Chef's Wok - 1821 Webster Street, Alameda, CA 94501 – (510) 337-9388

March 10, 2013 – Chef’s Wok is one of the early adopters on the MASC program. They are recycling 83%, which is awesome! That translates into 41 tons diverted from landfills every year and over 44 metric tons of carbon emissions reduced each year. Chef’s Wok is a very popular dim sum restaurant. We went on a Sunday, but they serve dim sum from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day.

We love the food at Chef’s Wok and in answer to the question, “Would you rather have two trips to Chef’s Wok or one trip to Disneyland?” Greta says that she would select Chef’s Wok!

We had all of our favorite dim sum specialties:

§  Har gow (shrimp dumplings with a translucent wheat flour wrapper) – We had both shrimp and spinach har gow. Jen says, “They make an excellent har gow here. They were both really tasty.”

§  Shaomai (small steamed dumplings with prawns inside a thin wheat flour wrapper - topped off with crab roe and mushroom) – Jen likes these, “They are like little muffins.”

§  Pork bau (steamed fluffy buns made from wheat flour filled with sweet pork) - Greta (the pescatarian) says, “I had to make an exception (and eat pork) because they looked so delicious.” Linnea had thirds.

§  Lo mai gai (sticky rice with lotus leaf wrap) – Warm and sticky. Vera tried to eat the lotus leaf and found it not to her liking.  We told her to just eat the rice, which she liked.

§  Rice noodle with shrimp (and yummy sauce) – Vera says, “It was awesome!” This was everyone’s favorite.

§  Jin deui (chewy dough filled with red bean paste, rolled in sesame seeds, and deep fried) – We requested them specially because they are Greta’s favorite. The manager, Steven, brought us some on the house. THANKS!

Plus, we tried some new things:

§  Crispy pork belly – Served chilled. Very crispy.

§  Chinese doughnut – Big, fluffy and deep fried.

§  Fried shrimp dumplings – Folks in our party raved about it.

§  Fried rice – Different from standard fried rice, this one had seafood and peanuts.

Compost Report -- Chef’s Wok doing an awesome job at recycling and composting and they have one of the highest recycling rates in Alameda. We talked with Steven, the manager, and thanked him for composting. He said that the owner, Rick, is also considering getting solar!

Trinity Lutheran Church - 1323 Central Avenue, Alameda, CA 94501 - (510) 522-5220

March 2, 2013 – Today we went to the annual Crab Feed at Trinity Lutheran Church, so we had to blog about it. Many organizations in Alameda have crab feeds and the discarded shells can all be placed in the compost bins for collection from ACI. Trinity has been composting its crab shells for many years, but we don’t know about all of the other crab feeds. Sounds like a project for MASC!

 We had:

§  Green salad

§  Fresh bread (donated by Semifreddi’s – thanks!)

§  Potato salad (house-made with fresh Yukon gold potatoes selected by a professional green grocer, who also plays the flute at church)

§  All-you-can-eat crab! – The crab comes pre-cracked and chilled. At Trinity they serve it in reusable plastic buckets (Zero Waste) and provide little paper bags taped on the edge of the table at each place, so that you can dispose of your crab shells appropriately (and the whole bag is composted). The crab was wonderful. There are two types of crab pickers, those that pick their crab and eat it as they go along and others (like Greta and her cousin Elizabeth)  who pick a whole big pile of crab and eat it all at once. Each picker thinks their style is best.

§  Roast chicken – There is always an alternative menu item for those (like Pepe) that don’t prefer to pick their own crab. Pepe said it was excellent.

Compost Report – Trinity has taken part in the CASA (Community Action for a Sustainable Alameda) Faith-Based Initiative, which assists all faith organizations in Alameda to recycle and compost and reduce their carbon footprint. Trinity has formed a Green Committee which meets regularly to implement sustainability programs throughout the church community and to assist its congregation to undertake these practices at their homes and places of business. Trinity has been recycling and composting for many years and last year expanded recycling and composting in their sanctuary, fellowship hall, kitchens and restrooms (where paper towels are being diverted for composting). If your house of worship is interested in getting some help to expand recycling and composting contact CASA at info@casa-alameda.org.

China Gourmet - 2210 H South Shore Center, Alameda, CA 94501 – (510) 521-6337

February 19, 2013 – We had a rare weeknight outing because V&G’s folks went to see “Lincoln.” The movie is three hours long, so we had plenty of time to have a great Chinese meal. Somehow with all of the other good Chinese restaurants in town, China Gourmet had not been in our regular routine. China Gourmet is in the Southshore Shopping Center. We knew that Stopwaste and MASC were working on a project to expand recycling and composting through the whole complex. More on that later.

We had:

§  Salt & Pepper Calamari – We had heard about calamari on NPR’s “This American Life,” so we were relieved when it came out as calamari steaks, deep fried with salt & pepper. Greta says, “I liked the salt & pepper calamari because I already like calamari and since there were seasonings it tasted even better. I would give it five out of five stars.”

• Stir-fried Mixed Mushrooms – Several unusual types of mushrooms, stir-fried along with snow peas. Greta says, “The mushrooms tasted yummy. I especially liked the big stir-fried mushrooms because they had the most flavor out of them all. I also like the shiitake mushrooms.”

§  Crispy Fried Sole (deep fried and topped with soy sauce) – Vera says, “It had fish on both sides.” We ate all of the fish on one side and turned it over and had more fish on the other side. It was even saucier on the second side. Both Vera & Greta like to eat whole fish and often order it at Juanita’s. We looked around for the eyeballs (a treat), but couldn’t find them. Did you know that sole (like flounder) has both eyes on one side of its body?

§  Bok Choy – We ordered Bok Choy (to get some more veggies) which was steamed in a mild sauce. A nice accompaniment to the other spicy food.

§  Indonesian Fried Rice (curried fried rice with chicken, shrimp, pineapple cashews, and red pepper) – This was an unusual example of fried rice. Very tasty.

Compost Report – Jessica is working on getting all of Southshore optimized for recycling and composting. It is complicated because there are so many businesses and over 10 restaurants. Several of the larger anchor tenants (like Safeway and Trader Joe’s) have their own collection service and their own recycling and composting programs. But all of the smaller stores throughout the mall share recycling and trash service, so it will take some effort to increase recycling and add composting. China Gourmet cooks from scratch and so they have a lot of vegetable trimmings. We gave a MASC brochure to the manager and she took great interest in the program. She said that she would share the information with the owner.

So, check out the yummy Chinese food at China Gourmet. They even have a full bar (which is an extra bonus). Tell them that you are really looking forward to all the recycling and composting that they will be doing once the whole Southshore Center complex is maximizing recycling and composting.