One thing I like to do way too much is eat out. As it stands, I've become a huge food snob. Here is a sampling of places I've been at.
I'm actually not that picky about what the restaurant looks like. I prefer hole in the wall restaurants with tacky decorations and good food to a fancy place with really crappy food.
Pink Godzilla, Capitola
A really great restaurant for sushi rolls. Lots of variations, and there's fresh crab and abalone sitting in tanks in the front. Pink Godzilla has these really nice tatami rooms, and Mitsu (the owner) is a really nice guy.
The only problem is that it's always crowded for dinner and lunch (even on Thursdays!). You also occasionally get asshole tourists who like to rent out the rooms, get drunk, sing the Macarena at top volume, and wreck the area.
Miyako, Capitola
This used to be my favorite Japanese restaurant. Unfortunately, they changed owners, and I don't think the food has been up to par. Fortunately, the previous owners opened up Shogun, so I still have a place to get great chirashi.
Shogun, Santa Cruz
This place, in my opinion, is the best place to go to for Japanese dinners. They have very generous portions of food, and really score points in the food presentation department. I heartily recommend the deluxe chirashi, which gives you a giant sampler of sashimi with a very healthy helping of rice and tons of seaweed. Mmm, yum. They also have a really good selection of premium cold sakes.
Isobune, San Francisco (in Japantown)
The best nigiri sushi place I've been to. Sushi is served on boats, and the prices are fairly cheap per nigiri. It's high quality stuff, and the chefs will always have some variation that is not your standard nigiri. Because the prices are so cheap, it's easy to not pay attention to how much you're eating. I usually wind up running a $30 to $40 bill if I'm starving.
The place is also damn crowded. Standard waiting time is about 30 minutes to a whole hour. The wait staff is very efficient about shuffling people in and out, but you can only do so much with a huge number of people.
Fuki Sushi, Mountain View
A very authentic Japanese place. The food is fairly expensive, but you'll find a lot of stuff that is not on the standard tourist type restaurant menu. I thought the portions at this place were too small, and the spicy hamachi roll that I ordered wasn't. The food was a little above average, but not remarkable.
Michi Sushi, Campbell
Yum! The service is a bit slow on some days here, but you get amazingly generous portions. They also have some very unique specialty rolls, and everything's at a very reasonable price.
Sushi on the Run, Los GatosThis is an extremely tiny place. It seats about 8 people, and your back is literally pressed to the wall while you eat. However, it has the best edamame I've tasted and some very tasty and unique rolls.
Krung Thai, Campbell
My new favorite. Horrendously crowded, but worth the wait. They have some great, spicy dishes; and a variety of just plain tasty dishes. Try the Krung Thai Pineapple Fried Rice, it's *really* good.
Bangkok Garden, San Jose
This used to be a favorite of mine, but I feel that the spice level has gone down of late. The food is still good, just not as spicy as I like it.
Real Thai Kitchen, Santa Cruz
The cooks tend to wimp out the food if you're a newcomer. With enough persistence, though, you can convince them to actually serve the food really hot. A lot of the dishes can be served vegetarian or even vegan.
Amarin Thai, Monterey
This place was pretty good. The dishes were swimming in sauce, and tasted great. Very wimpy on the spice scale, though. The place has a lot of cool carved elephants, great wall hangings, etc.
A really nice family run restaurant. The portions are generous, and the food is nice and spicy. Not as spicy as the waitress kept cautioning us about, but enough to have me reaching for water on a regular basis. Food is served very native. The fish that I ordered was served with its head on.
You also get free dinner entertainment. I ordered a broiled kingfish and when it was tossed on the grill, a four foot gout of flame shot up. Judging by the scorch marks on the grill, this had happened before.
Sigoljip, Santa Clara
A pretty cool, no frills restaurant. Some of the food is spicy, but not scorchingly so. The best thing about this place are the side dishes, which are done really well.
Pho Thanh Long, Santa Clara
In my opinion, one of the best pho places around. You get generous portions, and the staff is very quick to get food to you. They have really good steamed dishes, also. The BBQ chicken and lemon chicken are excellent. The seafood and meatball pho that they have is quite yummy.
Pho Queen, Santa Clara
Not a bad place to go, but I think the pho skimps on the meat and soup too much. Kind of a disappointment after Thanh Long.
Silver Restaurant, San Francisco
A really nice 24 hour Cantonese restaurant just off Grant Street. Prices are very reasonable, and the food is not wimped out for tourists. The fresh rock cod I ordered once was very fresh indeed, since I got to eat it about fifteen minutes after its death. The cod was served authentic Chinese style.
And if anyone is in a mean mood and feels like freaking out the tourists, eat the eyeballs out of the authentic style fish. They taste like hard boiled egg yolks.
Hunan Restaurant, San Francisco
Really, really good Hunan food. They've varied on spice level everytime I've gone there, so I guess it depends on who's cooking the food. When you get the good cook, however, expect to drain about a half pitcher of water. A great thing about this place is that the food is cooked as grease free as possible (except for the fried stuff, of course.) A friend of mine ordered an oil free chicken dish and they did a great job with it.
I heartily recommend the fish balls with black mushroom. The balls are made with rock cod, and are compact and bone free.
Sam Kee, Sunnyvale
I discovered this place purely by accident. I highly recommend going here if you want to get good Dim Sum. They have a good variety of dim sum, and tend to have more native Chinese dishes. As always the case with dim sum, you can pig out and have a cheap bill.
Shilpa's, Santa Clara
One of my default lunch places. They have a very generous and yummy buffet, and the spicy chicken is actually spicy.
Mayuri, Santa Clara
Service for dinner is a bit slow here, but I like this place because it offers more authentic cuisine. Yummy, yummy food, and generous portions.