in Santa Rosa... Locker: Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.

Sbrocco: ...hearty brunch fare in Berkeley... Calixto: I think about these waffles all the time.

Sbrocco: ...and contemporary Laotian cuisine in San Francisco... Cheiken: It just makes you feel like you're having a drink on the beach.

Sbrocco: ...just ahead on "Check, Please!

Bay Area."

I almost want to hear operatic angels singing.

[ Laughter ] ♪♪♪ Sbrocco: Hi.

I'm Leslie Sbrocco.

Welcome to "Check, Please!

Bay Area," the show where Bay Area residents review and talk about their favorite restaurants.

Now, we have three guests, and each one recommends one of their favorite spots, and the other two go check them out to see what they think.

Joining me at the "Check, Please!"

table today are retired schoolteacher Ed Locker, opera singer Danielle Cheiken, and business development coordinator Jean Calixto.

Welcome, everyone.

Cheiken: Thanks so much.

Sbrocco: Jean gets us ready to rise and shine with her pick.

From Bellinis and Benedicts to chorizo hash and churro waffles, her favorite café offers a tempting blend of American and Mexican breakfast staples.

Located in Berkeley, it's Eggy's Neighborhood Kitchen.

♪♪♪ Ramos: Eggy's Neighborhood Kitchen is a Mexican-influenced cuisine, serve all-day brunch.

Birria tacos trabajado.

My name's Edgar.

My childhood nickname was "Eggy."

I learned how to cook just growing up watching my mom.

I grew up with uncles who owned restaurants, and in the summer, I had summer jobs with them.

This is our tres leches French toast.

My brother Javier wanted to do a restaurant and was pushing me, and I'm so happy and glad he did.

Man: Cheers, guys.

Ramos: We fell in love with this place as soon as we saw it.

We fell in love with the beautiful garden we have.

As soon as you walk in, you feel a good vibe.

Man: [ Laughs ] Ramos: At Eggy's, you can get your eggs however you like.

We serve most of our dishes with sunny-side presentation.

It's our way of making our plate look good and taste good, but a lot of people like changing their eggs over easy, over medium, over hard, poached, poached hard, hard-boiled sometimes.

Look at it.

We have a variety of Benedicts.

We make our hollandaise from scratch daily.

We have Crystal Hot Sauce hollandaise.

It's served with our fried chicken Benedict.

And we also have a chipotle hollandaise that is served with our chorizo Benedict.

[ Sizzling ] My favorite dish on the menu is the braised short rib hash.

We braise our short rib in red wine and then we cut the meat.

We cook it to order in its broth that it's cooked in with onions, peppers, potatoes.

And then it's served with two poached eggs with hollandaise sauce.

What I hope the customers feel when they come to Eggy's is to be satisfied more than anything, feel welcome, feel like they're at home.

Sbrocco: Alright, Jean, so, Eggy's.

Are you a breakfast person?

Calixto: I am a breakfast/brunch person.

Sbrocco: Okay.

Calixto: I'm very particular about my breakfast.

I tend to go to just a few places over and over and over again.

And Eggy's is one of those spots for me.

Sbrocco: And why is that?

Calixto: It's hidden off of the street, so you might miss it if you're not paying attention.

But there's a silver archway that you walk through a little alleyway, and you walk out into this oasis of a Japanese garden, and there's trees and plants and a little waterfall.

It's very clean and bright.

It's really lovely.

Sbrocco: I almost want to hear operatic angels singing.

[ Laughter ] [ Vocalizing ] Cheiken: It is.

It's really peaceful.

It's beautiful.

Calixto: It's really peaceful.

Sbrocco: And what do you usually start with?

Calixto: Oh.

So, usually I start with the garlic chicken wings.

I love the garlic -- Sbrocco: For breakfast?

Calixto: Yes, yes.

[ Laughter ] Well, we'll say brunch, but yes.

They are saucy wings with lots of garlic sauce.

They put some little greens on the top, some sesame seeds.

There's a little drizzle of crema on top.

They are delicious.

Just be prepared, 'cause they're messy.

But I eat them every time I go there.

Sbrocco: What about your experience, Ed?

Locker: We just jumped right into the beautiful breakfast choices.

There were so many.

We had the Cal Bene, which is a fun play on the traditional eggs Benedict.

Sbrocco: Mm-hmm.

Locker: It's grilled sourdough, which I've never had grilled sourdough before.

I love sourdough bread.

You know, hello, Bay Area.

But it's served with the bacon, avocado, fresh tomato, and then, of course, your egg with a nice light, lemony hollandaise sauce on top.

Cheiken: I also had the Cal Bene, and I really loved it, as well.

Eggs Benedict is one of my favorite breakfast things to order.

I thought that the grilled sourdough was a really smart choice of bread to sub in for the English muffin, because it still held up to kind of all the sauciness that you get with the hollandaise and the perfectly poached egg, which is... Calixto: Perfect.

Cheiken: ...hugely important.

Locker: We also had the special, which was the fresh Dungeness crab Bene.

Yeah, that was killer.

The crab cake -- super light and fluffy, not heavy -- your egg, and beautiful hollandaise sauce on top.

Sbrocco: Right.

Locker: Just wonderful.

And instead of the potatoes, I had their spring salad with their house vinaigrette.

It was delicious.

Calixto: I usually get the salad on the side.

It's usually like an arugula salad with a little cherry tomato and the vinaigrette.

But my husband always gets the potatoes, and then I just steal them from him.

Sbrocco: Exactly.

Locker: That's what I was doing.

Cheiken: You're sharing.

Calixto: They're so good.

They're really crispy on the outside, but then they're like little clouds on the inside.

Locker: Exactly.

Calixto: They are perfect.

So I also love the Steak & Eggs.

It's a rib eye.

It's grilled.

It is sliced for you.

Two over-easy eggs on the side.

And the steak is cooked to order perfectly every single time.

The eggs are perfect every time, no matter what I get.

Sbrocco: Well, it is called Eggy's.

Calixto: Right.

Locker: Hello.

Calixto: Exactly.

Exactly.

Sbrocco: I'm hoping that their eggs are their specialty.

Right?

Calixto: Exactly.

Sbrocco: There is sort of a Mexican theme, too.

Locker: There were chilaquiles.

The people next to us had them, and they were...

They looked delicious.

Calixto: Yes, I've had the chilaquiles.

The chips are not soggy.

They stay crispy.

Sbrocco: That's the key.

Calixto: Yes.

I get it with the verde sauce.

The sauce is also perfection.

And then the black beans.

They do an excellent job with the chilaquiles.

Sbrocco: Did anybody have churros or -- Calixto: This is where I can't even function.

I love these churro waffles.

Locker: Oh.

Calixto: So this is the dessert for me -- the crispy cinnamon-sugar churro.

It's a fluffy waffle on the inside, and they give you a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Locker: Yum.

Calixto: I mean, I think about these waffles all the time.

[ Laughter ] I'm not kidding.

Sbrocco: You really are a breakfast/brunch person.

Calixto: I love them.

Sbrocco: Did you have anything to drink?

Locker: We just had the house coffee, and it was fabulous.

I hate going to breakfast places and the coffee's just kind of meh.

But, no, great rich coffee.

And they came by all the time and filled that up.

Must have had four cups of that.

I was flying.

[ Laughter ] Cheiken: I had an Arnold Palmer, which was really well balanced in the lemonade and iced tea, and I was very happy with it.

Calixto: Occasionally I'll get a michelada, which I like, because it's a very simple michelada.

They'll give you, you know, your can of beer, and it's just the Clamato juice with a Tajín rim.

They just keep it very simple.

It's not a Bloody Mary.

It's just a nice clean michelada.

I also recommend their water.

So, they have a water station in the corner.

Locker: Yes.

Calixto: And it has ginger and lemon and mint.

And it is the best water.

It goes great with everything, and I'll just -- I get my daily fill of water there, too, because you just keep drinking it.

It's so flavorful.

Sbrocco: That's a nice touch, because people don't often think of that.

What about service?

Cheiken: Oh, I thought service was wonderful.

They were really attentive to answering questions I had when I was ordering.

Service was pretty quick, too, and I want to go back because I feel like I was welcomed there and I would continue to be welcomed there.

Sbrocco: Alright, if you would like to try Eggy's Neighborhood Kitchen, it's located on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley, and the average tab per person without drinks is around $25.

Ed's pick is a family-owned restaurant that bucked the trends by staying true to their Swiss-French heritage for more than four decades.

From escargots de bourgogne to duck a l'orange the menu is brimming with decadent old-world classics.

Whenever Ed wants a romantic night out, he heads to Santa Rosa's Historic Railroad Square, home to La Gare French Restaurant.

♪♪♪ [ Laughter ] Bazeley: La Gare French Restaurant is a great place to make memories.

It looks like an anniversary.

Man: Yep.

Bazeley: How many years?

My name's Jacqueline.

I'm co-owner of La Gare French Restaurant, and this is my brother Roger.

Praplan: So, garlic.

And I'm the chef and co-owner.

And I've been here 44 years.

Bazeley: And I've been here 45.

My parents are Marco and Gladys Praplan, and they founded the restaurant in 1979.

Praplan: My father brought me to work when I was 12 years old.

Bazeley: This is a great picture of myself and Roger.

50 years working together.

Praplan: My parents were from Switzerland, so the food is traditional country French.

We sell a lot of frog legs, sell a lot of sweetbreads, lot of things that most chefs don't know how to cook anymore.

Bazeley: I think people are kind of tired of a small plate.

They actually want a complete meal.

So all the dinners come with soup and salad.

And then, of course, you get the vegetables and rice or potatoes.

We also do tableside Caesar salad.

Woman: Very good.

Bazeley: Our escargot, one of our biggest sellers.

They're, of course, from France.

And we do it in the traditional butter garlic, in the shell, comes out piping hot.

And then we do our flambés.

And it is a show, but it's also delicious.

Woman: Wow.

Man: Two salad, house.

Praplan: And people do not like us to change the menu.

Bazeley: They don't want us to change.

Praplan: I tri-- I changed potatoes one night.

And it was -- Bazeley: No, they're not -- Praplan: Not happy.

Bazeley: 'Cause they can go other places to have other things.

But here they want to have memories.

Woman: It's been a long time Bazeley: Whatever they've had in the past, that's what they want to experience.

Woman: Like, melted in my mouth.

Praplan: This is the sixth generation of loyal customers from Santa Rosa and Sonoma County who have been coming with their families.

So this is the matriarch.

Bazeley: And my mother, 92 years old, rock star.

People love to see her.

And we give complimentary mousse to... Praplan: Birthdays.

Bazeley: ...birthdays, anniversaries, and just because, 'cause it could just be because.

Thanks for sharing with us tonight.

We want them to come back, talk about it, and say, "We had a great meal.

You've got to go there."

Man: It was wonderful tonight.

Bazeley: It's always a pleasure to see you.

Praplan: Legacy.

My father asked me before he passed, "Make sure you keep it going."

So at the end of the night when I go home, I know I've done a good job.

Bazeley: There we go.

Sbrocco: Okay, Ed, it has to be said that for 45 years, this restaurant has been in business with the same family, now second generation.

Locker: Yes.

Sbrocco: It's pretty incredible.

Locker: It is.

It's amazing -- not only the delicious food, but Jackie and her brother Roger, who's the chef, they're very friendly and attentive and consistent.

Sbrocco: Okay, and what do you start with?

Locker: We tend to go for the crab cakes... Sbrocco: Okay.

Locker: With a little beurre blanc sauce and a few rock shrimp on the side.

And they're generous size, so we tend to share those.

And also, if you are really hungry, they have something called the Jackie Salad.

It's like a whole head of butter leaf with a house vinaigrette, hearts of palm, rock shrimp.

And it's not just a couple shrimp.

There's like a whole handful of shrimp on there.

It's a salad.

I mean, do that and an appetizer, and you could have a full dinner.

Sbrocco: Alright, Danielle, what about you?

Cheiken: Oh, we loved it.

So, I went with my parents.

And it's always an experience to go with them because they're both gluten-free.

And so they actually have a very accommodating gluten-free menu.

And so we started with the prawns Provençale done with a gluten-free breading.

And it has this beautiful creamy, tomatoey sauce with really yummy garlic flavor.

Everything has incredible garlic flavor running through it all.

And it was amazing.

We also did the escargot, which was super fun, really delicious.

Calixto: I also had the escargot.

Sbrocco: Mm-hmm.

Calixto: Oh, man.

First of all, it's beautiful.

And it comes out piping hot.

That garlic herb butter sauce, I dipped that crusty bread in there.

It was delicious.

To be honest, that was my first time trying escargot.

Sbrocco: Really?

Locker: Awesome.

Good job.

Calixto: And, yeah, I'll go back just for that.

Locker: Good.

Calixto: It was delicious.

Cheiken: Yeah.

Sbrocco: Alright, Ed, entrées.

Let's talk about entrée.

Locker: I love to get the sweetbreads, which is, you know, you don't see that on the menu very often anymore.

They're super tender, always cooked perfectly with a nice Madeira cream sauce.

And all the entrées, of course, come with your soup and salad.

So there's so much food.

Calixto: So, this is funny.

So I told our lovely waitress, I said, "I really want the French onion soup."

And she goes, "Well, it comes with soup and salad, your entrée does, so you can have the potato leek soup."

I thought, "Oh, man, I love potato leek soup.

But I also love French onion."

She goes, "Well, you can do both."

Locker: Awesome.

Calixto: And I was like, "Done."

Cheiken: [ Laughs ] Sbrocco: Yeah.

Calixto: So I did both, and they were both amazing.

The French onion soup -- lots of cheese, the broth, and the caramelized onions -- it was perfect.

The special was boeuf bourguignon -- absolutely delicious.

The beef was so tender, and the vegetables were so good.

And those mashed potatoes were to die for.

I don't know what they do to those mashed potatoes.

It was a really well done dish.

Cheiken: We shared a New York steak with Béarnaise sauce, and that was really delicious.

The steak was cooked perfectly, really lovely sear on the outside.

And then we also did the frog legs.

And those were lightly breaded with rice flour with beautiful sauce, garlic and butter on it.

It was just really lovely.

Sbrocco: Again, like sweetbreads, one of those things you don't often see very much anymore.

Cheiken: Yeah.

Sbrocco: And did you have anything to drink?

Because they have an extensive wine list that Jackie herself puts together.

Locker: Yes.

Sbrocco: Always nice selections of local wines but also some international.

Locker: Lots of Sonoma County wines.

So it's lovely to see all those wines on there.

But Mondays is a secret thing.

It's free corkage night.

Cheiken: Free corkage.

That's right.

Locker: So we did take a couple bottles.

Sbrocco: And you see a lot of people bringing in their bottles.

Locker: A lot, yeah.

Sbrocco: Alright, now, not that you had enough food already, let's talk desserts.

Calixto: I mean, this dessert menu is ridiculous.

They had meringue shells with ice cream, and so I was set on having that.

But one of our servers said, you know, "If you're going to have dessert," he's like, "the meringue is good, but on special is a key lime pie tonight, and I highly recommend it."

Locker: That is one of their specials.

Calixto: And I thought, I'm not really a pie person.

But he was like, "I'm telling you, this pie is a hit."

So I said, "Alright, I'm gonna trust you."

So I got the pie.

Oh, I was blown away by this pie.

It had a graham-cracker crust.

The pie was silky and smooth.

It had toasted coconut over the top.

I mean, I cleaned that plate.

Locker: Did your husband get a bite?

Calixto: No, he actually got the wild blackberry Cabernet sorbet.

And it came with two huge scoops in this beautiful glass bowl.

Cheiken: We also had that, which was incredible.

And then we also did the meringue, which is worth going back for.

It's really delicious.

It has two scoops of vanilla ice cream in it, as well as the meringue shells on the side and then the whipped cream on top.

It's actually hard to tell which part is the meringue and which part is the ice cream, but I kind of feel like that was the fun of it, in a way, that you weren't sure what texture you were going to get.

And then my favorite of the desserts was the Chocolate Decadence, which was a delicious flourless chocolate cake.

Oh, my gosh.

Locker: I think the menu says, "Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate."

And that's -- that's all it needs to say.

I also had that.

It is super dense and delicious.

And for a special occasion, maybe try the flambés -- fabulous, great presentation tableside, and they do change up which type of flambé it is.

Beautiful.

Just poof of fire, and you're like, "Wow.

What is that?"

Sbrocco: Okay, what about price?

Cheiken: I thought the price was fair for everything that you received.

Calixto: I agree.

I thought the value was amazing, especially for that level of service.

Locker: Right.

Cheiken: Mm-hmm.

Calixto: Really valuable.

I treasured it.

Thank you so much.

I really enjoyed it.

Locker: Yay, I'm so glad.

I was hoping.

Sbrocco: Last for 45 years for a reason.

Locker: Exactly.

Sbrocco: Alright.

If you would like to try La Gare French Restaurant, it's located on Wilson Street in Santa Rosa, and the average tab per person without drinks is around $75.

As an opera singer, Danielle appreciates a restaurant that offers a little flair for the dramatic.

At her favorite Laotian restaurant, bright purple lanterns, colorful cocktails, and fresh orchid blossoms topping every dish set the stage for a magical meal.

Located in the center of San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood, it's Lao Table.

Man: That's good.

Vongjarit: Coming to Lao Table, all the senses need to be open.

When you eat, your belly feel happy, but your brain and your eyes need to be eating, too.

Souksamlane: And the topping.

Vongjarit: After 21 years of success in Osha Thai restaurant, very famous Thai restaurant in San Francisco, we opened Lao Table.

Chef Lalita decided to bring her own cuisine from her hometown.

We actually came from northeast of Thailand.

Nong Khai is just across the river from Lao.

Souksamlane: Lao food more or less sour, a little bit.

Some dish very spicy, some dish not, yeah.

Vongjarit: Lao cooking is more fresh forward.

Fresh vegetable, the sauce, and mortar with dry chili.

Souksamlane: So one day I make like a papaya salad but with watermelon.

I saw the customer keep eating, eating, eating.

"Oh, I really like it."

Everyone come to me like, "Oh, Lalita, you make this dish really weird but -- but taste really good."

Vongjarit: All this green here, we use it as a taco shell.

So in Lao, they mostly eat everything off the platter with hands.

Souksamlane: And decorate.

Vongjarit: Chef Lalita focus on presentation, which incorporate with all the fresh flower, banana leaf.

So at Lao Table, what make it so much fun is when we host a big group.

Our servers are super energized and very friendly.

Most of the time, we recommend to share all the dishes, but sometimes they're ordered individually, but at the end, they still have to share.

Souksamlane: The customer tell me, "I come two times, three times, like, a week to try your food, like, all the menu."

People now learn, learn my food.

I'm so happy to bring my hometown food to here.

Sbrocco: So, Danielle, this place is certainly about atmosphere, as well as food.

Cheiken: It absolutely is.

Yeah, it's really beautiful.

You just wouldn't expect this place in the middle of all these office buildings.

But you walk in, there's like a separate bar section, there's vibrant up lighting.

It's just a really fun, lively place to be.

Sbrocco: So what do you usually start with?

Cheiken: This last time that we went, we started with the appetizer platter, which they have for happy hour.

So we got a little taste of a bunch of things.

The oysters were really big oysters.

The calamari was lightly breaded but still enough that it coated the squid, and the sauce on the side adds a nice tanginess to it.

The garlic wings -- so much really yummy fried garlic on top of it, and really big wings, as well.

So you got a lot of meat in each bite.

And I think probably the star for me is the Lao sausage... Calixto: I agree.

Cheiken: ...which is -- You got the same thing?

Calixto: I got the same thing.

Cheiken: Yeah.

It's a pork sausage.

It's just really flavorful.

There's also really yummy chopped peanuts on the side.

And so I liked drizzling that on top to get a little bit of crunch.

Calixto: Also has the raw ginger and the raw garlic, too.

Cheiken: Yeah.

Calixto: It makes such a good bite, along with some little fresh herbs.

That was my favorite part of the platter.

Cheiken: You can really customize every bite, which is really fun.

Calixto: Exactly.

And I also had the moo nam pla, which is a crispy pork belly.

It's coated and tossed in a fish-caramel sauce... Locker: Ooh.

Cheiken: Yeah.

Calixto: ...which caramelized the outside of the pork belly, and then it comes with some fresh herbs on the side and a little chili lime dipping sauce.

It was delicious.

Locker: We had the grilled calamari, which was amazing, and it had this most lovely grilled flavor.

It must have been marinated or something.

And it comes with a chili lime dipping sauce.

It was tender.

We nibbled on that throughout the whole meal.

It was just so good.

And we also had the pad mee Lao, which was fabulous.

It's a nice bowl of rice noodles served atop beansprouts with these fresh prawns on top.

It comes out kind of built to share, but you don't have to share, and it has an omelette.

And it's like, "What is this?"

And it was just so good, and we kept eating, and it seemed like the bowl never emptied, and we took some home, and it's like it's still there.

Delicious, just wonderful.

Calixto: A lot of food.

Locker: A lot of food.

Cheiken: So my favorite dish is the Panang lamb curry.

I just think it's so delicious.

Locker: It is.

[ Chuckles ] Cheiken: Thick coconut-milk curry, and the lamb just literally falls apart.

It comes with a side of rice.

I like to sometimes sub out sticky rice.

And it also comes with this really yummy, like, cucumber slaw on the side.

Locker: Yes.

Cheiken: And that adds a little bit of brightness to the dish as well.

Calixto: I had the larm, which is, yeah, the jungle coconut curry.

So it's a turmeric curry.

Cheiken: Yeah.

Calixto: And it came with palm fruit and lemongrass-braised beef Angus, which was delicious.

I had never had palm fruit, so that was a first for me, and it added a sweet tone to the dish.

It was so good.

Cheiken: I also have to call out this incredible dish called the Me Ka Ti.

Locker: Uh-huh.

Cheiken: It is a cold rice noodle.

Surrounding the plate is bits of scrambled eggs, some cabbage, some carrots, and then they bring out a peanut coconut chicken stew, and they pour it on top of the noodles tableside.

Calixto: Ah!

Cheiken: And so they mix it all together for you at the table.

And it's just this really incredible mix of flavors.

Locker: Everything's a presentation there.

Cheiken: Yeah.

Locker: Watching the other tables, you know, there's always a flower to go with your entrée or palm fronds or banana leaves.

And my cocktail had, like, this whole basket woven around it that kind of served as a coaster, too.

And it's like, how do they do this?

[ Laughs ] Calixto: I was impressed because when we first sat down, they had a little menu of zero-proof cocktails, and I got one of them.

It was called the Sassy Berry.

Locker: [ Chuckles ] Calixto: And it was so cool.

It came in this cute, little glass bowl, and it was full of fresh berries -- blackberries and raspberries.

And it had a zero-proof gin.

Cheiken: Oh!

Calixto: But it also had the Queen Glow Beautiful Collagen, which they added to the cocktail, so, you know... Locker: Yeah.

[ Laughs ] Cheiken: Feeling fresh afterwards.

Calixto: Yeah.

Locker: And looking good.

Sbrocco: Plump things up.

Yeah.

Cheiken: If you really want a tropical beverage, you have to order the Pineapple Millionaire, and you feel very fancy drinking it because it comes in a giant copper pineapple vessel with the lid that removes and all.

Locker: Ooh.

Cheiken: Great flavors of pineapple.

It just makes you feel like you're having a drink on the beach.

[ Laughs ] It's really fun.

They have a Thai iced tea type of dessert as well that comes in a giant glass.

Locker: Wow.

Cheiken: I mean, it's just -- it's beautiful and fantastic and a really fun and playful way to end your meal.

Calixto: We have to talk about the one dessert, though.

Locker: Oh.

Calixto: It's an anchovy -- Cheiken: The anchovy sundae?

Locker: Oh, my God.

Cheiken: Anchovy sundae.

Sbrocco: I know.

You read it and you go, "What?"

Calixto: I had to.

I love anchovies.

So I thought, you know what?

I'm full.

But let's go for it.

It comes out.

It's five scoops -- five scoops of coconut ice cream, which is sitting on top of sticky rice, which is sitting on top of a brioche bun.

And then it's drizzled with caramel sauce and sprinkled with these little crispy fried anchovies.

Locker: Oh, my goodness.

Calixto: So, being brave, and I took a bite and I thought, oh, my gosh.

This is really good.

It kind of adds the salty element.

Sbrocco: Did you feel like it was a good value?

Calixto: I did feel like it was a good value.

We took a bunch of food home.

The presentations were beautiful, the service was great, and it's just such a lovely environment.

I really enjoyed it.

Locker: It's like I want to take people there and chow down.

[ Laughter ] Sbrocco: If you would like to try Lao Table, It's located on 2nd Street in San Francisco's SoMa district, and the average tab per person without drinks is around $25.

Looking for more Bay Area bites you've just gotta try?

Check out "Cecilia Tries It" online at kqed.org/checkplease.

I have to thank my fantastic guests on this week's show -- Ed Locker, who says, "Oui, Oui" to the classic French fare at La Gare in Santa Rosa, Danielle Cheiken, who's got a passion for the Panang lamb curry at Lao Table in San Francisco, and Jean Calixto, who chows down on the churro waffles at Eggy's Neighborhood Kitchen in Berkeley.

Join us next time when three more guests will recommend their favorite spots right here on "Check, Please!

Bay Area."

I'm Leslie Sbrocco, and I'll see you then.

Cheers!

And cheers to you.

Whoo-hoo!

Cheiken: Cheers.

Sbrocco: Whoo!

You guys were great!

Great job!

Bazeley: The name of the restaurant is La Gare, and in French it means "The Station."

We are a block away from the historic railroad square.

Praplan: Save money on your travel trips and instead of going to Switzerland, you can come right here.

Bazeley: Oh, my God.

Don't put that in there.

Are you kidding?

Who had the escargot tonight?

Okay, so you have your certificate of the first time.

And they were wonderful?

Woman: Yeah.

Bazeley: Congratulations.

Woman #2: Hi, sweetheart.

♪♪♪