Los Pericos

Lorraine, Allison, and I decided to visit our favorite Dublin taqueria today Los Pericos (the parrots). We have dined here several times before, always impressed with fast service, great prices and good food. Try to avoid coming here during the lunch rush, or else you will be part of the daily line out the door.

Like most taquerias you select your meal from a menu posted overhead, pay, take your number and have a seat, then the food is delivered to your table. While you wait, you can take advantage of the vast salsa bar, offering spice levels from the pico de gallo to the roasted chile salsa that will burn you twice if you are not careful.

Salsa bar with "industrial" grade sneeze guard.

Believe it or not there is a large corn tortilla at the bottom.

LG and Alli Palli decided to order the carne asada super taco. This taco comes complete with carne asada, cilantro, sour cream, onion, guacamole, pico de gallo, and red sauce. At $3.25 each, these tacos are a best kept secret, cheap, delicious, and unless you are a competitive eater it should fill you up. In addition to all the fresh flavors coming through with the cilantro and salsa, I was impressed with the tender and juicy yet crispy steak pieces.

Steak Ranchero

I was interested in a low carb option, intially I was going to order a burrito and leave the tortilla as a disposable food wrapper. Instead, Lorraine suggested I sample the Steak Ranchero. I ordered whole bean instead of refried (forgot to tell them to hold the queso). As you can see, they inlcluded beans (yummy), rice (eh), guacomole (fair), and marinated steak pieces sauteed with jalepeno peppers, onions, fresh tomatoes, and served in a light red sauce (muy deliciouso). This meal could easily feed two. I ate all the meat, a couple bites of beans, a few jalepenos and I was full. You can think of it as fajitas on steroids, sans the fancy sizzling skillet and high price.

Los Pericos is "THE" taqueria in the Tri-Valley area, if you don't agree with me then I will fight you, or at least ask you where you think is better and try it as well.

You can visit them at:

7473 Village Pky, Dublin, CA 94568

Quickly

My current food mission has been to keep my food radar on high alert for strange and interesting cuisine. Today, my lunch associate Gary M. and I found ourselves at Quickly. Quickly is one of the largest Tapioca Milk Tea franchises in the world with hundreds of locations spread throughout Europe, Asia, and Australia. Tapioca Milk Tea is also known as Pearl Tea, or Bubble Tea. These teas offer a milk or fruit based tea with large pieces of Tapioca that are sucked through oversize straws.

Taro flavored Pearl Tea.

I've been to this Quickly before for a mid afternoon tea snack, and I while there I noticed that they offered a diverse snack menu with some very odd choices. Some options to enjoy with your tea beverage are: Lobster Balls, Squid Balls, or a Fried Black Rice Cake.

From Left to right, Taro Fries, Fried Mini Octopus, Popcorn Chicken

There were two obvious choices for me today though, the whole deep fried mini octopus and the Taro fries. Taro is a tropical plant that is grown and harvested for the corm (the root of the plant).

When they say whole mini octopus, they mean it, eyes and everything.

I'm having second thoughts here.

Eh, not so bad actually.

The Taro Fries were disgusting, not much of a texture, soft, mushy and very bland. The octopus was really very chewy, and not flavorful. Plus they give you 30-40 with every order, a great value at $2.99 but who can eat that many. Gary ordered the Popcorn Chicken, the flavor was a very solid OK, but we agreed that it was too heavy on the grease.

The verdict for today, if you want to try a new and refreshing tea beverage then Quickly is here to help. However, I would suggest you select a new restaurant while considering your last meal.

You can visit Quickly online at:

http://www.quicklyusa.com/

Or in Dublin at:

4288 Dublin Blvd. #104
Dublin, CA 94568

Haveli Indian Cuisine

Indian food is not a favorite dining choice for many of my friends and co-workers. Most of the time if I am craving this type of food I know I'll be dining alone. I've seen this restaurant a few times and today decided to try it.

When you walk in you are greeted with the aromas of mysterious special spices and fresh baked naan (flatbread cooked in a Tandoori Oven).

It's a little confusing when you get to the counter. You can see all the items they have available from their steam table, and even being experienced in this type of food I still had to ask what each item was. The women serving the food behind the counter were very friendly and happy to explain what was in each dish.


They have an "early bird" special, 4 items for only $7.50, as long as you can show up for lunch between 11am-12pm. Perfect for me as my stomach starts growling around 11 and I oftentimes jest that if I don't eat by 12 I may just pass out.

From the bottom to the top: basmati rice, salad, mixed fruit in mango sauce,
lamb curry, eggplant and potato, Tandoori chicken, and naan bread.

It's easy to get used to Indian buffets, they are cheap and the food is usually pretty good, not to mention all the variety. However, I would now choose Haveli over a buffet. Their lamb curry was spicier than most, and the lamb was mild and very tender (rare at most buffets). The eggplant and potato dish was also delicious, with the perfect amount of spiciness to flavor ratios. The Tandoori chicken was served with fresh cilantro, lemon, and onion, the meat fell off the bone but I found it a little salty for my taste.

I was skeptical of the fruit floating in the mango sauce, but in the end the bowl was empty and my palate was cleansed.

While I was dining I took an opportunity to review their regular menu. There was a vast selection of food options that you normally don't see. However, their prices looked higher than I would expect for the area. Unless their portions are huge, or you are craving something in particular, I would suggest the lunch special.

If you are in Dublin and you love Indian cuisine, you should visit Haveli.

Online:

http://www.haveliindiancuisine.com/

In person:

4582 Dublin Boulevard,
Dublin, CA 94568

Matsu Sushi

The words cheap and sushi almost never end up in the same sentence. However, a couple of years ago I was introduced to the best value available in sushi restaurants. There exists an item on 95% of all sushi menus called Chirashi. For the true sushi enthusiast, a person who loves raw fish and is not afraid to "think outside of the roll". Chirashi is for you, translated Chirashizushi means literally "scattered sushi".

Chirashi consists of a bowl of sushi rice that is covered with assorted raw fish, accompanied by wasabi paste, ginger, and often times tamago (a sweet layered Japanese omelete).

It's always chef's choice as to what fish you get. I've always had good luck though, they seem to always have a great variety. So let's break this down to dollars and cents. Your assorted nigiri sushi can cost anywhere between $3-$5 per two piece order. Most Chirashi varies between $14.95-$24.95, we'll average it out to $19.95. Typically you get 20 pieces of sushi, so that is only $.99 per piece.

Also, they serve miso soup and a house salad with their Chirashi. I personally think that iceberg lettuce needs to be banned from cuisine entirely both here at home and abroad. With that said, the dressing they used on this salad was so delicious that I ate every chilled lettuce crisp and carrot (and I dislike carrots more than iceberg lettuce).

It really is "edible art", look at all those vibrant colors!!

Today the chef included:

Shiro Maguro (Albacore Tuna)
Maguro (Ahi Tuna)
Red Snapper
Yellowfin
Salmon
Tamago
Ebi (Shrimp)

Each of the pieces of fish was very fresh, the salmon had great color and magnificent flavor. The albacore tuna was fantastic as well, the flavor was exceptional as it melted away on my tongue.

Albacore dipped in wasabi/soy sauce mixture. I love albacore like Homer Simpson loves donuts.

I was surprised that Matsu Sushi was so good, as it happens to be located so close to a bunch of other chain style restaurants next to a movie theater.

If you ever want to get your Wasabi fix before a movie stop by Matsu Sushi.

You can visit them online at:

http://www.matsusushiusa.com/pages/menu.htm

Or in person in Dublin at:

4930 Dublin Blvd., Suite 800
Dublin, CA

Pho Saigon

Pho Saigon is my top choice for Vietnamese Noodle soup or "Pho". However, it's been in the triple digits over the weekend and I wasn't ready for a big bowl of soup. The menu here has a great variety, in addition to the noodle soup they also serve vermicelli bowls with many different meat options to choose from, as well as a full complement of appetizers and rice dishes.

My objective today is to go outside my comfort zone. Already ruled out was the soup, and I've had vermicelli bows before (usually tasty but not my first choice). In trying to keep cost down and being slightly healthy, I ordered a grilled chicken rice plate and a shredded pork spring roll.


Included inside the shredded pork spring roll was yes, shredded pork, mint, and lettuce, all wrapped inside rice paper. These are very refreshing, and can be served with either a peanut sauce or in this case a vinegar based sauce with pickled carrots. Spring rolls are popular because they are not deep fried like egg rolls and are served cold or at room temperature.

Spring roll or Vietnamese Cigar?

This is my first time trying the shredded pork, normally I order the shrimp or BBQ pork. The shredded pork tasted dry and crumbly. There was almost no flavor at all. Perhaps if I knew anything about knitting, I could have created some very nice and quite durable shredded pork shoe laces out of this stuff. Sure the rice paper and mint/lettuce combo tasted fine, but shucks that would be hard to mess up.

A nice surprise showed up with the grilled chicken rice plate. A small bowl of their Pho soup broth. The Pho soup broth is made by simmering either beef and/or chicken bones along with other "interesting" goodies and spices together for several hours. We will talk more about Pho, but that's another blog.


Next I sampled the Grilled Chicken. Not much to talk about here folks, the chicken was sliced so thin it tasted more like an overcooked pork chop. I did notice a hint of lemongrass, that was a nice flavor addition but not enough to rehydrate this bird. The rice was really sticky as well, perhaps yesterday's batch?


Overall, I always ask my friends to get out there and try something new. But I guess sometimes, it's best to stick to what you know. I'll do a review on Pho Saigon for their fantastic Wonton Soup when the weather gets cooler.

You can visit Pho Saigon at:

7300 San Ramon Rd
Dublin, CA

Halu Shabu Shabu

What is Shabu Shabu? That is a question I had when I saw the sign for this restaurant, the sign showed raw meat and declared "all you can eat". Interesting I thought, I had to call on a lunch pal that would be able to help me tackle this new food challenge.

Shabu Shabu is a form of Japanese food. Translated it means "Hot Pot", in the 13th century hungry Mongol soldiers used this type of cooking to efficiently feed many troops and conserve food resources. The concept of the "Hot Pot" spread throughout Asia and now many other ethnic groups have their own version.

We were seated quickly by the restaurants only server. She took our drink order, as she sat us. She returned ready to take our order, we ordered the all you can eat lunch special. Before you could say "Shabu Shabu" she was back with a large pot of hot water. Each table has a heating element in the middle of it. She placed the pot on the the electric burner and turned it to high (there is a digital box under the table that controls the heat). Next she brought us a plate of thinly sliced beef, a plate of thinly sliced pork, a bowl of rice, a plate with assorted vegetables, fish balls, mushrooms, tofu, and last a square bowl of "Satay" sauce used for dipping.



We were definitely surprised at the amount of food that was in front of us. Nothing to do but scoop it all into the pot. Gary M. took over all the cooking duties, as I was busy snapping pics.


Also, we found it odd that there was a mysterious green chunk of what looked like seaweed floating in the pot. We asked our server if you could eat it, she said, "Nobody does, but you can if you want". I wasn't excited to eat it, it looked more like green pork rinds. It's actually wasn't very flavorful, not sure why it was even in the water to begin with.


Once the meat is dropped into the boiling water, it cooks almost instantly, you can literally watch the pink disappear. As soon as the meat was set in the hot pot, our server brought another two plates of meat and the other "assorted" plate was delivered, we didn't even have to ask. This was done 4 more times, before we had to ask that she STOP bringing us more food. They aren't shy about giving you all you can eat. Honestly, I had all I could eat and another plate more.


The meat was tender and surprisingly flavorful. The fishballs were like an amalgum of scallops pressed into a ball, tasty but weird, two or three and that was enough. The vegetables, and tofu were a fun addition, but after two plates, we focused on just the meat. For me the surprise VIP of the hot pot was the mushrooms. They were very "meaty" in texture and flavor, pairing perfectly with the other proteins. Each time we dipped into the Satay sauce we were puzzled as to what it actually was. We probed the server, who with only 4 tables, but multiple plates to carry was not interested in chit chat, not un-friendly, just efficient.

Is Shabu Shabu something that I will find myself craving? Most likely not, certainly this type of meal is an event and can be fun with a large crowd I'm sure. My guess, twice a year, just for the novelty. Also, quite a bargain, all you can eat for only $9.99.

You can visit Halu Shabu Shabu online at:

http://halushabushabu.com/about.html

Or in person at:

4288 Dublin Blvd. #110
Dublin, CA 94568

Buffalo Wild Wings

Most people that know me, know that I have a certain distaste for any type of "chain" restaurant. But, since I haven't seen or been to a Buffalo Wild Wings, I thought I would give them a try today. I was seated almost immediately as I walked in the door. This restaurant is brand new, it's located in the Grafton Station shopping center in Dublin, close to the new Lowe's.

My goal today was to come here and try whatever their spiciest wings were. I was hoping for lots of sweat and a good laugh. What I ended up finding however, is this is an awesome place to hang out. It's a sports bar for sure, but they have a large and diverse menu (well as diverse as you can be for sports bar food). They have three dining areas, a bar section, main dining area, and patio dining. I choose a seat in the main dining area, and it was amazing. There were four large projection screen televisions, and 13 smaller flat screen TVs in this area alone. Also, the musical selections had me cracking up, I sat down and Rammstein was playing Du Hast in the background. I usually like to dine early and I arrived at 11:15, guessing that they probably opened at 11:30. I noticed that there were people going in already, so I went in as well. Turns out they open at 11, and this place is definitely a Dublin hot spot. When I got inside there were already 8 tables occupied, in addition to diners in the bar.

When my server arrived, I asked her what was popular and just how hot were these "Blazin" wings? Jenn, was very knowledgeable and friendly. She gave me the rundown on their sandwiches, burgers, and wraps. Next she mentioned that during training, the servers actually had to create all of the sauces that they serve. She said the "Blazin" sauce had people crying, and that when you eat it, it turns your face numb.

They serve their wings in order increments of 6. I chose 18 wings and they allowed me to choose up to 3 flavors. I also tried their cole slaw, and the wings come with either Bleu Cheese or Ranch dressing, and Celery. I paid the additional 60 cents for all three.

The flavors I chose from left to right are: "Blazin", "Parmesan Garlic", and "Jamaican Jerk".

I decide to try the Parmesan Garlic first. Unbelieveable flavor, these wings will blow your mind. They remind me of the idea of having a whole meal in one pill. These wings, taste like Chicken Fettucine Alfredo. Increadibly rich, and delightful. The biggest compliment I can give to any food dish is if I find myself craving it. I will crave these, at some point and not be able to have them, I rue the day.

Next I sampled the Jamaican Jerk, they had a "hint" of jerk seasoning. However, they have a sweet glaze that really makes them much sweeter then I think they should be. I would order them again, they were enjoyable, just not authentic.


Sigh, I really don't want to do this. I can smell the spice, and the vinegar, and it's making my eyes water. Well here we go...


Ok, yes, the "Blazin" wings are hot. But, I gotta say, they aren't TOO hot to enjoy. Some places offer extreme hot sauces that tend to be too "vinegary". My face never went numb, but my lips started to burn. I grabbed a celery slice and slathered on the bleu cheese dressing, followed by a water chaser. That certainly helped things start to cool down. What I found was, these wings offer a short blast of spice, the recovery time was relatively short. I ate all six and I'd eat six more at a sitting no problem, but I wouldn't want to eat more than that.


The Aftermath, count the bones, yes I ate them all!!

So, my hands were still messy after the wet wipe cleaning at the table. I needed to wash up, and make sure I didn't have any extra sauce on my face. I went to the restroom, rounded the corner and was greated by HD TV in the lavatory. Sorry, I know bathrooms pics have no place on a food blog. But hey, I'm a guy, and I'm impressed with fancy toys, shiny objects, and well TVs at the urinal.


The Verdict, stop what you are doing right now, go to your nearest Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant and try the Garlic Parmesan flavored wings. It will change your life, or at least make it better for an hour while you enjoy your lunch.

Visit Buffalo Wild Wings online at:
http://www.buffalowildwings.com/
(it's a great site really, check it out)

Or in person at:

3712 Dublin Blvd.
Dublin, CA 94568