Rancho Grande Taqueria

My lunch destinations are always a surprise for me. Some days I will just drive until I find something interesting, other times I have an idea of what kind of food I feel like that morning and I'll be cosmically drawn to a restaurant. Or days like today, I am willing to take recommendations from friends, strangers, co-workers, and even the occasional nemesis.

Recommended by Lani, today I visited the Rancho Grande Taqueria in Pleasanton. I'm always very skeptical of any Mexican Food establishment located anywhere outside of the "San Joaquin Central Valley". It's almost a curse, if you have ever had authentic Mexican food either in Mexico or homemade by your Best Friend's Mom. Then you know what the flavors "should" taste like. However, you almost have to dumb your palate down to eat Mexican Food anywhere else. So, I go in with lowered expectations.

Most people would sample a burrito, or perhaps even a couple of tacos. Instead, I opt for two of my favorite items, chile verde and a chile rellano.


Most Taqueria's have you order at the counter, pay and have a seat. Here at the "Big Ranch" it was no different. My food arrived surprisingly fast actually. First I tried the rice and beans. Expecting to be "underwhelmed" with flavor I was surprised to find the rice was quite tasty and the beans were, they were, well...not boring.


Next was the chile verde, chunks of pork slow simmered for hours in a green sauce that combines tomatillos, garlic, limes, and chiles. The flavor of the chile verde was great, there was a nice tartness that I enjoy, however, it didn't even register on the Scoville scale (a measurement of the hotness of a chile pepper). Perhaps they should rename their version of this dish to Tomatillo Verde flavored pork?

The chile rellano was great. I was curious why it arrived with no sauce, which if done right is a vital part of this dish. However, if you have bad sauce it can also ruin it, maybe they were doing me a favor.

Rancho Grande serves up great portion sizes and pretty good food. Two people could easily split a combination plate. Shucks, with the all you can eat chips and salsa bar in addition to the 10 tortillas they serve with your meal, this taqueria offers a fantastic value for your lunchtime feria.


Also worth mentioning, their salsa bar included many varieties of fresh salsas, limes, guacamole, pickled vegetables, and honestly the best tortilla chips I've had in the bay area (still warm, and a touch greasy, just the way 1/4 Mexican's like them).

You can visit Rancho Grande Taqueria online at:

http://www.ranchograndetaqueria.com/index.html

Or in person in Pleasanton at:

2707 Hopyard Rd.
Pleasanton, CA 9456

Special Edition *Alameda County Fair*

Today was a very special day, I got to go to the Alameda County Fair for the first time. So, my main objective was to go and sample all the deep fried once a year goodness!! My guide for the Alameda County Fair was Lorraine Guimaraes, aka LG. We decided to split everything we ordered so as to get the most amount of food with the least amount of caloric impact (yeah right). So without further ado...

The County Fair Corn Dog:


Goodness, look at all that fantastic, perfectly applied mustard. Utterly delightful, but I must say, stay away from this stand and any other stand that prepares their food ahead of time. Or at least ask them to make it for you fresh. This corn dog was tasty, but it would have been perfect if it was fresh out of the fryer. You see, I am one of those that likes to live life on the edge. I like the fear of scorching the top of my mouth with the melted cheese off of a fresh pizza. So it's the same with a fresh corn dog, give it to me piping hot, not sweaty with condensation 10 minutes after you fry it.


On the way to the Horse Races, I decided to try a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich. Keep in mind, when I was 15 years old I sampled every Chicken Fried Steak between here and Missouri. I've done the same with Cheese Steaks, until I reach the mecca of cheese steaks in Philadelphia I'm determined to try them every chance I get. As far as this one, well lets just say the search continues, the meat had a great flavor and the jalapenos on the side were a great addition, however the crusty bread was less than impressive.

Cheese Steak booth, they should spend more money on fresh bread than the fancy signage.

Who could go to the fair and not sample the deep fried zucchini?

The deep fried zucchini gets high marks for the breading, the ranch dressing, and the fact that it was cooked to absolute perfection. The zucchini, somehow was still crisp, and flavorful after being entombed in batter and fried to a golden brown.

For the record, as much as a foodie as I am, I have never had the pleasure of any of the deep fried sweet goodies that most fairs are famous for. There was a selection of breaded and deep fried, Snickers, Nutter Butters, UnCrustables (Round crustless PB&J sandwiches ), Oreos, and Twinkies. How could I choose between the Deep Fried Snickers AND the Deep Fried Twinkies? Too much pressure, I had to try both.


I found the Twinkie to be very light, fluffy, and most enjoyable. If ever there was a reason to stay out of prison aside from the obvious, I would say Big Macs and Deep Fried Twinkies, that should be our message to our high risk urban youth.


The Snickers was good. Don't get me wrong, it was delicious. However, I felt that it lacked all the goodness that we come to expect from a Snickers bar. The nougat was melted away, and all you are left with is essentially a pancake wrapped chocolate goo with peanuts. If you ever find yourself wavering between the two, I would suggest the Twinkie.


The Alameda County Fair runs July 1st-July 19th.

You can visit the fair online at:

http://www.alamedacountyfair.com/2009fair/home/index.php

Or in person at:

Located at 4501 Pleasanton Ave off Bernal Ave. This is the location of the Administration Offices, Will Call Ticket Booth and VIP Parking Lot.

Red Smoke Grill

Red Smoke Grill is home of the local's favorite, the Tri-Tip and Bleu! This is a fantastically rich sandwich with thin slices of Tri-Tip and mountains of Bleu Cheese. I was joined by my friend Grant, and we noticed immediately that, this isn't the kind of place for smiles and chit chat from the owner working the cash register. You walk in, you view the menu hanging overhead, your order, you pay, you sit, they call your number, you eat, you leave!!

That being said, the food here is fun to eat, they have some great flavor combinations. On earlier visits I have sampled their Pulled Pork, and Tri-Tip and Bleu sandwiches. They also offer many sides including potato salad, french fries, baked beans, and the like. Stay away from the cole slaw, very bland, but their roasted corn salad is exceptional.

Grant ordered the Tri-Tip and Bleu.


The "Santa Maria" Tri-Tip has great flavor, is cooked well, and is thin and tender enough to bite easily. The bleu cheese is plentiful as you can tell from the picture, creamy and a little mild. Keep in mind their sandwiches are served ala carte, so you have to order sides or else your "Samitch" is "Rolling Solo".

In trying to keep a balanced diet and still write a food blog I decided to go with their "Protein Plate" option. You can choose between Tri-Tip, Pulled Pork, or 1/4 chicken, served with a salad consisting of romaine lettuce, roma tomato slices, and feta cheese. The salad comes with your choice of dressing, I went with the Balsamic.


They use the same delicious Tri-Tip as in their sandwich for this dish. It works well with the salad and is a fantastic choice for the health conscious. Sure it's red meat, but low carb and quite filling.

If you are in the mood for a sit and go restaurant and you like Bar-B-Que "style" food, give Red Smoke Grill a visit.

They are located online at:

http://www.redsmokegrill.com/

Or in person at:

4501 Hopyard Road
Pleasanton, CA

Tomatina

This food blog is starting to gain some momentum, and I guess I'm starting to take requests (thanks Victor). Tomatina is one of those places that unless you've heard of it somewhere you might be inclined to just drive by it and never stop.

Also, a quick side note, I fear I may be a hypocrite because I keep saying I won't eat at chain restaurants, but so far I've done three blog entries. So, from now on, let's just say I won't seek out a chain as my first choice, but if I end up at one I might as well write about it.

My friend LG and I showed up early at 11:17 and the restaurant didn't open until 11:30, however there were already 2 other parties in line. That's always a great sign. When they opened we were seated quickly, offered menus and out server took our drink order.


Hot summer days require an ice cold Sangria. This Sangria was fantastic, it was Super Duper Ultra Tart!! I couldn't believe it!! If you are ever interested in a "Liquid Lunch", this is a great choice.

Lorraine ordered the lunch special, 3 slices of pizza and a side salad for $8.


Everyday the pizza special changes, today was the Pesto Chicken Pizza and it included:
tomato sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, roasted chicken, roasted red pepper, sun dried tomato and basil pesto.

The pizza had a thin crust, with a perfect balance of cheese and sauce. The salad had generous helpings of roasted red bell peppers, and tomatoes in addition to the mixed greens. Often times we all expect the house salad to be just a boring filler. Not this time, the red wine vinaigrette floated on my palate like a hot air balloon, not heavy at all.

The reason I chose Tomatina today was because of a recommendation that I try a Piadine. I've heard of these before, it is a fresh warm flatbread with a salad in the middle and you roll it up and eat it like a sandwich.


After some help from my server I decided on the Chicken Piadine, some other options I considered were the Hummus and also a Salmon Piadine. In addition to Chicken it also included: baby spinach, roasted red peppers, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, red bell pepper, garlic paste, oregano and citrus vinaigrette.


This "Salad Sandwich Wrap Thingy" is my new best friend. The flatbread was chewy delightful goodness, and once you bit through it, you are rewarded with the crisp crunch of the fresh baby spinach. This is truly "Refreshing Texture Paradise"!!

Anybody that knows me well knows that I love to spice things up. Since my Piadine was similar to a pizza, I thought it might be a good idea to add some red pepper flakes. Then disaster struck, like all good salt shaker pranks, so was the loose lid on the jar of the "Red Hot Chili Peppers".


Oops, I was going to try to scrape the pepper flakes off, but LG got the attention of our server. When the server showed up she was horrified that somebody would have done this. We thought it was funny, but she took it VERY seriously. She apologized profusely and immediately offered to remake my lunch. Fantastic service, and a great job by Tomatina.

Fine, I hate to admit it, but I guess not all chain restaurants are bad. They do a very brisk and busy lunch crowd as well, by the time we left there was a line at the door.

You can visit Tomatina online at:

http://www.tomatina.com/home.php

Or in person at the Dublin location:

4590 Dublin Blvd
Dublin, CA 94568

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

Galvin's Market

A lot of my friends and loyal B Food Blog followers have been asking me lately how I'm able to afford going out to lunch everyday. Well, yes it does get expensive. So, I'm going to make an effort to eat on the cheap as much as possible, starting today. There is a beautiful park in San Leandro called Chabot Regional park. They have a small 9 hole disc golf course, in addition to hiking trails, and picnic benches. I decided to stop into Galvin's Market in San Leandro. This local meat shop offers homemade sausages, gourmet imported cheeses, wide selection of fresh fish, and also a full meat counter. Luckily for me they also have a small deli where they make sandwiches to go.

The selection was pretty standard, 4 types of bread, 4 cheeses, 7 meats, and standard produce options. When I asked my sandwich maker what their most popular sandwich was, he crinkled his forehead and acted as if I asked him to recite Pi in binary. So I rephrased the question and asked him which sandwich he makes the most, "oh, um, I guess the turkey". Great, so I opted for the turkey on a ciabatta roll with mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato, red onions, and pickles.

When I viewed the finished product I was less than impressed. It looked like it was mostly fabricated of bread. I don't have a personal hatred of bread (or any food really), but I like my sandwiches to be well proportioned. Bag of chips, and a sandwich $6.75. Next I walked a block to the liquor store and selected a Hop Rod Ale for $2.99. My total was $9.74, ok so not terribly cheap, but it's a start right? Cheaper than usual.

When I arrived at the park there weren't any tables in the shade, but it was still early and not too hot yet.

So, I'm looking at this sandwich and I gotta tell you I'm not terribly excited to dig in.


First bite...and it's delicious. This ciabatta roll is a work of art, dusted flour on the top of the roll, tender with just the right amount of chewy.


The turkey is full of flavor, the produce fresh, the pickle chips are crunchy and surprisingly large. The provolone cheese is mild and creamy. Most times, I have a really good idea of what to expect when I order food. This time I was way off, and very pleasantly surprised.


I have the honor of recommending a Galvin's Market sandwich and definitely try the ciabatta roll.

You can visit Galvin's Market at:

1275 MacArthur Blvd
(between Bridge Rd & Estudillo Ave)
San Leandro, CA 94577

IL Fornaio and Gelateria Naia

Located in beautiful downtown Walnut Creek, close to fantastic shopping and great people watching is IL Fornaio. This is an Italian chain restaurant, but since I've never been to one, I thought I'd give it a try. Joining me for lunch was my friend Adelei. When we walked in we were greeted by three hostesses and we opted for the patio dining area. Two glasses of Ice Water magically appeared (yes it was that fast). We had menus, water, and a great view into H&M to watch people shopping. Great for the voyeur in all of us.

The menu offered a plentiful selection of pizzas, flatbreads, salads, fish, meat, and pasta dishes. We decided to split the Insalata del Fornaio and the Canneloni Al Forno.


The Insalata del Fornaio was just as the name implied, the house salad. Basic but flavorful, it was mixed greens, garlic croutons and shaved parmesan with house vinaigrette.


The Canneloni Al Forno is usually one of my favorite Italian treats. This version included large pasta tubes filled with rotisserie chicken, spinach, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes and smoked mozzarella; bechamel and tomato sauces. The first thing I noticed was that the chicken was large chunks of chicken meat. Typically this dish is prepared with a minced chicken or veal. I found the chunks of chicken really threw off the texture of the filling, which is normally my favorite part.

The menu description of the Canneloni really made it sound as if the flavors were going to explode my tastebuds. Instead, the flavor was more of a "Mish-Mash" of bland sauces. The highlight of the dish was probably the mushrooms, and I think they actually forgot to add the sundried tomatoes. Adelei commented that she felt the dish had a certain "Fishy" taste to it.

For me, this would be a place I would dine at simply take in a fantastic setting, enjoy a glass of wine, perhaps sample the calamari. If you are looking for authentic Italian food, the search continues. Also noteworthy is the exceptional service, we wanted for nothing, our server and the bus staff kept our glasses full and checked in with us often.

You can visit IL Fornaio online at:

http://www.ilfornaio.com/

Or in person at:

1430 Mt. Diablo Blvd
Walnut Creek, CA 94596



After lunch we saved some room for some mid-afternoon dessert. On my short walk from the parking garage I noticed a new Gelato shop, or Gelateria. It is located on Broadway, right around the corner from IL Fornaio.

Gelateria Naia is a local gelato shop that makes fresh handmade gelato in small batches.

Each flavor is labeled and actually has the base ingredients
resting either in bowls or loose on top of the Gelato.

This Geloteria is high class all the way. When you order a sample they scoop it for you in a real spoon, when you are done, clunk goes the spoon in a metal bucket on the counter. There were many flavor varieties to choose from, I sampled the Scherffen Berger 41% Chocolate, Strawberry Cheesecake, and the Nutella. All three were delicious, I really wanted the Nutella, which is a chocolate hazelnut flavor, but I couldn't decide what flavor would compliment it well. With a small order you get two flavors, I made an executive decision and went with the Chocolate and Strawberry Cheesecake.

It was absolutely exquisite, the flavors worked perfectly together, the texture was amazing.

Adelei sampled the Rhubarb, and Raspberry. She ended up with a Waffle Cone filled with Raspberry and Vanilla.


If you are in Walnut Creek and in the mood for something sweet, it is mandatory that you stop by Gelateria Naia!!

You can visit them online at:

http://gelaterianaia.com

Or in person at:

1245 North Broadway
Walnut Creek, CA 94596

Other locations are posted on their web-site.