If you haven’t been, La Note is a cute French bistro restaurant right on Shattuck in Berkeley. It’s very cute inside, french, homey and rustic and the food is always good.

We waited for 20 minutes and they sat us at the first 2-top table right inside the door… there was a few open ones farther back, I thought we would get one of those… ugh. They usually play French music… it was turned off or so low you couldn’t hear it.

Homemade jam on the table.

Here’s the menu.

The wall inside as you walk in.

Closeup of the menu. I ordered the Omelette fromage et jambon (ham and cheese omelette).

Wall of awards.

Unfortunately this is where things turn for the worse… just before we got our food, we were approached by the hostess who asked if we wouldn’t mind switching tables before our food came out so that they could use our table to help seat a party of 5 faster. I scanned the restaurant and saw a few open tables near the back, so we said ok and got up and moved. They freakin sat us at the worst table in the dining room – it basically was right in the walkway of where the servers get the food, right across from the entrance to the patio area (which we were told was closed, but then they started seating people out there early). Our table was in a really dark area, in the line of traffic… next to a column, kind of protruding out into the walkway. We felt like we were in the way, and they should seriously reconsider the location of that table, because it’s in a very awkward place.

So, our food came out. It was really good… here’s the ham and cheese omelette, it’s always my go-to item at La Note. They slice the ham up really small and thin which I appreciate a lot, and the cheese is emmenthal, which is creamy and mild. The eggs are buttery and rich and you definitely leave feeling very full. The potatoes are roasted with garlic and includes whole cloves, yum!

The photos below look bright because I brightened them.

Closeup of the ham and cheese omelette and roasted potatoes. Oh, and the butter is soft which is nice and easy to spread.

We were a little disappointed with the grapefruit because it was literally just a grapefruit sliced in half… really hard to eat with a spoon. You know how it goes when you try to spoon a grapefruit, squirting out all over the place… In the past, whoever was back there prepping used to loosen the fruit from the skin so it was easy to scoop out with a spoon, which was nice… oh well.

The table location was really a bummer this trip. You can kind of see how close it is to the door… There is a bench right behind me, about a foot of space behind my chair.

So, if you don’t mind waiting, go whenever… but for the best experience, go as early as possible. I do recommend going to La Note if you haven’t been before, the food is good, just try to manage your expectations when it comes to waiting because it can get crazy. They say the patio doesn’t open until 10am but the day we were there it opened around 9:25am. Sitting out on the patio on a nice day is the best… highly recommend.

La Note
2377 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA 94704
www.lanoterestaurant.com

The post La Note: Omelette de Fromage et Jambon appeared first on Fryhole.

Anyway, everytime we go there on a Sunday when they have brunch I always order the same thing.  The Basil Pesto Tofu Scramble.  I can pretty much depend on this dish being pretty spot on each time – salty, pesto-y… the homefries are also pretty good although I usually add alot of salt… and the toast is pretty good too, usually pretty crunchy and sliced thick.

So there it is in all its glory… the scrambled tofu is the closest thing to eggs as you’ll get at Herbivore. All in all, this is a pretty good dish… so good in fact that I am afraid to venture off and try other things on the menu.

Just an FYI if you order coffee or a latte with your breakfast, they don’t have real milk or half and half.  It’s soy milk.  And they don’t have Splenda or sweet and low… only natural sugar and agave nectar.  They also don’t have coke or sprite or any of your favorite sodas.  Just San Pellegrino Aranciata and Limon and some other natural sodas… so don’t get your hopes up if you’re thirsting for a freakin Coke, you won’t get it.

Herbivore
2451 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 665-1675
www.herbivorerestaurant.com

The post Herbivore: Basil Pesto Tofu Scramble appeared first on Fryhole.

Here’s the burrito bowl.  It is monstrous.  And I felt pretty sick after I ate the whole thing since I wasn’t so hungry to begin with…. but it was good.  …Not amazing like OMFG, but salty and tasty.

Chipotle
1050 Gilman St
(between 10th St & San Pablo Ave)
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 526-6047
www.chipotle.com

The post Chipotle: Carnitas Burrito Bowl appeared first on Fryhole.

Above is the Smoked Brisket Scramble with Pasilla Peppers and Onions, Toast and Home Fries.  It was pretty good.  I can’t say it was the most amazing scramble I’ve ever had, but it was definitely good.  There wasn’t so much smoked brisket in the scramble, but you could taste the smokey essence of the meat and the medium spiciness of the peppers.  Frankly, it was a little mushy.  For the scramble, I think either the eggs could’ve been cooked a little more or maybe the onions could’ve been cooked less — to give the dish a little more texture, otherwise it was just a mouthful of mush.  Tastey mush though!

I am usually very particular about my potatoes as well.  These potatoes were good — they were cooked with garlic and onions and were cut in quarters.  For breakfast potatoes I kind of prefer my potatoes in smaller bites and cooked in butter (or on a skillet with butter).  These potatoes were good but they weren’t my “favorite” kind of home fries.

Overall, brunch was good.

1300 10th St
(between Camelia St & Gilman St)
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 527-0099
www.t-rex-bbq.com

The post T-Rex: Maple Sugar Beignets & Smoked Brisket Scramble appeared first on Fryhole.

So, the reason we went back to T-Rex is because we liked it so much last time (read previous post here) and we wanted to try out more things on their tasty menu. It was pretty busy for a Wednesday lunch.  Maybe there were alot of people in the area on their lunchbreak – the place was definitely packed.  One of the reasons I was also really excited today to go to T-Rex was to try the Chicken Fried Bacon appetizer.  YES, you heard me, CHICKEN-FRIED-BACON.

The other things we ordered included… Mac and Cheese, Mashed Potatoes, Deviled Eggs and the Fried Chicken Sandwich. I ate this food about 8 hours ago and I can honestly tell you that I am STILL FULL.

Onto the food… there are alot of photos in this post!

Started off with a Hoegaarden…

Mexican Coke – T-Rex has a nice selection of bottled sodas on the menu.

[above] Chicken Fried BACON.  I never had Chicken Fried Bacon before.  It was interesting… not really what I thought it would be.  There were two dipping sauces – a Dino-Mite Mustard and Ranch.  The Dino-Mite mustard was definitely infused with horseradish and had a nice little bite to it… I actually preferred it to the ranch for this appetizer.  Check out the bite-shot:

I’m glad I tried this, but I have to say – I dont know if I’d get it again.  Not that it wasn’t good – but the bacon became kind of lost in the breading and it was more about the breading than the bacon… You could still taste the bacon though, which btw, was cooked perfectly.  I guess I was expecting it to be a little saltier or something…hmph.

Here’s a shot of the deviled eggs.  It came with a little handful of arugula salad as well.  These were just OK.  There are alot of variations to deviled eggs and this version was definitely more yolky than other my version which has a little more mayo and mustard, making the yolk part sweeter and more tangy.  Ehh.

For lunch, Hav ordered sides of Mac & Cheese and Mashed Potatoes.  The mac and cheese was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  You definitely get enough for a whole meal and it was rich, creamy and super cheesy (sharp cheddar and parmesan).  What I liked best is that it was made with orecchiette pasta – my favorite!  This dish alone is worth disco fries… hands down!

Here’s the mashed potatoes.  They were also just OK.  They mixed very well, almost as smooth as a puree… definitely needed MORE BUTTER!  They are called “Mashed Potatoes with Smoked Garlic and Chives”… I think if they had just a bit more butter they would be better… somehow they just tasted a little too bland.

This is the Fried Sonoma Chicken Breast with Ham, Gruyere and grilled Scallion Aioli Sandwich.  It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting. Being that T-Rex is a BBQ joint, I was expecting a piece of fred chicken – you know, with the big chunky pieces of breading, with a slice of ham and cheese on a nice kaiser roll or something of that sort… but I got chicken cordon bleu instead on a VERY soft roll.  This roll was sweet and so soft that the first thing to come to my mind were steamed Mcdonalds burger buns (no offense!).  It didn’t taste like McDonalds, but it felt as soft as McDonalds.

The chicken breast was very juicy, moist and tender.  It was really good.  The breading on the chicken breast was the little fine kind – a pretty thin layter of crispy breading.  The ham was good too but there was only 1 thin slice so the flavor of the ham kind of got lost in the sandwich since there was so little of it.

What saved this dish were the BBQ potato chips… LOOK AT THEM!

These chips are AWESOME.  They are thick cut with a great crunch, and the BBQ seasoning is sweet and salty.  I love these chips.  I usually opt to substitute fries when chips are involved with sandwiches, but at this place, the chips rule!

We were completely stuffed but we had to check out the dessert menu.  Behold the pumpkin spice cupcake, doesn’t it look cute?  Well, sorry to bust your bubble but it was pretty dry, and the icing was kind of hard and tasteless… don’t get it, go to Teacake in Emeryville instead.

Here is the Devil’s Food Cake and a latte.  The cake was also just OK.  The icing wasn’t really icing it was more of an aerated style frosting… so it crumbled when you cut into it.  The cake wasn’t very moist either… it had a very subdued chocolate flavor, which was kind of deceiving from the looks of it.  Looked good though…. guess T-Rex isn’t into baking as much as they are into BBQ-ing.  At least I know now!

Ahhh!  You’ve made it to the end!! Here is a shot of myself entering a serious food coma…

Today’s visit was good, not great:

T-Rex Barbecue
1300 10th St
(between Camelia St & Gilman St)
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 527-0099
www.t-rex-bbq.com

The post T-Rex Berkeley: Chicken Fried Bacon, Mac & Cheese, Chicken Sandwich, etc appeared first on Fryhole.

I ended up ordering a mini order of the chicken katsu which comes with the bbq sauce, a small scoop of rice, and a small scoop of macaroni salad. I also got a side of fries with gravy and a spam musubi. I don’t know what I was thinking ordering so much food… guess my eyes were bigger than my stomach!!!

So I started with the chicken katsu. It was really good, crispy, moist, the chicken was soft and bite-able… really good. Sometimes when i see chicken katsu I assume it will be hard since it seems kind of difficult to fry chicken without overcooking it, especially such thin slices. This chicken katsu was definitely tender and crispy.

The macaroni salad was also very good, the sweet kind. Didn’t really eat too much rice since there was a big mound of rice in the musubi and I had a whole container of gravy fries to try to eat too. I have to say that the fries were good but I’m not sure I would get the gravy version next time just because there was just so much gravy and it made the fries really soggy… and I can’t stand soggy things. So I ate a few off the top and on the sides and called it quits.

Last, the spam musubi. The first time I had spam and spam musubi was at L&L about 3 years ago. It was really good and I forgot how much I like it. Here are the pics:

There was a delightful burst of bbq sauce when I took a bit into this spam musubi.

I very much appreciated the holiday decor… it made the place really fun and exciting place to eat.

My vote: 3 fries!

L&L Hawaiian Barbecue
312 Kearny St
(between Bush St & Pine St)
San Francisco, CA 94108
(415) 956-2888
www.SanFranciscoLandL.com

The post L&L Hawaiian BBQ: Chicken Katsu, Gravy Fries & Spam Musubi appeared first on Fryhole.

I used to work at a restaurant in Pennsylvania before I move to San Francisco. When I walked into T-Rex Berkeley I felt like I was entering a hipper, cooler, more modern version of my old restaurant/bar… it smelled the same (kind of like an old tavern meets cleaning products meets smoking meat) and the menu layout was identical and used the same font (only the nerdy graphic designer in me would notice this).

T-Rex was definitely off to a great start once I saw the Hoegaarden on the beer list. They brought it back with an orange though (oops!)… oranges are for Franziskaner, lemons are for Hoe… most people don’t know that though (just like how you never drink Guinness from a can!) Anyway, we ordered alot of food, check it out:

These ribs were AWESOME. They were very flavorful and seasoned perfectly with just the right amount of spices. They came with both a sweet and a hot bbq sauce, both of which were really different from one another. I prefered a mix of the two – the sweet one was very sweet and tangy and the hot one had a more smokey peppery flavor. I haven’t had ribs in a long time so these really hit the spot. I didn’t eat the toast and I wasn’t so wild about the potato salad either, just wanted the meat…

Growing up, my stepdad grilled ribs and other goodies during the summer, so I have become a seasoned rib eater, and I’m not just saying this because he’s my stepdad – but alot of these bbq people have alot to live up to. I don’t know what he does to them, but they are so good that I can’t really order ribs anywhere else because they’re never as good as his. T-Rex ribs get an A.

Ooh, now onto the single side dish that I measure many of my favorite restaurant’s upon – the french fry. As you can see, these are thicker cut fries with skins ON. I’m no potato expert but I’m guessing they were freshly cut yukon gold potatoes? They were much starchier than normal russet potatoes and you could tell that the oil they were fried in was fairly new since they didn’t have the “fried”, “buttery” grease, it was “cleaner” grease if you know what I mean… This was the first of 2 fry orders. The first round came out a bit dry (but good enough that I ate most of them) – I think they were under a heatlamp too long… the second batch was much fresher but by then I was too full to eat anything else. The ketchup was also homemade and it had a nice kick to it. Good ketchup.

More brunch appetizers… the Maple Sugar Beignets with Espresso Custard (topped with fresh whipped cream). The beignets were to DIE for. I’m not really the queen of sweet tooth but I definitely could’ve eaten this whole order if I wasn’t sharing it with 2 other people. It was amazing and if you ever go to T-Rex you need to try them. Beignets are great – if you don’t know what they are, they’re a light fluffy dough, usually stuffed with something (chocolate, fruit, etc), but these were just the dough and you put the espresso custard on top (or just dip it). Definitely A++ on the beignets.

Finally the main dishes. My friend and I decided to split 2 entrees. I ordered the “Tart of T-rex ham and gruyere cheese, carmelized onions and two over easy eggs and toast.” She ordered the “Pulled pork sandwich with bbq potato chips and cole slaw”

When I got my dish, I didn’t recognize it – I thought I was getting a tart? I was definitely expecting a puff pastry or some elaborate ham and cheese croissant-like dish… what I got was a flat disc of pastry, on top of the pastry was some ham, cheese, then the 2 eggs over easy. They forgot to give me toast, and I felt bad asking for it since the waiter already made a mistake and he was trying really hard to make up for it. So, the arugula salad made up for the missing toast. I don’t think I would order this dish again – it wasn’t bad but it didn’t blow me away like I thought it would. My suggestion – add something to give it a little crunch, or maybe put the entire thing inside a pastry? I know it’s supposed to be a tart but there was just something missing, sorry.

Holy KRAY-berries (my word for OMG OMG!!!) look at that Pork BBQ Sandie! I think out of all of the pork bbq I’ve ever eaten, this was probably the BEST. My friend said the sauce was too vinegar-y for her, but I thought it was perfect – the perfect amount of sweet and tangy without losing the flavor of the pork itself. And the bun was nice and soft and wasn’t one of those annoying crumbly ones that fall apart (or get really soggy). The chips were amazing too, nice light, sweet bbq flavor and they were thick-cut with alot of crunch, just the way I like ’em. By this point I was way too full to try the coleslaw.

As you can see from the above pics, T-Rex is a colorful, laid back place. It’s really nice, and they have a nice outdoor seating area upstairs as well as a little section upstairs with sofa’s/armchairs where you can eat and watch “the game” from one of their flatscreen tv’s. I will definitely return to T-Rex.

T-Rex BBQ
1300 Tenth Street (Cross St. Gilman)
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 527- 0099

http://www.t-rex-bbq.com

The post T-Rex appeared first on Fryhole.

When you walk into Bette’s there is a giant piece of cherry pie hanging from the ceiling. I am not kidding. It’s an old 50 styles diner with a couner and stools, and booths… white and silver decor. The ambiance is easy going, friendly and casual.

I ended up ordering the classic 2 eggs any style breakfast with homefries and bacon.

I like dippy eggs but I don’t like them all runny like over easy so I ordered them over medium. I have to say they were still a bit too runny for what I consider medium (lots of clear liquid, not cooked through), but nonetheless I ate them.

The homefries were interesting… not really what I was expecting from an old school diner. They were made with red potatoes and were cooked with sauteed onions. I was kind of just expecting simple, chopped up potatoes tossed around with some salt and butter on the griddle, you know, the usual. The homefries were good, I ate all of them, but I would probably skip the onions, and add some butter.

Products made from pigs are some of my favorite things to eat, and I have to say – the bacon at Bette’s Dinner was AWESOME. I got 4 big thick slices cooked perfectly with the perfect ratio of fat/meat/grease… a little crunch near the ends but not enough to crumble. It was awesome.

Lastly, fresh squeezed orange juice is always A+ in my book. I can’t stand over pasturized OJ that is all creamy and thick – gross! The orange juice was definitely fresh, sweet and perfect.

Would I return? Most likely.

Bette’s Ocean View Diner

1807 4th St
(between Hearst Ave & Virginia St)
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 644-3230

(510) 644-3230

The post Bette’s Oceanview Diner appeared first on Fryhole.