Hook Fish (@ Proof Lab Beer Co.) in Mill Valley.
Tuna burger with a side of fries. Kinda eats like a tuna melt, which was exactly how I wanted it to eat. After tax and tip I was out around $30. A Pacifico is five dollars.
Lively little spot. Grab a table, place an order and they’ll bring food over to you. Parking in their lot is blood sport.
Evvia, redux. It’s just so good. About as good as whole branzino gets. Palo Alto is a vacuum on my soul, but a handful of restaurants provide solace, with Evvia at the top.
Palo Alto doesn’t have the “easiest” customer base but there are a number of restaurants which are very good (and in my opinion better than Evvia) - Ethel’s Fancy, ROOH, Ettan, Zola, Bevri, Naschmarkt, Protege, Sekoya, Meyhouse and just within 5-10 minutes drive in Menlo Park you also have Camper, Yeobo Darking and Eylan
Yeah, I’m not saying Evvia is the best restaurant in Palo Alto, and generally speaking I think the restaurants here are good. But Evvia is right here and open for lunch and just comforting, and it’s my personal favorite restaurant. Like, I don’t sit on the plane and look forward to another meal at Protege, but I do look forward to Evvia. Thank you Evvia 
Protege looks so good. But I’m turned off by the 8% health service fee. I find it excessive.
Eylan (Menlo Park). This restaurant is very, very good. The best Indian food I’ve eaten in California (by a wide margin). Good ingredients and execution, inventive and elevated but tastes like real Indian. Lovely decor. Good service. I much prefer this to Ettan and Aurum. Superb!
You should try Ettan (Palo Alto) and Copra (Fillmore) - same restaurant group/chef
Thanks! I have tried Ettan a couple of times. It’s on the strip where I usually stay in Palo Alto. It’s pretty good, but my experiences there haven’t been as positive as at Eylan. Could be small sample set.
Copra is on the short list of places I want to try in SF.
Copra’s great. I have to get back there.
Selby’s (Menlo Park). Not as good as I remembered. Half these dishes were borderline Michelin star level for me, and half were below. Chicken was too dry. The velouté was too tangy. BUT — if you’re looking for a place to dine solo and brood about life and listen to Street Spirit on loop in a preposterously nice setting, this is definitely the best place in town.
Sarah Kirnon (Miss Ollie’s) pop-up on June 20 in Oakland, fried chicken and more.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised since it was retro in the wrong way.
Looks like Spanish Table is completely gone. Web site is offline.
They closed both shops - the one in Berkeley is gone for more than a year and the one on Clement about 2 months ago. They mentioned that the tariffs had a very significant impact on their business
The Bistro at Il Fiorello, an olive-oil company: out in the country a few miles west of I-80 outside of Fairfield.
Neglected to photograph the short but well-curated wine list.
I’m not sure about calling chuck “burnt ends” but it was smoky, tasty, and had a similar texture.
BLT with burrata, did not taste.
Semifreddo was very good.
Fun place.
Arquet, in the old Slanted Door space. On July 4 we were wandering around the Ferry Building with sore feet, place was insanely mobbed, after pressing through the hundreds of people in line for the toilets stepping into the quiet and mostly empty Arquet felt like we’d entered a first-class lounge at an airport.
Monk’s Garden, very refreshing.
Yellow Submarine
Crudites were a lot of fun though some of the things would have been better cooked.
The dinner menu doesn’t really grab me but I"d go back for drinks and snacks.
