West Coast dining recommendations

I had occasion to take a business trip to the West Coast and tried several new eateries during the eight days on the road. Since I was with my boss, I wasn't able to take any photos of the food, but wanted to share the information with my fellow LTH-ers:

Newprt Bay restaurant
10426 Northup Way
Kirkland, WA 98033
Phone: (425) 827-2722
http://www.newportbay.com/
This place is a regional chain and serves a mean Sunday brunch and specializes in Dungeness Crab Eggs Benedict and Dungeness Crab omelettes. Both were amazingly good, but not inexpensive. It's in a weird neighborhood (a mish-mash of residential, commercial and interestate off and on-ramps) but worth trying to find. Halibut fish and chips were also strong.

Salty’s
3839 NE Marine Dr
Portland, OR 97211
(503) 288-4444
www.saltys.com
I realize now that this is a NW chain restaurant (I think there are two others on the west coast) but the seafood is fresh, the wine list representative of the area and the service top-notch. Add a tremendous view of the Columbia River while you're dining and it makes for a strong experience. Edition: I neglected to mention that Salty's is close to PDX airport so if one was flying in for a business lunch or dinner and then flying out soon thereafter, Salty's would be an excellent option.

Pause Kitchen and Bar
5101 N Interstate Ave
Portland, OR
971-230-0705
Located in one of the hip, up-and-coming neighborhoods in northeast Portland, Pause features an eclectic menu, several excellent craft beers on tap, local and CA wines and a cocktail menu that was a pleasant surprise. We had only appetizers but what we had was excellent. The room itself is of a Portland style shabby-chic. Service was terrific too.

Michael’s Landing
603 NW 2nd St
Corvallis, OR
541.754-6141
http://www.michaelslanding.com/
Michael's is located in the former trian depot just outside of downtown Corvallis. It's a nice location and the food here is very good. Their seafood chowder is delicious. The menu is a bit limited but leans toward the good stuff that's available locally. Not too pricey, either, so I always come back when in town.

Monti's Rotisserie
714 Village Ct
Santa Rosa, CA 707-568-4404
http://www.montisroti.net/
I really liked this place, though we were served a bottle of California Pinot Noir that was cloudy and the server wasn't inclined to open another one for us. The wine was not of the unfiltered variety so it shouldn't have been cloudy. Nonetheless, we didn't want to make a scene so we drank it anyway. The special of the evening was pomegranate glazed baby back ribs and they were delectable. Sides of veggies and garlic mashed pots were strong too. Not inexpensive, but it is the Sonoma Valley. Located in a strip mall, Monti's was a nice surprise.

The Slanted Door, Ferry Building #3 on The Embarcadero
San Francisco, CA
415.861.8032
I specifically reserved a luncheon at this restaurant after a positive recommendation from a friend. I was underwhelmed and the whole experience had an industrial feel to it. I had to call to confirm my reservation two days in advance. The place is a huge room that really doesn't have a nice view of the bay, the servers are like automatons and the food is just OK. I should have more carefully reviewed my fellow LTH-ers take on The Slanted Door as a shadow of its former self. Oh well, live and learn. The one really good thing was that parking is $2.50/hour with a validate ticket - that's insanely cheap for a major city!

Massimo Ristorante
1604 Locust St
Walnut Creek, CA
925-932-1474
http://www.massimoristorante.com/
I had heard good things about Massimo and the meal we had here was good. The food, atmosphere and service were solid but not exceptional. They are known for fresh pasta and two of the four of us enjoyed the tortellini special. Another diner said the wild salmon filet was delicious and the fourth had a pizza. The wine list leans heavily on CA and featured two of my favorites from Napa so I was happy.

Fahrenheit Ultra Lounge
99 E San Fernando St
San Jose, CA
http://www.fultralounge.com/
I wouldn't go back. This place is a bar that pretends to serve food. I had a chicken curry that was awful.

Osteria
Palo Alto, CA
I believe we were being served by the owner. We were a group of three that wanted to dine and talk and this guy kept interrupting us to push us into ordering. The appetizerd and entrees were very good but his pesetering ruined the evening. The guyu actually had the brass to reach across in front of me to pick up the tab after I had filled out the slip and placed it where he couldn't reach it because we were enjoying our conversation and weren't ready to leave. To top it off, the guy tapped me on the shoulder five minutes after picking up the tab and said he would appreciate it if we would leave as he had many customers waiting. There was a short line but we had been there only one hour! I won't be back.

Oak Tree Inn
1315 S Fair Oaks Ave.,
South Pasadena, CA 91030
(323) 682-2882
This was the best Chinese food I have ever eaten. We dined with a native of Hong Kong so she took care of ordering. One entree was a breaded and deep-fried whole "snowfish" that I saw the fishmonger deliver ten minutes before we ate it. Not inexpensive but very, very good. On the main drag of Fair Oaks in South Pasadena - drive a couple blocks north to the Chinese bakery and enjoy some fresh macaroons!

Sarducci's at the Depot
San Juan Capistrano, CA
http://www.capistranodepot.com/
A fun place that is right next to the Amtrak station in SJC. The menu features old standys with a California flair and the service is always good. Edit: You can catch the Amtrak train from LA to San Diego and get off at Sarducci's for lunch.

There you have it LTH! Wish I could have taken some pictures but this was a business trip and not a culinary vacation!
Davooda

The last entry on your list (Sarducci's) piqued my attention, as I had sent a link to this place to my GF recently, as we had been considering going to nearby Laguna Beach as part of an LA/SD trip and were looking for good restaurants to go to. She loved Laguna Beach the one time she was there, so we may end up going to LB for at least part of the trip if we do this trip. If we do, I'm hoping we can try Sarducci's.

Too bad you didn't stop in tiny Dunsmuir Ca.
A really great Asian Grocery/restaurant/bar, Sengthong's is there.
http://www.sengthongs.com/
http://www.sengthongs.com/?page_id=25

Davooda wrote:Oak Tree Inn
1315 S Fair Oaks Ave.,
South Pasadena, CA 91030
(323) 682-2882
This was the best Chinese food I have ever eaten. We dined with a native of Hong Kong so she took care of ordering. One entree was a breaded and deep-fried whole "snowfish" that I saw the fishmonger deliver ten minutes before we ate it. Not inexpensive but very, very good. On the main drag of Fair Oaks in South Pasadena - drive a couple blocks north to the Chinese bakery and enjoy some fresh macaroons!

This kind of information is why I'm here. Many thanks, Davooda.

Just came back from a very short family trip to LA. Most of my time was spent visiting with and cooking for relatives in Hollywood (Little Armenia/Melrose Hill/Griffith Park/Lower Los Feliz, depending on who you ask), but we did spend some time with cousins in Pasadena.

We went to the Oak Tree Inn, and it was just terrific Hong Kong style food. The live seafood was completely pristine and jumping. S&P shrimp made from live giant prawns take a great dish to a new level. Also had steamed rock fish from the tanks and some more standard fare (dumplings, pea shoots, etc). There probably cannot be a better version of the now ubiquitous honey/walnut/mayo shrimp. The OTI version was revelatory. Not heavy or gloppy in the least. Ridiculously cheap, IMO, for what we got. Beer, several live seafood preps, appetizers, and a bill around $100. It's a very convivial, family-friendly place. Our in-laws had never heard of it, which reminds me of all my friends in Westmont who never heard of Katy's...

By the way, other meals included quite good burgers at 25 Degrees (in our hotel), pie at House of Pies on Vermont, a fancy dinner at Lucques (my sand dabs were a sign of spring on the otherwise still stuck in winter menu at this very good spot that is something like Blackbird, sort of), and a bowl of boat noodles from the place across form Ruen Pair(sp?). And some In n Out burgers here and there. Good eating for a 3 day weekend.

Hey JeffB - thanks for the props. This forum has helped me find so many excellent places to dine for both business and pleasure trips it's hard to imagine not having the resource.

I can also recommend Embassy Kitchen in San Gabriel where we dined with this same person last year. Here's a yelp hotlink on the place:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/embassy-kitchen-san-gabriel

Embassy Kitchen
218 S San Gabriel Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 286-8148

At OTI, Our lunch tab of $100 included hot tea and water, two apps (potstickers and deep-fried spring rolls), two entrees (a chicken and a beef) and the freshly deep-fried whole snowfish. I imagine it was the fish that was pricey.

Davooda

That sounds right. Our rockfish was a little squirt for $18 bucks. Still a nice deal when you consider a freezer burnt "Pacific snapper" a la Veracruz at a modest Mexican place costs around $21 these days (not that I don't order them regularly). The live shrimp are the real bargain.