La Pizzeria (Campbell)

http://www.campbellpizza.com/

Today Alicia and I had a craving for a pizza. Normally I make my own from scratch but our oven is awaiting a repair service so we decided to try a new place out. I put my faith in the reviewers of yelp.com and we choose La Pizzeria in Campbell which had an impressive 4 star average over 191 reviews.
We walked in at 6pm on a Tuesday and we were the only ones inside. There were 2 or 4 people eating outside. This is always okay with me because I assume the the service will be better and the food will come out quicker. Alicia asked what the soup of the day was. The server said "a mixed vegetable pureed in a chicken broth". Alicia decided to pass on that and get a Caesar salad. I however was the mood to try stuff and ordered the soup.
The soup was very thin and tasted mostly like a tomato soup. Honestly it tasted like a can of Campbell's soup that had been opened and personally warmed up for me! This has to be the worst "soup of the day" I've had anywhere. Alicia's salad didn't come with croutons but large chunks of cooked pizza dough cut into triangles. She didn't know what to do with them (they were 3-4 times the size of a tortilla chip). Alicia also complained that the lettuce was just a bunch of large pieces and not broken up enough for eating on a fork. Okay, so disappointing appetizers but this is a pizza joint you say, how were the pizzas?
Alicia got the "Tirolese" which included smoked prosciutto, onions, and blue cheese. She said the combination of flavors were nice but they was very little prosciutto, onions, and blue cheese on it. There was plenty of greasy mozzarella though, forming a pool of grease in the middle of the pizza, like Crater lake. I had the "Sarda" which included black olives and fresh sausage. Like Alicia's pizza I had the lake of grease in the center of my pizza. The problem they have is the pizza is larger than the plate so your crust is at a higher elevation than the center and all the hot oily grease funnels to the middle. This saturates the thin crust at the center and made both pizzas soggy in the center. Why not bring the pizza out on a flat board? Especially since they make YOU cut the pizza. I thought they had forgot to cut our pizzas but looking on Yelp I see other people have complained about this. They also only give you a butter knife to cut the pizza with. It wasn't really hard to cut to seriously, cut the pizza from now on. The "fresh sausage" actually did taste fresh and was one of the better sausage toppings I've had on a pizza. The olives were terrible. They put whole black pitted olives on the pizza. You would pick a slice up and the soggy tip would flop over like a soccer player in the World Cup and the black olives would go rolling down onto the plate. Hey that's okay because I love olives just as they are, you can eat them all by themselves. Well, good olives you can. These seemed to have been soaked in a brine of tap water and nothing else. They had a terrible texture and no flavor. They only thing Alicia and I agreed on was the crust tasted good. As mentioned though, it was soggy in the middle due to Greasy Lake and it takes more that good crust to make a good pizza. Needless to say we didn't even ask about deserts and wanted to get out of their ASAP. To top it all off, the bill with tax and tip was 50$ for two sub par pizzas and a soup and salad. We ordered no drinks. Considering I can get a decent large mushroom pizza from a take out joint for 20$ why would I ever go back to La Pizzeria? For the Campbell's soup of course!
Take a pass on this place or at least know that you were warned.

La Fondue (Saratoga)

http://www.lafondue.com/

So today Alicia and I celebrated 11 years of putting up with each other and decided to walk to La Fondue in Saratoga to celebrate the occasion. This restaurant is actually owned by our landlords however fear not, I shall give an objective review as I always do. (As objective as a persons opinion can be!). We had a 7pm reservation and showed up on time to be seated. The restaurant has an eccentric decor and it seemed to change from the lobby (lions heads and pop art photography) to the area where we were seated (religous art). We ordered the "Feast for two". This involved salads, cheese fondue, 6 different proteins for the main course, and chocolate fondue.
The salads came out while the cheese fondue was heating up. I had a few problems with the salad. It comes deconstructed on the plate but the plate is packed to where you can't mix the salad without having it fall out. You have to eat the salad a little at a time and then mix it a little at a time. You have a choice of chef or spinach salad. We both got the spinach salad. My carrots and cucumbers were fresh but tasted watery. I don't know if that is from them being rinsed quick and then shredded and cut while not properly dried. Anyway, the salad is also just too big to come with all the other food that is part of the "feast". I would skip the salad if I went again.
For the cheese fondue we ordered the Cajun, which consists of cheddar, beer, shrimp and spices. Our server added fresh garlic to it and what looked like salsa. This gave the fondue a nice punch to it and it went well with the bread cubes and fruits and vegetables that came with it. The only weird thing was at the end you have all the little shrimp piled up at the bottom of the fondue. I don't know why they are in there you just eat them at the end I guess. This was a nice start to the meal thought and we both enjoyed it very much.
For the next part of the feast you got to pick 6 different proteins from quite a large selection, including exotic meats like kanagroo and crocodile. For our six we chose: wild boar filet, buffalo filet, pacific shrimp, free range chicken, pacific catch (tuna), and scallops. You get to pick your cooking method and we chose the electric grill. The proteins come with a mix of vegetables and 6 different dipping sauces. So if the restaurant isn't cooking for you that what can you judge them on? Mainly the service and the quality of the products given to you. All the proteins were nicely cut and looked fresh. I smelled the tuna, scallops and shrimp closely and was impressed. There wasn't a hint of a fishy odor or the product slipping past its prime. All the seafood proteins tasted excellent and there was a dipping sauce to go with whatever your tastes, although a few were a little sweet. The tuna was such nice pieces that we just seared the outside of them and ate them mostly without the dipping sauce. The same could be said for the scallops. The shrimp however did taste good dipped in the "mango chutney" sauce. The buffalo fillet strips were very good as well and there was a chipotle type BBQ sauce that seemed to be made for these. There also was a sour cream and chive sauce that Alicia liked for that as well. The wild boar fillet was excellent and honestly better than most pieces of pork you get at a restaurant. I could have eaten a lot of that. The chicken was good as well but was out shined by all the other great proteins we had. I should say it is also kind of fun to cook your own food like that. It's a novel experience that you don't usually get when you eat out.
For dessert we had the "Choctastic" fondue which was dark chocolate, hazelnut, and marscapone cheese. It came with an assortment of things to dip in it, from fruit pieces to chocolate cookie dough and pound cake. If you like sweets you won't be disappointed here. Alicia and I agreed that the orange slices tasted best dipped in this chocolate. The one small issue was the cream puffs that came with the fondue were still frozen hard on the inside.
The service was very good. Our waters were constantly filled and plates were removed as soon as they were empty. The food takes a little longer than a typical restaurant because you have to wait for the cheese fondue to melt, the grill to heat up for your proteins, and the chocolate fondue to melt before you can eat each course. This isn't the place to go for a power lunch or quick bite. We spent almost two and half hours at our table. You need all that time for the amount of food you get. This is another reason why I should have ate half of the salad (Alicia was smart and did just that) . Our server asked if we were celebrating something special for the meal. We mentioned it was our anniversary and out with desert came complimentary glasses of champagne.
I would definitely recommend giving La Fondue a try. I think the fact that you can try so many different proteins in one sitting is worth it alone. It's a unique dining experience and maybe somewhat novel but go try it and decide for yourself. I would also like to thank our landlords Mitch & Tracy because when the bill came out it was "comped" by them so we just left a tip for our server and tried to walk off as much of the food as we could on the way home.

Casa Cobre (Saratoga)

http://www.casadecobre.com/
Tonight Alicia was in the mood for Mexican. Instead of getting in a car to find a place to eat we walked downtown to try the local Mexican place, Casa Cobre (House of Copper). Getting a seat at 6:30pm on a Friday night was not a problem. The place did fill up though by the end of the meal. The atmosphere is nice, warm Mexican colors and art and a nice looking bar. We sat down at a table for two and it was a little longer than the usual table. Alicia seemed farther away than usual. The area we were seated was on the smaller side so it got a little loud towards the end of the meal when the place filled up.

So after walking in the cold something hot sounded nice. There was a queso fondido on the menu. Melted cheese sounded just right and we ordered that along with the house margarita and a margarita called the Purist. The cheese came out bubbling in a little crock with warm tortillas on the side. It looked nice but was pretty bad. The cheese was very stringy and the chorizo tasted like one you buy at the local supermarket. I should have just burned 8$ dollars out of my wallet instead of ordering that. It was also gone in a few bites so I ordered the chips & salsa as well. You actually have to pay for chips and salsa here (3$) but it is easily worth it. The chips are right out of the fryer and warm. You get three different salsas (all of which are good) and a pico de gallo which honestly was the best pico de gallo I've had anywhere. Pico de gallo is pretty simple so I'm sure the fact that they actually had ripe tomatoes in there helped. (And where the hell do you get ripe tomatoes in January?). Ok, Alicia's house margarita came with key lime juice and triple sec. She enjoyed it very much and I thought it was passable. The Purist margarita was terrible. It consisted of fresh lime juice, agave, and tequila. It tasted like limeade and left me fishing for hints of the reposado that was supposed to be in there. I probably should have said something and I didn't bother finishing it. Alicia said she would finish it for me but had enough of it very quickly and was done with it.
Alicia ordered a Chile Relleno. Out comes her dish and a beautifully presented plate comes out with one of the nicest Pasilla peppers I've ever seen on it. It looks plump and of course is stuffed with a really nice Mexican cheese. It's covered with a guajillo type sauce and served on a bed of rice. This was the perfect pepper with deep dark green flesh and that awesome peppery spice that a ripe Pasilla has. This was by far the best Chile Relleno I've ever had and Alicia liked it very much but it was too spicy for her so I gladly finished it off. For myself I ordered Chicken Mole. Mole is my favorite Mexican sauce and I tend to judge all Mexican places by it. This dish too was well presented and garnished with sliced bits of egg and red onions. It had a nice aroma and I was looking forward to digging in. I tried the first bite and the Mole was missing something. It was mild and had no punch or depth in it. If Estrellita's (Los Altos) puts over 40 ingredients in their Mole then this place must use five. It was certainly edible just really mellow and uninspiring. The worst part though was there was so little chicken in the mole. At times I thought they forgot to put it in but then would see strands of shredded chicken mixed in the sauce. This is unforgivable. This dish is just lacking all around and I'm really disappointed. It is a stark contrast to the Chile Relleno Alicia got. Another thing, the mole enchilada comes a la carte. So I had to order beans and rice on the side (4$) and (3$) respectively. It's not as bad as it sounds because it's enough for two people or three "dainty" folk. The rice was good and mixed with well cooked carrots and potatoes. The black beans were amazing. They were by far the best I've had anywhere at home or at a restaurant. They were not in a heavy sauce or syrup but freshly cooked and served with onions sweated down to nothing but sweetness. Alicia described the beans as melt in your mouth and I can't say enough about them. I didn't know black beans could taste that good. That was enough food for us and we skipped desert.
I should say the service was good as well. A friendly waitress and bus boy brought us the food with good speed, kept the waters filled, and were clearing plates as soon as they were empty to help keep the table neat.
With tip the bill was 84$ and it was not worth it to me. This restaurant leaves me in a strange place. The chips/salsa were above average and the black beans were the best I've ever had. The Chile Relleno was just unreal and a must have for anyone who loves peppers and an awesome vegetarian dish for the non meat eaters. But how can I recommend a place that can't make a margarita? Or a chicken mole? I've never had a meal where such great and poor items were served in the same sitting. Okay so I have the only solution I can think of. This is a good one too for "hoity toity" Saratoga.

Order Chips/Salsa ($3)
Order two Chile Rellenos ($11x2)
Order side of black beans to share ($4)

Enjoy a good vegetarian meal for two people at $29 plus tax/tip
Order anything else at your own risk/reward.

Southern Kitchen (Los Gatos)

http://www.yelp.com/biz/southern-kitchen-los-gatos

I just got back from Southern Kitchen in Los Gatos for some breakfast. The link is to Yelp, I couldn't find their own website (if they have one). They get 4 of 5 stars on Yelp and were recommended by my neighbor/landlord so I decided today was the day to try it.
I ordered the Country Special. This is biscuits topped with a sausage patty, scrambled eggs, and gravy. It comes with grits or hash browns on the side. The gravy was really excellent. It had a nice peppery spice and was creamy but surprisingly not heavy. The biscuits were good enough as were the eggs. The sausage was standard and I think would be no good to eat on its own, but mixed in with everything else it worked. The dish was $9.25 and it was massive. I got hash browns with it. Someone once told me hash browns are the worst thing you can do to a potato. I agree with that but grits are corn and I'd rather have potato any way I can get it. I don't really like hash browns but these were okay for a couple of reasons. Strangely I don't even think they put salt on them. I guess you are supposed to salt them yourself but I didn't. This lack of salt made them more palatable to me. I'm so used to over salted and greasy hash browns. These were neither. They had a crisp outside and a soft boiled type inside that was clean and light tasting. It was a good contrast to the rich biscuits and gravy. Alicia liked the hash browns and finished them off.
Alicia got the banana nut pancakes for herself. For $9.25 out came three massive pancakes and a side of whipped butter and syrup. They certainly looked good. There were lots of banana slices and sliced almonds in there. I make banana nut pancakes at home all the time so I was looking forward to trying them. At first I thought they tasted fine but were a little dense. Alicia felt the exact same way. She ate one and that was enough for her and we switched plates. I ate one as well and was sick of it by the time I finished it. I could have eaten more. I wanted my biscuits and gravy back (but a deal's a deal you know) so I was stuck with the pancake. I stuck it in a to go box and I'll eat it later or the dogs will. I would never order than again. That was way too dense and just got boring fast.
We had a 10 minute wait outside in the drizzling rain. They have coffee out there for people that drink type of stuff. We got a counter seat and they were okay but you couldn't move the seat. It swiveled but was fixed onto the ground. I wanted to get away from the edge of the counter were all the servers kept coming and going. I think any other counter seat would have been fine and the booths looked nice. Moving here recently from Georgia, I can tell you there is nothing Southern about this kitchen except a few things on the menu. It has none of the charm of a southern place and feels like every other California breakfast place (and it's menu reflects that as well). This isn't an insult. The service was fine and the food was served quickly but if they are trying to deliver that down home atmosphere it doesn't work. What more can I say? Well, after waiting for 10 minutes in the cold drizzle sitting down to warm, stick to your stomach biscuits and gravy was definitely the right call. I don't know if I would order it on a 90 degree day in August. However, if you're in Los Gatos and are cold, wet, hungry, and it's in the AM, you know what to get.

James Randall (Los Gatos)

http://www.restaurantjamesrandall.com/Home.html

Today is Alicia's birthday, and for that she got to pick a restaurant that she has been wanting to go to: James Randall in Los Gatos. It's a cozy place with 14 tables, half of them with seating for just two. They do a small plates menu, not exactly tapas but they recommend 5-6 plates per two people. So what did we get?
We started with a cheese plate and a meat plate. The cheese plate came with a nice bleu cheese, a type of Parmesan, and something that was like a brie. They were accompanied with dried fruit and spiced pecans (very good) and warm bread on the side. The sliced meat had only two selections (was supposed to have three). They were dry Italian style Sopressata type meats. They came with dried fruit and warm bread as well. They were both good with one clearly above the other in taste. A good way to start the meal; meat, cheese, and bread.
Alicia had a white wine and I just had water. They wanted 7$ for bottled beers and the wines were pricey. I like to try different beers and wines but don't appreciate exorbitant mark up and decided to pass. After the meat and cheese we got our next two dishes. Delicatta Squash pancakes and fried chicken and waffles. The pancakes were nicely cooked, crisp on the outside and tender inside. They came with apple sauce and a sour type creme. They were nice with the creme but the apple sauce didn't seem to complement the pancakes. I ate the rest without the apple sauce. What can I say about the chicken and waffles. It was the first time I've had that combination so I guess saying it was the best chicken and waffles I've had doesn't mean much. I don't see how this dish could have been improved at all. The chicken was fried perfectly. It had a beautiful rich brown battered crust surrounding the tender dark meat. It was nice a crisp and not greasy, exactly what fried chicken is supposed to be. Not only that, this came on top of a crisp waffle with a slab of herb butter to spread over it. In between the waffle and chicken was perfectly coked Swiss Chard with bits of bacon that were cooked together and finished with something sweet (maple syrup maybe?). I really wish I ordered two of these. It was the highlight of the meal. Okay, the final two dishes of dinner were a spicy tuna tempura roll and gnocchi with mushroom. I made a mistake here. These two dishes came out together and do not go well with each other. Eating a couple bites of gnocchi and then having a piece of sushi was really disjointed. I should have got the halibut with vegetables instead of tempura. The tempura roll was okay, it was quite spicy (too spicy for Alicia) but I've had better and regretted ordering it. The gnocchi was made well and cooked well. It came with nice chunks of cooked mushrooms and was in a very rich and creamy sauce. It was a little too rich for me although I don't know if it was the food or just that I was getting full by this time. So if you're getting full that means no desert right?
For desert we got a brownie with salted peanuts, caramel, and marshmallow fluff. The brownie was rich, I loved the caramel and salted peanuts and Alicia loved the marshmallow fluff. The fluff was a mix between liquid and solid, interesting. I only wish the brownie was served warm. Oh yeah, we got a chocolate torte with white chocolate bourbon ganache. No that's not overkill, that's just celebrating a birthday you know?. So we taste the torte and it tastes exactly how I thought it would. Alicia says the same and we keep taking bites of it. Then I remark that it's like eating a truffle. Alicia says this is the smoothest torte she has had. The more we eat it the more we like it. By the end I think that was one of the best chocolate tortes I've had.
So the prices look reasonable when you see the menu but you have to remember they are all small plates. The bill was 96$ without tax (4$ for a bag of tea? What?) So it came to 60$ a person with tax and tip. This is pricey. At the same time though we got to try eight different things. If you are the kind of person that likes to try some of this and that well have I got the place for you. It's called James Randall in Los Gatos. The only drink you should have there is tap water. This is a cozy place with friendly staff and some good food to boot.