Thai Idea Vegetarian

Location: San Francisco, Little Siam
Website: www.thaiideaveggie.com
Cuisine type: Thai vegetarian
Atmosphere: modern cafe, authentic decor
Meal: lunch
Overall score: 7.4

Nina

After a good experience at a vegetarian restaurant in Mountain View, we were intrigued when we ran across this little place in Little Siam. This restaurant went even further with an almost completely vegan menu and a only a handful of vegetarian selections (which could be ordered in their vegan version, that is to say egg free). The restaurant was very small, with the typical cafe style seating we are used to for Thai places, but with tasteful decor and comfortable benches along the walls. Then again, for the real estate prices in San Francisco it’s not surprising that businesses have to do more with less - these guys did it well.
The water they brought us tasted a little off, at first we suspected soap. Turns out they actually have sliced cucumbers in their water before they pour out in glasses, which does add a fresh touch (which we enjoyed once we realized it was intentional). They also brought us more water in a green glass bottle, which actually went well with their color scheme. The tea we ordered came in a cool looking teapot, though the actual tea was a Trader Joe’s packet of jasmine green tea - tasty nonetheless.

I ordered the yellow lamb curry (medium spicy), which came out in an artsy bowl adorned with a beautiful fresh lettuce leaf. The onions maintained some of their crunch, but unfortunately so did the potatoes, which were a little bit undercooked. The curry liquid was creamy and rich, with a small kick and the mild and smooth flavor characteristic of yellow curry. The “lamb” was just ok, the texture and density were pretty close to the real thing, and the flavor was rich and savory, though not quite lamb-like. Overall, the dish was pretty tasty and the menu was comprehensive and reasonably priced, so Thai Idea was a good find for a quick and satisfying lunch close to the Civic Center.

Food 7
Drinks 6
Atmosphere 9
Service 9
Value 8

Ben

A vegetarian thai place with all the classics except the meats (standard entrees of beef, pork, chicken, shrimp) were all artificial and vegetarian. I was a little disappointed to hear the standard meats were all soy based. I had the “beef” Pad woonsen. The noodles were delicious, the “beef” was not so great. The presentation was gorgeous (see pictures) - topped with stringed beet noodles over the dish. The dish was a pretty good portion and the mushrooms, egg, onion and tomatoes were all fantastic as well. The beef had a rubbery tofu texture and a bitter tofu taste. The drink menu was very small, and the Jasmine tea was a bagged Trader Joe’s.

It is a cozy, tame and pleasant atmosphere, an easy place for conversation. I really enjoyed Nina’s yellow curry (a thick, heavily flavored slightly spicy broth), though the lamb meat was also pretty bitter - though better tasting than the beef. I found the prices a little higher than expected(~12-15$ / entree), though they do an excellent job on presentation and preparation, aside from the meats. Overall a decent place if you are of the vegetarian persuasion … I might advise just ordering a dish and tell them to omit the “meats” altogether - as in my opinion it only detracts from what otherwise were great dishes.

Food 7
Drinks 6
Atmosphere 8
Service 8
Value 7

Wang's Kitchen

Location: Milpitas, CA
Website: wangskitchenusa.com/
Cuisine type: Chinese Indian fusion
Atmosphere: cafe style seating, open dining room
Meal: dinner
Overall score: 7.5

Nina

We stumbled on this place on its grand opening day - it’s a medium sized restaurant with cafe style seating and glass walls on three sides which identifies itself as a Chinese Indian fusion. There wasn’t a big crowd as one might expect on an opening day, even though they were offering an amazing deal - 50% off the entire bill today and tomorrow to launch their new place. The down side was that with this deal they didn’t offer carryout for these two days, but we were intrigued enough to change plans and eat at the restaurant. The menu seemed more Chinese than Indian, but there were a few dishes that seemed to represent the fusion aspect nicely.
The service still needed some kinks ironed out, as one might expect from a brand new place with new staff. The waiters were a little awkward, there was a guy walking between the tables collecting dishes on a rolling cart that was a bit of an eye sore and also making somewhat arbitrary decisions on what to take and what to leave (he took away my tea cup even though I was still drinking from it, but left the dirty bowls on our table for a little while even though we were done).
My first course was a Lung Fung soup - I ordered a little bowl which was definitely plentiful. It was a garlic creamy soup with mushrooms (which seemed like they might have come from a can, but were still tasty), chicken and egg whites, and garnished with parsley and scallions. The flavor was quite a bit richer than any egg drop soup I’ve had before, and the creamy texture contrasted nicely with the crispy scallions and tender mushrooms.

Even though it took quite a while to get the soup (almost half an hour), my entree came 5 or 10 minutes later, so I had both on the table until I was able to finish the soup. I ordered the Manchurian lamb, which seems to be one of the most representative Chinese Indian fusion flavor profiles. The dish, as most others, came with two options - dry or gravy. It wasn’t gravy in the traditional American sense, but rather a thick sauce that came with the meat as opposed to a dry rub. My dry flavored lamb was perfectly cooked and had a warm spiciness that was just hot enough to be fun, but milk enough to not be overwhelming. The Hakka noodles that we shared on the side were a noodle version of fried rice - with vegetables and bean sprouts, and a lightly oily sauce that was just enough to flavor the dish wihout making it too heavy.

Food 8
Drinks 7
Atmosphere 7
Service 6
Value 8

Ben

We were looking to grab a meal by a plaza near our place with primarily Chinese markets / restaurants, and stumbled on this place and saw it happened to be their grand opening. A Chinese / Indian fusion restaurant with locations around the world, this is their first restaurant in the in the U.S. They wouldn’t let us take food to go, since they had a 50% off special for their opening so we stayed anyway. Aside from the lack of an option for takeout, there were quite a few other growing pains (which I do find completely forgivable as it is their first night in operation, but I will list anyway). The service was a little awkward between the waiter and hostess to seat us, and they split a double table as we sat down, despite several empty tables. We ordered two soups, a Manchow chicken (which lacked the fried noodles in the description), and an egg-white chicken soup. We did wait about 30 minutes before the soup was out after we ordered. They were both very intricately flavored, served with fresh herbs and strong flavors (though with what we presumed were canned mushrooms) , definitely a full step above most soups I ever have at Chinese restaurants.

After such a long wait for the soups, the entrees were brought out only a couple of minutes later, before we were halfway through the soup, crowding the table. We ordered a manchurian lamb (dry, with the option of gravy or no gravy.. they even said they can’t serve the gravy on the side.. weird) and a blackbean gravy spicy prawn dish. They were both very generous portions and I found them to be delicious and both the lamb and prawns were perfectly cooked. We also had a good noodle dish that was randomly brought a couple minutes later. While the whole time we were chuckling at the little awkwardnesses, I have to say they had someone who knew what they were doing in the kitchen, amongst the chaos the food surprised me that it was really spot-on. They serve a fresh oolong tea with the meal, and the drink menu is pretty limited, with tea/coffee, salt lassi, sweet lassi, mango lassi, milk, and soda. The restaurant is one large open room with several tables, which gives it a little bit of an empty feel despite having a good amount of customers. The decoration is a little in-progress, with oriental panel walls along the entrance, and the rest of the restaurant sparsely decorated. The value is pretty good (even without the 50% discount), with most entrees around $10. Overall I think it is a pretty quality place, especially once they iron out a few of the small issues, and think based on the food itself, they have a chance to establish themselves among an area so densely populated with restaurants.

Food 9
Drinks 6
Atmosphere 7
Service 7
Value 8

Bistro Siam

Location: Santa Clara, CA
Website: bistrosiam.com
Cuisine type: Thai
Atmosphere: chic cafe
Meal: dinner
Overall score: 7.6

Nina

Even though this is an unassuming looking restaurant (from the outside) in a row of small restaurants in a small strip mall, the inside it quite charming. The dining room is adorned with modern chic panels with an authentic feel. It felt like the staff was a bit overwhelmed, as they were really only cleaning tables as they needed them freed up for new customers (and towards the end of our meal, as the dinner crowd was dwindling and closing time was nearing they started catching up). We were first thinking of taking out, but the cozy cafe atmosphere enticed it to sit down and enjoy dinner there.

Drinks were pretty standard - hot tea, sodas and water, didn’t seem like they had a liquor license. I was a little disappointed that they were actually out of duck, but instead I ordered a medium hot seafood green curry with eggplant, carrots and green beans. I mentioned that I wasn’t too enthusiastic about the bell peppers that were listed on the menu and the server volunteered to place in a special order to keep out the peppers. Unfortunately, that didn’t actually happen, there were peppers sprinkled throughout my dish. The curry was very creamy and rich, with a mild flavor and slight spicy kick. The crunch of the vegetables contrasted really well with the luscious curry, and I ate every last bite.
This restaurant is a hidden neighborhood jewel, with a solid menu, good food and very reasonable prices.

Food 8
Drinks 6
Atmosphere 8
Service 8
Value 9

Ben

A strip mall restaurant of one large open room. The walls are covered with assorted and colorful ornamentation, and is actually pretty interesting collection. There were two servers and a decent crowd. The menu is a pretty typical thai place, though the drink selection is tiny (no wines, sodas available in cans). The service was a little slow but friendly. They did mistake our order in two ways; the first they gave us both mixed seafood instead of one with shrimp, and after an extended dialogue about how Nina didn’t want bell peppers they were shockingly served in her plate. I ordered a Pad Krapow stir fried seafood with bamboo shoots, bell pepper, onion, carrot and basil leaves. The seafood was all pretty well cooked and a good variety as well - definitely worth the upgrade versus beef or pork. The portion was pretty small, but extremely spicy (I asked for the hottest option and was not disappointed). Nothing remarkable to say about the restaurant, but the food was overall flavorful and it is a solid option for some authentic and pretty low-priced Thai food if you find yourself in the area.

Food 8
Drinks 6
Atmosphere 7
Service 7
Value 8

MYTH Taverna & Lounge

Location: San Jose, CA
Website: mythsj.com/myth-greek-restaurant
Cuisine type: Greek, Mediterranean modern
Atmosphere: modern decor, dim lighting, patio lounge style seating
Meal: dinner
Overall score: 7.9

Nina

This place is lost somewhere on the back streets of downtown San Jose and looks very unassuming from the outside. However, on the inside it lives up to the name of lounge - the dining room has a chic decor, with comfortable table seating and a long, modern bar stretching the length of the dining room. On top of that, they have an outdoor patio (not really visible from the street, since it’s protected by a tall fence), which has space heaters surrounding the cafe style tables, and also features very lush wicker and pillows armchair and couch seating.
We ordered a cocktail to start out our late dinner experience - I got an Achilles Heel, which was a vodka based cocktail with limoncello, grenadine and egg white (don’t hold me to that exact composition, but it’s pretty close). To my slight disappointment, this cocktail served in a tall collins glass was presented with no fuss or decorations, and it was tasty but not amazing.

We ordered two things at once - a gyro saganaki and a pizza since we were starving and were hoping that the food would come sooner this way. After waiting for quite a while for our drinks, we waited some more for our first dish, the saganaki. It reminded me of a raclette, with a twist. The Greek cheese was gooey, creamy and really the star of the plate, it came with a good amount of gyro meat and also enough cherry tomatoes and red onion to give it a burst of freshness and even out the richness with some tanginess. Pita triangles became the vehicle for eating this dish, and it was really delightful.
After our plate was empty, and taken away, and some more time passed, it was becoming clear that our pizza was not coming. We finally caught our waiter’s attention and it turns out that the table next to us ordered the same thing around the same time, and only one pizza made it out of the kitchen (and they got it). After apologizing profusely, he made it that our chicken, bacon and mushroom pizza was out on our table in less than 10 minutes. I was a bit disappointed that the crust was not really crispy, it was basically a pita topped with cheese and generous chunks of meat and mushroom. The toppings were tasty, though the cheese became a little greasy and made the pizza just a tad too rich for me. The waiter tried to make up for the order mix-up by applying the employee discount to our bill, so we appreciated his effort.
As we were getting ready to leave, the were laying out a DJ stage and setting up a line along the sidewalk for the entrance. Unless they were over-preparing, it seems like this place really comes alive at night. Their food is pretty good, their bar selection is quite extensive and the atmosphere is relaxed and modern, so I would definitely recommend this place for a casual dinner and a cocktail.

Food 8
Drinks 8
Atmosphere 9
Service 8
Value 7

Ben

A greek restaurant / lounge with a good amount of outdoor seating mixed with an almost club lighting and feel on the inside. It was pretty surprising that around 7-8 PM on a Friday that it was so empty (2 -3 other tables with people), as I saw it as a pretty cool looking place. The food menu is a pretty elegant greek selection, though we were there mainly to try a couple of appetizers and cocktails. The Gyro saganaki was great - a melted cheese with onion and tomatoes served with dipping pitas. The chicken / bacon / mushroom pita crust pizza was a creamy, tasty dish as well. My manhattan was decent (though not that strong), and though I didn’t enjoy Nina’s ultra-heavy eggwhite cocktail “achilles heel.” The place did seem like it might light up a little more at night - they appeared to be setting up a stage, and based on the number of employees running around and bartenders I hope/assume they pull a larger crowd later at night than they do for dinner. The service was a little awkward - we ordered just 2 appetizers and the cocktails as he listened (and we were seemingly his only table), and even after he commented on the great choice we made in the pizza it wasn’t served with the appetizer. When we later questioned it appeared he had simply completely forgotten (though our cocktails were eabout finished and we were about ready to move on). The prices were around $11-13 for cocktails and $10-15 for appetizers, so it’s aiming for a higher end lounge. Overall it’s a pretty nice place to go, it just seems the popularity is not that high, and it was definitely a strange feel to be such a large place with so few people at peak dinner hours.

Food 8
Drinks 9
Atmosphere 9
Service 6
Value 7