Gastro Monkey // 美食家

One of the many places I was excited to visit was Artnia. I view Japan as one of the top food destinations, and probably the most innovative country in the world. While they didn't invent the theme restaurant itself, I believe they perfected it. They have the best themed restaurants that I have been to, and I think is at the top of the list for any nerd. I am happy to say I was finally able to go two years ago when I visited Japan. I played my first Final Fantasy game in 2000. Yes, I was late to the show. My first Final Fantasy game was IX. I named them all so oddly that I didn't know the character's real names until years later. Either way, I was hooked. RPGs are fun! It was hard, but I eventually overlooked the poor dialogue and just enjoyed the games.  There is another cafe that I considered. The Eorzea Cafe is FFXIV based and needs reservations. It was hard to decide how to plan for reservations like that because we didn't want to be constrained by time. Wh...

I apologize ahead of time for not having more details. I went here over two years ago, and I didn't think to take notes (sorry, busy having fun!--but not too busy to take pictures to document it visually). The Capcom Bar is in a busy area and isn't too far from an Ichiran Ramen. What ended up happening was ramen first ( Link here for my review ), then walking over for some Capcom action. We figured it would just be drinks at the bar, so eating first seemed like a good idea. In case you don't eat first like we did, they do serve food. It's just ok food. Honestly, these theme cafes are more for the themes and seeing how it plays out rather than high quality/taste of the food. I was under no illusion that it would be the best meal of my life.  That said, be sure to arrive early on the weekend. We went during the week so it wasn't crazy, but after checking in at the front desk, it got pretty crowded. It's not the kind of bar where you just walk in and have ...

I actually shot a wedding at this restaurant before and loved how good it was. I made a mental note to come back some day and eat here again. A few years later, I finally made it for dim sum (when your "To-Eat" list is as long as mine, it really takes a while!). We had a great seat with a view of the city. We got there around 10:30 on a Saturday so there was still plenty of parking close by and a fair amount of seats with unobstructed views. You have a choice of ordering from their dim sum menu, or their regular lunch menu. It was hard to choose. We picked some things that we regularly would order (chicken feet, pork ribs, shrimpy items), along with some specialties (pea leaf, Japanese crab). Most of the items we ordered were amazing. I loved the pea leaf and abalone. The abalone, as always, was tender and flavorful. I think a few of the pea leaf stems were older (read: harder) but still good. I loved the radish cakes (also called daikon cakes, everyone has their pre...

I have been eating at Golden Dragon for a few years (since 2009 ish?) and like its authentic Szechuanese fare. I like hearing the employees speak Szechuanese to each other because it takes me back to when my mom, her siblings, and her parents would all speak Szechuanese to each other. It only happened when they were all together. Around others, they would immediately switch to Mandarin. To this day, I can still hear and smell it all. Garlic, veggies, meat, shallots, being sauteed, the sound of the wok, the big chopper hacking away on the big wooden cutting board, and the sound of her and her immediate family, happily catching up after our time abroad. Those are the happy sounds of my childhood in Taiwan. So, Golden Dragon holds a place in my heart.  It is also why I was shocked to see that it changed ownership. The question came up - do we still eat here? I really wanted some Szechuanese food. Honestly though, couldn't hurt to check, right? It sounds really stupid, but we look...

When I went to the Bay area recently to meet up with a friend, he said that there was a Vietnamese place that was known for their pizzle. Funnily enough, for someone who considers themself down to try just about anything, I hadn't had it before. When looking for this location, be aware that there are two bun bo hue restaurants in the same plaza. If you are facing the front of both of them, it's the one on the left. As soon as you walk in, you can smell the fragrant soup. My stomach growled, immediately. The menu is simple, the way I like it. There is no hesitation as we all order the bun bo hue with pizzle. I also ordered a soda chanh (lemon soda with seltzer), which was a little bit of a disappointment as there was just a huge amount of sugar sitting at the bottom of the cup. They gave me the can of seltzer to go with it, but that just made the drink initially too sweet, good for a moment, and at the end, just mostly seltzer.  The bun bo hue itself was fine. I would h...

On June 6th, we went to the JCCSF for the event An Evening with Eddie Huang . Driving out from Sacramento, we wanted to make sure that we found parking and that we got there without any worries from the traffic (a lot can happen on the road between Sacramento and SF). We got there earlier enough to find street parking a few blocks away and with enough time to grab some dinner. They were going to serve bao of some sort at the event, but it didn't seem appetizing to me. I busted out the trusty yelp restaurant finder to see what I felt like eating. A few of the places nearby looked good but were closed. One of the places nearby was a BBQ place that looked good, but I wasn't in the mood for anything that heavy (didn't want to have the itis while listening to Eddie speak!). Luckily, we found a sushi place about 4 blocks away. I went there with low expectations. I haven't heard of it before and advertising it as sustainable sushi among other things made me worry it was just ...

I love birthdays. Not my own so much, but I enjoy celebrating with other people. And of course, one of my favorite people is the boyfriend. It's always tough picking a place to take him for his birthday since his palate is even more refined than mine, but what can you do? We had been to La Folie before as suggested by a friend with very good taste. We weren't disappointed then, and we were not disappointed this time either. We had just enjoyed our underwhelming anniversary dinner in Napa at Auberge du Soleil in Napa, and he seemed full of trepedation. Eventually, he settled on La Folie. We love trying new places, but at the same time, if it ain't broke, why fix it? I filed away the place I had thought about taking him to for another time and made the reservation for La Folie. Service was perfect, just like the last time. I love consistency. And speaking of consistency, we somehow ended up at the same exact table as the last time! We both drooled over the menu; everythi...