Thaiphoon

Name: Thaiphoon
Address: 543 Emerson Street, Palo Alto, California 94301
Phone: (650) 323-7700
Web site: www.thaiphoonrestaurant.com
Date & Time visited: Friday, February 18, 2005, 9:00 PM
Guests: Jennifer and me
What we had: Vegetarian fried egg roll, Shrimp Pad Thai, Kung Pao Chicken, steamed white rice

Service: Good. I think the two staff members were overwhelmed, even for this fairly small restaurant, as almost every table was occupied. Even with that, though, the only really noticible delay was between the appetizer and the main course--and that could be due to an overworked kitchen. Our Thai iced teas were served almost immediately.

The egg roll was crisp and the sauce had just a bit of heat; very tasty. The Pad Thai was excellent, with enough chopped peanuts and sprouts to keep it crunchy, and the shrimp were tender. The Kung Pao chicken was appropriately fiery--as we had hoped--and served in the Thai fashion with a light sauce and larger pieces of chicken and vegetables, as opposed to the thicker sauce and more finely diced ingredients of the dish as found in Chinese restaurants. We took home half of the Kung Pao and rice for lunch tomorrow.

Would we go back: Yes. This was our second visit. I think we might be a bit more careful in table selection; this time we chose to sit outside and found ourselves next to a large and rather loud group.

Gordon Biersch

Name: Gordon Biersch
Address: 640 Emerson Street, Palo Alto, California 94301
Phone: 650.323.7723
Web site: www.gordonbiersch.com/restaurants
Date & Time visited: Friday, February 4, 10:45 PM
Guests: Jennifer and me
What we had: Gordon Biersch Garlic Fries, Grilled Chicken Skewers marinated in Tamarind and Garlic with Sesame Vinaigrette, Classic Cobb Salad

Service: Very good. We started with two Bloody Marys, which were rich and spicy and had olives and celery. Yum. We weren't really hungry enough to each have an entree, so we decided to share two starters and a salad. Our server didn't bat an eye and offered to split the Cobb salad at no extra charge.

GB's garlic fries are the same ones sold at the Oakland Coliseum--where the Oakland Athletics play--and after several months without baseball I felt like having some. They needed a touch of salt and Tabasco, but were very tasty. The chicken skewers were excellent; tender and very well seasoned. They were served with a "cake" of sesame-coated sushi rice and fried potato strings in a sesame sauce. One order had four skewers, so we each had two.

When we finished our drinks, our server brought water and kept the glasses filled while we were there. Always an important point for me.

The Cobb salad was okay. The current trend for salads is to use "field greens"; essentially weeds. Jen doesn't like it at all and I'm getting pretty tired of it. Romaine or Iceberg would be just fine, and either would be more traditional in a Cobb. We couldn't or didn't finish the split salad, and our server boxed it for us. We'll see if we want to have some tomorrow before it goes off. Too bad, really. We probably would have been fine with just the two starters, or maybe one starter and one of their excellent pizzas.

Would we go back: Yes. This is one of three Palo Alto restaurants we've found that are open for dinner after 10:30/11:00 PM on Friday nights, and due to work schedules we usually eat late on Fridays.

Patxi's Chicago Pizza

Name: Patxi's Chicago Pizza
Address: 441 Emerson Street, Palo Alto, California 94301
Phone: 650.473.9999
Web site: www.patxispizza.com
Date & Time visited: Monday, January 31, 2005, 8:40 PM
Guests: Jennifer and me
What we had: 15" Chicago deep dish, with italian sausage, jalapeno, and Monterey Jack cheese

This was the last night of "Dine Out Palo Alto", a month of special prix fixe Mondays at many Palo Alto area restaurants. We'd previously tried Zibibbo's prix fixe menu. I may write that up at some point.

Service was so-so. The menu warned of a 30-40 minute wait for a pizza, which did make me wonder--how can Round Table bake a pizza in ten minutes, but it takes these people 30-40? The prix fixe menu at Patxi's consisted of a salad and a Chicago style pizza. More a "special" than a prix fixe, really, but it was okay. We chose the Greek salad, which I mostly enjoyed. I wasn't too excited about the field greens, but the marinated red onions and Kalamata olives were delicious. Jen didn't like the salad very much and would have prefered the Caesar. Note that we got one (1) small salad for two (2) people. The salad was a decent size for two people but it did seem odd. Also, drinks were not included, not even soft drinks. My iced tea was not refilled during that wait for the pizza, which was disappointing.

The pizza itself was very good and quite messy. We figured it was the extra cheese that was making it so sloppy and had to eat with knife and fork. No problem, though. We each had two slices and took the rest home.

Would we go back: Yes. However, we will probably call ahead so as to try to avoid the 30-40 minute wait after ordering.