Mama's Fish House in Paia, Maui. Fish paradise and Hawaian food history

What they say is true: Mamma's Fish House has ambience and class. The menu, full of mouth-watering appetizers and entrees, leaves you perpetually wondering if you should have ordered more. But we decided to restrain ourselves... even so we ate well! First a Ceviche presented in the popular martini glass format, but brimming with island flavor: Maui onions and avocados in a delicate ceviche vinegrette and accompanied by house-made Taro Chips. Next, Caledonian Grilled Prawns with the essence of vanilla bean infusing its delicate coconut sauce-wow! Next we went for the Polynesian Lau-lau--something we would not find on the mainland--and were so surprised by the lightness of the grilled salmon, mahi-mahi and pork accompanied by fragrant and tasty greens-- called Luau Leaves--and grilled bananas and papaya all topped with a gentle coconut milk sauce served in a coconut shell. We left dessert offerings for our next visit and commented on how many ways we tasted coconut during our meal.

Spago in Wailea, Maui. Busy, but high standards kept.

Despite the crowd on Christmas Eve, the food at Spago held its own. We started with the Poke appetizer and it was playfully delicious...instead of seaweed, the hand roll was created with a caramelized and spiced sesame cone. The Tomatoe and Goat Cheese Salad was very good; the Beet Salad left one looking for more beets. But never mind, the entrees were delicious!! The Lobster Curry was a surprise of fresh flavors: Asian herbs drizzled with a hint of curry. The $140 Japanese Wagyu Steak melted in your mouth--excellent! We finished with house-made tropical fruit sorbets--coconut, guava and mango--all creamy and true to their fruit flavors. We'd like to return when the stress and bustle of the holidays has passed.

Kauai Grill in Princeville. At last... gourmet tropical flavors on Kauai.

The Kauai Grill at the St. Regis in Princeville, showcases tropical ingredients with modern French finesse. There is steak, as their name implies, but please be adventurous and try at least one appetizer: they are amazing! The Frois Gras with Roasted Mango gave a fabulous twist to a classic. The Grilled Octopus was unbelievabley tender with a maui onion salad that had a sweetness and crunch like fennel. The Beet Carpaccio appetizer with Kauai made goat cheese was refreshing as was the Salmon Tatare with avocado, a beautiful sauce and radishes that reflected the color of the dish: how beautiful and delicious. And we ended our meal by sharing the main course of Lobster. Add a demi-sec Vueve Cliqot and you have one great meal--and don't forget that beautiful view of Hanalei form your window seat!!!

Quince: Rivaling the Best Contemporary California Cuisine

This was our first visit to Quince since their move. Their new spacious dining room and modern kitchen (which can be viewed from the street) are gorgeous. The new Quince ... unstuffy modern elegance ...impeccable service ... delightfully layered flavors. And what a memorable evening!!! We started with the mushroom appetizer (wow!) and scallops with sea urchin (yumm!). We moved onto the gnocchi (so light!), then venison and duck (perfectly cooked!) and finally tasty desserts followed by petit fours presented on an elegantly thin slab of marble. With hundreds of wines and space for at least a thousand more, Quince seems poised to move up the culinary ladder. If they don't get back their one star this year from Michelin, I will be left wondering what Michelin really stands for!

Le Fleur De Lys

It was a special celebration for us on December 5. We wanted something special and delicious. I think Fleur De Lys is both. We even had a chance to meet the celebrity chef (Hubert Keller). He came to the table and exchanged a few words with us related to our special celebration. He later sent us an extra course: a watermelon shooter!!! French/Asian cuisine with delightful layers of flavors in perfect harmony. Surprisingly light and easy to digest in spite of the good amount of food that we had in the 3 courses and 1 dessert choice we made. We started with the caviar on tiny pancakes and fresh cheese. That was memorable. Roasted Duck and Venison were the main courses that night. Moisture and delicate Duck and smooth and only slightly gamy the Venison. Great meal in a peculiar environment: a tent like room where the sound was beautiful and the service could have been better. Great bread too.

Turkey month. Watch out for scary food.

It is that month of the year. Imagination in the kitchen is replaced by the tradition and the way it's always been done. So if you don't want to lower your standards make sure you order a special Turkey, get organic veggies, make your own pies from scratch and pick great wines from Califonia, Spain, Italy or France. The rest is just the same: family, friends and luckily fun.

Slanted Door in San Francisco a wide-open door to fun food from Vietnam and beyond

Slanted Door is almost as busy as in their earliest days at the Ferry Building. It's an incredible location: the view of the Bay Bridge and the easy access for people working in the financial district makes it a great choice for lunch or dinner. We returned last Thursday for lunch (after two years!) and were not disappointed. We went straight for all the appetizers and had a feast for two: Imperial Rolls, Pho Noodle Soup, 5 Spice Duck Confit Salad, Hamachi Carpaccio and Mung Bean Dumplings... Clearly, the best way to go is to order as many appetizers as you can, that way you'll have a taste of the new ideas the chef is developing. And let me tell you, this chef has a lot of good ideas and a huge pool to draw from: Asia... Great Meal!!!

Picco Pizzeria in Larkspur, Marin County, California. Hit and Miss.

Picco is busy. But the hard times are hitting everyone; even in an eatery that draws from a very well-to-do neighborhood like Larkspur and is located in a hard-to-miss location like the main street of the town. We have been to Picco's at least 12 times over the last 4 months. Pizza is their main attraction and it's a favorite weekend destination. They have a real pizza wood oven that emits heat to the tiny bar they use to serve up their signature pizzas and other Italian-Spanish delights. They utilize the best: homemade cold cuts and sausages, fresh organic veggies, handpicked wines from Italy, Spain, France and USA. They even name their pizzas after bicycle brands: Cannondale, De La Santa, Marin, Specialized, etc. We love to combine the home-roasted peppers with their own sausages and mozzarella cheese. And all the pizzas taste better to us when we ask for a "cripsy" crust. So what's gone wrong? Maybe the crisis has gotten to them, or have they gotten too confident in their pizza success? We had a couple of pizzas that were not up to their usual standard--too much pancetta when we ordered it to be added to a pizza...and another time onions arrived on our pizza pie that were chunky and took over the pizza's flavor. Our analysis: they appear to have reduced their staff and we think it's beginning to show. So, for now, we advise that you don't try to mix and match toppings like we used to. Stick to the toppings set by the chef and you will certainly have a satisfying pizza experience.

Boulevard in San Francisco. A Classic Renewed...

We hadn't been back to Boulevard, a San Francisco classic at One Market Street, in over a year. At first glance, there were some old standards on the menu. But looking further there were clearly some new additions. As a matter of fact, we found out that a few items were being debuted that very evening: lucky US! You gotta try the mozzarella with baby artichokes and TRUFFLESSSSS; delicate flavors, tasteful, delicious... Butternut squash carpaccio with tiny baby bell peppers stuffed with herbed goat cheese, a playful riff on autumn colors and flavors, followed.
Since we had decided to satisfy our hunger (and curiosity) with mostly appetizers, we went for it and ordered two more. House cured bacon embraced the most tender quail on a bed of tiny corn cakes (in the picture). At the heart of this marriage was a sliver of apple, giving us the sensation that we were eating a rich foie gras. Boulevard continues to represent innovative California-French Fusion at its best...and we love the playful twists.

Lots of good eats at Suppenkuche. In San Francisco, between Laguna and Hayes

Noise from people having a good time, beer of the best quality, and food made with passion and calories. That's what you will find any given weekend at this German eatery that has people queued up outside the door to get a table you will share with a few other people you don't know. The meats are excellent: Saturdays are Pork night. Deliciously roasted pork is served with the classic German supporting actors: sauerkraut and bread pudding dumpling, etc
The Veneson is exquisite and is also served with a red sauerkraut and a red wine sauce with a lingonberry side that is to write home about. Even the potato pancakes are delicate and tasteful. It is the kind of food that will be easy to make a mess with, but Suppenkuche avoid it by putting the 5 senses into it and a lot of good beer from the old country.

What's right about The Buckeye Roadhouse in Mill Valley?

The Buckeye Roadhouse in Mill Valley, right off highway 101, continues to surprise. Just when you think that you're tired of the menu, they update with new layers of flavor, resurrecting American favorites in a delightfully Californian way. Proving that restaurants cannot, and should not, rely solely on selling sustainable and local products--the food, in the end, needs to taste good too. And if you're not a meat eater, here' s a case in point: the Daily Fish Special of Halibut with Cauliflower--a very innocuous sounding dish--was delicious! The cauliflower puree made the dish feel luxurious and so sweet, the roasted bed of cauliflower reminded us of the veggie we were eating, the halibut was cooked perfectly. Add to that, the parsley/frisee salad and my mouth never tired of the dish: 4 layers of flavor...all American, very Californina and also Japanese in concept. Taste, texture, aroma...

Watch out! Turkey day approaches.

It is that month of the year. Imagination in the kitchen is replaced by the tradition and the way it's always been done. So if you don't want to lower your standards make sure you order a special Turkey, get organic veggies, make your own pies from scratch and pick great wines from Califonia, Spain, Italy or France. The rest is just the same: family, friends and luckily fun.

Delfina on California Street, San Francisco. Ingredients and taste come together right... perfect!

It was not the first time we ate at this fun and welcoming place. Every time we eat at Delfina we are most pleased with the quality of the food and the very special care to "do it right" from the young kitchen crew. Last Tuesday we had the Monterey Sardines (in the picture) with fennel and marinated with vineger, olive oil and other herbs to start. Sweet and a bit sour; this appetizer is delicious and surprisingly soothing. The freshness of the sardines and the generous sweetness of the fennel do wonders to open up your palate to the next dish. It was an anchovy pizza, with peppers and tomato sauce. Crispy and soft at the same time, hard to achieve but Delfina does. Salad and other appetizers were exquisite and well dressed to create deep and lasting flavors. The service is friendly and very efficient. They successfully combine Spanish tapa style with Italian and Californian cuisines: deliciously gourmet... and affordable too!

Stellina Osteria in Point Reyes Station, California. Great Ingredients-- forgot to flavor it?!?

About a 2-hour drive from San Francisco and one hour before you get to the Point Reyes Lighthouse, there is a place that remains just about the way it was 50 years ago... Point Reyes Station has been preserved in spite of the crowds that visit every weekend of the year. Even Prince Charles of England was here a few years ago.

Stellina Osteria uses very fresh ingredients but somewhere in the short time that it's been open, flavoring has been forgotten. Maybe it's just a matter of cooking very light, but a grass-fed- goat-shoulder-stew with polenta ought to have a lot more exciting things to say than just: "Yes, I am meat and a very good one at that!" We didn't try the specialty: pizza with local oysters. I did not have the courage... The potato fennel soup was made with the freshest organic"est" ingredients. A heavy gluten taste (cooked, maybe yesterday?) prevented us from enjoying the sweet winks that fennel can give to a potato. The soup was left practically untouched, yet nobody bothered to find out if there was bleach or a cockroach floating with the fresh basil (fresh indeed!).

A lovely dining room, but Stellina is ready for a flavor revamp. Let me know if you try the Oyster Pizza.

Best in Japantown at Bushi-Tei. Post Street in San Francisco. Nagano to USA

It has to be noted that the interior of the restaurant is designed with the wood structure of an ancient house from the Nagano area in Japan. The beams were transported carefully from there and set in the restaurant to create a feeling that harmoniously mixes the old and the modern Japan. The place claims to be French/Californian. But we decided that is more Japanese/Spanish/French/Californian.
It was great. Wonderful homemade breads: mini danish, chocolate croissant, etc. Go with the Jamón Serrano starter presented like a Maki, filled with perfectly balanced lettuce, quail egg and dressing. Kurobuta pork (Milanesa) was excellent and cooked to perfection, the chicken was unexpectedly moist with a diced veggie salad to die for.
Dessert was to write home about: sesame seed mousse with coconut cream: Yummmmyyyyyyyy!!! It was $25 per person, but it beats any brunch we've tried. Food and ambience are the result of a well thought out plan to please both the palate and the eye.

Welcome to the Great Repasts Review.

We will be going around tasting food of all knds in all the places we can get to. From California to Madrid. From London to Hawaii. from Australia to China. And we will be telling you all about it. Restaurants that are very good and restaurants that aren't. Places that are special and places that pretend to be and are not.

We also like your comments and contribution. So do not be shy and tell us about places you eat that cause an impact. either pleasant or unpleasant.

A. and JL