House of Lee

885 Fourth St. San Rafael
415.457.9977

I like House of Lee. It is not fancy by any means but they serve authentic Cantonese food. I must admit that I have a penchant for Cantonese food, maybe because I lived in Hong Kong for a while. I think it is the most delicate of all Chinese cuisine.
The restaurant is right on 4th St. between Cijos (Seahorse) St. and Lootens Place. Very convenient.
We had dim sum, which you order from the menu here, instead of the usual push carts coming to you that are full of steaming hot food in tiny baskets. We ordered Xiao Lung Boo ($2.20), Ha Gau ($2.60), Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaves ($2.20), Noodle Crepes with BBQ Pork ($2.20), Deep Fried Sesame Balls ($2.20), Deep Fried Sesame Seed Shrimp Roll ($2.20), and Chow Fan (fried rice noodles) with Beef ($5.50).
This may not be a place for the first date, but the food is excellent.

Sushi-ko

Larkspur Landing Circle, Larkspur

Lunch at Sushi-ko. I had their daily special lunch. That was great! It had California roll, sushi with salmon and tuna, vegetable tenpura, salad with miso dressing, and good miso soup. For $8.99 it is a great value.

Robata Grill & Sushi

591 Redwood Highway, Mill Valley
381.8400

Back to Robata Grill on the way from the city for a quick lunch. We ordered lunch special, because I wasn't inspired by anything else on the menu. Miso soup was delivered right away. It was ok, just broth with miso and tiny teeny tofu. The lunch looked gorgeous when it arrived. It came in a bento box (lacquered box with compartments), and had iceberg lettuce salad, deep-fried fake crab, chicken teriyaki, and salmon skin roll.
Well, I am very sorry to say the only edible thing was deep-fried fake crab. I must advise you that I am neither a deep-fried food fan nor a fake crab afficionado. Chicken teriyaki was gummy. I don't know what part of chicken they used. It was drenched in strange sweet sauce and accompanied by red ginger. Salmon skin roll had no skin in it. It was a roll with very dry salmon and even drier rice. The entire thing was very disappointing.
I know they can do much much better, because I attended a function catered by the restaurant last year. I just hope they start to serve better food at lunch time; otherwise I will have to look for other places to go to for Friday lunches.

Sol Food Cafe

732 4th St., San Rafael

Brightly colourful Puerto Rican restaurant at the corner of 4th and Lincoln in San Rafael, this eye-catching place has been packed since it opened this year. I don't even remember what was there before, but I certainly took notice when Sol Food went up instead. It is a tiny place, and it can only seat 8 people in counters inside, if everybody squeezed tight, and 4 people comfortably. They have seatings outside in the parking lot; three tiny tables and a bar on the side of the restaurant.
We had chicken + rice + beans + a salad ($7.95) and a chicken sandwich (&7.50). Chickens were marinated in garlics (lots of them) and Puerto Rican spices, then grilled, white rice was topped with cooked brown beans, and I couldn't tell what the salad leaves were but they were dressed in lemony dressing. Chicken sandwich was a better choice. It came with French-style bread that was pressed and grilled lightly, had the above-mentioned chicken, iceberg lettuce, which was amazingly refreshing (I hadn't had iceberg lettuce for a long time), tomatoes, and mayo. No haute cuisine, but it is a fun, colourful place right in downtown San Rafael.

Saigon Seafood Harbor, Richmond

3150 Pierce St. Richmond
510.559.9388

Back to Saigon Seafood Harbor. Ever since North Sea Village in Sausalito closed its door, Marinites are forced to go to Richmond or SF for good dim sum. Saigon Seafood Harbor was packed as usual at Saturday luch time, but we were seated in less than 15 minutes. Our table was drafty, so with a little commotion, they agreed to seat us at a different table. I tell you, the food is good here, but the serving staff may not be the most courteous.
After we were settled at the table, we had our usuals; steamed sweet rice wrapped in lotus leaves, shumai, chicken feet, roast pork in wide rice noodles, sesame balls, etc., etc. I never thought I would be eating chicken feet (eek!), but once you get beyond thinking, yak, it is chicken feet!, it is not THAT bad.
To wash grease from Chinese food, we had pu-erh (pronounced 'poray') tea with the food. This particular tea is supposed to help your digestive system to get rid of unwanted fat and grease. Chinese have been trying this since Tang dynasty, so hey, why not? It might work.
It was a fun lunch, in spite of the cold drafty table we were given first, and the hustle to change. The place is full of energy, noisy, and the food carts come to you. What more do you want?

Sushi Ko

Larkspur Landing Circle, Larkspur

I always enjoy Sushi Ko in Larkspur Landing. I usually go there for sushi, which proved to be consistently good for 15 years. The decor is so-so, and you have to wait a while to be seated if you go around 7 PM, but it is certainly worth the wait.
This time, the restaurant is so crowded we had to take a table instead of sushi counter seats. The service was the worst this time. They only had two waitresses for the entire restaurant, and two sushi chefs. The usual hot towels never arrived, and the wait for food was torturously slow. But the manager sent a bowl of edamame, so at least we had something to munch on.
We had hamachi, scallops, mirugai, spicy tuna roll, spider roll, lobster salad roll, etc. Sushi was excellent. Next time, we will have to remember to get there earlier.