Peninsula, South of SF
May 29, 2010
We don't often get down this way any longer, but there's some wonderful restaurants (lots of $$$ live out here, LOL). Our current favorites are listed below.
Double-click the active links to access the full review, then use the back-arrow to return:
We love:
Astaria, San Mateo - CLOSED. Now called Three, listed below. Same owners, same chef, still excellent.
Bay 223 @Hotel Sofitel, Redwood City - Avoid it during OracleWorld (they're right across the park). The best Continental breakfast in town. They bake their own croissants which are the best anywhere, even better than Bouchon/Napa and Parker-Lusseau/Monterey. Have some yoghurt, drink an entire 4-cup press of coffee, and get two croissants. Maybe three. If they're hot out of the oven, get a dozen!
Cafe Tradition, San Mateo - Just opened French-Moroccan bistro, does well on most things but a couple of were just average. We've only tried lunch, however, and the menu is larger for dinner.
Central Park Bistro, San Mateo - A Mediterranean winner we recently discovered. You've got to love olive oil, but we do and this place rocks.
China Village Seafood, San Carlos - It's been a while since we drove all the way out here, but it was always excellent dim sum although we've heard from Chinese relatives that you should skip it for dinner
Mokutanya Yakitori, Burlingame - Some very good yakitori and bento boxes, and the octopus starter was refreshing and unusual.
Osteria Coppa, San Mateo - Lovely housemade salume and excellent pasta or fish, but skip the unbalanced pizzas.
Lovey's Tea Shoppe, Pacifica - Sister to Lovejoy's/SF, the best commercial tea shops in the Bay Area. Great loose-leaf tea and nice pub food. Service is charming, but the place is small. Note this is NOT for the handicapped; bathroom is outside and downstairs.
New England Lobster Co. & Market, Burlingame - We love this place! The cafe is good, but the market is outstanding. If we lived here we would be buying that frozen Dungeness and lobster meat every week; the quality is phenomenal and so is the price.
Taste In Mediterranean, Burlingame - A deli that added some tables/chairs and cafeteria-like service. Skip the latkes but the vegetable stews, the lamb chops, the hummus and cacik (yoghurt) are winners. Biggest selection of baklava-like desserts we've seen anywhere, too.
Three aka A3 aka Astaria, San Mateo - Plans to call Astaria A3 hit a bump and it's now just Three. Same chef but lost the comfortable booths and the fabulous Inferno cheese is now a special only when Humberto is there to flambe it. Weekend brunch was very good.
Vault 164, San Mateo -The kitchen does one thing well: the burger. And that's it. Everything else is second-level. But that Gruyere-mushroom burger remains our "gold standard" for a great burger.
Not great, but adequate:
Elephant Bar, numerous locations including near SFO airport - A chain, but a decent one, and a better choice than the usual Sizzler/El Torito/Benihana competition.
Le Petit Bistro, Palo Alto - Decent old fashioned French bistro, the pate plate was exquisite but the rest was average.
Mayflower Lounge, San Mateo (aka Hong Kong Flower Lounge) - Good dim sum, not quite at the level of Lee Garden/Pleasanton. But the sai yun, sweet egg puffs, are better here than anywhere else.
Ganko Sushi, San Carlos - Simple Hawaiian/Japanese sushi in a tiny neighborhood sushi joynt. Don't miss that housemade iced green tea, it's terrific on a sunny day.
Skip eating at:
The Kitchen, San Mateo - Mediocre dim sum, especially in this area where decent Chinese runs rampant.
Shanghai Dumpling Shop, San Mateo - Either we're mistaken about the level of Chinese restaurants in the Peninsula, or we're just unlucky and hitting the stinkers. This place is vastly inferior to our fav, Shanghai Dumpling King/San Francisco.
Double-click the active links to access the full review, then use the back-arrow to return:
We love:
Astaria, San Mateo - CLOSED. Now called Three, listed below. Same owners, same chef, still excellent.
Bay 223 @Hotel Sofitel, Redwood City - Avoid it during OracleWorld (they're right across the park). The best Continental breakfast in town. They bake their own croissants which are the best anywhere, even better than Bouchon/Napa and Parker-Lusseau/Monterey. Have some yoghurt, drink an entire 4-cup press of coffee, and get two croissants. Maybe three. If they're hot out of the oven, get a dozen!
Cafe Tradition, San Mateo - Just opened French-Moroccan bistro, does well on most things but a couple of were just average. We've only tried lunch, however, and the menu is larger for dinner.
Central Park Bistro, San Mateo - A Mediterranean winner we recently discovered. You've got to love olive oil, but we do and this place rocks.
China Village Seafood, San Carlos - It's been a while since we drove all the way out here, but it was always excellent dim sum although we've heard from Chinese relatives that you should skip it for dinner
Mokutanya Yakitori, Burlingame - Some very good yakitori and bento boxes, and the octopus starter was refreshing and unusual.
Osteria Coppa, San Mateo - Lovely housemade salume and excellent pasta or fish, but skip the unbalanced pizzas.
Lovey's Tea Shoppe, Pacifica - Sister to Lovejoy's/SF, the best commercial tea shops in the Bay Area. Great loose-leaf tea and nice pub food. Service is charming, but the place is small. Note this is NOT for the handicapped; bathroom is outside and downstairs.
New England Lobster Co. & Market, Burlingame - We love this place! The cafe is good, but the market is outstanding. If we lived here we would be buying that frozen Dungeness and lobster meat every week; the quality is phenomenal and so is the price.
Taste In Mediterranean, Burlingame - A deli that added some tables/chairs and cafeteria-like service. Skip the latkes but the vegetable stews, the lamb chops, the hummus and cacik (yoghurt) are winners. Biggest selection of baklava-like desserts we've seen anywhere, too.
Three aka A3 aka Astaria, San Mateo - Plans to call Astaria A3 hit a bump and it's now just Three. Same chef but lost the comfortable booths and the fabulous Inferno cheese is now a special only when Humberto is there to flambe it. Weekend brunch was very good.
Vault 164, San Mateo -The kitchen does one thing well: the burger. And that's it. Everything else is second-level. But that Gruyere-mushroom burger remains our "gold standard" for a great burger.
Not great, but adequate:
Elephant Bar, numerous locations including near SFO airport - A chain, but a decent one, and a better choice than the usual Sizzler/El Torito/Benihana competition.
Le Petit Bistro, Palo Alto - Decent old fashioned French bistro, the pate plate was exquisite but the rest was average.
Mayflower Lounge, San Mateo (aka Hong Kong Flower Lounge) - Good dim sum, not quite at the level of Lee Garden/Pleasanton. But the sai yun, sweet egg puffs, are better here than anywhere else.
Ganko Sushi, San Carlos - Simple Hawaiian/Japanese sushi in a tiny neighborhood sushi joynt. Don't miss that housemade iced green tea, it's terrific on a sunny day.
Skip eating at:
The Kitchen, San Mateo - Mediocre dim sum, especially in this area where decent Chinese runs rampant.
Shanghai Dumpling Shop, San Mateo - Either we're mistaken about the level of Chinese restaurants in the Peninsula, or we're just unlucky and hitting the stinkers. This place is vastly inferior to our fav, Shanghai Dumpling King/San Francisco.
