food

Meatball Mondays at Bucca di Beppo

March 17, 2019 By Kat

I love a good deal, so when I was driving in downtown Palo Alto one night, I saw a sign outside Bucca di Beppo (the Italian restaurant), which caught my eye.

It said Meatball Mondays – 50% off spaghetti and meatballs!! I made a mental note. A couple weeks later, when Vince and I were hungry on a Monday night with no dinner prepped, I said, “HEY! It’s Monday! Let’s go to Bucca di Beppo for Meatball Monday!” He loves Italian food, so he was down.

We drove there, parked in the downtown Palo Alto Ramona Street garage, and saw this tasty meatball truck parked there too. Made us even more excited to head to dinner.

Apparently they have a Sunday night special too!

Unique decor inside.. how to describe it…cozy?
I never understand the photos on the walls..

If you’ve never been to Bucca di Beppo, the restaurant is family-style Italian food. You can order the typical salad, pizza, pasta, appetizers, etc.. from the menu, but all portions come in family sizes – small (feeding 3 people) or large (feeding 5 people). No portions are individual sized.

Ok so we ordered the spaghetti and meatballs! You would think we would’ve ordered the small size, per the recommended portion sizing. However, Vince adamantly wanted the large family size – which is for 5 people!! and we are 2 people!!! Sigh. Why?! But we did so anyways.

Free bread and butter!! Yes please! I’ll happily fill up on that.

Hungrily waiting for our food.
Eyeing the empty table next to us where they left meatballs! So tempting.

Finally our LARGE family size of spaghetti and meatballs came! And boy, was it large.

Here’s his hand next to it for comparison.

After I had about 2 servings onto my small plate, I was already full. By the way, I couldn’t even eat a whole meatball. They’re ENORMOUS!!! Maybe it was because I was still chomping on the free bread through dinner. I can’t help myself.

P.S. to Bucca di Beppo if you’re reading this, Vince’s chef commentary is that the dish should come with 5 meatballs if the dish is meant to serve 5 people. Otherwise people would have to split meatballs…

Okay he finally gave up. This is how much was left. He did an admirable job.

Leftovers for many days to come…

Alright, that’s a wrap on our experience at Bucca di Beppo for Meatball Mondays! Next time, we need to bring a larger group. Plus I would probably like to order some other dishes next time. Eating plain spaghetti and meatballs can get a tad boring. Definitely add a generous sprinkling of red pepper flakes to add flavor. I think I actually prefer spaghetti with bolognese sauce instead of spaghetti and meatballs – spreads out the meat to pasta ratio better. 🙂

Okay if you try this out, let me know how it goes! Happy eating!

No more meatballs for us for awhile.

New Favorite Sandwich Place in Palo Alto – Driftwood Deli

February 18, 2019 By Kat

Apparently this place has been around for a long time, but this was our first time trying it! Their sandwiches are really good! It’s a bit hard to notice, but it’s next to the Creekside Inn on El Camino Real in Palo Alto, CA. Read on for a peek inside and to see what we ordered.

This is what you see when you walk in.

The staff is very friendly! And very patient while you try to choose among the many, many sandwich options lol. How to choose?!?

They said their most popular sandwiches are: #16 California Club, #29 Heaven on Earth, #23 Kevin’s, and #18 Turkey Pesto. They also do half sandwiches if you want to try different kinds.

Your meal’s not complete without a satisfying bag of chips! And boy, do they have chip options. Again, a very difficult decision lol.

Or if you have multiple people, you can opt for the bigger bags of chips and split it, which is what we decided to do.

If you need a drink or candy bar, they’ve got you covered.

After you’ve got all your food, you can sit at their cute little tables inside or outside. This guy had to get 2 sandwiches…

Ok here are the close up Instagram shots of the sandwiches you’ve been waiting for:

All of them were really good!!! My favorite was “The Customer’s Favorite!” That’s literally the name of it. They used to have it as the daily special, for a really long time (several months), and then they took it away, and customers kept asking for it, so they brought it back! It’s so good!!! *drool*

Other people in the community also agree that these sandwiches are the bomb.

We were SO stuffed from 3 sandwiches. I recommend going with 1 sandwich for each person, haha. Before I forget, they also have a cute coffee bar if you want that type of drink!

By the way, that’s Roberto in the picture. He’s a nice guy. Say hi to him if you see him there. He’s worked at the deli for 19 years! The owner of the shop is Steve, and he’s also around and friendly to talk to as well. Steve is in the video on the Yelp business page, which I watched before we walked in, so I recognized him, haha.

Anyways, back to the coffee bar. Here’s the menu of drinks available. And yes, they have ice cream too! From Dreyer’s.

Not done yet! They have breakfast sandwiches and salads too. I believe they have gluten-free options for bread as well. So there you go, they have everything!

This place has got a homey small-town feel to it, where they recognize the frequent customers by name. I like those types of places in the community. Sadly, they’re becoming rarer and rarer. So if you’re in the Palo Alto area near El Camino, stop by this place to support a small business!

Before we even finished our food, Vince said, “Let’s come back 38 more times!” Because we have 38 more specials on their board to try. LOL wow.

A Truly French Bakery Comes to the Bay Area – Maison Alyzeée

October 30, 2018 By Kat

My friend Pam recently came back from a month in France, and was raving about how this new bakery in downtown Mountain View was legit. She goes there for the baguettes and loves it. Apparently it’s the real deal! I was of course intrigued, so I had to visit this place for myself.

On a Tuesday morning, I stopped by Maison Alyzée and immediately fell in love with the charm of this bakery. I had the chance to speak with the owner, Laurent Pellet. He was so welcoming and open, and I got a peek behind-the scenes at the kitchen and got to meet the chefs as well. So cool!! The more I heard about their story and how they work and think, I was captivated by the amount of care and love that is put into this bakery.

Laurent opened this bakery because there wasn’t a truly French bakery that existed in the Bay Area. There were other really good bakeries, but not one that was *truly* French. The team believed that they could create something truly different. That is the mark of a team on a mission!!

The values that are important to Laurent are humility, respect, sharing, and quality. Sharing is important to him because back in France, a community of bakers is all about sharing. He also emphasizes humility because they are always striving to do better – to tweak and improve the product to be at its best for customers. They challenge themselves daily. Each day, they look at the product and think, “Do we need to improve this?” It’s possible that a pastry may change 1 week later.

When you visit this place, the ambience begins from the street when you walk up to the bakery (there is outdoor seating) to stepping into the cozy bakery and seeing all the beautiful pastries. There is a Parisian flair to the whole experience.

They even have their own signature loaf of bread – the one with the M on it, which is made up of different flours. Gotta try that one day! After I try their baguette. 🙂

Laurent wants this place to be like a second home for customers. Some customers already come every day! And he wants it to be a place for kids as well.

Speaking of feeling like a home, he introduced me to his wife who works there as well. Aren’t they adorable?

THE BEST INGREDIENTS

Their team is also very meticulous with their ingredients and test the products to make sure they’re up to their quality standard. They source their ingredients from local vendors and they use the best ingredients – French butter, the best chocolate, etc..

He showed me the selection of teas they have from France, and he even took out a humongous bag of tea which was so aromatic that I could smell it from an arms distance away, when the bag was still closed!

AN AMAZING TEAM

Laurent brought over 3 chefs from France – including a Michelin star pastry chef! There is Head Pastry Chef Jean-Victor Bellaye, Pastry Sous-Chef Xan Billiotte, and Pastry Sous-Chef Gerald Chahine. More details about them here.

Here’s a picture of Laurent (left) and Chef Jean-Victor (right).

Chef Jean-Victor also took the time to explain some of the pastries to me. And while we were talking, he pulled these pastries from out of the oven! They look delicious.

Overall, I had a fantastic first time at Maison Alyzée. I’m excited that they have come to downtown Mountain View. This place is only a couple of months old and already has strong reviews on Yelp.

By the way, here’s a picture of the croissant I had. It was so flaky and delicious. It was gone in no time.

Before

After

If you’re in downtown Mountain View, stop by this gem of a bakery!!

Maison Alyzeée
212 Castro Street
Mountain View, CA 94041

Thank you to Laurent and the whole team for being so welcoming. Wishing you the best!

Thursdays at Buffalo Wild Wings: Boneless Wings Deal

June 24, 2018 By Kat

What an oxymoron. Boneless wings. Regardless, it’s basically like chunks of fried chicken. Who can say no to fried chicken?

The price can be different based on the locations. When we went earlier this week (Thursday night) to the San Jose location, it was 70 cents a wing, and we ordered FIFTY wings for 3 people. Needless to say, we had so much leftover… They said it was because I didn’t do my part. But I didn’t feel the need to order FIFTY in the first place! We also got an appetizer sampler platter and fries. Oy, so much food! 😮

Here’s the official BBW website for Boneless Thursdays which I quote from them is “the greatest day of all time.” And here’s the list of locations. It’d be best to check that the location nearest you offers this deal.

It’s not the first time we’ve went to BWW, so here are pics from other trips, where we also over-ordered. Sometimes I try to eat salad. Trying to maintain some amount of health, here! 😛

P.S. The lemon pepper flavor tastes better on wings with the bone, not so good on the boneless wings.

Hope you enjoyed this tip!

The Monopoly Game at Safeway

May 26, 2017 By Kat

OMG, guys, this game is ridiculous.

THE GAME

If you aren’t familiar, every year, the Safeway grocery store has a Monopoly game where you collect game pieces and try to win some prizes – money, scholarships, free food, cars, homes, etc…

When you buy something at the store, the receipt tells you the number of Monopoly game tickets the cashier will give you. If you buy “Monopoly bonus game ticket” products, you get an extra ticket. On a normal shopping trip, you may earn anywhere from 1 – 20 game pieces, if you had a full cart of groceries.

Sometimes the cashiers (either being really nice or don’t give a crap about the game) hand you a stack of tickets instead of counting out the number that your receipt says. YES! More to open!

THE PIECES

When you tear off the ends of the game ticket, you unfold it and see either a coupon of some sort and 4 thin game pieces that go on the Monopoly game board. Similar to the game we all played when we were younger, if you collect all the pieces within a category like $1 million dollars, then you win that prize.

Anyhow, I’ve never bothered to stick the pieces onto the board because you’ve got to hunt around to find where it belongs. This takes an insanely long time. There’s a ton of duplicate pieces, so sometimes you don’t even get the satisfaction of sticking it on the board! What a letdown.

MY SISTER

My sister had the patience for this. Last year, she emailed my whole extended family asking people to give her their Monopoly tickets. For months, she collected stacks and stacks from family members and methodically put them on the board. The whole time, she was 2 pieces away from $1 million, but couldn’t find those last two pieces. They were probably only a couple of winning pieces somewhere in the vast expanse of this country. Or the winning pieces were at the bottom of someone’s trash can.

MY COUSIN

This year, my sister has a baby, so she ain’t got time for this no more. Instead my cousin, full of eagerness (and more importantly without any kids), emailed out to the whole extended family asking for their Monopoly tickets. And so the craze began. Except she has a wedding to plan for this summer, so she is swamped with other things to do. Too bad there’s no Monopoly prize for a free wedding that plans itself.

MY OTHER COUSINS

Anyhow, one time, she delegated the work to my younger cousins, who are in middle and high school. That’s the age in life when you love collecting and sorting things (it was stickers and pencils in my day), so they loved playing the game. I was hosting a cousin get-together at my house and prepared all this food for a taco bar feast, but my younger cousins just ignored the food. They were just too enthralled by the hundreds of Monopoly pieces that needed to find their resting spot on the board. I walked over to the living room and sat on the couch nonchalantly. Then I got yelled at by my younger cousin for stepping on all the organized piles of pieces on the floor and ruining their system. Oops.

THE INSTANT WINNER COUPONS

Anyhow, this game is just a hilarious waste of time, but it’s so funny how people get so into the game for bursts of time (including myself) juxtaposed against people who absolutely do not care about the game but get wrapped up into it somehow.

Collecting them is addicting. It’s like lotto tickets but instead of winning jackpots, you can win things like a loaf of french bread or a bottle of aspirin. This one time, I passed by a hungry family was sitting outside Safeway asking for spare change. I didn’t have any more money on me, but I gave them the coupon for a free pound of bananas. They looked very confused, but I hope they redeemed it.

For me, these tiny prizes can be just as exciting. Hey, fresh produce is expensive these days! So my basic workflow would be to first open each ticket to see if I got any instant winner items (like free groceries), or coupons for things I would normally buy ($1 off soap or 50 cents off frozen veggies). Then I would neatly store away all the board game pieces in an envelope for my cousin.

MY PARENTS

When I visited my parents, they handed me a fat envelope full of unopened game pieces. Since I’m unemployed (see last post), they figured I had time on my hands to open all of them. Eh, makes sense. I gleefully did so, and found that they had earned free flour, aluminum foil, and bread, as well as a long-tail of random 50 cent off coupons. I enthusiastically shared my discoveries with them, and they brushed me off, telling me to redeem them because their eyesight isn’t good enough to read the tiny font on the pieces. (The game makers should think about accessibility next year!)

My cousin would get wide-eyed with horror when I would hand her these envelopes bursting with pieces. She just saw hours of her life flash before her eyes as she thought about having to sort through them. Haha poor girl.

YOU WIN… MORE TICKETS

Sometimes the Instant Winner coupons said you win 2 more free Monopoly tickets. So I went back to Safeway to redeem those additional tickets, and presumably some of those would also tell you that you won more free tickets. It’s a vicious cycle that you can’t escape.

One day, I was at the grocery store with friends. I handed the cashier my “more free tickets” coupons and he handed me AN ENTIRE BOX of tickets. He was like “Here. The game is ending today anyways, and we need to get rid of these.” I was OVERJOYED and couldn’t believe my luck.

This caught the attention of my friends, who had not heard about the game, but now their interest was suddenly piqued. When we had reached the car (not even reaching home yet), they began tearing them open, trying to find some free stuff. One of them was moving across the country, and needed to re-buy his stock of spices, so a coupon for free salt was very exciting to him.

PEELING THEM OPEN

I was quite shocked. Here they were, my friends coming all the way from out of town, wanting to spend an afternoon opening these Safeway Monopoly tickets. Simple minds have simple pleasures. Haha just kidding. They’re actually very smart engineers, and one’s a doctor, but they totally jumped onto the Monopoly train that leads to basically nowhere. Of course, since they’re engineers, they’re very analytical, so they started sorting the tickets into categories of free stuff and coupons, as well as prioritizing them based on usefulness. It was a sight to see. I overheard, “50 cents off paper plates!” “Oh NICE! …Hmm we know we’re becoming adults now by what we get excited about.” 😛

Upon their insistence, we went back to Safeway two more times that day. Golden Gate bridge got nothing on this Safeway. My friend tried to bargain with the cashier to give us another box, but they only gave us a meager stack instead. But as soon as we got inside the house, the 3 of them ripped through those lotto tickets in 10 minutes – fully sorted and incorporated into the sophisticated coupon prioritization system as well. I was impressed.

Upon surveying our winnings, we decided that we could feed ourselves off of free food for the rest of their visit in California. We could have free buttermilk waffles and greek yogurt for breakfast. Then for lunch, we could get free bread, tuna, and macaroni salad. For dinner, we could have free pasta, pasta sauce, cheese, iceberg garden salad, can of corn, and 1 avocado to be split among 4 people. Oh and don’t forget, free mentos for after-dinner mints.

Here’s a snapshot of only a portion of the coupons we redeemed.

Other local friends would come over to visit these out-of-town friends. They would be flabbergasted at my kitchen counter now filled with Monopoly tickets. They laughed in shock / horror and secretly thought to themselves, “Do these people have nothing else better to do with their time??” Nevertheless, we convinced them to take some coupons like the free Shutterfly photo books or custom reusable tote bags. I mean, who doesn’t want their own face on a reusable bag? (Not me, that’s why I tried to get rid of them.)

Some of my friends don’t really eat carbs, so there was too much of the bread left over. As a result, I decided we should make bread pudding. Tastes pretty good! Harder to say no to bread that’s covered in chocolate. 😀

Note: Chocolate not included in winnings

THE BURDEN

My friends eventually flew back to their own homes. I had the box of game pieces, which I promptly dropped off at my cousin’s place. She politely tried to decline them, “Oh, you don’t need to drop them off.” But I insisted. “Oh I’m already nearby. TAKE THEM!! And have some bread pudding too.” She accepted. Muahaha! When I handed her the box, I could tell by the less than enthusiastic expression on her face that she was not going to be putting those pieces on the board.

My friends also left a gargantuan stack of coupons and free stuff for me to redeem. Being Asian, I can’t let free stuff go to waste. The coupons apparently expire in one week. I had to go on multiple trips to different Safeways to redeem the stuff because everyone else in town also freaked out that the coupons were expiring soon. Hence, the stores were out of stock of the 74-ct tissue box, salsa, 25 sq. ft. aluminum foil, and etc…

I did manage to convince the cashier to give me a box of 75 sq. ft. aluminum foil for free, in exchange for 3 coupons of 25 sq. ft. aluminum foil. Math comes in handy, kids.

I also got 2 free containers of iodized salt. I was pushing my cart around the store, and then ran into another lady who had a cart filled with 7 containers of the same iodized salt. Nothing else. Just salt. I don’t even know what it means for salt to be iodized, but seeing her made me want to go get more salt. I had more coupons for that too. But unfortunately, the shelf was now completely empty. She had taken all the salt! 😮

As I was doing self-checkout for all my items and ringing up my dozens of coupons, I kept getting errors where I had to wait for assistance from the cashier. I was having a friendly conversation with him, and he said that the problem was that I had exceeded the coupon limit for a transaction. He had to manually override the system to allow each coupon. Wow, exceeding the coupon limit! Never thought that’d be on my list of accomplishments. I don’t know if I should be proud or extremely sad.

GIVING UP

After the checkout machine printed out the longest receipt of my life, I walked out of the store with 2 huge bags of mostly free groceries (I did buy some stuff for money). However, I STILL had a handful of coupons. Darn it!

At this point, my mom came over, and I decided to hand the rest over to her and throw up my arms in defeat. There was still 27 coupons for free donuts, so I figured my dad could bring them to his work. Who says you can’t buy popularity in the form of donuts for the office? I also gave my parents the 5 coupons for free hot dog buns – that’s like 72 buns! Memorial day is coming up soon and BBQs are a thing. Hmm, but our big family even isn’t THAT big. Oh well, it’s their problem now! I also gave them the remaining free loaves of french bread. I can only make so many trays of bread pudding before I run out of new people to feed it to. (I’m making my last tray tonight for my church group.) WHEW! And that’s where my story ends – unless Safeway restocks their 5 lb bags of flour.

OMG I’ve wasted so much time on this game, including writing this blogpost. And now I’m wasting YOUR time as you read this blogpost. LoL. *Shakes fist in the air* Curse the people who created this game!!!

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Let’s Go Eat At That Place That Had The Thing – Bay Area Restaurants

May 6, 2017 By Kat

Sometimes we forget the names of restaurants. We resort to other quick-hand ways of referring to them based on location, a memory we had there, or a particular dish they serve that is seared into our tastebuds. When those cravings arise, we pester the closest human body nearby, “Hey, when are we going to such-and-such place?” We anxiously await the burst of joy in our hearts when our glistening eyes meet the dish as the server brings it to our table and sets it down in front of us. We proceed to inhale it, savoring every last crumb on the plate. And then we feel whole again.

On that note, I’ve decided on more appropriate names for my favorite Bay Area restaurants and wanted to share these good eats with you.

the dumpling place

I always order the three delight dumplings (pan-fried), vegetarian egg dumplings (boiled), $1 bowl of hot and sour soup, and green onion pancake. Even if I get seated in the narrow hallway to the bathroom, I’m a happy camper because I got my dumplings and nothing else matters. (Tong Dumpling – Cupertino)

the garlic bread place in Los Gatos

My friend and I stumbled on this place accidentally. We were overeager and filled up on the garlic bread and free bread (both spectacular). As a result, we took most of our entrees home in to-go boxes. Months passed and we forgot the name of this place so we didn’t know how to come back. After a lot of intense Yelp searching and browsing user photos of restaurant decor, I tracked this place down. Once I sunk my teeth into the spicy garlic bread again, it was all worth it. (The Pastaria & Market – Los Gatos)

BWW

Ever since I discovered 10 cent wings in college in Boston for happy hour, I love me some wings. It’s not 10 cents anymore and I can’t eat as many as I did in my early 20s, but this place hits the spot. The best flavor and only flavor I eat is lemon pepper. Don’t forget to have a celery stick to cover your dose of veggies for the day. (Buffalo Wild Wings – Fremont)

the falafel place

My friend introduced me to this place, and I was ecstatic eating a falafel sandwich on a cold winter’s night on a picnic bench under a heat lamp. A couple days later, I convinced my sister that she was also craving Mediterranean food, so I could buy us some for lunch. Twice in one week, it was THAT good. (Falafel Stop – Sunnyvale)

best bread pudding in town

This bread pudding is like heaven. The rest of the food is amazing too. Warning: don’t sit at the chef’s table (bar facing the cooks) because you’ll see all the dishes as they come out, and you’ll want to order EVERYTHING!!! *Eyes following the waiter as he walks away with a glistening pile of onion rings atop a teriyaki skirt steak* (Town – San Carlos)

the egg tart place

Okay, here’s the thing. They’re so successful that they can go on vacation. A lot. Sad customers find a closed shop with a sign but no egg tarts in sight. If you happen to catch them when they’re open, don’t just buy one! Buy a dozen or actually, buy more than you think you will ever need/want. That should last you until your next craving. Also pass them out to friends and family so they get hooked as well. (Golden Gate Bakery – SF)

the pork belly quesadilla place

I never knew this place existed! It’s like one of those mirages that disappear. It’s hard to find this restaurant because the sign blends in with the trees or something. You have to know exactly where it is and look head on at the restaurant to see it. The other stuff on the menu is okay, but the pork belly quesadillas are BOMB – a heart attack in a pocket of tortilla. (Mandarin Roots – Palo Alto)

gelato bar place from my cousin’s wedding

The owner is a sweet old man. There is no customer storefront. It’s more like an office/warehouse, and you have to setup an appointment to go. He works with hotels and airlines, but also does catering events. If you want to do a small order, you can call and pick up a box on a weekday morning. Hint: Try the chocolate gelato bar. If you can’t say no to gelato, sorry for introducing you to your downfall. (A-Lot-A Gelato & More – Belmont)

tapas place where I drank too much sangria

This one is an obvious choice. Everyone and their mother knows about this place in Mountain View. The mushroom empanadas won’t let you down. Anything with prosciutto melts in your mouth. If you can come on the company dime, even better. Then you can try all the plates and order a pitcher of sangria! The pitcher is not really meant for 2 people, hence the title. 😮 (Cascal – Mountain View)

the japanese tapas place

How to describe this place? I took my friend here when she was visiting from Seattle, and now she dreams about the food here. She’s coming later this month, and I think her dream was a not-so-subtle hint on where I should take her. 😛 (Gochi – Cupertino)

it’s past 9pm, we can go to kirin

Cheap asian food after, you guessed it, 9PM. The fish fillet porridge is my comfort food. Yes, sometimes it’s 8PM and I’m hungry, but I wait an extra hour to get the late night menu. A penny saved is a penny earned! (Kirin – Mountain View)

chimney cake food truck

Well I haven’t been here, but I’m dying to try it. I have already imagined I will love it, otherwise I will be heartbroken. Chasing food trucks is hard though. They’re in the Target parking lot only on Friday and Saturday nights. Last weekend we got there too late and it was nowhere in sight. My dashed hopes could not be assuaged with tacos from the truck that was there instead. (Sweet & Yummy Bakery – Mountain View if you’re lucky)

That’s a wrap! Hope you liked this list. If you have any other suggestions on hidden gems in the Bay Area, let me know in the comments. 😀