Yogurtsoda I like food.

The Bay Area is blessed with some of the best Mexican food in the nation, and I’m always looking for the best taqueria in each city. In San Mateo, I couldn’t help but notice the long lines in Pancho Villa Taqueria every time I walked past it downtown. Unable to resist the aroma of grilled meats and spicy salsas wafting outside, I caved one day and went in for dinner.

At Pancho Villa, all the ingredients are laid out behind the counter in full view for patrons to see. The ingredients are fresh and service is super brisk. You order your meal, pay at the counter, grab your drink and make a stop at the huge salsa bar before grabbing a seat.

I ordered carne asada tacos with a side of yellow rice and went to fill up on my tamarind agua fresca while I waited for my order to be filled.

The rice was great, the salsas were out of this world, and the agua fresca was, well, fresca. But the steak was dry, to my disappointment. It’s not that it was bad, it’s just that the meat was pretty overdone. If the word-of-mouth buzz about Pancho Villa Taqueria is any indicator, though, that’s not the norm. Perhaps they had an off batch of carne asada when I visited. In either case, it’s nothing a little salsa couldn’t fix. (Did I mention Pancho Villa has incredible salsa? Oh, I did already? Sorry about that.)

It can be hard to grab a seat during the lunch and dinner rushes, but tables are turned very quickly so it’s worth the wait. As one of San Mateo’s most popular taquerias, it makes a great place for a casual bite to eat.

The Cheeseboard Pizza Collective is one of those places I kept hearing about from random folks until I finally couldn’t take it anymore and went to find out what the fuss is all about. “It’s the best pizza in the East Bay!” “The crust is divine!” “How have you not visited yet?”

With all that in mind, I wasn’t too surprised when I arrived at Cheeseboard in Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto to find a line winding down the street and past the pizzeria’s sister cheese shop. Cheeseboard serves only one kind of pizza per day, so it kind of makes the decision-making process easy. By the time I reached the front of the line, I already knew exactly what I wanted.

The pizza of the day was ricotta salata pizza with lemon vinaigrette, and true to what I’d been told, the crust was divine. Thin and crispy, it was a good match for the sauce and toppings, which were used sparingly. It was almost like a salad atop really good flatbread. I usually prefer traditional, red sauce pizzas, but this was a welcome departure from what I’m used to.

The Cheeseboard Pizza Collective gets incredibly busy and you’re lucky if you can manage to find a seat inside the restaurant. Not to worry if you can’t, though. There is plenty of lawn space on the street meridian outside filled with Berkeley hipsters and college students enjoying their lunch.

After you eat, make sure to visit Cheeseboard’s expansive cheese shop next door which has, needless to say, a huge selection of hard-to-find cheeses, and good bread as well. Top-notch pizza, bread and cheese? Now I see why the line is always so long.

Spring is just around the corner and I’m beginning to crave, lighter, healthier foods. But produce in the markets is still looking dismal, so I’m resorting to canned goods for now. The key to making this ridiculously easy dish really stand out is using top quality canned tuna in olive oil and the freshest celery you can find.

Ingredients:

1 15-ounce can cannellini beans
1 6-ounce can tuna, packed in olive oil
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/3 cup diced red onion
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Drain the cannellini beans. Rinse and drain well again. Drain the tuna. In a serving bowl, combine the beans and tuna. Add the celery, oregano and onion.

2. In a bowl, mix the balsamic vinegar with the salt and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil. Pour over the beans and tuna and mix gently. Adjust seasonings with more salt if needed.

I’ve tried a handful of meatball recipes over the years and to this day, these chicken meatballs flecked with savory morsels of sun-dried tomatoes remain my favorite. Adapted from a Food and Wine recipe, they’re incredibly versatile and are right at home on top of a bowl of pasta, in sandwiches, and on their own too. I prefer to serve these atop spaghetti, with a light dusting of grated Parmesan cheese on top.

Ingredients:

5 oil-packed sun-dried tomato halves, drained
2 garlic cloves
1 jalapeno, halved, seeded and chopped
salt and pepper
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1 pound ground chicken
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 cup all-purpose flour, for dusting
One 14 1/2-ounce can peeled whole tomatoes with their juices
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1. In a food processor, pulse the sun-dried tomatoes, 1 garlic clove, half of the jalapeno, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper until finely chopped. Add the bread crumbs and pulse to combine. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the chicken, egg and milk. Roll the mixture into 20 meatballs, about 1 1/2 tablespoons each. Dust the meatballs lightly with flour.

2. Wipe out the food processor and add the remaining garlic clove and jalapeno half; pulse until chopped. Add the tomatoes and their juices and the oregano and sugar and process until smooth.

3. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil until hot. Add the meatballs and cook over moderate heat, turning, until golden but completely cooked through, about 7 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Add the tomato sauce to the skillet and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Return the meatballs to the skillet and simmer, until just cooked through, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer to a bowl, sprinkle with the parsley and serve.

Himawari means “sunflower” in Japanese, and that’s exactly what this ramen restaurant in downtown San Mateo reminds me of. Bright, cheerful and upbeat, it’s the perfect spot to grab a bowl of brothy noodles on a chilly day.

Himawari is a casual restaurant and is especially ideal for lunch. Make sure you’re not too hungry when you arrive, though, as this restaurant gets busy and the wait can be long. Standing around for a table didn’t bother me much; the staff is so friendly and the eclectic jazz playing over the speakers is so good that it’s hard to get peeved.

I ordered the kanitama ramen, which is a snow crab omelet served over soy ramen.

The broth at Himawari is good enough on its own, but each table has a canister of fried garlic and chili flakes for sprinkling if you’re craving extra flavor. I couldn’t resist, of course. The noodles were better than most other ramen restaurants too, including those at more popular competitors. I was disappointed in my snow crab omelet though; the crab was minimal and I could hardly taste it. That being said, the omelet was fluffy and was great for sopping up broth.

The ramen is great, but it’s the ambiance at Himawari that really makes it worth coming back to. I can’t think of a better place in the Peninsula more suitable for a fun, quick, cold weather meal.