There a few restaurants that have been featured on Check, Please! Bay Area on KQED Channel 9 that I want to try out.
- Ninna in Oakland: Mediterranean/Thai fusion. Sounds weird, but all three reviewers thoroughly enjoyed it.
- Piperade in San Francisco: Basque
- Bissap Baobab in San Francisco: Senegalese
- Aziza in San Francisco: California-inspired Morrocan (or is it Morroco-inspired Californian?)
- Salang Pass in Fremont: Afghan
- Manresa in Los Gatos: but only if I win the lottery
With Check, Please! reviews, your mileage may vary. For example, Vik’s Chaat House is a favorite place of Berkeley students for chaat. 2 out of 3 reviewers weren’t impressed with it, but one of them doesn’t like Indian food in general, and the other one usually orders Chicken Tikka Masala and was bewildered by the chaat menu. Argh! This place definitely deserved better reviews. Thankfully a ton of people have defended the restaurant on the Check, Please!‘s web site. I’m tempted to chime in.
It’s also unfortunate that the vast majority of restaurants that are reviewed are around San Francisco. I know there is good food down here in the South Bay — it just may not be in the most classy setting (OK fine, they’re all in strip malls). Which reminds me, there’s a hole in the wall that serves great pot stickers and noodles in west San Jose (near Cupertino): Tong Dumpling Pot. Highly recommended.