Thursday, November 18, 2010

Shabu House

We were on our way back from dropping off some friends at SFO when we stopped in Burlingame for a late dinner. We had heard that Shabu House was good, and we agree. Shabu is a Japanese cuisine, similar to hotpot. We visited one in Mountain View when we lived in California last time.

We had the spicy miso broth. Jonathan got the lamb and beef combo platter, and I actually went with unagi (eel) on rice. It was the largest helping of eel I've ever been served, and it was delicious! At the end I was getting a little tired of the flavor, but I don't regret getting that giant piece of eel. We both had an assortment of vegetables and tofu to cook as well. The carrots were pretty good, but the bean sprouts, lettuce, spinach, and other items weren't all that great. After we added some garlic to the broth it helped a bunch, and the vinegary soy sauce also helped with the flavor a bit. We were seated about half an hour before closing, but we were definitely rushed a bit as we were there until about 15 minutes after closing. I dunno... I gotta say that this shabu thing is not growing on me, LoL. Still, it was a fun time. And I actually imagine that we will be back, since they offer an all-you-can-eat-and-drink thing that excited some of our friends.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Frankie, Johnnie, & Luigi Too

For our first dinner-and-a-movie night in California, we drove over to Mountain View for some Italian food. It was a restaurant we had not been to before, even though it was just outside of the downtown that we frequented last year. Frankie, Johnnie, & Luigi Too had a 25-minute wait, but we were seated after 19 minutes. It was a good thing that I had previewed the menu, since we weren't exactly given a relaxed pace. But that's no big deal, it was after 8 on a Friday night, and we would've been upset if the meal was too leisurely, since we did have a movie to make over in Santa Clara.

Our waters weren't refilled immediately, but they were filled consistently, so no true complaints there. The bread was fresh and hot, with plain butter. We also ordered the sausage bread as an appetizer, since it sounded unique and we were hungry. It was very fresh, with sliced (homemade) sausage and mozzarella baked in. It was served with a good marinara sauce as well, and we even took the final slice home.

Many things on the menu looked good, and I absolutely have to give them credit for unique combinations in their dishes. I went with the linguini pollo alla cuore, which was bite-sized chicken with broccoli, onion, peppers, and tomatoes. It was an oily romano-basil sauce, and as a whole I probably would have placed it near the bottom of the list of Italian dishes I've ever had. But it was unique, and I enjoyed eating one part of it at a time (broccoli, then peppers, etc). I just didn't care for the flavors together (I think the "sauce" killed it for the most part).

Jonathan had the baked ziti, which was also very unusual. It was eggplant, mushrooms, sausage, and ricotta in a tomato cream sauce and smoked provolone baked on top. He liked it a lot there, but reheated he didn't really like the mixed sausage and eggplant in the flavor. So, although both of us had three meals out of the giant plates we were given, only I finished it.

I wanted to like this place quite a bit, since you can get 20% off really easily (Costco deals), but it didn't happen. We may try it again, since it was highly recommended to us by a friend, but we'll have to see.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Freedom Burrito

We were at the store and got hungry for dinner so we looked around to see what else was in the plaza and felt like Mexican. There was also a Chinese place, a coffee shop, and a pizza place, so it's a pretty hopping little shopping center.

The menu is huge, but about a third of it is all the same with minor differences (like one with sour cream, one with sauce, etc.). We both had "Super Burritos" tho I had chicken fajitas on mine, and Jonathan had carne asadas. The pork was fabulous, but overall the flavor was about average. I specified "chicken fajitas" as opposed to "chicken" because the former was supposed to come with veggies... mine did not.

The portions were large for the price. The guacamole wasn't anything special, and the chips & salsa was an extra $2.50 (salsa was nothing special, but clearly made on the premises). The actual restaurant is kinda neat (nothing uber-original, but it is colorful). It's not a place we're dying to go back to, but it wasn't all bad.