Chipotle Mexican Grill

I went to the Mall on a Sunday afternoon and wanted lunch. I was at the eastern side of the Mall where Borders is located. I dabbled between Daphne's, Panera and Chipotle. I quickly eliminated Panera because it was too crowded and the line was out the front door. The decision then became a taco or a gyro. I chose the tacos. For $7.00 I received three crunchy shelled tacos. I ordered one chicken, one shredded beef called barbacoa, and one carne asade (grilled beef) taco. In the tacos, you have a choice of rice and beans or plain meat. I opted for one taco to have the rice, beans and meat and the other two tacos with only the meat.

I watched the staff assemble the tacos that I ordered. The first person inserted the meat in the taco shells. The second person added the salsa, cheese, sour cream and lettuce. By the time I received my food, the plate was a hot mess...and not in a good way. There was sour cream over the side of the plate, sprinkled cheese all over the plate and not necessarily inside the taco. The food was poorly prepared. Presentation wise, it was a sad looking meal.

I ate my meal at the restaurant. The first taco was the barbacoa. The meat was tender and tasty. The salsa was medium spicy and it had a kick, but it did not overwhelm the mouth. The second taco I consumed was the carne asada. The grilled beef was cut into little cubes. Unfortunately, the carne asada was overcooked. The beef ended up as hard, chewy, little meat cubes. The meat was dry and it made the taco less desirable. The last taco I ate was the chicken. The chicken was a little tough to eat. The chicken taco had the rice and beans inside; the two ingredients did not add a lot of value. All three tacos were messy to eat and salsa dripped out the sides. The saving grace of the tacos was the sour cream. The sour cream cooled the heat from the salsa and added moisture to the overcooked meat.

Chipotle seems to specialize in cooked meats and not fish. I did not see any fish tacos or fish plates on the menu board. The barbacoa was the best of the bunch, since it sits in its own sauce. The chicken and carne asada are kept hot in a heated tray which dries out the meat. My recommendation is to eat barbacoa.

Vegetarian

Vegetarians out there always complain that I don't comment about any vegetarian restaurants in Alameda. Well, one important factor is that there is only one vegetarian restaurant in Alameda, Central Vegetarian Cuisine on Park Street. Of course a majority of all restaurants in town have vegetarian dishes, but Central Vegetarian Cuisine is strictly vegetarian.


Recently, I walked along Park Street one Friday evening. I passed by Central Vegetarian Cuisine, and noticed the place was closed. The night was early and definitely during normal business hours for a food establishment. There was no sign on the door. I wonder if this is an indication of the economy or that Alamedans are not into vegetarian cuisine. I have not walked back to the restaurant since then to see if the owner is still in operation.


Other food that is popular in the vegetarian realm is Indian food. Most Indians are vegetarians, but Indian restaurants in the US serve meat. India Palace serves great vegetarian dishes that are not side plates. I definitely enjoy the cauliflower entree in curry sauce with peas and potatoes. The rice at India Palace is really tasty with the slight hint of saffron. Yummy!

Chinese restaurants also serve vegetarian dishes, but it is mostly stir fry. I find stir fry to be one-dimensional at times; I guess it depends upon what type of sauce is served with it. What I do love in Chinese vegetarian dishes is the tofu. Love tofu! Hong Kong East Ocean on Webster Street prepares a great deep fried tofu dish with stuffed shrimp. Unfortunately the stuffed tofu is really a side dish and not an entree. I will not even go there with the imitation (soy product) of pork, chicken and beef served in some Chinese restaurants. I ate a few of those meals in a vegan, Buddhist Chinese restaurant in San Francisco and found the few experiences to be odd. It tastes like meat, has a slightly different texture than meat, but it suppose to be meat. I don't get it since it is a vegan restaurant?

The other option is pasta at Italian restaurants. Cera Una Volta has a few decent pasta dishes sans meat. The eggplant parmesan is entree worthy.

Alamedans may have find it difficult to support a truly vegan restaurant (no egg or milk product, or no seafood) on the island. I don't think there are enough vegans or vegetarians on the island to be able to financially support a restaurant.

Stuck on Philly Cheesesteaks

For some reason, I am stuck on Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. I don't know why since the sandwich is unhealthy for me. Perhaps, I enjoy bouts of gluttony, but in all honesty, I am driven to find a great Philly Cheesesteak.

I ate at Burgermeister on Sunday and of course ordered a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich. I was curious about their version of the sandwich because I tasted all of the other places around the island and I am still not content with what is available. Call me a masochist.

The first bite of the Philly Cheesesteak was pretty good. My first impression was that the sandwich was better than the sandwich I had at Yo! Philly Cheesesteak. The cheesesteak from Burgermeister had better flavors of beef, onions, grilled peppers and melted cheese. The sandwich was amply filled with meat and vegetables in a regular roll. In terms of price, Burgermeister is more expensive, however, the atmosphere is much more pleasant and you can sit down and enjoy your food.

Recommendations for a satisfying Philly Cheesesteak in Alameda...not the Cheesesteak Shop in Nob Hill, and definitely not McGee's Bar & Grill. I suppose it is a toss-up between Yo! Philly Cheesesteak and Burgermeister.

Have a Ghoulish Night!

Call out to demons and witches for a party tonight. I am certain there will be hundreds of children running around the Gold Coast area trick or treating. Be on the lookout for ghosts and goblins and be careful while driving.

I definitely love Halloween for the dark humor of the festivities. I also enjoy eating pounds of candy, chocolate and sugar and not feel guilty. What a fabulous event.

Have a ghoulish and safe night.

A Steak is just a Steak

When Pappo first opened, it brought an edge to the Alameda restaurant scene. The place was cool, hip and the food was better than other places around town. Now, the place is empty and lacks character. I ate dinner here last week after work. The restaurant was sparse. Not many patrons were dining.


The menu list also lacked luster. There was no spark that would capture one's attention on the food. Even though the dining room is still the same, something is missing. I can't pinpoint what it is, but there is no life in the room. The place now seems like a regular joint and no longer stands out. The bright star that once shined, is now dim. The edge in the food is gone; a steak is just a steak.


The aesthetics of the dining room is great, but the food needs to express itself. The owner needs to come back to the kitchen and bring the magic.

Kamakura...Unexpectedly Busy

I was around town for lunch one day and had a client with me. The client had never been to Alameda before and it was lunch time, so I decided to take him to Kamakura. I didn't think much about it since it was a business day and did not think the restaurant would be busy. I went there for the first time during lunch and the place was packed. I was in total shock. We had to wait for a while and then we were seated. We didn't have a lot of time since we had meetings to attend. We ordered our food and the service was fairly quick. I ordered the Oyaku Donburi and the client ordered the Chicken Teriyaki. My chicken bowl was palatable. The sauce was slightly bland, but I still ploughed through it since I was hungry and had a long day ahead of me.

A second time, I called the restaurant on a Sunday afternoon to see if the place was open. The owner, Faith, answered the phone and she said they were open for business. During the call, I could not hear any noise in the background and thought it would be a good opportunity to bring a group of six people. I came approximately 45 minutes after I initially called. I took my gang with me and again, unexpectedly, the restaurant was completely packed. Ugh! I put my name on the list and the hostess could not tell me how long the wait was. Who would have thought the place would be crowded on a late Sunday afternoon. And with a group of six, tables were not going my way since four other groups were ahead of me. We waited and waited. We could not wait any longer and decided to walk away.

Kamakura may not be affected by the recession. Kudos to them.

Yo! Philly's Cheesesteak Fails to Please

I am a big meat eater. I love beef. I love the taste of beef. When I noticed the new cheesesteak place on Park Street, I became curious. The first time I went over to the restaurant, it was a Sunday. Yo! Philly's Cheesesteak is closed on Sundays. I then looked over the menu and decided to come back another day.

I ordered a Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich with the works which consisted of mushrooms, onions and bell pepper. The bun was a submarine sandwich bun, almost one foot long. The cook grilled the beef after I placed my order. The place is basically a counter and no room to eat the sandwich on the premise. I took my cheesesteak sandwich home and was excited to taste the beef treat. The look of the sandwich looked great, the owner was not skimpy on the amount of beef. There wasn't a lot of grease oozing out of the bun and it looked like it was worth the $7.50 that I paid for it.

I was perplexed on my first bite into the sandwich. I could taste the beef, mushrooms and peppers, but all of the flavors combined was not impressive. There wasn't a strong beef flavor from the meat. I felt that all of the ingredients resulted in a bland product. I also noticed in the sandwich that the mushrooms were canned and not fresh, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but more of an observation. Usually there is a special sauce the meat is grilled with that brings out the flavors, but I am not certain if the cook has a "sauce".

I will say that Yo! Philly Cheesesteak turns out a much better product than other competitors in Alameda. The amount of meat inside the sandwiches far exceed others. In addition, Yo! Philly Cheesesteak is the only place where you can purchase Tastycake products for dessert.

I will check back on this place and report to you later. For right now, I am sticking to my original blog entry on April 24, 2009; there is no decent Philly Cheesesteak in Alameda.