a bite of brownie

 Pizza Republic is one of the newly opened restaurants here in Cebu that is almost always full thanks to their innovative way to presenting and serving pizza to the local masses.

after a scenic stroll at montalvo arts center in saratoga and los gatos downtown, i was so looking forward to have a hearty dinner. a branch of this restaurant is very near to my place so it's funny that i get to try this branch which is farther from my place. i went with my vegetarian friend and i felt like doing family style. we decided on their "roasted vegetable california wood-fired pizza with homemade pesto sauce, burrata cheese, oven roasted tomatoes, cauliflower, zucchini and topped with arugula" and "mushroom pesto penne with mixed mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes tossed in a pesto cream sauce garnished with fresh basil and parmesan". both were so good! the vegetables on the pizza were fresh and the burrata cheese was a perfect on the pizza. if i am to choose, the penne had more edge on the pizza. the pesto sauce with the sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms were so tasty! i could eat the entire plate!

even though i was full already, my mind was set on trying the famous gelato place which got some awards on being the best ice cream place. we were lucky to get in before the crowd. i took a taste sample on the pistachio and oreo. i decided on the white pistachio gelato on a cone. it was a very generous scoop. it was so yummy!





Verdict: 5/5

Willow Street Pizza
20 South Santa Cruz Avenue #218
Los Gatos, CA 95030


Verdict: 5/5

Dolce Spazio Gelato
221 N Santa Cruz Ave
Los Gatos, CA 95030

this is so far my favorite mediterranean restaurant in the bay.  the ambiance and location is perfect. i went there with a friend for lunch and we had a patio seating near the water. one could see ducks swimming, boats passing by and athletes kayaking. the line of rich houses which have their own boats was very picturesque.

the ambiance was not only perfect, the food was also delicious. i ordered lamb shish kabob and my vegetarian friend got falafel wrap-deluxe "falafel, tomatoes and cucumber salad and tahini sauce plus eggplants and potatoes". we both enjoyed our orders. the lamb was tender and so tasty. the salad and other trimmings were very well seasoned, even the rice was tasty! after finishing eating, we stayed a little bit more to enjoy the fresh breeze and scenic view. i'm sure the view at night would also be pretty. i definitely would like to come back here again and try their pizza since it's after all a pizza place too!

Verdict: 4.5/5 (-0.5 for mixing people smoking hookah with non-smoking group)

Waterfront Pizza and Mediterranean Restaurant
969 Edgewater Blvd
Foster City, CA 94404

I'm going to say this now: This place has got to be one of the most underrated pizza parlors in Cebu right now.


Our visit to this place was by accident. Originally, we were supposed to go to Rico's Lechon to grab ourselves a boneless head for our almost-a-century-old grandma and our beloved dog, Wookie.


But since there wasn't any roast pig available yet, we had to roam around and that's when we saw Big Flat Bread. BFB is situated within a few steps from SYKES Mabolo's entrance, and even a few steps from Rico's.


The food here is cheap. Less than 300 for a 10inch thin crust pizza? Yes please, sign me up! To save even more, we got ourselves the smallest party pack, inclusive of a 2 liter bottle of soda, a large plate of carbonara pasta, three pieces of chicken with slices of home made mojos, and of course, a pan of their signature pizza flavors.


The gravy for the chicken was way better than any gravy available for a fast food joint. The pizza was less greasy too and very flavorful. The Godfather pizza that came with the package also tasted good, complete with a certain twist to your usual pizza flavors.

 The mojos also stood out from the meal. Although not as addictive as Shakey's Mojos, these baked potato sides were actualy delicious.


I was a little disappointed with their carbonara pasta though, because I found it too creamy and milky, as if the chef smothered it with a whole pack of all purpose cream.



Big Flat Bread
Ridges Mabolo


Verdict:
A: 4.25/5

Definitely a must visit. Cheap but delicious food. What's not to like?

Soon after the arrival of our dearest mother, we came here one night to visit the newest branch of Italliani's at Ayala Center Cebu. Of course, I had class during that time so by the time I got there my mom and sis were already there.

As customary in every Italliani's branch, we were given a fresh basket of bread to be paired with a mixture of balsamic vinegar and olive oil as well as a few minutes to review the menu before we were attended to by someone from the staff. We ordered a pan of Quatro Staggiani (four seasons pizza: cheese, tomato, ham and vegetable) and a Country Combo platter comprised of a heap of smoked salmon spaghetti, roasted chicken, and roast pork (the package was supposed to be roast beef, but they ran out of beef, so we were asked if we'd like to opt for pork instead.) Before she left to relay our order, we were given another basket of fresh bread to pair with the dressing from earlier.
From what I read online and heard from people, Italliani's is known for its fresh food, their pasta and pizza, and last but not least, their steaks.


The four seasons pizza was delicious. Everything was freshly baked and the dough was no exception. The toppings didn't feel awkward unlike some haphazard pizza recipe out there. The smoked salmon could have been done better, though. The salmon was overcooked and became flaky as soon as we started dividing it among ourselves. The roasted fowl could have been done better too, something about makes me wish it could have done better. A little dry, maybe? Finally, the roast pork had its sauce interchanged with the chicken, who had its gravy placed beside the pork.




Italliani's
Ayala Center Cebu


Verdict:
A: 3.5/5.

Quite pricey. Service could still be improved. Food can be done better.

out of the blue, i finally tried mountain mike's lunch pizza and salad buffet for $6.99 which is offered everyday from 11AM to 2PM. this is conveniently located to almaden cinelux which offers $5.50 for all movies before 5PM. i got in the restaurant by 11:20AM and no pizzas were served yet. their salad bar has a considerable variety of options: greens, croutons, cheese, fruit slices, macaroni salad, potato salad, and waldorf salad. it took sometime for them to serve the pizza but when they came, the number of different pizzas didn't disappoint. they served eight of their twelve pizzas in their menu. seven out of eight pizzas were with meat and the 8th was cheese pizza. i made a mistake taking one slice from each flavor in my first batch since they were too much for me. the pizzas were bland too. they lacked salt and flavor. the other pizza buffet i tried was cici's and it was better. the flavor doesn't even come close to pizza hut, pizza my heart, papa john's, and round table.

Mountain Mike's Pizza
2306 Almaden Rd
San Jose CA 95125

Verdict: 1/5 (flavors were bland.)

family and friends close to me would know how much of a pizza lover i am! patxi's (pronounce pa-cheese) is my favorite pizza restaurant in south bay. i've tried its two branches in san jose and palo alto. both produced the same quality of taste. in terms of ambiance, i prefer san jose's branch for its cozy size but for bigger parties, palo alto can accommodate more guests. we ordered two 10-inch (the smallest size) chicago deep dish: greek and special. greek comes with "marinated artichoke hearts, aged feta, red bell pepper, sliced green olives" and special comes with "garlic-fennel sausage, fresh sliced mushrooms, green peppers, yellow onions". i like the greek deep dish over the special deep dish since i like the taste of the sour artichoke hearts. for those who are not into sour food, they might not like the greek deep dish. we were unanimously a little bit disappointed that the sausage in the special deep dish is ground that i cannot identify the sausage in the pizza however, the taste was still good.

Patxi's San Jose
Crescent Village
3350 Zanker Rd.
San Jose, CA 95134

Patxi's Palo Alto
441 Emerson St.
Palo Alto, CA 94301

Verdict: 4.5/5 (-0.5 for the ground sausage in special chicago deep dish)

i always have this unexpected appetite for airport dining even after coming from international flights which offer heavy meals. i found myself at Wolfgang Puck after walking around SEA-TAC airport. a football game was playing with a big fan crowd. i ordered four cheese pesto pizza that came with mozzarella, fontina, parmesan, goat cheese and sun-dried and fresh tomatoes. it was a fresh change to the korean meals that i had in the long flights. it was so tasty. the two slices of left-over which i had on the last leg of my trip still tasted good considering it was already cold.

driving by pizza restaurants everyday reminds me of my craving for pizza. my first attempt to satisfy this craving was getting a frozen di giorno four cheese thin crust pizza from the supermarket. the taste was below average so i had another excuse to try out another pizza. it's like a local pizza restaurant chain here because i've never heard of this restaurant in illinois. i ordered king arthur's supreme pizza (thin crust) which had pepperoni, sausage, salami, mushrooms, peppers, onions and black olives as toppings. i think i waited for at least 15 minutes but it was worth it! the crust was tasty and the toppings were cooked very good. the pizza tastes like shakey's special but better. the restaurant's slogan is 'the last honest pizza'. i don't really know what that implies about other pizza restaurants. =)

when you're searching for restaurants that serves chicago deep dish pizza, UNO will come up in the list along with Giordano's, Lou Malnati's and Gino's East. last friday, we were craving for some deep dish so we picked UNO.






we had muchos nachos and wings in 3 ways: buffalo style, honey barbeque and wowza sauce. the nachos was very satisfactory. i enjoyed its melted cheese and jalapeno. the wings were not bad but not that significant.




we chose numero uno deep dish for our entree. it's like the super supreme pizzas of other pizza chains. the crust was crunchy and tasty. it was too meaty for me though but i enjoyed it's cheezy tomato sauce. i'm glad the filling wasn't that deep like the deep dishes in Giordano's.

UNO Chicago Grill
1160 Plaza Drive
Schaumburg, IL 60173

Verdict:
4.5/5 (-0.5 for the wings)

During Ayala's Midnight sale, we enjoyed our evening meal together at Don Henrico's, located at the Ayala Terraces, Cebu. The restaurant offers an affordable buffet table with a few but delectable choices. I spied the table and saw two pizza dishes, two pasta choices (white or red), a few appetizers, honey glazed chicken and dessert.
For groups on a budget, they can avail of packaged meals composed of pizza, a tower of iced tea, pasta and a plate of deep fried calamari. Of course, aside from those, diners can choose to order from their ala carte menu.



We had three pieces of their signature crunchy chicken paired with their heavenly gravy, seafood pesto and a 10-inch Rustic Italian Pizza peppered with meat, pepperoni, cheese and onions. The service was mediocre but the food is great. Since there were three of us, we were at first tempted to opt for the buffet table, but got discouraged by the lack of choices.



Pizza is outstanding, one of the best pizzas I've ever tasted (considering that this restaurant pioneers in making one of the great pizzas here in the Philippines). It's got a crispy crust that is baked just right to complement the pizza flavor's special blend. The toppings aren't too strong, and neither do they add up to make something salty. It goes well with the Caramba Hot sauce they have on the table. The calamari plate is a great choice of appetizer. Sadly, the tomato salsa doesn't match too well with it.

Their pasta is so-so, though their shrimp and squid serving size on top of the pesto is generous. You can't even taste the basil with too much flavor and toppings on the noodles. Their chicken is salty, so the skin should be avoided at all costs for those on a diet. The gravy is good, but deadly. I imagine they put a lot of butter in it to make it that delicious.


Don Henrico's
Ayala Center Cebu
Ayala Center Cebu
Cebu, Cebu, Philippines


Verdict:
A: 3.8/5
Service was so-so. Takes a while to get noticed. Trainees should be trained more. The trainee server picked up the fallen chicken off the table with his hand, a no-no when it comes to food serving.