Last night I made a batch of turkey chili. Most of the time when I make chili I just loosely follow a guideline recipe until it tastes right to me. But last night I found a recipe that I had printed long ago that I had never tried. It has many additional ingredients in comparison to how my chili’s usually are made. I still didn’t follow this one exactly but stuck pretty close. I left out the Habanero pepper hoping to cool it down a little bit so Trey would eat it, however it still turned out pretty spicy, which was fine by me. Trey didn’t care for it. I also used black beans instead of kidney, as that was what I had on hand. And I used some  home-brew  rather than the cheap beer the recipe called for.

The results were  delicious! It was quite possibly the best chili I’ve tasted. Without knowing that there was hot chocolate mix in the chili, my wife picked up on the subtle sweetness. But as I said earlier, there is quite a bit of spice in it even without the Habanero. I’d love to try a batch with Habanero in it, but next time I may even dial down the amount of crushed red pepper to see if Trey will give it a try. Either way, this will not be the last time I make this chili. Everyone should give it a try.

After biking our way from San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge, and into Sausalito, we arrived hungry and with about an hour to kill before the ferry ride back. We parked the bikes near the ferry terminal and walked along Bridgeway looking for something to eat. Before we could get too far along, we stumbled upon the Napa Valley Burger Company. A quick glance at the menu hanging outside and we were sold.

Silverado Trail Veggie Burger

As we were somewhat short on time, we quickly glanced through the menu again and were ready with our order when the server arrived. I decided on the Silverado Trail veggie burger ($13.95). This combined a freshly made black bean patty with roasted peppers, arugula, and chipotle mayo. This sandwich was very good, easily one of the better veggie burgers I’ve had. All burgers are served with a fresh Napa Field greens salad, which was just okay.

Sweet Potato Fries

Fortunately we decided to also order a  share-able  side of sweet potato fries ($5.50). The perfectly cooked fries were served in a paper funnel inside of a metal pail. Though a bit on the pricey side, the serving size was plenty for myself, my wife, and our toddler aged son to all share.

Baja Fish Tacos

My wife ordered the Baja fish tacos ($15.95). This massive plate of food consisted of three tortillas with a seared fresh catch of the day and an ancho chile crema served over cabbage, pickled red onions and tomato salsa, finished with a three cheese blend and avocado slice. Also on the plate were plenty of chips and a couple of dipping sauces. I didn’t have any of the tacos, but my wife was in love with them. And the chips and dips were all quite tasty too.

The prices might be a little high at the Napa Valley Burger Company, but the food is excellent. And the more I think about it, I bet the prices are all pretty high in the touristy town of Sausalito, even more than they already are in northern California. This was among one of the best meals we had on our vacation.

While in San Francisco, we had the opportunity to tour the awesome California Academy of Sciences. I would highly recommend seeing this attraction, especially for those traveling with children. Before touring through the museum we decided to have lunch at the in-house Academy  Café.

The Academy Cafe is a modern, casual, kid-friendly restaurant inside the California  Academy of Sciences, with an emphasis on quick service. The café serves a wide variety  of multi-cultural cuisine, made fresh, with healthy, seasonal and organic ingredients.

Chicken Sandwich

I had a delicious chicken sandwich with a pesto sauce on a baguette ($10). This was served with a salad on the side and a couple of vegetable spears as well. A very healthy meal that actually tasted good too.

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

My wife went with the chicken and sausage gumbo ($8.50). This was a very nice sized serving of gumbo, which was packed full of meat and vegetables. There was also a good amount of heat to it. It wasn’t the best gumbo I’ve ever had, but certainly not the worst.

I was surprised and happy to find bottled beer available for purchase, including a couple of local craft brews. That helped make the lunch even better in my opinion. For anyone already heading to the California Academy of Sciences, do not hesitate to stop in for a quick, healthy, and delicious lunch.

On our first day in San Francisco on our recent family trip, we decided to find somewhere to have dinner in the North Beach neighborhood. For those not familiar, this area is home to San Fran’s “Little Italy.” Being that it was a Monday evening, as well as Labor Day, our options were a little limited. After wandering Columbus Avenue for a bit we eventually settled on Trattoria Volare Caffe.

Bread And Olives

The host was outside the restaurant encouraging passerby’s to take a look at their menu. He was delighted when we agreed to come in for dinner. After he showed us to our table it took a little time for our server to get around to us. In the meantime, water as well as some bread and olives was delivered to the table. Eventually when our server found us, we had already decided on what we were going to have for dinner.

Gnocchi Al Pesto

I ordered the  Gnocchi Al Pesto –  Volare’s own homemade potato dumplings in a basil pesto sauce ($13.90). The gnocchi itself was very fresh and cooked perfectly. The sauce was quite tasty and the addition of pine nuts helped add a little crunch. The dish is fairly heavy and eating more than half of it would have been a bad idea.  Fortunately  my wife and I agreed to share plates.

Penne All’arrabiata

She ordered the  Penne All’arrabiata, which is simply penne in a spicy tomato sauce ($12.90). As simple as the dish looks, the flavor was good. There is definitely a fair amount of spice to the sauce. Each dish was optionally topped with powdered  Parmesan  cheese, which was fine but I much prefer it fresh shredded on top.

The food from Trattoria Volare Caffe was overall very good. If the service were to improve I feel they could grow to become a top rated restaurant in the area.

For our second breakfast in Palo Alto, we took the advice of our friends from the area and headed to University Cafe. The restaurant is  conveniently  located on University Avenue in downtown Palo Alto. The inside of the dining area is huge compared to other coffee shops of cafes. In addition to a variety of hot beverages a lengthy breakfast menu is offered and orders can be placed at the counter in the back of the room.

Inside University Cafe

One glance at the menu and I knew what I was ordering, the brioche French toast ($9). This comes served with a fruit salad. I would have preferred another slice of the french toast and a smaller serving of fruit, as the french toast was obviously the stand out item on my plate. It was delicious!

Brioche French Toast

My wife ordered the veggie omelet with zucchini, spinach, mushrooms, tomato, onion, garlic, cheese, crème fraîche ($9). This was served with home fries and toast. I didn’t have any of her omelet, but from what I remember she really seemed to like it. The home fries however were not very good, much too hard to easily eat.

Veggie Omelet

Our food was prepared quickly and delivered to our selected table. Without having a dedicated server, it is hard to comment much on the service provided by the staff, but every interaction we had with them was pleasant. Overall this is a good spot for a relatively cheap breakfast.

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.

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.

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.

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.

After work on Friday I headed to Covington for dinner at Lime Taqueria. I had a LivingSocial coupon that was expiring the next day and I needed to use it before leaving town for the weekend. I looked up the address ahead of time and realized it was basically in the MainStrasse village. As many times as I have been to that part of Covington, I never once noticed Lime.

Outside Lime

Once I parked outside the restaurant I realized why I had never noticed it before, the signage doesn’t stand out at all, and the building looks more residential than commercial. The inside of the restaurant is the complete opposite with bright lime green walls and plenty of wood accents throughout. It is a very small space but still has enough room for a few tables inside, as well as outside on the front porch.

Inside Lime

My wife, son, and I were greeted by the lone employee upon our entry. I told him about the coupon we had, which was for  2 burritos, chips and dip, and 2 iced teas all for only $9. He took our order and said he would bring the burritos out to us when ready. We decided to have chips served with queso (normally $3) and sat outside so that our son could run around while we waited for the food.

Chips and Queso

The serving of chips and queso was large enough to share between two. I don’t think the chips were made in-house, but they were fresh and the queso was pretty good. I would have much rather tried the guacamole, but it wasn’t an option with our coupon.

Jerk!

My wife chose the jerk chicken burrito with smoked tomato sour cream and cucumber watermelon salsa (normally $6.50). She seemed to enjoy the cucumber watermelon salsa, but it did very little for me. Both of the ingredients are pretty bland themselves, so it didn’t do much for the burrito. The chicken was good, but I definitely could have used some added flavor. The beans, rice, and sour cream just didn’t do enough.

Burrito

I ordered the BBQ pork burrito with pineapple salsa, pickled red onion, and ancho sour cream (normally $6.50). I thought this burrito has a little more flavor than the jerk chicken, but again it could have used more spice. The pineapple salsa was better than the cucumber watermelon combination. Though not as large as burritos from Chipotle, they are still of pretty decent size.

The staff member that I met couldn’t have been nicer, and I like the idea behind the restaurant. However, I don’t think I’ll return for more burritos unless I’m already in the area and looking for something quick to eat.