Tag Archives: fries

Mo’s

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meter-greatThere a lot of words to describe Mo’s, and most of them begin with ‘B’. There’s burgers, breakfast, beer, and, most of all, big. This new-ish joint in Campbell prides themselves on going large, but it’s not just the portions that are supersized. The creativity and quality of the food is outstanding, and any place that officially serves breakfast for dinner gets high marks in my book.

To get things started, here is a picture of some fries. Everyone likes fries.

To get things started, here is a picture of some fries. Everyone likes fries.

” It will set your nose hairs on fire, no joke “

The evening started like any other, with me circling around downtown Campbell while muttering a steady stream of obscenities to no one in particular. After finally parking my car in a questionably legal spot, I headed down the block to meet up with my better half for dinner. Our eatery of choice for the evening, as you may have already guessed, was Mo’s. This self-proclaimed breakfast and burger joint is perched right in the middle of South Bay Hipster Central, aka East Campbell Avenue.

Shawn and I secured a spot on Mo’s cozy patio and took a look through the menu. In addition to traditional burger and breakfast options, there are tons of crazy and awesome menu choices. Steak and egg tacos, colossal carrot cake waffles, and The French Connection (a breakfast “sammo” served on a baguette) are just a few examples of Mo’s wackier fare, and all of it is darned tasty. I opted for a Sriracha cheese melt and Shawn ordered… wait for it, the name is pure awesome… a mother cluckin’ waffle.

Win.

This mother cluckin' thing was mother cluckin' tasty.

This mother cluckin’ thing was mother cluckin’ tasty.

What is a mother cluckin’ waffle you ask? It’s a “regular” cluckin’ waffle with Frosted Flakes added. Yep, those Frosted Flakes. Cereal. It’s a piece of fried chicken on a waffle and covered in cereal. (A very good piece of fried chicken, I might add, and a very good waffle.) The crazy bastards running the kitchen at Mo’s are officially out of their minds, and I love ’em for it. Keep up the good work guys and gals, you’ve got me grinning from ear to ear.

This was one spicy sandwich. It still burns.

This was one spicy sandwich. It still burns.

I almost forgot about the Sriracha cheese melt. Like it sounds, it’s essentially a patty melt with Sriracha involved… in every possible way. There’s Sriracha pretty much everywhere, including in the ketchup and in the patty. It was fantastically delicious, and fantastically face-melting. If you don’t like hot stuff, stay far far away. If you enjoy hot stuff, you should still probably take a few steps back. If you LOVE hot stuff, brush your teeth with Tabasco sauce, and think ghost peppers are for weenies, then you should order the Sriracha cheese melt. It’s really, really incredibly good, but make sure you are prepared. It will set your nose hairs on fire, no joke.

Simply put, Mo’s is my kind of place. This restaurant offers high quality comfort-style food with a creative twist, and that’s all I really need to say. This kind of eatery is my own personal holy grail, so of course I’m going to rate it highly. Looking at things objectively and without my own bias, however, it still gets a pretty good score. I rate Mo’s 140 out of 151 Frosted Flakes, which puts it squarely in the upper echelon of all restaurants in the Bay Area. Well done, Mo’s. Well done.

      Pros
+ The menu is way crazy
+ The “normal” food is awesome too
++ They serve breakfast for dinner!		       Cons
– Parking in Campbell SUCKS
– Can’t think of another con, which is annoying

Mo’s
278 East Campbell Avenue
Campbell, CA 95008
(408) 871-1300
www.moscampbell.com

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The Spinnaker

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meter-good+The Spinnaker is an odd place. It’s equal parts scenic lookout, seafood restaurant, seedy lounge, and blue-hair hangout. It’s dated, charming, hideous, and beautiful all at the same time. My brain was confused by what it experienced when I visited The Spinnaker, so I just went with it and tried to keep an open mind.

” There were more electric scooters than a bumper car factory “

The Spinnaker is located right in the middle of Sausalito, a painfully charming bay-side town just north of the Golden Gate bridge. Driving into the heart of Sausalito on a weekend is an exercise in patience. The roadway is quite literally packed with tourists on bicycles that are too busy gawking at the sunny weather to realize you are about to run them over. I’m all for sharing the road, but I wish these people would choose to share back.

This is an example of a sign that bicycle tourists ignore.

This is an example of a sign that bicycle tourists ignore.

After a painful but scenic crawl along the length of downtown Sausalito, I finally managed to shoehorn the car into the very last parking spot in town. My lunch party and I started strolling towards The Spinnaker, debating what sorts of appetizers we should order. Arriving inside the restaurant is a bit like stepping back in time to 1982. Everything you see is dated and drab, including many of the other patrons. I don’t mean to be unkind, but there were more electric scooters than a bumper car factory.

Just as I was getting ready to make my mind up that I didn’t like The Spinnaker, the brisk and attentive host greeted us, added our names to the waiting list, and showed us to the cocktail lounge where we could wait for our table in comfort. Hmm, well, I guess they seem nice here. Within moments someone else stopped by to get our drink orders and see if we wanted to get started with an appetizer. She was helpful, competent, and within minutes we had a table full of wonderful-looking beverages in front of us.

Everyone likes a froofy drink.

Everyone likes a froofy drink.

And just like that, we were whisked away from the cocktail lounge to our lunch table. Our appetizers arrived at our new location with seamless perfection, and our new waitperson was ready and waiting to answer any questions we might have about the lunch menu. We didn’t care about any of that though, because we were simply stunned by the view. Wow.

That view.

That view.

Most of the dining area at The Spinnaker is situated on a pier directly over the water, providing amazing 270-degree views of the San Francisco Bay. Boats literally sail around you while you gawk in stupefied amazement.

Well, hello little shrimp. Join me for lunch?

Well, hello little shrimp. Join me for lunch?

We eventually snapped out of our scenery-induced haze and remembered that our appetizer was still sitting there, waiting for us. I usually don’t get all that excited about shrimp cocktail, but this restaurant’s version was very good indeed. Each shrimp was the size of a Mack truck, and the scratch-made cocktail sauce was spicy and flavorful.

Louie sure does make a good salad. Whoever he is.

Louie sure does make a good salad. Whoever he is.

Before long our lunch orders arrived, and the quality of the food continued to impress me. First up was Shrimp Louie, a San Francisco classic. Everything was fresh and delicious, and the bay shrimp weren’t the least bit fishy. As with the cocktail sauce from our appetizer, the dressing on the Shrimp Louie was the star of the show. Whoever is in charge of the sauces at this place is doing an amazing job.

Enough with green things. Let's get to the fried stuff.

Enough with green things. Let’s get to the fried stuff.

Continuing with the all-shrimp theme of the meal, I opted for an order of tiger prawns and chips. The batter on the shrimp was fantastic, and the shoestring fries/chips were light and wonderful. The remoulade and ranch sauces featured in the center of the plate were – you guessed it – absolutely top notch. I would certainly order this dish again, I loved it.

We sat and contemplated the view while we finished our shrimp-filled lunch, and we all agreed that we enjoyed our experience at The Spinnaker. First impressions were not all that good; this place is sorely overdue for an interior renovation. This was quickly forgotten, however, thanks to the excellent staff, incredible views, and high quality cuisine. I give this restaurant 4 out of 5 little cups of delicious sauces, a solid rating worthy of a revisit. The next time I’m in Sausalito, I will… Ok, honestly I will be going back to Napa Valley Burger Company. The next visit or three after that, though, I’ll be going back to The Spinnaker. On a bicycle. In the middle of the road.

The Spinnaker
100 Spinnaker Drive
Sausalito, CA 94965
(415) 332-1500
www.thespinnaker.com

Spinnaker on Urbanspoon


All the comforts of being on a boat without the sea sickness.

All the comforts of being on a boat without the sea sickness.


Standard Restaurant Review Disclaimer
The ambiguous and illogical rating system used in this review is not intended to be pinpoint accurate. It’s only there to give you a general idea of how much I like or dislike an establishment, and it also gives me an excuse to write silly things. If my rating system angers and distracts you, there’s a good chance you have control issues. I would also like to point out that I am not a highly qualified restaurant reviewer person, nor do I particularly care what that job is called. If you were under the impression that perhaps I was one of those people, consider your hopes dashed. Lastly, wow! You read the entire disclaimer. You get a gold star on your chart today.


St. John’s Bar & Grill

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meter-great-St. John’s Bar & Grill is one of those places you’d never go into unless a trusted friend told you to do so. It’s equal parts dive, sports bar, burger joint, and 1980s time capsule. St. John’s has a lengthy menu full of greasy spoon delicacies, an awesome collection of flatscreen TVs, and some of the worst decor in the entire Silicon Valley. In other words, it’s pretty much the most perfect happy hour venue you could ever hope to find.

It's even uglier in person.

It’s even uglier in person.

” I beheld the full glory of the bacon & cheese fries “

If you live within twenty miles of Sunnyvale and have even a vague interest in sports, you are required by law to be at St. John’s anytime there’s a televised sporting event… which is pretty much every night. If the televised sporting event in question happens to be a championship game of some sort, it’s an absolute guarantee that the place will be PACKED. St. John’s is normally closed on Sundays, but because 87.2%* of all football games are broadcast on Sundays, the restaurant is open seven days a week during football season. The folks running St. John’s certainly know what side their bread is buttered on.

*All statistics are made up and therefore wildly inaccurate.

The bacon in this picture alone speaks for how good the burger is.

The bacon in this picture alone speaks for how good the burger is.

So what about the food? To be perfectly honest, I have only sampled a small portion of St. John’s menu, but that portion has been excellent. The burgers are very, very good. They are just exactly greasy enough to be decadent without being gross, and they are served in plastic baskets with red and white wax paper, just as they should be. The restaurant’s website claims that they are the “Best Burgers in Silicon Valley”, a statement I disagree with both philosophically and grammatically. St. John’s also claims to make the “Best French Fries in the Universe!”, an absurd declaration further reduced in effectiveness due to unnecessary quotation marks.

With that said, I can respect any restaurant with the cojones to make either of the above statements, accurate or otherwise. The fact still remains that grub at St. John’s is exceptionally tasty, so ignore my grammar nitpicks and order yourself a cheesesteak already.

Thanks to winstonwanders.com for letting me use this picture. I didn't exactly ask for permission first, however, so they may still have me killed.

Thanks to winstonwanders.com for letting me use this picture. I didn’t exactly ask for permission first, however, so Winston may still have me killed.

Oh, I didn’t mention the cheesesteaks? Well, allow me to do so now. I wouldn’t say that St. John’s cheesesteaks are truly Philadelphically accurate (an adjective I made up just now), but my California-raised palate thinks they taste just fine and dandy. There’s lots of cheese, lots of nicely grilled steak, and a good, fresh bun. No complaints here.

Probably the ideal football season bar food.

Probably the ideal football season bar food.

On my most recent visit, I had the opportunity to feast on an order of aptly-named bacon & cheese fries. I waited patiently in the odd, cramped walkway that doubles as the food pickup area and did my best not to get in the way. I failed. After narrowly dodging a pair of chicken sandwiches and a basket of fried zucchini, I finally managed to grab my order of fries and escape with a minimal amount of elbowing people in the face. It wasn’t until I was seated that I beheld the full glory of the bacon & cheese fries; they are a thing of true beauty. They taste pretty much exactly how they look: Like a baked potato that is halfway through turning itself into a pile of french fries. The bacon was crisp, the cheese was plentiful, and the sour cream was a genius garnish on this kingly mountain of cholesterol. Two huge thumbs up for this one.

To wrap this review up, I have to admit to myself that I’d be darned happy to visit St. John’s Bar & Grill any day of the week. The burgers are very good indeed, but not quite in that elusive “crazy awesome” range that restaurants like this aspire to achieve. The cheese steaks and fries are solid though, and that alone is worth 187 out of 200 square yards of horrid wood paneling. St. John’s is an easy recommendation, especially if you’re looking for a half-decent place to catch the next big game on TV.

St. John’s Bar & Grill
510 Lawrence Expressway
Suite 110
Sunnyvale, CA 94085
(408) 738-8515
www.stjohnsgrill.com

St. John's Bar & Grill on Urbanspoon


I told you it was dive-y.

I told you it was dive-y.


Standard Restaurant Review Disclaimer
The ambiguous and illogical rating system used in this review is not intended to be pinpoint accurate. It’s only there to give you a general idea of how much I like or dislike an establishment, and it also gives me an excuse to write silly things. If my rating system angers and distracts you, there’s a good chance you have control issues. I would also like to point out that I am not a highly qualified restaurant reviewer person, nor do I particularly care what that job is called. If you were under the impression that perhaps I was one of those people, consider your hopes dashed. Lastly, wow! You read the entire disclaimer. You get a gold star on your chart today.


Dutchman’s Seafood House

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meter-good-My experience at Dutchman’s was a strange one. There were some parts good, some parts bad, and many parts plain old weird. In the end, this restaurant just isn’t as good as I remember it (back when it was called The Flying Dutchman), but it’s still a decent enough place to grab a bite to eat while watching the setting sun.

” It was like watching a rabid woodpecker go to town on a rain gutter “

I love California’s central coast. Some people call it “middle kingdom”, but that’s always sounded silly to me, as though at any moment a hobbit might spring out of a hole in the ground and invite you to tea with Gandalf. The geographic area I’m talking about is San Luis Obispo county, which lies halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. There are a lot of good places to eat in this region, provided you know where to look.

After only getting lost twice – I have the navigation skills of a heavily medicated toddler – I managed to shuttle a car load of family members to Dutchman’s for an evening meal. We put our name in for a table, and while we waited we enjoyed the spectacular view from the panoramic windows surrounding the dining area. After ten or fifteen minutes we were seated …and then nobody showed up to serve us. We browsed the menus, picked our entrees, discussed appetizers, and still no waiter. All of the tables around us were well attended, but none of the wait staff wanted to make eye contact. Empty tables nearby were seated, people got their drinks, then appetizers, and still we waited. Steam began coming out of my wife’s ears.

Dimly lit shrimp.

Dimly lit shrimp.

Eventually our helpful waiter, I’ll call him Twitch, did a drive-by and said “heysorryforthewaitbethereinaminute”. Okee dokee. After a couple minutes he stopped by again and took our drink orders. “Ok, I’m going to go get your drinks, and then come back and give them to you, and then I’ll take your food orders.” Before we could tell him that we’d been ready to order for a while now, he whisked himself away to a dark corner of the restaurant and began furiously jabbing at a touch screen in an apparent attempt to stick his finger completely through it. It was like watching a rabid woodpecker go to town on a rain gutter. After a few minutes Twitch returned with our drinks, just as he had instructed himself, and began taking our orders.

Years ago, The Flying Dutchman had hushpuppies on the menu that were to die for. Hushpuppies are basically fried balls of cornbread, a staple of any unhealthy diet. The new Dutchman’s menu was a bit different, but I spotted an appetizer called “seafood fritters” that looked like it might have been a version of my beloved hushpuppies. I asked Twitch if they were worth trying and without blinking an eye he said, “No, they aren’t very good.”

Awkward silence. “Oh, haha” I replied lamely. “Uh, so I guess they’re awesome?” Twitch just looked at me and said nothing. Alrighty then.

Dimly lit fish and chips.

Dimly lit fish and chips.

I ordered a bowl of clam chowder instead, we got some shrimp and calamari appetizers for the table, and everyone else ordered fish and chips. The food was brought out promptly by a different, surprisingly normal waitperson, and everything was …average. It certainly wasn’t bad, and in fact I would be happy to return to Dutchman’s for another meal of fried ocean goodies, but there was nothing special about it. Everything had the consistency and flavor of a typical low-to-mid-range chain restaurant, complete with generic tartar and cocktail sauces in little plastic cups.

As far as I’m concerned, any seafood restaurant hoping to be considered decent must first make an acceptable bowl of clam chowder. It is the first and most important test to pass, and I’m sorry to say that Dutchman’s didn’t do very well. The clam chowder was gluey, bland, and almost completely devoid of clams. It was overly thick and mounded up disconcertingly in the middle of the bowl with a flavor somewhere between sausage gravy and wallpaper paste. At least the little baggies of oyster crackers were good.

Dimly lit starchy substance.

Dimly lit starchy substance.

Twitch visited us several more times throughout our meal and continued to give himself precise instructions which he followed diligently. “I’m going to take this water glass and fill it up, then I’ll be back to take those two plates and the dish there and then I’ll come back and ask you about dessert”, and then he would whoosh off before we could get a word in edgewise. He made for an amusing experience if nothing else.

In the end, I have to rate Dutchman’s a mildly disappointing 7 out of 12 buckets of clam paste. The seasoned fries were good and the view of the sunset was amazing, but the mediocre quality of the food and weirdness of our waiter put a bit of a damper of the evening. I’m sure I’ll be back the next time I’m in the area craving fish and chips, but I’ll pass on the chowder. And the fritters too apparently.

Dutchman’s Seafood House
701 Embarcadero
Morro Bay, CA 93442
www.dutchmansseafoodhouse.com
Dutchman's Seafood House on Urbanspoon


Hey look, a picture that isn't dimly lit.

Hey look, a picture that isn’t dimly lit.


Standard Restaurant Review Disclaimer
The ambiguous and illogical rating system used in this review is not intended to be pinpoint accurate. It’s only there to give you a general idea of how much I like or dislike an establishment, and it also gives me an excuse to write silly things. If my rating system angers and distracts you, there’s a good chance you have control issues. I would also like to point out that I am not a highly qualified restaurant reviewer person, nor do I particularly care what that job is called. If you were under the impression that perhaps I was one of those people, consider your hopes dashed. Lastly, wow! You read the entire disclaimer. You get a gold star on your chart today.