Golden Gate Fields

We went up to Golden Gate Fields on a Sunday, specifically to catch Dollar Day. But, after walking around and seeing the food they had to offer, Jonathan went with the dollar hot dogs, but I just had to go with a turkey sandwich from The Carvery.

Jonathan enjoyed his hot dogs, and says that they were worth the dollar. I thought that my sandwich was great. The meat was carved right off the roast, and was incredibly moist. It tasted like Thanksgiving leftovers. The only problem was the plainness... it was just meat on bread. There weren't tons of condiments around (though there were little tubs of cranberry sauce, which I thought was funny), but I slapped some mustard on the sandwich. I couldn't finish it all and it worked as a nice leftover meal, too.

Sunnyvale Downtown Wine & Food Stroll

I saw a banner for the Sunnyvale Downtown Wine & Food Stroll, so we bought tickets and made plans to go to that. It was on a Saturday afternoon, and we arrived just a little bit before the event began.

Check-in was pretty straight-forward... you gave your ticket (after filling out the back for a raffle), they checked your ID, they banded your wrist, and gave you a totebag and souvenir wine glass. In your bag you had (among other things) a card that listed 20 downtown business, each giving one or more pours of wine from Californian wineries. Many places offered multiple pours, and one even had you taste five different sakes! 

We had a lot of interesting things, like almond champagne from JFJ. Honestly, it'd be difficult to talk about the wines we tried at each place, as we didn't take notes, and only took a few business cards. I do remember that we had some great wine from Kirigin Cellars, and my personal favorite was from Clos du Bois.

A half dozen or so of the restaurants downtown also had out free appetizers, which gave us a chance to try some bites from places we haven't been as well. Rubio's offered some wonderful Mexican food, so we're definitely planning to try them out soon!

Ariba

Ariba is a company not far from Jonathan's work. However, they have a pretty nice cafeteria, so workers from several surrounding companies often go there for lunch. When Jonathan's parents were visiting, we all ate there, and I've also been one other time with Jonathan and Jim. Jonathan and Jim go there a few times a month, and generally have great experiences, though the Chicago-style pizza wasn't loved.

My own thoughts are sort of scattered. On one hand, I thought that the panini I had was delicious... the flavors of the Italian meats blended well. The accompanying salad on the side was fairly average, but nice to be included. That's what I had on my first visit. However, on my second, I just wasn't drawn to anything in particular. In fact, after walking around to all of the stations, I decided that I'd rather just wait an hour and eat at home. So that really doesn't bode well for the place, but at the same time I tend to be rather picky, so if I don't feel that anything offered is worth the price given, and I'm not super-hungry, I move on. Of course, that's not to say I won't go again... after all, that first panini was wonderful!

I did find a menu of sorts online, if you're interested.

Sushi Blvd.

We hadn't seen Cody in a while, and met up with him at Sushi Blvd., which is less than ten minutes from our house. It recently was renamed, and most people probably know it as TGI's Sushi.

There was free edamame (not sure if that's normal or if it was because Cody is a regular), though I don't like it. The miso was very salty, and neither Jonathan nor myself were big fans, though Cody likes it. I loved the salad dressing, but I was the only one whose meal included salad, so no comparison there. I had the sashimi dinner, and while the tuna was good, I found the salmon to be gummy. Jonathan had a salmon deluxe roll and a rainbow roll, enjoying both and even taking some home. We were stuffed when we left, and though Jonathan was immediately thinking about our next visit, I was a little less enthusiastic. 

 

my sashimi plate

 

Jonathan's rainbow roll

 

Jonathan's salmon

Sunny Buffet

Jonathan and I had lunch one day at a Chinese buffet near his work, called Sunny Buffet.

I thought it was a little pricey for lunch, especially when they're slow at filling up your water. They were pretty prompt about clearing old dishes, though. My biggest gripe would be that their setup was very difficult to maneuver. I never did find the white rice, and I had to be told twice where the dumplings were before I found them. Most of the foods on the buffet tables were labeled, but they tended to only have the names on one side rather than both, which was a bit annoying.

There was a wide variety of foods, and we both especially enjoyed the pepper chicken. Jonathan liked the chicken-on-a-stick, but I preferred the pork dim sum. The soup was pretty average, and I didn't have any of the dessert, so I can't comment on that. There was a sushi area, but the rolls weren't labeled, so I didn't bother. There was also a Mongolian grill area, but the line drove me away (not that it was long, but it was moving quite slowly).

Overall, I probably wouldn't return, but see why Jonathan and his colleagues go there every now and then!

Dishes - Korean

Vivian and I were hungry for "real" food, and Vivian suggested a food court that has 5 Korean places in a row. We looked at all of the menus before settling on Dishes. We both ordered the dumpling soup, which came with kimchi, vegetables, and some other things with which I was not familiar. Vivian also ordered a side dish of something... it was like sushi but it was beef inside instead of fish. I didn't try it. While I thought the prices were a little high when we ordered, it turned out that they gave us TONS of food, so I guess it was probably worth it. That is, if you liked it. I found the broth to be REALLY starchy, and the dumplings kept falling apart. It was still okay, but I wouldn't get it again. However, I had never had this Korean dish before, so it's possible that it was just as good as any other dumpling soup.

Paris Baguette

Vivian and I were spending the afternoon together, and we decided to try out a food court near where I live to start. She had heard good things about a French bakery called Paris Baguette, so we went there.

You can walk around a large island that's full of clear bakery boxes. You pick out what you want and put it on your tray, then pay at the end. There's also loaves of bread and some more pastries along the wall, so there's really a lot to pick from! We each chose a variety of things and then ordered drinks at the counter when we paid. I chose an iced mocha, while Vivian picked a green tea. She thought that the tea was average, and I felt the same about my mocha. Unfortunately, I waited a LONG time for my mocha. After five minutes, I went up and asked about it, and it was clear that they had forgotten to make it - so they gave us two small pound cakes as an apology. The pastries were fairly priced and pretty good, though they were definitely better that day than the next few (I bought like $8 worth of goodies, so I took home 5 or 6 things after enjoying 3 there). The cheese puff and strawberry-and-cream croissant were the best.