We don't go out very often to eat, but if we do than it's most likely an Asian place. First place definitely goes to Thai, then Japanese/Chinese, then all others. There are just tons of them, everywhere and they are often very affordable. One of the first places we found was very close to our first accommodation - Merit. It is a nice place and the food is really good. The service seemed to us too pushy back then. Later we learned that it's just the way it is here. In Russia as well as in Europe the waiter tries to be (or he just is?) invisible. He doesn't come too often, sometimes even when you need him. When you have finished and want to leave the place already they make you wait. Here they come up to your table couple of times, ask you if everything is alright (sometimes not really caring that you are chewing right at that moment and cannot answer), bring the bill even before you finished your eating. We will have to adjust when we go back to Europe. One very nice thing here - always, just as soon as you sit they bring you water and keep your glass full throughout your meal. That is really a very good tradition. The water is normally with ice though, but you can always ask to bring it without ice.
As for the non-Asian places most of all we like Black Angus. We have one in Sunnyvale just 10 minutes from our place (by car, everything is here by car...) and almost never go there by ourselves. First our new Russian friends (the husband is my husband's colleague) brought us there to show us a good steak place. And now we bring there every our guest for the same reason. We have actually only been to one other steakhouse and didn't like that one. So, maybe there are better places but we stuck to Black Angus and are totally fine with it:) This week we have visitors from Russia again and are going to bring them there too:)
We have only watched "Big Bang Theory" once and it was in the plane on our way to US. But we learned from there that there is the Cheesecake Factory and got an idea to try it. Once we got there we were quite surprised to find out that this is not at all a bakery, but a big restaurant with all sorts of food. And even more, that the cheesecakes there are not at all the best part, they look very attractive, but they are actually not at all so good. They are huge and extremely sweet. Each time we went there we were reducing our consumption of cheesecakes, last time we only ordered one cheesecake for two of us and didn't even eat it out. Our favorite is the Teriyaki Chicken!
There are also lots of fast-foods here obviously. We visited them very rarely, but when we did the choice was almost each time for the Asian again.
From the first day we came I was my husband to go to McDonald's. Not that I am a very big fan, but I was just extremely curious if there any difference. Couple of weeks ago I got lucky. We were driving from South California home, were already very tired and hungry, couldn't find anything on our way for a very long time and eventually reached the food stop where there was a McDonald's:) Well.... absolutely the same tastes of a Big Mac, fries and chicken McNuggets that I recall from my youth:)
Regarding the food choices here generally. The variety here is enormous. You can keep any style of eating you prefer. You can eat extremely healthy as well as extremely unhealthy. The choice of fruits and vegetables is big here throughout the year. In Summer it is just amazing. We found several products that matched our expectation and bought the again and again pretty much the whole time. For example the only 3 types of cereals without sugar, cottage cheese from Russian shop (still not that good as in Russia), vegetables and fruits from the Sunnyvale Farmers' market, C.J. Olsen Cherries, Felipe's Market or some of the supermarkets.
My husband is missing a good bread and cheese here. We found some places to buy some bread and cheese but the variety and quality are still far from what he is used to have in Austria.
There is nothing that I miss here comparing to Austria. I miss cottage cheese from Russia and that's pretty much it. All the rest Russian specialities you may buy in one of the Russian shops or eat in a Russian restaurant (we haven't tried any of them by the way, but I've heard from some friends that there are at least one decent in our area).
When we're going to move to Austria, we'll have to get used again that we don't have that much of eating places at all and much less variety. There is one sushi "network" around - Manga. One restaurant in Bregenz (20km) and another in Feldkirch(15km). My husband says there are a couple of Chinese but I haven't seen them during my living there:) Let's see:)
Anyhow, it's much easier to travel quickly to Moscow from Austria to enjoy Taras Bulba or Tanuki than from US:))
As for the non-Asian places most of all we like Black Angus. We have one in Sunnyvale just 10 minutes from our place (by car, everything is here by car...) and almost never go there by ourselves. First our new Russian friends (the husband is my husband's colleague) brought us there to show us a good steak place. And now we bring there every our guest for the same reason. We have actually only been to one other steakhouse and didn't like that one. So, maybe there are better places but we stuck to Black Angus and are totally fine with it:) This week we have visitors from Russia again and are going to bring them there too:)
We have only watched "Big Bang Theory" once and it was in the plane on our way to US. But we learned from there that there is the Cheesecake Factory and got an idea to try it. Once we got there we were quite surprised to find out that this is not at all a bakery, but a big restaurant with all sorts of food. And even more, that the cheesecakes there are not at all the best part, they look very attractive, but they are actually not at all so good. They are huge and extremely sweet. Each time we went there we were reducing our consumption of cheesecakes, last time we only ordered one cheesecake for two of us and didn't even eat it out. Our favorite is the Teriyaki Chicken!
There are also lots of fast-foods here obviously. We visited them very rarely, but when we did the choice was almost each time for the Asian again.
From the first day we came I was my husband to go to McDonald's. Not that I am a very big fan, but I was just extremely curious if there any difference. Couple of weeks ago I got lucky. We were driving from South California home, were already very tired and hungry, couldn't find anything on our way for a very long time and eventually reached the food stop where there was a McDonald's:) Well.... absolutely the same tastes of a Big Mac, fries and chicken McNuggets that I recall from my youth:)
Regarding the food choices here generally. The variety here is enormous. You can keep any style of eating you prefer. You can eat extremely healthy as well as extremely unhealthy. The choice of fruits and vegetables is big here throughout the year. In Summer it is just amazing. We found several products that matched our expectation and bought the again and again pretty much the whole time. For example the only 3 types of cereals without sugar, cottage cheese from Russian shop (still not that good as in Russia), vegetables and fruits from the Sunnyvale Farmers' market, C.J. Olsen Cherries, Felipe's Market or some of the supermarkets.
My husband is missing a good bread and cheese here. We found some places to buy some bread and cheese but the variety and quality are still far from what he is used to have in Austria.
There is nothing that I miss here comparing to Austria. I miss cottage cheese from Russia and that's pretty much it. All the rest Russian specialities you may buy in one of the Russian shops or eat in a Russian restaurant (we haven't tried any of them by the way, but I've heard from some friends that there are at least one decent in our area).
When we're going to move to Austria, we'll have to get used again that we don't have that much of eating places at all and much less variety. There is one sushi "network" around - Manga. One restaurant in Bregenz (20km) and another in Feldkirch(15km). My husband says there are a couple of Chinese but I haven't seen them during my living there:) Let's see:)
Anyhow, it's much easier to travel quickly to Moscow from Austria to enjoy Taras Bulba or Tanuki than from US:))
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