Olive Garden

• Restaurant: Olive Garden
• Location: Next to every mall.
• Atmosphere: It’s the olive garden.
• Bathroom: clean.
• Date of visit: 2007
• Website: http://www.olivegarden.com/

The venerable Olive Garden (AKA “OG”), often dismissed as a punch line, I stand by its food. Hey, it’s not fine dinning, but it's somewhere to go to have decent Italian food. The food is solid, a bargain really. $12.95 for bread sticks, salad, pasta, and egg plant parmesan? You kidding me? It’s a night out, convenient, and comfortable. For any doubters I leave you with the words of Top Chef under-performer and executive sous chef at Jean-Georges (obviously she’s no slouch), Lia Bardeen: “Everyone thinks the olive garden is hilarious. And I can understand where they are coming from. But I think for what the category it is in they do a really good job. People don’t realize or don’t think about it, but everything is done fresh every day. They have a saucier that does all the soups and sauces in the morning. However cheesy Olive garden is in some ways, the kitchen is no joke.”

A foodie’s delight? No. But don’t be such a snob.

Pinks Hot Dog

• Restaurant: Pinks Hot Dogs
• Location: Hollywood
• Atmosphere: Fast food, decent patio area.
• Bathroom: Surprisingly clean.
• Date of visit: 2007
• Website: http://www.pinkshollywood.com/

Pinks is a LA institution. No Los Angeles mayoral race or Californian gubernatorial race would be complete without a stop at Pinks Hot Dogs for a photo-op. Using Hoffy hot dogs, Pinks offers a variety of heart-stopping hotdogs that slowly kills you as you enjoy the savory dogs.

In addition to the classic hot dogs, Pinks has a variety of Chicago style dogs, chili dogs, and “burritos.” The burritos are a real stopper. On this occasion, I enjoyed a “poli-bacon burrito dog.” This burrito is a flour tortilla that wraps a spicy polish hot dog, chili, bacon, and grilled onions. If this burrito doesn’t kill you, I don’t know what will.

I also enjoyed a chili hot dog with cheese. So bad that it’s good. Processed pork, chili with a kick and gooey cheese. What could be more heavenly?

The fries are also a treat. Seasoned very well.

So what’s the bottom line? Pinks is a solid place for dogs, chili dogs, and to stop your heart. I don’t think, however, it’s worth a detour. There’s simply no “wow” factor to the food. If you are in the area and in the mood, then it’s great. But the chili dog at tommy’s is comparable to Pinks and the lines at tommy’s is not nearly as long. I do also feel that the prices at pinks are a bit high. Lines are outrageous as well.

Suppenkuche

• Restaurant: Suppenkuche
• Location: San Francisco: Hayes Valley
• Atmosphere: Clean, noisy, casual and relaxed.
• Bathroom: Clean, but not great
• Date of visit: 2004-2007
• Website: http://www.suppenkuche.com/

I love Suppenkuche. The place is elite in my books. Suppenkuche isn’t find dining but casual dinning with a younger crowd. The place gets noisy and crowded but the atmosphere is fun.

At Suppenkuche the wait is long. You typically have to share tables with strangers, which I am not a fan of. Often the patrons at the bar overflow into the dinning area. And there may be a group of 20 people drinking 5 feet from your chair. Having said that, the place has a woodsy homely feeling. The mood is intense and loud in a good way; people having fun and enjoying beers and food.

The food at Suppenkuche is great. Most of the entrees are basically the same. One meat of your choice, spatzle, and cabbage. Sure they all taste the same, but it’s comfort food done well. Plus, you wash it down with a great selection of German beer. Good food, beer, loud conversations with your friends; what could be better? Entrees are typically in the $14-$22 range.

Pictured is venison, spatzle and red cabbage. A real hearty meal. The venison isn’t very gamey. The wild boar sausages was also great. It came with Bavarian Kraut. Let me just say the bacon made the Bavarian Kraut amazing. So soulful and rich, you thought you died and gone to bacon heaven.

Suppenkuche is outstanding if you want a loud night out for some great food and German beer.

Pacific Cafe

• Restaurant: Pacific Cafe
• Location: San Francisco: Outer Richmond
• Atmosphere: Clean, noisy, casual and relaxed.
• Bathroom: Clean, but not great
• Date of visit: 2006
• Website: None

After watching a review of Pacific Cafe on the Food Network and Check Please! Bay Area, I had Pacific Cafe in my head. Fresh fish is all I could think of for weeks. What a bust. I should have known better when I heard they give you free wine while you wait. No restaurant worth its salt would do this. It’s a gimmick; I was blinded by the fools on Check Please Bay Area. I wish I didn’t go, I wish I had my $30 back… I got hoodwinked.

Fresh Fish? Not when I ate here. I had the seared tuna cooked rare. I had that itchy feeling all over my body that indicates something is afoul. The tuna completely lacked flavor. I could have done a better job buying suspect tuna at the UN Plaza farmer’s market and cooking it myself. The wasabi dipping sauce tasted like green butter with wasabi you get from a tube. This place is a real joke; the food taste funny.

The wait is unbearable. It really kills me that a place like this has a line out the door starting at 5pm. Hey, I’m not unaccustomed to long lines, but the food better be worth the wait. It’s not here. I can only think of so many other places I could have spent $30 on a great meal. Please don’t go.

Chow and Park Chow

• Restaurant: Chow and Park Chow
• Location: San Francisco: Castro (next to the Safeway), and Inner Sunset (9^th and Irving.)
• Atmosphere: Clean, noisy, casual and relaxed.
• Bathroom: Clean, but not great
• Date of visit: 2007
• Website: None

Chow is a real neighborhood restaurant that delivers solid comfort food at a decent price. I have been to both Chow and Park Chow. Both places are the same in terms of food and atmosphere. Chow is the place you go when you want to go out to eat but can't figure out where to eat. Think Applebee's, but actually with good food and a non-institutional feel.

The atmosphere is casual. You'll feel comfortable at chow with t-shirts and jeans or dressed in business casual. It can get crowded and noisy. Wait during peak times might be 30 minutes. At the Chow location, I especially like the back quasi outdoor area. It's much quieter and quaint.

The food is great. It's not fine dinning but regular comfort food at a solid price. Prices for entrees are in the $10-14 range. I'm not big on the pizza or pasta or salads at Chow, but my friends seem to like the pasta there.

Here are my favorites at chows.

Ginger cake: Amazing! Kind of like a spice cake with powder sugar, Carmel, and pumpkin ice cream. This, flat out, is the best thing at chow. Gotta get the ginger cake. No doubt.

Flank Steak: This is your steak at chow. I like it. Comes w/ fries. The steak is cooked well and the meal is satisfying. Remember Chow, isn't fine dinning, nor is it a steak house. But the flank steak feels like something mom would make. Lots of soul.

Pot Roast: A bit heavy and fatty, but it has great flavor. The short ribs fall off the bone and it's a tasty dish.

Pork Chops: Love the pork chops here. I always find that pork chops are too dry at restaurants. Chow does them great here w/ great smoke flavor.

Muscle appetizer: Great. Excellent flavor. I always ask for more bread to slop up the sauce.

Lasagna: Don't like it! stay away.

If you are looking for a place to slam down $16 and get a decent meal with friends, Chow is great.

Star Wok

• Restaurant: Star Wok
• Location: 2062 N Mills Ave, Claremont, CA 91711. Next to the Vons. (909) 625-8818
• Atmosphere: Typical Chinese fast food. Clean.
• Bathroom: Unknown.
• Date of visit: 2007
• Website: None
• MSG Level: Unknown

Star Wok is Chinese fast food at it’s best. Star wok is in the style of panda express. One typically chooses from a one, two, or three item combo that includes rice and/or chow mein.

The portions at Star Wok are surprisingly generous; you won’t feel ripped off in terms of quantity.

In terms of quality, Star Wok, similarly, does not fail. In my opinion it is a step-above Panda Express in terms of authenticity and taste.

Nothing noteworthy about the items they have. It’s your typical Chinese fast food fare, e.g. bbq pork and kung pao chicken. But if you are in the mood for Chinese Fast food and you are in the area, Star Wok is one of the better ones in the area.

Congrats! Hung!

I know this is a food blog, but congratulations to the Vietnamese fire cracker Hung for winning Top Chef Season 3. From episode 1 and his Geoduck, Hung has been killing every quickfire and every elimination challenge. Hung’s flavor profiles were spot-on as he demonstrated a tremendous amount of soul in the finale. Sauce from lemongrass? It really was a window into his soul and a demonstration of the eloquence and technicality of his craft. What better way to impress the judges than with a coconut foam on his prawn dish, a real memorable and high point of the night. Hung made no salads, no duo’s, and was not sabotaged by his sous-chef; he was destined to win. Hung prepared delicious, well-executed dishes that impressed me, and I didn’t even taste the dishes! The only thing missing was saffron foam. Go Hung!

Newport Seafood

• Restaurant: Newport Seafood
• Location: 18441 Colima Rd, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 839-1239
• Atmosphere: Typical $10 Chinese in Rowland Heights. Loud, crowded, and rude.
• Bathroom: Ok, i guess
• Date of visit: 2007 Website: None
• MSG Level: Unknown, but likely.

Ah, yes, the classic Chinese lunch specials. If you’re unfamiliar with “lunch specials” you’re really missing out: soup, Rice, and an entrée at a rock bottom price. If you are spending more than $7 per entrée, you’re really getting ripped off.

Newport seafood is the quintessential lunch special spot; solid and authentic food for about $5 a head. We don’t question the quality of the meat or whether the vegetables are laced with pesticides. This is Chinese food, we go here to be merry and eat tasty food.

The prices range from 3.95, 4.95 and if you really want to splurge, 5.95 for seafood dishes for your usual Chinese food. Menu is littered w/ your kung pao beef and clams in black bean sauce type dishes. Pictured are beef with Chinese broccoli and basil fish. Both dishes are authentic tasting, tasty, and well-executed.

I would come back. Dinner is pricier, about $10 for the same dish. I recommend the lunch specials. Their fried pork chops is especially good. Not really a seafood place, despite their name. Just a regular Chinese place you will be happy giving them $7 for a meal.