runs in the family

As you may have noticed by now, I am slightly obsessive about food. Well, it runs in the family...we all appreciate good food and love to eat, and sometimes when we go out to dinner it's a bit of a scene with all the cameras at the table.

Anyway, on Saturday, my sister and I met up with two of our cousins (one local, one in town from NYC) at Foreign Cinema for brunch. We were tempted by the fresh oysters but decided to pass in favor of splitting two appetizers. The first was a house made "pop tart" with kumquat filling, dusted with powdered sugar (which for once I managed not to inhale). It was light and flaky and delicious, and easily split amongst the four of us. Next we had a beef carpaccio which had some kind of thin fried onions or potatoes on top. I think each of us could have eaten the whole plate, but we resisted. Finally, as my entree, I had the "baguette french toast". Normally I am not a big fan of egg-y breakfast food, but this french toast managed to be egg-y and yummy at the same time, and I ended up licking the plate clean.

After brunch we managed to shop all afternoon with only a coffee break, so we were pretty hungry by dinnertime. We met up with our aunt and uncle in Belmont and ate at a small Vietnamese place called Chez Saigon, on El Camino near Ralston. I had heard of it somewhere before, so although the Yelp reviews were mixed, we decided to give it a chance (partially because Red Lantern was crazy busy that night). We were very happy with that decision. I believe we ordered two appetizers, five main dishes, and two side dishes, and they were all good, but my favorites were the shaken beef, the lemon beef, the fried calamari appetizer, and the side of garlic noodles (of which we had two). Given its location (maybe a couple of miles from my house?) I think I'll definitely stop by again.