Geoff Miller
2008-12-08 03:40:56 UTC
I happened to notice this place, on Scotts Valley Drive
near Granite Creek Road, when I was shopping at the Scotts
Valley Market (nee Zanotto's) a couple of months ago. I
finally got around to trying it today at lunch.
The restaurant is in a neighborhood shopping center, between
a pizza parlor (closed on Sundays -- WTF?) and a frozen yogurt
place. It's very pleasant, new and pleasantly if not tradit-
ionally decorated.
You order at the counter off a menu board like at Armadillo
Willy's, and they bring your food out to you. A central aisle
leads straight from the front door to the counter at the back,
with dining areas on either side. The kitchen is behind the
counter, with a coffee shop-style high window through which the
cooks (apparently real, if wizened, Cambodians) pass the food
to the servers.
There's a patio off to the side, in the gap between two of the
shopping center's buildings, that looks inviting. A small,
four-stool bar offering beer and wine is in the rear corner.
Four or five micro...er, "craft" brews are on tap. I noted
Gordon Biersch Marzen, among others.
Things got off to a bad start when I walked up to the counter
and was studiously ignored by the 30-something (clearly non-
Cambodian) woman standing at the counter. I stood there for
a good twenty seconds while she was focused on the cash register
or something in her hands right behind it. Finally, I broke
the impasse with a pointed but not unfriendly "Uhh...hel-LOOO?"
I ordered the chicken shish kebab bento box. I thought that
was kind of interesting in concept: I don't often encounter
Levantine dishes served in Japanese lacquered wooden boxes
in Southeast Asian restaurants. There's a single-skewer
version for $7.95 and a two-skewer offering for $9.95. I
opted for the latter. Beef and shrimp are also available.
The lady behind the counter took my order sullenly, never
making eye contact and not bothering to say "Thank you"
when she handed me my change. Bad show. Plus, she screwed
up my drink order and had to be corrected. Jesus, lady, at
least *pretend* you're glad I'm there spending money and
helping to pay your wages.
My food arrived within 5-10 minutes. But it was on a plate,
rather than in a bento box. Not that I particularly cared
about that, but why advertise it in that form if they're not
going to follow through and actually *serve* it that way?
The chicken was essentially satay -- flat srips of broiled
chicken on bamboo skewers, not shish kebab in the sense of
three-dimensional chunks of meat alternating with onions,
tomatoes, bell pepper, etc. It would've made more sense to
call it just "kebab," since there was nothing on the skewers
but meat.
The chicken was accompanied by a scoop of white rice (brown
is optional) and some chopped cabbage salad with tiny peanut
pieces and a tangy, sweet dressing.
The salad was the only part of the meal that made much of
an impression on me. The weird thing was that their was no
discernible marinade or seasoning whatsoever on the chicken;
it was totally bland. Gah.
Nor was there any peanut sauce on the side for dipping, which
would've been appropriate with what was essentially satay.
There were some bottles of Tuong Ot Sriracha and a few other
Oriental condiments on the end of the counter, but none of
them would really have fit the bill.
At a nickel shy of ten bucks, that meal isn't even within
hailing distance of a decent value. I'd consider paying
about $6.50 for such a dish. Which, it turns out, is just
about what Charlie Hong Kong, a short drive away in Santa
Cruz, charges for comparable selections, so I know that
price point is cost effective for that sort of food in
those quantities.
Between the help's attitude problem and the lackluster,
minimum-effort food, I can't recommend this place. And
when I got home, I wrote a letter to the owner and told
him as much.
Which is a pity, since it *is* a nice little place, and a
decent Cambodian restaurant along the lines of, say, Chez
Sovan in Campbell would've been a welcome addition to this
sterile, whitebread little bedroom community (Milpitas In
the Redwoods) that doesn't have nearly enough interesting
restaurants.
Jia Tella's Cambodian Cuisine
5600 Scotts Valley Drive #D
Scotts Valley, CA 95006
(831) 438-5005
http://www.jiatellas.com
Geoff
--
"Everybody wants to save the earth; nobody wants to
help Mom do the dishes." -- P.J. O'Rourke
near Granite Creek Road, when I was shopping at the Scotts
Valley Market (nee Zanotto's) a couple of months ago. I
finally got around to trying it today at lunch.
The restaurant is in a neighborhood shopping center, between
a pizza parlor (closed on Sundays -- WTF?) and a frozen yogurt
place. It's very pleasant, new and pleasantly if not tradit-
ionally decorated.
You order at the counter off a menu board like at Armadillo
Willy's, and they bring your food out to you. A central aisle
leads straight from the front door to the counter at the back,
with dining areas on either side. The kitchen is behind the
counter, with a coffee shop-style high window through which the
cooks (apparently real, if wizened, Cambodians) pass the food
to the servers.
There's a patio off to the side, in the gap between two of the
shopping center's buildings, that looks inviting. A small,
four-stool bar offering beer and wine is in the rear corner.
Four or five micro...er, "craft" brews are on tap. I noted
Gordon Biersch Marzen, among others.
Things got off to a bad start when I walked up to the counter
and was studiously ignored by the 30-something (clearly non-
Cambodian) woman standing at the counter. I stood there for
a good twenty seconds while she was focused on the cash register
or something in her hands right behind it. Finally, I broke
the impasse with a pointed but not unfriendly "Uhh...hel-LOOO?"
I ordered the chicken shish kebab bento box. I thought that
was kind of interesting in concept: I don't often encounter
Levantine dishes served in Japanese lacquered wooden boxes
in Southeast Asian restaurants. There's a single-skewer
version for $7.95 and a two-skewer offering for $9.95. I
opted for the latter. Beef and shrimp are also available.
The lady behind the counter took my order sullenly, never
making eye contact and not bothering to say "Thank you"
when she handed me my change. Bad show. Plus, she screwed
up my drink order and had to be corrected. Jesus, lady, at
least *pretend* you're glad I'm there spending money and
helping to pay your wages.
My food arrived within 5-10 minutes. But it was on a plate,
rather than in a bento box. Not that I particularly cared
about that, but why advertise it in that form if they're not
going to follow through and actually *serve* it that way?
The chicken was essentially satay -- flat srips of broiled
chicken on bamboo skewers, not shish kebab in the sense of
three-dimensional chunks of meat alternating with onions,
tomatoes, bell pepper, etc. It would've made more sense to
call it just "kebab," since there was nothing on the skewers
but meat.
The chicken was accompanied by a scoop of white rice (brown
is optional) and some chopped cabbage salad with tiny peanut
pieces and a tangy, sweet dressing.
The salad was the only part of the meal that made much of
an impression on me. The weird thing was that their was no
discernible marinade or seasoning whatsoever on the chicken;
it was totally bland. Gah.
Nor was there any peanut sauce on the side for dipping, which
would've been appropriate with what was essentially satay.
There were some bottles of Tuong Ot Sriracha and a few other
Oriental condiments on the end of the counter, but none of
them would really have fit the bill.
At a nickel shy of ten bucks, that meal isn't even within
hailing distance of a decent value. I'd consider paying
about $6.50 for such a dish. Which, it turns out, is just
about what Charlie Hong Kong, a short drive away in Santa
Cruz, charges for comparable selections, so I know that
price point is cost effective for that sort of food in
those quantities.
Between the help's attitude problem and the lackluster,
minimum-effort food, I can't recommend this place. And
when I got home, I wrote a letter to the owner and told
him as much.
Which is a pity, since it *is* a nice little place, and a
decent Cambodian restaurant along the lines of, say, Chez
Sovan in Campbell would've been a welcome addition to this
sterile, whitebread little bedroom community (Milpitas In
the Redwoods) that doesn't have nearly enough interesting
restaurants.
Jia Tella's Cambodian Cuisine
5600 Scotts Valley Drive #D
Scotts Valley, CA 95006
(831) 438-5005
http://www.jiatellas.com
Geoff
--
"Everybody wants to save the earth; nobody wants to
help Mom do the dishes." -- P.J. O'Rourke