Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Island City Cafe

Watch out Pampered Pup and Doggy Style, the Island City Cafe is gunning to be the best hot dog establishment in Alameda.   The cafe serves sandwiches, dogs and salads.  It's a new business and across the street from Nob Hill Grocery.  The prices of the food items are decent and not expensive.  This place is worth checking out.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Red Velvet Cake

One morning I was at Wescafe after riding my bicycle and decided to drop in.  I was looking for a snack and nothing too heavy. I saw one slice of the red velvet cake that was inside the cake display.  I asked the staff person if the owners made the cake, which they do not, but the manufacturer delivers it daily. 

The cake looked good, but once I took the first bite, it was disappointing.  The cake was dry. The cream cheese frosting was too sweet.  The benefit was that it added moisture to the cake, but it made the cake overwhelmingly too sweet.  The cake was not enjoyable.  I will pass on it the next time I see it.

Even Nob Hill Grocery has a better Red Velvet Cake in the bakery department.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

No More Aroma

My neighbor use to have a favorite place of all time...Aroma Restaurant at the foot of the Park Street Bridge.  He knew all of the staff and bartenders and that place was his second home.  Unfortunately, Aroma closed down about a month ago for unknown reasons.  I thought they were doing okay financially and was able to weather the downturn, but I guess not.  I hope it wasn't a forced shutdown due to serving underage minors.  Does anyone know what happened?

I think Alameda businesses are suffering and I don't think City Hall is taking the downturn seriously for food establishments or business owners. They are focusing all of their energies on the budget deficient instead of giving themselves a 10% pay cut just like everyone else had to take due to the weak economy.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Grand Opening on Webster Street

The owner of The Frog and the Fiddle removed their shingle and posted a Grand Opening sign. I thought they were only changing the food vendor in the kitchen, and now I don't know what they are doing.  The sample menu from the web site has your basic pub food with french fries, chicken wings, burgers and lasagna.  The menu is limited with not a lot of selection, however, if they can make a home run on each dish, than let it roll.

I sure hope The Frog and the Fiddle can survive the lack of business on Webster Street.