New York Pizza Kitchen - Napa

657 Trancas St, Napa CA 94558
(707) 255-8488
Hours: Mon thru Sat: 11am to 9pm, Sun: 4pm to 9pm
Parking: in shopping center
http://www.napanewyorkpizzakitchen.com/

Last Visited: July 9, 2004

Food: 4 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Service: 3 stars
Price: $$$

New York Pizza Kitchen is located inside Silverado Plaza, between Nob Hill Market and Longs Drugs Store. Upon entering the restaurant, you’ll see a counter to your left and a hallway adjacent to the kitchen on the right side. When you get to the back, you’ll see the dining area, which was larger than I expected since most of the view was blocked on my way in.

The walls are painted a bright yellow and there are posters of various cheeses and wine tasting information (e.g. flavors of various wines in terms of fruit, herbs, nutty, spices etc). The ceiling has a high skylight, and dangling from the skylight are two house plants. The booths lining the walls are dark green, and the lamps over each table are red. In the center of the room are regular tables. The table cloths are red and white checkered with glass on top of them. The remainder of the room is lit with black track lights on the high ceiling. In one corner sit a bunch of trophies with a picture of the New York skyline. In this same corner is a bookshelf filled with encyclopedias and numerous children’s books with authors including Dr. Seuss.

The place was quite busy and seemed to be filled with locals. The servers were wearing faded blue Monterey Bay Aquarium t-shirts with sharks on them. There is pizza as well as numerous pasta dishes available.

- Caesar Salad for Two – Romaine lettuce is topped with grated parmesan and croutons and served in a stainless steel bowl topped with two large Styrofoam cups filled with Caesar dressing. You are given tongs and allowed to serve yourselves. The lettuce was fresh, and there was an abundance of parmesan and croutons. The croutons could be lighter, but overall, the salad was very fresh and the dressing creamy and well flavored. (Caesar salad for one available for $6.99) $9.99

- New York Special Combo – Thin crust pizza with raised dough on the edges is topped with pepperoni, sausage, salami, medium sliced green pepper strips, diced onions, and mushroom slices. The marinara holds its own and the overall taste of the pizza is fresh and hot. The pizza dough is cooked just right so that the texture is not too hard, but still comes out soft and steaming. In fact, the pizza came out so hot that I could barely touch it. It’s topped with just the right amount of toppings so that the pizza wasn’t soggy or overwhelmed. Excellent. Small combos available for $14.99 through extra large for $23.99

There are eight combo selections available in sizes ranging from small (12 inches) to extra large (18 inches). You can also order the pizza by the topping. There are over 25 toppings available. All pizzas are served on a stand. They also have garlic bread, a family special, and kids menu available. The pasta selection allows you to select a la carte dining or dinner (which includes bread and a mixed green salad).

The food at New York Pizza Kitchen was excellent. The service was okay. The servers are on the younger side and are friendly. It’s a very casual environment. As mentioned above, the place seemed to be patronized by the locals. There were a few interesting characters in the place which gave the restaurant some interesting spice – it was fun to people watch. Service was average – our pizza took a long time to come out of the oven. I suspect our pizza went to another table that had arrived a little later than us but didn’t order any salad, so more than likely, they received ours and we received theirs. Also, since the place was full, we didn’t get as much attention toward the latter part of the meal, but service was still friendly. Good food and reasonable prices can be found at New York Pizza Kitchen making it worthy of a return visit.

Ivar's Fish Bar - Seafood, Seattle

Pier 54, 1001 Alaskan Way, Seattle CA 98104
(206) 624-6852
Parking: pay street parking (except Sundays and certain evenings)
Hours for Fish Bar: Open until 11pm
Hours for Acres of Clams Restaurant next door: Mon - Thurs 11am - 10pm, Fri - Sat 11am - 11pm, Sun 9am - 2pm, 3:30pm - 10pm
http://ivars.com/

Last Visited: June 30 2009

Food: 4 star fried fish
Atmosphere: N/A
Service: 4 stars
Price: $$ to $$$

As I walked along the waterfront on my way to Pike Place Market, I walked past Ivar's fish bar. It was open, but it was way too early in the morning for fish and I had my mind and stomach set on touring Pike Place. Knowing that I would more than likely pass Ivar's on my way back to the rental car, I was not feeling a loss about walking by.

Located along the pier, you'll find Ivar's Fish Bar, a walk by/order counter with a covered seating area right next to Ivar's Acres of Clams, a sit down restaurant. If you're like me and stuffed when you visit, the Fish Bar is the perfect place to go because they'll let you order a la carte.

- Fillet of Cod - The cod was lightly battered and fried crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside. Look at how beautifully golden it is. It was delicious. Something is very addictive about their tartar sauce - I could probably dip a whole bunch of stuff in their sauce - fries, fish, scallops, you name it. You just want to keep eating it. $2.39 a piece

As you can see from the menu, you can get salmon, cod, prawns, scallops, chicken and there are many other options. Once you have ordered, you go into the covered seating area containing picnic tables and enjoy your food. Beware of the seagulls - if you are fearful of birds, you may want to try to find another location. They are rather harmless birds, but you do feel like you've entered into the movie The Birds because of the quantity in the seated area hanging out there.

Also note that if your timing is right, you can get a great deal at the restaurant. The Beat the Tide Menu is available weekdays from 3pm to 5:30 p.m and you get a starter, entrée and dessert for only $19.38. 1938 is when they opened. Also enjoy some great views from the restaurant.

I would love to go back and try more of their dishes.

Sonoma Cheese Factory - Burgers/Sandwiches, Sonoma

2 West Spain St, Sonoma CA 95476
(707) 996-1931
Parking: public parking lot behind cheese factory
http://www.sonomajack.com/

Last Visited: June 27, 2004 (dine in), 2010 for cheese purchases

Food: 3 to 4 stars
Service: n/a
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Price: $

Sonoma Cheese Factory is actually a cheese factory. Most of the cheese is now made outside of the building in nearby Petaluma. This is a place I love to share with others, not just for the feeling of Sonoma, but for the cheese! They offer cheese tasting. In the refrigerator out front, you just walk yourself along the counter and try out all the cheeses. I usually suggest people go right to left so you can start out with traditional jack and then work your way through the flavored jack cheese. Flavored versions include garlic, pesto, Mediterranean, pepper, and others. Depending on what’s available, you may even get to try some cheddar, available in sharp and mild varieties as well as chili cheddar. If you’re lucky, they’ll have teleme which is much like brie in consistency. It’s one of my favorites.

Adjacent to the retail building is a dining area with rectangular tables and round tables under umbrellas.

I gave atmosphere 3 stars, but there’s really not much to share about the atmosphere except to say it’s a covered (thus shaded) area near the barbeque.

The menu for the grill includes hamburgers with choice of cheese and ribs. Inside the deli, you can order just about any type of sandwich you would like.

- Hamburger – Get a good hamburger with a lightly toasted bun and choice of cheese (Jack: Mediterranean, hot pepper, traditional and Cheddar: regular or chili cheese). There is a help yourself condiments bar where you can pile on the tomatoes, lettuce, onions, etc. $5

If you don’t know where to go while visiting plaza and want a good burger, check out the Sonoma Cheese Factory. Note that it may be chaotic when you go back inside to pay for your purchase if there are a lot of people around– there could definitely be some better organization, but once you make it back outside, your order will be just about ready and you can enjoy the Sonoma air.

The Tea Cozy - English Tea, Cambria

4286 Bridge Street, Cambria, CA 93428
(805) 927-8765
Parking: street parking
Hours: Wed through Sun 11am - 4pm
http://www.teacozy.com/

Last Visited: December 28, 2008

Food: 3 to 4 stars
Atmosphere: 4 to 5 stars
Service: 2 to 3 stars
Price: $$ to $$$

First things first. You may not know what a tea cozy (or cosy for Brits) is, so let's get everyone on the same page. It's a padded cloth or wool covering used to keep a teapot warm. It can be knitted crocheted, sown, and more. In North America, they came into fashion around the mid-1800s.

Owned and operated by Tina Nickell, the Tea Cozy is located in Cambria's historic downtown. The Thorndyke House was built in the 1870s and this quaint cottage gives the place a romantic and rustic atmosphere. Walk into the place and the wood floors and carpeted rooms invite you to either go to the store in the rear where you'll find lovely tea, jams, biscuits, and other items or wander into the dining areas or soak in the assortment of decorations all around.

There are dishes, teapots, framed items (like the picture of the queen), and of course, you can find more than a tea cozy or two. The knitted ones look so home made and warm, and of course the variety of patterns and colors are fun to look at. If you enjoy knick-knack shops, you'll love this place.

The tea menu offers numerous choices including green tea, black tea, flavored and blended teas. You'll find items like Peppermint Rose - a Moroccan mint blend with rose petals, Glory Bee - a blend of blueberries, pomegranate, and vanilla, Lapsang Souchong, Mango Indica, and Green Gunpowder. It was a little bit before noon when the four of us arrived, so we tried a variety of items and two pots of tea.

- Royal Tea for Two - You can order royal tea for one and add additional people to the order. We ordered royal tea for two and enjoyed an assortment of three tea sandwiches (your choice), cakes, petit fours, homemade scones, homemade preserves, double Devon cream, fresh fruit plus a continuous pot of tea. The tea pot comes in a tea cozy. You can see from the photo how cute the three tiered server looks and all of the cream and preserves accompany the offerings. Choices of sandwiches include English cheddar and chutney, salmon and cucumber, cream cheese and tomato, or egg salad and sprouts. The food is good and the items are fresh. It's not meant for someone with a huge appetite, but will suffice for most folks whom desire a light lunch. $35

Also, you can add champagne for $4.50 or add sherry, wine, or port for $3.95.

To supplement our meal for four, we also ordered their special tea sandwich that was featured on the monthly menu. Tea Sandwiches are available $4.75 or the Special Sandwich is available for $5.75

Other members of our party split a soup and salad combination. Other items on the menu include soup and choice of sandwich (alternately, you could get a salad and choice of sandwich), British Pasty which is a combination of meat and vegetables baked in a pastry shell, fruit and cheese, and frittatas.

For four people, our bill was about $70 for lunch (including tip) and we were comfortably full. It's a delightful shop to visit, and while service was a little lacking due to the sudden rush of people without reservations, it was certainly leisurely. We sat for quite some time before someone came to take our order, and then we sat some more as we awaited our first pot of tea. The food came a bit after that and the check also took some time to come. This is not a good place if you need to rush and be somewhere else after, but if you have the time and don't mind that the pace may be slower, you'll enjoy the atmosphere. This is an excellent spot to take your grandmother, mother, aunt, niece, or daughter to spend some quality time and chat.

Taqueria Los Primos - Mexican, Sonoma

18375 Sonoma Highway, Sonoma CA 95476
(707) 935-3546
Parking: street parking

Last Visited: January 7, 2005

Food: 3 stars
Atmosphere: 1 to 2 stars
Service: 2 stars
Price: $ to $$

Francisco’s wife was raving about the Plancha pork at Taqueria Los Primos. She didn’t mention too much more about the other dishes to try, but it sounded worth checking out. Taqueria Los Primos is located in Boyes Hot Springs. They just got a new sign outside, but the bars on the windows are something I’m not accustomed to. Enter Taqueria Los Primos and you’ll see the counter which takes up about a third of the space in the main dining area. Next to the front counter is a refrigerator with a clear door displaying drinks and flan.

Signs hanging on the front counter indicate the specials such as flan for $2. Behind the counter is a window showing the kitchen. There is a room on each side of the main dining area. In the room to the right is a television on a high shelf. The white/cream paint in the room is peeling near the window sills. The paper menus sit in a plastic holder on the table along with the hot sauce and a napkin dispenser. The tables are brown formica and the chairs are maple. The floor is a reddish brown tile lined with runners down the main aisles. The look of the restaurant is a bit rundown, although there are still Mexican decorations – little figurines on the window sills and Mexican portraits featuring lilies and people. All of the portraits seem to be of larger figures with less defined features.

Upon our arrival, we received water without asking, chips, and two kinds of salsa – one fresh and one green. Receiving water without asking indicated good service. See more about service below. The chips were stale, but the salsa was okay. Tomatoes weren’t in season, but the fresh salsa had a nice flavoring. The green salsa was a bit spicy, but still okay.

- Plancha Pork - This was an excellent recommendation. Two slices of thin pork steak are barbecued in a chimichurri like sauce. The pork absorbs all of this flavor and the texture is tender and light. Very good. The pork is served with refried beans, rice topped with sauce, and lettuce topped with guacamole and sour cream. The guacamole is on the watery side, but the overall dish is good. Choice of flour or corn tortillas is available. I selected corn tortillas and they were served hot. A great dish to try out. $7

- Super Burrito – Choice of meat, beans, rice, guacamole, lettuce, and sour cream are wrapped in a flour tortilla. I selected chicken. The chicken was extremely rough and the burrito as a whole seemed very full of liquid (perhaps from the watery guacamole). It was average, but filling. $5

Service wasn’t particularly good. Although the waiter was friendly, he was very slow. Even after folding our menus closed, it seemed a long time before he came to take our order. After we finished our meal, it was a long time to get our receipt, and we ended up going to the front counter for it. The redeeming factor from getting one to two stars is that when they’re paying attention, they’re more than awesome. At our table, a knife was dropped on the floor. Just as we got up to ask for a knife, the waiter brought one over with a smile. Aside from this plus point, service was disappointing.

If you’re going to try Taqueria Los Primos, try the Plancha pork. The beans are good too. I didn’t get to try much, but stick to those two items and you should be pretty happy. I also saw a lot of people pick up food for take out. That might be the best way to check this place out.

Old Fisherman's Grotto - Seafood, Monterey

39 Fisherman's Wharf, Monterey CA 93940
(831) 375-1331
Parking: pay parking lot or street parking within walking distance
Hours: 11am to 10pm
http://www.oldfishermansgrotto.com/

Last Visited: December 2009

Food: 3 to 4 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Service: 2 to 3 stars
Price: $$ to $$$$

Old Fisherman’s Grotto (OFG) is one of those regular stops for me in Monterey. Donny recommended it because he loves the clam chowder there. And who could resist it? It’s creamy and filled with clams – oh so delicious. It has also won the Best Clam Chowder 2010 award as voted on by readers of the Monterey Coast Weekly.

Located along the wharf, there are numerous choices for places to eat here. The Shake family has owned this place since the 1950s when it was first founded. The elder Shake is credited for innovating the tradition to hand out samples of the clam chowder to those passing by. Now you see that all over Monterey.

It’s a rather large restaurant with dining areas upstairs and it offers great views of the waterfront. You feel a bit like you’re taking a walk back in time into one of those old style Italian restaurants, except that here, it’s seafood. Local produce and seafood abound on the menu which offers a variety of items – hot appetizers including steamed mussels, fried calamari, and crab cakes, cold appetizers including shrimp cocktail and oysters on the half shell, many pasta dishes, grilled items, and of course, seafood. Portions are also huge, so there’s really no reason why anyone should go hungry.

When you step into OFG, you’ll be given a big basket of bread. If you have stopped in at a hotel beforehand, sometimes you’ll find specials for a complimentary appetizer, so be on the lookout for that.

- Original 'Monterey Style' Clam Chowder – I love the presentation of the clam chowder – in a bowl shaped like a clam shell – it’s so pleasant and inviting. The fragrance of clams is noticeable at first bite, and the creamy texture of the soup warms you up. I always get a cup of clam chowder when I stop in at OFG. Cup $4.95, Clam Bowl $11.95, Sourdough Bread Bowl $11.95

- Fried Calamari - Monterey Bay calamari strips and tentacles are lightly seasoned, floured and deep fried. These pieces are crispy on the outside and tender within. Served with tartar sauce, cocktail sauce and lemon, they’re a great way to start a meal. $ 10.95

- Caesar Salad - Hearts of romaine are dressed in a Caesar dressing and topped with anchovies. It’s served with a side of garlic bread. It’s a little bit pricey for just the plain salad, but the portion is very large and could definitely be shared by two. If you’re not stuffed from the bread served at the table, you will be after this additional piece. $11.95

- Fish & Chips - New Zealand cod is breaded and deep fried. The dish is served with French fries, malt vinegar, tartar sauce and lemon. While it’s not as good as what you might find in England, it’s definitely one of the better fish and chips that I have found on the left coast. $14.95

- Ocean Combo - From the photo at the top of the page, you can see that the portions are healthy. Here we have tilapia, salmon, and fried calamari. All are fresh and delicious. $22.95

I couldn’t find a mixed seafood Caesar on the menu on the website, but I’m pretty sure that’s what the picture is depicting. The grilled shrimp and scallops were tasty and very fresh.

After several visits, I have been consistently pleased with my food experiences in Monterey at OFG. In terms of food, the seafood is fresh, the food is served at the right temperature, and the flavors are great – never overwhelming or under seasoned.

The only issue that I have had with each visit is service. My first visit had excellent service. The wait staff is seasoned – they anticipate your needs and come check on you at just the right rate. Staff comes by to refill your water glasses frequently. However, one nice touch is that they always give a lady a flower, typically carnations, at the end of the meal before they leave for the night. While this gesture is quite generous and would make your day, I have never received a flower after any of my visits while those at tables around me seem to get flowers all the time. There are also times when the atmosphere has so many large parties that it’s very loud and hard to hear the conversation at the table.

As you can tell, the service or lack thereof has not deterred me from returning to OFG. I enjoy the food just that much. However, keep in mind that service has room for improvement. Also, wait times can be long on weekend evenings despite the larger size of the facility.

Note also that the Fish Hopper and several other local restaurants are also owned by the Shake family, so if you taste that same clam chowder elsewhere, don’t be too surprised.

Taste of the Himalayas - Sonoma

464 First St East, Sonoma CA 95476
Parking: street parking
(707) 996-1161

Last Visited: 2003

Food: 3 to 4 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Service: 3 stars
Price: $$ to $$$

Taste of the Himalayas offers a new flavor for Sonoma, and is particularly rare in Sonoma County. The restaurant is small, but quaint. The facility is family operated. The decorations include pictures of scenery from the Himalayas. If you plan to dine here during peak hours, you may wish to make reservations, otherwise you’ll be in for a wait. There is minimal patio seating.

I don’t remember the specific dishes I tried. I know that I tasted a Tandoori chicken dish and a curry dish. Both were flavorful and good. Service was fair during my visit because the place was packed. Since I was seated near the kitchen, it also wasn’t the most ambient spot and the evening was hot. Ventilation could be improved. I found the food offered to be unique and would certainly be willing to visit again.