Ichiban is right next door a considerably more elegant Japanese restaurant where people stand in the entry waiting for their table. At Ichiban, there’s no wait. It’s a dumpy little diner of a place with vinyl booths, formica tables, and a small menu. I had the udon – a bowl of soup with fat noodles and a few pieces of tempura. Kevin had some kind of fish fillet with rice. I can’t remember what it was called.… continued…

I ate at Malay Satay for the first time maybe, oh, five years ago. My pal B. and I were on this adventure eating kick and maybe once a month we’d go eat in an ethnic dive restaurant. Malay Satay totally blew us away. Then, when I worked at the start-up, one of the devs — a guy who was originally from Singapore — suggested we all go to lunch there one day and again, we were amazed by the food.… continued…

Serendipitously, last Sunday found four Jackson Street Eaters in Nia’s house right around dinner time. I’d planned to go home and make dinner, but because I missed out on the Friday Feed, it was easy to convince me that what we really wanted to was wander over to Jackson Street for Vietnamese at the Moonlight Cafe.

Here are some good things about the Moonlight: I’Ts only a few blocks from Nia’s so we can walk.… continued…

Let’s get the most critical information out of the way first: The waiter at Saigon Bistro is totally hot. Whew, what a looker. Okay then? Okay. Now, the food.

Saigon Bistro is a favorite of Bill and Nia’s. They swear by the crepes and you can’t beat the price, we came in at 11 dollars each, including tip. Okay, there wasn’t much beer on the table, but we did order a handful of specialty drinks. Bill, always brave when it comes to the beverage section, ordered the pickled plum drink.… continued…