Jonas "Master Espagnolier" L.'s Profile

The good: food and service are of a consistently high quality, eating at Evan's means to eat well and to have a great time doing it.

The bad: Foodies. Yes, yes, those pesky gournerds flinging sentences like "flavor explosion in my mouth" and "there's a lot going on in this dish" like monkeys would fling poo. They're everywhere, and at Evan's, which is a small-ish restaurant, they're unavoidably near. My heart bleeds every time I see a well seared piece of foie gras wasted on Food Network watching eaters, but alas - I guess it keeps most restaurants in business.

The bottom line - if the company of a bunch of rich kids with no taste or sense of flavor, jerking their sizable foodie gherkin to the tune of expensive wines doesn't bother you, this IS the place to eat in South Lake Tahoe and around.

When in Oakdale...

Surrounded by the lovely sights of feed mills and bait and tackle shops, the House of Beef manages to be the first highly visible food option in Oakdale. Which is (what's not to like about a place selling beef?) why we stopped on our way north into the Yosemite area.

We were seated quickly and had our menus slapped on the table in front of us. Browsing the options, we decided on a tri-tip sandwich, a sirloin sandwich, and for apps the chili cheese fries.

Both mains came with a salad bar which, independently from each other, we passed on after looking over it. A few wilted greens played hookie with canned salads, nothing to write home about. The already iffy proposition of eating food held in the hot summer weather and handled by dozens of diners doesn't get less iffy if the product isn't fresh to begin with.

A good 15 minutes later we received our appetizer. Canned chile (if there was meat in it, I didn't find it) was layered rather unceremoniously on top of supermarket cheese, covering limp, soggy, and cold fries. Not a good dish by any stretch of the imagination.

When our mains arrived, the order had been gotten wrong. We received two tri-tip sandwiches. Already hungry and a bit peeved over the bad starter, we dug in.

The House of Beef prides itself in being a butcher run establishment. The walls are covered with ancient butchering devices (a great sight for anyone interested in such things, one of the redeeming factors of this place in my opinion), and menus and wall writings go out of their way to drive this point home.

In the end, however, sadness had to continue. The meat had a tough and over-cooked mouth feel, a fact that wasn't helped by an overbearing rub whose excessive herbal/garlic flavor completely killed any taste other than those seasonings. The assorted greens were so obviously canned and dumped, if I had to hedge a bet I'd say it's the $.99 "mix of greens" cans sold at the nearby Supermarket.

For the price and, more importantly, the expectations set by the restaurant's decorations and self-assessment, we hoped for more. At least not canned goods re-heated.

Where do you go if you want great wines, OK food, snooty waiters, dismissive sommeliers and a bill that doesn't quite fit the economic times, anymore? RN74, that's where.

We arrived a little early and decided to hit the bar for a quick drink and some conversation. The bar menu actually made us hungry, so we were looking forward to being seated at our alloted hour - to not much avail. Three contacts with staff later, we finally got our table which was conveniently located between a very loud sales team outing and a very annoyed couple. Given the many other empty tables we originally surmised a soon to come rush, but alas most stayed empty for the remainder of our meal.

We ordered the $15 beef carpaccio, the $22 foie gras terrine, and the sauteed pork belly and clams for $16 followed by a $26 organic chicken breast, $9 mushroom tempura, $31 herb-roasted lamb loin, $29 sauteed scallops, and $27 duck cassoulet. The cassoulet is a little bit of a U.S. celebrity these days, if you recall it was the big mystery on election night (turns out a French journalist had played a practical prank on his mother in France).

Because the wine list was intimidating and intriguing at the same time, we asked for the Sommelier. None of us is a wine geek, only one (me) works in food, and no one ever partook in a wine tasting course. Turns out, neither did our Sommelier, or if he had he didn't show it. Some recommendations were just plain out weird (pairing reds with foods that ask for anything but a heavy red, for example), others clearly driven by the need to sell a more expensive bottle over the clearly better choice.

Speaking of service - what little we received was in relative silence (we don't mind that) and often felt hurried, dismissive, uncomfortable, and even almost scornful at times. It prompted two of my guests to actually ask if they'd done something to upset the staff, a question I can answer, quite clearly, with "not at all". Suffice to say, this alone lowered the mood on the table quite drastically and definitely contributed to our early retreat home following the dinner. Eating out shouldn't ruin your night, it should enrich it.

Our appetizers were wildly hit or miss. The foie gras terrine was quite tasty, the beef carpaccio however stringy and tasted faintly bulby and funky with a pronounced picante aftertaste that did not do the dish justice.  The clams were too oceanic with very little other taste and a gummy mouth feel, leaving us slightly unsatisfied. Add to this, that our driver (our server had the gall to show indignation at the fact that one of us was not drinking expensive wine and stayed with water. One would think that especially upscale wine bars do appreciate not producing drunk drivers) was waiting for his drink until almost mid-mains, and we really wanted just out at this point.

Of the mains, the mushroom tempura and organic chicken breast left the most lasting impression on me, sadly not a good one. The mushroom dish was almost too floral and funky for its tempura treatment and smelled faintly of old grease. The chicken, though well seasoned and seared, was dry at the core and of road-food quality. I enjoyed the scallops, which were rivaled by the duck cassoulet, a very simple and peasant dish executed very masterly and seasoned well.

We didn't stick around for much longer, both driven by our almost wordless yet still hurried and aggressive acting server and the need to just go home and forget this service and food letdown. The wine? Oh, right we went to a wine bar, how was the wine? I really don't remember. I wish I could have enjoyed it more, but the overall ambiance, noise, service, and food kind of pushed this (most expensive and definitely most exclusive, no thanks to the sommelier) experience all the way into the back.

I don't think I'll be back in the near future.

Bay Street Coffee Company is a conundrum and contradiction in itself. On one hand, it's located centrally in a chain-cafe infested area, open 24h a day on some days, and has free WiFi, all of which are big plusses.

On the other hand, it's easily one of the most passive-aggressive places to spend your time. Both the inside and outside areas are liberally covered in "stand here, do this" and "don't do this, do that" signs. Most power outlets are covered inside to prevent mooches like me from sitting around, sipping one latte, and perusing the WiFi. Chairs are old and either uncomfortably broken or just broken. There's two sofas, neither of which would last a week even in the most broke dorm room (and both of which smell a little like they had been in said dorm for years).

The staff here is hit or miss. I've been served nicely and gotten my drink, and I've been made to wait ten minutes while the barista chatted with her friend who showed her guys' pages on MySpace. Food is OK, general, non-offensive, non-tasty, cafe food, coffee could be better but does nicely on those days a trip outside Fremont is not in the cards.

Bottom line, don't come here for the ambience, staff, coffee, or food, but if you find yourself in the area and want coffee it's always better than a chain cafe.

Now, here's one for the books. I am notoriously hard to please by bistro concept places. And I am, call me a stickler, convinced that a bistro's value can be best discerned from its Brunch menu.

Which is what I came here for. I wanted to be disappointed, I guess, wanted to be shown that, indeed, my deeply ingrained belief that there's no such thing as a working French bistro outside of France. Boy, was I made a believer.

The food here is excellent. It's 2pm on the day before Memorial Day, and the Chef himself is in the kitchen. Not some underpaid line cook, not a stand-in Sous, no, the man himself. And the food shows. My Croque-Madame was nothing short of divine, the Béchamel clearly made rather fresh and not gritty or mealy as American Béchamel are wont to be. I don't know if they make their own bread, but whomever makes it should just keep making it that way, it was great. Jambon de Paris, fried egg, done. An easy dish, yet so many chefs really, really, screw it up.

Guess I shouldn't be surprised, Chef Marquez used to work for Thomas Keller who kind of popularized the Croque in the United States. Only Marquez avoids making Keller's mistakes on the dish. For less than half the price of a Bouchon Croque.

We finished with the Molten Chocolate Cake, which was a delight to eat (topped with After Eight ice cream, I am still in awe about having actually pinpointed that and that someone uses it in the U.S.).

For a price that wouldn't buy me the cab fare from Charles De Gaulle Airport to my favorite bistro in Paris I got it all in good old California. I can die a happy, albeit disabused of my prejudices, man now.

Guess I have to rain on the parade of "fresh fish". I went to Sugata one lone evening this week, and made the apparent mistake of asking the waiter where the fish and meat came from. It's a little bit of a source of pride for most Sushi restaurants to serve good product. If only I'd known the kind of Darth Vader-like reaction I'd prompt.

Along comes Mr. Owner himself. "What you want, you have problem?" he screams. "This not Japan, this U.S.A," he yells some more when I explain I was just curious where he got his meat and fish from before ordering. "I buy Costco, you have problem?" he exclaims, then, just to reinforce, he informs me, that if I don't like his food I can leave.

I hadn't tried his food, at this point. Guess I should have taken his advice and left, for the meal itself was, while not bad, thoroughly unspectacular and rather mediocre in taste and execution.

We arrived at 8:30pm and the place was packed. Around this time of the day and week this isn't your romantic French bistro. But, man, was the food delicious. We had the Steak (which comes with a huge load of frites), the charcuterie platter (small but very delicious), the ribs appetizer (the meat was kind of chewy, but the treatment was excellent) and the pork brochette, which was flavorful and excellent, but a very small dish.

The wait staff was courteous and when the host realized that we had a small child in a car seat with us, we were immediately re-seated into a calmer and more spacious place.

All in all, this is where I suggest any carnivore/locavore in Berkeley (I know, we're a dying lot) go for dinner.

I just today discovered this place. The interior is, as some have said, rather eclectic, including a wide mix of seating arrangements fit for a wine bar. The wine selection is hot, including some of the rarer and less often seen wines.

My only quip with this Bistro would be its food. Sure, it comes second to the wines, but with a little coaxing and coaching, this place could serve some great Bistro bites that go well with wine. Instead, everything seems to be either made from cans, purchased ready-mades, or with little innovation.

We had the Bruscetta, which was basically lightly toasted baguette dipped into vinegar and oil, garnished with cold tomatoes. For the same effort and cost, a truly stellar Bruscetta would have pleasantly underlined the wine we had.

We also tried the French Onion Soup which was either canned or re-heated more than once. Again, a little Beef Broth and fresh onions (which are in season all year round in California), toasted bread and bruleed or salamandered cheese on top, and the wine would have shone much brighter.

The Crepe we ordered was great, in comparison, the Cheese Fondue ... lacked.

In one paragraph, wine four stars, food zero to one. My advice to the owners is a re-work of their menu, maybe the hiring of a french-savvy cook, and this would be a solid five. Add the ample parking, central location, and uniqueness in Fremont, and this place would be a hotspot.

We all have those triggers. You drive down a street, see something, and the voice of someone you happened to know, rings out, saying something cool or not so cool.

I have those moments with great food. "Reduce your stock, there's parsley and fennel missing, this isn't edible, you dolt." - that's the voice of my instructor in Skills One. I hear his voice, and bless his heart he truly taught us how to be cooks, when I eat the good stuff. When someone proves to me, without reservations, that she or he is a superlative chef.

And that's where we'll end this review of La Petite Rive. Because, alas, its kitchen is superlative. There's no ifs, buts, whens, about it. Great food, fresh food, made to look and taste excellent. Everything else no man can describe. You'll have to experience it.

As I write this, February of 2009, there's a little construction going on around the place, which makes it even harder to find if you are driving towards Mendocino. If you are heading away from it, it's on your right hand side, else on your left, across the street. There's a United States Post Office that is slightly more visible even in rain or fog.

Again, go there. You won't regret it. And now I even stcuk my Skills One instructor into your head, he'll be yelling at you, too, when you eat great food.

Things that will drop any review below three stars:

- No free Internet. Moody's has free Internet with your coffee purchase.

- Petulant owners and pushy seating arrangements ("you've been here for 20 mins, don't you need to leave?"). I sat here for hours.

- Undrinkable Coffee. The coffee was drinkable. Not great but drinkable.

- Bad Music. Pink Floyd played. That's a plus.

Anything above that, sadly, wasn't there. The coffee is OK, but that's it. Internet is free, sure, but seating is kind of uncomfortable. Prices are great, too, which is why I give it three stars. Mendocino recently saw its surfer/off-grid population "enhanced" by tourism and subsequently discovered the joys of capitalism - Moody's remained cheap and that's a big plus in my book.

It's where you want to be in the morning, sipping your latte, and waiting for the day to kick in. The ocean is visible from the windows, too :).