A Few Days in the Bay Area

Laura Domela — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 02:19:49 +0000

We left Anacortes on Friday morning (after returning from The Willows Inn on Lummi, and after stopping to look at a couple more boats) and drove back to Portland. We didn't get in until about 10:30pm on Friday night, and as Kevin brought in the last of our stuff from the truck, said "Please tell me you already brought my laptop bag into the house."

[crickets]

Well shit. Guess where Kevin's laptop was? Waiting patiently in the pilothouse of Airship, back in Anacortes, four and a half hours away. We had a flight to San Francisco on Sunday morning, a birthday party for a good friend in SF on Sunday night, and then starting Monday mid-day in San Jose: meetings meetings meetings for two days. The presentation we'd been working on was on Kevin's laptop and we couldn't make do without it. So, guess what we did on Saturday? About nine hours of driving to go get that laptop (and give Airship another little pat on the bow). It was super windy and pouring rain for most of the drive, to boot! (See, it's not all rainbows and unicorns around here.)

We made it fine to SF and had a great view from our room at Hotel Nikko (above). The birthday party for our friend Tad was a wonderful evening with an incredible group of people. I've known Tad Savinar since I graduated from art school when, based on a recommendation from one of my professors, I became Tad's studio assistant for a few years. Tad is many things…among them, a visual artist. Now days we are friends, and I help him realize his work using some of my skills…photography, Photoshop, some printing. He's inspiring to work with, but more importantly he is one of the most wonderful people I've ever known. Everyone at the party last night had something amazing to say about their friendship with Tad, and it was a beautiful thing to experience. The party was in the Salesian room of Original Joe's in North Beach. What a great venue! Upholstered walls and cool old signage…dinner was delicious, and the service was impeccable, but really it was all about the people.

There were a few people at the party with late November/December birthdays, and Tad made sure to recognize each one of them by giving out beautiful flower leis. This was Kevin's:

We gave Tad (and his wife, Kate) a portrait session in the studio. I said they could choose the style of their choice, but that I had some suggestions, and that dressing up was a must. (This will be a fun one!!)

(Side note: Tad and Kate are the couple who got married in Florence, Italy in May of 2014, and were the reason we went to Italy in the first place last year.)

This morning we drove into San Jose for a couple of meetings and presentations, and then I Yelp'd us a cool place to grab some dinner afterwards. On a previous trip I found a little place called Kenny's Cafe that had a delicious bibimbap (among many other things), but Kenny's closes at 3pm. We had a little bit of a jones for bibimbap, and I found a new place not too far from where we were called Mixed Roll & Bop, a new Korean Asian fusion spot with (from the reviews) the BEST bibimbap, as well as good spicy chicken wings, and sushi. We tried the stone pot bibimbap with spicy pork, some spicy chicken wings, and a spicy tuna roll (yeah, spicy seemed to be the theme, I know). It was all great, but the bibimbap!!! It was THE BEST! (Preparing it in the stone pot gives the rice some crunchy goodness on the bottom.)

This is their funky little sign out front:

Highly recommended. It's very small, and the environment is definitely on the "fast food" side, but the food was delicious and we'll definitely go back!

Tomorrow is another day of meetings and then we'll fly back to Portland tomorrow night.

Kenny’s Cafe by the San Jose Airport

Laura Domela — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 17:22:32 +0000

We flew down to San Jose for some work stuff this morning and thanks to a killer tailwind we got here with plenty of time to spare. We thought we'd grab a quick lunch before our meeting, so I pulled up Yelp on my iPhone and searched nearby restaurants. We decided on Kenny's Cafe. It was close to the airport, the ratings were good (4.5 out of 5 stars average), and there were 65 reviews (soon to be 66).

Kenny's is about a mile from Atlantic Aviation and easy to miss. A "mom and pop joint/hole in the wall" description was accurate. We were a little on the early side of the lunch window and there were only two other customers seated when we walked in. We were greeted by the very enthusiatic and friendly Kenny, who welcomed us warmly as first time guests. The walls and ceiling are covered with photos of Kenny's very valued customers, and he is proud of the number of regulars he's collected in the two years he's been open.

We asked what was the best, and he came around in front of the counter to show us three photos of happy customers with their food (or in one case, their empty bowls). All three of us opted for the bibimbap, which Kenny said was one of their specialties.

SO DELICIOUS.

The bowl was filled with tons of fresh veggies around a small ball of rice in the middle, spicy pork (there are several other options…salmon, chicken, etc.), then topped with a fried egg dipped in spicy sauce. It was fantastic.

This is not the kind of place I'd ever choose to go to by looking at the menu first. For instance: bibimbap, BBQ burgers, Philly cheesesteaks, Hawaiian rice bowls, breakfast burritos…it's ALL OVER THE PLACE, right??

By the time we were finished with our lunch, the place was completely full with a solid line of customers still ordering, and a growing pile of take-out order boxes behind the counter waiting to be picked up. The guy next to us said Kenny's BBQ burger is the best he's ever had and his whole family comes here for it. Someone else on Yelp swears by Kenny's jalapeno breakfast burritos. Seems like there's something for everyone, but it's actually all good!

Kenny came over when we were half way through our bibimbap bowls and asked if we liked the food (OMG yes!), and then he took a photo of us (with his smartphone). We will definitely be back to see Kenny (and our photo, on the ceiling).

Oh yeah, and here's an iPhone photo from the plane of our tiny shadow down on the clouds:

bibimbap – Riveted

A Few Days in the Bay Area

Kenny’s Cafe by the San Jose Airport