I have been fortunate to grow up in a family where good food was important. My mother was an excellent cook and I got my early cooking instruction from her. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area I also had the opportunity to eat at some good restaurants. In short, I'm a bit of a foodie.
Currently I'm a foodie who lives in Livemore. Although Livermore is located in the San Francisco East Bay and is only an hour from San Francisco and Silicon Valley (assuming you're not stuck in traffic), Livermore does not have the sophistication of many of the near by towns. As I noted on my web page on food in Barcelona (A Bear Samples Barcelona Restaurants), Livemore is a town where you can't go out on a Sunday and get a decent breakfast. After one breakfast misadventure I felt like going back to the kitchen and showing the cook how to fry potatoes. Unlike Berkeley (the location of the famous Chez Panisse Restaurant) or San Francisco, there is not a lot of local sophistication in the restaurant fare.
There are, however, some good restaurants in Livermore and the near by area. I've listed some here that are either well reviewed or that I've personally been to. The reviews come from The Valley Times newspaper. The ordering of the restaurants on this web page is not significant.
Sai's 3
Vietnamese and Cantonese food
961 Bluebell Drive
Livermore
Lunch: 11:30 - 2:30
Diner 4:30 - 9 Mondays - Saturdays
Valley Times rating: 4 out of 5
Terra Mia
Northern Italian
4040 East Av. (in the Chardonnay Center mall)
Livermore
Lunch daily 11am-2:30 pm
dinner daily 5-9:30 pm
Valley Times rating: 3.5 out of 5
As you can see from my web pages on Italy, I have a bit of a crush on Italy (or at least Northern Italy). I enjoy going to Terra Mia because the food is good, the waiters are Italian and they are kind to me when I practice my limited Italian. My only criticism is that Terra Mia can be expensive. Dinner for two runs about $50 and they charge a lot for "corkage".
Tomatina
Italian (pizza, pasta, risotto)
4590 Dublin Blvd. (between Tassajara and Hacienda)
Dublin
Daily 11:30 am - 10 pm
Valley Times rating: 4 out of 5
Yelp "Real
People, Real Reviews" rating: 3.5 out of 5 based on 10 reviews
Uncle Yu's at the Vineyard
Chinese
39 S. Livermore Av.
Livermore
Su-Th 11am-9:30 pm
F-Sa 11am-10pm
Valley
Times rating: 3.5 out of 5
This restaurant got a pretty good review from the Valley Times. In additon to good Chinese food (according to the reviewer), Uncle Yu's has a very good wine selection.
Looking at the address I kept wondering why I had not seen Uncle Yu's. When I read the review, I realized that Uncle Yu's is located where the Rattlesnake and Blue Jean Bistro were, before they went out of business (on the corner of Livermore and First). Hopefully this ill starred location will be better for Uncle Yu's.
Strizzi's
Italian (with Bolognese style creme sauses)
2205 First Street
Livemore
Lunch: 11:30 - 4:00, daily
Dinner: 4:00 - 9:00 Sun - Thurs
, Fri-Sat 4:00 - 10:00
Strizzi's has been around for so long that the Valley Times has
not reviewed them.
Ian Kaplan, January 2007
Revised:
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