Saturday @ Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz

We have been working really hard during the week, so we decided to take a day trip out on Saturday! We first went to Asilomar Beach at Pacific Grove, our favorite beach in the area. It was too cold to hang out, but we saw a deer grazing just less than 2 meters from us! Enjoy the photos~
We drove to Santa Cruz after that to hang out at the boardwalk and beach area. It was quite nice; a little windy at times but not too cold or warm. The boardwalk was crowded though, but we managed to find a good spot to lay down our picnic mat and read on our Kindles.
Dinner was at The Crepe Place, a surprising find, that served delicious food. The free bread was a single cute softgrain loaf, very soft and fresh! Our appetizer of hot buffalo wings was yummy but a bit spicy for me. Next came the crepes -- he had the spinach supreme, complete with ham, cheese and egg (his favorite ingredient), while I had the crab crepe, with gyuyere cheese and white wine alfredo sauce on top. Everything was very good, and we were so stuffed! Also the patio area was very quaint, almost romantic (we were almost fooled and worried by the bar front). We wouldn't mind returning to this creperie again on our next trip to Santa Cruz!

Hello there!

I'm going to eat more grass near the beach

The cute loaf of softgrain bread that really impressed my boyfriend

Crab crepe with white wine alfredo sauce

The Crepe Place

1134 Soquel Ave

Santa Cruz, CA 95062

(831) 429-6994

Pearl Cafe (Mountain View)

A surprising find! The bulk of the food menu was Hawaiian. We tried loco moco, morning musubi and the pepper chicken with jasmine milk tea. The milk tea was decent (tasted like Quickly and the pearls were not hard), and the food was pretty nice. We liked how the pepper chicken had a good meat-to-batter ratio. We had never had musubi before, but the morning musubi was quite nice (the hashbrown and the rice melded together), although the seaweed was pretty old and couldn't be torn apart.
It's pretty decent food at decent prices (the portions were HUGE), so we'll probably return in the future. Also, the ambience is pretty nice for relaxing and hanging out with friends!

Loco Moco with katsu and curry sauce. This could be two persons' lunch.

Morning musubi. Egg, spam and hasbrown with rice wrapped in seaweed.

 Pearl Cafe

506 Showers Dr

Mountain View, CA 94040

(650) 917-8988

Sushi Sam's Edomata (San Mateo)

At least two friends recommended this Japanese sushi restaurant to us, so we decided to make the drive up to San Mateo. It was worth it.
We ordered salmon nigiri (our standard for testing sushi bars), soft shell crab roll, and omakase sashimi (our friend recommended we try it). Everything was provided at very generous cuts, and the salmon had lots of fat (close to salmon belly). We quite liked the soft shell crab roll although we found that the batter was a bit too thick and we couldn't really taste much of the meat. 
What I really wanted to talk about was the omakase. It was completely worth the $40 we paid for it. 8 big cuts of a variety of white fish, special yellowtail, flounder, TORO, and a seasonal baby squid marinated with miso. The toro simply melted in our mouth, no need for chewing! We hadn't had the other kinds of fish before, and it was a good first experience. 
Finally, the omakase dessert, white miso parfait, was simply delicious. The blend of flavors in the cream and spongecake was heightened by the slightly salty taste of the miso puree. 
We would come here again!

Salmon nigiri and soft shell crab roll. Check out the thick layers of fat on the salmon

Omakase sashimi

White miso parfait. YUM!

Sushi Sam's Edomata

218 E 3rd Ave

San Mateo, CA 94401

(650) 344-0888

http://www.sushisams.com

Sakura Teppanyaki (Redwood City)

Came here for a late dinner after watching the newest Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises!

This was only our second time at a teppanyaki restaurant, and it was pretty entertaining. The waiters and chef were quite funny, so dinner was a pleasant experience. The food was good too. We ordered two dinner sets -- fillet mignon and tuna. Each set came with soup, salad, fried rice, shrimp appetizer, some onions and cucumber, and main course. 

The soup and salad were so-so; the soup tasted like water + MSG + onions, while the salad had some sauce we didn't like. The rest of the food was nice though. The first hot dish was fried rice, which was quite delicious. Shrimp appetizer comprised of two succulent pieces of shrimp, and our order of medium-cooked meat was quite well-made. We liked the fillet mignon better than the tuna, due to the tenderness and flavor, although we must say that both portions were hearty enough. Every dish was cooked with both oil and butter, although one should simply eat without thinking about the fat content and just enjoy the enhanced flavors. In addition, two dipping sauces were provided, ponzu and some diluted thousand island -- i liked the latter better since its taste wasn't too strong to mask the original flavor of the food.

The couple next to us ordered a seafood lovers set, which consisted of scallops, shrimp, and lobster. Their food looked really good, so we might try that on our next trip!

All the food prior to cooking

Performance by chef where he put alcohol and oil into some onions and set it on fire

Tuna and shrimp appetizer

Fillet mignon

2198 Broadway St

Redwood City, CA 94063

Carmel Belle (Carmel-by-the-sea)

Came here for a late lunch after hiking at Big Sur, and it was delicious! It's a small cafe tucked inside an artsy shopping center, but a real gem indeed. It's my second time here so far, and it hasn't disappointed yet. I had a Berkshire Pork sandwich, and the pork was so tender with the right amount of sauce and fat, while the ciabatta bread had the right external crunchiness and internal softness.
My friends had a mushroom sandwich, salmon/half-boiled egg/baguette, cheddar and bacon sandwich, and cheddar and ham sandwich. Everyone found their food very good too, so we were happy patrons =)

Doud Craft Studios

Ocean Ave & San Carlos

Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA 93921

http://www.carmelbelle.com/

Wiener Mobile

Random Wiener Mobile spotted at Pacific Grove, looks pretty posh inside! Nevertheless still hilarious

Relaxing on the beach on Sunday

Relaxing on a small beach in Pacific Grove with my friends!

Lappert's Ice cream shop (Pacific Grove)

Walked into this shop for some ice-cream, and what a surprise! The owner appears to be some hyper-hippie, and the entire shop was plastered with LPs by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Elvis, etc. The flavors were pretty unusual too -- guava with cheesecake?! I had a relatively normal praline pecan and it was pretty good. Quite an interesting find in a small seaside town.

Pacific Thai Cuisine (Pacific Grove)

I came here for the second time this trip, for lunch and ordered their lunch special of thai basil fried rice. It was pretty good I must say. The rice was flavorful enough with the many basil leaves they fried into the rice, and the pork went quite well with the flavors. There was a good proportion of vegetables as well, so at least there was some balance. The portions were big enough for me to be satisfied and left enough for a big lunch tomorrow. I also liked the Tom Kha soup that came with the lunch special, which was sour and spicy enough with a hint of coconut milk.

Crystal Fish (Pacific Grove)

What I learnt this trip is to not place so much trust in Yelp reviews, especially in touristy areas. A bunch of us came here for lunch yesterday, seeing that it was 4* on Yelp, and were pretty disappointed.

We all ordered lunch specials -- most people ordered nigiri lunch (5 pc nigiri, 6 california rolls), and I ordered the bento with tempura and sashimi. About my dish first: the portions looked hearty, but the quality was only ok. I liked the salad but it was pretty much soy sauce and sesame, so nothing much could go wrong there. The tempura was ok -- the breading was slightly thick, and the eggplant was so thin I couldn't tell what was eggplant or breading. The shrimp and carrot were good though, but I was really looking forward to sweet potato, which was absent (!!). The sashimi (1pc salmon, 2pc tuna, 2pc yellowtail) was relatively fresh, but the cut wasn't great, since the only salmon piece I had was full of tendons and I had to turn it over in my mouth to chew on it, something I rarely have to do with fresh fish. Another sign was my friend's salmon nigiri falling apart from the fat/tendons, so I'm not too sure about the cut.... The rice in the bento was a little hard too, hmm =/

It was a reasonable deal for a $9 bento box though I wouldn't recommend it for someone who's looking for good seafood next to the ocean.

Max's Grill (Pacific Grove)

came here for dinner with a friend today after seeing that it was 4 stars on yelp, but it was only ok.


We both ordered the 3-course dinner for $25 each, and I chose crab cakes, sand dabs with white wine cream sauce, and vanilla ice-cream with chocolate sauce.


I wasn't sure if the crab cake was fresh enough, but it definitely didn't taste as great as what I've had before in the Bay Area/San Francisco. Now that I think about it, I don't even remember tasting crab! It was also too salty... I actually had to squeeze on some lemon to muffle the salt and enhance the other flavors of the crab, something that I never do!
The grilled sand dabs were nice, and were slightly different from what I had at Vivolo's, although the texture was consistently soft. The cream sauce went well with the fish, but the saffron rice was a little dry, and could use some extra sauce. I did like the asparagus a lot though.
The ice-cream was good, but how wrong can you go with that?


All being said, I'm not sure if I will return.

209 Forest Ave

Pacific Grove, CA 93950

Thai Bistro II (Pacific Grove)

Went to this restaurant near the marine station today, and it was ok. I'll give it 3 out of 5 stars. I had the $9 lunch special of pad thai, which came with tom kha soup, vegetable dumplings and some salad. It was nice for them to provide tom kha soup, instead of some random liquid like other restaurants, but it was mediocre and had no depth in taste, though there was lots of coconut milk. The vegetable dumplings were the best thing out of the entire lunch, and the pad thai was only slightly sweet but shallow in taste otherwise. The peanuts were soft and stale, bleah. The thai iced tea was not bad though. 
So yeah, next time I would go to the other thai place, Pacific Thai Cuisine at Lighthouse, where I tried the pineapple fried rice on my second night here and was pretty good. 


Update on 21 July: I came here for lunch again, earlier in the week out of convenience, and ordered their lunch special of panang curry with fish. I must say I was pleasantly surprised this time. The tom kha soup tasted much better, with the right sourness and spiciness and just a hint of coconut milk. I liked the curry too, although it was overwhelmingly spicy (note that I grew up eating spicy food in Singapore). I guess they went heavy on the chili (you could see the flakes all over my curry), since I told the waiter I like spicy food (long story). The dumplings and salad were nice too, as was the thai iced tea. The only thing about the restaurant is that it's manned by a single waiter so service can be pretty slow.  

159 Central Ave

Pacific Grove, CA 93950

(831) 372-8700

Super low tide

I wonder if this blog will eventually become something that's not purely about food, but I wanted to share this photo of the extremely low tides this morning, due to the full moon. Look at the places where lots of the marine plants and barnacles have been exposed.

First Awakenings (Pacific Grove, CA)

This is a breakfast and brunch place near the Hopkins Marine Station, and my two experiences here have been good so far! Their portions are more than generous and quality is pretty good too. I had the pulled pork sandwich (with mushroom, onion and cheese) for lunch, which came with potatoes, fruit and salad (celery, mesclun greens, onions, tomatoes). It was good value for a $12 meal, and the pork was tender but not flaky. Yum!

125 Ocean View Blvd

Pacific Grove, CA 93950

(831) 372-1125

www.firstawakenings.net

Vivolo's Chowder House (Monterey, CA)

We came here famished from kayaking and had the New England chowder on sourdough bread and garlic cheese lid, fisherman's platter, and sand dabs. The chowder and garlic cheese bread were delicious on their own, but didn't really complement each other. The chowder was definitely fresh though and we found ourselves scooping out every last bit of it. The main dishes were generous too -- the platter had fried white fish, scallops, shrimp, and fries. The scallops and shrimp were big and succulent but the fish was normal. We really liked how the sand dabs almost melted in our mouth, with a twist in texture provided by a thin layer of breading. I would come back for more!

Update (4th July): I came here again today with a friend, and we had the sand dabs, chowder and scallops provencale! It was absolutely delicious and the waitress actually remembered me! The scallops were huge and succulent, while the cream sauce was nicely complemented by the tomatoes and olives.

127 Central Ave

Pacific Grove, CA 93950

(831) 372-5414

http://www.vivoloschowderhouse.com

Monterey Day 3

I know this is completely unrelated to food, but just wanted to share some nice photos of Monterey!

View of Monterey Bay

Curious seals not far from shore

baby seal!

Monterey

I'm currently at Monterey for a month for a marine microbiology course! Excited about everything I'll learn, but also looking forward to fresh seafood! mm clam chowder yum
I already had shrimp pineapple rice from Pacific Thai Restaurant today and the shrimp was not bad..