It’sDiningTime!
San Francisco/Bay Area restaurant reviews by Chris NorrisArchive for comfort food
Rustler’s Rooste, Phoenix
Rustler’s Rooste, Phoenix
March 2008
Woo-Hoo! Rustler’s Rooste gets a definite woo-hoo for being one of the most unique restaurants you can find. It’s a total western food joint, with steaks, salad, corn on the cob, and a real man’s fish, like shark or trout or salmon! They even have some rattlesnake if you’re so inclined …
I first went to Rustler’s Rooste about 23 years ago when I worked at the local Intel facility. Back then, Rustler’s was way out in the boonies, up a narrow road to the top of a small hill. During our trip with the kiddies this spring, we couldn’t find the place. The GPS kept telling us to pull into this big resort looking hotel, with a golf course and palm trees and people wearing polo shirts! Well guess what? Times have changed. Rustler’s is still there, amidst the aforementioned conspicuous consumption, and while the path to Rustler’s has changed, the big ole bull eating hay at the entrance is still there chewing his cud, and Rustle’s itself is still going strong. The metal slide that connects the first and second floors is still there, the rustic interior, the western band, the wait staff dressed as cowboys and cowgirls, all still there.
If you are in Phoenix, you owe it to yourself to give this one a try!
Southern Kitchen, Los Gatos
Southern Kitchen, Los Gatos
Feb 2008
Hmmmm. The Southern Kitchen is a terrific country breakfast diner, complete with huge platters of eggs, bacon, pancakes, biscuits & gravy, chicken fried steaks, and everything else bad for you. Let’s face it, sometimes you just gotta have this kind of food. In California it’s surprisingly difficult to find home cooked, diner food like you ordered as a kid at the little café in your hometown. Usually, the California locals want vegetarian foo-foo food without the grease and other good stuff that gives diner food its special place in your heart, literally and figuratively. Southern Kitchen satisfies the need for alternatives. And, if you want to eat healthy? Get a salad and the house made soup … always way good!
Bia, San Francisco
Bia, San Francisco
Feb 2008
Way Good. Bia is located in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco and is a unique restaurant that should be on your list. Bia is a café/wine bar that merits a S’Ok rating based on the food, but has an outdoor garden/patio seating arrangement that is easily Woo-Hoo! Laura and I were living a weekend on the wild side in San Francisco and while enroute to the one and only John Fluevog shoe store in the City, stopped at Bia for lunch. Several flights of wine in the shaded and tranquil garden, a ratatouille and a chicken fettuccine later we were in love with Bia and the whole Haight-Ashbury scene! This one is not to be missed! And, you might be as lucky as Laura and get to meet John Fluevog!
Chicken Coop, San Jose, CA
Chicken Coop, San Jose, CA
December 2007
Hmmmmm. Cluck … cluck … cluck … This is one of those places that is NOT fine dining, but you might go there anyway. Especially if you’ve got those little ones with you! The format is unique – you order at a counter when you first walk in. Then, you seat yourself in a casual, but not fast-food, dining room. The emphasis is on chicken, ribs and barbeque, but they also serve up fish, burgers and great salads. I like it. Just not too often.
Willow Street Pizza, Los Gatos
Willow Street Pizza, Los Gatos
August 2007
S’Ok. Scenario 1: It’s 4 PM. Maybe it’s even a workday. You want a beer. You want a snack. Your office happens to be just upstairs from Willow Street Pizza. Well, don’t just sit there! Head down, get that beer, order a pizza and enjoy the afternoon while those poor suckers who work for The Man are still buried in their cubicles. Scenario 2: The kids like pizza. The kids have all been on a field trip to see how pizza is made. At Willow Street Pizza, for crying out loud! Now they won’t calm down. Well, pile the kids in the car, and let ‘em get their pizza while you get a beer and something NOT pizza from the menu. The genius of the ‘and’: You AND the Kids are happy!
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Ruby Tuesday, Poughkeepsie, New York
Ruby Tuesday, Poughkeepsie, New York
September 2007
Hmmmm. I mention Ruby Tuesday only because I tried it for the first time on Sunday night before my CIA Boot Camp adventure. Sunday night in upstate New York apparently is synonymous with “not too many restaurants open late.” While debating the merits of a few granola bars for dinner versus a Big Mac, I drove past Ruby Tuesday’s and decided to give it a try. I had the sirloin mini-burgers, salad bar, and a big old Hefeweizen. Given my state of hunger at the time, it was a darn fine meal. I’m still thinking about those fine sirloin burgers! They were the exact opposite of a White Castle burger (which I like a lot). Really fine beef, fresh toppings, and assembled with care. Goes to show that two exact opposite cooking methods used to create a mini-burger can both yield great tasting food. I don’t know how the rest of the menu stacks up, or what the service dynamic is like in cities where there’s a crowd, but Ruby Tuesday is on my radar for those times when granola bars or McD just won’t do.
FYI, in California you can find Ruby Tuesday near Sacramento…
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Hobee’s, South Bay
Hobee’s, South Bay
September 2007
Hmmmm. Hobee’s is a Bay Area restaurant chain that at one time was a new age, organic, save the earth, one-of-a-kind restaurant chain started by a local family, focused on natural ingredients and minimal meat. I remember standing in line for an hour or more on Sunday mornings some fifteen years ago for brunch and a piece of the signature Hobee’s blue-berry coffee cake. Sadly, the luster is gone and the concept not so unique anymore, and while Hobee’s remains one of the better breakfast places you might choose to frequent, the ambiance, quality of the food and the overall experience are mere shadows of their former ‘with-it’ glory.
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Country Inn Cafe, San Jose
Country Inn Cafe, San Jose
July 2007
Hmmmm. The Country Inn Café is located in the Almaden Valley area of San Jose. Actually, it’s not far from our house, but we’ve just never tried it because it looked like a dive breakfast joint. Of course, now that I’ve been there, I can confirm that it really is just a dive breakfast joint.
In the Bay Area, it can actually be difficult to find a restaurant that serves great chicken fried steak with biscuits and gravy and eggs over-easy. Why would you want such food for breakfast? Well, maybe once a year you get a craving … In fact, when we occasionally drive from San Jose to my hometown in Idaho, I always take the opportunity to stop at Jerry’s in Winnemucca or the Alamo truck stop near Reno to get my bi-annual fix of this kind of food.
Well, Bay Area residents need search no more. The Country Inn Café can be your local source for this kind of breakfast food! And not just chicken fried steak, but also a couple of different versions of eggs benedict, the usual assortment of pancakes and French toast, and a bunch of different omelets and even various forms of beef with eggs on the side. Be absolutely sure to get the Swedish crepe pancakes; they are a standout and would hold their own at many way more upscale restaurants.
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Claim Jumper, Fremont
Claim Jumper, Fremont
July 2007
S’Ok. Claim Jumper is basically Marie Callendar’s meets Black Angus in the new millennium. The menu is traditional comfort foods, but with a miner/rancher décor rather than “country kitchen”. My assistant use to bring me these humongous club sandwiches from Claim Jumper for lunch, but until recently, I hadn’t set foot in the actual restaurant. Since my number two son was in half-day summer school this year, I’ve had the chance to catch some lunches with him and we decided to give Claim Jumper a go. First impression, the restaurant was about ten times larger that I expected – and is definitely not fast food. Second impression, they serve beer – Woo-Hoo! Bring on the Hefeweizen! For lunch, I had a chicken pot pie that was very good, and the little-big-guy had bbq pork ribs, which he loved. When the need for comfort food is upon you, Claim Jumper’s not a bad choice.
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