All you can eat crab in Novato. Dad and I made a new discovery of Panda's Buffet, which has been open just a little over two months. The staff is very cheery, and makes every effort to make your experience entirely positive.

The dining room was festively decorated, and the long bars were filled with glistening, freshly made food.

Dad and I made up our plates. I noticed the Princess Prawns right away. Nice but a little too sweet. Then out of the back door came a man with a tray piled HIGH with freshly steamed crab. There was a stampede from the four corners of the restaurant, and it disappeared as soon as it was set down on the steam table. Hmmm... I waited for the next bunch to come out, and was nicely rewarded. It was very sweet succulent crab which needed no seasoning to be delicious. All for $9.95 to eat as much as you like any weekday evening. A hidden bargain!

The worst dining experience in a long time. The King of the Roll in Larkspur delivered on that. Very run down, and unkempt, it boasts fast service on sushi to go.

Since it was beautifully warm about 6 p.m. when we arrived, we decided to sit at the outside tables in the back. We passed by a very messy table which had not been cleared, and which wasn't even cleared when we left at nearly 8 p.m. The waitress took our drink order promptly, and then it took forever for our food order to be taken, in fact, it was taken by a second person. After a little bit longer, our miso soup and cucumber salad arrived in good form.

My father was unimpressed with his tempura vegetables. Large serving, but very greasy.

I was shocked at what came ostensibly as "oyako don". I was astonished that anyone with any exposure to authentic Japanese food whatsoever could possibly consider this mess of a dish oyako don. It was simply a bad chicken teriyaki with a horrible and browned omelet mixed up disastrously with dashi, on the side over rice. Authentic oyako don consists of pieces of chicken gently simmered in dashi with scrambled egg and onion, which is very gently placed over the rice, and the egg is just barely set. It is delicate and balanced at its best. There is no teriyaki sauce involved.

It was getting dark, and we were getting cold by the time the appetizer arrived, the Anna Roll. Some 'fast' sushi! Unbelieveable. Have you ever bitten into anything that has something so hard in it that it literally caused pain in your teeth? The coating on the shrimp tempura in the middle of this behemoth did just that. I had previously visited here and thought it simply mediocre. The visit gives it the status of truly terrible, and to be avoided.

Fresh Find in Sausalito. I meandered into an unassuming looking deli on Bridgeway the other day, and entered a whole new world! There was a line out the door at noon; I hadn't seen so many people anywhere in north Sausalito except on bicycles on the weekend! I soon found out why. Louie's Deli Cafe with its faded blue awning is the opening to beautifully made sandwiches, salads and staff so cheerful your whole day takes on a brighter hue.

I tried one of their hot sandwich creations, a falafel sandwich and added a fresh fruit cup. The falafel sandwich had soothingly hot falafels and the freshest, crisp spinach, cucumbers and tomatoes with a slather of hummus, all wrapped up an a warm lavash bread. I always try the fruit cup at a new place with some trepidation as you often as not get rather unripe fruit which spoils it. This fruit cup was generously portioned, and the fruit was all perfectly ripe and sweet. Since it's so close to one of my client's, I'll be back again often I think.

101 Omelets in Novato. The Golden Egg Omelet House boasts a menu of 101 omelet choices - really! This place leads a double life as the Grant Avenue Bar and Grill in the evening. Neither Paul nor I felt in the omelet mood, but were impressed by the number of choices. We had a very short wait, and were promptly seated in a clean diner-type booth.

I enjoyed French Toast - nice thick slices cooked well.

with some bacon, which was ok.

Paul enjoyed an Aidell's Benedict with hash browns and a slice of watermelon. He commented that it was good, particularly the hash browns. He did think the menu gave a funny choice of croissant or hash browns given that English muffins already are part of the dish. It seems to be popular in the neighborhood as the line had become quite long, in fact out the door by the time we finished. It was ok, very diner type fare, but being local makes a nice difference.

I've had my eye on you. Yes, I've been keeping my a watch on when the parking/time and open hours worked to pay a visit to Cacciucco on the south end of Sausalito.

I tripped in here for lunch when luck converged. What a friendly manager (owner?)! Although busy, he was very gracious and I had a corner seat near a window in a very pleasant area of the restaurant. I enjoyed a San Benedetto Iced Tea (was impressed it came all the way from Italy, never have seen this kind of care for the ethnicity of iced tea before), and Linguine con vongole. Although traditionally I don't think cheese is eaten atop seafood, I accepted his invitation to shave some Parmesan on it from this huge block of it wrapped artfully in a colorful napkin. It is not a cheap eat kind of place, but well worth the price as it was delicious and the service was impeccably professional.

Mill Valley Neighbor. Tucked away near the square in Mill Valley, is a friendly family-style Japanese restaurant, Ino Restaurant. The woman who greets you is an old-style Japanese who has impeccable manners and hospitality. We were SO looked after for our meal here.

The miso was good.

Dad enjoyed beef shogayaki, beef sauteed with ginger.

I tried their beef sukiyaki, neither of us in the mood for sushi. Mine was good as well, with vegetables cut uniformly so that they cooked evenly in the sauce. A good cool-weather dish. The only thing amiss was that the menus in the sheet holders were rather sticky. There was quite an artist here too, as there was a beautiful hand drawing of a Japanese woman in a kimono in moonlight on the specials white board, and on the menus were illustrated explanations of what "kappa" means (not cucumber) as well as the story of tengu!

New in the neighborhood. The old Bell markets have been sold to DeLano/IGA, and have started changing over, more rapidly in the past month. The signs are starting to pop out. I visited this Mill Valley one as the first experience of the new stores on my way back from Stinson Beach, so I also happened to have my camera ready. Always looking to practice on pretty colorful food! Besides, Dad needed a sandwich for lunch since I was to be out the rest of the day. I have to admit curiosity about this new entity and how it would approach the Marin food crowd.

The Novato Advance states that the new DeLano IGA will have an "emphasis on natural, organic, and whole foods'. I was impressed to see a salad bar near the front of the store that glistened with freshly prepared produce at the ready for making a beautiful salad to go.

Being a produce lover, as Dad was waiting for his smoked turkey sandwich with all the fixin's to be made by the friendly staff at the deli counter, I wandered about looking for organic fresh fruits and produce. I was immediately impressed by their row of fresh organic fruit and photographed it end

to end.

I also loved their informative signage.

I started to look around for the organic produce section, and couldn't really identify it. Then I noticed leafy greens like colorful chard sitting right next to their conventional counterparts. Kudos to DeLano/IGA for not making us get our daily aerobic workout chasing back and forth between a 'special' organic section and traditional offerings to figure out if the pricing works right on any particular item for our budget.

As I was doing this, I ran into whom I supposed was the produce manager who was friendly and wondered what the flash was when I was capturing that beautiful fruit. I told him I was practicing and asked him about the localness of the produce. I know some of you are very committed to the 100-mile concept, so wanted to get the scoop. I was reminded that local in its essence also includes the concept of seasonal, when he said that the produce got more and more local as it comes in season closer to Marin. Sounded like most things were still coming at least from California. I understand that this new local chain has been founded by a father/son team who are somewhat more local to us being from California. So far I have hope that this new ownership will turn out to be a big benefit for those of us foodies who enjoy seasonal, fresh and local organic/natural ingredients for our family tables. The store nearest/most convenient to me is actually the Tiburon store, so I plan to fan the flames of local innovation by frequenting it as it looks off to a good start.

A Beach Kind of Morning. Since Dad will be cooped up recuperating from a routine surgery (checking on cancer remission) next week, and we were both up early, we decided to head to Stinson Beach for a little adventure, as well as try a new breakfast place. It was a stellar morning, and as we wound up the hill from Mill Valley we passed a long row of Eucalyptus trees, which were giving off their characteristic fresh scent very strongly. We stopped at a look out point just as we started climbing Panoramic Drive over Mt. Tamalpais. Once I hopped out of the car with my camera, you could hear so many birds singing sweetly from the trees - it was so happy and tranquil, and the view was great! You can see our progress to the town, and then our trip to the beach for a walk in the slide show above (I took a total of 90 photos, but tried to limit myself here!) I believe you can click on a photo to go through to a bigger version. We truly went over the river, and through the woods (green and lush), and down the coast just a little to the beach.

Parkside Cafe. The destination breakfast place was quite easy to find, and we were glad that we wanted to take the route over Mt. Tam since we found out that Rt. 1 is closed along the coast until March 28th. Mud slides routinely take out pieces of the road in winter, and I guess this winter must have been bad for it. I was hoping to take the coastal route back, but that was no longer an option. The staff at the Parkside Cafe were very friendly, and took care of us delightfully.

We enjoyed looking at the paintings (and patrons) around the restaurant while we waited for our breakfast.

We also enjoyed gazing outside the rather dirty window pane to a sliver of the beach, the round metal thing you can see in the photo in the middle of the path, is the vantage point from where I took the photos at the beach proper in the slideshow first above.

Dad ordered what he called a "lumberjack's" breakfast, blueberry pancakes and a scrambled egg. He enjoyed every last bite, and was glad for a beach walk afterwards!

I went Norwegian, and had a toasted bagel with lox. A variety of tastes, smooth salmon, salty capers, crisp red onion, cool and ripe red tomatoes with cream cheese that melted on your tongue contrasted with the chewy toasted bagel. A sensual delight. And what a great way to start the day! I made it back in time for my meditation class, and I already felt quite in the zone!

Japanese Fast-Food. I guess I'm like Bob who commented on one of my Japanese restaurant reviews that he could eat Japanese every day. So here we go again. When I arrived a Matsuyama's I realized that I'd never been here before although I thought I had earlier. Very bright interior, with cheery and prompt staff. I ordered a bento box from their lunch specials - $6.95 for two items, $8.95 for three.

First to come out was miso soup and salad. The miso was rather thin and lacking in ingredients, but the taste was acceptable.

Then came the box. Tempura, katsudon and california roll. It reminded me much of Yoshinoya's bento box in the Financial District (since departed), ok for what it is, but definitely a fast food quality. Decent quantity for the price. I wonder about their dinner service, will have to try it then sometime, and post a new report.

Inventive lunch. I stopped by Sushi to Dai For in San Rafael, and tried a daily special I couldn't refuse.

First came a flavorful and hot bowl of miso soup.

Then came the California Don, sushi rice with tempura salmon, asparagus, avocado, with some lemon slices, ginger and wasabi. It was as good as it looks. Not having enough Japanese this week, I had a Japanese meal again last evening at Osakaya in San Francisco's Japantown. No photos, but it was a good homey meal of sansai ramen.

Good values, typical pizza & pasta place. I stopped in at Dario's Pizza & Pasta for lunch on a sunny day. I apologize for the above evening blur, just as I was trying to get a photo at lunchtime, the staff decided to take a smoking break, and I didn't want to be conspicuously photographing. So this was taken on my way home from my client's in the evening, under decidedly low light conditions. The interior is rustic with lots of warm wood and kitschy country decorations.

Brandy, my waitress, was bright, peppy and prompt. She brought out my iced tea, a pitcher of it on my table plus some freshly baked bread. I ordered the special of the day "All You Can Eat Spaghetti" since it came with a salad and was an all inclusive $7.49. Very reasonable. I have to say I was tempted to order a Schnitzelizza Pizza - with cheese, sweet and sour sauce, sauerkraut, beef, sausage and onions. Just sounds too unusual! But I really wanted a salad too, so went for the pasta special.

Next came the Garden Salad, very nicely done, crisp and delightful.

On to the main entree, the Spaghetti with meat sauce. I'm pleased to report that it was much improved over the last time I reviewed Dario's, the spaghetti noodles were closer to al dente and acceptable. But you can see, if I'm not crazy about the food, it may be awhile until I visit again. My last review of Dario's was in 2003. They also give you a cute round yellow magnet at the end - collect eight and get a free pizza!

Pleasant Lunch. Dad and I stopped in at the Raintree Cafe on a sunny day for lunch. Rain Tree had obviously been rediscovered as it was hopping!

Dad enjoyed a Smoked Turkey Sandwich with French Fries, which looked fresh and tasty, and generously portioned.

I enjoyed a basic Grilled Ham & Cheese Sandwich with Potato Salad made freshly. It was good, and I always have been fond of the potato salad here - fresh and not over mayo'd. We'll come again!

Pan Asian in San Anselmo. Dad and I stopped at May Lee's Asian Bistro for dinner one evening. We were entice by the "Asian Bistro" part of the sign, and wondered what surprises it may bring. Brightly colored, with friendly prompt service it brought the following dishes.

The Canton Ha Gow Dumplings were hot, fresh and delicious. You can see the steam rising! I tried to order sushi as an appetizer, but was told that 'no one eats sushi in the cold, we only have sushi during the summer'!

Next up was their Combo Fried Rice, this was great.

The Sizzling Salmon and Asparagus was exceptional!

The only misstep was the Singapore Curry Rice Vermacelli. It was, well, awful. It tasted like someone dropped the curry powder bottle in it and didn't stir it up. Dusty powder grains were distinguishable, clinging to the noodles and the dish tasted rather of concentrated curry powder, strong and grainy even though powder-like.

In general this was bright, cheery and the menu was pan-Asian with Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Thai dishes represented on the menu. The proprietor said that his customers usually order Chinese despite the variety. It was good, other than the noodles just mentioned. There are two other locations in Marin, which only serve a Chinese/Japanese menu, in Mill Valley and Novato called simply "May Lee's".