On our second day of our recent vacation in Palo Alto we found an interesting place for lunch. Tava Indian Kitchen is the Chipotle of Indian restaurants. While there are an ever-growing list of counter order assembly line style restaurants, this was almost exactly like Chipotle, down to even the three main ordering types: Burroti (their version of a burrito using a whole wheat flat-bread), rice bowl (with Basmati rice), or salad bowl (on Romaine lettuce).

Protein and Sauce Station

Once your selection is made, you move on to the protein choices. In this case either chicken, lamb, or paneer (Indian farmer’s cheese made in-house and tossed with garbanzos). From there you can pick between a tikka sauce (smooth tomato) or daal (hearty lentil).

Chutney and Topping Station

Once you have your protein and sauce it is time to select a chutney whether it be mild (yogurt sauce with cucumbers), medium (cilantro and lime), or  hot (tongue-tingling mint). You can then add lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and chilies.

Burroti

I went with a Burroti stuffed with chicken, tikka sauce, hot chutney, and most of the toppings ($6.99). I wouldn’t say that it was stuffed quite a full as my normal Chipotle burrito, but the serving size was plenty adequate. The flavor combination was overall good. The Burroti wrap doesn’t hold up as well as a tortilla normally does, which made it a little messy toward the end.

Rice Bowl

My wife went with the rice bowl served with chicken, half of each sauce (tikka and daal), with mild chutney and most of the toppings ($6.99). The idea was that our toddler aged son could eat some too. I had a bite of the daal sauce, and was glad that I went with the more flavorful tikka on my dish. With that said, the rice dish was probably the better way to go as it was much cleaner and easier.

Naan Chips and Dip

We also had a side order of the garlic naan chips with the medium chutney ($2.49). I’ve had naan chips like this before served as an appetizer in other Indian restaurants. I don’t really care for the mostly bland chips, and feel that an in-house recipe would be a lot better. Definitely skip these until improvements are made.

My one big regret is not trying the paneer. I would definitely give that a try the next time. Overall the concept of this restaurant is pretty creative, but I think it needs a little more polishing to really shine. With that said, it is still a great spot for lunch. However the space is very small, so perhaps it is best when taken to go and eaten at home.

After our walking tour of parts of San Francisco on our first day there, we rented bikes for our second day. We started off on the bikes around 9am in the Civic Center area and headed west through the Haight and toward Gold Gate Park. Before getting to the park we made a quick detour to Alamo Square Park to see the famed “Painted Ladies.” We then biked through most of Golden Gate Park before stopping in for a visit to the California Academy of Sciences. After spending a couple of great hours at the museum, we headed north toward the Golden Gate Bridge, crossed over it and then continued north to Sausalito for dinner. From there we loaded the bikes on the ferry and arrived back in the Fisherman’s Wharf area, where we rode the bikes back down to the Civic Center following the bay along the way. We put in over 20 miles on the bikes and spent the majority of the day out exploring San Francisco. I wouldn’t have done it any other way.

Before leaving town the following day we found time to stop at the Cable Car Museum for a quick visit. It was really cool to see how the cable cars that we had ridden all weekend were operated and what powered them. This free museum is well worth a quick stop.

Sausalito on Dwellable

Late last week a friend of mine invited me to yesterdays Bengals game versus the Cleveland Browns. He received four tickets and a parking pass through his work and offered one of the seats to me for free. Having not been to the stadium for a game in a few years the decision was easy and I immediately decided to attend.

Since I had a hockey game later in the evening, I offered to drive our group to the game. We arrived before 10 in the assigned parking lot for a little tailgate action. Unfortunately we didn’t have a plan for any food, and everyone forgot chairs, so our tailgate basically amounted to hanging around the open liftgate, snacking on chips, and having a few beers.

Coin Toss

In order to reach our seats in the 300 level we had to climb at least a dozen or so switchback ramps to the top-level concourse. The east side of the stadium has an escalator, but the west does not. Even with the lengthy climb we were still able to see the opening kickoff from our near 50 yard line seats. We had a great view of the field and the weather outside couldn’t have been more perfect for the game.

Beautiful Day

The Bengals jumped out to a quick lead when Pacman Jones returned a Cleveland punt 81 yards for the score. The stadium was officially sold out, but by my estimate at least a quarter of those in attendance were there supporting the Browns. This became evident by the loud cheers a Browns touchdown received throughout the stadium. But even with the less than 100% backing, the Bengals managed to add another touchdown in the second quarter as well as a field goal, the same scores that Cleveland had. The score was 17-10 at half time with the Bengals leading.

View From Row 1

During halftime I met up with another friend who was at the game, sneaking down to the lower level for the halftime show provided by the Ohio University marching band. Once the seats again began to fill with their owners, I started the long trek back up to my own seat. I stopped at a concession stand hoping to buy a slice of pizza. However all I could find were chicken fingers, popcorn, hamburgers, and hot dogs. I settled on the chicken fingers, realizing that the food offerings at Paul Brown Stadium leave a lot to be desired.

Back to the football game at hand, the third and fourth quarters were filled with back and forth touchdowns for the teams. It seemed that none of the scores were from inside the red zone, and were instead the result of long pass or run plays. It made for an exciting game, that’s for sure. We stayed all the way to the end of the game, as it never quite seemed that the Bengals had it completely wrapped up. The Browns had it down to a 7 point game, and even tried for the onside kick, but the Bengals recovered and went on to win the game 34-27. Who Dey!

The night before the wedding we were in town for had a fair amount of drinking involved for myself. The wedding party had gathered at a downtown bar to watch college football and I joined in. When it was time for their rehearsal dinner, my wife and son met me for a semi-late dinner of our own at Pizza My Heart.

I had found this place before our trip as it was pretty well reviewed online. A couple of my out-of-town friends had tried it the night before and said it was worth checking out. Pizza My Heart is primarily a pizza by the slice kind of place, though full size pizzas can be ordered. A very large salad, slice of pizza, and a drink can be had for $7.75.

Big Sur & Cheese Slices (after my son got his share of the cheese)

The three of us (me, my wife, and year and half old son) split a slice of their Big Sur (cloves of roasted garlic, organic tomato pizza sauce, pepperoni, sausage, Portobello mushrooms and green onions) along with a slice of cheese and the seasonal green salad that is large enough for two. Oh yeah, they also serve a few varieties of beer on tap, which I was happy to sample.

The Big Sur has won first place awards at the West Coast Pizza Championships as well as the World Pizza Games. I had no idea either of those things existed, but still cool to try an award-winning pizza. Overall I enjoyed the slice. I’ve never really enjoyed Portobello mushrooms and these were no exception, a little too rubbery for me. The rest of the ingredients were solid and the garlic was plentiful.

The cheese pizza was actually really good. I think due to the nature of the pizza by slice concept the cheese was more fresh than the Big Sur. Perhaps I would have enjoyed the Big Sur even more had it been fresh. Was it the best I’ve ever had, absolutely not, but it is definitely better than your average late night pizza joint.

So after a few days in and around Palo Alto we took the train back north to San Francisco for a few more days of fun and exploring. On the first day we met up with Kim’s friend from college, Melissa, who has lived in San Francisco since graduating from college. She gave us a full day walking tour of the Fisherman’s Wharf and North Beach areas of town. My pictures of the day can be viewed below.

San Francisco on Dwellable

During our tour of Stanford University’s campus we stopped for lunch at Ike’s Place. Ike’s is a San Francisco Bay area sandwich shop. Our tour guide pointed out that the Stanford location is a very popular spot and it often has a line out the door when classes are in session. Fortunately for us classes were not in session, so there was no line to order. We were pleasantly greeted by one of the cashiers, who seemed more interested in having a conversation than taking our lunch order. According to their story, “When you come to Ike’s Place it is our goal to make you feel like the unique individual that you are.” That mission was definitely accomplished.

Spiffy Tiffy

After our conversation with the cashier along with a long look through the lengthy menu, I finally decided on the Spiffy Tiffy sandwich with halal chicken, mushrooms, avocado, pesto, provolone, and pepper jack ($6.96 for half, $9.99 for whole). In addition all sandwiches come served with Ike’s Dirty Secret Sauce, lettuce, and tomato. Mustard, jalapeno, red onions, pickles, and banana peppers are also available free of charge. You also have a choice of French, Dutch crunch, sourdough, wheat, or gluten-free. I went with sourdough.

The sandwiches are all served toasted and are stuffed full of ingredients. I decided to get the full sandwich, but normally half would have been plenty for lunch. The flavor was excellent and all ingredients were fresh. The addition of pesto to the sandwich added a nice flavor throughout and I liked the secret sauce. I also had a bite of my wife’s Menage A Trois sandwich which comes with halal chicken, real honey, honey mustard, BBQ, pepper jack, swiss, and cheddar. This is listed as one of the most popular sandwiches, and I can see why. The flavor combination was outstanding!

If I a student at Stanford Ike’s would definitely be on my weekly lunch rotation. I would absolutely visit again on a future visit to the area.

As I already mentioned, the primary reason for our trip to northern California was for the wedding of my friend Joe. Their ceremony and reception took place at the Thomas Fogarty Winery in Woodside, California. It was a lovely spot for a wedding and the weather was fantastic. The winery and vineyards sit high in the Santa Cruz Mountains, providing picture perfect views of the San Francisco Bay area. My photos from the evening can be viewed below.

I still have a lot more photos to post from our northern California trip, but I also wanted to start on one of the many restaurant reviews I also have planned. On our first morning in Palo Alto we quickly searched for a restaurant that we could walk to for breakfast. My wife found Hobee’s in the Town & Country Shopping Center just across El Camino Real from Stanford University. From the front of the restaurant it appears to be very small and most tables I could see were filled. In actuality all you can see from the front is a small room but there is a much larger room in the back, which is where we were seated.

Cal Browns

In one quick glance at the menu I knew exactly what I was getting. I don’t eat omelets or eggs, so I was immediately drawn to the section of special hashbrowns. There I found a listing of six different loaded hashbrown offerings. I went with the Cal Browns, which are topped with chicken apple sausage, mushrooms, tomato, green peppers, Tomato-Basil sauce, Parmesan, Jack and Cheddar cheese ($7.95). You can optionally have the special hashbrowns topped with an egg for an additional $1.50. The hashbrowns are “country-style” chunks and not shredded, but that actually works better with all the toppings that were served with it. I loved this dish and wish that more restaurants would offer something similar.

The Pruneyard Ommie

My wife went with the Pruneyard Ommie, which was stuffed with turkey bacon, mushrooms, spinach, red onion, Swiss cheese and topped with Sundried Tomato pesto ($9.75). Though I did not try a bite, I’m told it too was very good. All omelets are served with a choice of their world-famous blueberry coffeecake, toast, or hashbrowns. Wisely she chose the blueberry coffeecake, which was just as awesome as it sounds. It came served warm with a monstrous scoop of butter on top. Though many items at Hobee’s are geared towards a healthy crowd, this is not one of those items. However I would not recommend skipping it.

Blueberry Coffeecake

Our service was quick and friendly. The food was great. I would definitely not hesitate to visit again, or to try one of their seven other locations, if I were to travel back to the San Francisco Bay area again in the future.

Kim’s roommate throughout most of college, Amy, has a brother named Troy who attended Stanford University and now works on campus. Troy offered to give us a tour of the campus on our free day in Palo Alto. Since the campus is so large, 8,180 acres to be exact, he arranged for a tour via golf cart. The campus was very picturesque, as you can see below.

In case you’ve been wondering where we have been hiding, we have been bouncing around Northern California for the last week. We just got back to Cincinnati late last night, so I haven’t had much time to get through many photos yet. However here are a couple of photos from the wedding of my friend Joe and his wife Lindsey.

You may kiss the bride.

Family Shot at Thomas Fogarty Winery.

We met on the Internet.