Pepper Lunch

And thus, this post marks the beginning of the blogging that is to come of all the meals I enjoyed and want to share with you all in San Francisco and its neighbouring cities ^_^.


We arrived at San Jose Airport right at lunch time. Our first itinerary activity was to go outlet shopping at the Gilroy Premium Outlet, so I made sure to plan a quick lunch somewhere near the airport to save time, and also to prevent us from wasting a good meal opportunity (since it is a known fact that the food court at Premium Outlets are never good).

Pepper Lunch is a known Japanese fast food restaurant that is found vastly throughout Asia. I've heard about it many times but never had the chance to try it out, so I knew I had to check this place out with such a perfect opportunity!

Some of the things that I love to have knowledge on in regards to the restaurants that I plan to visit when I'm on vacation is the exterior appearance of the restaurant and its surrounding vicinity. This helps make finding it so much easier, especially when you're in a foreign place to begin with. For our first meal, Pepper Lunch is found in a large strip mall with mainly Asian restaurants, stores and services

Pagolac Restaurant

To be honest, this wasn't going to be a place that I was going to blog about; it was just going to be a quick bite prior to the Usher concert that was picked due to its convenient location (hence the missing venue pictures). When we arrived at the restaurant, it looked rather sketchy and slightly out of place, being the only opened restaurant in a quiet industrial area. Regardless, we walked in, and the interior decoration confirmed that this place was rather old - it reminded me of my grandparents' house back in the 1970's.

But you know what they say about sketchy Vietnamese restaurants - the sketchier they look, the more delicious their food is. And Pagolac proved this statement to be true! As a result, here I am writing about this place because I want to share this hidden gem with other fellow food lovers :)

Yum Yum Chicken & BBQ Korean Cuisine

I decided to order take out the other day because my aunt who is visiting from out of town wanted to try Calgary's take on Korean fried Chicken. I decided on trying a new place for fried chicken, Yum Yum Chicken.

I was debating on how much to order for five people, because in the past, I've shared a whole chicken with a friend, and ate everything without any remains. As well, I knew some members in my family have a larger than your average appetite. When I called, I asked the young girl how many people three whole chickens could feed, and she replied "It depends on how much the person eats, but there are about 36 pieces for three whole chicken".... That's nearly 7 pieces per person! So I chickened out and decided to go with two whole order, and was I glad I went with the two whole orders! We had leftovers enough to last for another full meal!

Half order of the Shallot Chicken

Boogie's Burgers

I visited Boogie's Burgers (a local burger joint that has been in operations since 1969) last night for the first time around 8pm thinking that I would've arrived past their dinner rush, but I was wrong. When we ordered, the girl who worked there informed us that the wait time would be roughly half an hour and asked if we were okay with that. We said yes since we weren't in a hurry. It was a Monday night, but it was also the Victoria Day long weekend Monday, so I'm unsure if that was a influencing factor in the long wait.

I must admit that Boogie's Burger looks somewhat sketchy, though I am not sure if that is just a play into their retro/old school image. Inside, there are round bar stools at the front, a number of diner-like tables that can probably sit up to ~20 people or so. In the already cramped up restaurant, there was a old school arcade machine that could be found. We decided to take a seat up in the front, on the bar stools, and one thing I noticed right away was that there was a hung string, with many tiny report clips, above the cash register that ran to the back of the kitchen by the grill. All orders printed were then clipped onto the report clips and flung back by the employee so that the orders would reach the grill where the cook was making the burgers. I thought this design was so cool - simple, old fashioned, but works as it's supposed to.

Village Ice Cream

I've been dying to go to Village Ice Cream for a try ever since I've first heard of their salted caramel flavour, but the weather was not cooperating and as a result people were seldom in the mood for a cold treat. Luckily a few weeks ago, the weather improved and over a debate that I won, I found myself at Village Ice Cream for the first time. 

Jimmy's A&A Mediterranean Deli

It isn't my first visit to Jimmy's A&A for their famously greasy yet satisfying donairs. Every time I visit, I ensure that I have brewed up an appetite to eat an entire cow. I am not joking. I highly suggest that you visit with the ability to eat eat. Jimmy's is known for loading up the donairs so that all who attempts to eat it will do so in a complete mess. Don't say I didn't warn you when I tell you that you will have sauce dripping down your hands and meat falling out of your pita. This is not the ideal place for a first date and most definitely not the place to "share" a donair with your significant other. With that being said, I highly suggest that you either take out your order to devour at home away from the public eyes, or if you cannot wait a minute longer, there is a tiny seating area upstairs. Just do not try to eat this "on the go" in your car. Personally, I have always ate my order on the premise of Jimmy's, and had never had a problem with finding a vacant table despite the size of the seating area.

Yume Sushi

I finished my dance class and was heading towards Little Caesar's on 14th Street for their $5 pepperoni pizza as a late dinner. I was hungry and it was getting late, so I wanted something quick and cheap. As we were nearing Little Caesar's, I remembered that Yume Sushi was in the plaza strip right next to it. I've heard of Yume previously and the $1.00 sushi that they are known for, so I changed my mind and decided on sushi for the night instead. I stepped into the restaurant right before 9pm and the only person found sitting at a table was the owner who appeared to be doing paperwork of some sort. I wasn't sure if they were open so I walked in reluctantly. The owner was friendly and told us to come right on in as they were still open and to mind our steps as the floor was wet from being freshly mopped. I told her I just wanted to get some take out and she gestured us to the front of the restaurant and once again reminded us to be careful of our steps. When I neared the front counter/sushi bar, I saw a stack of binded in-store menus as well as paper take-out menus. Neither the owner nor the employee who stood behind the counter directed me the menu to use but I quickly figured out I had to check off items to be ordered from the paper menu.