Category Archives: Restaurants

Tipping The Hat To Top Hatters

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Pork belly braised in coconut water at Top Hatters.
Pork belly braised in coconut water at Top Hatters.

Top Hatters Kitchen & Bar in San Leandro is not a place you casually meander by.

Not when it’s nearly right below elevated Interstate 580 with its perpetual congestion of cars, and in a neighborhood with an auto repair shop across the street, and quaint bungalow-style homes all around.

It’s a place you need to know about. And if you find yourself in the East Bay, it’s a place well worth seeking out, which is exactly what my husband and I did recently.

Honored with a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand for serving good food at affordable prices, Top Hatters is named for the longtime family-owned hat shop that once graced the property.

It was opened in spring 2019 by husband-and-wife Matthew Beavers and DanVy Vu to serve up California-Vietnamese cuisine and creative cocktails.

The bar area inside.
The bar area inside.
The courtyard.
The courtyard.

Take a seat in the inviting dining room done up in crisp blue and white. Or best yet, if it’s a nice day, grab a table in the lovely walled-in courtyard, a sweet little oasis with plenty of potted greenery.

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Spotlighting Soft Shell Crab At Boulevard

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The star attraction of Boulevard's special soft shell crab menu.
The star attraction of Boulevard’s special soft shell crab menu.

Connoisseurs of soft shell crabs know that the time is right from now through mid-summer to enjoy this specialty shellfish.

One place to savor them in exceptional style is San Francisco’s iconic Boulevard restaurant, which is offering a special soft shell crab menu every Thursday from now through Aug. 29.

The four-course prix fixe is $119 per person (or $160.83 inclusive of 6 percent SF Mandate, 8.63 percent sales tax, and 20 percent service charge). An optional wine pairing is $65.

Because only a set number of soft shell crab menus are offered each Thursday, it pays to reserve it ahead of time. Otherwise, you take your chance as to whether any are still available when you finally sit down at your table with a view of the Bay Bridge.

An icon that will celebrate 32 years in September.
An icon that will celebrate 32 years in September.
The dining room got a refresh in 2021.
The dining room got a refresh in 2021.

I was fortunate enough to be invited in last Thursday as a guest of the restaurant to try the menu spotlighting the seasonal crab that is harvested when it has outgrown and shed its hard shell but before its new shell has hardened.

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Dining At the New Little Original Joe’s

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The Mount Midoriyama of zucchini fries at Little Original Joe's in the Marina neighborhood in San Francisco.
The Mount Midoriyama of zucchini fries at Little Original Joe’s in the Marina neighborhood in San Francisco.

When I was a kid growing up in San Francisco, it was a treat on the rare occasion that my family trekked to Daly City to dine at Westlake Joe’s.

The prices were affordable for a working-class family. The big, cushy booths added an air of specialness. And the food was both different enough from our regular fare yet familiar enough so that my Chinese American parents felt comfortable around the menu.

Those memories flashed back to me last week when I was invited in as a guest at the new Little Original Joe’s in San Francisco’s Marina district.

Located on a prominent corner spot on Chestnut Street, the restaurant is housed inside a1920s Art Deco building with soaring ceilings and tall windows that let in loads of light. The expansiveness does mean that the 100-seat dining room with 12 bar seats gets pretty noisy, which might make it difficult to hear your dining companions but definitely adds to the lively bustle of the place.

A view to the open kitchen.
A view to the open kitchen.
The Art Deco-trimmed bar.
The Art Deco-trimmed bar.

This is Italian-American fare that may not be cutting edge, but it satisfies with pure comfort and nostalgia.

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Dining at Downtown San Jose’s Aji Bar and Robata

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Lemongrass chicken potstickers at Aji Bar and Robata.
Lemongrass chicken potstickers at Aji Bar and Robata.

Years ago, the lobby of the downtown San Jose Fairmont Hotel was elegant if a tad sleepy. But since taking over that prime spot in 2022, the luxurious Signia by Hilton Hotel has transformed that space into a splashy, happening restaurant, Aji Bar and Robata.

Done up with loungey couches, an artsy angular chandelier, arches galore, and a horseshoe-shaped bar that’s dramatically lighted underneath, the restaurant serves Nikkei or Japanese-Peruvian cuisine. On Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, there’s also a DJ or live music.

I had a chance to dine there last Thursday, a more sedate night in comparison, when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant.

Executive Chef Joe Derla. Can you guess that he grew up in Hawaii?
Executive Chef Joe Derla. Can you guess that he grew up in Hawaii?

Executive Chef Joe Derla oversees Aji, as well as all other food operations at the hotel. Raised on the Big Island of Hawaii, he may have been destined to be a chef — even if at one point he trained to be a Nascar driver. After all, his mother was a chef (and his dad the chief of police). One of nine children, Derla and all of his five brothers are all chefs. Talk about runs in the family.

The name of the restaurant works two ways: Aji can be pronounced “ah-hee” as in the Japanese word for “taste” or “ah-jee” as in the Peruvian word for “spicy pepper.”

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Lamb-Spice Lamb Chops That Are Kismet

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A quick spice mix gives these lamb rib chops incomparable flavor.
A quick spice mix gives these lamb rib chops incomparable flavor.

Dare I say that smoky, juicy, and flavorfully spiced little lamb rib chops are your destiny?

They definitely are if you follow this recipe from the new “Kismet” cookbook (Clarkson Potter), of which I received a review copy.

“Lamb-Spice Lamb Chops” is one of more than 100 mouthwatering recipes in this book by the chef-owners of Los Angeles restaurants, Kismet and Kismet Rotisserie. Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson were named among the “Best New Chefs” in 2017 by Food & Wine magazine.

You have to love a cookbook that states from the get-go: “Yes, we’re restaurant chefs. No, this isn’t a restaurant book. Why? Because we want you to actually cook these recipes.”

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