The Fish Hopper Seafood & Steaks (Monterey)

The Fish Hopper is usually the first restaurant I come upon whenever I visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. After the aquarium experience, one can wander down Cannery Row and partake in the gifts shops, clothing stores, logo shops, and restaurants to one’s delight.

The most recent visit to Monterey was a busy one and we were a bit tired, so The Fish Hopper it was – the first one we happened upon and decided to patronize once again.

The restaurant sits right alongside the Pacific Ocean and is a warm and homey place, especially after the sun goes down. There is a fireplace the bathes the inside dining area with a golden glow. For those who prefer a semi-al fresco atmosphere, there’s the heated open lanai.

Since she wasn’t very hungry, the wife ordered a Chef’s Sampler appetizer plate of deep-fried calamari, grilled artichoke and crab cakes, with a couple of slices of garlic bread. There WAS a lot of food in this sampler, and she brought some back to the room for breakfast the next day. Silly lady.

I decided to have their Monterey Abalone with Prawns and Seared Scallops this time, which was accompanied by garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed vegetables (yellow squash and asparagus) with a few orange wedges hugging the sides.

The abalone itself was small and tender, repacked into its shell. Its delicate flavor was nearly overwhelmed by the sauce, but all in all, it wasn’t bad. The prawns were nicely done – not overcooked or hard, and the scallops were oh so tender and sweet.

Next time I visit the aquarium, I really do have to walk farther down the street and try some of the other restaurants. But y’know, it’s awfully hard to walk past The Fish Hopper.

The Fish Hopper Seafood & Steaks: 700 Cannery Row. (831) 372-8543.

Santa Lucia Café (Monterey)

I do believe this was the first time I’ve ever eaten at a German restaurant with the name of an Italian song, situated in a town with a Spanish name. Santa Lucia Café is a small café in downtown Monterey that is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

They have a flyer inside that lists some of the German food and drink they offer: Bavarian Sauerbraten, Wiener Schnitzel, Beer Brats, Jaeger Schnitzel, Hungarian Goulash, and Spaetzle.

Their beer list includes Koestrizer (black), Spaten (optimator and Oktoberfest), Paulaner (lager), Bitburger (pilsner), Hofbrauhaus (light) and Erdinger Hefe Weizen (dark wheat). These names don’t mean a thing to me because I’m not much of a beer connoisseur, but I’m sure beef aficionados would appreciate it more.

We were there somewhere between breakfast and lunch, so pretty much had the place to ourselves. I think it’s pretty much the only full-service café in the area because toward the end of our meal, people began trickling in.

We had breakfast, by the way.

I ordered the Italian-style Santa Lucia Breakfast, which consisted of two eggs any style with homemade marinara sauce, grated parmesan cheese, freshly baked ciabatta bread, and two of the following three sides: Homemade Italian sausage (no casing), prosciutto di Parma, or sautéed spinach.

Selecting the Italian sausage and prosciutto was a great choice. The sausage was pretty spicy (enough to make the top of my head perspire), and the prosciutto was flavorfully salty. The plate also included small wedges of cantaloupe, watermelon, and two strawberry halves.

The scrambled eggs were a bit overdone, but as usual, I expected that because very few restaurants can bring out perfectly cooked scrambled eggs that are still soft and moist. So really, no harm, no foul.

The wife wasn’t hungry so she ordered a single pancake, then proceeded to steal a strawberry, and some of my prosciutto. She made up for it by allowing me a taste of her pancake. As it was thick, I rather expected it to be a little on the wet and floury side, but to my surprise, it was perfectly prepared.

If you’re ever in Monterey, stop by this place for breakfast. It’s right down the street from “motel row.”

Santa Lucia Café: 484 Washington St. (831) 333-1111.

BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse (San Jose)

You can find BJ’s Restaurant in San Jose very easily. It’s visible from the Blossom Hill Road, in the front of Westfield Shoppingtown Oakridge.

In fact, there might be a BJ’s close to you, as they have restaurants in 15 different states, mostly in the west and southwestern United States.

BJ’s seems to be a good place to watch ballgames, as they are basically a pizza, burger, sandwich, comfort food and beer restaurant. They brew their own handcrafted beer.

I went there for lunch on a Sunday. There was plenty of seating when we got there at about 11 a.m., but by the time we left, the waiting guests were piled up outside waiting for a seat. It’s a pretty popular place, I’d say.

While the others satisfied themselves either by sharing one of their enormous deep-dish pizzas or hoarding their special sandwiches, I opted for an entrée – the only one to get an entrée in the whole party of eight.

A delicious starter was the bowl of Tuscan Tomato Bisque that I had, created from vine-ripened tomatoes, a perfect start for a lunch on a chilly autumn morning.

I also was in a meatloaf mood, so I ordered the “Derek’s Favorite Meatloaf” – an amalgam of lean ground Angus beef and pork, garlic, onions, bell peppers, Parmesan cheese, carrots, celery, seasoned panko bread crumbs and an array of unidentified spices.

The meatloaf was intensely flavored, smothered in mushroom brown gravy, and I liked it. But I couldn’t help thinking that I should have asked if they could fry up a couple of over-easy eggs (or scrambled) and tossed it on the plate. The three thick slabs of meatloaf came with mashed potatoes and veggies (squash, zucchini, onions and carrots).

To wash it all down, I had a mug of their in-house brewed root beer. It was a bit on the sweet side (I prefer my root beer with a little more “tang”) but it did the job.

I couldn’t finish all of my meal, so I brought one slab home along with half my veggies. The next morning, I made a meatloaf and chopped vegetable scramble for the wife and myself. Now THAT’S the way to get extra value from a restaurant meal, something I don’t normally do.

They do have curbside service for your convenience if you want take-out, and they do have online ordering.

BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse: 925 Blossom Hill Road, Suite 1535. (408) 284-4260.

Cup & Saucer Family Restaurant (San Jose)

I’ve been going to visit family in San Jose for quite a few years now, and never had a meal at the Cup & Saucer. As a matter of fact, I’d seen it there before but dismissed it as a place to have coffee and pastries.

It wasn’t until a few days ago that my son’s neighbor told us that Cup & Saucer is a pretty good place for breakfast – and you know how I love breakfast.

So on our way home from breakfast at Coco’s (also on Blossom Hill), we swung by Cup & Saucer to scope it out. I checked out their menu and chatted with the guy tending the cash register. Turns out they’ve been there for more than 20 years, and that they serve breakfast all day.

Three days later, the wife and I tried it out. Their special omelet of the day was Pulled Pork Omelet. That was intriguing, and I thought about ordering that for breakfast.

They tout their “soufflé omelets,” and I thought about those too. But for my first venture, I ordered the Crab Cakes California – “Two crab cakes topped with avocado, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce … served with our great potatoes,” the menu read.

Y’know, I should have gone with my first instinct and tried the pulled pork special, or a soufflé omelet. The crab cakes weren’t too good – lots of filler and very little crab. Maybe I’m spoiled but I like crab cakes to be 90% or more crab. The eggs were a tad bit overcooked for me and the yokes were semi-firm.

The side potatoes were pretty good however, especially the crusty part on top.

I’ll give them another chance or two. Next time I’ll try one of their 19 different listed omelets, or perhaps create one of my own from their 30-ingredient list. Their griddle menu is quite extensive with a nice variety of pancakes, French toast, waffles, pastry and cereal.

They also have a small lunch menu of burgers and sandwiches. Their dinner menu is comfort food – steaks (flank, New York, chicken fried), liver and onions, meat loaf, fish and chips, chicken (sherry sautéed, herbed, cordon bleu, carbonara, parmesan, and “Castroville” with artichokes) , fish (tilapia, salmon and sole), and pasta.

Hope my next experience there is better.

Cup & Saucer Family Restaurant: 1375 Blossom Hill Road. (408) 266-0808.

Scoma’s 2 (San Francisco)

We try to have at least one meal at Scoma's whenever we’re in San Francisco, and we recently got a chance to do just that. Since I’ve already detailed what Scoma’s has to offer (in my Nov. 13, 2008 post), I won’t go into much detail about the place.

This time around, I started with one of their special offerings – butternut squash and crab soup. Scoma’s does have one of the best clam chowders I’ve tasted, but the table card was tempting and I was in the mood for something different.

It turns out I had made a great choice. The soup was hot, thick and rich, the crab meat was fresh and perfectly laid in a thick strip over the squash, the soup was punctuated with sesame seeds in various stages of roast, and a delicate pattern of sour cream danced on top.

For my entrée, I ordered the Scallops Sauté Sec, which is similar to the Shellfish Sauté. It was accompanied by penne pasta and mixed vegetables, on top of a bed of rice. The scallops were so darned tender that they practically melted in our mouths (the wife and I split the entrée).

I’m telling you, it’s hard to go wrong at Scoma’s.

We ordered tiramisu for dessert – it came in a cup with two spoons. I guess the waitress had us all figured out.

Scoma’s: At the west end of Fisherman’s Wharf on Pier 47 where Jones and Jefferson Streets intersect. (415) 771-4383.

Kincaid’s Fish, Chop & Steak House (Honolulu)

Kincaid’s can be found in a number of states, namely Hawaii, Arizona, California, Minnesota and Virginia. They have a good menu featuring exactly what you’d expect from a steak house – and a bit more as well … pretty creative in its own way.

Recently, the wife and I went for an early dinner and were surprised to see they had an early special called the “First Seating Three-Course Dinner” for $25.

As “bookends,” they will start you off with salad or soup, and top off your dinner with either a sorbet or sundae.

In between comes an entrée of your choice from the following selection: Roasted Chicken Breast Dijon, Chophouse Kobe Meatloaf, Roasted Tiger Prawns (split, garlic-basted, served in shell. Mashed red potatoes, napa cabbage), Cajun Chicken Fettuccine, Baby Back Ribs with Hawaiian BBQ Sauce (half rack apple-smoked, sweet potato fries, chipotle ranch napa cabbage slaw), Seafood Louis.

Your choice of coffee, tea or soda will help wash it down.

The wife and I opted for the specials. She ordered the Baby Back Ribs, and I decided to try the Roasted Tiger Prawns, so we could share our entrées (which we tend to do these days).

The ribs were tender and beautifully flavored; the meat literally was “falling off the bone.” We fought over the sweet potato fries, I have to admit. Well okay, we didn’t fight over them, but we each tried to eat more than the other.

The tiger prawns thankfully were not overcooked, as it sometimes happens when prawns are ordered. The marinade was excellent and I found myself sucking on the shells after I’d consumed the flesh.

We both had the raspberry sorbet to freshen our palates after the savory meal.

That was a yummy dinner date, for sure.

Kincaid’s Fish, Chop & Steak House: 1050 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 2100. (808) 591-2005.

Shokudo (Honolulu)

Located along the busy Kapiolani Boulevard corridor, Shokudo is a popular neo-Japanese restaurant, presenting a fusion of Asian (Japanese, Chinese and Korean) and European (Italian and French) cuisine.

One generally doesn’t need a reservation if you dine early. Otherwise there might be a wait.

Although the wife and I ordered separate meals, we shared what we had with each other, expanding our sampling of the creative dishes brought to our table.

My order came with an excellent miso soup, in which were nestled soft little cubes of tofu (made within the hour, our waitress assured us).

It wasn’t on the menu, but I remembered that on a previous visit, we’d had deep-fried crispy flounder. The waitress said they still offer it, and we could have it if we wanted. We wanted. It’s very nice, by the way, the flesh is cut into pieces, battered and deep-fried. The remaining carcass is also deep-fried and becomes edible – bones and all. Crunchy good!

This was followed by crispy calamari salad (the wife’s entrée) – tempera-battered calamari (squid) on a bed of organic missed greens, onions and cucumber, tossed with cilantro vinaigrette. We both don’t care for cilantro, but she didn’t read the description carefully. However, once we picked out the cilantro leaves, the vinaigrette itself was good. I do wish the calamari had been a little crispier, however.

I had the Tokyo beef steak bento (top sirloin beef steak). It was okay, I prefer rib-eye or at the least, New York steak. The problem with sirloin is that it’s a bit on the tough side and requires concentrated chewing. It also didn’t hold the wasabi soy sauce marinade well. My steak was a bit of a disappointment, I’m sorry to say.

Dessert was something simple – so very simple – yet very delicious. We had a spectacular order of honey toast – two thick slabs of Japanese bread about 3 by 3 by 3 inches, with the insides cubed and cut out once the bread was toasted.

The bread cubes were then drizzled with honey, and topped with vanilla ice cream.

Although I had the “original” honey toast, they do have varieties – Chocolate, caramel, cinnamon, strawberry, or sweet red bean.

Shokudo: 1585 Kapiolani Blvd. (808) 941-3701.