Restaurant Review: VN Grill

VN Grill - lunch on February 10, 2014

I am probably one of the few people who's never eaten at a Chipotle. Everyone I know loves it and always talks up about how fresh the food is. I'm not sure what it says about the restaurant industry when a differential for a food chain is freshness but that's another topic. One of my coworkers had heard about VN Grill and how it was "Chipotle-style" in terms of building your order and they were all about the freshness of the food.

So we decided to check it out. It's in a strip mall with, ironically, a Chipotle nearby. Yelp reviews termed VN Grill as an Asian Chipotle. The concept appears similar. You start off with the base for your bowl: either rice, noodles or salad. Add the protein you want, any extra veggie add-ons, then the sauce. I went for the rice noodles topped with VN Pork in the "signature VN marinade" and my add-ons were the lettuce, basil and cilantro. The guy behind the counter asked me if I was sure and said that I was missing the best part by not getting it with everything. I assured him I wouldn't eat the other "stuff" anyway so I was fine with the three I chose. Bean spouts, cucumbers, jalapeno? Um, no thanks. I'm glad I built it my way as I really enjoyed my plain but tasty creation. The pork was excellent and very flavorful. What veggies I did get was very fresh and the whole thing felt pretty healthy. The portion was also just right and even a tad on the generous side considering it was $7.55. An awesome bargain for a good bowl of meat and noodles.

My coworker got the same thing except hers had everything on it that I had spurned. We also got to choose our sauces. The bowls come out with the sauces in their own bottles so you can choose how much sauce you want to put on your bowl. I went with the VN sauce and it wasn't bad. But I don't tend to sauce things and found I liked the flavor of the pork on its own without a lot of sauce needed.

We also split an order of fresh shrimp rolls which I love. Much as I love the deep fried Vietnamese spring rolls, the fresh ones (of course) make me feel much more virtuous. Fresh is the key word. It was probably a little too much food but it was all good food and I think this place is a great find for lunch. We got there around noon and it wasn't crowded yet but it got busier as we ate lunch and by the time we left, all the tables were taken and there was a line almost to the door. The place isn't that big but it's a casual dining space that serves great food. I would definitely recommend it for those who want the Asian version of a Chipotle.

"Rocky Road" Brownies

Rocky Road Brownies - made February 16, 2014 from The Flying Brownie by Shirley Fan

So....it turns out that the white stuff in Midnight Milky Ways isn't marshmallow after all but vanilla nougat. Who knew?? Apparently a blog reader who kindly let me know on my Mississippi Mud Brownies post. Therefore, technically, substituting Midnight Milky Ways for marshmallows for a Rocky Road Brownie recipe doesn't actually make it Rocky Road but just a brownie topped with Midnight Milky Ways. Oh well. In my mind, if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck.... Good thing I don't like marshmallows anyway.

I modified this recipe from The Flying Brownie because it was supposed to have a "twist" with the twist being the addition of pretzels on top for some crunch. I am not a fan of those crunchy pretzels. Give me a cinnamon sugar pretzel from Auntie Anne's while I'm at the mall and that's a different stripe but those regular pretzels that are hardened snappy sticks or curved pretzel-shaped carbs? Nah. I don't dislike those pretzels per se but back when I was training to walk a full marathon with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for the Nike Women's marathon in San Francisco, that was one of the snacks we had on us as we did mile after mile of training. By the time we were up to 22-mile training walks, I was heartily sick of pretzels and to this day, I associate them with a dry mouthfeel and blisters on my feet. So no pretzels for me, no matter what the recipe says.

Instead, I topped this brownie with chopped chunks of Midnight Milky Ways and Milky Way caramels. You're supposed to do the candy topping about 5 minutes before the brownies come out of the oven so they have time to melt. I inadvertently forgot the brownies and took them out in the nick of time. Which meant I wasn't going to put them back in the oven to let the candy melt as I didn't want the brownies to bake further. No problem - I still blanketed the top with the chopped chocolates but then I covered the whole pan completely with a baking sheet turned upside down and let the residual heat from the hot brownie trapped underneath the baking sheet melt the chocolate on top. Worked like a charm. I'd say this was a good, basic brownie. I needed it for care packages I was mailing out and the whole premise of The Flying Brownie was baked goods that could easily be sent in the mail. This one fulfilled its promise.

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 - 1 1/2 cups Midnight Milky Ways and Milky Way Caramels, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8" square pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate together in the top half of a double boiler set over hot water. Stir until melted and blended. Remove the bowl from heat and stir in the sugar, salt and vanilla. Cool to lukewarm.
3. Add eggs. Stir until well blended. Mix in the flour and cocoa. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs.
4. 5 minutes before the brownies are done, remove from the oven and top with the chopped chunks of Midnight Milky Ways and Milky Way Caramels. When the candy has melted slightly (do not overbake), remove from oven and cool completely before cutting and serving.

Honey Orange Shrimp

Honey Orange Shrimp - made February 16, 2014 from Heart, Mind and Seoul

I haven't been cooking lately and my freezer was still stocked with proteins from the last time I had a short-lived burst of cooking enthusiasm. So it was time to dust off my "cooking" board on pinterest and pull an easy recipe to try.

"Easy" usually means a shrimp recipe of some kind. I always devein and clean the shrimp when I first buy it and package it up in manageable amounts so it's ready to go whenever I get around to cooking. It cooks quickly and there's no slicing and dicing involved.

For this recipe, the sauce ingredients were also easy to throw together. I didn't grill the shrimp as the recipe called for but instead did a quick pan-fry until they were pink. Then I poured the sauce over it and let it boil until it thickened. This was a simple, straightforward dish although as with any saucy dish, I have to have rice with it to sop up the sauce. I was a little too heavy-handed with the red pepper flakes so it was a trifle on the spicy side for me but for anyone who doesn't have bland taste buds like me, they'd probably like it just fine. More importantly, this was pretty healthy and definitely quick to make.

1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the sauce
¼ cup soy sauce
⅛ cup ketchup
¼ cup orange juice or blood orange juice
¼ cup honey
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (less or more)
½ tablespoon dried chives (optional)
sliced almonds (optional)
Korean wrinkled chili peppers, sliced (optional)
1 tablespoon cornstarch + 2 tablespoons water, optional

1. Place shrimp on heated grill (outdoor or indoor). Season them with black pepper and grill until cooked.
2. To make the sauce: combine soy sauce, ketchup, orange juice, honey, vinegar, garlic, chives (optional), and red pepper flakes in a bowl.
3. Add the grilled shrimp to a pan over medium high heat. Add the prepared sauce to the pan and stir well. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the sauce thickens, stirring occasionally. (If the sauce does not thicken — Seems to be a problem with a lot of people, then combine cornstarch and water in a small bowl, mix well, then pour it into the sauce, stirring frequently.)
4. Sprinkle with almonds and Korean wrinkled chili peppers if desired and serve over a bed of steamed white rice.

Restaurant Review: Calafia Cafe

Calafia - lunch on February 5, 2014

Calafia is Chef Charlie Ayers' cafe. If you're not well versed in Silicon Valley trivia and don't know who Charlie Ayers is, he may be best known as being the former executive chef at Google. Yes, the Google of the free lunches and professionally maintained cafes across the Google campus. That was Chef Ayers' handiwork and when he left Google in 2006, he continued his career in the culinary world. Today, his cafe, Calafia and its adjoining Market A Go Go is the manifestation of his vision to provide "affordable, wholesome fare" for a wide-ranging audience.

Side order of fries

I met a long-time friend, Sherrie, there for lunch one day. It was my first time at Calafia although Sherrie has been there numerous times since it's close to her office. Calafia has a pretty casual setting with picnic-table style seating inside and cafe tables outside. The place was reasonably busy for lunch. It has a pretty good variety of entrees on the menu and, as promised, easily caters to different tastes whether you're a vegetarian or a meat eater, low carbing or carbo loading. Our server told us about the lunch specials and the one that caught my ear was a delicious sounding "seafood hot pot" that had shrimp, scallops, some kind of fish (salmon?) and clams topped with a puff pastry. I eat everything he mentioned except clams and I figured I could take those out. But then it turned out the special was $30. Ouch. Now it isn't like I haven't paid $30 (and more) for a meal before but let's face it - my thrifty soul has a hard time forking that much over for lunch. Dinner, yes. Lunch? Not so much. I don't know why that is because if this had been dinner time I would probably have ordered it anyway but for some reason, I just couldn't bring myself to pay that much for a midday meal.

Steak Tacos ($15)

Instead, I went for the Steak Tacos for half the price of the seafood hot pot. The "tacos" were really lettuce wraps so this was a low carb, gluten free option. It comes with sauce which I asked for on the side since I'm not a sauce person. The food here is also sourced locally and organically (I'm really fortunate where I live that we have that as an option at some many restaurants) and the steak tacos were a light yet filling lunch that I enjoyed. I can't confess to going totally low carb though since Sherrie ordered fries that she generously shared with me and I ate my share of those.

Salmon

Her first choice of the Mahogany Salmon was only available after 4 pm but they were able to accommodate a similar version for her by serving salmon atop a salad of leafy greens. There are still some other dishes I want to try at Calafia, like their grain and noodle bowls and their pizzas. And the flat iron steak and turkey meatloaf. Plus the beef short ribs. I'm definitely going to have to go back and work my way through the menu. Service was attentive but not overly hovering and it's a nice, casual but delicious place to meet for lunch. And dinner if I ever chance upon that seafood hot pot again.

Hildy's Brownies

Brownies - made February 15, 2014, recipe from Hildy's friend

My friend Hildy posted on facebook about some awesome brownies her friend had given her. Like a moth to a flame, I was compelled to ask, "do you have the recipe?" Trying out new brownie recipes is a compulsion that takes no conscious thought. Like breathing and blinking. Hildy's friend was kind enough to share the recipe when Hildy asked and Hildy passed it on to me.

When I first saw the recipe, I have to admit I was a little skeptical on how it would turn out. The recipe was geared for commercial production so I halved it to fit into a 9 x 13 pan. But there was an inordinate amount of dry ingredients and I couldn't see how the brownies wouldn't turn out dry, especially with that much cocoa in them. Cocoa as a dry ingredient sucks moisture out of any batter and you usually have to compensate with extra liquid ingredients. I was even more leery when I actually mixed the batter together because it was difficult to mix that amount of dry ingredients into the batter and have it become fully incorporated. I ended up with a very thick batter, almost like dough. Nevertheless, I forged ahead with the recipe as is.

As you can tell from the pictures, these brownies were not dry at all. In fact, they were the opposite, almost more like dark chocolate baked fudge. They're very dense and chewy so if you're more a fan of cakey brownies, this isn't the recipe you want to make. However, if you're a dark chocolate lover, this is the ultimate brownie for you. This brownie wasn't sweet as much as it was rich dark chocolate. That was due to the high quality cocoa I used (from Penzey's). With this much cocoa in the brownie, you definitely want to use the good stuff to get the best brownie flavor and texture.

2 1/2 sticks butter (10 ounces)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (64% - 66%)
6 eggs
1 1/4 cups cake flour
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 335 degrees.
2. Line a 9 x 13" baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray
3. Melt butter and semisweet chocolate. Whisk until smooth.
4. Whisk in eggs slowly.
5. Add dry ingredients. It's easier if you incorporate them gradually, 1/4 at a time, mixing them in before adding more.
6. Bake for approximately 40 minutes until center is not jiggly and not wet.

Coconut Pull Apart Rolls

Coconut Pull Apart Rolls - made February 16, 2014 from Not Quite Nigella

Over President's Day weekend, I was on a bender to clear out recipes that I've been meaning to make for awhile now, both  from pinterest and from my baking books. I'd planned on making these coconut rolls (from pinterest) twice now and both times I was thwarted, the first time because I didn't have enough time to do a yeasted dough and the second time because I didn't have yeast in the pantry (that was literally a showstopper).

Before the second rise

The stars finally aligned over President's Day weekend and I had both enough time and yeast to make it work. I don't make bread that often and certainly not often enough to be that good at it. I remember from when I made it in culinary school but back then I was also taught by my favorite chef instructor who'd apprenticed to become a baker when he was 16 and living in Germany. The man could bake bread like no tomorrow. He taught me how to be able to tell when the gluten had developed enough in kneading (when it's elastic enough to stretch and make a "window pane" without breaking), when dough hadn't been beaten enough or been beaten too much and what the consequences would be.

After the second rise, just before baking

Unfortunately, in the years since then, I haven't retained as much bread baking knowledge as I could wish. When I only have time to bake nights and weekends, breads aren't high on my list of things to make, partly because of the time constraints and partly because I have less of a stop mechanism when it comes to good bread as I do with sweets. But I'm glad I finally got to make these coconut rolls. The dough itself was easy enough: throw all the ingredients in the mixing bowl and let the dough hook do its job. My only moment of pause was knowing when it had been kneaded enough. It didn't pass the window pane test but it looked okay: elastic, came together, good doughy consistency. And as you can tell from the pics, it rose well enough in the second rising when you actually shape the dough into a log and cut into pieces.

You want to make the filling while the dough is in its first rising to give the filling enough time to cool before you spread it over the dough. My filling did thicken slightly as I boiled it but it was runny enough that after I spread it over the rectangle of dough, rolled it up, sliced it and arranged the slices in the pan, the liquid leaked out and by the time the rolls had risen and were ready to bake, I could see a layer of liquid at the bottom of the pan.

Fortunately, the liquid absorbed back into the rolls as they baked and the finished product was bread dough slightly tacky on the bottom but not wet or mushy. The bread part of the roll was pretty good but my favorite was the coconut filling. The only thing I would do differently next time is make more filling and add a lot more coconut. Remember the coconut rolls I like to get at Asian bakeries like Sheng Kee? This was similar to that in taste although heavier in texture. Still, this one's a keeper. The coconut filling adds the sweetness so that you don't need to do a glaze. If you do decide to up the decadence level, then I would do just a simple royal icing-type of glaze and sprinkle the top with flaked coconut. These are best eaten warm.

Dough
½ cup milk
1 egg
2 cups bread flour
½ teaspoon salt
30g/1 oz butter
2 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons yeast

Filling
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup milk
¾ cup coconut flakes
1 beaten egg to brush the rolls

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix all of the dough ingredients until elastic (about 4-5 minutes using a dough hook, 6-8 minutes if kneading by hand). Place in a warm area for 1-2 hours until doubled in size.
2. In the meantime, mix the ingredients of the filling and cook in low heat until a slightly creamy sauce. Do not over cook. Cool.
3. Grease a large loaf tin with oil. Knock the dough back by punching it with your fist and roll it open to a rectangle of approximately 1/3 to ½ inch thick. Spread the coconut filling on top of the dough. Roll it and cut into 16 pieces. Place the rolls in the greased loaf pan and let it rise in a warm place for approximately 30 minutes until they look snugly fitted together.
4. Bake in a 220C/440F oven for 15-20 minutes.

Restaurant Review: Honey Thai

Honey Thai - lunch on February 3, 2014

You ever have one of those days at work when you just want to curl into the fetal position and rock back and forth? If you're the only one having that kind of a day, you shut your office door and hope no one hears the whimpers coming from within. If the person in the office next to you is having a similar day, you consign the leftovers you brought from home to perdition and you both go out to lunch.

Inside Honey Thai

Which is how my coworker and I ended up at Honey Thai. She said it's her favorite place to go to for pad see ew. Ironically, Honey Thai is located near my old condo but I'd never been there before. As always, I like trying a new restaurant - more material for my blog.

Soup

The standard soup that comes with the lunch specials has a thicker broth than other Thai restaurants I've been to. It wasn't as spicy which I was grateful for so my bland taste buds were fine with it. Now, I would normally go for the pad thai whenever I try a new Thai place but I was trying to limit my carbs and up my protein intake (I'm going to lose these last 10 lbs if it kills me) so I somewhat reluctantly ordered the Thai grilled chicken instead. It comes with a scoop of rice but I didn't eat much of the rice and focused on the chicken instead. The chicken comes with a side of the house sauce but I'm not much of one for dipping into sauces so I ate it mostly plain. It was okay. The portion size was decent for a meal under $10 and there was definitely enough to be filling, even with skipping most of the rice. I didn't find it too flavorful though despite it being marinaded. That's probably where the sauce I didn't eat comes in.

Thai Grilled Chicken

I did try some of my coworker's pad see ew and she's right; that one was a winner. The flavor was great and the noodles were perfectly done, not too clumpy or thick. If the pad see ew was any indication of their noodle dishes, I will have to return when I'm feeling less virtuous and order the pad thai.

Vegetarian Pad See Ew

Service was a bit slow even though they weren't crowded for the lunch hour. We had to wave the guy over to take our orders and again to bring us the check after we'd eaten. I guess the plus side is they don't try to rush you out. We did that on our own since we both had to get back to the office but it was a nice break from the fetal position rocking-back-and-forth motion I had going on earlier.

Salted Caramel Apple Crumble

Salted Caramel Apple Crumble - made February 16, 2014 from Lauren's Latest

I'm a sucker for warm apple cobbler in almost any form, be it called cobbler, crisp, grunt, fool or crumble. And the picture from Lauren's Latest sucked me right in. What did I do for new recipes before I found all these visually appealing ones on pinterest? (Answer: I used my baking books and relied on the ones with lots of pictures.)

I liked this recipe, not just for the salted caramel addition but also because it could be made in a cast iron skillet. I bought an 8" cast iron skillet ages ago, probably because there was some kind of skillet cornbread I wanted to make. I can't remember actually making the cornbread and I've been hanging onto this cast iron skillet for years now. About time I used it.

Since it was a bit on the small side, I only could fit half the apple recipe, i.e. 2 Granny Smith apples. But by the time I realized that, I had already made a full recipe of the topping. Not to worry, I'm rather fond of crumble topping so I didn't see any harm in using a double amount of it. How's that for rationalization?

When making the topping, one trick I learned from Martha Stewart is to squeeze streusel topping into large clumps then when you break it over the apples, be sure to still leave large "crumbs". That is, you don't want fine, powdery crumbs as much as nice big clumps. The large crumbs bake up crisp and provide a nice texture that's a great contrast to the softness of the baked apples.

I thought this recipe was delicious. I was especially careful to cover the salted caramel all over with crumble topping as I knew if it was exposed to heat, it would get hard and chewy when cooled. Some of it did bubble up between cracks in the topping, especially around the edges but not too much. The only drawback is I did find it a bit too salty. You add salt to the apples when they're cooking and, combined with the Trader Joe's salted caramel I used, it was just a tad too salty for my bland taste buds. Next time I think I'd go with a regular caramel sauce. Regardless, I loved the crumble topping and this makes for an awesome sweet treat in winter - comfort dessert at its best.

3/4 cup salted caramel sauce (storebought or your favorite recipe)

Crumble
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons softened butter
1/2 teaspoon salt

Apples
4 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. For the crumble- combine all ingredients together using a stand mixer. Mixture will be crumbly, but stay together when squeezed. Set aside.
2. Prepare apples and toss in lemon juice. Cook apples in a large cast iron skillet over medium low heat in butter to draw out moisture. Sprinkle with salt to draw out all the moisture possible. Drain apples and place back into skillet. This process should take about 5-7 minutes of cooking.
3. Pour 3/4 of prepared caramel sauce into the apples and stir gently. Squeeze the crumble topping into large clumps and break it off over the top of the apples, covering completely. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until topping is browned. Cool slightly and serve warm with vanilla ice cream if desired.

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - made February 8, 2014 from The Food Mentalist

I had been letting a bunch of bananas ripen on my counter for a good month or so. Holiday baking wiped me out of overripe bananas and I had to start over. I gauge the passage of time by the ripening state of my bananas. When they had finally blackened enough to my satisfaction, I went looking for a recipe to use them with. I'm still on my never ending quest to make a banana cake like the one from Icing on the Cake; it's been a good 6 months (at least) since I last had that cake so I was due for another seemingly futile experiment to try and replicate it.

I tried out this one from The Food Mentalist. Initially I was concerned the baking temperature was a bit low as I don't normally bake cakes at temps below 300 degrees F. But I went with it because if it didn't turn out, I didn't want it to be because I screwed up and didn't follow the directions. It turned out pretty well and my coworkers liked it when I brought it into work but it still didn't have the fluffy texture I was going for. I think that was more my fault than the recipe's though as I could've baked this a trifle longer than I did. The toothpick came out clean, I turned the oven off and let it continue baking for another 5 minutes but it was still a bit heavy in texture rather than fluffy. The flavor was fine but you can tell from the pictures (and for the life of me, I couldn't take a good one) that it was a bit dense and moist rather than cakey and fluffy. Maybe that's a sign that I need to go back to Icing on the Cake and get myself a piece of their banana cake.

1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed, ripe

• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

• 3 cups flour

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 cup butter, softened

• 2 1/8 cups sugar

• 3 large eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla

• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

• 
  

• Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 275°F /135C.
2. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.
3. In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
5. In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy.
6. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla.
7. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk.
8. Stir in banana mixture
9. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
10. Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist.
11. For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
12. Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla.
13. Add icing sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until frosting is smooth
14. Spread on cooled cake.

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Restaurant Review: Free House

Free House, Berkeley, CA - dinner on January 30, 2014

The Campanile on the UC Berkeley campus

I was at my alma mater, UC Berkeley, last month to attend their Spring Career Fair for my company. There was a possibility I was going to be able to hire an intern for my team and it was a good way to meet some of the potential candidates firsthand. I haven't done college recruiting for several years so it was nice to be back on campus. I was making bets with myself how long it would take before I started thinking to myself, "was I ever this young? Man, I'm old." It wasn't more than half a dozen times. In the first 30 minutes.

I met a number of bright young students, some who seemed more mature than I ever was at that age and others still eager and shiny like a new penny, brimming with the optimism and fervor of youth. I occasionally feel a bit  tarnished myself after - gulp - 20 years in the workforce (not counting 2 years of grad school and a year off for culinary school, eek) so it's nice to be reminded of how I once faced the road they're about to travel on. Alas, if only I knew back then not to take life so seriously or feel that getting a summer internship or a post-graduation job was going to determine the outcome of the rest of my life. It didn't and it won't for these kids either but like me, they'll learn it when the time comes.

Outside Free House

But I really did enjoy the event and talking to more than a hundred students for 5 hours straight. I also enjoyed meeting up with one of my nieces who attends Cal and going out to dinner with her after the career fair was over.  We were trying to decide where to go since Berkeley has such a plethora of wonderful places to eat. When she was listing out options, she mentioned "sweet potato fries" at Free House so I stopped her litany of choices and let the fries be the deciding factor.

The inside

Free House is literally just off the Berkeley campus, on Bancroft. From the outside it doesn't look like a restaurant as it's housed in a stately old building built in the 1920s. Inside, it's got more of an English library feel, sans the books, with the hardwood floor, rafters and fireplace. Or maybe like a ski lodge. Without the snow outside. What is outside is a seating area which is where we opted to dine, made comfortable by a heating lamp.  Although honestly, this was the time when our climate was pretending it was late spring instead of January winter and the temperature was pretty comfortable. No polar vortex here.

Freehouse Grass Fed Burger - $10

As you can expect in Berkeley, Free House also sources locally and their grass-fed beef is from Marin Sun Farms, same as where Bierhaus and Paul Martin's source their beef. My niece went with the burger while I got the Steak Frites. We had decided early on we would also get the sweet potato fries as the appetizer since that was the main reason we went to Free House in the first place.

Steak Frites - $15

Both our entrees were good although I could've done without the red wine shallot butter on my steak. Too sweet and just not my thing. The handcut fries that came with my order were okay, not quite crisp but you can tell they were "real" potatoes without a whole lot done to make them into anything else but honest to goodness potatoes. But it was the sweet potato fries that took up most of my taste buds. They were sometimes crisp, always mealy and just plain good. The kind of good that reminds me why I'm obsessed with sweet potato fries in the first place and why, as my niece tells me, people come to Free House. I can't blame them. If I was still going to Cal, I'd probably put in an order to go for the sweet potato fries on my way to or from class. Every day.

Sweet Potato Fries - $8

For Berkeley, Free House might be a little pricey since most college kids usually eat in the $8-$10 range or less but after working the student crowd for most of the day as part of my job, it was fine by me. And cheaper than many other places I've gone to that didn't have such excellent sweet potato fries.