Love Is in the Air For Miss Ollie's, Delfina, b. patisserie

The kitchen at Miss Ollie's. [Photo: Matt G./Yelp]

The rigors of Burger Week meant we had to bump Week in Reviews to Monday, so we've got a double dose of Bauer for you this week. For his big Sunday review, he was off to Miss Ollie's in Oakland, where Sarah Kirnon's "honoring an African-inspired cuisine that's often overlooked" with prices that are "a true bargain." Unsurprisingly, Bauer loves the much-ballyhooed fried chicken, with its "impeccable coating," and the "perfect combinations" of her salads, "excellent" goat curry, and "always friendly" service get high marks. "Everything looked, and tasted, so good...on every return visit there was genuine warmth and a caring attitude that permeated the place and matched the homey aspects of Kirnon's food." Final verdict: 2.5 stars. [Chron]

Meanwhile, for his Thursday check-in, Bauer headed to perennial favorite Delfina, and the romance is still alive: Craig Stoll and Brian Gremillion's food is still among the best Italian-inspired fare in the city," he writes, citing the "pleasant surprise" of the Livornese fish stew, a plate of bucatini he "couldn't resist," and "top of its game" service. Jessica Sullivan's desserts also got a shoutout, particularly a panna cotta that Bauer dubs "my standard" and a fried almond cartellate. "From start to finish, Delfina hit every note and illustrated that, with proper care, some classics feel so contemporary that they never go out of style." The restaurant holds on to its three stars, and gets three and a half for food. [Chron]

Jonathan Kauffman joins Bauer on the '90s time-travel bonanza, heading to evergreen Asian-fusion bistro The House for "dishes we enjoyed in the Clinton years" like tempura green beans with a "sparkly" dipping sauce and "sweet-tart" scallops with beurre blanc. Chef-owners Larry and Angela Tse's "solid culinary technique hasn't wavered, allowing us to focus on the playful, brash flavors and bright colors that characterized the decade's best food," and the big portions don't hurt either, scoring the restaurant a "notable" rating at one out of three stars. [Tasting Table]

The lovefest continues with Anna Roth over at b. patisserie, where, like Kauffman and Unterman before her, she's dazzled by Belinda Leong's "deft hand with dough." The signature kouign amann is "artful...one of the best things you'll eat this year," while the "glorious" croissants, the "study in subtlety and satisfaction" of the chocolate-vanilla choux, and the "joyful experience" of the chocolate-toffee mousse have her in reveries. "I never had a bad or even mediocre dessert...At $6.50 a pastry and $11 a sandwich, none of it comes especially cheap, but it beats a plane ticket to Paris any day." [SF Weekly]

Cynthia Salaysay is the second in the Examiner's new rotating critic quartet to hit the deck, and her first review takes her to Kingdom of Dumplings in the Sunset, where the "faintly chewy" xiao long bao with a "mild" broth are winners: "One forgets one's dining companions, the affairs of kingdoms and nations, and pretty much everything else." Other good dishes include the "translucent and tender" spicy beef tendon and the "hot and marshmallow soft" pan-fried pork dumplings, and the "brisk and straightforward, if harried" service was surprisingly free of a language barrier. [Examiner]

Finally, Luke Tsai made the trek to Preeti Mistry's Juhu Beach Club, and like Kauffman, he was quite taken with what he found there. From "soul-warming" vegetarian dal to the "starch-on-starch masterpiece" of the vada pav to samosas that are "among the best I've eaten," the food impresses him, and while it may be more American-accessible than Indian-spicy, "Juhu Beach Club joins a handful of places that are standard bearers for the Oakland food renaissance — hip, casual restaurants serving food that's steeped in tradition but feels thoroughly modern." [EBX]