Mi Pueblo here in Petaluma.

I <3 Mexican food.

LoCoco’s on Piedmont Ave. in the East Bay… I love because the pizza is great and because I’ve been going there since I was like 5.

Boulevard in SF- I love the building, location, and, of course, the food has always been great when I’ve gone there.

Some taco truck in Oakland… I forget the street it’s on and I don’t think it has a name. The Tacos al Pastor are so good that you can eat them until you feel ill and then you still want to eat more.

Too many others to name, so I’ll just go with those for now.

Millennium for fancy occasions

Golden Lotus at least once a week

Tu Lan every Wednesday before band practice

Los Cocos for the monthly cortido fix

I’m a broke-ass college student so my dining out fare is cheap stuff most of the time. I can’t say I go to any of the hip trendy SF eateries. Sadface. I usually just go with Chipotle or if it’s late and I’m hungry, El Pollo Loco.

There are a few hidden gems around the East Bay if you’re looking for inexpensive, yummy food. La Plaza in Pittsburg has great Mexican food, simple stuff like combo plates and that, as well as a few Cuban-inspired recipes. The arroz con pollo is superb. They also have a great Sunday brunch. Tao San Jin also in Pittsburg is very good Chinese food, especially the salt and pepper fish, the hot and sour soup, and the fried asparagus. The Mediterranean in Concord is suprisingly good Mediterranean/Middle Eastern food, plus you get a ton of it for a good price. I’m partial to the chicken kabab wrap served on lavash. Saigon Bistro in Concord is good for cheap, quick Vietnamese food. I go there quite often and they all know me in there. The seafood noodle soup is so good om nom nom.

Don’t laugh at me for saying Sushi Boat on Saratoga Ave in San Jose is good. It is. The bento there is loaded with tasty food and the sushi menu has a good lineup. The difference between this place and other inexpensive Japanese places is Sushi Boat’s use of unsweetened rice in their sushi and rolls. It really makes the food better. Sachi in San Ramon had pretty good food, although their sushi was subpar. I liked the chicken katsu and udon better anyway, and the prices were great. On the Bridge in Japantown in SF has excellent eggplant dishes, but damned if I’ll ever eat there again. They taxed the everloving snot out of us at lunch the last time I was there; health care tax, dine in tax, even a tax for the takeout container. wtf

Another great hidden SF place was a place rotoreuter and I found while wandering around for food, in the Mission. I believe it was called The Yucatan, on Valencia. They served just regional Yucatan cuisine; lots of soups like pozole. Nothing beats good pozole.

Plus Zachary’s in Berkeley has the best pizza on the planet. But I’m sure lots of us know that one.

While in Detroit last week I had a late lunch with a friend at Small Plates, an eatery featured on Food Network often. Now that was some good eatin’. It’s a place that serves tapas-like dishes, enough to share with everyone. We got the fried calimari with a spicy dipping sauce and the fish tacos. Both were spicy as hell but very delicious. The fish was very good, surprisingly good for someone like me who’s very choosy about fish. The calimari was really meaty and robust, not rubbery and chewy like a lot of calimari can be. Small Plates is near Comerica Park if you’re ever in the area, and they stay open late.

My family always goes to Kamikaze in San Rafael for Sushi. Jesse Foppert used to go there!

The Buckeye Roadhouse is a family favorite, we usually go there for most birthdays. Lemon pudding ftw (though I got the S’More pie last time I went and it was great too, though I don’t know why where were almonds in it.)

We’ve actually started going out less in favor of getting stuff at Bryan’s Fine Foods at the Town Center in Corte Madera to make at home instead. We don’t do it too often, but they have some really fantastic stuff there, especially the Korean marinated skirt steak. Om nom nom nom.

Everyone in Mill Valley gets their Mexican food at Grilly’s but I’ve always thought it was kind of overrated. I love Taqueria El Balazo on Haight Street.

Here in Boston, I love all Legal Seafoods and The Daily Catch in the North End is fantastic.

chick-fil-a.

/college campus food

le petite robert (polk street, supreme cassoulet)
lark creek chop house(in the mall, best steak i ever eated, best carrot cake too)
little star pizza (divisidero, nom nom nom)

My favorites include:
- Moshi Moshi, down 3rd Street from the ballpark (head south). It’s a small place with great sushi, and Mits the owner is straight up awesome. The staff is always fantastic, too.
- The Citrus Club on Haight, around Cole. It’s a noodle house. I recommend getting the Garlic Beef and Shittake Mushroom bowl (so f’ing good), and wash it down with an Orange Unfiltered Sake Martini. Honestly, you’ll thank me later for this recommendation.
- Ploy II, also on Haight, just down from the Citrus Club. Awesome Thai restaurant.
- Truly Mediterranean, over at 16th and Valencia. Get yourself a lamb Shawerma. Again, you’ll thank me later. I cannot stress this enough… Get the lamb shawerma.
- Cafe Gratitude. I have to recommend the family restaurant. Go get your vegan on. Located at 21st and Harrison, and 9th and Irving in San Francisco, plus the one in Berkeley on the street I can’t remember the name of, one in Marin somewheres, plus another one opening up in another north bay town I can’t remember the name of offhand (I’m not that involved in the restaurant, but I still love the food!). Get the enchilada plate.
- For a pizza recommendation, I’m seconding Baron’s rec of Zachary’s. Awe, wait for it… Some.

but my favorite restaurant is Claim Jumper…

There’s also a good Thai restaurant here in Vallejo called Cha-Am that I really like.

For Chinese food, there’s China Wok here in Vallejo.

I really don’t know very many places outside of Vallejo…

And one thing Vallejo does not have very much of is good restaurants.

Ridgewood BBQ. It’s a bit of a drive though, it’s between Bristol and Elizabethton, TN! AMAZINGINGLY good

Here in the Temescal neighborhood of North Oakland, we have a lot of really good Korean and Ethiopian/Eritrean food. I recommend Sahn Maru for Korean – it’s on Telegraph Ave., just north of the MacArthur BART station. For Ethiopian/Eritrean, I like Cafe Eritrea, also on Telegraph, also just north of MacArthur. Oh, and we also have a good barbecue take-out place in the neighborhood – The Brick Pig House. It’s on Shattuck Avenue, around 60th Street. I wouldn’t have thought of it as a favorite restaurant, but since barbecue was mentioned above…

Also in the neighborhood, we have Genova Delicatessen, an excellent Italian deli that’s been a North Oakland institution since forever, and Bakesale Betty’s, a newer place that does great strawberry shortcake, scones, pie, and fried chicken sandwiches.

I really love Cha Am, a Thai restaurant, in the gourmet ghetto section of North Berkeley. Also around that area, Chez Panise is great for a special occasion. Not the most original recommendation, I know, but there’s a reason why it’s so acclaimed!

For pizza, both Zachary’s and Cheese Board Pizza are amazing.

Mexican: El Cholo Cafe Best margaritas in town. Try the LA Lemonade, fajitas and chicken nachos.

Thai: Palm Thai They have a Thai Elvis impersonator! A must see. Try the deep fried trout in mango sauce.

If you’re a fancy pants like I am, their Sunday brunch is pretty incredible. Lots of crazy options (salt cod, marrow bones, braised oxtail) on a menu that changes every single week. Plus, AMAZING beignets and phenomenal yogurt.

It’s another good reason to spend a weekend morning at the Ferry Building.

Mine’s park by a carwash on Irvington Blvd. in Fremont

Since folks have mentioned tapas – Cha Cha Cha on Haight Street in The City is really good. Also gets bonus points for being a block away from Amoeba.

Zeman Kan on University Ave in Palo Alto has great food. It’s standard Middle Eastern/Mediterranean stuff like falafel and lamb dishes, plus they have an extensive veg menu. I had this thing with baked cauliflower and eggplant and rice with salad and veggies on the side there. It was a lunch special for $10 and it came with pita bread and a salad. Great stuff, plus the guys who work there are HOT.

Oh, and I’m also terribly fond of Picante in West Berkeley. Some scoff at it because it’s definitely Mexican-food-by-way-of-Bay-Area-sensibilities, but, dammit, it’s really good. And I’ve been going there since I was like 7.

The first neighborhood we lived in in Chicago (Uptown) was right near the Vietnamese community, and there were TONS of great, cheap restaurants. There are a number of Vietnamese restaurants in the East Bay – more than the last time I lived here – but I haven’t found one I love yet.

The second neighborhood where we lived in Chicago (the border of East Rogers Park and Edgewater), there was a small Somali community nearby. We fell in love with one of the Somali restaurants nearby – it was VERY authentic, or I assume it was as it catered almot exclusively to Somali cab drivers. Every time we went there, I was the only white person, and my wife was usually the only woman. They had great spiced rice, goat, chicken, and other goodness.

I tried checking on Yelp to see if there were any Somali restaurants in or around Oakland, but there were no results. Sad.

We do have a Cameroonian restaurant that’s really good, though! Called A Taste of Africa. It’s up near the border of Oakland and Berkeley, a few blocks south of the Berkeley Bowl on Shattuck.

So, um, I like food. Have you noticed!?

Denny’s

The Fish Market and NOLA’s in Palo Alto

Woung Luang Psai Cuisine in Concord. Loads of curry dishes with fantastic presentation. A friend got the pineapple curry and it actually arrived in a hollowed out pineapple. You can get pad thai, which I have had there and holy shit is it amazing. The food comes with a huge pot of rice enough for an army. The garlic shrimp there is great.

Damn you guys are making me hungry!

I’m not that picky when it comes to food. If the food is reasonably good, then I’m okay. What sets places apart is how much of a value it is (how much food one gets and how much one pays for it) and/or the experience. Experience usually coincides with family outings. Therefore, I tend to like places that my family goes to together.

Claim Jumper would fall under both of those categories. That’s probably why it’s my favorite restaurant. But others that come to mind upon further reflection are:

Amigos in Sonoma. Good Mexican place but the real draw for me is you get a lot of food. Plus, it was my friends’ and my favorite place to eat at in Sonoma when I was a teenager still dating my future-wife when she lived there.

The Dead Fish in Crockett. The family goes there every so often. It’s quite good. We get…dang it, I can’t remember what it’s called (a tomato based stew with sea food in it [the crab one is especially good] served in a tureen, family style). Good view of the Carquinez straight, good food and it’s a place our family goes. Sounds good to me.

in Occidental? Best Bisquits and Gravy

just-kidding.

Not really a restaurant, but Cafe Rosalena in San Jose is awesome.

It’s not a restaurant, but in South Berkeley, there’s a Thai Buddhist temple that does a Thai brunch/lunch every Sunday as a fundraiser. It is OMG SO GOOD. They have great curries, Thai ice tea, Pad Thai, fried chicken, summer rolls, and all sorts of other goodness. When my wife and I go there with our 2-year old, we spend about $20 and get a TON of food for that money – enough to stuff ourselves and bring home leftovers.

If you’re in the East Bay, you MUST GO. And if you do, tell me. I might have to tag along.

And her awesome breakfast nook The Squat and Gobble. Killer crepes and amazing tea.

For some reason there seems to be quite a few very nice eateries in my little town. Most are way too expensive for what they offer, but invariably the food is quality. My current favorite is The Peasant and the Pear in downtown Danville. Another pretty good place and much less formal than the above (with a ton of great beers which is always a bonus to a lush like me) is Pete’s Brass Rail.

On the overrated list would be Bridges. it hasn’t been a good place to eat for about 4 years.

I try to make it to Fog City Diner when we’re in SF. They have a great portobello mushroom sandwich and their lemonade is great.

Fat Jack’s in Clovis, on Shaw between Willow and Peach. Been going there with varying degrees of regularity for about 15 years. One of those 50’s-type places, where they serve you in your car and play music from the 50’s, except they really don’t do the whole 50’s thing that much anymore. But the burgers rule. Their western-style one, with the BBQ sauce and the onion rings, holy crap, it’s to die for.

There was also a nice little soul food-type place tucked away in the corner of a nearby liquor store. They sold this huge combo BBQ plate – four different meats with two sides. Mmmmmm. Went there yesterday and it was gone. Me no happy.

Damn. Is it lunchtime yet?

I’ve had the pleasure of living in San Francisco and New York City in my short life. The only difference between SF and NYC that I’ve noticed is the pizza. As soon as I’m in NY, the first place I go to is a small pizzeria in Brooklyn called Luigi’s. A Brooklyn slice is heaven.

In San Francisco I’m really fond of Tomasso’s in North Beach. Also, my girlfriend and I are huge believers in Brunch. By and far, the best place in San Francisco is Zazie’s on Cole St. It is so much better than MaMa’s and the wait is not ridiculous.

Shan Dong in Oakland’s Chinatown. Go for the handmade dumplings, the hand-cut noodles, and the Lotus Chicken. It’s my favorite Chinese restaurant in the Bay Area.

Libby’s in Philo (up in Anderson Valley). OMG the best carnitas on the planet, and amazingly fresh salsa as well. They also do a KILLER cheeseburger that will make atheists reconsider whether there might be a God after all, and whether she takes corporeal form as a short Mexican lady named Libby.

Interstate BBQ in Memphis, TN. Their pulled pork sandwich made me cry tears of joy. Can you tell I enjoy pork?

Peter Luger. Old school steakhouse in Williamsburg part of Brooklyn. I just ate there again a couple weeks ago and it was amazing. Worth the high cost.

Lastly, although I’ve only been there once and that was nine years ago, there’s a Polish restaurant in Chicago called the Red Apple that did this outrageously delicious all-you-can-eat buffet that cost me $4.95 plus tax and tip. It’s probably 7 or 8 bucks now but I still remember the meal like it was yesterday. Plus our waitress was gorgeous, for what it’s worth.