Mayfield Bakery and Cafe, Palo Alto

I went to see my long time friend at Los Altos hill yesterday.  She and I went to this really nice cafe restaurant in Palo Alto for lunch.   There were not many customers when we arrived before noon.  At 12:30pm the place was already packed.  We were seated at the last booth on the right of the picture below.



My friend had been here before. She was going to order the thin pizza but decided to order the samething I ordered.

Grilled California Yellow Tail, Leek Fondue,Wilted Fava Leaves, Shimeji Vinaigrette, $19

The dish was well presented with a little bit of vinaigrette taste.   It would be pefect if the fish is little bit undercooked.  I always like my fish medium rare but they had cooked it medium.  It was still ok not too dry.  I like the fresh vegetable and they were just cooked right.  Very nice combination dish.

The bread they served was just unbelievable good with thick crust.  The sourdough bread was only a slightly sour.  It's really hard to explain the fantastic taste of the bread. 

For dessert, my friend ordered the Warm Sticky Toffee Pudding with carmael sauce, Vanilla Gelato, $8.00


This is way too sweet.  If you don't like something too sweet, skip this one.

I ordered the Citrus Crème Brulee, Madeleines $8.00

I like this dessert.  This had a generous portion and citrus flavor.  It was smooth and not too sweet with a thin sugar crust on top.  It came with two pieces of madeleines, chewy and nice citrus flavor too. 

The bakery next door prepares all the desserts and bread at the cafe.  There were big slection of buns,pastries and desserts.   I bought these buns home afterward.   They each tasted differently and were really good. 

Left to right: sugar bun, brown sugar bun, hot cross bun ( Price around $2+ each)

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This place is located in Town & Country, which is closed by Stanford Shopping Mall. It would be nice to have breakfast or coffee breaks after shopping in the area. Ask for weeknight Harvest Dinners if you want to enjoy and get a better deal for a complete dinner

Mayfield Bakery and Cafe
Town and Country Village

855 El Camino Real
Palo Alto, CA 94301
(650) 853-9200

Bun Bo Hue Vietnamese Deli

After our big feast at the Boiling crab.  We went and find this deli which was known for their excellent bread and sandwiches. This little Vietnamese deli was just on the back side of the Boilign Crab.

After all the saltiness from the "whole shebang", I wanted a cold drink and my friend said her colleague loves to drink Avocado bubble drink.  I decided to try it.  Oh my goodness.  It tasted so declious with a bit of rich but refreshing taste.  I asked the owner what's in it.  He said only milk, sugar and whole avocado.  That was one recipe I have to try to make at home.

We both ordered the sandwich for our kids.  I ordered the number 1 combo sandwich and it was about one foot long.  I had tried a small bite of the sandwich.  The bagguette was crunchy with really fine grain. I have to remember to come to this place again to buy more sandwiches the next time I come to The Boiling Crab.

Bun Bo Hue Vienamese 

(408) 270-7100

2060 Tully Rd, San Jose, CA 95122

The Boiling Crab - San Jose

When my friend mentioned that we should go to this restaurant for dinner again and I was already drooling.  We both couldn't wait for another day and decided to go that night.  This Cajun crawfish chain restaurant is owned by Vietnamese-American.  It has now grown to 10 locations in Texas and California.
It was popular in the Southern California and my friend brought me here few years ago when it open its first chain in the bay area.

The first time we went there we had to wait for 2 hours.   We decided to get there early this time and we were really happy to find that there was no line at 5:30pm.

The nautical decor was quite interesting to me and made me feel like I am at fisherman wharf.  There were already many customers inside the restaurant.  The waiter first set up the table by covering the table with butcher paper.  She then brought us bibs and a roll of paper towel  after handed us the menu.

Here's the menu.  Most seafood are $9.99 a pound and others are also within reasonable price.

We ordered our favorites: one pound of shrimp and 4 corns with the "whole shebang" which has lemon pepper, canjun spices,garlic and butter.  They were served in a plastic bag and no plate or fork were given at all. Everyone just peeled and tossed the shells on the table.

 The fish and chips were really good and portion was big for  $9.99.  They were really good.

We also ordered the fried oysters for $9.99 a dozen.  That was so delicious and I wished to get another order.

We tried the clams.  It was good but it was really salty with the "whole shebang".

We both were really stuffed after eating all these.  We couldn't resist ourself ordered some corns and shrimps to go for the family.

That was a very good dinner except I would have to remember to tell them to cut the salt in the "whole shebang" next time I come again.  We had tried their fried sweet potatoes and crabs last time.  The crab was overpriced in my opinon but was really good if you don't mind the price.

There is another Boiling Crab now open in the bay area.  This restaurant is so popular any night that unless you show up before 6p.m. It can be a 2-hour wait so plan to get there as early as possible.

The Boiling Crab
(408) 532-6147
1631 E Capitol Expy, #101
San Jose, CA 9512

Rosie McCann's Irish Pub - Santana Row

After days of raining and windy weather, the sun finally decided to shine on the day I met with my friends for lunch at Santana Row.  I have always loved to come to this part of town just to enjoy a peaceful walk and window shopping on a sunny day. 

It's always in the early morning whenever I come to Santana Row and I didn't realize it was so difficult to find a parking space at lunch hour.  I was supposed to meet my friend at noon time but it took me a long time to find a parking space.  It was already 12:30 when I finally found my way to Rosie McCann's Irish Pub.

It was a big place for a pub and one would not miss a big bar once you walked into the door.  There were not many customers for lunch inside the pub.  I met up with two friends from the UK and a friend who just moved here from New York.  It was interesting to hear four of us speaking English with different accents.  Although we were all speaking English, my New York friend and I were having a little hard time understanding one of the UK friend's heavy accent.  Apparently she's from a different part of UK than our other UK friend.  It was so funny that the other UK friend had to translate for us whenever we seemed puzzled. 

It seemed strange to me that three of them ordered beer or some kind of alcoholic drinks at a Chinese restaurant while we had Dim Sum for lunch last week, but they didn't order any of that at the pub this time when there were all kinds of alcoholic beverages here.  We all ordered soda this time. 

I ordered my favorite seafood pasta as usual.  The portion didn't look impressive when the dish arrived, but it was very rich and delicious.  Both my UK friend and I could only finish half of the plate. 



My New York friend ordered this salmon; she said it was really good too. 

The other UK friend ordered a shepherd's pie.  A shepherd pie is a common English dish in which the potatoes were mashed and baked with ground meat and cheese.   I assumed it was good too, because they have always spend most of their weekend eating and drinking at this pub. 

Rosie McCann's Irih Pub

355 Santana Row

(408) 247-1706



Parcel 104

I had heard about this restaurant for quite some times but never had a chance to experience it.  After reading the reviews on  restaurants review sites, Wave and Zagat.  I met up with my friend who I haven't seen for long time for lunch at Parcel 104 down in Santa Clara.

This restaurant is located inside the Santa Clara Marriot Hotel.  We parked at the adjacent covered parking lot and walked to the restaurant.  The restaurant had a very nice contemporary atmosphere.  We were very surprised to be told that we needed to have a reservation to be seated in the dining room.  The place was basically empty at 11:30am.  We were offered to sit at the bar or lounge area, which was more casual, and we didn't mind to sit there for simple lunch.

Colombian Flan

There weren't many choices on the lunch menu.  I had the Angus skirt steak and my friend ordered the chuck burger.  At the end we ordered this most delicious, creamy  flan I ever had - Colombian Flan for dessert.  It was so nice to see my old friend and had a nice lunch at the same time.