TSUNAMI GRILL -- (Sunnyvale, CA)

Following up on a recommendation for some delicious japanese curry, we headed over to Tsunami Grill located in the Town and Country in Sunnyvale. The chicken curry comes with salad and miso soup.

This is the soft shell crab karaage appetizer. Lightly fried soft shell crab served with lemon and a ponzu dipping sauce.

The miso soup served with the curry ... it was actually quite bland, with a only few cubes of tofu and bits of seaweed.

The homemade chicken curry. It is made fresh the night before and there is only a limited quantity available for dinner. The curry here has a very authentic japanese taste -- very mild with no one flavor overpowering the other. It is a complete opposite from Gombei's curry, which is a lot sweeter. Highly recommended. $9.75 for the chicken curry meal.

Tsunami Grill
220 Town and Country
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(408) 773-8776

DA KITCHEN -- (Mountain View, CA)

Ono! Da Kitchen began with two restaurants located on Maui. This Mountain View location opened in early 2004. This is the Hawaiian Special at Da Kitchen. Tender kalua pig, lomi lomi salmon, chicken long rice, lau lau, mac salad and two scoops of white rice. Ordered with a side of kim chi.

Chicken katsu plate lunch. Expertly fried pieces of chicken served with a japanese bbq sauce, mac salad and two scoops of white rice.

Da Kitchen
1477 Plymouth Street, Unit #E (near Century Cinemas 16 on Shoreline Blvd.)
Mountain View, CA 94043

PLUTO'S -- (Palo Alto, CA)

Pluto's puts all fast food places to shame, serving fresh made-to-order salads, grilled meats, excellent side dishes and the oh so delicious garlic fries. It was one of favorite restaurants when I was up in Davis. I used to buy a sandwich or salad on the walk home from school.

On the left, Pluto's East Wings (Hot BBQ Buffalo). My favorite hot wings, spicy with the right crunch. On the right, Pluto's West Wings (California Honey Mustard).

Pluto's has a fresh salad bar where you can choose all these different toppings and the chef will toss the salad for you. This is the farmer's greens with marinated flank steak (cooked fresh on the grill for you) with sweet corn, plum tomatoes, red onions, oranges, cucumbers, sweet walnuts and crunchy croutons. Served with freshly baked herbed foccacia bread.

Saturn's Garlic Potato rings. Essentially, curly fries tossed with lots and lots of fresh garlic! It's MARVELOUS! Below is a grilled marinated flank steak sandwich with sourdough bread, mixed greens, light garlic mayonnaise and plum tomatoes.

MOM'S COOKING -- Fried rice and fried wonton

Shrimp and bacon fried rice.

Mom's famous fried wontons.

CAFE YULONG -- (Mountain View, CA)

Cafe Yulong is a Mandarin and Sichuan restaurant located over Dana St in Mountain View.

Kim chi appetizer served on the house.

Spicy sichuan seafood noodles. Shrimp and squid sauteed with ginger, garlic, onions and zucchini and a rich and spicy five-spice infused beef broth sauce topped with slivered cucumber and served with house made noodles. The noodles here are on the thin side (consistency of spaghetti noodles). The dish was pretty spicy. ($6.95).

Zha Jiang Noodles. Diced beef steak sauteed with zucchini, onions and garlic braised in a dark rich bean sauce served on house made noodles. The sauce was rich, meaty and quite tasty. ($6.95).

Yulong fish and leek dumpings (12). Delicate Chinese pastry filled with a mixture of chopped fish, ginger, and Chinese chives boiled quicky to capture all the Chinese flavors. ($6.95).

MOM'S COOKING -- Turkey curry

Japanese style curry made with a holiday turkey.

MOM'S COOKING -- Cha gio

Cha gio, vietnamese egg rolls filled with shrimp, pork, chestnuts, bean thread noodles, carrots, mushroom, onions and garlic. Served with bun (rice noodles), mint, lettuce and nuoc mum.

MOM'S COOKING -- Banh canh

Banh canh are thick rice noodles. Mom makes this with homemade chicken stock, shrimp, chicken, green onions and cilantro.

EMMA'S COOKING -- Enchiladas and more!

Amongst the most delicious and authentic mexican food I've eaten. Homemade chile verde enchiladas and mexican rice. The chile verde enchiladas were filled with tender chicken and had a mouth-watering spicy kick!

Salad and cheese mole enchiladas. What a treat -- the mole sauce is a red chile sauce thickened and enriched with nuts and seeds and infused with spices and chocolate.

Expertly made flan for dessert!

BENTO LUNCH -- Marinated pork, tofu and egg

Soy sauce marinated tofu, hard boiled egg and pork. Broccoli and rice.

BENTO LUNCH -- Crab fried rice

Dungeoness crab fried rice and kiwi.

MY COOKING -- Cha lau ramen

When I come home late and everyone is asleep and there aren't any leftovers, I look in the fridge to see what's there is throw together. Today, I made a "dry" ramen dish. I heated up my frying pan, made some scrambed eggs. Then I took some homemade cha lau (Vietnamese ham), stir fried it with some soy sauce, chili, sugar and rice wine and tossed it onto a bed of instant ramen. Cheap and filling, this was a regular meal I had in college.

RIHAB'S BAKERY -- (Belmont, CA)

My brother brought home some fresh naan bread from Rihab's Bakery in Belmont. I love eating these with Laughing Cow cheese! Only $1.50 per loaf ($2.00 for the wheat).

CHINA VILLAGE -- (Albany, CA)

China Village specializes in Sichuan cuisine. Highly recommended by Chowhound:

Cucumber with garlic sauce.

Zha jiang mian. One of my favorite dishes ever! Quoted from Melanie Wong at chowhound:

Handcut, irregularly shaped chewy noodles, well-tuned bean paste and seasonings, minced pork, and slivered cucumbers. The noodles for this (per above) are made fresh before lunch and again before dinner with a mere twenty orders available for each seating no matter how much you beg.

Special sichuan hot pot with cabbage, fish, mushrooms and lots of whole chili peppers. Very spicy and flavorful.

MOM'S COOKING -- The REAL Chinese beef and broccoli

Savory pieces of seasoned beef stir fried and crisp gai lan (Chinese broccoli) stems and leaves with onions, garlic, soy sauce, sugar and chili. The gai lan stems are crunchy and the leaves are rich and flavorful, absorbing the different flavors in the wok.