R&G Lounge

Back down to San Francisco for the 8 pm showing of Book of Mormon.

We had a group dinner at R&G Lounge, located at 631 Kearny Street.

They have several banquet menus and we chose Menu B for $498 per table of 10. If you have a smaller group, you can get half portion for $260. We had a group of 15 but some were vegetarian. We ordered some additional vegetarian dishes (although the options were limited) and the menu was perfect for us. If we only had 10 people, we would have had a lot of leftovers and we're big eaters.

Braised Seafood Combination Soup. This was meh--nothing too spectacular. Thin strips of seafood and not much flavor.

Salt & Pepper Crab. This was 2 full crabs and was quite good although there wasn't much salt or pepper taste.

Deep Fried Prawns with Honey Glazed Walnuts. The prawns were huge and it wasn't over-mayonnaised. The walnuts could use more honey glazing.

Scallops and Steak Cubes with Black Pepper Sauce. The scallops were well prepared and the meat was very tender. Not much black pepper taste.

Peking Duck with Steamed Buns. This was very disappointing. The fat hadn't been rendered from the skin and there wasn't much meat on the duck.

Soy Sauce Chicken. This was okay.

Sauteed Snow Pea Leaves with Vegetarian Abalone. I was the most skeptical of this dish. I didn't know what vegetarian abalone was but I ended up liking this dish the most. If I didn't know this was vegetarian, I would have thought it was the real thing. The texture was spot on and it had good abalone flavor.

Baked Black Cod. I was looking forward to this dish the most but ended up being disappointed. I was expecting melt in your mouth but this wasn't and there wasn't much flavor.

Golden Supreme Fried Rice. This was unexpectedly quite tasty. It had a spicy kick to it.

One of the vegetarian dishes we ordered. This was Snow Peas & Water Chestnuts sautéed with Ginger & Garlic. This was quite good and the snow peas were not overcooked. It was pricey at $18.

We also had Mixed Vegetable Deluxe--$18 and Black Mushrooms with Mustard Greens--$20. I didn't try either but the vegetarians liked them.

Dessert was reported as red bean. I was expecting red bean soup but it turned out to be cubes of red bean layered with coconut and some unidentified 3rd layer. I wasn't impressed.

Overall, the dinner was okay. I've had much better banquets at a much lower price point. The restaurant was crowded so I think I'm in the minority.

2018 03 04

Twist Eatery

As it turned out, the group tickets for Book of Mormon were at 8 pm so we ended up driving back to Santa Rosa.

It's Restaurant Week in Sonoma County, so we took advantage of it. Our first stop for the week was Twist Eatery, located at 6536 Front Street, Forestville. Lunch was $15 for 2 courses. 

The Restaurant Week menu--so pretty.

First course was a choice of Green Salad with Apples, Almonds, Carrots (I left it off) tossed with Orange Raspberry Vinaigrette. This was light and refreshing.

You could also choose the soup, which was Creamed of Herbed Potato Soup today. This didn't have much flavor and needed more salt.

The entree was Duck Confit with Tuscan White Beans. This was delicious. The duck had a great flavor, with a hint of wine. It was tender. The beans had a great lardon flavor as well.

If you didn't get the first course, you could get dessert. This was Chocolate Pudding with Whipped Cream and Raspberry. The pudding was light and more like a mousse.

2018 03 03

Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront

My husband had a late flight arriving at SFO. We were supposed to get tickets to a 2 pm showing of Book of Mormon at the SHN Orpheum the next day. Rather than drive all the way back to Santa Rosa then drive down again in the morning, I got a room at the Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront. There is a free airport shuttle so I didn't even have to pick him up.

There is a small fitness center. The center is open 24 hours so it's convenient. There is a small indoor pool but no jacuzzi or sauna.

The room is adequate, nothing too luxurious. Our room was on the 3rd floor and didn't have much of a view. If you looked around the corner, you could see the water. They use plastic cups now. No glass mugs or drinking glasses. There was a smell of wet dog.

TV & sitting area.

Shower area.

Parking is $20 M-F, $14 Sat-Sun. If you park next door at the Burlingame Airport Parking, it's $12/night but there is no in-out privileges.



2018 03 02

Golden Palace

My mom found a new dim sum place in Cupertino--Golden Palace. It's located where the old Loon Wah was--1146 S. De Anza Blvd.

Pan Fried Turnip Cake--$3.25. Standard turnip cake--good but not exceptional.

Deep Fried Meat Dumpling--$3.25. Loved this and it was not too greasy. Deep Fried Stuffed Taro--$3.25. Loved this as well. Very good taro flavor and good meat stuffing.

Steamed Chicken Feet in Black Bean Sauce--$4.25. This was great. The meat fell off the bones.

Steamed Sticky Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf--$5.25. This was also very good.

Stuffed Eggplant with Minced Shrimp--$5.25. I didn't like this. The eggplant was too mushy.

Large Preserved Egg & Pork Porridge--$8.75. This was so good. Just the right consistency and great flavor.

Salt & Pepper Chicken Wing--$7.25. This was also excellent. So crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.

Lobster e-mein--$17.95. There was a whole lobster and the e-mein was good.

2017 12 16 & 12 25

Pho Vietnam

Pho Vietnam is located at 711 Stony Point Road.

Spring Rolls with shrimp. This peanut sauce is thick and full of peanut flavor.

#8--Combo Noodle Soup with eye round steak, brisket, flank steak, tendon, tripe and meatballs. I like the pho here. The steak is tender and the broth is flavorful.

2017 12 15

Kaede Japanese Restaurant

Kaede used to be my go-to sushi place but I was disappointed by my last visit.

Miso soup--$2

Seaweed Salad--$3. This is very similar to the seaweed salad that is sold at Costco.

California Roll--$5 and Rock & Roll (unagi, avocado and unagi sauce)--$8. These were much smaller rolls than they used to be.

Unagi--$5. This was good but pricey.

2017 12 14

Trattoria Cattaneo

Trattoria Cattaneo is a local's Italian restaurant, located at 2700 Yulupa Ave. in Santa Rosa

Complimentary foccacia with olive spread. 

Pappardelle alla Salciccia--$18.95. This was homemade Italian sausage with tomatoes, mushroom, garlic and red pepper served over fresh pappardelle. The sausage wasn't very flavorful. I miss the pappardelle at Osteria in Palo Alto.

2017 12 09