Justin's Restaurant--Santa Clara, CA

An equipment supplier representative I work with was gracious enough to take me to Justin's, where I had a bacon, brie and caramelized onion stuffed buffalo burger.

The burger came hot and the brie really stood out. I ordered it medium and it was cooked as such. To be honest, though, I couldn't really tell the difference between buffalo and a good beef burger. Also, though I could have had the burger grilled or broiled, I chose pan fried and didn't really pick up that nuance either.

What I did notice, however, was the sweet potato fries were most certainly sweet but limp. It had the consistency of microwaved fries rather than something fresh from the fryer. Moreover, although the server was peppy and stopped by to ask how things were many times, nobody stopped by to fill our glasses. Our bread came in cute little pots; I would have liked to have been asked if I wanted more, though.

Justin's Restaurant
1285 Homestead Rd.
Santa Clara, CA 95050
(408) 638-5300
www.chefjustinperez.com

Remy's Noodle Palace--City of Industry, CA

 

Wanting to do some mini-golfing at SpeedZone during our recent trip to LA, we stopped by at the nearby Remy's Noodle Palace in the City of Industry.

We started things off with what I thought were the two best dishes: minced pork with rice and minced braised pork with rice. Both were hearty and seasoned well.

We got Tyler a bowl of beef noodle soup with hopes of satisfy his craving. However, he didn't like the flavor of the soup and he left a lot behind (unusual for him). The soup came loaded with beef, though, and it was tender.


The fried dumplings as served

The onion pancake and dumplings (for which Remy's is known) were salty. I liked the texture of the dumplings, though, with the crisp underside and the soft, velvety skin on top.

 

The softer flip side of the dumplings

Remy's Noodle Palace
18211 E Gale Ave.
City of Industry, CA 91748
(626) 965-2887
Menu below:

 

New House of Korea

Last week we dropped by New House of Korea with Jenny's parents to take advantage of their $9.99 all-you-can-eat deal. And, what a deal it is! Despite the thrashing this restaurant has taken on the internet (largely criticism of the service), this is an amazing value.

Beef brisket

There are a number of menu choices available. The more expensive you go, the more exclusive the meat selection. The bottom rung is the $9.99 "Galaxy A" menu, which for us was more than adequate.

And, about that service? Yes, it was fair at best, but our server did all that we asked her too. There were simply too many people for the number of servers in an obvious effort to keep costs down. The only issue I had was that when I asked for four steamed eggs for six of us, the server insisted that we have only two. The steamed egg turned out to be my favorite of a few options that were quite good. Jenny liked the marinated meats the best.

Steamed egg: My favorite dish of the night. You really can't miss with anything on the menu, though.

I'd love to go back the next time I'm in LA. The value can't be topped (easy for me to say, as Jenny's dad picked up the check) and that BBQ smell that, to the annoyance of many, gets in your clothes? I love it!







































New House of Korea
18981 E Colima Rd.
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
(626) 810-5121

Huge Tree Pastry--Monterey Park, CA

We ate at Huge Tree Pastry in Monterey Park for brunch this morning. It's a no frills, order-as-you-go restaurant focusing on smaller items such as pastries, soy milk and even xiao lung bao. I found it best to stick with the breakfast items here. The you tiao (Taiwanese donut on the menu), is served hot, crisp and, in the inside, soft. It went well with the soybean milk, which we got "sweet" (you'll need to add sugar to make it actually taste sweet).

Probably the favorite dish at the table was the baked sesame bread with egg--basically an egg sandwich. The other egg dish we got, the pan fried green onion pancake with egg, also hit the spot.

Perhaps the heartiest single item we got was the baked sesame bread with beef. It wasn't anything elaborate, but it came early in the meal, when we were pretty hungry. So, it was well received.

Other items we got include the ham and radish pastry, which was exceedingly small (not much larger in diameter than a silver dollar) and a salty fan tuan, which was a roll with pork sung.

I was slightly disappointed by the xiao lung bao, which I found to be leaky and the skin a little tough. It's hard to do this well and it's hard to blame the restaurant for its effort.

While Huge Tree was hit and miss, I don't question its value. We ordered nine items in all and with tax and tip the eight of us were fed for $44. Again, if you go here, stick with the meat- and egg-filled pastries and maybe the soy milk.

Note: The men's restroom had no soap and no paper towels.

Huge Tree Pastry
423 N Atlantic Blvd.
Monterey Park, CA 91754
(626) 458-8689

Tony's Kitchen--Mountain View, CA

I had my first-ever burger with hash hash browns today (the "Ultimate Burger"; see photo above) and must say I was very pleasantly amazed. If there's one thing that must be said about Tony's Kitchen it's that the food comes out fresh and hot. The hash brown patty was super crisp, yet warm and fluffy inside. If the burger looks like a heart condition on a plate, it sort of is. Just dance or go for a jog afterwards and call it good. It'll be worth it.

My wife opted for the mushroom burger. She liked that the mushrooms were fresh (she's good at telling stuff like that).

The kids shared fish and chips (the big ticket item at $10.99), which came with three fillets and fries. As you'd expect, the fish came in a crisp batter and was good and flaky inside.

To get a good deal on the Ultimate Burger, go to Tony's on a Monday and get it for $6. Go Wednesday and you can get a gelato for $1. Friday, $5 gets you the pulled pork sandwich. Whenever you go, you don't have to worry about a wait. They'll fit you in and fill you up.

Tony's Kitchen
856 W El Camino Real
Mountain View, CA 94041
(650) 938-1333
www.tonyskitchenmountainview.com

Ocha Tea Cafe--Mountain View, CA

We went to Ocha Tea Cafe for lunch today. Jenny shared the stewed ground pork and mushroom (above, with "dry noodle"). Tyler, who had portions of all the dishes we ordered, liked this one the best. The noodles were just right and the dish wasn't too salty. Of all things, I liked the lettuce, which was crisp.

I ordered the pork chop (above) sizzling plate and it was my favorite of the three. It comes with a raw egg you'll need to scramble before the plate cools. The chop is boneless and pretty thin (1 cm. maybe?). It's incredibly tender and the sauce on top goes with just about anything savory, like the fried rice below. I really liked the shrimp.

We usually don't order drinks when we eat out, but this time we got three and enjoyed all of them. We got a cold mango milk tea and a peach oolong milk tea. What I liked most, though, was the taro snow (below). The flavor was fantastic, with the taro really standing out. It wasn't much of a thirst quencher, though, as it had the consistency of a slushy.

Before tip, the lunch was a hair less than $40 after tax but before tip. The three drinks were $3.50 each. (Menu below)

The kids liked Ocha and I liked that it wasn't that crowded. We'll go again, but I wouldn't characterize this Ocha as a go-to in a pinch. At this mall at least, for emergency dinner pickup I'd go with the value play in Sushi 85's teriyaki chicken.

Ocha Tea Cafe
1350 Grant Rd., #8
Mountain View, CA 94040
(650) 961-1813

Shanghai Dumpling--Cupertino, CA

Saturday my dad took us to Shanghai Dumpling, which we passed by when we ate at QQ a little more than three weeks ago.

We got the obligatory xiao lung bao, which the boys loved. Though slightly bigger than what's often found elsewhere, they were nevertheless juicy, hot and the skin held its own. Tyler, a 3rd grader, scarfed down four and loved each one.

The pan fried Shanghai pan fried bun stuffed with pork was delicious. The bun was pillow soft and perhaps a little sweet. My dad, who was raised in Shanghai, commented the pan fried buns were about as authentic as he's seen among the dozen or so Shanghainese restaurants he's tried in the Bay Area.

The most pleasant surprise was the smoked duck. It was fall-off-the-bone tender with a strong flavor. I can't wait to get it again!

To satisfy the kids' need for pasta, we got the Shanghai Noodles, a dish that was widely popular at our table. No surprises, but very good.

The pork chop over rice was good, but largely because of the salted fatty pork bits in the rice. I thought the fried chop was a little heavy with the batter (and that's saying something).
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The gluten puffs were OK, but not as good as what you'd find at Shanghai Garden on Homestead.

An internet search on Shanghai Dumpling will quickly reveal they charge 20 cents for water, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. At least the non-zero cost makes you think before asking for water.

With so many Shanghainese restaurants coming and going over the years around here, I really hope this one makes it. You can come by at just about any time and there will probably be space for you. This restaurant does a tremendous amount of take-out business.

Shanghai Dumpling

10895 S Blaney Ave Cupertino, CA 95014 (408) 777-8786