What to Eat, Part II

Each weekend starts off with a choice.

Breakfast

I'm usually a cereal and milk kind of person, but sometimes I want to have a hot meal. If I want something salty, I usually want to go get dim sum or even a traditional mandarin breakfast. Dim sum is usually more of a brunch type meal where small servings of dishes are served with tea. The dishes can be sweet, salty or savory, and can made of different meats like shrimp, pork, chicken or beef. Since the dishes are small you can order a bunch of dishes and try them out (if you are not familiar with the dishes that are available). At most restaurants, waitresses push around carts that contain a variety of dishes and they are used to lifting up the tops of the bamboo steamers to give you a peek. There is one cart that serves the more popular dishes like the Har Gow (shrimp dumpling that is pictured below on the top right) and the Cha Su Bow (barbequed pork bun).




I like to take my time whenever I go to dim sum, but I do feel some pressure sometimes to eat quickly and leave (obviously, the more turnover, the more profit the restaurant makes). It's nice to just sit back and relax and eat to my heart's content. The little packages of savory meats dipped in my soy sauce satiates and warms up my soul. Sometimes, I'll even be adventurous and order the tripe (pictured above on the top left), but the usual suspects like the bean curd sheets with pork (pictured above on the bottom right) and the chive and shrimp dumplings are always ordered.

If I'm in the mood for some comfort food, nothing is like the rice porridge (rice with pork and some thousand year old egg, a preseved egg). I have to say that not every place makes this well (as if there were a standard). I have to say that Loon Wah's porridge is the best I've had so far. They give you a big bowl and it's salty enough with a slight taste of the preserved egg and Dynasty's porridge is the worst because the porridge there is watery and doesn't have much flavor. Overall, my favorite places to eat dim sum in the South Bay are Joy Luck Place (Cupertino), Loon Wah (Cupertino), Dynasty Seafood (Cupertino) and Pan Tao (Sunnyvale). If you are up for an adventure, then Koi Palace in Daly City has some of the best dim sum around.

Taiwanese or Mandarin breakfast is a different animal. You usually start with a hot bowl of sweet or salty soy bean milk (Dou Jiang). I usually prefer the sweet variety because the salty one is an acquired taste (it's made of soy bean milk with bits of you tiaos and pickled vegetables - most people also put in some vinegar in the milk to make the milk curdle). Traditionally, you eat you tiaos (like long doughnuts, but these are crispy, chewy and more oily, which is an apt description as it literally means "grease stick") with the soy bean milk. You can also order a variety of dishes with your breakfast and I usually try to order the deep fried taro (usually served with some sweet and sour sauce), the fried radish or turnip cake (squares of soft and mushy rice cake mixed with turnip), and a green onion pancake (flatbread with bits of green onion). If I want something more salty, I'll also order Xiao Long Baos (steamed soupy pork dumplings - see my review of Hu Chiang Dumpling House) or some Bao Zi, or steamed buns (buns filled with chicken or pork. The buns themselves are not sweet like the ones served at dim sum). My favorite place to eat Taiwanese or Mandarin breakfast is at Hunan Home (Mountain View).

If I'm not in the mood for any Chinese type dishes, there are the usual standbys that serve American breakfast. I love eating a combination of sweet and salty in a meal. Pancakes or French Toast with banana or blueberries with a side of bacon and eggs and washed down with a good ol' cup of joe or freshly squeezed orange juice is just heaven. I really like the Original Pancake House when I want good pancakes (with a name like that it has to be). It's almost old school. The coffee is served with some real cream and they serve whipped butter and not margarine. I wouldn't go there for the omelettes, they are interesting but not particularly good in my opinion. It's hard to find a good breakfast place, but my favorite places are Stacks (Campbell), Sonoma Chicken Coop (Campbell) and the Original Pancake House (Cupertino and Los Altos).

Of course, if I'm not in the mood for a heavy meal, a quick jaunt down to Noah's Bagels and an order of a toasted sesame bagel with lox, tomatoes and capers and a cup of coffee will do just fine.