<p>Have been very happy with travel advice from the CC crowd before, so I’m hoping some of the Bay Area members can help with restaurant suggestions. </p>
<p>Looking for a couple of restaurants with entrees in the $20 - $35 range. Not heavily ethnic, since one member of our group doesn’t like Mexican, Indian, Middle Eastern or any heavily spiced food. “Classic” chinese would be OK…as long as it’s not all spicy style.</p>
<p>Big problem for us, since every time we’ve been there we seek out ethnic food, and are usually on an even lower budget (as is our college child!)</p>
<p>We go to Carpaccios in Menlo Park occasionally when we’re in the area. Very nice Italian food - reasonably sophisticated, but your anti-spice person will be able to find something on the menu. It’s nice casual (polo shirts and nice pants), although we’ve had kids in T-shirts there and nobody bats an eye. It’s a neighborhood favorite, so make a reservation.
[url=<a href=“http://www.carpaccios.com/]Carpaccio[/url”>http://www.carpaccios.com/]Carpaccio[/url</a>]</p>
<p>I love Flea Street Cafe, on Alameda de las Pulgas in Menlo Park. It has California cuisine, so it would be suitable for your ridiculously exigent party member. </p>
<p>Iberia, a Spanish restaurant also in Menlo Park, could be a good choice. Explain to your naugahyde-palate friend that Spanish food has almost no resemblance to Mexican food, and is not spicy.</p>
<p>Mandarin Gourmet in Palo Alto is my absolute favorite Chinese restaraunt. They have have ranged selections and very delicious food. I would hands-down recommend it. Every time I am in the area, I always go there! I am moderately sure it fits in your listed price range. You may want to double-check.</p>
<p>No suggestions to make, but I have several ‘ridiculously exigent party members’ in my usual Friday evening dinner group, and I’ve decided that I need to start using this term in reference to them… Thanks, CF. ;)</p>
<p>A little more description on my recommendations: Flea Street Cafe, named for its address on Alameda de las Pulgas (=Flea Street) is a small, intimate restaurant emphasizing fresh, in-season ingredients: fresh seasonal vegetables, locally grown meat, topnotch fresh fish. The menu also features decadent desserts, and the wine list is well-chosen. I usually request Flea Street for my birthday dinner.</p>
<p>Iberia serves Spanish food. My family likes to go there for a leisurely tapas dinner, because we like to try a little of this and a little of that: a little plate of sausages in a tomatoey sauce; a little plate of mushrooms; a slice of “tortilla,” which in Spain is not a flat bread but a potato omelet; some marinated white anchovies; some olives; a little turnover stuffed with chicken… yum, my mouth waters just thinking of it. And Spanish food, as I mentioned, is not spicy, just delicious.</p>
<p>Before you start ridiculing “'ridiculously exigent party members” any further, think whether you’d say anything like that about a person looking for peanut-free or gluten-free meals. Peanuts and gluten are not the only allegens, you know, some people are allergic to hot peppers. The person might be too uncomfortable to disclose their condition, so they simply say they do not like “spicy” without going into any further details. I know one such person, and I’ve see their suffering triggered by just a tiny serving of spicy food. Just sayin’…</p>
<p>Look, if the person can’t tolerate hot peppery foods, that’s one thing. But Middle Eastern food, one of Mr/Ms Demanding’s rejects, isn’t generally hot. This person seems like just a picky eater that doesn’t like unfamiliar flavors.</p>
<p>CF, the OP asked for restaurant suggestions, not for CC members bashing one of her dining party’s members without knowing the full story.</p>
<p>“Middle Eastern food, one of Mr/Ms Demanding’s rejects, isn’t generally hot.” “Generaly” is the keyword here. Many restaurants in the US are known to over-spice and over-sweeten the so-called “ethnic” foods to cater to the American tastes. How do you know that the person isn’t simply trying to play it safe?</p>
<p>(I’m taking notes of the restaurants on this thread because my friend will be traveling to that area soon).</p>
<p>OP here…and…I’m not offended by the “bashing”. I thought it was amusing.</p>
<p>It happens that the naugahyde-palate person does not have allergies but is a 90 year old grandparent traveling across the country for a grandchild’s graduation. Much of having this grandparent in attendance will be difficult…the food is the least of it! But…this grandparent has traveled all over the country for the graduations of the first 3 grandchildren…and…remains healthy enough to see the 4th graduate, too. (Two more to go…one in 2 years, one in 5 years…but they may not require a trip across the country and so many meals!)</p>
<p>As for the suggestions – they’re great. We will definitely look into all of them, including the Spanish restaurant. There was one that was a favorite of this person’s in their hometown. …and…as noted…the food wasn’t “spicey”…just very tasty. Middle Eastern doesn’t usually work because cumin is a no-no with this person!</p>
<p>Would welcome any additional restauant suggestions, and any additional amusing decriptions of difficult to please diners (with the understanding that “difficult to please” doesn’t equal allergic.)</p>
<p>Most Mexican restaurants have food for “gringos” on the menu too. I don’t have a recommendation in the area but that might be worth looking into.</p>
<p>Check the menus online…many have them…you may see something that is not as “ethnic” or spicy than the other things on the menu.</p>
<p>We had a similar restriction…one in our party (the graduate) is a vegetarian…we are going to LB Steakhouse but the menu had sufficent non-meat items on it to satisfy her. So check the menus.</p>
<p>I like Zibibbo, a pan-Mediterranean restaurant just off University in Palo Alto. I’m pretty sure rotisserie chicken is always on the menu somewhere for your folks who prefer less exotic fare.</p>
<p>I bet Italian would also fit the bill. There are many good Italian restaurants in the Palo Alto University Ave area. I tend to return to Il Fornaio over and over, but I’m sure other people have their own favorites.</p>
<p>My personal favorite restaurant in Palo Alto is Straits Cafe. It’s sort of Singaporian/pan-asian. There are some very vanilla things on the menu. You might want to peruse the website if it sounds at interesting. [Straits</a> Restaurant - Palo Alto - Introduction](<a href=“http://www.straitscafepaloalto.com%5DStraits”>http://www.straitscafepaloalto.com).</p>
<p>I’ve been to Calafia a couple of times and thought the food was very fresh and tasty. It’s right across from the entrance to Stanford, in the Town and Country shopping center. It’s casual but nice. The chef got his start at Google.</p>
<p>Carpaccios, Bistro Elan, Iberia, Mandarin Gourmet and Calafia all seem to have potential. Hobees looks good for lunch or brunch. Flea St looked a little on the higher end of our budget, but it appears they have a cafe at the Stanford museum that we might try for lunch.</p>
<p>Straits and Zibibbo look great…but they might involved a little too much discussion with the waitstaff to make sure certain things are NOT in the food ordered. But…if the grandparent decides not to join us one night, we might try them!</p>
<p>CC crowd has again come through, but any additional suggestions are welcome and encouraged (could certainly help others visiting this area…)</p>
<p>2boysima will you be going to Stanford’s graduation? Palo Alto is likely to be packed during that time and you might want to go a little further afield in your search for dinner. To there north there’s Redwood City which has a vibrant downtown, and to the south is Mountain View’s Castro Street with a variety of good-to-really-good restaurants.</p>
<p>Off Castro, there’s [Chez</a> TJ Contemporary French Cuisine](<a href=“http://www.cheztj.com/]Chez”>http://www.cheztj.com/) which has a 1 star Michelin Rating (bring your kids’ college savings to pay the tab). </p>
<p>Calafia has great food (Charlie, the chef, was initially the Grateful Dead’s chef, then the executive chef at Google pre-IPO), but the atmosphere is a bit lacking for a family dinner. It’s noisy and not too private.</p>
<p>Hobees can be very busy on weekend mornings, necessitating a long wait. An alternative (possibly also busy) would be the Peninsula Creamery, a diner in Palo Alto very near Stanford.</p>
<p>Estrellita’s, on El Camino at the border of Los Altos and Palo Alto, serves delicious Mexican food, including some nonstandard Mexican dishes.</p>
<p>Aldo’s, on Main Street in Los Altos (very close to Stanford), serves inventive Italian food.</p>
<p>For ethnic food, just go to Castro Street, the main street in Mountain View, and walk along until you find a restaurant you like. Almost all the restaurants we’ve been to on Castro Street (and we’ve been to a lot) are good.</p>
<p>On a side note, one of my pickynesses is a dislike of fish - no matter how much I tried, I could never like it. But I do like so many of the preparations so I started asking if the restaurants could substitute chicken for fish and they usually are happy to do so. And about a year ago my doctor prescribed Omega 3 fish oil pills, first OTC, then prescription. It took several months for me to realize that the rash on my neck was a slow acting allergy from the fish oil! So I figured my body knew to avoid fish all along and has been protecting me all my life!</p>
<p>Nobody’s mentioned Applewood Pizza in Menlo Park yet? Maybe for lunch? Very casual… but the best pizza you’ll probably ever eat. (I can recommend the Hawaiian and the Milano.) They have nice pasta dishes and salads, too.</p>