were well saturated with all the flavors.  Of course I tried to be nonchalant.  Can't tip the others off or they might fight me for the goodies.

Her appetizer was a platter of small steamed dumplings.  Tamarine wasn't accustomed to Asian food, but she stabbed at one of them tentatively with her fork.  She took her first bite of the spicy pork, and though the flavor was unfamiliar, it was good.  Suddenly she was hungry.

After a moment I regained my composure and turned my attention to taste the Shrimp Cupcakes.  These were one of my favorite treats of the evening. They are served up in lovely little rice cups, to mimic the paper basket of a cupcake.  Sitting inside them are these puff-pastries of shrimp meat, moistened with a mixture of shrimp-coconut milk, green onions and a nice sprinkling of seasoning.  These baby prawn cakes are set off to perfection with a Vietnamese nuoc cham (a slightly sweet dipping sauce of garlic and chili paste) that was ecstasy to the tongue.

The next bite I had was a darling little play on the steamed Pork Bun.  They serve them here in almost exactly the same configuration of flavors, but as an open-faced sandwich with much more pork.  It's fresher, and better.  Thumbs up! 

It is January.  Even in California that means cold winter weather, which in turn, means if I am offered it, I'll order a soup.  We selected two kinds of soup to share between the four of us.  A Kabocha-Corn Soup, which is a creamed mixture of a lovely meaty Japanese winter squash, mingled with corn (again, yay!) and coconut.  They infuse the liquid with lemongrass which gives a nice acidic balance to the creamy, savory broth.  It was hearty and delicious. Squash makes a great soup.  The consistency just lends itself to being creamed and strained to perfection, kabocha has an exceptional sweet flavor naturally, even sweeter than butternut squash. It is similar in texture and flavor to a cross between a pumpkin and a sweet potato.  This starch adds a sugary component to the mix, and the other seasonings blended together to arrive at a very pleasing flavor, balancing the natural sugar well with the other ingredients.  Our second soup was a Ha Long Bay Soup a thin green consomme, with a nice coconut flavor as its strongest component, followed by notes of coriander.  The many lovely crab wontons bobbing about in the broth completed it nicely.

Tamarine sipped her green tea anxiously, allowing the heat of the cup to warm her hands.  Her fingers were stiff with cold.  Maybe she was too close to the window.  She gazed through the glass at the snowy landscape as it flew by.  The gentleman sitting at the table across from her was staring.  She could see his reflection in the mirror.  Tamarine looked away quickly, but she could feel his eyes boring into her.  A self-conscious flush crept up the back of her neck.

Time for our main courses, and they arrived on cue.  One of us ordered the Honey-Soy Roti Chicken a dish whose simplicity had really intrigued me initially. It lived up to those expectations in the mouthful I had.  The chicken was served boneless, and the meat was infused with its own juices, the outer skin crunchy-gold with flecks of char.  All of it drizzled with a lovely sauce of soy, "5-spices" and honey.  Five-spices chicken has long been one of my BH's favorites.  It is said that the Chinese were trying to create a combination consisting of all of the five flavors - sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, and salty.  Each chef has a slightly different variation of the spices used in his or her grouping, so I am not certain which spices were in this dish, but the result was a hit.  The one sour note in this dish might have been the spicy papaya salad.  It was really peppery and almost too hot for me... and I love habanero.  I have to say there wasn't a good balance to the salad, it was just too much heat, not enough flavor. 

I had the Tamarine Prawns which were a "flash-fried" jumbo prawn, bathed in a gently sweet Tamarind sauce over another nest of crispy rice noodles.  The fryer had not made them at all greasy, and the thick sauce was sweet without being cloying.  It clung to the perfectly cooked prawns like a snuggly blanket of flavor. Lovely in color and consistency, this dish was another treat.

Another of us had orderd the Shaking Beef --- it was a terrific dish, chock full of big "bouncy" cubes of beef tenderloin, all sauteed in a sauce of  soy, garlic and onions.  This dish was perhaps my favorite of our mains.  The meat in the bowl arrived with this lovely brown glaze, and to the taste, had a nice texture inside and out.  The resistance of the slightly grilled exterior gagve way to the teeth with a burst of its juicy innards.  The seasoning held a peppery afterbite on the palate, yet it didn't smother the meat.  The flavor of the beef came right through it and for me was the star of the evening.  Mingled with a bit of the watercress salad accompanying my mouthful had a  nice fresh balance when mingled with a bite of beef.

Tamarine tasted her steak.  It was delicious.  The chef had prepared it just the way she liked it.  She dabbed her lips carefully with her napkin, taking care not to smudge her lipstick.  She reached for her drink and knocked her napkin to the floor.  Before she knew it, he had handed it back to her.  Who was he.  Why was he on this train.  What did he want from her?

The Hoisin Lamb Chops were equally good. They do something really amazing with the heartier, dark meats like lamb and beef here.  It's keeps its natural plumpness, and within the juice of the meats (both of them) was a bang, this loud explosion of perfect flavor.  The lamb was done up nicely with a hoisin, garlic and rosemary and served with baby bok choy and sweet potato fries.  The entire meal seemed to me to be the perfect procession of flavors and textures, each dish promising a bounty with scent and artistry of presentation, with all but a tiny few bites subsequently living up to that promise.  

We topped off the evening with a Butterscotch Pot de Creme w Golden Blondies which was a rich ‘pudding’ completely and unabashedly butterscotch.  It had by its side several very moist and chewy blonde brownie bars.  We also shared a Strawberry Lemon parfait a standard parfait, nicely put together with the flavor of the lemon serving to cut the cream and a act as a nice balance to the sweetness of the strawberries.  Both desserts were nice, simple sweet treats.  Nothing amazing, but well prepared.  It was a nice refreshing way to  finish a great meal.
 
The evening was a celebration, so I decided to go all out.  I ended the evening by ordering a coffee liquer drink that was well, almost too strong. The flavor, instead of coffee, was pretty much all brandy, with a dash of cream floating in the coffee at the center of a big snifter.  I couldn't finish it.  It kinda kicked my ass a little. Just too decadent. 

Everything else was amazing.  It was a lovely evening, and I really enjoyed my companions and our conversation.  I am fairly sure that if you are a fan Thai or other similar Asian cuisines, you will love this place.  Check it out for yourself, and Bon Appetit!
 
Tamarine pushed her chair away from the table.  She had eaten too much, almost finishing the entire steak.  She was embarrassed.  Ladies didn't eat large quantities in public.  She darted a glance over at the table across from her to see if he was watching.  His chari was empty.  She sighed.  She'd missed her chance to speak to him.  Tamarine rose to return to her sleeping car.  She found herself a little unsteady on her feet.  A voice from behind surprised her.  "May I buy the lady a brandy?"  
 
Tamarine Restaurant

http://www.tamarinerestaurant.com/
546 University Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301-1901
(650) 325-8500

Table size: perfect for many many dishes
Cost: Expensive
Service: Excellent

SALA THAI ~ Put the Love in the Coconut!

The BH and I found ourselves in Fremont on New Year's Eve.  We'd run to the Court to pick up some paperwork from the Clerk, and she asked us to come back in about an hour and a half.  So what to do?  Sala Thai is a local haunt we'd heard good things about so we decided it was a good idea to have lunch and return to the Courthouse after eating.

We entered the restaurant, which is in one of the many little strip malls that populate the neighborhoods around what I suppose one would call Fremont's downtown of sorts, or at least a business section of the City.   The restaurant is welcoming in that authentic way a restaurant can have of speaking to you with it's open spaces without saying anything at all.  Some places just whisper "Welcome."  The interior is moderately dark inside and decorated in traditional Thai decor.  It's not a very big space, sort of long and narrow like the inside of a ship, which perhaps is appropriate since it makes one feel as though one has traveled to Southeast Asia itself. 

A staffer approached and asked us if we'd like a table and we said yes, but noted that we had to be out fairly quickly in order to make it back to Court in the tiny window we were given by the Clerk to return.  Once seated, the waiter arrived almost immediately with menus and a delightful attitude.  There are some people who are just meant to host others, they have a way of putting you at ease and settling you in.  This young man was one of those people.  I had the distinct impression he was vested in the establishment, which I would venture to say is a family operation.

I decided to order somewhat adventurously.  I've got several asian dishes I've come to love over the years, a few of which have vanished into the Great Closed Restaurant in the sky.  One of those was a dry-braised spicy green bean at a Restaurant in Oakland called Maple Village.  Those beans saw me through many a youthful overindulgence.  The menu at Sala Thai contained something called Spicy Green Beans, so I decided to try them, along with their Basil Sauteed Chicken, or Pad Kra Pow.   I also ordered Fresh Coconut Juice, something I just decided to try in a burst of impetuousness.

The Coconut Juice arrived first, arriving in the shell with a straw.  It was refreshing and not overly rich and I absolutely loved it.  The presentation coupled with the restaurant's interior made me feel as though I was sitting in a family place in the heart of Bangkok.  It was delightful.  Next arrived all our dishes, and in plenty of time for us to enjoy them and be out of there before our appointment back at Fremont Superior Court.

The BH had Thai BBQ Chicken, which was a moist mountain of smoky chicken goodness.  The spices were subtle and well-blended.   He was really pleased with this dish.  I found the Green Beans tasty, although not as similar to the original dish I so loved as I had hoped.  They were more meat than I anticipated, but that's hard to complain about.  And it was a really tasty dish.  Good amounts of heat, beans and meat.  My Basil Chicken was moist, succulent and the fresh basil draping itself around the slices of golden, browned chicken meat was simply heavenly.  Fresh basil and peppers meld together for the perfect blend of hot, sweet aromatic flavor that is one of my absolutely all time favorite combinations of taste.  To his credit, the waiter had suggested I not request any additional heat until I tried this dish the way the chef generally prepares it, which I appreciated.  They do this dish a little on the warm side.   I could have used more heat, but I tend to like things so much hotter than most, that it was good advice on his part for me to check it out first.  Nothing ruins a meal faster than a fried set of tastebuds.

We wrapped up our snappy little lunch in about forty minutes, paid and were back on our way to Court, having found an excellent new choice for takeout in the neighborhood.  This is a great restaurant, food is fresh and really well-prepared, the staff is helpful, friendly and professional, and the presentation gives the
clientele the sense that they are in another country. How fun is that?

If you find yourself in the neighborhood, check it out.  Bon Appetit!

Sala Thai Restaurant

39170 State Street
Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 792-0770
http://www.salathai-restaurant.com/


Table size: adequate
Noise level: Not too loud, but tables are a bit close together, so one shouldn't go there if you need to have an extremely private conversation.
Dining Time:  They are amazingly quick.  No problem.
Price: Extremely reasonable.  Good times.

One note:  We sat at a table right next to the door, and because it was December, and winter, it was freezing every time anyone came in or out.  Unfortunately this happened almost constantly, often with people standing in the doorway holding the door open for absolutely no reason.  So my advice is go for a table away from the door. At least until summertime rolls around.

NINNA - Checking up on an old favorite

Years ago the BH and I used to walk with a co-worker to a place we liked on Piedmont avenue. The co-worker was ahead of the foodie curve, and she was always finding the latest yummy place to eat somewhere, as well as encouraging my BH to take long healthy walks. Needless to say, when she moved to Indianapolis, I was bummed big time to lose a valued eating buddy.

Their trademark is that they prepare food with a primarily mediterranean style, and fuse their dishes with hint of various traditional Thai spices.

The other day I had a doctor's appointment nearby, so the hubby and I walked over to Ninna to see if it was still as good as we remembered. We have always enjoyed the food there, so we were looking forward to a treat.

When we arrived at the early portion of the lunch hour it appeared just as we remembered. The pleasant woman who greeted us must be Ninna. We have always assumed she was the owner. She has the intimate presence of a person who is more than an employee and seems to care if you have a pleasant experient. She was very attentive, but we were the only patrons in the restaurant for most of our stay. One other patron arrived eventually, though it remained just the two tables for the better part of the meal.

She seated us quickly and brought us each a menu. I'm not sure if it was my memory, or if my food tastes have just outgrown this place, but the menu seemed to be lacking many of the previous dishes I had enjoyed. Most of the choices seemed uninspired and bare-bones. We were hungry so we tried to go with it.

The BH had the Fisherman's soup, a variation on a sort of bouilliabase, consisting of mussel's calamari and shrimp. He asked that they prepare it mild, and they said they could comply, though when it came it was visibly laden with red pepper flakes. He ate around them. I ordered the Grilled Chicken Breast with peanut sauce and spring mixed salad. My husband enjoyed his soup, but he didn't seem overly impressed. I found my chicken breast a bit dry and the sauce was ordinary. The salad was also a bit underdressed and notably unremarkable in its flavors. Remembering the delicacies of flavors enjoyed here in the past made it all the more unimpressive.

It seemed a bit of a shame, as this had been a place we had kept on the top of our favorite places to eat list for such a long time. I don't know if the restaurant has failed to keep up with current food trends, remaining true to is former self and being left in the dust by the natural passage of time, or the quality has actually slipped a bit. Either way, it was a disappointment. Nothing was terrible, it was an adequate meal, and the prices were reasonable, so no harm done.

Sometimes a walk down memory lane brings back experiences or tastes we can treasure. Sometimes it is just a walk. But a walk isn't necessarily a bad thing. Maybe it's just me. If you want to prove me wrong, check it out. This is a tough industry and maybe they were just having an off day.

Bon Appetit!

Ninna Restaurant

4066 Piedmont Avenue

Oakland, CA 94611

510-601-6441

http://www.ninnarestaurant.com/

Tables - cramped

Price Range - Moderate - Lunch entrees $8 - 12

Dining Time - in and out in easily under an hour over lunch time

SIAM BAY - Authentic Thai done to perfection

Siam Bay is an inexpensive, authentic option for outstanding Thai cuisine here in Oakland. It sits unassumingly next door to the incredibly popular (and I think relatively mediocre) Le Cheval. The food at Siam Bay is exceedingly fresh, and it's owner is always on the lookout to please his customers.

They serve a really nice buffet daily. It is all you can eat, and features a variety of standard dishes, including Curry Chicken (a lovely soft yellowy curry with plenty of chicken and potato chunks), a Thai hot mussell dish, aptly titled "Siam Bay Mussells" and a fried fish in Tamarind sauce.



The buffet is kept warm on a standard cafeteria steam table, but the dishes are replenished constantly (which is necessary because the buffet is popular and items can go very quickly). But it has been my experience that when an item disappears, a fresh replacement entree is placed in its stead within minutes.


In addition to the dishes mentioned above, there is a standard salad offering, with house dressing, and a self-serve Tom Yum soup that varies greatly in flavor, but is usually quite tasty. In addition to these touches, there is always a Pad Thai and a vegetarian dish or two, along with a large serving dish of plain white rice. A dessert can also be had, which is generally a rice pudding-like dish or a banana pudding. The consistency of the rice dish is not quite as thick as a pudding, perhaps more like a really thick soup. Maybe porridge? It's traditional, and if you like that sort of thing, also tasty.
The buffet is the staple of my BH, and it was mine for the first year we ate here, except for occasional forays into their Tom Kha soups. I prefer the one with shrimp, but both Tom Kha Gai (chicken) and Tom Kha Goong (Shrimp) are excellent. If you want a Tom Kha, this is the place to order this dish. Both soups are much better here than at Champa Garden.
After almost a year of watching our PFC eat one or the other of his favorite dishes, both of which he has specially prepared for him by the owner, I decided to jump in and try them. I think one of them may not even be on the menu, or if it is now, it wasn't always. But should you like spicy Thai food, both are excellent. The first is an excellent Beef Salad. Simply delicious. The meat is moist and the spices perfection. We like it hot though, so we always have him lay it on.

Same with the Garlic Shrimp. It is essentially a platter of perfectly cooked shrimp (still moist, never overdone) and fresh broccoli, smothered in a perfectly fiery hot sauce. When I am being extra good, I skip the brown rice and just sop the sauce up with the broccoli. These dishes are both spicy and not for the faint of heart. But the owner will make them for you if you ask, and it's well worth the trip.
Bon Appetit!

Siam Bay - Authentic Thai - Old Oakland

1009 Clay St(between 10th St & 11th St) Oakland, CA 94607(510) 452-1499

Price: Inexpensive
Dining Time: easily done in an hour
Table size: adequate

CHAMPA GARDEN - Shhh! (It's a Secret!)

I've been running the gamut of my personal favorites in town so that there will be a record of these places in case I'm hit by a bus. I wouldn't want them to go out of business just because I've gone to the Great Restaurant in the Sky, although something tells me my BH would find a way to get on with his life, probably by eating his way straight to my side, so perhaps I worry for no reason. Nevertheless, I'm making a record just in case.

The next gem on my list is an inexpensive and well-hidden little Laotian Restaurant (officially it calls itself a mix of Laotian, Thai and Vietnamese) tucked into the middle of nowhere off Park Boulevard in Oakland. It's name is Champa Garden. Ok, there, I said it. Out Loud. Now try and find it! It's harder than finding the entrance to Shangri-La!

However, if you are successful in your quest, and you actually find and enter the tiny, unnassuming one story structure on the corner of 8th and E. 21st, I will tell you what to order. If you know what to order in advance, one can have the meal of a lifetime here for relatively little money. We brought along our partner in food crimes, a young associate who has excellent taste in food, and loves spice (his companionship opens up a world of possibilities for me, since BH does not do the 'spicy' at all), so we were able to order a lot of items on the menu. From here on, he shall be known as PFC.

Start with the Rice Ball Salad (pictured above) which is described on the menu as crispy fried rice, preserved pork and lime juice. It has to have something else in it, like chopped up wonderful, or a dash of fantastic. This stuff is memorable. It is this indescribably combination of cruncy goodness that is intended to be spread onto a lettuce leaf and (with the addition of a bit of mint) rolled into a cigar-like concoction and chowed down on. I like to crumble a dried red pepper over it and wrap up the hot, spicy bits with the rest. Warning: Don't try this at home! Seriously, if you like crumbled red peppers, I suggest you wash your hands immediately after crumbling them and don't say, rub your eyes. Not good.

Rice Ball Salad is so yummy it has to be bad for you. Perhaps the fried rice part was what tipped me off. If I die early from eating this stuff, it will have been a life well worth living. My two accomplices and I were all so desperate for a taste of rice ball salad, that we ordered the trio of appetizers because it contained an extra serving.

This trio of appetizers/"sampler" (contains Lao Sausages, Fried Spring Rolls and Nam Khao, or rice ball salad). I tried the Spring Rolls first. I found them flavorful, but a little greasy. Just okay. They were a bit better when dipped in the sauce that was served with them, which was really good. A well balanced version of the tangy, peanut-ty sauces typical of cuisine from this part of Asia. This appetizer sampler also contained a sampling of one of the pork sausage that Champa Garden is well-known for. We had not tried it before. For me sausage is really hit and miss, but I liked these. They did not overwhelm me, but the meat was a good consistency and the spices chosen to flavor the filler were solidly balanced. Nothing was fighting with anything else. I'd give them 3 tastebuds out of 5.

We moved on from the apps (stuffed from over-eating the rice ball salad) to a course of soup. Today's choice was the Tom Yum (I think). Word of warning. Ordering soup here is for some reason quite tricky. Previously we had ordered several of the choices on their soup menu, without ever actually getting the right soup. At first we just thought we might have ordered wrong, but it soon became clear that we were just getting something else entirely. For this reason, and the fact that we weren't overly fond of the soups we had sampled here, we stopped ordering soup. The last time we were in, we ordered the tom yum in the hopes that we might finally get it. We emphasized the pronunciation and repeated the order and surprise! We got a tom yum! This is a Thai hot and sour soup. It is far milder and not at all viscous like the more familiar sweet and sour soup one might find on a traditional Cantonese menu. I believe the hot is black pepper and the sour is a broth of stock and vinegar. The Thai use raw mushrooms in their soup and allow them to cook in the hot broth. The result is a slightly crunchy mushroom that is hot on the outside and sometimes still cool on the inside. I wonder if this practice came about because someone realized the soup was too hot so they cooled it with "ice" mushroom caps. However it came about, I am a fan. Soups are not their strong suit here, but this is a good one. I am not fond of the other soups on the menu. At all. So no soup --- or this soup --- is my advice.

Lastly, we needed something to wash down our sticky rice. We chose a standby: the Pineapple Shrimp Clay Pot. It is a sweet, red curry dish that is chock full of pineapple, shrimp and flavored with coconut milk. The sauce is a thick wonderful consistency, almost a gravy, that goes really well over sticky rice.

We also ordered a new dish to try. Champa Garden had a fried catfish special on the menu the very first time there that I loved. (My BH thought it too hot to try and our associate didn't like it much at all. But I loved it.) So in the hopes that this dish was finally on the menu, I ordered the Pad Ped Pla Dook (I know, right?), which is apparently Laotian or Thai for "hunks of fried catfish in some yummy peppery goo" -- the menu says it is "catfish battered and fried in Thai basil curry sauce." I love nothing better than a Thai basil curry sauce done correctly. This sauce was pretty good, although not exactly as I remembered. It had the classic combination of basil and sweet curry that they do so well, as well as a coconut base very similar to the pineapple chicken. Might be a little too similar, not sure. It was hotter, with a fairly peppery (black, not red) after-heat to it. I liked it but I can't say I loved it so much I would have to try it again. Catfish gets soggy fast, so it doesn't really keep as a leftover and it's a lot to eat with the other dishes.

We have not tried any of their desserts. Perhaps some day I will do an entire column of desserts missed at various restaurants. But not today.
So, like I said. Try and find it. If you do, you'll not be sorry. And you have to order the rice ball salad.

Champa Garden

Laotian, Thai and Vietnamese Cuisine

2102 8th Avenue (east 21st Street)

Oakland, CA 94606

510.238.8819

http://www.champagarden.com/

Price: Inexpensive

Dining Time: without travel (not near anything) easily done in an hour.

Table Size: Cramped - adequate (each table has a very large condiment tray, that uses up almost half the dining space)