True Food Kitchen - Palo Alto

Palo Alto's dining scene seems to be ramping up with new restaurants lately. Even some of the chain restaurants have a worthwhile menu. True Food Kitchen is one of the latest newcomers. True Food Kitchen has multiple nation-wide locations and boasts a healthy menu that follows the anti-inflammatory diet from Dr. Andrew Weil. The restaurant is located in the Stanford Shopping Center and has a huge space with natural lighting. It is definitely a family friendly, sit down restaurant.

The recent preview opening of True Kitchen gave me a chance to try their menu for lunch.

($13) Wild Caught Albacore Tataki - avocado, jalapeño, toasted sesame, yuzu ponzu

My meal started with a tasty appetizer of seared tuna in ponzu. I ate every single piece including the jalapenos. The avocado might actually be the pureed dots. This dish was great.

($5) Pomegranate Chia Limeade - evaporated cane, pom chia

I rehydrated with a refreshing non-alcoholic pomegranate limeade with chia seeds. A wonderful, healthy drink.

($8) Daily Market Soup - roasted cauliflower

I wasn't a huge fan of this one because there was a gingery taste to it. It's fine otherwise and the portion is quite large for a soup.

($27) Sustainable Seabass - broccolini, sugar snap pea, roasted mushroom, whole grains, lemon-umami emulsion

The seabass was cooked beautifully. Slight crisp on the outside with flaky, juicy filet on the inside. All the roasted mushrooms were fantastic and the broccolini was tender. The lemon-umami emulsion was milder than expected but the other ingredients are so fresh and flavorful that the sauce doesn't need to do much.

($7) Apple Goji Crisp - almond crumble, vanilla ice cream
My already large meal ended with the apple goji crips which was baked apple and goji berries with a crumble on top. I'm not sure if the vanilla ice cream is home made. It sure tasted like it. I recommend this dessert and any others on the menu that come with ice cream.

DoorDash is Delivering from The Bywater

Earlier this year, I was very impressed with the fried chicken from The Bywater in Los Gatos when I had a chance to review it for Metroactive. Last week, DoorDash gave me a chance to try The Bywater's fried chicken which is a new offering for their service. The food and delivery were complimentary to me and these opinions are my own.

I chose a weekday delivery around 6:30-7PM. The delivery was prompt (early actually) and everything went smoothly. The chicken arrived still hot and crispy even though I live a bit farther from the restaurant. Here is about half the portion after plating.

The chicken was put in a reusable plastic container. Two large breast pieces. They were juicy inside, crispy and crunchy on the outside. I was very impressed with how this held up during delivery and pleasantly reminded of when I had it in store. You can order it for $22 in the store but it only comes with a small cup of butter beans. On DoorDash, for $28, you get it with red beans and rice. This came out to two portions for me, or maybe slightly over one portion for someone with a larger appetite.

The red beans and rice were served in this container. It's a heavier portion of red beans and sausages with smaller portion of rice. If you want, to split this into two portions, you can cook up more rice. But like I said before, everything served as it is delivered is already filling.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

Everything tastes as it did in store which is great. I'm impressed with how hot the food stayed, and how crispy the chicken was. From order to delivery, everything went smoothly. There is currently only one entree and one drink available from The Bywater on Doordash right now. To check if your address is within the delivery zone, check out the DoorDash website. They aim for a radius of a 15-20 minute drive.

P.F. CHANG’S OFFERS FREE SUSHI DAY THIS THURSDAY, SEPT. 29 IN EIGHT NORTHERN CALIFORNIA LOCATIONS

SCOTTSDALE – (September 27, 2016) P.F. Chang’s is rolling out a Free Sushi Day this Thursday, Sept. 29 in select Northern California restaurants. This one-day promotion invites dine-in guests to enjoy a free Spicy Tuna Roll or California Roll in Walnut Creek, Emeryville, Sunnyvale, Fremont, Pleasanton, Monterey, Palo Alto and San Jose, California. P.F. Chang’s sushi rolls are hand-rolled to order and made with sushi-grade seafood, fresh julienned vegetables and 100% U.S.A-grown rice. They’re also just 600 calories or less each.

“Our hand-rolled sushi gives guests one more reason to love P.F. Chang’s,” said Dwayne Chambers, chief marketing officer for the company. “We’re offering guests in eight of our Northern California locations a chance to try it for free.”

Guests can take advantage of the offer at participating restaurants by presenting a Free Sushi Card, showing the Free Sushi Roll advertisement on their phone or simply mentioning the promotion to their server. Offer is valid all day, September 29, 2016, in-restaurant only. Catering and to-go orders do not qualify. Offer is limited to one free roll per guest but is not limited to a maximum per table. It cannot be combined with any other offer, including Happy Hour or Chang’s For Two.

Austin 2016 Photo Diary

Two years ago, I went to Austin, TX for the first time to attend my first BlogHer Food Conference. It would be my first of three BlogHer conferences. The experience was my first exposure to the business of blogging and seeing how people can make money doing what they love. I came back daydreaming about an alternative career where I call the shots in my daily life. Since then I've decided not to blog full time but now I know what the pros and cons of this lifestyle would be. I highly respect professional bloggers.

A few weeks ago, I returned to Austin just to have a good time with some girlfriends. The city is still great and especially more so when I come without a schedule of events. Here are a few shots.

From the Westin Hotel downtown

The Capitol Building at night. It's a yuge Pokestop.

Chicken and fried okra from Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken

On one of our strolls through the city, we discovered this art installation made from lobster rope and paint by Orly Genger at Waller Creek Trail.

The following are from the uber cool Hotel Van Zandt

We loved hanging out at the pool side bar of this hotel so much that we came back the next night. This hotel is absolutely gorgeous and has such a unique decor.

And now for all the food we ate. First we had to try authentic Austin style barbecue at Terry Black's Barbecue. The ribs and brisket were especially tender and juicy.

Before our hike the next day, we ate brunch at South Congress Cafe. 

This beautiful caprese salad tasted only just ok. Everything else was great.

More barbecue ensued at the fancy Lambert's Downtown Barbecue. It was all good yet not as authentic as Terry's because this seemed to be a more fancy place.

Great iced latte at Irie Bean Coffee Bar on Lamar.

After a late night out, we had cravings for burgers and P. Terry's was the only place open. It happens to be an Austin original. It was alright. Not as good as In N' Out.

Before going out on one of the nights, we had a happy hour dinner at Hightower on 7th Street. It's actually not up high at all so I'm not sure where this name comes from. The food was just ok. 

After dinner, we stopped by Prohibition Creamery for dessert where they served boozy ice cream flavors or ice cream in a boozy float. Yums. Here we chatted up the waitress and her friends who eventually recommended us to Hotel Van Zandt.

SimpleViet - San Jose

A few years ago, some website's list of "Things to Eat in San Jose" or something used a photo from my blog post in which I was eating pho. This website ran an ad on the side bar of Facebook so many people saw my photo online (with no attributions or link back to my site, boo). For a brief moment, my face was synonymous with Vietnamese people eating pho in San Jose. And that is absolutely so true because I love pho!

Pho never goes out of style in San Jose. We generally welcome all forms of traditional and experimental versions. When SimpleViet, a new eatery in south San Jose offered me a complimentary meal to try their semi-customized fast casual Vietnamese food, I was ready to chow down. 

HOW IT WORKS

You can order signature dishes of Pho, bowls, banh mi, or spring rolls. Or you can customize your own combo of meat, carb, dressing, and add-ons. $8.95 for pho or bowls. $7.95 for banh mi. $7.95 for 3 rolls. $11.95 for a meal. You can also include extra add ons for additional cost. Dine-in or order online for pick up and delivery options.

SimpleViet

The signature pho was served in a compostable paper bowl which never got soggy and never leaked during the meal. Yay! All the greens and herbs were so fresh as advertised and there's loads of everything in this tiny bowl. It looks small but contains a regular sized bowl portion that you could get at other stores. The broth is delicate and tasty. 

The bowls here are where you can really start to customize. There are 4 starch base options, 5 proteins, and 5 sauces along with loads of fresh toppings. We tried the vermicelli bowl with teriyaki beef and the vinaigrette and garlic aioli sauces. The garlic aioli sauce is great, I just wouldn't drown the bowl in it but definitely dip any of the meats into it.

We also sampled the lemon grass chicken (left) and signature honey-glazed pork (right). Both were great. The pork is the best which is probably why they put it in the signature bowl. 

Here are the 5 sauces all with fusion influence.

Lastly, I tried the signature rolls with salt and pepper poached shrimp. The portion is a decent size for rolls. I normally prefer mine with more herbaceous greens which is lacking in these rolls in favor of lighter yet still fresh flavors of pickled carrots and daikon, lettuce, and cucumber.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

SimpleViet is located in an easily accessible plaza off Bernal Road. There are many small companies nearby and it is a great lunch spot. The pho and bowl prices are comparable as many other locations charge the same. The portion size is good for the price and the ingredients are definitely fresh. Everything is made in house. They have done a great job with introducing new sauces to Vietnamese cuisine. The service is speedy and ambiance is casual. It makes a great place for take out because you order at the front.

SimpleViet

125 Bernal Rd, Unit 60

San Jose, CA 95119