Fat Kid Adventure #81: Castro Point (Mountain View)

**UPDATE**
To many's dismay, this restaurant has been closed.

(Originally posted on July 18, 2008)

Yet another hit on Castro Street in downtown Mountain View, this unassuming restaurant has a different facet of Cool that one does not expect upon first glance. Featuring indoor and outdoor seating, Castro Point offers a decent interior with modest decorations. The kitchen opens widely to the dining tables on the inside, as if to say "come watch us cook!" Rar and I really liked this place, especially for the dessert.

Now let's talk about the Cool for a minute. The owner is John Tran, who grew up in a restaurant family, his father was a chef at a Chinese restaurant and his mother now owns a restaurant in Vietnam. He walks around the restaurant in a dark blue suit and a pair of noticeable Guccis with his little ponytail which reminds me of the Yakuza, not only overseeing but helping out. He actually approached us and asked us how we were enjoying the food and whether this was our first time. We were glad that we seem approachable since we did not notice him stopping by any other tables. It is one of the rare times when being a young couple was an advantage at a restaurant, usually our age-crowd tend to get ignored. I guess they were trying to expand their business so the younger crowd would think it is a hip place to be - and truthfully, it kind of is.

Our server is an elder gentleman by the name of Vince. A super-nice waiter that deserves a handsome tip, he was definitely a courteous pleaser. Extremely polite, he really knows what it means to serve.

The pastry chef deserves a special recognition. He makes his own sorbet, ice cream, creme brulee, bread pudding, cheesecake, focaccio bread, walnut bread, and an assortment of other desserts - FROM SCRATCH, EVERY SINGLE DAY. First off, that is just ballin' because you know you are getting something fresh and homemade. Second of all, Chef Felipe almost never speaks, he just looks very chill and cool, and sometimes he will nod or gesture very calmly. Third of all, Chef Felipe looks only about late-20s and wears these gangsta checker shorts sagging really low. Finally, Chef Felipe does not perch upon the highest branch - he helps out all over the restaurant. Just so awesome.

Now let's get to the food. We did it semi-light this time: 2 appetizers, a light dish, and a dessert. Appetizers: Calamari and Del Salmon. Calamari taste good - nice crisp with nice tenderness inside. It is fried with Italian roasted peppers and served with smoked tomato-garlic-aioli dipping sauce, which is prepared in-house. Excellent taste, just a bit small. A wee bit bigger than the ones from St. Stephen's Green's, but I have definitely had chunkier calamari. The Del Salmon features thin slices of cured smoked salmon lying on top of creamy horseradish served with red onions, big capers and little eggs - all of that to be eaten with crunchy slices of bread. I only added the salmon with horeseradish and eggs on there - delicious.

The light dish we ordered was the Unagi Garlic Noodles. The portions was decent, enough for one person to eat and get full. The sauce was flavorful but pretty thick and greasy, so even if you don't have that much you will still feel kind of full. The noodles are medium in thickness, and the unagi slices hid within them quite nicely. The unagi slices are on the thinner side, but the flavor was definitely there - they taste like how they would if on sushi.

The dessert that we ordered is the Amaretto Cheesecake - this was probably the highlight of our dinner. When we read through the dessert menu, we were very impressed with Chef Felipe's abilities, and since he was standing right there in the kitchen I nodded towards him a gesture of respect. In return, he put in a scoop of his own vanilla ice cream in our Amaretto Cheesecake. Divine. Thank you Chef Felipe - you are great. The homemade cheesecake was a treat to the palate - just slowly compress it with the top of the palate and the tongue, and let it melt the flavor away. The crust is moist and crumbly. Served on strawberry and mango coulis, the combination just makes me giddy. The liqueur-drenched strawberry slices were sweet with a coat of light-alkie - nice touch. Overall, the cheesecake deserves a 10 out of 5 - you just have to try it.

Recommendation - most definitely.

http://castropointrestaurant.com/default.aspx
http://www.yelp.com/biz/castro-point-mountain-view