Frank C.'s Profile

Remember that scene in the Pixar movie Ratatouille where the grumpy food critic Anton tastes a bowl of Remy's ratatouille and is instantly transported to a childhood memory of his mom's kitchen?

See if here if you need a reminder:
http://www.youtube.com...

Anyway, I had one of those moments at TW Village Bistro with the fried pork chop on rice. It perfectly evokes memories of the greasy spoon, street corner Taiwan restaurants serving the exact same dish. Only cleaner, and probably with less lard involved.  :-)

As I was enjoying lunch with the kids (which also included green onion pancake, beef tendon noodle soup, pork dumplings), I was thinking of a new scale for restaurant reviews, which is "how far out of the way would I drive to come?" For all you peeps in city or South Bay, this is definitely worth an out-of-your-way visit.

The flavors are generally spot on. I loved the pickled green vegetable they served with both the beef noodle soup and the fried pork chop. The pork chop came with minced mystery meat, and a red-cooked egg: just like from home. The texture of the beef tendon in the noodles was just perfect: a bit toothy. Another fifteen minutes in that broth, and it would have been too soft.

My only complaint with lunch were: (1) not quite enough vegetables (I'ma  fan of Napa cabbage or chives) in the pork dumplings, and (2) a touch too much saltiness in the noodle broth: it was more uni-dimensionally salty than complex, if that means anything to you.

Aside from that, I give an enthusiastic recommendation. The service is efficient, and some of the wait staff even smiled at us, which is a pleasantly unusual.

Next trip, I'm eager to try the house special pork buns, the fish dumpling, and maybe the Taiwanese popcorn chicken. For all those of you (like us) who have been mourning the closure of the Formosa Bento Restaurant in Redwood City, mourn no more. Just motor a file miles north and enjoy (dare I say it?) even better renditions of your Taiwanese favorites.

(This restaurant is tucked in the back of the Norfolk Plaza where the Malaysian restaurant used to be. The new owners so thoroughly redesigned the place, you won't recognize it.)

Fantastic taco truck! Speedy service, a great bargain especially given its location, and fabulous flavors. I got 3 tacos for $5: carnitas, lengua, and al pastor. Usually, I end up liking 1 or 2 of the tacos when I order a trio like this, but I loved all 3 of them from El Tonayense.  Perfect texture and flavor atop fresh soft warm corn tortillas.

I also appreciated how they had compost and recycle bins rig by their truck for a zero waste meal (they serve on paper plates).

Public service announcement: when they say spicy, they are not kidding around. The salsa is lively, and I set my mouth on fire with their roasted pepper. Wow, that was hot! I literally speed walked down the street to get a cool down iced tea while the hotness escalated.

We love Inna! We've used her for two different projects, one of which we ended up not using because we moved to a new house just before pulling the trigger on our old designs. But we liked her design sense so much we dragged her along to the new house.

In both places, she drew up floor plans, picked colors, and helped choose furnishings (furniture, plants, bookshelves, and so on). The floor plans were super useful, as we used them to interact with sales people at furniture retailers, the specialty designers at tile and flooring places, and so on.

We tend to be more hands on our decorating process: we don't mind doing our own shopping. I like how Inna can be as full- or partial-service as you want. With other clients, she actually shops and even picks up pieces. But we didn't need that. She had recommendations for us on where to go look, which was great, but we didn't need a personal shopper.

What we did need was a sense of proportion (how big a sofa should we get?), color pizazz, and a strong functional sense of how a space should be used. Inna was very practical with her advice (sofas with armrests are more comfortable even if the more modern armless ones look cool), and understood that we wanted to live in our rooms rather than take pictures of them for Pinterest.  :-)

She's very easy to work with: she listens carefully, communicates well and is very prompt with followup. She doesn't strong arm you into a design style or expensive pieces, but really gives you professional guidance that reflects your own taste and budget. Her hourly rates are very fair.

Bottom line: highly recommended.

We had the opportunity to use Saber Roofing again after moving into a new-to-us house. We wanted to make sure the roof was in top-top shape, since our last experience with a Spanish-style tile roof was not good. And also because one of our friends pointed out that he could see light coming through our garage ceiling.

Ryan's taken over the business from his dad Jay, and he was great: he communicate constantly, communicated exactly what his crew was going to do, and delivered on all his promises. The only downside was that it took a while to get the work done, as his crew has been busy. But luckily we've had a very dry winter this year, and haven't had any storms roar through to test the water tightness of our roof.

Ryan had a crew of between 6-8 people on the roof for a day and a half. They knew what they were doing, kept themselves safe (e.g., drying off some moisture on the tiles before walking on them), and cleaned up after themselves carefully.

Overall, a great experience. Highly recommended. Only thing that could have made it better was faster turnaround between the time of their original estimate (Oct 28) and getting the work done (January 2).

=== Our original review from June 2007 ===
We had a great experience with Saber Roofing. Jay Saber came by himself to do the estimate, and it was the 4th or 5th we got. Jay was knowledgeable, a good communicator, and knew his products well.

His company's estimate was about towards the low end of the pack though not the lowest. But we felt comfortable trusting our major roof re-do to him.

The workers were efficient, thorough, and did a good job cleaning up. One of them accidentally stepped through some drywall in our master bedroom, and Jay made sure the hole got patched and painted promptly.

We have no reservations recommending Saber Roofing.

Now you don't have to chase the trucks all over the Bay Area (though I have must confess there is a certain scavenger hunt type thrill in following a Twitter feed to a food truck)--because the creative food crew at Curry Up Now have a brick and mortar store in downtown San Mateo. Hurrah!

We dropped by just before noon on a Saturday afternoon, and we were the first in line to order. It took us a while to decode the menu (the not-so-secret decoder ring is actually on a beautifully lettered band that wraps along the restaurant's ceiling). After placing our order at the counter, the food arrived quickly.

Everything we ordered for lunch was delicious! We got the sexy fries (crisscross sweet potato fries topped with a chicken tikka masala), a samosa, the "dirty naan", and a thali platter with more butter chicken and saag paneer (a spinach-based stew with Indian-style cheese). This was more than enough food for 2 adults + 3 kids (all under 11).

The flavors were bright and the textures were just right. One of my common complaints about Indian restaurant food is that the textures are way too mushy since many of the stews they are sitting around in a big pot all day. Not a problem at Curry Up Now! I especially enjoyed the cucumber and tomato salad that came with the thali dish--just the right mix of sour and sweet notes. The rice included with the thali platter was flavored and cooked well--so well that we ordered an extra side of the rice AND the paratha to go with our thali platter.

Sometimes fusion works and sometimes it's just plain weird. At CUN (as they like to abbreviate themselves), it works perfectly. I might have experimented with the Indian topped french fries myself having sampled delicious carne asada fries in San Diego. But I think the chicken tikka masala flavors blended with the sweet potato fries even better than they would have  traditional potatoes did.

The food had a tiny pit of spice to it. The staff can dial the spice-o-meter up or down, so tell them where you want the dial pointing. A cool mango lassi can help calm you taste buds down as well.

All in all, we enjoyed the sit-down restaurant even more than the food we've gotten at the truck. Probably because the food is just goopy enough that it's easier to eat with a table and silverware in front of you. But either way, you'll enjoy the creative mashup of cuisines. Hurry up now and get yours!

Poor posture and a lot of work in front of a keyboard cause my neck and shoulder muscles to tense up. Most masseuses will say that I'm just about the worst case they've seen in a long while when they encounter said muscles.

I've been to various massage therapists and chiropractors in the Bay Area, and Dang is one of my absolute favorites.

I had a Thai-style massage while visiting Thailand with my family a few years ago. I was intrigued by its unique techniques involving stretching, leverage, and extreme pressure generated by parts of the body other than hands (like feet and elbows!). For my knotted up neck-and-shoulder muscles, plain ol' hand or finger pressure just isn't enough--and Dang generates more unknotting pounds-per-square-inch than I've ever experienced from a masseuse of any size or gender.

If you have ever wanted to experience an extremely powerful massage to work out extremely knotted muscles, give Wat Po a whirl!

An extra bonus: services are priced on the low end.

I have to confess we tried this restaurant primarily because of its name. The kids are big fans of the Cooking Mama game on Wii, so why not? We're glad we tried it.

Short version: this is a major upgrade from its predecessor Mr. Fong's Seafood Restaurant. The food is phenomenal. Hurry by to sample authentic Cantonese-style Chinese food prepared with some serious skill.

We visited on the early side (5:30 pm) on a Sunday evening, and managed to beat the rush by about 10 minutes. The place started filling up in earnest at 5:40 pm, and there was a steady crowd of people at the door for the 90 minutes we were there. They have one of those fancy TV + public AV systems announcing who is getting seated next in their tiny lobby, and it was getting a workout the whole evening.

First things first: definitely get the Hongkong style egg puffs. We've never had anything like it, and my son (who never spontaneously praises his food) declared it delicious after his first bite. It's like a cross between a beignet and a cream puff.

For dinner, we had the stir-fried mixed vegetables (light, flavorful sauce, cooked just the right amount so the vegetables were al dente); the special seafood congee (which was large enough to serve 4-6 people); an eggplant and minced pork clay pot (you can safely ignore their warning about it being spicy), a very well executed seafood fried rice (the kind with a gravy-style curry atop fried rice); and a double order of the xiao long bao (which my mom, who doesn't like, gave a full thumbs up).

Service was what you'd expect, which is to say they were too thinly staffed for it to be actually attentive. As is typical for Chinese restaurants, you'll have to flag down waiters rather than wait for them to notice anything. And we had a major snafu the night we went in that our server forgot about our seafood congee order until we reminded him after finishing all the other dishes. They lost an opportunity to delight by comp'ing a desert--but that's just crazy talk, as that's never happened to me at a Chinese restaurant.

Bottom line: this is easily one of the best Chinese restaurants on the Peninsula. For all the curious food-lovers who wondered who took Mr. Fong's longtime spot on the Foster Lagoon, wonder no more. Just rush over to enjoy a fabulous meal prepared with some mad cooking skills.

One of the best falafel joints in the Bay Area, for sure.

We dropped by after picking up our re-fluffed sofa cushions from nearby Bob's Foam Factory (big thumbs up for them; see my review). Bob's closed at 3 pm, so we got here at about 3:30pm. Only reason I mention that is the no one in the family was particularly hungry and all the kids were voting for take out. But I shepherded everyone into the restaurant, where service was prompt and friendly--and the food was fantastic.

We got two shawarma plates (one chicken, one lamb), a falafel sandwich, a crispy pita with garlic sauce, and a few order of french fries. I had a few things from the condiments bar (chili sauce, pickled onions, a fantastic yogurt sauce), but the wife & kids just dug into the plates as they came out. Fantastic! Flavorful meats; pillowy pita bread; delicious, smooth hummus and deep, smoky baba ghanoush. Even the fries were fanstic: crisp on the outside, tender on the inside, and salted just perfectly.

I'd be heard pressed to pick a favorite, but if you put a gun to my head, I'd say it was the falafel sandwich. That was probably the best falafel sandwich I've ever had. The falafels were perfectly prepared: crisp on the outside, tender and flavorful on the inside. The pita bread was a perfect complement, and the fillings aside from the falafel (lettuce, tomatoes, pickled vegetables) were perfectly blended and balanced. Outstanding.

Minor nits: I would have preferred ketchup at the condiments bar rather than in the individual packets, the meat was a touch on the dry side (I'll attribute that to us showing up at the odd hour between lunch and dinner service) and could have just a just a touch more salt.

Aside from that, we'll have to figure out some reason to head out to Fremont again. This is the standard casual, neighborhood ethnic eateries should all aspire to.

Yay for a cut-to-fit foam factory being in the Bay Area. I was just about to pull the trigger on ordering foam off a Website. I'm glad I didn't. Instead, I brought the cushions from my old, well-loved American Leather sofa into the pros at Bob's Foam Factory.

They had me sit on a few different foams, explaining how long they expected each type of foam to last. We decided to splurge on the medium-firm long-lasting (10+ year foam) for the seat cushions. Then instead of replacing the foam in our back cushions, the gang recommended that they re-wrap the existing foam in a batting. This was because the back cushions weren't worn out (like the seat cushions).

What a difference both procedures made. I wish I had taken a before & after picture. The back cushions are all puffed up (the leather covers  were visibly sagging and wrinkly when we brought them), and the seat cushions are better-than-new. (If I had ordered replacement foam over the Internet, I would have gotten new foam for all 6 cushions--which would have been overkill, since Bobs' folks figured out that my back cushions have a few more years' of life in them.)

It wasn't cheap: the 6-cushion set ran up over $300. But it turned our mildly uncomfortable sofa into something so comfy that I'm inventing reasons to go sit in it. But they were able to do it same-day (in fact, we could have just waited an hour to 90 minutes while they cut and glued and stuffed, but we decided to come back at closing time, which was 3 pm on a Saturday instead).

Another benefit to bringing the cushions into the factory: the recycle the old foam. If we had bought foam from the Web, we'd have to figure out how to recycle the old foam anyway.

So bottom line: two big thumbs up from me. The only caveats: it is in the middle of nowhere in Fremont; they didn't have a huge selection of foams readily available for testing; and to test each foam, they have you sit on top of the foam resting on a solid wooden bench, which is not quite what you'll feel when you put it on the spring foundation of a sofa which has more give. (They explained this to us so we weren't surprised, but it would have been nice to have an actual sofa on the floor to test cushions on.)

But we're big fans despite these minor quibbles. We'll be back once other pieces of foam-stuffed furniture wear out.

Awesome stop for a Bay Area staycation.

Our kids (10, 8, and 6) loved the entire experience. You can wander around quite a bit of the ship on a self-guided tours, and knowledgeable docents (most of them Navy veterans) will bring you to restricted areas such as the island (bridge) and engine room (though there are height and age restrictions for this).

Plan on spending 2-3, even 4 hours if you want to see everything. There are lots of places to walk through, planes and helicopters to see, and exhibits to see.

The only thing that would have made this better would have been a working deck elevator (the massive platform that hauls aircraft from the lower level to the flight deck). [Correction: Pete, one of the volunteer docents abord the ship sent me a message pointing out the elevators do indeed work, and you can see them in action on special "Living Ship" days. Check out their Website for dates.]

But overall, the experience gave us increased respect for the men and women who designed, built, and served on the USS Hornet. To think they built these massive aircraft carriers without computers! Thank you to all veterans and active duty troops who serve our country.