Michael "mikezilla" H.'s Profile

It's a bit bizarre that I've never been here until just recently. I mean they have beer on tap, pizzas, music, wine, and more food.

A couple of friends and I hung out in the back patio where a DJ was spinning some tunes. I think we were really loud cuz right after we ordered the music blasted a few notches higher. We sat underneath an umbrella table situated right nest to a water fountain with metal fireballs.

We ordered a bottle of wine, bruschetta, salad, and pizza. The bruschetta is nothing special but the pizza is really fresh since they make it to order. I could even see a guy in the restaurant throwing the dough in the air. Service was brisk and easy.

____

If I'm ever back in Berkeley with some friends, this is an easy place to go to. After a certain hour they start carding.

BIX is situated in an unassuming alleyway empty of any other businesses. Once you step in you realize you're in another world. The interior really reminds me of Gotham City. I was expecting Batman to jump down from the second floor. A huge mural hangs over the bar where an old-fashion white suited bartender works. The atmosphere is quite modern and on the verge of being gothic. It's great for romantic couples, business dates, or anniversaries. The feeling is somewhat stern and serious, almost cold, but it clearly knows what it wants to be.

The food is like a contrast of the interior. All of our appetizers were good. The only issue I had with the appetizers, that being there was only one textural element -- soft. That being said they executed the dishes very well and the softness felt luxurious. Our main dishes carried along the same richness and quality. Usually the appetizers turn out much better than the main course but I felt it was just as good. The desserts are good as well although the selection is tired and uninspired. How many places serve creme brulee, bread pudding, and bananas foster? It's good if you're looking for a traditional selection.

I recommend BIX if you're looking for a high end experience with consistent quality food that makes you feel like getting a luxurious experience. You will certainly leave full. This isn't light fare. The service is accommodating.

The only negatives would have to be the french fries and men's urinal. The french fries are over fried so they're super crunchy, almost like potato chips. They're really oily too. My mom got a bad stomach ache from them. And the urinal... They built the urinal so close to the wall that they have a problem with "spray back." So they've installed a drain board, which looks like a titled plastic cutting board. GROSS.

_____

We ordered:

Starters:
-Deviled Eggs with Truffles, Radish and Chives
-Dungeness Crab Rolls in Brioche with Meyer Lemon Aioli
-House Made Mozzarella wrapped in La Quercia Prosciutto with Fiordolio Olive Oil
-Chilled Foie Gras with Spiced Kumquats

Entrees:
-Louisiana Flounder with Broccoli Di Ciccio, Butter Beans, Preserved Meyer Lemon and Espelette
-Maine Lobster Spaghetti "alla Chitarra" with Cherry Tomatoes, Jalapeños and Basil
-Angus Short Ribs with Marble Potatoes, Spring Vegetables, Bone Marrow and Pickled Mustard Toast
-Black Truffle Cheese Burger served open face on Rye with Truffle Fries

Dessert:
-Bananas Foster with Dark Rum and Vanilla Ice Cream
-Warm Chocolate Brioche Bread Pudding
-Vanilla Crème Brûlée

Best English MUFFFFINS! $2 each and limited to 6 per person?! Blahhh, gimme some anyway.

This is like the Subway of Ramen noodle. It's somewhat logical to open up a ramen noodle shop right next to a college campus, but if you're serving ramen it should be better than what a college student can make in his or her dorm room. At the end of the day you're probably better off with a $2 dollar pack of ramen.

Crunch's space is clean, easy to read, and attractive. There isn't really much to harp on. The have enough seating for about 60-70. Walls are lined with bright colorful photography while there's a flatscreen down the hall playing K-Pop music videos.

The menu serves up ramen, cutlets, and other japanese dishes. It's not extensive but there's something for everyone. They don't serve sushi. I had the "Work it out" ramen at $6.44, which includes of veggies and tofu. It comes in a metal dish that have two big handles on it. I have no clue why they serve it in this dish. First of all who uses these handles?? They bring you the food on a tray so there's no need to have handles on the dish. And how do most people eat ramen? Soup spoon in one hand and chopsticks in the other right? Well both of these handles get exactly in your way so you'll have to spin it around so the handles are right in your face. The ramen comes with a small portion of pickled veggies.

The ramen is not freshly made, the ramen even retained the square shape of an instant package. It's not bad if you're expecting instant ramen but I didn't know this coming into the restaurant. The broth isn't great. It's kinda like if I had a ramen party, threw all my dishes into the sink with plugged drainage, then ladled that dishwater back into a bowl. The tofu and veggies that were thrown in to the ramen are totally raw. How can I not make this myself?

____

Nice interior and friendly staff. But the food is equivalent to dorm quality. The only way this place would be good is if they're open late for desperate college students.

I was invited to a taco party yet I had no clue what to bring. By the time I'd get there my dish would probably be cold. Oooh, tamales! So I dropped by the Tamale Factory and ordered a dozen tamales, half cheese & jalapeno while the other half chicken. The piping hot tamales are put in a paper "tater tot" like dish and packed in a discreet paper bag. I brought it to the party and they were a hit. I like both chicken and cheese tamale equally. Kinda expensive at $2 each, or $22 for a dozen, but most places charge similarly. There weren't any condiments or sauces to take with me, but do you put anything on tamales?

Tamale Factory is tucked away in a little plaza near a carwash business. Google maps says it's located one side but it's actually located on the opposite. When I came there were a bunch of drug dealers hanging around the car wash so just look out.

Located right across from the Apple Store, this is Microsoft's pathetic and long overdue attempt at appealing to consumers' hearts and minds. It's almost exactly a copy of an Apple store but they do it with proper Bill Gates finesse -- meaning there is none to be had. It feels like your tacky Hawaii shirt wearing uncle came in and designed with no oversight. There is one cool feature of the store and that's their video screen walls that show Microsoft like products. It's one step closer to the scene in Back to the Future, yet since everything else is so busy it kinda makes me dizzy. I use both Apple and Microsoft products; however, I'm considering purchasing from the white-fruit company exclusively.

Located inside Mitsuwa Market, Santouka is the first of two eateries in the cafeteria. I got the extra salt and extra pork for $9.47. It's really filing! That being said I ate it all. The broth is delicious and the pork is good. I can't believe I ate this on a really hot day but it was so satisfying. If I ever shopped at Mitsuwa again I could easily see myself eating here again.

I can totally understand why some people love Mochicream while others hate it. It's a rather strange concoction. I was expecting ice cream to be inside the mochi since they say it's frozen. Plus you usually find mochi ice cream in the market or restaurant. But the insides are exactly as stated, "cream."

Mochicream sits in a tidy corner of Mitsuwa market. There was one lady working there so it took awhile even with just three people in line. Their display is only of plastic models like at other Japanese restaurants. They're going to have donut shaped mochicream, which is a bit bizarre but I wonder how the form factor changes the taste.

When I visited they had four flavors sold out including black sesame and double mango. I love black sesame so I was a bit deflated. I instead got sweet potato, rum raisin, and chocolate banana ($5 something-something). They either give you the mochicream as is in their plastic packets or they can pack it up in a plain white cardboard box.

The mochicream are small. Comparing it to most regular mochi I've had, these seem to be smaller. The mochicream comes packed in plastic and taped with everyday scotch tape. It's somewhat of a pain to open this packaging. If you have children I would open it for them since they'd probably end up smashing the thing to a singular paste. The employee stated before giving me the product that you must wait 15-20 minutes to thaw the mochicream.

I tried the Chocolate Banana first. It was okay. The banana cream was somewhat pleasant but the chocolate flavor wasn't as pronounced as I expected. There were these little flavorless nibs in the cream that felt like chocolate chips but they didn't really taste like anything. The rum raisin was pleasant but it didn't taste like either rum or raisin. It reminded me of cake. I felt like I chewed some raisins yet I didn't taste any raisin flavor. The sweet potato turned out to be just potato. I'm assuming the lady gave me the wrong one since it was a different color. This one was intriguing. It was like eating a mochicream that tasted like mashed potatoes. I don't know if it was my imagination but the cream reminded me of sour cream. It was kinda good in curious way.

____

I prefer to have my mochi filled with regular paste or ice cream. Cream? I'll stick to cream puffs. It's not something I would go out of my way for.

A couple weeks prior I was at the bicycle spot on the same street. I felt really bad for all the businesses because stupid Hayward had totally ripped the sidewalk open and were taking forever to finish it. So fast-forward to a lazy matinee day. I decided to check out this place.

The menu is fairly accommodating for different tastes. It's your typical Japanese restaurant so if you've been to one you know what to expect. I had their unagi donburi. It comes with soup and salad. I scarfed those down really fast. I was quite hungry. My donburi came. I scarfed that down really fast too. I must note I was recovering from a bad cold so the food was a great relief. It was $13, a little bit steep but I was totally full. Yeah the quality isn't going to blow your mind but the service was good and the atmosphere was chill. The unagi was a bit more slimey than other places I've had it.

The only thing that's kinda odd is the owner who stands near the doorway. He seems nervous about his business and it feels like he's going to hang up the "out of business" sign at any time. The interior is decent. I wouldn't take a romantic date here but for a easy breezy lunch it's fine.

When I left the sushi chef urged me to use the handicap button. I pressed it and it only open slightly. Funny stuff.

I stopped by because I heard of the unlimited toppings bar. Inside kinda resembles a froyo yogurt bar except for the fact that it's really hot from all the frying of falafel and fries. They have salads, soup, falafel, and I think something like a veggie pizza something.

I got the meal deal which includes a falafel sandwich, drink, and fries (+.50 for sweet potato). The drink you can take from their open refrigerated cabinet. There isn't much selection. Iced tea, lemonade, and canned sodas. The iced tea is really watered down. My sandwich was ready first. It comes in a kind of cardboard stand so the sandwich stays vertical. The toppings bar has a bunch of veggies as well as dressings. It's a fairly good selection, so if you're hungry you'll most likely be piling everything in like I did. The one bad part about the toppings bar is that you'll be left with a mound of broccoli and cauliflower heads with no way of getting at the buried falafel.

My sweet potato fries came out a couple minutes after the sandwich. They were super piping hot. They're very limp and greasy but they are tasty. If you don't like using up wads and wads of napkins you shouldn't get these.

____

For the money it's steep. Yeah sure you get unlimited toppings but it's like not like I'm going back to fill an empty tray full of toppings to satiate my hunger. The fries are good but the greasiness is rather off putting, especially when your stomach starts making squealing pig sounds.