THAI LOVERS

Are you a "last-minute lovebird", a "spontaneous suitor", a "way-late wooer", or a "procrastinating paramour"? Not to worry, the game is not in the planning, it's in the passion. If you have all the intention but not the time then this special holiday installment of I LOVE to eat San Jose is for you!
Here is my choice for a particularly appropriate Valentine's Day restaurant: Thai Lovers.
Thai food is one of my favorite food groups (other important groups being: meat, sugar, salad, fried, and finger) thus, I have several Thai food places tucked away around town so that there's always a spicy Pad Kee Mao within reach. (Much the same way a foodoholic may stash Hostess Snowballs in her bedroom, car, place of work, and maybe the public library.) Thai Lover's happens to be my #1 Thai food place: everything on the menu is fantastic, the service is friendly, and you can order online. So, it's great for a Valentine's night out or for tawdry take-out. Try a bedroom picnic where you and your love interest can feed each other Thai Lover's saucy selections while wearing silky pajamas. Here are some thematic suggestions off their amazing menu:

1. Thai Lover's Sexy Leg: ( a deep fried drumstick served with sweet Thai sauce) Tell your babykins that this dish was named after her (or him).

2. Thai Lover's Special Tom Kha: (a coconut milk and chicken soup infused with aromatic lemongrass and lime leaf) You and your sweetiepie can pretend you are castaways on a deserted island as you eat this soup (as it is served at the restaurant) out of a whole young coconut.

3. Tigerwood Favorite Rad Na: (flat rice noodles in a brown gravy with choice of meat, I usually choose the beef) Fitting if you and your pookums were trading sleazy text messages all day.

4. Eggplants Green Curry Pad Pra-Ram: (eggplants, bell peppers, sweet basil, choice of meat, and a fabulous green curry sauce) This one is not actually in line with my Valentine's Day theme, it's just good and I wanted to include it on the list.

5. Sweet Sticky Rice and Mango: (At the restaurant they serve a coconut dessert with your meal but I like to order this anyway, because I can never resist sweet sticky rice or mango) It's sticky and juicy all at the same time -- not to mention fun to eat with your fingers. Any further direction is best left to the imagination and performed at home.

Even if you are going solo this Valentine's Day, don't shy away from Thai Lovers. Order as spicy as you can handle (even if that is mild). The natural capsaicin will raise your endorphins and oxytocin levels; your cheeks will flush and you may sweat a little...and I guarantee you will feel all the biochemistry of actually being in love without all the drama.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Thai Lovers is located on Piedmont Road (near Penetencia Creek Road and across the street from SJFD Fire Station #19)

MEXICO BAKERY (a.k.a. BAKERY MEXICO)

"Torta! Torta! Torta!" I can hear the cries now. The call that awakens the sleeping giant of hunger in my belly. A monstrous appetite that can only be appeased by something equally as fierce = la torta Cubana. Let's walk through this together (hold my hand because it's earth-shattering):
1. Fresh baked bolillo (Mexican-style sandwich roll)
2. mayonnaise
3. a hot dog
4. ham
5. chorizo
6. a fried egg
7. queso (a.k.a cheese, for those who took French in high school)
8. fresh sliced tomato
9. jalapenos
10. avocado
11. tomato
Were you counting along? Because that's 11 major ingredients....in a hot sandwich! Three of which are meats (four if you count the fried egg as a protein). And yes, they are considered separate meats even though they came from the same animal. That fact that you even make that contemplation is in itself OUTSTANDING!
I'm sorry to all of those who have delicate sensibilities and are turned off by the daunting task (which has to be enormous) of calculating the calories and fat grams and ratios thereof. I do admit that after I eat a torta Cubana de Bakery Mexico, I am often overcome by waves of guilt and feel a need to take a shower...but then again, most of the best things in life provoke that very same reaction. Still, if la Cubana is too much to handle there are other traditional tortas on "lighter" side. A torta milanesa (my second choice), which includes crispy-breadcrumby-crusty slices of pork.
I acknowledge that the more "seasoned" (pun painfully intended) eaters may have already tried a torta Cubana and maybe even have your own little hole-in-the-wall or taco truck that serves them. What makes Mexico Bakery different are the ingredients: super fresh, super delicious, and super generously proportioned. (The above photo is only 1/2 of the actual serving size.) My favorite part, the avocado, is plentiful, creamy, and perfectly ripe in its deliciousness. I could go on about each individual ingredient but seeing as there are a lot of them, I'll just give another quick nod to the bread: not just the vehicle for the fillings, it's like the patina on the Rodin and lends to the aura and the authenticity of the entire experience. (Hello?! The bread has to be the best part this is "Mexico BAKERY.")
Speaking of good things that are baked, you can find a lot of them here. Specifically, the pan dulce which literally means "sweet bread." The term actually encompasses a huge array of pastry like items that will flirt with your olfactory senses in the parking lot and then greet your eyes like a lost lover from their 20 foot long display case as you walk in the door. I admit, although I have tried, I have not tasted them all. The main reason for my failure is that each time I go to Mexico Bakery, there's something new.
However, here is one Mexico Bakery pan dulce, that I am forever faithful to and shall attest my undying love for: the polvoron. A big crumbly cookie that basically has four ingredients: sugar, shortening, flour, and food coloring (usually electric bright pink and/or yellow). Anyone who has clocked significant hours in kitchen (or at the table) knows that when the ingredient list is short, the outcome is highly dependent on quality and skill. Mexico bakery gets it right, not powdery, not gritty, not greasy, and you can't taste the flour or the shortening; just perfectly, mouth-meltingly tender and sweet. I dream about these cookies. I imagine that in my heaven the clouds are made out of electric pink Mexico Bakery polvorones.



P.S. The cakes at Mexico Bakery are equally divine.

Mexico Bakery is located on Story Road in San Jose (between White Rd. and Capitol Expy. in the Home Depot shopping center)