Once More Into the Yaoi

I was at Yaoicon again this year, 4th time attending. But, I'm not here to review the con, obviously I like it, but I must admit I go because it gives me a set time/chance to go into San Francisco.

Anywho, the restaurant reviews from the trip:

California Grill @ Marriot San Mateo - I sat at the bar the three times I stopped in. Hmmm. Well, the booze is standard hotel bar price. Same with the food, no surprises there. The bar staff were mostly absent. Oftentimes myself and/or others at the bar would be looking around for service and the bartender was nowhere to be found. And then we'd often have to wait over 10 minutes for them to show back up. Only one of the bartenders during my stops in was there the whole time. She was on top of things, she was friendly, she was great. The others, when they bothered to be there, were incompetent. My first stop, I ordered a second guinness five times and never got it. Then, I asked for the check for my one guinness, I waited 25 minutes and never got my check. I had to ask another staff member the cost and just left the cash on the bar. My third stop in I ordered onion rings, which were OK but nothing really good and the bartender waited until I was already well into them before bothering to get me a plate for ketchup and a napkin. Almost every bar I've been to gives you these things almost immediately after you order food and all give you them before the food arrives. Again, biggest complaint was the absolute absence of the bartenders.

Miyako in San Francisco Japantown - Don't bother. There are so many good Japanese restaurants in Japantown that I would recommend waiting for a table at one of the others before going to Miyako. I ordered my favourite dish, Katsu don, which is a deep fried breaded pork cutlet with eggs and onions over rice. The rice was kinda cold and rubbery, like it was from before and had been microwaved. The eggs were almost completely uncooked. The pork cutlet was acceptable but had turned soggy from the uncooked eggs. My friend's dish was even worse, she barely touched it. The only reason we tried Miyako was because we wanted to try a new place instead of going to our usual stop and it was open before most of the others. We will not go again, and I recommend you never do.

Broadway Pizza and Grill

I'm posting this as a standalone because I failed to post about it in my last SoCal Eats review. If you're ever in Long Beach I highly recommend stopping by Broadway Pizza and Grill.

If you've seen "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" you know what the owner of this place is like. The Greeks invented everything, and his knowledge of Greek history, no matter how wrong, is still more right than yours. But, don't argue with the man, he's a good guy and his food is excellent.

The tatziki is the best I've had outside of the Vegas Greek festival. He does what so many places should, but don't bother to do. He drains some of the moisture out of the cucumber and yogurt via cheesecloth. This makes for a thicker, tangier, more intensly flavoured tatziki.

His meat lovers pizza is greasy but oh so good. He uses real bacon too, which is so incredible it must be experienced. You'll never want Canadian "bacon" on your pizza again. I miss the pizza. I really do.

His pita is not like what you'd get in the local supermarket appearance wise, but it tastes like standard pita, and it's made fresh. Now, when I say standard pita, I mean the fresh stuff not the mass produced shipped across state lines variety that you often find.

The service is minimal, I mean it's a walk up and order, get your drink from the rack of fountains, and sit down with a number on your table kind of place. But, if the owner is around and feels like coming out and hanging out, which he did when I was there, you're in for a treat. If you know your food and he realizes that you truly appreciate his food, he'll start giving small samples of stuff for you to try.

The next time I'm in Long Beach, I'm definitely going back.

Viva Ventura Pt2

Yes, part 2 has arrived. It will probably be a while before part 3 since this turned out to be a much more expensive month than I expected, mostly due to all this eating out.

Sahara By Bahador: I went for the $6.99 lunch buffet and it was well worth it. I've never had Persian food before and it was very good, even if a bit of it wasn't to my taste. I highly recommend the chicken kabobs, and the herbed rice was very popular, even though not really my thing. The service was good and the waitress was very friendly, showing my ignorant self what was available on the buffet. This is a definite recommend for lunch on a work day.

Crazy Tokyo Sushi: This place has reader's choice awards and is pretty highly rated but I wasn't impressed. I've eaten a lot of Japanese food at a lot of places in many different areas of the world. I know what to expect and I didn't get it. Now, I didn't have sushi, I had an entree, Tonkatsu, and I had some of the Chicken Teriyaki. The portions of the meat were decent but it came with a tiny portion of rice and a cucumber salad and that was it. For the price for each entree, I'm used to getting tempura or something in addition. Also, the tonkatsu barely had any sauce on it and the chicken teriyaki had almost too much. Service was decent. I won't be going again, especially given the vast number of other Japanese restaurants nearby.

Gyu-Kaku: This is one of those Japanese grill places where you choose your meat or vegetable, choose what sauce it is marinated in, and then they bring it out to you and you grill it yourself. Now, I'm used to getting this kind of place in an all you can eat format where you can use their sauces or combine them to make your own. So, Gyu-Kaku was a disappointment in that sense, but was good in every other. At Gyu-kaku you pay by the plate of whatever. Now, this is fine for light eaters but people who like to eat will walk away much poorer or still hungry. The food was good, the sauces were good, the service was good. I went with a few friends and I think this is the best way to go, that way everyone can try a little of everything and people who have never done this before always seem to get a thrill out of it. The only drawback besides it not being buffet style was how packed the place was. Once all the tables were filled, someone at one table could not get up unless somebody at another table moved out themselves. It was a small inconvenience, so it doesn't detract too much, but this is definitely not a place to go if you don't like crowds and being crowded.