Dragon Rouge Vietnamese Bistro - 2337 Blanding Ave. Alameda CA 94501 (510) 521-1800

April 13, 2013 - So, we skipped Chipotle and Daphne’s this week because on Monday, April 15^th, all eleven restaurants at South Shore will be joining the MASC program. Woo-hoo!  We thought it would be better to let them get started and check in with them next week.

Today we went to Dragon Rouge, which has been on the MASC program for several years and has been doing a great job recycling and composting even before they moved to their new location at Park Street Landing.

Their new(ish) location is in the old Aroma site, which has a beautiful view of the estuary and Park Street bridge (which went up to let a boat go by while we were there). We had been to Dragon Rouge before (they participated in the MASC restaurant crawl last year) and have ordered out from there many times. The food is great!

Vera was under the weather today, so seven of us showed up for a late lunch. We ate outside and it was lovely. Greta is trying out being a vegan for the next couple of weeks and Dragon Rouge has many vegan options. Not everyone in our party is vegan. Although, Linnea is swearing off red meat. We found out that is called a pollo-pesca-lacto-ovo-tarian.

We had:

§  Crispy calamari – The calamari was light and delicious and served with lemon wedges and a creamy dip with a little bit of kick.

§  Sautéed Tofu Vegetable Sandwich – Pepe ordered this as a departure from the tofu burgers that he makes every day for lunch (he has to travel to the Food Mill in Oakland to get the tofu burger mix in bulk). It was very good with lots of fresh vegetables, a little on the spicy side for him.

§  Lemongrass Curry Stir-fry Pork Sandwich – The pork was delicious and tender. The sandwich was filled with all kinds of vegetables including zucchini, carrots, red and green bell peppers, fresh jalapeños, onion and cucumber. It came with a curry potato soup – very creamy and flavorful. Evil Cousins IPA was a great accompaniment.

§  Dragon Fire Garlic Noodles with Prawns – Edday ordered this “medium spicy,” but thought it could use a little more kick. She added some pepper sauce and found the result delicious. The prawns were cooked perfectly (not too done, not too under done) and the garlic noodles were very good.

§  Dragon Fire Garlic Noodles with Sautéed Tofu Vegetables – Greta ordered this and passed on the parmesan cheese (as she is practicing veganism this week). Greta says, “I loved this wonderful platter. It had so many flavors in one dish. I would give it five out of five stars.”

§  Fresh Vermicelli Noodle Bowl with w/ Chicken, Prawns, & Pork Egg Roll – It was excellent - very fresh, lots of great vegetables.

§  Fresh Vermicelli Noodle Bowl with Sautéed Tofu Vegetables – Huge portion of fresh vermicelli with a huge variety of delicious fresh vegetables. Chili sauce and crushed peanuts on the side were a nice touch.

§  Chicken Pho – It was mild, but good and came with a big plate of bean spouts, basil, lime and fresh jalapeño.

Compost Report – We talked with our server about how the recycling and composting program is going. She said that it was going well and that the dishwashers were especially conscientious. Dragon Rouge is recycling 83 percent and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 19.5 metric tons per year. Yay!  

We know that you will enjoy Dragon Rouge at its great location at Park Street Landing. Make sure you tell them how impressed you are with the recycling and composting program.

Venus - 2327 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, California (510)540-5950

March 22, 2013 – Today the girls had off from school, so we went on a really cool tour as a part of Zero Waste Week with the Northern California Recycling Association [product placement]. First we went to the Davis Street Transfer Station in San Leandro, then to the DR3 Mattress Recycling warehouse in Oakland, then we went to lunch at the Saturn Café in Berkeley [we had potato leek soup, curry cauliflower soup, and vegan jalapeño sliders - yum!], then we went to the Berkeley Transfer Station, the El Cerrito Recycling Center, and we ended up at a huge party at Urban Ore.

Greta at the Berkeley Transfer Station

Vera at DR3 Mattress Recycling

Before the party, we had time to do a guest blog at Venus Restaurant in Berkeley. It was so awesome because Miss Alameda, Jessica Robinson, was along to help us!'

Greta, Vera and Miss Alameda at El Cerrito Recycling Center

We had:

§  Mount Lassen Rainbow Trout braised leeks, Brussels sprouts, white beans, preserved lemon vinaigrette – Greta says, “The trout was absolutely delicious and I loved the Brussels sprouts and the giant beans. I really enjoyed it. I give it five out of five stars.” The waitress said, “My mother would have loved it if I loved Brussels spouts that much!”

 

§  Roasted Butternut Squash Gnocchi roasted cauliflower, nettles, thyme crème, parmesan – Jen says, “The gnocchi was tender and delicious.”

§  Fish and Chips crispy potatoes, house made slaw, roulade – Vera says, “It was awesome, the mini potatoes were so cute and good.” Jessica says, “It reminds me of the first time I had fish and chips in Scotland with my father.”

The girls also had: blackberry lemonade – very delicious

The grownups also had: the Venus Bloody Mary, Pomegranate Mimosa, and a yummy Gimlet. All were great!

Compost Report – The best part was that Venus had just started up their new compost program in the dining room that day. So we took lots of pictures with Miss Alameda. We wonder if Miss Berkeley is as enthusiastic about composting.

Since we had been to Saturn and Venus that day, we stopped by Jupiter just to say we did.

China House Restaurant - 2328 Santa Clara Ave, Alameda CA 94501 (510) 521-2500

April 6, 2013 -- Today we are back in Alameda (after some guest blogging in Berkeley - stay tuned). We went to China House Restaurant which is a venerable old school Chinese restaurant upstairs at the corner of Santa Clara and Park. Some of us have been going to China House for over 30 years, but it's not in our usual rotation, so we had no specific expectations. We were psyched that they are now on the MASC program and are recycling and composting. Yay!

Five of us came for lunch and ordered six dishes (but we had to cancel one because we had too much food). The portions are enormous, so we had plenty to bring home to Jen and Kevin (who were taking a self-defense class at Team Silva Brazilian Jiujitsu [product placement]).  We had:

- Chicken and Corn Soup - This was very delicious (mostly because we were very hungry and it was on the house). Greta enjoyed it (avoiding the chicken, since she is a pescatarian).
- China House Tofu - Greta ordered this thinking it was vegetarian, but she was able to avoid the pork and loved the prawns. She says, "I really enjoyed it because the tofu was tender and soft and very enjoyable to eat."

- China House Chicken - Vera ordered this and the chicken had white sauce and the tofu had brown sauce. Otherwise they were very similar with lots of yummy vegetables.  Vera says, "It was delicious and I saved the biggest piece of chicken for last."
- Eggplant with Pork - Fred ordered this even though it wasn't on the menu. It was not quite what he was expecting, but very delicious.

- Salt and Pepper Fish - Deep fried and very crispy. It came with fried peppers and onions. This was Linnea's favorite. She says, "It was tender and not too salty. Kind of like fish and chips without the chips."
- Crispy String Beans with Black Bean Sauce - Everyone liked this, but we still had leftovers.

Greta loved the tea. She asked if there was a limit of how many cups she could have. Since neither of her parents were there, there was no limit and she had about five cups (don't tell).

Compost Report -- China House is on the MASC program! Yay! They are diverting 80 percent from landfills and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 15 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.

Please visit China House and enjoy some good old fashioned Chinese food and thank them for recycling and composting!