Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ

Good ol' southern BBQ is what you get at Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que. My wife, kids, and my wife and my parents tried this place out not too long ago and I'm a fan. We are lucky that there's one in Concord, CA in the San Francisco Bay Area. Concord is located east of San Francisco about 20 miles. The only other one near the Bay is in Rocklin which is near Sacremento.

For appetizers we had the flame-roasted artichoke, spinach and cheese dip with chips, southern fried dill pickles, and the brisket burnt ends. All except the brisket burnt ends were very very good. I've never had artichoke before but one of my kids likes it and I tried it. Verdict? Excellent. It's too bad that I never gave artichoke's a chance in the past but I'll be eating more of it - at least when I come to Lucille's.

The southern fried dill pickles were a treat. I believe they are a southern comfort traditional food and I'm glad we can now enjoy it here in Northern California.

For my main meal I ordered the beef ribs. I love beef ribs and Lucille's prepares theirs wonderfully. They are tasty! With the BBQ beans, spinach, corn, potatoes, or cole slaw (can you tell I've been there more than once) you can't go wrong.

My wife had her staple baby back ribs and she really enjoyed how Lucille's prepared them. Around the table it seems that everyone liked what they ordered. The servings are large enough that we had to take several to go bags home. Which was good because we got to extend our enjoyment of their southern cooking for at least one more day.

On separate occasions I've had the good fortune of having room for dessert. I recommend the Snickers Ice Cream Pie. Just by virtue of the tantalizing name, you know it's good. And it is!

Visit their website and check out the large menu. I'm sure everyone in your family will find something they'll like. The service is friendly and warm and our servers have always handled our large family with all its fan fair gracefully and with smiles.

Lucille's has become one of our favorite restaurants in the last year. We're so grateful that good southern cooking along with good ole southern hospitality has made it's way to Concord, CA!

Claws And Craws in Hercules, California - Cajun and Creole style dining

Finger linkin' good. And I'm not talking Kentucky Fried Chicken. I'm talking about Claws N Craws in Hercules, CA. The kids, my beautiful wife, and I have eaten here several times and the food their is excellent.

Claws And Craws | Hercules, CA

If you're in the East Bay of Northern California it's not going to be too much of a drive. If you come from Napa or Vallejo, Concord/Walnut Creek, or Oakland/Berkeley, you're only looking at a 20 to 30 minute drive. For those of us with a Boiling Crab affinity, Claws And Craws offers us a local experience thankfully.

The restaurant is modern looking with a bar in the middle between 2 dining areas and ample flat screens throughout the establishment. There are even three booths with their own flat screens! That's a pretty cool feature. I really like the way they designed the interior. It's simple but not plain.

With several patrons and TVs, there's a nice lively feel about the place. Almost like a family get together.

Claws And Craws Bar

Booths with their own flat screen TVs!

The Claws And Craws menu is full of southern style seafood but I've had the pleasure of trying out only a few of their delicious items. They consider themselves a cajun and creole restaurant. (I don't know if that's true or not, but it works!) For the appetizers, we had fried oysters on one of our visits which are pretty good. The kids tried their chicken wings and they seemed to enjoy them. The fried calamari is another fine choice as well.

Fried Oysters

For main dishes we get the peel and eat shrimp with either rice or garlic noodles. My wife also gets fries for the kids and sweet potato fries which are pretty good considering I'm not really into sweet potato fries. When all of us are really hungry we can share and finish 2 to 3 pounds of peel and eat shrimp with the CC sauce in the medium spice after having some appetizers. Medium has enough spice to give it a nice kick while not being too spicy so everyone can enjoy the meal. We tried the crab once but it wasn't as good as we had hoped so lately we've stuck to the shrimp which hasn't disappointed us the every time we've eaten here.

Peel And Eat Shrimp With CC Sauce

Now I can't not talk about the desserts that Claws And Craws offers. The first is their fried banana and ice cream. It's really good. Frankly, I don't of a place where I didn't like fried banana and ice cream and this place is no exception. The other dessert is one I've never had anywhere. It's their fried Oreos and Ice Cream. Yes, you read it right! That was amazing and I would say on par with the fried banana. What I'm saying is you can't go wrong with either one.

Fried Oreos and Ice Cream

Our family enjoys coming to the Claws And Craws restaurant and I'm sure yours will too. If you're craving some good southern style seafood then prepare yourself for some finger lickin' goodness and go to Claws And Craws in Hercules, CA. To learn more about them, check them out on Facebook and Yelp - or you can just go there!

-John Gamboa

Claws And Craws

Berkeley's Suzette Crepe Cafe

While in the Berkeley, CA area my wife got the craving for a crepe concoction. A quick Yelp search led us to Suzette Crepe Cafe. Suzette's is a nice quaint place with a European feel (coming from one who's never been to Europe). So I guess it's what I think a European eatery would feel like. I could be totally off, but it is a nice little place to have crepes regardless.

Suzette Crepe Cafe - Albany/Berkeley, CA

My wife chose a healthy gluten free crepe filled with grilled chicken, spinach, and mushrooms. It was tasty! I wasn't hungry so I picked the banana, nutella, and ice cream crepe. And they had Thai Iced Tea! Don't know how that got into the menu but I was glad it was available.

The gluten free chicken crepe was delicious. I never had a non-dessert crepe and this was really good. The chicken was seasoned very well. I could definitely have that again. The banana nutella crepe was absolutely wonderful. Both plates were cleaned off within minutes.

Our crepe dishes at Suzette Crepe Cafe

There are several crepe places in Berkeley - Albany, but Suzette's is worth the trip. If you're every in the San Francisco area and craving crepes, you may want to think about crossing the bridge to Berkeley to have tasty and large crepe dishes at Suzette Crepe Cafe.