[friday-follies] Sunday Brunch 6/9

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Susie Rodriguez (susie.w.rodriguez at gmail.com):

> I'm always up for Country Inn in Fremont and there's a place called Bill's
> that gets great reviews. 

Susie, I didn't find a Country Inn in Fremont, but perhaps the intended
reference was Country Way?  

https://www.yelp.com/biz/country-way-fremont-2 (no online menu)
Country Way
5325 Mowry Ave, just east of the I800 Mowry Ave. exit, north side
Fremont
Sa 6am-10pm, Su 6am-10pm
Style: American (Traditional).



https://www.yelp.com/biz/bills-cafe-fremont-3
Menu: http://www.billscafe.com/download/document/48/BillsCafeMenu-July92018.pdf
Bill's Cafe
39222 Fremont Blvd nr. corner of Mowry Ave.
Fremont
Sa 7am-3pm, Su 7am-3pm
Style: Cafe.
This is part of a 10-location South Bay chain, so other locales might
also appeal.  http://www.billscafe.com/locations/



> If people want buffet there's a Claim Jumper's in
> town too and I believe they do a Sunday brunch.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/claim-jumper-restaurants-fremont
Claim Jumper Restaurant & Saloon
43330 Pacific Commons Blvd @ Great Mall Pkwy (w. of I880's G.M.P exit)
Fremont
Sa 11am-12m, Su 10am-10:30pm
Style:  Steakhouses, Seafood, American (Traditional).
I somehow thought there were more of these big-chain things around here, 
but their only other Bay Area locale is in the wilds of Concord.

Select locales including the two Bay Area ones indeed have an
all-you-can-eat Sunday brunch, 10am - 2pm, claimed online to currently
cost $22.99/head outside of holidays.

Claim Jumper Restaurant & Saloon is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kelly
Restaurant Group, which in turn is part of big Houston corporation
Landry's, Inc., which kept the Gold Rush branding after buying that
30-location chain from founder Craig Nickoloff in a bankruptcy buyout in
2010.  It strikes me as continuing the same corporate packaging that we
saw in the 1970s and 1980s with, say, Stuart Anderson's Black Angus
Steakhouse and Velvet Turtle restaurants, except without the
formal-dining pretensions, thank the gods.  But you still get the same
blather about 'Certified Angus Beef®', etc.


My personal view is that, at my advanced age, an all-you-can-eat buffet 
is not good for me, even setting aside the fairly high price that serves
mostly to motivate me to overeat.  That's one reason I decided three
Follies ago that I was done with the Milpitas El Torrito:  The other
reason was the particular way they rolled out a special and badly
disclosed surcharge, sprung on us at payment time and of doubtful
legality.  (Michael can tell the story if he wishes.)  So, two Follies
ago, I rode along with Deirdre and kept company with our jolly crew at
El Torrito so that she and I could proceed together to another event in
Berkeley after, had breakfast before leaving home, and made a point of
touching no food at the restaurant -- despite which, El Torrito at first
tried to charge full-fare for me anyway, and the invoice had to be sent
back and re-done.

I guess I still have a soft spot for Mongolian BBQ all-you-can places.
Now that my health is somewhat improved, I can imagine bicycling to and
from one, to balance out the calories.  




Earlier, I forgot another personal favourite, in downtown Menlo Park:

https://www.yelp.com/biz/mama-coco-menlo-park-2 (w/online menu)
https://www.mama-coco.com/
https://youtu.be/uc8JYqXpUPQ?t=550   ('Check Please Bay Area' review)
Mama Coco Cocina Mexicana
1081 El Camino Real nr. Santa Cruz Ave.
Menlo Park
Sa 11am-9pm, Sunday _closed_.
Style: Mexican.
(You can't have a full meal for less than $25, but that's Menlo Park,
and at least you get an exceptional meal worth every penny.)

This is a family-operated restaurant in honour and memory of co-founder
Monica Pilotzi's grandmother Sotoro Tarano, who was a renowned cook in
the style of Puebla state (near Ciudad de Mexico), and uses her recipes.
Ms. Tarano sadly died just a couple of months before the opening, a
couple of years ago, but she knew it was nearly there.

I ate lunch there on either opening day or a couple of days after, and 
was in love with it from the first bite of a side of fried calamari with
a creamy habanero-based sauce, which was a joy like unto reading _Good Omens_
for the first time.

There's a nice outdoor enclosed patio in the back suitable for our
crowd[1] in addition to the nice, bright, spacious seating inside, but I
can never get Deirdre to walk through to the back from our parking on El
Camino Real, so she's never seen that.  (If I ever think to use the
private lot behind the restaurant, I might coax her to the patio.)

Just don't expect decent coffee.  But that's true most place.



[1] I think.  Not sure if any of the patio tables have capacity for more
than four, but I imagine they'd be fine with table moving to fix that.