The Red Crane — restaurant review — California

The Red Crane is a welcome surprise nestled amongst the usual Cupertino “brain booster” establishments and across from a Home Depot. Its humble facade opens up to tasteful asian-inspired modern minimalism with dim lighting and papercraft frame-sets on every wall, most likely from the local Japanese craft clubs. With its amiable and attentive [...]

L’Osteria del Forno — restaurant review — California

I have to preface this review by stating that the food at L’Osteria del Forno is incredible; the authenticity (as far as I know, I mean I’m no expert on Italy, but I know this ain’t Ragu), the fresher than fresh ingredients, the overall pristine presentation — basically what you look for in a restaurant [...]

Torch Song for the Olympic torch

Betcha the Olympics committee wonders why oh why did they allow San Francisco, unabashed political arena, to be the only American point on the torch relay route dubbed the “Journey of Harmony”.
Extinguished in Paris (oft joshed at for their cowardice), many cringed at the thought of what Bay Area pro-Tibetan protesters might do [...]

Who’s buying who? — Tech Quickie

Catching you up on all the latest plans and rumors circulating about the Big Cheeses in the Bay, and how they plan to get even bigger:

Yahoo! to use Google search ads… in advanced talks
Yahoo! to merge with AOL… still in talks
Microsoft to purchase Yahoo!… over Y!’s dead body, sadly
Google to [...]

Hydration Café — restaurant review — California

Cheap, fast, tasty. That’s all I ask a bento box to be, but places usually skimp on flavor, busting the sacred trinity. Hydration Café does not skimp. For about $5 and some change, you can get a generous portion of your choice of fried cutlets (chicken, pork, squid, mackerel, tofu, vegetarian fish [...]

Caffé Macs — restaurant review — California

I’m sure Caffé Macs (Apple’s eatery) was attempting to be set itself apart from all the other Silicon Valley Corporate Cafés by adding an extra “f”, or maybe they did that because that’s what the food deserves. Okay, that was harsh, but clever, no? And wait, isn’t caffé Italian for coffee not cafeteria? [...]

eBay Park Café — restaurant review — California

Oh no! I’m officially a Silicon Valley whore. I’ve worked at Apple, Yahoo!, Adobe, (am still currently a Research Consultant for Google), but eBay made me a juicy offer and a tops title plus pet insurance(!), so I’m there now, helping with the overhaul design bonanza. Woowoo! So far, it’s an [...]

Café Adobe — restaurant review — California

Holy crap Jack Black works here! A doppelgänger who speaks spanish. It’s like Nacho Libre, cafeteria version. I haven’t ordered from his section, I usually stick to the daily specials like veggie paninis or falafels. Consistency is not their game, with tender wedge fries one day and denture-denting the next. [...]

Saravana Bhavan — restaurant review — California

If you think Amber India is good Indian food, then stop reading right now. If you’re one for a little adventure, try Saravana Bhavan. Piquant, pungent, vegetarian South Indian (Tamilnadu, I believe) cuisine that won’t break the bank (prices have been steadily increasing probably due to popularity, ~$5.85/main dish) revolves around various categories [...]

Hoshi — restaurant review — California

Damn, forgot the camera again. Hoshi is not a place to order sushi rolls. You probably will be disappointed. And you might be taken aback when their grilled fish entrées reach your table as it is the whole fish, head, bones, fins, tail and all. This is a place to drink [...]

Gamba Karaoke

We love this place so much that we wanted to keep it a secret. But we also love this place so much that we had to try to drum up some business for them. Go Gamba!
Before we found this place, South Bay karaoke hunts were all about masking feeling uncomfortable while a Korean [...]

Tanto — restaurant review — California

I was pretty much jazzed about any plate of raw fish set in front of me until I moved to the Bay Area, where sushi is prevalent, but good sushi is rare (so you know if I, the human garbage disposal, am saying that, then there must be something amiss). Even some yummy stand-bys [...]

Gay for a Day — We were Harvey Milk extras!

Woowoo! Today Chris and I spent the day getting kinda sunburnt and cheering ourselves hoarse in front of Sean Penn* for the new Gus Van Sant movie Milk, a biopic on Harvey Milk, California’s first openly gay elected official. I have no idea if we’re even visible, but we’re about three rows behind [...]

Tofoo Com Chay — restaurant review — California

Tofoo Com Chay feels like family when Ben, the friendly upbeat shopowner with the photographic memory greets regulars by name every time without fail. One tiny counter lady seems to only know the english word “dear”, repeating it often. But the service is only one of the reasons why you’ll make frequent visits. [...]

Adobe.com refreshed!

Well, I lasted a year at Yahoo! (I still hope Jerry can turn it all around somehow) but now I’m pretty darn happy at Adobe. The building is sooo slick; there are automated everythings.. even the bathrooms are completely motion-sensored out down to the liquid soap and paper towel dispensers, not to mention the [...]

Daiso Japan is right here in Mountain View, Ichiban Kan goes online

Yah, I’m a little late announcing it, but yah it opened a little late because they wanted the Grand Opening to be “just perfect”. What’s with Japanese and detailed perfectionism anyways? Ruins my life! Just kidding. Anyway, Daiso is a store packed with tons of cutesie utilitarian items from Japan and [...]

YouTube Find . Tarantino Vs. Jan Wahl

If you live in the Bay Area you’ve probably heard of film reviewer Jan Wahl, or even had the misfortune of catching her weekly segment on the KRON 4 News. The woman is terribly uninformed, thickheaded, loud, stupid. I can’t stand her. I don’t know how many times she’s mangled the names of alleged favorite [...]

Frank Gehry Napa Valley groundbreaking today

A new six building 110,000 square-foot Napa Valley winery which celebrated architect Frank Gehry designed for Craig and Kathryn Hall is having its official groundbreaking ceremony today. Unconventionally, the groundbreaking is taking place after initial construction has already begun. Mrs. Hall, the former U.S. ambassador to Austria, is a known avid art collector [...]