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We went to Cassis, a French restaurant in San Francisco in the neighborhood of the synagogue we were attending that night for services.

Beautiful, modern stylings. Wonderful service. Terrific food. I had a green salad along with the lasagna entree. This lasagna was nothing like I have ever eaten before. It came in a large ramekin, and was verrry yummy.

I didn’t like the fact that the tables are so close to one another; that seems to be something a lot of restaurants do. There’s a long couch, and the tables are set along that for maximizing the crowd count.

I don’t care for Turkish or middle-Eastern food, so it’s always a challenge for me to find something I want at such a place. I didn’t really care for any of the dishes, but chose a flank steak that was seasoned a bit too much. However, the rest of my party loved their lamb and eggplant, respectively.

It’s a family-run restaurant, really casual, that features prime rib and other steaks.

I loooved my prime rib, and the constant refills of coke. My dinner companions were less thrilled: they’re avoiding steak, and they weren’t that enthused with the chicken piccata.

No kidding. And they actually live up to that name, at least in our first visit. It’s Burmese food, not horribly spiced up. Lots of value and great tasting food.

Katy Lu’s Korner in Castro Valley – just a little deli, a little chaotic behind the counter, good if somewhat skimpy sandwiches.

Lark Creek Steak at San Francisco City Centre on Powell, one floor down from Nordstrom’s – upscale burger and steak place. Really nice beef with brilliant service.

La Pinata Restaurant in Alameda – typical Mexican restaurant. You have to order an upgrade on the tequila, apparently, to get a decent margarita.

Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge – this may be the real gem of the bunch even though it isn’t a restaurant. I had never heard of a tiki lounge before I stepped into this place; you’re instantly transported to those dives that offered great rum cocktails, and they use the original recipes.

It was a good place, it was a bad place.

We were swarmed with wait staff when we entered the restaurant. However, we couldn’t get our drinks, and we couldn’t get the primary waiter’s attention when we needed it during dinner.

I’d like to try it again. Maybe it was an off night.

I had been here once more with a friend who swears by this place. I thought it was nice, but…no parking.

A friend took me there today. Parking right outside. Very hot outside, but open doors meant sort of cool inside (although the flies would congregate). Wonderful choices, and my steak sandwich was de-lish.

Fox Trap in San Francisco. Fabuloso.

The Montclair Egg Kitchen, which is usually hopping during breakfast, now has dinner service 5 times a week.

And nobody seems to know this.

When they first started doing this last year, they had added a few hot items (1 beef dish, 1 pasta), but now they have a whole new menu. I had the sliced flat iron steak. Very nice!

on the way to Phoenix. Chopstick House in San Dimas, right off 57. Pretty decent American Chinese food.

And a little cafe in Chiriaco Summit that was started in the ‘30’s. We had a simple breakfast there. Pretty cheap, pretty good.