Cycle 15 - Item 176 29 (Sat) June 2024 Giants Dog 2.5 at Harry's Hofbrau -Redwood City, California, USA- with DJ and DJ's friends Summer Holiday in the San Francisco Bay Area (Day 3 of 11) Day 1 (15.173 Sauteed Pea Sprouts with Garlic) Day…
In Redwood City. With the Family. Their first time ever in Northern California. The immediate objective is to escort DJ and three of his friends to compete in the finals of a global logic competition at Stanford University, while taking advantage of the opportunity to show the family my hometown, including San Francisco and Berkeley, and visit my best friend Hahn, who lives in Los Gatos, maybe even drop by my childhood home in Saratoga. The itinerary is packed, nearly every hour scheduled with activities. Stay tuned.
After spending the first 3 nights at a hotel in San Francisco, we'll be staying the next 4 nights at a house in Redwood City, near Stanford.
TRANSPORT
After checking out of the hotel this morning, we took an Uber down to Redwood City, directly to the car rental office, where I had reserved a minivan. But upon arrival, the office was closed.
WTF?!
Fortunately, Hahn lives nearby, and we already had plans for lunch, so he came out a bit earlier and took us to a different rental company, where we were fortunate to secure a minivan.
LUNCH
MJ Sushi is a Japanese restaurant. Specializes in American-style rolls.
Located at 2305 El Camino Real.
Seems like they could double the number of tables.
After sorting out the car, we joined Hahn and his family at the restaurant.
All drinks, except sake, are on the house!!
Having paid $19 for a can of beer at the ballpark yesterday, I found it impossible to believe that beer at MJ Sushi was free. Doesn't make any sense for a restaurant to give out something that customers are generally happy to pay for. Especially near a college campus. Even after we got the bill, I scanned through the items just to make sure they hadn't snuck in the charge.
CLICK TO ENLARGE
The food was very good. Fresh ingredients, expertly constructed. Best meal we've had thus far.
Deep-Fried Softshell Crab (3.0)
Negihama Roll (3.5) + Spicy Tuna Roll (3.5) + Hamachi Nigiri (2.5) + Albacore Nigiri (3.0)
Including tax and a generous tip (to offset the free drinks), the total bill came out to $269.90. For 7 people, that's $38.56 per person - a bargain, compared to restaurants in the city, such as Harborview ($68.34), Yank Sing ($57.53), Mel's ($37.16), or Denny's ($32.09). We were relieved to pay.
HOUSE
With 7 people (4 of us + 3 of DJ's friends), we rented a house. 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. Rentals in Palo Alto being too expensive, we found one in Redwood City at $1,649.95 for 4 nights = $58.92 per person per night.
Located at 714 Scott Avenue, about 8 km from Stanford.
DJ's friends had met up at SFO, shared an Uber to a mall near the house, and had lunch on their own.
We picked them up after lunch, dropped by Target to buy groceries, and checked into the house.
The living room.
My room (I'm the only one not sharing).
My bar.
The kitchen.
Wonder Bread!
Although I'm trying to limit consumption of processed meats, I'm looking forward to hotdogs and bologna sandwiches.
Pacifico Clara
DINNER
Harry's Hofbrau is an American restaurant. Serves "carvery" fare, such as roasted turkey, smoked ham, corned beef, etc, along with traditional sides, such as mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, etc. Founded 1954.
Seemed like just the place for our first dinner in the suburbs.
Located at 1909 El Camino Real, about 1.9 km from the house.
Earlier in the day, IZ suddenly got sick and puked all over the bedroom floor, then again in the bathroom sink. Never seen so much vomit. Because he'd eaten sushi for lunch, it had flecks of black from the seaweed - so gross. Without any plastic/rubber gloves, I had to clean it up barehanded.
Everyone else seemed fine, including Hahn's family, so it probably wasn't food poisoning from lunch, likely just accumulated stress.
Anyway, IZ stayed home for dinner, and W stayed him.
According to their website, the style of service is a hybrid of cafeteria and buffet.
The standard menu.
The daily specials.
I was struggling to decide - everything on the menu looked good - when the guy behind the counter emphatically insisted that we try the Prime Rib, available only on the weekend, exactly 5 portions remaining. Done deal.
Irresistible.
I steered the group towards back of the dining hall, for the obvious reason.
Upon the bartender's recommendation, Drakes Brewing Co 1500 Dry Hopped Pale Ale, produced in San Leandro, just down the street.
The food was good. The beef was perfectly cooked to medium-rare, leaning towards medium. Not quite as beefy as hoped, but still quite tasty. Paired nicely with mashed potatoes and gravy. Overall, a very comforting meal, classically American.
Mushrooms were kinda meh.
Ordering the most expensive item on the menu, the total came out to $168.44 (no tip), just $33.68 per person - a better value then what we had for lunch.
No comments:
Post a Comment