Broccoli & Chocolate

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Review: The Ranch

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Atmosphere: 3/5   ♦   Service: 4/5   ♦   Food Quality: 3/5   ♦   Value: 3/5
Times Visited:  One   ♦   Will I Return?:  Possibly
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The Ranch signHoly moly, I’ve finally done it. I’ve been to The Ranch. How is it that I’m a born and bred Hayward-ian and I’ve never been to The Ranch? If you’re a local you’ve surely seen and/or been to this place—the huge cow head on the sign (which, incidentally, I didn’t get a picture of) along Mission Boulevard at the corner of Jackson is hard to miss.

The Ranch has been around since 1948 and—prepare for history lesson—much of the random farm equipment and gold-rush-looking junk that adorns the walls was apparently donated by local farmers and ranchers of the day. This made me a good deal more excited to gaze at the seemingly-dangerous-in-an-earthquake decorations. This isn’t Applebee’s, folks, this is Hayward history…. 

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Review: Claim Jumper

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Atmosphere: 4/5   ♦   Service: 4/5   ♦   Food Quality: 4/5   ♦   Value: 3/5
Times Visited:  One   ♦   Will I Return?:  Sure
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Claim Jumper FremontAh, American cuisine.  Gotta love it sometimes, even when it threatens to clog your arteries and send you keeling over into your full rack of ribs.  Claim Jumper is a large chain restaurant, which doesn’t usually qualify for the old B&C treatment.  I thought I’d take the time, however, to just say a few words about CJ, since it’s a bit of a special place…. 

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Review: Emil Villa’s Hickory Pit

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Atmosphere: 2/5   ♦   Service: 3/5   ♦   Food Quality: 3/5   ♦   Value: 3/5
Times Visited:  A million   ♦   Will I Return?:  Probably at some point
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Emil Villa's HaywardAh, the Hickory Pit.  At least that’s what my family’s always called this Hayward Establishment on Mission Boulevard, just near the intersection of Jackson and Foothill.  If you look on the actual sign as it stands today, the words “Hickory Pit” do not appear.  It rather says “Emil Villa’s (world famous) California Barbecue”.  Did it used to say “Hickory Pit”?  I need some comments from the peanut gallery on this one.

Regardless, the Pit (that’s what Grandma used to call it) hasn’t changed a bit since it opened in who-knows-what decade.  It is yet another Hayward establishment that’s hanging on to the past with its tan vinyl booths, checkered tile floor, and old-fashioned food…. 

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A Scrumptious Weekend in Marin

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For Mother’s Day this year, broccoli and chocolate took a voyage with mom to Point Reyes in Marin County.  Though only about an hour and a half away from the East Bay, the Marin coast is as rural and beautiful as just about anywhere in the world.  We had a fabulous time and mom was glowing.  But, back to the point—we had some excellent food that B&C needs to know about.

First Stop: Marin French Cheese

Forget Google when you want good cheese—she will only mislead you when you get directions to Marin French Cheese Company.  Using the directions on the website, find this lone establishment in the rolling greenery of Marin County.  … 

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Review: Oliveto (Cafe)

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Atmosphere: 3/5   ♦   Service: 3/5   ♦   Food Quality: 3/5   ♦   Value: 2/5
Times Visited: One  ♦   Will I Return?: Not Likely
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Oliveto is a fancy cafe and restaurant in Oakland, just off Highway 24, that has a bit of a reputation.  It’s a bit fancier than I normally shell out for,  but my friends had heard good things so we went to check it out.

The facility is on a corner lot on College Avenue just near a Bart station and it’s signage does not lend itself well to being seen in the daytime.  We arrived in three separate cars and no one saw it on the first try.  It has a larger (though I didn’t see the extent) restaurant on the 2nd floor and a very small cafe on the ground floor with an even smaller amount of outdoor seating.  We had wanted to try the restaurant proper but found that it was not open for lunch on Sundays.  So we settled for the cafe…. 

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News: Mimi’s Cafe Free Breakfast Deal

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Update: Mimi’s is now closed.

This is just a teeny quick note about Mimi’s because I thought it was such a good deal that I should share it with the internet.

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Mimi’s is a total chain restaurant, no buts about it.  There’s just as much crap pasted to the walls and artificial pep in the hostess’ smile as at Applebee’s, Marie Calendar’s or TGI Friday’s.  But at Mimi’s Cafe they offer a free breakfast deal if you join their online club.  I know, I hate online clubs too.  I don’t want junk mail or a thousand emails a day, and I don’t want to be sold to a bunch of other spam lists.  I can’t attest to the last of the three, but I’ve only gotten 2 emails from them in the past few weeks, and I didn’t even give them my mailing address…. 

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Review: Nona’s Kitchen

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Update: Nona’s is now closed.

Atmosphere: 4/5   ♦   Service: 4/5   ♦   Food Quality: 4/5   ♦   Value: 4/5
Times Visited: Two   ♦   Will I Return?: Sure
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Nona’s Kitchen is a cute little restaurant tucked quietly into a shopping center way out in Pacifica.  First of all, I’ve lived in the Bay Area for most of my life and I had no idea where Pacifica was before my friend moved out there.  Furthermore, I had no idea that a city in the Bay could be so freaking far away from Hayward and still be considered an official part of the Bay Area.   Regardless, now I know about it and I’m glad that my introduction to Pacifica was via this yummy café…. 

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Review: Hs Lordships

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Atmosphere: 5/5   ♦   Service: 4/5   ♦   Food Quality: 4/5   ♦   Value: 4/5
Times Visited: One   ♦   Will I Return?: I’d be happy to
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Hs Lordships is an enormous restaurant and banquet facility out on the Berkeley marina, situated happily on a tiny sliver of land next to the Berkeley pier and surrounded by water on three sides with views of the City, the bridges, and Berkeley.  Their main deal is a surf and turf sort of situation, but during this visit I didn’t even lay eyes on the menu for one moment.  That’s right, we went for the Lunch Buffet.

This place has a lunch buffet to end all lunch buffets.  According to my family, the place is usually really quiet on weekdays, despite the amazing spread of food available Monday through Friday for an extremely reasonable price ($17 or so a person).  The day we went, however, must have been “work Christmas party” day or something because the place was packed.  There must have been hundreds of people in the restaurant, parked in front of their white tablecloths in packs of 4, 6, 10, and 20.  It was a bit of a madhouse.  And like amateurs, my party of six walks in with no reservations at 12 noon…. 

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