Best Banh Mi

Oh how I adore my $2.50 banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich). My favorites are the #8 (pork) and #9 (chicken). Both are topped with jalapenos and pickled vegetables, and the crusty bread (the secret is the rice flour) cannot be beat. Forget the $5 footlongs!

10174 San Pablo Ave in El Cerrito

Fries with short rib gravy and cheese? Yes, please!

Work lightened up enough for the boy and I to take yesterday afternoon off to celebrate our 1-year wedding anniversary! Since this is us we're talking about, everything was planned at the last minute, but it turned out great. Our day started off with a visit to the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The South Asian exhibit was outstanding!

Since our day's itinerary was slapped together, we unintentionally skipped lunch, so a visit to Gyro King (Turkish diner) was in order. I ordered sultac, which I thought was a soup with broiled cheese. Sultac turned out to be a rice pudding served in an ovenproof bowl - the top of the pudding is broiled. The boy had, what else, a lamb and beef gyro wrap. The wrap was the size of his head, so he ended up getting much more food than he intended. However, it all went happily down the hatch.

Dinner at Salt House was the highlight of the day. Poutine was our first course, and we could've just ate that and have had a very happy dining experience. Poutine is French fries topped with cheese (in this case, a white Vermont cheddar) and smothered with short rib gravy. Oh, yeah. I'll be heading back to Salt House soon. Good wine, good food, good times.