Travis D.'s Profile

I haven't written a review on yelp in over a year, but i'm so sick of this Williams-Sonoma that i've come out of my hibernation to say a few words.

This is far and away the most pretentious and snooty Williams-Sonoma i've ever been to (and that's saying something).

I realize most guys in their mid 20's don't like to cook and could care less about cooking stores, but i love them.

I walked into this store with my Dad over the weekend to buy a Toddy Cold Brew coffee maker. We walked in and i immediately saw the system i was looking for up on display, so i told the guy standing next to the door that i'd like to buy one. He said they were in boxes with the other coffee systems back in the store.

We headed toward the back of the store and i didn't see any of what i was looking for among the coffee systems. I made eye contact with a salesperson (middle-aged woman) and signaled that i needed some help. She looked away and pretended to not see me. I walked over to her and asked if they had any more of the toddy makers in stock. She had no idea what i was talking about. She flagged a young guy that worked there, who said they only had one left and it was the display.

She walked back up to the front of the store with me, realized it was up pretty high, radioed for someone with a ladder to come get it, and walked away without saying a word to me. About 5 minutes later, the young guy from earlier walked up, jumped up on the counter, got the toddy maker down, set it on the counter next to me, and walked away, all without ever making eye contact or saying anything to me. I assumed he had gone to find the box, so i waited.

About 10 minutes later, i was still standing around waiting and it was clear that no one was looking for the box.

I walked up to the registers to see if they still had the box and got completely ignored by all 3 sales people behind the counter, who weren't busy helping anyone. Finally, i flagged down the woman that was 'helping' me earlier and asked her if there was a box. She assured me there was no box, and i was just going to have to take the system as it was, and pay full price for it. I explained that there were some critical parts missing and that the system wouldn't work without the missing parts. At this point another sales woman chimed in saying that all of the missing parts could be ordered online with a tone that said 'would you please just get out of here'.

I was about ready to walk out and just buy the damn thing on amazon, when i finally convinced the young guy to see if he could find the box, and what do you know, he found it in about 2 minutes, with all of the missing parts. The whole system was dusty as hell, but the woman i had been dealing with the whole time made no effort to wipe it down or clean it up, or even pack it up in the box.

This is the 4th or 5th time i've been in here trying to buy something and gotten either totally ignored or very poorly treated by the people who work there as if i have no business shopping at a place like Williams-Sonoma.

So i'm done with this place. W-S may have more hardcore foodie and coffee geek gadgets than Sur la Table, but i'm so sick of dealing with them that from now on i'll just get my stuff at Sur la Table or find it online. They can keep their $15 jars of jelly too.

This is the perfect example of what i love about Portland. This small little neighborhood sandwich joint has a cool atmosphere, really intersting, creative, and delicious sandwiches, it's casual, reasonably priced, quick, and just all kinds of awesome.

On a recent trip to Portland, my girlfriend and i split and pulled pork sandwich with a jicama slaw (which had some interesting twist that i can't remember) and a sandwich with asparagus, bacon relish, and soft boiled egg. Both of which were awesome.

Perfect stop for lunch on the way into town from the airport.

Both places my family went to for 'nice' dinners on a trip to Portland in May for my brother's graduation, Beast and Le Pigeon, had me thinking that both places totally and completely nailed it as i walked out.

Which is kind of funny because while Beast and Le Pigeon are both mid-high level restaurants when it comes to price, who get lots of praise from PDX foodies, they are very different places.

Beast is modern and open, Le Pigeon is a smaller place that feels cluttered (i don't mean that in a bad way) and decidedly french. Beast has a fixed price menu with 'substitutions politely declined', Le Pigeon has a menu diners can choose from. While both serve high end, cutting edge food, Le Pigeon has a much more french approach to the food.

Still, they both offer dining experiences that while different, are damn near perfect.

For the life of me, i can't remember the exact details of what we had. I wrote it down somewhere and can't remember where i put it. There was a butter poached halibut. Some foie gras profiteroles. Some sort of bacon corn bread dessert that rocked my world. A beef cheek bourguignon that was magnificent. A roasted pork shoulder that was ridiculous tasty.

Awesome meal. Definitely on the hit list next time i'm in PDX.

I went back to Beast for a second time in May while in Portland for my brother's graduation. Turns out the first time was not a fluke. This might just be my favorite restaurant that i've ever been to. They just get everything right - the food, the atmosphere, the service, the space, the wine, the music, the price. Just utterly perfect.

My brother took me here on a recent trip to portland to visit him. Lots of really interesting and delicious cocktails with a south asian tilt. We didn't order any food, as we came after dinner and were already stuffed, but the items they had sounded (and looked) delicious.

That the bar acts as kind of a waiting room for pok pok down the street is pretty cool.

Neat place.

This place has been on my radar since they opened over a year ago. The weird hours and the location in SOMA makes it a little tough for us bridge and tunnel people to get to. A couple of weekends ago i was up at the ferry building farmers market with my girlfriend, standing in line for breakfast when i proposed waiting and stopping by Little Skillet on our way home. Boy am i glad we did.

Chicken and waffles - I was expecting pretty skimpy chicken pieces, but these were HUGE. Pour syrup over everything and go to town. So good. I loved that the chicken breading had a little kick to it. I'm from the south, so this just made my soul feel good.

waffles with strawberries special - killer, fantastic, super fresh strawberries, homemade whipped cream.

Pulled pork cheese and green onions grits - oh my dear lord. It's a good thing Little Skillet is so hard to get to and not across the street from my apartment and open 24/7. Grits, cheese, pulled pork, and green onions? What could go wrong? It's better than you could possibly imagine.

The sweet tea was also totally legit (unlike most sweet tea around here).

Sitting on the loading dock across the street on a saturday morning was a little weird, but they have little butt pads you can borrow that make things more comfortable. Once the food comes, you forget you're sitting on a loading dock pretty quickly, though.

I can't believe i haven't written a review for this place yet.

Here's the (not so) skinny: solid pastries and desserts, good cookies, decent espresso drinks (it's not Coupa or Dogge, but still good), and a laid back, modest setting that screams 'family owned business' and is a nice alternative to the glitz of University Ave.

Just a couple of complaints:

They close early on Sundays (around 7pm), which is usually the day that i want to walk the dog after dinner and grab a cappuccino and a cookie, only to walk up and find the place closed. This has happened way more than i'd like to admit.

They also don't serve lunch on Sundays. Again, i've had a few times that i've tried to run in and get a sandwich, look over the menu, try to order and then get told that they don't serve lunch on Sundays. Bummer.

Still, it's a cool place. They've got free WiFi and some outdoor seating, so it's not a bad place to stop in and hang out for a while.

Since moving to Palo Alto in 2007, i've had my eye on Bistro Vida. I love classic French bistro fare, but i've always been hesitant to go because the prices seemed a little high and it was in downtown Menlo Park.

Not that i have a whole lot against Menlo Park, but i haven't really had a great meal in Menlo Park since moving to the area 3 years ago (i do like Shiok). Aside from the fact that the downtown is totally dead after about 8:30pm, i find that the restaurants tend to cater to the people that live around downtown: prices are high, the food choices are pretty conservative, service is good, and the atmospheres are 'classy'.

While i'm sure that's great for a lot of Menlo Park residents, it doesn't really work for me. I would much rather give up white table cloths and great service for some cutting edge food that's a few dollars cheaper.

But this is a review of Bistro Vida, right? The best classic french bistro fare isn't good because it's adventurous, it's good because it's perfectly executed, so i thought Bistro Vida had a chance.

We ordered onion soup, a white bean cassoulet, and duck confit, all bistro staples.

The soup was great. The cassoulet was okay, but nothing i couldn't have made just as well at home. The duck confit, which when done right  can be magical, was just meh. Not gross, but pretty disappointing.

So, dinner for two, 1 app, 2 entrees (all pretty ho-hum), no drinks, no desert, and the tab was over $60. I've had much better meals elsewhere for significantly less.

So yeah, i'm not sure why i keep giving mid to high end Menlo Park restaurants a chance. I think this may have been the last straw.

I was pleasantly surprised by Mishka's as a college town indie coffee shop. Solid cappuccino, baristas who seem to know what they are doing, and great pastries (and free WiFi!). It was a little crowded, but it's a college town indie coffee shop, what do you expect?

I went here on the way to a bike race east of Sacramento on Sunday. My race time was at 2:00pm, so i was looking for a big breakfast around 10 to hold me over until after the race. While i didn't really find that here, Cafe Bernardo was pretty good.

I've got to admit that i was kind of bummed to walk up and find that this place was the restaurant for the Best Western. We ordered up huevos rancheros and a cornmeal belgian waffle. The huevos rancheros were okay, i guess, for not being real close to the border. The texture of the belgian waffle was...interesting, but not really in a good way. My cappuccino also kind of sucked, but i've been accused of being a coffee snob before.

Prices were damn reasonable, and if i weren't looking for huge portions, i would normally be pretty happy with portion size. Unfortunately, on this day i was looking for the HUGE breakfast plates normally served at american diners for breakfast.

All together, Cafe Bernardo wasn't a total loss, but i might try someplace else before coming back.