Broccoli & Chocolate

restaurants * food events * news

Review: Sugar Mommie Cookies

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Cookies, you say? Let’s just take it easy and start with cupcakes. Well, that’s what I started with, but who knows where Sugar Mommie will take me in the future?

Cupcakes

Cupcakes!!

Last Friday, the Man Thang* and I went to Family House of Fish and Poultry in Hayward (which will be an entirely other story and post) and obtained a heavenly treat: one Red Velvet cupcake made by Sugar Mommie Cookies. For some reason my initial thought was that a $3.50 cupcake was a bit pricey. I have since reconsidered and now wonder how it is that Ms. Mommie can afford to sell much such a treat at such a low price. Cases for buying one of these cupcakes:… 

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Review: Millennium

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Atmosphere: 4/5   ♦   Service: 3/5   ♦   Food Quality: 5/5   ♦   Value: 4/5
Times Visited: One  ♦   Will I Return?:  Pretty please?
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Don’t you just love San Francisco? I sure do. It’s not in every bum town you find a vegetarian restaurant that offers the finest of fine dining. The Bay Area has such a variety of people and such a diversity of interests and specialties that the very best of everything is corralled right into the seven- by seven-mile area that is San Francisco. And it’s absolutely fabulous for those of us living on the fringes.

Millennium offers the best of the best for vegetarian food and even has a writer at the San Francisco Magazine quoted describing their menu as being able to, “intrigue even the most devoted carnivores among us”. Indeed, I challenge any carnivore with an open palette to make a reservation at Millennium. It is so amazingly good…. 

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Review: SF Underground Market

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Update: SF Underground Market is no longer active.

SF Underground Market isn’t exactly a restaurant. Actually, it isn’t anything close. But it’s a foodie event like no other and broccoli & chocolate just attended last Saturday for the first time.

Event Summary: “A venue where you can taste and purchase the food that is being produced in backyards and home kitchens in the Bay Area. Think a farmers market, but at night, with music and drinks.”

Sounds fun, right? It was. But it wasn’t everything I was hoping for. Here’s why:… 

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Review: Roosevelt Tamale Parlor

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Atmosphere: 4/5   ♦   Service: 3/5   ♦   Food Quality: 4/5   ♦   Value: 3/5
Times Visited: Two  ♦   Will I Return?:  Yes please!
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Wow. For so many reasons. Let’s quickly explore the wows about Roosevelt’s:

  1. It’s been around since 1919 (per their menu). Wow.
  2. Their tamales are really, really good. Wow.
  3. They do not have a website. Triple wow.

… 

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Review: Kokyo Sushi Buffet — Revisited

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Atmosphere: 4/5   ♦   Service: 3/5   ♦   Food Quality: 3/5   ♦   Value: 4/5
Times Visited:  Two* ♦   Will I Return?:  For Sure
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Since Kokyo Sushi Buffet does not have a website, my previously posted Kokyo Sushi Buffet review has been receiving a lot of traffic, no doubt from potential customers. As my offer to create cheap websites for local restaurants has gone thus far unanswered, I feel obligated to update readers and google searchers about my findings regarding Kokyo Sushi Buffet.

A second visit to Kokyo has yielded some information about their lunch buffet. My previous post was regarding the dinner buffet only and the lunch is slightly different. … 

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Review: La Imperial

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Update: La Imperial is now closed.

Atmosphere: 1/5   ♦   Service: 4/5   ♦   Food Quality: 2/5   ♦   Value: 3/5
Times Visited:  One  ♦   Will I Return?:  No, Thank You
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La Imperial* in Hayward has been around since the ’70s as per the dot matrix printing on the front of their menus. This is a difficult review for me because, like some other Hayward favorites (case #1, case #2), I don’t really like it. But some people are wholly devoted to this place, per their Yelp reviews. And since there’s nothing wrong with disagreeing, I’m going to tell you my side of the story…. 

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I will make you a website for $100

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Update: This offer is now expired. 🙂

To all the restaurants out there that don’t have a website: I WILL MAKE YOU A WEBSITE FOR $100. No, seriously. I’m sick and tired of looking up information for a restaurant (location, proper name, hours, menu) and having Yelp and AllMenus.com and Urbanspoon be my only window into your facility…. 

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Review: Mua

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Atmosphere: 4/5   ♦   Service: 3/5   ♦   Food Quality: 4/5   ♦   Value: 3/5
Times Visited:  Two  ♦   Will I Return?:  Sure
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Is it pronounced like what a cow says (mooo-a) or the way you say “me” in French (excusez-moi)?? I don’t know and, frankly, it doesn’t much matter since you pretty much get the gist either way. However you want to say it, Mua is located on Webster Street just next to 25th and Broadway in Oakland. This is one of these in-between neighborhoods that’s slowly growing to add to Oakland’s awesomeness — there are a some vacant building and unidentifiable/run-down businesses mushed in with sweet converted lofts, tiny art studios and chic restaurants and bars. Mua sort of dabbles a bit in all three of these latter fab categories.

Inside Mua

The main seating area of Mua seen from the stairs up to the mezzanine.

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Review: Kokyo Sushi Buffet

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Atmosphere: 4/5   ♦   Service: 3/5   ♦   Food Quality: 3/5   ♦   Value: 4/5
Times Visited:  One  ♦   Will I Return?:  For Sure
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KokyoThat’s right, this is the new sushi buffet place in Hayward! If you’re a Hayward-ite, you’ve driven by this numerous times; it’s the corner spot on the 2nd floor of the new shops surrounding the movie theater on B Street. And if you’re not in Hayward often, now you know that we have something mildly awesome — buffet sushi!

Let’s talk logistics. How does a sushi buffet work? I was skeptical because if there aren’t any patrons, the stuff sits there. And that’s no good with any food, let alone raw fishies. We went on a Sunday night and it was packed by the time we left (we were there early), and it’s been pretty full every time I’ve driven by. So, that will keep the food fresh right there, as long as it’s fresh to begin with…. 

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Review: JD’s

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Update: This restaurant has closed.

Atmosphere: 2/5   ♦   Service: 3/5   ♦   Food Quality: 3/5   ♦   Value: 3/5
Times Visited:  A Few   ♦   Will I Return?:  Likely
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JD'sJD’s can be found at 2837 Castro Valley Boulevard in (yep) Castro Valley, just next to the Chabot Theater. It’s true that we don’t have a large variety of good breakfast places around the mid-east Bay, but JD’s is as close as I’ve come to filling this niche.

Historically, I’ve always liked breakfast. In recent years, however, I find that a full egg, hash brown and toast meal makes me feel a bit queasy. Hence, I don’t patronize the breakfast foods, especially at restaurants, nearly as often as I used to. Regardless, if you’re looking for breakfast out on a lazy Sunday, JD’s isn’t a bad place to go…. 

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