Cor Cellars 2023 ‘AGO’ Tocai Friulano
Columbia Gorge, Washington $30
Cor Cellars was founded in 2004 by Luke Bradford and is now run alongside his wife, Meg. They have several different labels representing the brand including their distinctive lineup called AGO (meaning “before the present time”).This racy white is made with a famed northern Italian grape, Tocai Friulano, planted in the Columbia Gorge wine-growing area. Alluring aromas of white peaches draw you in for a taste that’s a touch earthy with a creamy texture.
Amos Rome Vineyards 2023 Grüner Veltliner
Lake Chelan, Washington $30
Lake Chelan is known for its beautiful scenery and as a destination for outdoor activities. Lately, the viticultural area has also been gaining acclaim for its wines. The well-known Austrian grape, Grüner Veltliner, thrives in cooler climates producing crisp, bright whites. Planted in Amos Rome’s High Blossom Vineyard, this Grüner shines.This version from winemaker and owner Travis Clark, is zesty with hints of citrus, herbal notes, and a mouthwatering freshness.
Devison 2023 Sauvignon Blanc, Evergreen Vineyard
Columbia Valley, Washington $28
The mantra of winery owners, Peter and Kelsey Devison, is “Texture. Tension. Terroir.” Three words that perfectly describe their lineup of singular wines including this world-class Sauvignon Blanc. Hailing from the Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley, it expresses minerality and citrus intensity layered with lushness. Though this is a serious Sauvignon Blanc that reminds me of classic French Sancerre, its whimsical label and succulent character make it seriously fun to sip.
Episode Transcript
Leslie Sbrocco: Seasonal small plates in Palo Alto…
Eddie Ng: I wish I had it in front of me right now.
Leslie Sbrocco: …pub classics on tap in Oakland…
Jason Stein: I really like the Retroburger, kind of a perfect burger.
Leslie Sbrocco: …and rockin’ sushi rolls in Berkeley.
Imani Isles: It’s just absolutely to die for.
Leslie Sbrocco: Just ahead on Check, Please! Bay Area.
Imani Isles: This is the vibe. I’m enjoying the music. I’m enjoying the conversation.
Leslie Sbrocco: Life is good.
Imani Isles: Life is…
Leslie Sbrocco: Life is good.
[music playing]
Leslie Sbrocco: Hi, I’m Leslie Sbrocco. Welcome to Check, Please! Bay Area, the show where Bay Area residents review and talk about their favorite restaurants. Now, we have three guests, and each one recommends one of their favorite spots, and the other two go check them out to see what they think. Joining me at the Check, Please! table today are tattoo artist Jason Stein, project manager Eddie Ng, and data analyst and model Imani Isles. Welcome, everyone. Are you ready for our fun show?
Imani Isles: Yes.
Eddie Ng: Yes. Can’t wait.
Leslie Sbrocco: We kick things off with Eddie’s pick. Offering an elevated yet approachable menu of shareable plates in a hip, modern space, it’s the perfect place to throw a dinner party for his friends. Minus the cleanup. Located in downtown Palo Alto, it’s Ethel’s Fancy.
[music playing]
Scott Nishiyama: At Ethel’s Fancy, we wanted to keep it fun. It’s very evident when you walk in here that there’s a lot of energy going on. Open kitchen and an open fire and great hospitality.
Man: Alrighty, guys. Here we got the miso-marinated cucumbers, Asian Shinko pears.
Scott Nishiyama: This is a very personal restaurant named after my grandmother and my mom. I’m originally from Hawaii, born and raised on Maui. Because Hawaii is such a melting pot of different cultures, we take a lot of inspiration from different cuisines. Being Japanese-American, I definitely wanted to introduce a little bit of that into my cooking. Most of my training has been in French and Italian, but it’s hard not to get influenced by the things that I grew up eating and I love to eat. I always had a deep love for cooking growing up with my mom and my grandmother. There’s one dish in particular that we do. It’s a kampachi crudo, inspired by a Japanese senbei recipe that my mom used to make. You do it on a little yakitori cracker. A lot of textures going on.
Woman: It’s amazing. It’s so good.
Scott Nishiyama: Growing up, I loved barbecues outside, and Japanese yakitori is like one of my favorite things to eat. We grill over wood and binchotan, which is Japanese charcoal, to impart that nice smoky flavor to everything. Another aspect I really wanted for the restaurant was having soft serve, because I love soft serve. We’re constantly changing those flavors up, and we pair it with fresh fruit in season. This is a black sesame crumble, frozen raspberries. While we take the food and the drinks very seriously, we don’t try to take ourselves seriously. We want it to be a really fun and interactive space. You see that…that nod from people, and you know that they’re having a good time.
[music playing]
Man: Very good.
Leslie Sbrocco: Alright, Eddie. Ethel’s Fancy. Sounds like such a unique spot.
Eddie Ng: Yeah. I highly recommend you come here with a lot of people, at least four, just so you can try everything and share it.
Leslie Sbrocco: And what do you usually start with?
Eddie Ng: We open with getting the bread. It’s this milk bread. It’s nice and golden on top, super piping warm. And they have this beautiful dab of butter or some sea salt that you could put on top of it. Honestly, you don’t need it.
Jason Stein: We also started with the bread, and the bread is — I’ve had milk bread other places before. This was definitely something special.
Imani Isles: Yeah. It just kind of melts in your mouth. I mean, it was super soft, and I think there was black sesame seeds, like, sprinkled on top of it.
Jason Stein: Mm-hmm.
Imani Isles: I mean, Ethel’s Fancy, like, yes, she is. Like, Ethel’s fancy Fancy.
Jason Stein: Yeah.
Imani Isles: It was very nice.
Leslie Sbrocco: Alright, so after the rolls, where do you head on the menu?
Eddie Ng: The menu is always constantly changing with the season, but if they do have it, you should get the hand-cut beef tartare.
Jason Stein: So good.
Eddie Ng: There’s like, kind of a soy sauce-y umami essence to it. There was like a cracker that came with it that you could get that crunchy texture as you need it, contrasting with the soft tenderness of the meat. Just thinking about right now, like, I wish I had it in front of me right now.
Jason Stein: And the soft-boiled egg.
Imani Isles: I can taste it the way that you’re describing it.
Eddie Ng: Oh, the egg.
Jason Stein: That soy egg that it comes with.
Eddie Ng: Yes. Oh, the egg was —
Leslie Sbrocco: You got this as well?
Jason Stein: Yeah. It was amazing. Probably one of the best tartares I’ve had.
Eddie Ng: Yes. Mm-hmm.
Jason Stein: So good. We ordered the sesame pancake, which was really great. The pancake itself is almost like a mochi sort of chewy kind of thing with great sesame flavor. And then it came with this sauce that was sort of the star of it. It was a whipped cream with a smoked fish in it. It also had an avocado, which seems like it would be overkill on the creamy, whatever. But all the flavors complemented each other perfectly.
Leslie Sbrocco: Imani’s shaking her head.
Imani Isles: I mean, it was sensational. I also had the pancakes, and they’re small. They’re a little more dense than you think they would be. That chili on the side really complemented. It wasn’t an overwhelming heat. I think it paired very nicely with the fish and the texture of the pancakes.
Leslie Sbrocco: Jason’s keeping it casual with his favorite place to kick back with a burger and a brew. His only challenge—deciding which craft beer to choose of the more than 20 on tap year-round. Located in Oakland’s Piedmont Avenue neighborhood, it’s Cato’s Ale House.
[music playing]
Woman: Thanks for coming!
Man: How you been?
[music playing]
Cara Devereux: People are very intrigued by Cato’s when they come in. It looks like a house as it was and it was converted into a restaurant. There’s nooks and crannies for you to have an intimate date night. There is space for you to have a group.
Together: Cheers!
[music playing]
Cara Devereux: We have live music every Wednesday and Sunday. We have trivia every Monday evening. It’s a very comfortable space. Our menu is a hodgepodge of different things, so we have snackable, shareable plates, we have burgers, sandwiches. You can customize your own pizza. There’s something for everybody. My favorite thing on the menu is the Hallelujah! fried chicken sandwich. The vinegar-based slaw is awesome. So a simple sandwich that just ends up blowing your mind. We’re really proud to serve 23 lines of craft beer. We were one of the first restaurants in the Bay Area to have Pliny the Elder from Russian River on draught permanently. We are happy to guide you. If you don’t know what kind of beer you’re looking for—malty, sweet, tart. And if you do, that’s great. We’ll get you ready.
[bell ringing, cheering]
Cara Devereux: You’ll notice that we have a standing bar where you’re going to bump elbows and mingle with the people you’re around, and we really do that to embrace and encourage interaction with guests.
Woman: You gonna have some food?
Cara Devereux: Awesome. I’ve been coming to Cato’s since I was a child. I’ve been coming for the 30 years that we’ve been open. I started working here in the kitchen seven years ago, worked my way up to manager. And it’s just the best place to work with the best people. None of us feel like we’re working, honestly. It just feels like a place where we get to come hang out. We do get a lot of families in here—a lot of kids who we know by name, we watch them grow up, and they feel that Cato’s is theirs. I think that’s one of the most important things about Cato’s—it feels like it’s everybody’s space. It’s “my Cato’s.” To everybody, it’s “my Cato’s.”
Leslie Sbrocco: So, Jason, is this your go-to pub?
Jason Stein: Yeah. Pretty much.
Man: I’ll take a Pliny.
Cara Devereux: Pliny?
Man: Yeah.
Jason Stein: It’s just got a very cozy atmosphere that you feel instantly comfortable in. A lot of places that are pubs, they’ll have a good selection of beer and, eh, they have food, you know? This place, they really focus on the food. And I really like the Retroburger. It’s got bacon on it—crisp, thick bacon. The bun is just right. You know, it’s not an overly fat brioche bun or something obtrusive. It’s just enough to sort of carry the burger. They cook it perfectly every time if you ask for it medium rare. The fries that come with it are great. Yeah, it’s kind of a perfect burger, you know?
Leslie Sbrocco: You agree?
Eddie Ng: Oh, so I 100% agree with everything. I think the only thing I can add to it is it’s the kind of burger that you want to reach for so many napkins ’cause it’s so messy, but just in the best way possible.
Imani Isles: Yeah.
Eddie Ng: And I was just, like, grabbing the napkins, and I felt like so much joy just eating it. It was very substantial. Like, I couldn’t finish it. I wanted—
Leslie Sbrocco: It was a 20-napkin-er.
Eddie Ng: Yeah. Oh, definitely. Yes, yes. And they had this Chuseok porter, a local Oakland brewery called Dokkaebier. And I was so excited to try it because I hadn’t seen it anywhere else, and it’s a really great way to start off the meal.
Imani Isles: So they have a huge drink menu. I’m a cider girl myself, so I tried this like blue cosmic cider. Very citrus forward. It had a great taste to it and a great color as well. I think it brought a little fun to the night. And one of the standout dishes for me was the mac and cheese. I love a mac and cheese. I actually make a great mac and cheese—just a small plug. So this mac and cheese was—
Leslie Sbrocco: So you judge harshly.
Imani Isles: I judge harshly. I know what I’m talking about. This mac and cheese was very creamy and it had some breadcrumbs on top that were just a good juxtaposition to the creamy and the crunchy. I think it had a great flavor as well, very well seasoned, so it kind of gave it this like homey feel.
Man: Hot, hot, hot, hot!
Imani Isles: Did anybody go on Wednesday night?
Eddie Ng: No.
Jason Stein: No.
Imani Isles: They have live music on Wednesdays.
Jason Stein: Oh, yeah. I heard about that.
Imani Isles: So it was very nice ’cause you’re just enjoying kind of this live band and you’re just like, hey, this is—this is the vibe. I’m enjoying the music. I’m enjoying the conversation. The drinks are flowing, the mac and cheese is creamy. I really like—
Leslie Sbrocco: Life is good feel.
Imani Isles: Life is—
Leslie Sbrocco: Life is good.
Leslie Sbrocco: Any other dishes you want to talk about?
Jason Stein: I really like their—actually, their bánh mì I think is great. They have a chicken bánh mì, and they also have a tofu bánh mì. They’re both lemongrass. And for a non-Vietnamese place, it’s a pretty solid bánh mì. Spicy, a little bit acidic. It’s got the pickled veggies on it. I think it’s great.
Imani Isles: Mmm.
Eddie Ng: So my wife got the pastrami sandwich. Any time she sees it anywhere, she loves to try different pastrami sandwiches. The portion sizes are super generous. The bread was toasted beautifully, like you have the golden-brown exterior. The meat was packed high. She was really happy that she got to try it, you know?
Imani Isles: So, I had the Hallelujah! sandwich. It’s a fried chicken sandwich with a spicy coleslaw and a lemon aioli. And it’s very messy, just like the burger, but equally delicious. I really enjoyed it.
Cara Devereux: I’ve got a pepperoni pizza here.
Imani Isles: My partner had the pizza, so there was, like, mushrooms, sausage on the pizza, and he did not have any complaints either.
Leslie Sbrocco: Did you have anything else to drink?
Jason Stein: I had the Irish Red Ale. Just balanced, you know, not too bitter. Yeah. Nice beer.
Leslie Sbrocco: No room for dessert?
Jason Stein: I’d just get the beer.
Imani Isles: The beer was a dessert.
Eddie Ng: Yeah, the beer was my dessert.
Jason Stein: Yeah, exactly. Who has room, you know?
Leslie Sbrocco: And did you feel like this was an affordable place?
Eddie Ng: Oh, absolutely. I think it was such a great neighborhood spot to have to go to.
Imani Isles: We actually went there, and we bumped into a friend of ours who lives in Oakland, and they were watching the Celtics game. So that’s a good opportunity as well. If you’re a huge sports fan, that’s another element of community. There’s no seats at the bar, but there are people yelling for their team to win.
Leslie Sbrocco: Would you go back again?
Eddie Ng: Oh, absolutely. I would go back again. 100%.
Imani Isles: Yeah.
Leslie Sbrocco: Alright. If you would like to try Cato’s Ale House, it’s located on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland, and the average tab per person without drinks is around $25.
[music playing]
Leslie Sbrocco: Imani feels transported to Japan every time she steps into her
favorite sushi bar. Featuring fish flown in daily, including a
melt-on-your-tongue toro, it’s no wonder it’s become
her date night destination. Located in Berkeley, it’s Kiku Sushi.
[music playing]
Sophia Batsaikhan: Kiku Sushi is bringing two worlds together in one place — vegetarian and fish at the same time and same place and make them happy. We are immigrants from Mongolia. We work in Japanese restaurant at the beginning.
Jay Batsaikhan: After I went to the school, I teach my sister how to make sushi.
Sophia Batsaikhan: Then we decided us open the sushi restaurant.
Jay Batsaikhan: I like working at the sushi bar. I want to see people happy when they get the fishes. They want to watch me.
Sophia Batsaikhan: This is the fireman roll. So this has avocado on the bottom with the eggplant a little bit torched.
Jay Batsaikhan: Good-quality fish comes from all over the world.
Sophia Batsaikhan: Vegetables is endless vegetables we can use. On the menu, there is so many different things I love to eat. Always the sashimis, homemade black cod marinated. So good.
Jay Batsaikhan: Rice is the most important.
Sophia Batsaikhan: We use short-grain sushi rice imported from Japan. We do have a special secret of making the sushi vinegars. The sushi rice, mixing is a very important part of it. When you’re mixing the rice, you don’t want to chop in through it. So that’s the reason the chef is mixing so that it doesn’t break the rice.
Don’t be surprised, every time you come, depending on the season, we make different kind of vegetarian dishes. One of my favorite is the seaweed salad. We use six different kinds of seaweed with the homemade sauce, which is very good.
Making sushi, it is kind of art. Everybody has a different style, different imaginations to make the plate look amazing. I’m glad I learned it. I’m one of the woman chef in the Bay Area. I’m very proud of it.
Woman: Chicken teriyaki.
Sophia Batsaikhan: People after leave my restaurant, we would like to know them to be fully satisfied. They will remember what delicious food they had. Ohh! Thank you. Thank you for coming.
[music playing]
Leslie Sbrocco: Okay, so this is a date-night destination place?
Imani Isles: Yes, for sure. It’s a very small, very intimate restaurant. There’s wood paneling on the walls and on the ceiling. The lights are kind of integrated within that wood paneling. It feels very cozy.
I started with the seaweed salad. It’s a beautiful, like, array of colors. You have some red, some burgundy, some green, of course, and it’s topped with sesame seeds. It’s a little bland, I would say. And how I spice it up is adding a little soy sauce, and that just perks it right up. It’s just a perfect starter, kind of awakens your palate and gets you ready for the sushi.
My go-to dish is the negi toro. I really like a fatty tuna. It is just very buttery, very soft, melts in your mouth, topped with scallions. And it’s just absolutely to die for.
Jason Stein: Their fish was very fresh. I tried to get the negi toro. They were out of it, sadly, but I did get a salmon nigiri that was great, although they seared the salmon, which was really good. I normally prefer it raw, but I enjoyed it. It was great. It was very fatty.
Imani Isles: Yeah, it’s salmon with salmon roe on top, and it’s, again, buttery, melts in your mouth.
Jason Stein: And their nigiri are large, too. You get a big piece of fish. I had the escolar nigiri, which was amazing. The flavor of the fish was just so complex and fresh and perfect. And they put a little green onion on top.
Imani Isles: Yeah.
Eddie Ng: My wife and I, we went for lunch. So what was really nice was that they had these different sets that you can pick from. So my wife got the sashimi lunch set, and there you can customize. If you didn’t want one fish, you could sub one out. So she had decided to get the chu-toro. She’s a big fan of fatty tuna. So everything that she got was really amazing. You could taste the quality.
So for myself, I actually decided to go a different direction. I did their nigiri vegetarian set. And so each nigiri was a different type of vegetable. And it was really amazing how they were able to nuance flavors out of those vegetables. Like, there was eggplant that was really amazing. That was just something really cool.
Imani Isles: I tried the Kiku roll. And the Kiku roll was sensational. No wonder it’s their namesake because it had yams. It was very crunchy, very savory, deep fried as well. So it fills you up, and it’s just phenomenal.
Jason Stein: Yeah, I had also off the vegetarian menu, the Fireman’s roll, which was, I thought, great. It had a spicy sauce and the eggplant was charred and smoky. The overall flavor was just this strong smoke profile, not like a sushi roll I’ve had anywhere before. It was tasty.
Their vegetarian options were great. They had a crispy rice with sweet potato puree that was fantastic.
Imani Isles: We’ve also had the crispy rice with sweet potato and it was delicious. Very crunchy. Kind of gets stuck in your teeth a little bit. Take your time. But very savory.
Woman: How was it?
Young man: Very good.
Imani Isles: I ordered the crispy rice with avocado. And I think I prefer the sweet potato just because of the sweetness, the juxtaposition of the savory rice and the sweet potato.
Young woman: That’s really good.
Imani Isles: It just kind of has a nice savory flavor in your mouth. And for dessert, I had the strawberry mochi.
Man: Oh, that’s fire.
Imani Isles: The mochi is a kind of gummy texture. And then inside is strawberry ice cream. And it was just a nice, something sweet, something brief to have right after your dinner. I very much enjoyed it.
Leslie Sbrocco: And do you get anything to drink?
Imani Isles: I usually get saké. This one was kind of milky. Very good creamy texture to it. And one of my favorite things about Kiku is that when you choose to order saké, you can choose your glass.
All: [exclaiming]
Imani Isles: So they come to you and they give you, like, a series of, like, ornate glasses. And it’s just kind of this customization, like this choice that you didn’t know that you needed. But it was nice to have.
Eddie Ng: Yeah, it’s pretty cool.
Jason Stein: I also had sake. I didn’t get to choose my glass.
All: [laughing]
Jason Stein: I know.
Imani Isles: Gasp!
Leslie Sbrocco: You weren’t on date night.
Jason Stein: I guess not. Yeah. You know. But they did have these cool glasses that had a sort of thing in it that they could put ice in, so it kept it cold, but without it being in the saké. And they were pretty. But I could see that they had a lot of glasses around. So I guess, you know, one could choose.
Imani Isles: Okay.
Eddie Ng: Yeah, yeah.
Imani Isles: Well, let’s bring that up next time.
Jason Stein: Yeah.
Leslie Sbrocco: You have to go together.
Jason Stein: Totally.
Imani Isles: Yeah. The service is also very cozy. Very, like, community oriented. I feel like the service was just checking in on you, making sure that you have everything and not overwhelming you with too many rules at once.
Leslie Sbrocco: Did you feel that about service?
Eddie Ng: Oh, absolutely. You know, they were very attentive. They, you know, ask questions like, What were you interested in? They try to work with you, like with my wife, with the customization. I just thought they really wanted you to feel at home in their restaurant. And, you know, I think it goes a long way.
Leslie Sbrocco: And sushi typically is a pricier meal, isn’t it?
Jason Stein: Yeah, usually. They’re pretty reasonable, I thought.
Imani Isles: This is very accessible. Yeah. And I think that aspect of like the vegetarian menu as well kind of contributes to that accessibility. But it is not like crazy price range I would say.
Eddie Ng: But you know, I definitely want to go back for a date night and try the saké. That sounds like a really great time.
Imani Isles: Highly recommend.
Eddie Ng: Yeah.
Leslie Sbrocco: Alright, if you would like to try Kiku Sushi, it’s located on Gilman Street in Berkeley, and the average tab per person without drinks is around $35.
Leslie Sbrocco: Looking for more Bay Area bites? You’ve just got to try.
Cecilia: [laughs]
Leslie Sbrocco: Check out Cecilia Tries It online at kqed.org/checkplease.
Cecilia: [chuckles] Mmm!
Leslie Sbrocco: I have to thank my great guests on this week’s show — Jason Stein, who raves about the retro burger at Cato’s Ale House in Oakland, Eddie Ng, who has no problem sharing the mouthwatering morsels at Ethel’s Fancy in Palo Alto, and Imani Isles, who loves sipping saké at Kiku Sushi in Berkeley.
Join us next time when three more guests will recommend their favorite spots right here on Check, Please! Bay Area. I’m Leslie Sbrocco and I’ll see you then. Cheers, everyone.
Jason Stein: Cheers.
Leslie Sbrocco: Was reaching for your glass.
Imani Isles: Cheers.
All: [laugh]
Leslie Sbrocco: Cheers.
[music playing]
