Mt. Everest Restaurant

Beth and I went to Berkeley to attend Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant 50th Anniversary Tour. We arrived early to get convenient on-street parking, and then headed to Mt. Everest Restaurant, which was on the way to the concert hall.

 

That's my honeyed naan on the left, and Beth's plain naan on the right.

 

For her dinner, Beth chose Lamb Saag.

I had the Chicken Momo, which were served with a very spicy sauce.

Dinner was delicious, and the concert was terrific. Arlo is a talented musician and storyteller. We had ordered our tickets separately from Goldstar with Karma codes which we sent each other, but the box office cheerfully agreed to exchange them for two together. That left us sitting in the very top row, but center, with an excellent view of the stage. The seats in to our left were empty during the first act, but filled up after intermission. Our best guess is poverty-stricken students without tickets who came in during intermission. 

Lunch with Beth–Chim

Chim is the latest iteration of the Thai restaurant on the south side of Clay between Montgomery and Kearny. This was our first visit since the change in management.

We started with Tom Kha soup. It was served in this interesting chafing dish. You can't see it in the photo, but there is a flame in the bottom piece.

Lots of chicken in the soup!

We followed the soup with Pad Thai with shrimp.

Our check came with slices of watermelon, which we gobbled before we remembered to take a picture. It was very sweet watermelon, even though the color was a light pink.

Chim is open for lunch and then closes for a brief time before reopening for dinner. As you can see from the picture they are open to guests with dietary restrictions and ready to provide you with healthy homemade eats. Enjoy!

Lunch with Beth–Fenix

We decided to try the Eastern European food at Fenix, on the corner of Commerical and Leidesdorff. The interior is very pleasant, with lots of art on the walls and lighting provided by crystal chandeliers. We ordered at the counter and then chose a table. As usual, we ordered two different dishes and shared both.

Our first dish was a pilaf with lamb, which we forgot to take a picture of until we had loaded our plates. The food here is served in foil-lined baskets, but when we told the waitress we were going to share, she immediately brought us ceramic plates.

The pilaf was followed by an order of beef pelmeni. Both dishes were accompanied by a tomato and cucumber salad. The food at Fenix is tasty and well-balanced and if you're in the mood for an Arabian adventure, check them out.

  

  

Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day April 14, 2015

I arrived at Macy's basement about 4:00, and the line was all the way back to the Mexican restaurant! Even thought the line moved steadily, it took half an hour to get to the ice cream. I prefer ice cream without inclusions, but but there wasn't anything plain on the menu, not even (shudder) vanilla. So I chose the new "Tonight Dough" flavor, which is very busy but also surprisingly good. I thought about getting back on line for a second scoop, but by the time I finished my cup, the line was even longer. The word is out! Ben and Jerry's is awesome ice cream and also awesome for sharing it with ice cream lovers everywhere.

The Tonight Dough ice cream
Caramel & Chocolate Ice Creams with Chocolate Cookie Swirls &
Gobs of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough & Peanut Butter Cookie Dough

I crossed the street after leaving Macy's and walked past Union Square on my way home. This heart is at the southwest corner of the square.

Lunch With Beth–Americano

It was a nice day for a walk, so Beth and I headed over to Hotel Vitale, in the first block of Mission Street, to try out the Express Lunch at Americano. We don't usually spend this much on lunch (except for the occasional crab splurge), but the reviews were excellent and the lunch turned out to be well worth the price.

Elegant Place Setting

I chose the Quatro Formaggi Panini with a green salad on the side. The Express Lunch comes with a small mandarin and two house-made, chewy cookies already wrapped to take away for later.

Beth went with the Grilled Chicken Panini with a green salad. Soup is also an option.

The salad greens were amazingly fresh. Americano buys them daily from the Farmers Market.

Cookies–one chocolate, one vanilla

The food was excellent and the service was attentive. If you're looking for a fine dining lunch experience that won't take hours, Americano is the place for it.