I drove up to Berkeley to meet Dave Patterson for a short chat in the morning. I can't help but think of it as a nice bookend to this portion of my life - I started my career at Intel after chatting with Professor Patterson about the pros and cons of going to a small company versus a large company immediately after graduation. Now that I'm getting ready to leave Silicon Valley (for hopefully a more laid back pace of life), I thought it was fitting to have a chat with Dave again before I leave. After we were done, I wandered the campus a little and through the dorms that I lived a decade ago. I bumped into Professor Hilfinger (shook his hand), went up to the top of the Campanile (shook the hand of Lilian, the woman who has manned Sather Tower's elevator for as long as I can remember, and promised her I'd go up the UT Austin Tower), and told some random guy about the mirrored Fiat Lux underneath the Campanile awning. When I was ready to leave, I ate a German Frankfurter (3/4 beef, 1/4 pork, fresh garlic) from Top Dog (2503 Hearst Ave, Berkeley, CA‎ - (510) 843-1241‎) on the Northside of the Berkeley Campus.

I then brought home several dogs for Tina's lunch (and apparently our dinner).

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What I Ate: April 13, 2009 (Top Dog)

Around lunch-time, I ran out to drop off a trunk load of stuff off at Goodwill. Afterward, I headed over to Erik's DeliCafe but they were closed (because it's Easter). I went one more block to Popeyes Chicken and picked up three pieces of spicy chicken with a corn-on-the-cob. (I grabbed Tina a Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya and Mashed Potatoes and Gravy.)

For dinner, we headed down to New Tandoori Cafe (5134 Stevens Creek Blvd, San Jose, CA‎ - (408) 247-9010) because we wanted something reasonably quick. Tina ordered a new item - the Chicken Desi Burger - which was quite tender and flavorful (but it took a long time for it to come out). The chicken was heavily seasoned in "Indian" spices. I ordered the Lamb Seekh Kabob Wrap with Garlic Naan (which is what I normally get). As usual, it was tasty.

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What I Ate: April 12, 2009 (Popeye's, New Tandoori Cafe)

Tina and I split the left over pizza from last night.

At dinner, we drove up to Redwood City and ate at the Old Port Lobster Shack (851 Veterans Blvd, Redwood City, CA‎ - (650) 366-2400). Russell Deutsch, the owner of Old Port, was there, so I asked him what he thought was the best item on the menu. He suggested we try a lobster tail with barbecue. Having had a fair amount of barbecue during the last year, I wasn't really looking forward to trying the 'cue at a restaurant specializing in East Coast seafood… but I ordered the Shack Tail with Half Rack of Ribs. The lobster tail was cooked just right - soft and tender and no where close to becoming chewy and rubbery. The tail was "stuffed" so it had a flavorful topping that worked well with the lobster. The barbecue isn't quite ready for prime time. The smoke flavor isn't prominent enough for me - I prefer fruit wood or hickory or mesquite smoke while they used oak which, I think, provides a milder smoke flavor. The spice rub they used was also a little light for our taste - most of the ribs flavor relies on the BBQ sauce that you pour on at the table. I made a few suggestions to help bring the BBQ to the next level and, hopefully, they'll improve their barbecue in the future.

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What I Ate: April 11, 2009 (Old Port Lobster Shack)

I met Daphne, the last manager I had before leaving Intel, for lunch at The Prolific Oven (3938 Rivermark Plz, Santa Clara, CA‎ - (408) 986-8388) where I had a California Chicken Sandwich.

After a full day of packing, we ordered a medium sized pizza from Pizz'a Chicago (1576 Halford Ave, Santa Clara, CA‎ - (408) 244-2246). I chose to have a half-and-half pizza made with The Fridge (their combination pizza) and The Sun Times (Pesto sauce, Italian sausage, red onions, pineapple & fresh basil). I had never had The Sun Times before and felt it was a bit mild compared to The Fridge.

Packing, packing, and more packing. Had a late lunch of reheated Korean food.

Dinner was a very late McDonald's Southwest Chicken sandwich with tomato and lettuce (eaten with a glass of Mumm Sparkling Wine because we ran out of wine boxes).

Today is going to be a treat for those of you following this blog. I eat at two South Bay locations that are unique.

After my friend Jean-Yves heard that I had lunch at Google a little over a week ago, he insisted that I join him for lunch at one of the better restaurants on the Google campus. I joined him today at Cafe 7 where fresh sushi was served. Was the sushi quality any good? I'd say it was as good as any decent sushi restaurant - which is astounding since they provide the meals for free. I salad was very nicely dressed with a sweet and tart dressing that paired will with the salty tobiko and fresh sashimi.

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What I Ate: April 8, 2009 (Google, Alexander's Steakhouse)

Food today was a little bit of a disappointment. At my request we headed over to Hard Knox Cafe (2526 3rd St, San Francisco, CA‎ - (415) 648-3770‎) which I've always had great to stellar quality food at. Today, we arrive a bit late (a little after 2pm) and the food was subpar. I had the Fried Chicken with Corn and Rice & Gravy. The cornbread that came with the meal was a bit too dense and tough (usually it's very tender and crumbly). The chicken itself seemed a bit over fried (but still quite tasty).

When I got home (around 9:00pm), Tina and I headed over to Acapulco (where Tina wanted to have the tortilla soup), but they were closed. We ended up at Chili's (around 10pm) and I ordered a half Mango Lemonade and half Sprite (which is a great combo) and Steak and Portabello Fajitas for dinner (which was so-so).

I fell asleep early last night, so I didn't get a chance to post what I ate. At lunchtime I had to make a quick trip to the data center, so Papa and I grabbed some lunch at the Los Compadres Taco Truck and ate it on the Embarcadero while overlooking the Bay. That's the last time I'll be doing that (at least for the foreseeable future).

For dinner, I ordered some food from a local Korean restaurant called Choi's Kitchen (3530 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA‎ - (408) 615-0200‎). I ordered jab chae, pa jun, and bulgogi.

I had to make a quick trip to Costco today, so I had a Costco hot dog and slice of pepperoni pizza for lunch.

We ate dinner with Tina's parent's friends in San Jose at Ma's Restaurant (1715 Lundy Ave # 168, San Jose, CA‎ - (408) 437-2499‎) which serves Islamic Chinese food. Ma's restaurant does a good job with the style of cuisine they offer:
da bing (big/thick pancake) - a staple in Islamic Chinese restaurants. It's covered with sesame seeds and layered (with salt, oil, and scallions in between the layers). Order this.

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What I Ate: April 5, 2009 (Ma's Restaurant)

Today was another crazy day. I didn't get a chance to eat until we went to Dave and Rachel's new home in Walnut Creek (where I got to snack on some cheese and crackers prior to heading to dinner). We walked around downtown Walnut Creek for a few minutes before deciding on dining at Prima Ristorante (1522 North Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA‎ - (925) 935-7780‎).

We started off with some speck (smoked prosciutto).

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What I Ate: April 4, 2009 (Prima Ristorante)