I first heard of Farley’s East through work, as they have opened up a public parklet – a mini-park that takes the place of a parking spot. This isn’t the first one in the city. Somehow, the first one was stolen. Yes, a mini-park the size of a parking spot was stolen. Regardless, when I first started my internship in Oakland, my co-workers wanted to take me here. Instead, we ended up at a French VIetnamese restaurant. Thus, when I wandered by this place, I was intrigued.

The place is a combination of coffee shop and restaurant. The large windows let in a glow of natural sunlight and a yellow hue from the reflection of a gold-windowed office tower across the street. The venue has various levels of seating, with stairs in the back that lead to other areas and, of course, the parklet as a place to sit. The walls are lined with magazine shelves holding multiple copies of recent publication issues. Grabbing an Entrepreneur and Details magazine, I settled myself after ordering what I believe is the only food on the menu, a weekly special sandwich of artichokes, roasted pork, kumquat marmalade, cabbage, mozzarella cheese, and a side of spring mix salad lightly dressed with vinaigrette.

To ensure that you don’t look like a fool when eating here, you help yourself to the cutlery, which is hidden behind a magazine shelf. Additionally, when you are done, you bus your table in a dish bin located under the sugar and cream mixing station. I definitely appeared like an amateur on my first day there.

When I arrived, which was between 2-3pm, the crowd was more subdued. Definitely a place people try to get some work done, read, or relax. This place must be crazy during a lunch rush. The people behind the counter all look like cool Oaklandians: beanies, tattoos, piercings, dressed in hip cool hemp everything. I love it. I want to be you.

After ordering the sandwich special – totalling to just under $9, I glanced through some magazines. The food took a little longer than I expected, but when it arrived, it was quite the sight. I have seen others order this, and the lady sitting beside me gave a glowing recommendation on it. I is excited.

With the halves placed on a tilt, I sank my teeth into this panini-style sandwich. Rightfully, it is a panini, but with extra toasted bread which has been glazed with olive oil – making it extra crispy. There is quite the oozing explosion of cheese and roasted pork that rolls across your tongue conquering all available territory in your mouth. Duly noted, the bread is very crispy, but this is the only structure that is able to keep the cheese at bay.

I do believe the mozzarella overpowered the artichoke and cabbage, which I was looking to taste in the panini sandwich, especially the artichoke, which was a kicker to order the sandwich. The roasted pork came in tender soft pink lightly-seasoned chunks, which I ensured I picked off the plate. It was so good it deserves to be a standalone, but gallantly made its presence known in the onslaught of mozzarella (cheese onslaught is the best type anyways). They did not skimp on the pork, and for that – I am thankful. The spring mix was a nice compliment, though it didn’t act as a palate cleanser as I wish it did. For $9, I was satiated and walked away a happy camper.

If they craft all their sandwiches this artfully, I may become a dangerously regular patron. I greatly appreciate their free wi-fi and racks on racks of magazines to peruse through.

What’s your wild rabbit?

33 Grand Ave. Oakland, CA 94612
http://www.farleyscoffee.com/oakland.html

A very thrilling experience is to have a misperception completely shattered. One such is the initial impression of the City of Oakland. Prior to attending graduate school, my visits to the Bay Area mostly centered around San Francisco. However, after living here and working in Oakland, I have to say that there is an incubating hip scene here – a mix of strangely bearded and tattooed patrons amongst the sea of grey suits or homeless carts.

Hawker Fare is one such place that has been gaining a reputation for their food, an asian fusion mix that, surprisingly, uses some ingredients that aren’t universally palatable, i.e. pickled mustard greens (which, by the way, is delicious). If it’s strange enough to intrigue you, please go for it!

This restaurant is a mix of convenient and elevated weekday lunch joint, and a trendy and cheap place for a dinner date around Uptown Oakland, located at the corner of 23rd and Webster St. Most dishes are $10 or under. There is nothing too elaborate on the decor, black ceils and yellow walls with large posters, Empire of the Sun and other indie pop/rock music playing, and lively discussions all around. This place fosters conversation, and with about 10 people in the venue, it was loud.

Tables are set around, some in the sun, others along a large shared cushioned bench. There is a flair for the trendy, down to the piercings and full-sleeve tattoos of the servers. Wow, I really want a tattoo now.

I ordered the 24 hour pork belly, and threw a fried egg ($1.50) on top of it. This seems to be how you eat here, with an egg on it.

Service was fundamental. The cutlery was brought with and table wiped when I approached the table. They brought water without my asking. Food came out fairly quickly, a definite benefit for those on a lunch break. The food came in a large white bowl. The four pieces of pork belly cascading on top of each other, dark with seasoning. The mustard greens rest aside the rice and pork, with pieces of celery intermixed. Cilantro garnish was tucked to the side, and a fried egg balanced on top of it all. The presentation just screams – look at all the protein I will provide you!

The mustard greens had a familiar vinegary fermented taste for those accustomed to these types of Asian vegetable sides. The celery offered a fresh and clean balance to the mustard greens. The pork was interesting. When the meat portion was eaten, it was actually a little tough. However, it is divine rule that fat makes all things good, and this is what transpires here. The pork fat held its deliciously gelatinous consistency while flaking off the other parts of the meat, and the taste was of buttery sapid flavor. The pepper seasoning on the pork belly is all the more apparent as it dances along your taste buds. The fried egg was gooey! Clean and unseasoned, the entire role of the fried egg was to dispense its yolky ambrosia all over the rice and friends in the bowl.

Runny egg yolk, like pork fat, has divine rule of making everything better.

With the total bill to just under $12, Hawker Fare is an affordable, trendy, and tasty place to grab a “treat yo-self” Friday lunch or a cheap but cool “I know Oakland” date. This is probably the fourth time I’ve eaten here and I always enjoy my time.

2300 Webster St Oakland, CA 94612
http://www.hawkerfare.com/

My mom always told me not to waste food. It’s amazing how much food goes to waste in America. 34 million tons of food waste is produced in America, and only 3% of that is recovered. The rest goes to landfills, contributing to trash and the production of methane gas.

I’m sure their moms told them not to waste food either.

It’s not just to food thrown out, but the fact that all the resources that went into the production of it is wasted as well.

If you think how much energy, soil, and water goes into all the vegetables, fruits, and grains, it accounts for a lot. Tons of water goes into just plants, so went you think about watering and harvest all those plants for the consumption of animals, who later would be slaughtered for meat, it’s absolutely insane to even consider wasting food.

I may be sounding too drastic here, as I firmly believe in eating until you’re full, not when your plate is clean, but that comes into putting less on your plate (however, I am guilty for overeating many times). I just want people to be more aware that wasting food goes so much more than what is being thrown away.

Now, consider all the people that go hungry in America, let alone the world. If the food, instead of being wasted, goes to hungry mouths, then we can save a lot of money and lives. Less programs needed for the hungry because there’s less hungry people. More people focusing on other aspects of their lives such as work, getting an education, or anything else because they are no longer worried about food.

So, where did this come from?

Well, there are two things that have stuck with me.

I have a grape fruit tree where I live in San Jose. I remember one day as I returned home, I noticed how many grapefruits have fallen. Since I don’t really eat it, they just sit there on the floor, rotting. All this food can go to people who really need them, and even if I did eat them, there is no way I can eat a whole tree of grapefruit.

Another trigger happened yesterday actually. I was at the mall going some lat minute Christmas shopping (I know, crazy) and as I was trying to get my foursquare to load up an Express coupon, I decided to buy a pizza pretzel. While in line, they made new pizza pretzels, which got me excited as I will have fresh ones. However, they took the pizza pretzels just sitting there, and proceeded to toss it, or placed it somewhere under the counter away from customers. I presumed that they tossed it, and all I could think about was how many people would’ve loved to have those perfectly fine pretzels.

The pictures were from a BBQ my roommate had in San Jose. I am so serious about saving food that after everyone left or fell asleep, I took the time to wrap and preserve all the food…

So it’s about time I posted some more things from San Jose, seeing as how I’ve been living here for a few months now. One weekend (I believe) I wanted to try something new. For the 10th largest city by population in America, there has to be some good eats around here, right?

With trusty ol’ yelp, I found this local pizza place. Cheap, easy, and delicious – the pizza.

This is actually attached to a liquor store, the back room of it.

Lots of variety in toppings, artichoke hearts included! With anything, you can get it by the slice or the pie.

At work.

Bacon and garlic pizza!

Linguica and dried-tomatoes. Linguica is a milder version of pepperoni.

BBQ Chicken, bacon, with pineapple

Their famous “Slice of Heaven” with bacon, dried tomatoes, basil. Their most popular pie, and definitely my favorite!

Bibo’s NY Pizza
601 Bird Ave
San Jose, CA 95125

I love fried chicken. I wish fried chicken skin clears your skin and helps you lose weight. That would be an ideal world to live in.

Pioneer Chicken is a chain establishment that use to have much more prominence. Nowadays, it’s more of a novelty, and alas, I discovered this delicious place after its prime. Better late than never, right? They still know how to fry a good bird.

This was the stop after I flew back into town. My brother picked me up from the airport and wanted to get food as he tired of always eating Chinese food at home. I use to think that, until I moved to San Jose, where there is a great lack of quality Chinese when compared to the 626.

But this post is about fried chicken, amazing comfort food.

Mashed potatoes, cole slaw, and biscuits!

Look at that skin? That figure slimming skin!

I’m not sure what they add to it, if anything at all, but the chicken here is crispy on the outside, yet retains all the moist meats and flavors inside. Biscuits were great too, not too hard, fluffy – and I usually don’t like the biscuits that come with the chicken anyways.

Pioneer Chicken
904 S Soto St
Los Angeles, CA 90023

I’ve been getting a little homesick being in San Jose now,  and one of the things I miss the most is the food. I’v been meaning to post this piece on Mama’s Lu for a while, and better late than never, I believe.

My parents always order a lot of food. Partly it is because they always take it back – food is never wasted in my house, but also due to how they grew up. They were less affluent then, and food was harder to come by. In a sense, this splurge on food is to show that they’ve made it in America. The aspect of never wasting food also stems from that beginning, but I digress.

These things are the best way to start a meal – sweet and sour soup, roasted peanuts, and cucumbers. Oolong tea, of course.

Sautead leafy seasonal vegetables. I believe the direct translation is “common vegetable” though I’m not quite sure what vegetable this is. It’s like spinach, but with a heartier stalk. This is actually one of my favorite dishes, though my mom tends to not order vegetables at restaurants, as she wonders what the point is since she could make it at home. I persist, and it makes me feel less guilty with the following dishes to come.

Stir fried thick noodles with beef, bean sprouts, and green onions. I don’t usually like fried noodles unless it’s the wider variety. I remember eating this dish constantly as a kid. I was also a fat kid.

I don’t even know the name of this thing, but it’s kind of like a burrito and an egg roll put together. The wrap is fluffy, the insides stuffed with beef and cilantro, all fried and delicious. Two words that always work together.

Xiao long bao  - the king of dumplings. I would eat these steamed pork buns until I get sick or explode. Since it’s impossible to get sick on these, explosion is the only option. Burst of glory, juicy steamy, dipped in ginger and vinegar glory.

Even more dumplings (yes, we got two orders of the steamed pork buns, along with other dumplings. We order a lot of food.

When this came out, we were kind of surprised we got it. Another dish with beef and green onions. Delicious? Yes. Would go great with rice, but I was bursting at this point, riding the bliss.

Mama’s Lu
153 E Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91755

I didn’t hear about this place through word of mouth on online. How did I find out about this place? While I was driving by it in my process of discovering San Jose, I saw people run to this humble restaurant with long lines. I repeat. RUN.

Who runs for falafels?

Because of the high expectations of this place, I ordered too much food.

I ordered 3 additional falafel balls, because, you know, the sandwich is not enough.

Pita crisps – peppery, very very crispy, and overflowing.

The banana shake is hands-down the best thing ever. This is saying a lot because I don’t usually prefer sweet things, and I hardly drink shakes. This banana milk shake is amazing.

Bites taken of the falafel sandwich. I know, this looks more savage than anything. The falafel give it a nice crunch and this pita is holding a lot of falafel goodness. This is my attempt to take a few bites so you can see what it is inside, aka, fresh kill.

Stuffed meal.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what to make of the meal, delicious as it was. I realized through this meal that my palate is not as well-versed in Middle Eastern cuisine, though the majority of those who patron this institution were not of Middle Eastern descent. I actually found it on the oily and salty side, however, it’s also coming from someone who just found out that falafels are vegetarian. Would I come back? Definitely. I want to try the falafel ball again and order one of their gyros. I may have been riding the excitement of the craze. Must re-observe the food.

Falafel’s Drive In
2301 Stevens Creek Blvd
San Jose, CA 95128

Himilayan cuisine tucked behind the busy street of Colorado in Pasadena. This place is a real find. Cheap lunch buffets with amazing food.

Steps to peace and love!

Plate number 1!

Beautiful beautiful naan bread.

What’s that meat in all that sauce? Goat meat. It has a stronger texture and gamy taste, but I enjoy gamy meats and this is no exception.

This roasted chicken repeats on our plates. It is that good. Chick peas are also a favorite.

I think this was my 3rd plate? I’m not quite sure, but I definitely overindulged myself. Truth be told, I think I would’ve been able to have another plate. Also, self-control. Three is a lucky number anyways, and dessert plates don’t count.

Tibet Nepal House
36 E Holly St
Pasadena, CA 91103

An unassuming pho restaurant, with nothing going for it except tradition…

And a kickin bowl of pho.

This is the Vietnamese coffee they serve, as well as this shrimp bread which I find hilarious just looking at.

I got the noodle soup with crab. I didn’t know it was a whole crab just tossed in there. Kind of looks like it’s just hanging out. The bowl was very delicious, as is the crab. Full pho flavors, and I appreciate the massive greens.

Beef pho. Strong staple.

This is fish paste wrapped around a sugar cane and sauteed. Verdict – approved.

Deep fried fish. My parents cannot live without.
Pho Nguyen Hoang
401 W Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776

The Mid-Autumn Festival this year falls on September 12th, where the moon is supposedly the brightest. It is a Chinese tradition on this night to eat moon cakes under the sky, watching the moon.

Full moon!

This is the moon cake my mom gave me when I was visiting last Labor Day. This is the only brand she buys.

First bite under the moon! Flash needed because of the darkness. Mine was red bean with an egg yolk.

Did you have a moon cake tonight? What kind of cake was yours?