Eating on the Cheap with Kids

Jonathan and I have recently discovered the joys of the family friendly restaurant. We have been drawn in by the kids eat free restaurant promotion, and been won over by the low pressure environment and friendly service. For the first time in our adult life we find that every Tuesday we are frequenting chain restaurants, or a close approximation to the chain restaurant. We are becoming connoisseurs of the kids menu. Below are places we frequent with the boys, some better than others

The Mom & Pop Operations

• Georgio's - Our favorite restaurant for spaghetti, chicken parmesan and occasionally a yummy pizza. The restaurant has a lovely New Jersey Italian restaurant feel, and it is great for kids. Other related restaurants are Frankie, Johnny and Luigi's in Campbell and Mountain View.
• Max's Opera Cafe - We came for the dessert, and stayed for the Matzo Ball soup. Max's is a staple for us. At least once a year we do a big family gathering there before my Aunt and Uncle fly back to Michigan. The portions are huge, and the menu has something for everyone. We always have a good experience at Max's, even when we have to take a restless preschooler for a walk and talk.
• Pancho Villa - This continues to be our favorite taqueria in the Bay Area. Every year it makes the best Mission Burrito list as well. It is a typical cafeteria style taqueria. It has locations in San Francisco and San Mateo, and the food is the best. My boys love beans, rice and chicken ...
• St. John's Bar & Grill in Sunnyvale - We've been semi-regulars of St. John's since we moved back to the Silicon Valley three years ago. Even during our 7 years in San Francisco we would make special trips to St. Johns. This was the first restaurant that I felt comfortable taking the boys. It is a large noisy, sports bar with excellent burgers, chicken sandwiches, and of course a kids menu. Open six days a week, St. John's runs a special every night. For the kids, the chicken tenders are the best ... seriously.
• Willow Street Wood Fired Pizza - It doesn't hurt that we can walk to the original location in Willow Glen. Kid's eat free on Tuesday nights, but our boys don't like the kids menu. Their favorite is the fusilli pasta with chicken, sun dried tomatoes and artichokes. The pizzas are also wonderful. We love this place so much that every two months or so we burn ourselves out, and can't eat Willow Street for a couple of months.

The Chains

• Chevy's Fresh Mex - As chain Mexican goes, Chevy's isn't too bad. Some locations are better than others, but I've never had a bad meal. The boys love rice and beans, so Chevy's is always a good bet.
• Chili's Grill & Bar - Like Chevy's I never had a bad meal here, but I tend to forget about it. We took the boys here a few weeks ago, and it wasn't too bad. The kids menu looked like every chain restaurant, with the usual suspects (macaroni and cheese, chicken tenders, corn dogs, etc.). The chicken nuggets were the worst. Xander ended up eating my grilled chicken, rice and beans (is there a theme). Next time we go here, we'll skip the kids menu, and order an entree for the boys to split. 
• The Elephant Bar - We tried this restaurant for the first time the other night after we took the boys to see Toy Story 3. The food was really good ...  The Asian theme was a breath of fresh air compared to our burgers and Mexican rut, so this will make its way into our circulation. The restaurant was crowded, but they managed to seat us in 20 minutes. Xander's chicken nuggets were tempuraed, and he liked them. The Mac and Cheese was the best so far. By the way we bypassed the kids menu, and had the boys split the chicken tenders and Mac and Cheese on the regular menu (on the kids menu it was Kraft).
• Red Robin Gourmet Burgers - On Tuesday night this week we took the boys to Red Robin for the first time. While our local Red Robin does not have a kids eat free promotion, it does do several things that cater to children. They have someone walking around in a Red Robin costume, and they give out balloons. The food was pretty good for a chain. Xander ordered chicken tenders and fruit, and Caleb ordered macaroni and cheese. The mac and cheese was better than most of the chains ... the chicken tenders were average.
• Sonoma Chicken Coop - Our chain odyssey started with the Sonoma Chicken Coop in Campbell. A great location and vibe, with incredibly mediocre food. If the food wasn't so awful, I would never have gotten up my nerve to start exploring these other restaurants.

I'm not 4 I'm 5

Today was Xander's fifth birthday. In two months he will be starting kindergarten. The beautiful green eyed boy that I called "baby boy" is growing up. He knows how to behave in restaurants, he holds your hand when crossing the street, he can walk into a store filled with breakables and not touch, he is  kind, thoughtful and sensitive.

We went back to Oak Meadow and Vasona parks for the first time since December. We road the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad, and played in the playground with the firetruck, airplane and train, as well as the blue playground. It was amazing to watch how much more sure of himself he was on the playground. He is starting to do the monkey bars, he could climb the ladders I thought were reserved for much older kids ... well now I guess he is.

He got a scooter for his birthday. He let me put on all of the padding, and agreed that he would need to wear his hockey helmet, to make sure that he didn't break anything. Considering how many times he fell it was a good thing... but he tackled the task of learning to use the two wheel scooter with confidence.  But he was tired ...

So, we were soon home where he got two of the trains he asked for and had me write on a birthday list that he kept under his pillow for the last month. He was so happy to get patchwork Hiro and Birthday Thomas. He had me check them off his list.

Then we went to St. John's in Sunnyvale where they have great chicken tenders. He feasted, polite, sweet and so grown-up.

In the middle of August I will no longer be able to say my preschoolers. My little Xander will be a kindergartner.

Flashback: Salzburg is for Kids

Jonathan first visited Salzburg by himself and he wanted to take me back someday. Salzburg is Sound of Music country and it was the first city that came to his mind when we were brainstorming where we would take three-year old Xander.

Salzburg is laid back and charming, with the lovely Salsach river that runs through the center. The Kapuzinerberg mountain with the Capuchin Monastery and Monchsberg mountain are walking distance from the AltStadt (old town), with its lovely Baroque architecture.

Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart, and although Mozart is a bit overdone here, it is still possible to have fun without being overwhelmed by the kitch.

We stayed in the AltStadt and spent most of our visit outdoors. We ate at outdoor cafes on the Salsach. We took the stroller and followed the small road that tangled its way through the mountain to the Capuchin Monastery.  And we discovered some amazing parks with fabulous play structures or cool locations.

We visited Salzburg shortly after our court date in Stavropol, Russia. All three of us were travel weary, and Salzburg was the perfect place to recharge our batteries and prepare for the rest of our adventure.

Flashback: Outdoor Eating with Small Kids

It is finally starting to warm up and feel like summer here -- which means we are eating more meals outside. When traveling with children the more you can find outdoor restaurants, the more you have happy well behaved children. (Of course we did have the mallet incident in Annapolis, but that is another story).

The benefits of eating outdoors:
1. Noise - in a quiet stuffy restaurant a child can create quite a scene just asking for more bread. My boys are now 3 and almost 5 and they still have not mastered the quiet whisper. We've been shushed in indoor restaurants, but the great outdoors just doesn't have the acoustics.
2. Less worry about mess - my boys are generally pretty good, unless they are handed a cup with a cap and straw. Then they are downright messy neanderthals. Outside I worry less about a spill then inside a restaurant.
3. Distraction - Outside with flowers, birds, people walking by on the street, there is much more to see and to keep short attention spanned children occupied.
4. More low key - Even in fancy restaurants, outdoor seating is much more low key. It is better than cramped back area of the many restaurants where families with children are relegated to. And often you cannot beat the views, especially in towns on the water.

One of the reasons we love to travel in Central Europe during the summer with little ones, and one reason we selected Austria for our 2008 trip was outdoor eating. I wrote about the food market at Rathaus Platz. We never quite made it to the Opera broadcast on the big screen, but we did enjoy eating dinner there.

In California, near Santa Barbara there is The Beach Grill at Padaro. Even locally, one of our favorite haunts in San Jose, the Garage has outdoor seating, and now that it is warming up, this will be a perfect place to take the boys and eat outdoors.

Rediscovering the Children's Discovery Museum in Sausalito

I wonder if in retrospect our disappointing trip to Happy Hollow was because our visit occurred on the same weekend that we rediscovered the Children's Discovery Museum in Sausalito, also called the Bay Area Discovery Museum. When Xander was a toddler I booked a lot of time at the Toddler Zone of the Children's Discovery Museum, but we haven't been back with two preschoolers.

Well, with two preschoolers (my oldest who is now too tall for the Toddler Zone) the Children's Discovery Museum is awesome.

On Sunday we went to a party for a little girl in Caleb's preschool class. If not for the party, I'm not sure if we would have made it there until early Fall. The cost of the Museum is less than Happy Hollow, and at least 10 times more fun.

We arrived at 12:30 pm, and participated in the pre-planned birthday party fun until 2 pm. Then we were on our own.

The playscape with a maritime theme was amazing for both parents and preschoolers alike. The remnants of a pirate ship, a boat, a rock quarry, and a tide pool, and a small Golden Gate bridge, all with a view of the real Golden Gate bridge -- spectacular.

Caleb would have been happy breaking rocks in the hot sun in the quarry, but we decided to explore the rest of the Museum. We took the boys to the Toddler Zone, but at 44 inches, Xander was too tall. Caleb and I went in for about 15 minutes, he liked it (it gave him an opportunity to be three, and not try to be four) but he grew tired of the maritime room and the desert room that Xander had once spent so much time in, and we headed to the other exhibits of the museum.

We met Xander in what other parents have dubbed the train room. Xander bypassed the train, and was fishing for big fish on the fishing boat. Caleb gasped when when he saw the giant train table, and was in heaven for a good hour. When Xander grew tired of fishing, and he wasn't ranking in the small society of train table officiendos either (all the engines were taken), I took him to the wave room.

Xander's favorite part of the museum was the wave room. You can press a button and make waves... you can also design a boat that will ride faster, farther and more aerodynamically on the waves. Xander loved this exhibit.

When it was time to go, we had no meltdowns. The boys loved their visit. There was enough time to explore everything, but the boys were never in sensory overload either. We heart the Children's Discovery Museum in Sausalito, and we will be back again soon.