We went back to Athena Grill, and took along some friends. Appetizer pita was served with hummus, tirokafteri, meltizanosalata, and tzatziki dips. All but the hummus were delicious. The tzatziki was especially laden with garlic.
This is our friend’s moussaka. He said it was pretty good.
The South Bay also boasts quite a bit of good Indian cuisine. We’re lucky to have an Indian grocery nearby, as well as a small Indian restaurant. I needed to pick up some fennel seed from the store. At the checkout, I asked if they had some samosas for sale. The gentleman said no, but I could buy them at the restaurant just a few doors down.
Hot out of the oil, these are deep fried dumplings filled with potatoes and peas and Indian spices. It comes with two sauces, a minty green sauce and a sweet, tangy tamarind sauce. I couldn’t resist eating a second.
Aloha, Nate.
Another great thing about living in San Jose is the absolute abundance of Vietnamese food here. Especially in the King and Tully Rd area of East San Jose. This is some Vietnamese take-out from Huong Lan.
Can’t give you the Vietnamese names, but the one on the left is a roll with grilled chicken in the middle, wrapped with lettuce, and wrapped again with a rice flour roll that was more stringy than solid. The topping is green onions and minced dried shrimp.
The middle is a summer roll with shrimp, lettuce and mint wrapped in rice paper and covered with peanut sauce.
The right is just flat rice sheets folded over and topped with fried shallots. Nothing to complain about, including the price.
Huong Lan makes great banh mi (sandwiches) too.
Aloha, Nate
We wanted to go to Oakland Chinatown for dim sum recently, but were hesitant of the crowds at Peony. We ended up going to East Ocean Restaurant in Alameda (an island just a stone’s throw west from Oakland). We arrived at 10 am and were seated immediately.
One thing about dim sum around here – they usually just roll out the “standard” stuff until it gets closer to lunchtime. Here’s our standard radish cake, siu mai, cheong fun, and beef meatball.
