In Millbrae:
Royal Feast for Sichuan Chinese is killer.
Dumplings and traditional sweet and sour pork at Tasty Place are excellent.
Wonderful for Hunan Chinese is as described (definitely more on the delicious fatty/spicy side for many dishes).
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Thank you! I’ve bookmarked your recommendations. I’ve missed having a worthy bakery nearby, so I’ll have to check out Backhaus soon!
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These all look excellent, thank you!
Today I visited Takahashi Market in San Mateo, founded in 1906. The market specializes in Hawaiian and Japanese foods. I ordered the furikake salmon plate lunch and picked up some prepared foods: salmon belly musubi, ahi poke, seaweed salad, and marinated cucumbers. I also bought snacks and staples, which seemed reasonably priced. My plate lunch was delicious, though l learned after consumption that the cute sea turtle tidbit on top of the brown rice was spam (I try to eat pescatarian). I foresee this market becoming part of my regular rotation.
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I love Takahashi! There was also a turf war between Takahashi and Suruki loyalists when I was in high school too 
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Looks like I’ll have to add Suruki to the list, thanks! I’m so intrigued by these restaurant and market turf wars!
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Coming from Berkeley, I find Palo Alto restaurants mostly bad values, but there are a few places I like:
- Mediterranean Wraps http://mediterraneanwraps.com/
- Bevri https://www.bevri.com/
- Salvaje https://drinksalvaje.com/
- Yayoi https://www.yayoi-us.com/paloalto
OK by University Ave. standards:
- Darbar http://darbarpaloalto.com/
- Oren’s https://orenshummus.com/
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We had the children of a lot of the restaurant/markets in school with each other around the same time—so trivial rival dojo stuff
Downtown SM has changed a lot though over the past couple decades, so a lot of those old favorites are gone now.
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Today’s eating excursion was in Palo Alto: Zareen’s. A fast casual Pakistani and Indian restaurant. I ordered their palak methi paneer meal, a type of sweetened saffron and milk flatbread called sheermal, and a mango lassi. About $20 all-in. My friend ordered a chicken meal (I don’t remember which one) and we both enjoyed our meals. Fantastic depth of flavor in the palak methi paneer, and I loved the sweet and flakey flatbread. The side salad with three pieces of mixed greens seemed pointless.
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Met up with friends at Mykonos Mezze in Burlingame earlier this week. We sat on the side patio, perfect for the last sunlight of the day. Vibrant and fun atmosphere with a reasonable noise level. A great place to catch up and share plates. We enjoyed everything we ordered, with the eliés spread (black and green olives with dates, fresh mint, and labneh) my favorite.
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Thank you for the Backhaus rec. I lined up this morning at opening and picked up a selection of croissants. This morning I tried the everything croissant filled with cream cheese. Perfectly flakey and buttery (and cheesy 
). I will save the pistachio and raspberry croissant for tomorrow morning (hopefully the texture won’t suffer too much) and give the chocolate croissant to a friend. Strolled over to a car show on the corner after picking up my order.
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Stanford and affordable in the same sentence 
CONGRATULATIONS on the job!!
Wifey was offered a job there but cost of living was a turn off.
I like it there!
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Watching the Cardinal play baseball at Sunken Diamond is always fun. Forgot about that, used to go as a kid
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I’ve had this bagel place on my radar for awhile. Before I move anywhere, I scout bagels and pizza LOL!
I’ve heard good things about Izzy’s Brooklyn Bagels, 477 S California Ave in Palo Alto.
In another thread, @CeleryVictor replied to me: “ If you’re talking about Izzy’s on California St, last I had them (10 years ago, so YMMV) they were great; the real deal.”
Feel free to report back LOL
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Thank you! I was excited to make the change, in job and location! But yes, cost of living is not cheap (all the more reason for the “affordable” part!).
I’ll put the bagel place on my to-try list, though I don’t know if I can detect proper bagel-ness. I grew up blissfully ignorant that the bagels I was eating were not real bagels
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I have a feeling there will be many Cardinal games in my future!
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One item we are also looking for on the peninsula are good banh mi (the last five years in Boston didn’t have many good examples.)
Are there any good banh mi in this area - a brief search shows places like m-sandwiches but are they really worth $10-11. When we lived in San Diego many good banh mi were available for $4-5. Willing to drive even a bit longer for a good (reasonable priced) banh mi.
There’s good cheap Vietnamese food in San Jose. Try the food courts at Grand Century Mall and the Lion Plaza on Tully.