AYCE Crab , MP/PA news

[bbulkow]

Goings on in MP/PA:

Jonathan's Fish and Chips is running an AYCE crab feast every Friday between 4pm and 8pm. Price is reasonable ( < $20). Jonathan's also had a hand-made sign saying crawfish & boudain, 6/20 (in the past), so they're running other specials.

Left Bank MP has a late night happy hour (9pm+) with a handful of specials. They keep changing their menu up in general, and we really enjoyed their lamb sliders - and I like Steak Frite at the bar. I know Left Bank MP got a lot of flack for a long time, but I like it for bar food.

Yogurt is running amok. A self-serve yogurt place opened near Jonathan's, which the neighborhood enjoys, but the output is tasteless. There aren't any good flavors. The Red Mango on University Ave is turning into a similar place - this will make 3 on Univ. ave (three lousy chains, not tarring Fraiche with the same brush)

Oren's Hummus opened in PA where Zao's used to be. The place looks good, is brightly lit, and had a lot of traffic last night. Yelp has a suspiciously wide variance in reviews - mostly 1star and 4/5 star. Just on the curb, I smelled very good smells. Thus the middle eastern thing marches on.

Tamerine's food felt a little tired to me yesterday. I went with a friend from out of town who doesn't do soy, and my palate seemed unimpressed to start --- and since it was the 4th they may have had the B team in, but there's been some grumbling about them phoning it in. Upheld.

Cafe del Doge turned into Cafe Venetzia. We grilled the guy behind the counter last night, and it's purely a "rebranding". Apparently, they didn't like the oversight of Del Doge central in Italy and broke away into their own entity - but everything stays the same. All the Del Doge icons and fonts have been removed. The Black and Red beans have turned into 5 and 1, but suppliers are the same. The section in the back where they sell beans is still there, but the bags have different graphics. All of your favorite chocolate martini glass confections are the same.

Taxi's remains empty, but Epi next door has a huge banner about their burgers. I like Epi - had a meatball sandwitch special - and it's good if you don't like salt. The Workshop is also open, and looks as tired today as the day it opened.

I can't say enough about the single origin coffee bar at Red Rock in Mountain View. Those guys are on fire.

It looks like Movable Feast (SJ Eats) is doing every Saturday in san jose and first friday of the month in San Mateo.

4th events - PA has a chili cookoff. $5 / 5 tastes, 20 available.

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Red Rock Cafe
1010 Lincoln Ave, Napa, CA 94558

[Sushi Monster]

Thanks for the uncommonly news-rich neighborhood report. Excellent.

Three yogurt shoppes on University. That's just too twee ... I guessed 30 years ago, when Roxy Rapp went on his building spree, that University would eventually end up as a giant open-air mall food court. Too bad even the vaunted City of Palo Alto Process couldn't hold off the likes of the chains...

And in other news:

"Cafe del Doge turned into Cafe Venetzia. We grilled the guy behind the counter last night ..."

Ouch. How unpleasant. Was he a rotisserie item, al pastor-style or ??

[bbulkow]

$5 for a decent size dish, and mostly self serve (can be run by a low-paid counterperson), those operations must make money hand over foot. Unlike the Red Mango setup which had the machines behind the counter and you needed two or three people running the counter.