Well, we survived the trip to New York with Xander. I was attending SES for the week and Tammy and Xander flew out mid-week to enjoy the sights and sounds of the Big Apple. Hotels in Manhattan are ridiculously expensive and small for the most part, but for whatever reason, rooms at the W The Court and W The Tuscany are much larger for about the same price. Whenever I am in New York, I try to stay at one of them.

For this trip, W The Court was our base of operations. I spotted an intriguing buy two nights get one free promo and used it score a suite for the second half of our stay. The mind boggling part was that the suite turned out to be cheaper per night than the normal room. Woot.

The weather was a bit bleak for April: rainy on Thursday, cold all around, and a pretty severe storm tore through the region on Sunday when we flew home. At least we came prepared with plenty of warm clothing.

I have to give a huge shout-out to Yelp for providing great restaurant recommendations. Having a guide that has a “kid friendly” designation for restaurants took the stress out of finding appropriate dining experiences. A couple of great finds:

• Katsuhama (three blocks northwest of Grand Central on E 47th) – It ain’t going to give Maisen Tonkatsu in Tokyo a run for its money, but very good tonkatsu nonetheless.
• Men Kui Tei (just south of Central Park on W 56th) – Mmmm…big, inexpensive bowls of ramen. Perfect for those cold days.
• Petite Abeille (two blocks northwest of Union Square on W 17th) – It’s incorrectly classified on Yelp as French when in reality, it’s Belgian. I have to admit I know not what the difference is, but the food was outstanding and the prices were good. It’s a small place with tables crammed in there, but definitely worth it.
• Ali Baba Restaurant (in Murray Hill near the hotel on E 34th) – Great Turkish food. Order lamb. And lots of it. And then order the baklava. Marvel at the pistachio perfection.
• Daniel’s Bagels (in Murray Hill near the hotel on 3rd Ave) – Outstanding bagels, especially for those who love a little bit of bagel with their cream cheese, look no further.

We hit the major requisite stops during our trip: the Met, the American Museum of Natural History, Rockefeller Plaza, Grand Central, Fifth Avenue window shopping. We had object lessons on the importance of paying attention to express vs. local subway trains. We took in the sights, sounds, and somewhat unfortunately some smells of the city. But enough about me. Most folks who read this blog are looking for Xander! So here’s a quick summary of his first trip to New York…

The last time I dined at the Dipsea Cafe, I had barely rolled across the finish line of the first (and only, to date) adventure race I’ve ever done in my life and was so hungry, it was ridiculous. I remembered this place fit the bill with generously sized breakfasts. I had tried to go there a few times on a Sunday in years past, but for whatever reason, they were closed. They seem to be open 7 days a week these days so we paid a visit on Sunday afternoon after wandering around Corte Madera in Marin.

The place was a total zoo of people, which spoke volumes for their business. Everyone ranging from parents with kids in tow (like us) to athletes returning from morning workouts in Stinson, Muir Woods, or Mt. Tam, to wannabe athletes were there in full force. Despite the throngs of people, we were able to get seated in about 20 minutes. Now forgive me as I get on my soapbox for a moment, but this needs to be said: for all you Team In Training people, stop roaming around in your bike shorts with their sweaty post-workout chamois…bring a change of clothes fer chrissake! I’m sure you’re trying to look all cute trying to show off your asses you’ve been working so diligently on, but crotch rot is waiting just around the corner for you. Do yourselves a favor and peel off the clammy chamois when you’re done riding. ANYWAYS…back to regularly scheduled programming.

I dialed up the Dipsea Special which consisted of “two” pancakes, an egg, a strip of bacon, one sausage, and home fries. Let’s just say everything was HUGE. The half-stack of blueberry pancakes that landed were bigger than my face and thicker than my thumb. I’m not sure how anyone would be able to handle the full stack of three pancakes. The bacon was thick. The sausage was long. Tam’s eyes bugged out a bit when she sized up my meal. And about halfway through my pancakes, my eyes started to bug out as well. Damn fine value for the price, that’s for sure.

The service was a bit on the slow side due to all the people in there. Our server was working a table of about twenty people among others, so he was rather busy, but still managed a casual friendly atmosphere. If you’re ever over near Highway 1 and 101 looking for something to eat and not allowed to hit the In-N-Out, definitely hit up the Dipsea Cafe.

I know there are all sorts of little gems in Oakland’s Chinatown but I’ve been too lazy to seek them out. I’ve heard of a kick ass dumpling place so after some searching, I found the joint…Shan Dong. The staff is super friendly, a far cry from your typical indifferent Chinese restaurant. What it may lack in ambiance, it well makes up for in its food. Arguably, this type of ambiance is needed for good Chinese food, but I digress.

We dialed up the 宮保雞丁 (kung pao chicken), handmade 炸醬麵 (spicy meat sauce noodles), Tam’s favorite veggie 豆苗 (pea sprouts), and their renowned dumplings. We tried one plate of 韭菜水餃 (pork and leeks dumplings) and another of 山東特味水餃 (pork and cabbage dumplings). Everything was outstanding. Especially since everything was roughly $5-6 per plate and they weren’t skimping on the portions. There was plenty left over for Tam’s lunch tomorrow.

The reviews on Yelp suggested avoiding the restrooms so we didn’t venture in there, but everything else was clean enough. I don’t think my mom would approve, but that won’t stop us from going back. They also make frozen bags of 50 dumplings available so we couldn’t help but get a bag of the 韭菜水餃. Looking forward to boiling those up at home.

As many times as I’ve been up and down College Avenue, I’ve never noticed Soi 4 Bangkok Eatery at 5421 College Avenue. My mom, Tam, and Xander paid a visit to the joint a few weeks back for lunch after spending some time wandering Rockridge and my mom has been raving for me to go ever since.

So to close out 2006, we made our way over there to celebrate the New Year. The ambiance was very nice darkish modern decor lit by exposed light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. Yeah, it sounds kinda ghetto, but oddly, it works! The service was extremely attentive even though they were completely full. We had the shrimp cakes to start and they were fairly tasty. We then had the chicken, pork, and eggplant satay skewers which came with a very addictive peanut sauce. To round things out, we went with the pad thai, lamb chops, and snow pea shoots.

Everything was very good, but the portions felt a bit small. Not enough to be problematic but it definitely came into my mind during dinner. With that said, Soi 4 is still a worthy College Ave dining option.

We live just below Montclair but haven’t had the opportunity to try out many of the eclectic dining options there. I’ve been by Il Porcellino countless times and finally made the call to try it out Saturday night. With Xander in tow, I was keen on hitting a place that was kid friendly, and the information at Yelp indicated that they were. And it was really close to home in case we had to get back in a hurry.

The staff was very welcoming and attentive. I spotted many families with little kids so we fit right in. That’s not to say the place was a screaming madhouse — it was a calm and homey setting. White tablecloths just go a long way for ambiance. Everything we had was quite good, ranging from my butternut squash soup and risotto to Tam’s Della Casa mixed salad and Gnocchi Bergamasca. I think my mom’s Fettuccine ai Frutti di Mare was a bit rich for her taste, but it looked good. Everything seemed to be homemade and was just right in portion sizes.

The prices were very reasonable so I can safely say that we’ll be frequenting Il Porcellino with our own il porcellino!

Our favorite Mexican joint in the East Bay is, hands down, La Pinata (1440 Park Street in Alameda). It’s a bit out of the way but definitely worth the trip. The service can be a bit on the indifferent side when things get busy, but the food and prices are fantastic. Parking can be a pain and it draws the big crowds on the popular eating out nights.

Now, this place doesn’t mess around with portions. Case in point, behold their signature burrito: the Famosa Burrito.

And the Gods said, “let there be burrito.” And the skies rumbled, the sun was blotted out, and the souls of the weak were crushed as the Famosa Burrito was brought forth. In all seriousness, this thing is not to be taken lightly. I mean, look at it! It’s bigger than Tam’s arm!

After binging on their insanely addictive chips and salsa (they’ll keep bringing more), we settled on ordering one Super Famosa Burrito filled with carnitas. The “super” got us sour cream and guacamole for some extra damage. Between the two of us, we could not finish it. I repeat: WE COULD NOT FINISH IT. It was that big. I suppose I could have finished my half, but that would have required going to the bad, bad place (read: post-Spice Market Buffet-induced-haze that I entered in Vegas).

Go. Order one. Attempt to finish it.

You are in the kill zone of a large Zachary’s Spinach & Mushroom deep dish pizza with our personal touch of sausage added as a topping. I picked it up half cooked and finished off the baking at home.

For those of you unfamiliar with Zachary’s pizza, you are seriously missing out. The winning combination of perfect deep dish crust, chunky tomatoes, insane amounts of cheese, and tasty toppings (are they still toppings when they’re technically inside?) makes for the best pizza you’ll probably ever eat.

We kicked off our evening out in SF by having dinner at one of the Financial District dining mainstays, One Market. I was a bit late on making reservations so we weren’t able to get a table. Instead, we dined at the chef’s counter, watching chef Mark Dommen direct traffic in the open kitchen and seeing how the dishes are cooked and prepared. It was a fun experience but the chairs weren’t quite high enough for the counter.

Tam was craving meat in a big way so she used her Jedi mind tricks on me to share the monster 32oz bone-in prime ribeye. While waiting the obligatory 35 minutes for the massive slab of meat to be prepared, Tam had the “Chicken Noodle” Soup and I had the Dungeness Crab Salad. Both were extremely tasty and I watched Tam restrain herself from licking the soup bowl.

The prime ribeye was a slab of meat-sweat inducing, juicy, perfection. The meat juices and sauce that they drizzled on each of our plates was definitely worth fighting over. But we settled for fighting over the buttery mashed potatoes instead. Our server mentioned that he’s witnessed people eat this meal all by themselves, and somehow also have room for appetizer and dessert as well. It was definitely impressive enough to finish us both off, especially given the spinach, pearl onions, and buttery mashed potatoes that accompanied it. We topped off our two hour eating experience with a desert mini sampler platter, a choice of 3 desserts of the evening, all of which were also very good.

We paid our second visit to the habit-forming Dopo and had another outstanding dining experience. It was late afternoon and we were relaxing on the couch when Tam declared, “the baby wants Dopo.” It sounded suspiciously like “I need Dopo,” but I digress. Note to self: baby=scapegoat. They open their doors at 5:30pm for dinner on Saturday night, so I figured we should be there right before they open. When we strolled up, there were already two other couples hovering at the door. We were the third party through the door and got the nice little three-person table in the front window. In a matter of 20 minutes, the place was packed. Yikes.

I started off with a tasty fritto of rabbit which wasn’t greasy at all, and Tam had the very filling lentil soup. We both opted for the homemade sausage and green onion pizzas. Just like last time, the thin crust pizzas were baked to perfection. It’s safe to say it won’t be long before our next trip back.

We had dinner at Dona Tomas (5004 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland near 51st Street) and came away with mixed feelings. Don’t get me wrong, the food was good. But when was the last time you spent 70 bucks for two people on Mexican food?

The evening got off to a rocky start. We arrived around 6:30pm and were promptly seated in the Red Room. It was still early so only one other party was in the room. We sat around for a really long time until our annoyed looks finally drew us a server. Apparently they didn’t tell our server that our table was his. I’m not quite sure what was up with the complimentary chips and salsa because the chips were really hard (read: stale) and tough to eat. Tam was ready to kill for guacamole so we shared the Guacamole y Totopos and Quesadillas for appetizers and both got the Carnitas for our entree. The odd thing was the chips that came with the guacamole were thin, fresh, and really good. Why not serve those with the salsa instead? Go figure.

Thank goodness the Carnitas was really good, otherwise the evening would have been a loss. This wasn’t the greasy, fatty, kiss-of-death variety dredged out of a taco truck (don’t get me wrong, ain’t nothing wrong with that stuff) — we’re talking lean, slow-cooked, tender Niman Ranch pork goodness with the outside charred to a tasty crisp. They certainly weren’t fooling around with the portions either. About halfway through, I realized that two appetizers was a serious mistake. But I had a name to live up to. Jeff: 1. Carnitas: 0.

The other oddity of the evening was instead of refried beans, Tam’s plate came with mashed sweet potatoes. We’re guessing someone in the kitchen made a mistake because they look similar and dished the wrong thing on her plate. But rather than tossing it and starting with a clean plate, they served it to us anyway and gave her a side of beans.

By the time we were done eating around 8:00pm, the place was absolutely packed. And this was a Thursday. I’d say it’s okay to go and experience once, but because it’s not a good value, I don’t think we’ll be coming back.