O'mei Chinese - Westside

One of the great things with catching up with friends is reliving the funny stories from our past. They usually start with "do you remember..." and end with both of you laughing. Paula is one of those friends to me and we met at O'mei Chinese Cuisine last week for some Gan Pung and some giggles.

O'mei Chinese Cuisine

The front entrance to this place is very nondescript. I wonder why they don't spruce it up a bit? Well, they have been here since 1979, so they must know something. We got there at 12 noon and there were plenty of seats.

I liked the decor inside, a bit minimalistic, but tasteful. Our starter soup came a few minutes after we sat down.

I asked the waitress what was in it and she said sauerkraut and pork. It was sort of watery, but still had flavor. Sweet and sour is what they were going for, but didn't quite make it. And there were little red rings of fire (spicy pepper) hiding between the cabbage.

Speaking of peppers, I ordered the Gan Pung Express, which came with steamed rice ($8.95). This has been a favorite of mine for years and I always have to order it. Chunks of breaded, fried chicken, water chestnuts, green onions and peppers in a sticky, sweet and tangy sauce. If you bite into one of those peppers, you win a fire-mouth prize! Needless-to-say, I pushed them to the side.

Paula got the Lemon Chicken Express ($8.95) with brown rice ($1 extra) and liked it very much. Not too sweet, like some I've had, and a nice natural lemon flavor. It was on some shredded cabbage and veggies.

The lunch express menu says it's smaller portions and cheaper versions of their normal menu, but the food was still plenty for us. I was at that point where I was full, but there wasn't enough left to take home. Oof, one more bite then!

A nice touch was the orange slices at the end of the meal. Reminded me of playing soccer as a kid and loading up on these at halftime. It was juicy and fresh.

Over 30 years and O'mei is still going strong. For the dinner service, they turn the lights low and make it more of a fancy place. But lunch is a better value. Good quality Chinese - you owe yourself a trip if you haven't been.

Scores out of 10:
Food: 8
Service: 6
Atmosphere: 7
Value for price: 7 (lunch express)
Overall: 7

Parish Publick House - Westside

Over on the Westside of Santa Cruz is a British pub called Parish Publick House. It's has too many windows for a real British pub, but they have a lot of beer and mixed drinks for your imbibing celebrations. They also have food, but since this was a workday lunch, no drinking for us!

Parish Publick House

Jim and Seth joined me for this meal out and it's a short drive to the Mission St. Safeway parking lot. Watch for tight corners and slim spaces as you drive through. Better yet to just park on the street.

We grabbed menus at the front and chose a window table. Most of the seats are by a window. All the pubs I went to in England were dark, but cozy places. This place is still cozy, but at least it was foggy outside. It usually is on the Westside.

Our waitress came over quickly and asked about drinks. Then she came back to deliver them and take our order. The place was wasn't very full, so she was prompt and pleasant. My iced tea was a bit soapy (an unrinsed glass?), but she offered to replace it for me.

Jim ordered the Irish Dip with fries ($13). It was a take on the classic French Dip, but with Irish cheddar, Irish stout mayo and Jameson Irish Whiskey added to the au jus. That's a lot of Irish! It was a hearty plate of food, which he enjoyed.

I got the Almar Shuffle, which was turkey, avocado, Swiss cheese and grilled mushroom on sourdough ($13). Served with a salad, it was good and filled me up. You don't see mushrooms on hot sandwiches very often, so I always go for it. Thumbs up! Also, they put raw, chopped onions on the salads here - I like 'em, but some folks don't!

Seth got the Side Door, a veggie burger with fries ($11) and had all the toppings on the side. I'm in support of this, since you get to make it as you like it. He piled on all the goodies and drove in. He also gave it a thumbs up. You gotta love the throwback, crinkly fries.

As with all British pubs, the standards are here: Bangers and Mash, Shepherd's Pie, Fish and Chips. There's a pool table in the back and big TVs all around to watch sports. During football/soccer season, you can bet they are all tuned in. It is the European sport of choice after all. Happy hour is 4-6pm and all day Sunday if you want to get your drink on.

Scores out of 10:
Food: 7
Service: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Value for price: 6
Overall: 7

Zameen's Foodtruck UCSC

Ever get hungry on campus? You know the one. Famous for little yellow slugs and 420 celebrations. Picking are slim up there, but I got a new way to stuff your pie hole if your tummy's rumblin'.

Zameen's Foodtruck

My bro and sis-in-law met me down by the Digital Arts building on a beautiful sunny Santa Cruz day in January. Unusually high temps make you love living here and there's good eats too! This truck, which is an offshoot of their restaurant in Aptos, shows up here from 11-2:30 weekdays.

Gyros, falafels. salads, burgers, chips and fries - you can't go wrong. Everything's so tasty and spiced up so well. We all got gyros and the garlic fries. They have sodas and waters to drink and sauces to pour over everything.

The gyro had the wonderful slices of beef and lamb that melts in your mouth. Also in the wrap was lettuce, tomatoes, grilled onions and Tzakziki sauce. I'm used to raw chunks of red onions in my gyro, so the grilled onions were a nice change and made the meal a little bit sweeter. The green sauce was fresh and flavorful. A little zing, but mild. Parsley and cilantro?

Mike's gryo got the red sauce treatment, which was a spicy concoction. You can see the pepper seeds in it... Zowwee!

Here's a bit of the ocean view with a side of fries. More Tzakziki dip too! They were greased up with the garlic oil and a few chunks here and there. Make sure you get a drink to wash them all down.

Glad to see the campus getting into the food truck craze with this eclectic choice. Zameen's got taco trucks beat for sure. Next time I'm getting their falafel and will report back!

Scores out of 10:
Food: 7
Service: n/a
Atmosphere: 8 (lots of benches around)
Value for price: 7
Overall: 7.5