Ramen Questing

more backblog:

I'm always looking for new, yummy ramen places! There seem to be so few legit ones, and every time I find one, it makes me so happy. Sometime last November, Steve and I hit up Himawari in San Mateo for lunch. I had only heard so-so reviews of the place, so I went in with some hesitation.

mmm butter ramen

The inside is adorable! It was very crowded for lunch, but luckily we came early. It definitely has a trendy cafe feel with modern decor and plentiful seating. I guess it should be expected after seeing the adorable squiggly-fonted sign outside.

I ended up ordering a "butter ramen" and Steve got a deluxe ramen with pork. I LOVED mine!!! I'm totally American, so chances are what I was loving was like the orange-chicken of ramen, but it was so good. I think I added egg and extra corn, so it was basically like a corn on the cob stew with hints of ramen spices and yumminess.

giant meat chunk

His was also quite tasty, and I was really impressed by the pork. Instead of the traditional, flat slabs, his contained large cubes of meat! They were very tender and flavorful <3. I've never really seen cubes of meat like that, and all I could think of was the opening to Dexter when he cuts the large square out of the ham. Any meal that reminds me of that show is total win. 

Dexter meat

I think I liked this place better than Ramen Dojo or Santa Ramen :O!! But once again, it's prolly cuz I americanized my dish :)

Down a Mysterious San Mateo Ave

I have the bad habit of assuming all restaurants in San Mateo lie within the three block 3rd & B street radius. Considering I live on 20th, this is rather silly... but it still gives me a little thrill every time I find a row of culinary commerce elsewhere. Bingo!

Gee Unit and I have started up our own rendition of Fancy Food Fridays (sorry Alice!) and try to hit up a non EA place for lunch once a week. A few weeks ago, we tried Yuzu Sushi & Grill on 37th street. Also as per usual, we went a bit early. Lucky thing because it quickly filled up. As per usual I think this place is a game industry favorite because I spied a herd of Pogo people at a table nearby.

According to Yelp, this place is hardcore traditional. I guess so? They serve a lot fewer of the awesome fried American rolls than other places in the area do. It has a reputation of being expensive, but luckily they have lunch specials for under $15 (still kinda pricey). 

I ended up getting a weird teriyaki bowl. I totally can't remember the meat. I *think* it was unagi. I'm so terrible at remembering nihongo de fish names. Totally silly since I eat Japanese a ton and studied the language, but it's one of those things that just won't stick. It was tasty, but the eel wasn't my favorite. Granted I'm not a meat person, but I ate all the rice around it and left probably 1/2. 

Came with soup and Japanese tray!

Steve got a typical sushi fare. It's funny looking back at the picture, because his lunch is practically identical to the sushi plate I got at the tsukiji fish market last week :) (post soon to come). I guess this place is legit! He seemed to like it, and the presentation was pretty.

no prawn head in soup. not THAT authentic :P

Seems like a good place to hit up if you want fresh, non-Americanized rolls. 

But watch out! Service was SLOWWWW. He got his food like 15 mins before me. totally awkward.

Kartoffelpuffen Quest #1

Ever since I had those most amazing potato pancakes at the Apple Farm, I have craved to find the delicacy closer to home. I asked around and found out #1, they are called Kartoffelpuffen in German, and #2, they aren't that rare. One night, Eugi and I were at the local Cupertino Yogurtland <3 and I randomly decided I must have some potato pancakes!

After a quick yelp, I found that Heidi's Pies in San Mateo had them listed. I was super ecstatic at this revelation because I live on the same street as HP! We arrived and immediately ordered the "sweet" potato pancakes. Little did I know that one small adjective would make a whole big difference :(

What came was not the savory delicacy of San Luis Obispo, but rather a very sweet, rather gingery, almost pumpkin pancake. Although they weren't bad, and I ate the whole plate despite having already consumed dinner and mass froyo, it was such a bummer/fail. I will have to press forward in my search, and take careful note of the type of potato pancakes I partake in. sigh sigh

they looked so good. Well.. actually they were. but not right. :(

P.S. in general, I REALLY like Heidi's Pies. They have such good slices :) raspberry cream and key lime and peach mmmmm. Someday I'll do a better post about them

diner in bfe san mateo!

Last Feb, I hit up Toy Fair in NYC and had a wonderful chat with Shelly from our east coast PR firm. She was so totally floored when she found out that I live in San Mateo and had not yet been to Nini's Diner, apparently the best dive brunch place in the peninsula. I excitedly stuck it on the list... but due to budget constraints and lack of getting up in time to brunch, I hadn't managed it. UNTIL NOW!!!

What better way to kick off labor day weekend that hitting up infamous brunch?!?! Nini's is on the total fringe of North San Mateo, like 3 blocks North of Peninsula 101 exit. I thought that was Burlingame? sketch. This place is totally tiny, street parking in the middle of a neighborhood. We were seated quickly though, and given awesomely full menus. It also had a giant wooden board behind the counter with the menu. I love places like that :D

so much goodness in the scramble <3

I ended up getting a scramble that had cream cheese (go figure) and various other veggies. Totally amazing :) I horked it so fast. Also came with their specialty, super good homefries. I'm not a big b-fast potato person so I can't compare, but I did really enjoy them. This place is great!! Small review, but big recommend :O

Food at the Home Depot

This weeks FFW (fancy food weds) brought us to the home depot deli! According to food connoisseur Alice, this place has the best breakfast burritos. Truthfully, I don't generally eat those, so I'm not sure how awesomely excellent they were. They were freaking huggggge tho :| 

 

The highlight of my meal was actually the Aloha bev I got!! It was like a smoothie/shake made out of ice cream, pina colada mix, and berries!!! ahhhhhhhhhh since it was like 100 degrees that day, YUMMMM. i need to start frequenting the HD just to get this :|

the other highlight was when the cashier knew i was from SLC before i even opened my mouth. creepy but worth the 10% discount!

Sibby's

I am such a cupcake/baked good enthusiast. One day last year, I was sitting at work and whinnnnnnning to Dave about how much I wanted a cupcake. Luckily he was on board, so we started researching the area for the best places. I stumbled upon a hole-in-the-wall place, Sibby's Cupcakery, in San Mateo. Long story short, we shelled out $40 a dozen and discovered our total favorite bakery. Since then, we look for any excuse to order them :). My favorite flavor is by far the Snickerdoodle <3 mmm. Sibby's is great about making their cupcakes very moist. The other great part about Sibby's is their willingness to decorate the cupcakes.Yesterday, we sadly had to celebrate Sarah's last day (....again), and got some awesome Pony themed goodness! I love this place, but I think the pics will speak louder than words. 

STABLE OF HORSES ;)

Hasbro Themed 

Game of Life Spinner!! Adorable

Finally- Santa Ramen!

I need to preface this by stating: I am a white girl from Sandy, Utah. I know nothing about good ramen. To be honest, it all kind of tastes the delicious same to me.... that said! I had a very pleasant meal at the Santa Ramen in San Mateo yesterday. I feel stupid that it's my first visit considering the rave reviews I've heard (mainly from Alice), and the fact that I live on the same street :P

Gee Unit and I went for lunch at 11:30. It was already quite packed when we arrived but we were seated. Immediately like 50 people showed up, and the line was insane (piles of people stuck outside). This may be 1. because it's good, and 2. because it's SAF (s for slow). The ramen itself was quite good, I loved the broth! The one bummer was that you had to pay extra for the egg, and according to my asian counterpart, they didn't cook it right. lame! either way, i highly enjoyed.

I think it's a common place for us game industry folk to hang out. I know EA people go there tons, and I hear that Capcom people love it too. As i was leaving, I noticed a table with that one dude from Sony with black hair and all the tatoos.... I don't know his name but I think he's PR or community management cuz I always see him at trade shows. wow, CREEPY STALKER! here's hoping he never stumbles upon this post. :)