Saratoga: Part I

This is Big Basin Way in Saratoga. Unlike other main street shopping areas, Big Basin Way doesn't have a whole lot of retail shoppes. Most of the stores along this avenue are actually cafes or restaurants. It's also missing the one essential element of a thriving main street -- a good bookstore. Saratoga is one of the more affluent towns in the Bay Area, and I actually had to walk a bit to get a good shot of the street without a big SUV blocking the view.

This is "The Plumed Horse", one of the restaurants along the street. It seems to have some "Old World" charm to it. It reminds me of something I might see in jolly old England.




The Plumed Horse has one of these carousel-type horses on a pole outside the restaurant, but where are the plumes?





This is where I ended up eating lunch -- Masu Sushi. The restaurant is actually run by a Korean family, and they have another Masu Sushi in San Mateo, where I will occassionally go for lunch. Comparitively, this one is bigger and has much better layout and decor than the other one. Their selection of rolls is quite good, as is the variety of their fish.

Toro and a Grilled Eggplant roll, part of my lunch. I also had two other rolls -- the Crazy Roll (Shrimp Tempura with Crab on top) and the Vega-something Roll -- (Deep Fried Yam and Cucumber).

They have a great selection of vegetarian sushi and even have their vegetables on display. I have a good number of vegetarian friends, so it's always nice to find a Japanese restaurant that can cook more than just vegetable tempura for them.

Their fish selection is no less impressive. The chef said they have Toro on a regular basis (a sign of a good sushi restaurant) and as you can see from the toro pieces on my plate in the picture above, the slices were massive.

I had noticed a Tapioca Express sign driving onto the street, so I walked that way, only to find out that the place was still under construction. These bubble tea places seem to be springing up everywhere in the area lately, though I do have to wonder about the profitability in an area like this, where the residents are more older than your typical bubble tea crowd.

Since I couldn't find bubble tea, I went to the gelato place instead. It's vanilla bean for those who are curious.

This is small sidestreet. I'm not sure why, but I always find roads like this pleasing to me. The street seems to curve off to someplace hidden.

There's a hidden park right next to the parking lot. As I approach the bridge, I realize that this is a bridge over a small creek.

The creek as taken from the bridge.

The creek taken from under the bridge. Taken from this view, it seems like it'd be a nice place to sit underneath a tree and read nice book or write in a journal entry.

On the way back to my car, I noticed this sign. Hard to believe that from a simple toll booth so many towns would come and go. I don't really understand though how a toll-booth could have operated in the 1850s -- did they take tolls from people instead of from vehicles as we do now? Or did they charge tolls per horse?

I liked the slogan on the storefront -- "fine wine without the attitude". The font is really interesting too.

Next stop: Hakone Gardens