in San Bruno.

Khan: One hit, all the meat comes off.

Sbrocco: Wood-fired pizzas in Kensington.

Carter: Fold it in half, eat it like a New Yorker.

Sbrocco: And meatless Mexican bites in Berkeley.

Peña-Govea: It's really spicy.

It really hits the spot.

Sbrocco: Just ahead on "Check, Please!

Bay Area."

Phillips: This is gonna get messy.

Calloway: Cheers.

Phillips: [ Laughs ] ♪♪ 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, medical dosimetrist Raheel Khan, VP of operations Jesse Carter, and librarian and musician René Peña-Govea.

Welcome, everyone.

Carter: Thank you.

Khan: Thank you for having us.

Sbrocco: Raheel's pick is a family-owned Mediterranean eatery that tempts your taste buds long before you walk in the door.

He says the mouthwatering aroma of wood fired kebabs and spit-roasted shawarma is irresistible even when you're just driving by.

Located in downtown San Bruno, it's Mazra.

♪♪ Jordan: It was nice to meet you.

[ Speaks native language ] Saif: Mazra is a place where you come and take it easy with your friends and family, enjoy good food and leave smelling like some good mesquite.

"Mediterranean" is such a broad term, right?

So if we were to focus, I'd say we're more Levant.

The Levant is compromised from Turkey to Jordan to Lebanon, Palestine.

Jordan: So we try to cater to both the street style and the traditional ways of cooking our food.

Saif: Our hummus is definitely, I'd say, more Lebanese.

Our kebabs are definitely very Jordanian.

Being simple with your ingredients, not overpowering them with so many spices and herbs, I think is so important to get the true flavor of what you're eating.

Let's get some radishes in there.

The real hidden ingredient in that is the actual smokiness of the mesquite grill.

Jordan: The way we go about in doing it is serving the food the way we would traditionally eat it.

Saif: We have 12 different sides at our restaurant.

Sometimes we get customers that are like, "Yeah, my two sides are potatoes and French fries."

We understand that some people are not familiar with baba ghanoush or tabbouleh.

Jordan: Yeah.

Saif: And that's where my brother is like, "All right, I'm going to throw in one of our dips for you, just on the house."

♪♪ Jordan: San Bruno, it was the place we were born and raised, and we just want to let the community know that, hey, this is supposed to be for us.

And y'all feeling good over here as well?

Woman: Yes.

Jordan: So I think one of the most rewarding aspects of it is just not only do we have a diverse crew, a diverse menu, but we also got a diverse set of customers that we see every day and what makes me so proud to say that I work here at Mazra.

♪♪ Sbrocco: Now, Raheel, how did you discover this spot?

Khan: Well, it was actually on my way to the airport.

It's pretty close to the airport.

I had the windows down.

Yeah, I can smell something.

It smells really, really good.

So I followed my nose and made a right on San Bruno Avenue.

Sbrocco: Your nose always knows.

Khan: So it makes a great meal for right before a flight or right after you're getting home.

Carter: I noticed the same thing pulling in, that you're kind of like a cartoon, your nose is just, like, floating, you know, drawing you into the restaurant.

Sbrocco: I can see Raheel driving, the windows down.

Carter: Exactly.

Yeah, just shifting through lanes.

Khan: There's a really big wooden sign.

It says, "Good food takes time."

So "habibi," I think, in Arabic, it just means like, you know, something you say to a loved one.

But, yeah, the food is really good.

I had the lamb kebabs and the chicken kebabs.

They're roasted over an open fire and it comes with either a side of rice, hummus, and fries.

They have a grilled shrimp kabob, too.

They use big tiger prawns.

Peña-Govea: Yeah, I got the oyster mushroom wrap, which came along with really crispy pickles, tahini sauce as well.

And as a vegetarian, it was almost too meaty for me.

The oyster mushrooms really had that same rich flavor.

My father tried them and he was like, "I can't believe you're eating oysters."

And I said, "No, it's oyster mushrooms."

So a really good thing to try, I think, for someone who enjoys meat but wants to try some plant-based options as well.

Carter: We started with the mezze plate, with falafel, which was super crispy, very green inside, which means it's going to be herbaceous, it's going to really kind of have a kick to it.

And that was really great with the hummus.

You dip that in the hummus.

It was really amazing.

I had baba ghanoush, which was really smoky, not too garlicky.

Tabbouleh is one of my favorites because you can kind of spread it on everything, and it was really fresh.

Like you could tell everything was just made that day or honestly, like right when you got there and ordered food.

Peña-Govea: For me, the standout dish was really the whole roasted cauliflower with tahini sauce, and it was just perfectly crispy on the outside with a sweet interior that wasn't overcooked.

And then the tahini sauce was just a really nice way to cut a little bit with like acid and bitterness that umami of the roasted cauliflower, which is really nice and salty and oily, really just was perfect.

And I almost ate the whole thing.

Sbrocco: And what else did you have, Jesse?

Carter: We had the grilled artichoke, which was like a whole artichoke split in half.

Same tahini sauce with it.

And we were with a bunch of friends.

Everyone's pulling off pieces of it and, you know, making a mess.

Sbrocco: Who got the heart?

That's the question.

Carter: I dead focus on that the entire time and just try to keep people busy with conversation while I'm cutting that part off and taking it.

Yeah, absolutely.

Khan: Yeah, I get the lamb shank as well.

And they slow-cooked that thing for at least four hours.

Peña-Govea: Six hours it says on the menu.

Khan: Six hours?

Oh, wow.

Carter: Oh, really?

Wow.

Khan: Yeah.

And it just falls off the bone.

Just one hit and all the meat comes off, and it's so juicy.

And you eat it with rice, and it's like a yogurt tahini sauce.

It's just really good.

Peña-Govea: Yeah, my father and my husband and my sister, they said it was the best lamb they've ever had.

Carter: Oh, wow.

Peña-Govea: I don't eat meat, but they loved it.

Carter: And that rice that it comes with is so amazing because it comes with other stuff, too.

And it's just so, like, spicy and great and just a good addition to that.

Sbrocco: So the meat here is all halal meat.

Khan: Yes, all the meat here they use is 100% halal.

And as a Muslim, I try to eat halal only, so it's a great place for me to go.

I also had the garlic rotisserie chicken.

That also came with rice and other sides, and it was really nice and moist, just a little bit crispy on the outside, but inside it was nice.

Not too dry like a bunch of rotisserie chickens usually are.

Sbrocco: So what did everybody have to sip alongside their dishes?

Carter: They don't serve alcohol, but we had a mint lemonade that was really fresh and amazing, and they had fresh-squeezed juices.

There was a cantaloupe one that was super sweet but not overly sweet.

It was really great.

Peña-Govea: Yeah, I think they were all great.

The raspberry one was a little tart, but I liked that.

I liked that they let the tartness shine through.

Khan: And they do have complimentary tea.

It is self-serve.

It's great to drink after a meal.

Sbrocco: Any desserts?

Yes?

Peña-Govea: Yeah.

Khan: Desserts, yeah.

They have, you know, pieces of baklava.

And I think everyone loves baklava.

Carter: It doesn't hurt that they have Nutella baklava, they have walnut, pistachio.

I mean, oh, man.

We got the trio.

I mean, that might be, like, my favorite new dessert.

Like, you should put hazelnut and chocolate inside baklava.

Sbrocco: And what did you think in terms of the pricing?

Carter: It was super affordable and fair, considering how much food you get.

I mean, when you order just two or three things, you're sitting in front of just a ton of food.

So, you know, I felt like it was really affordable and worth every penny.

Peña-Govea: I think the value was great.

The only thing that made it difficult was, you know, my kids were hungry and the line was really long.

Sbrocco: Any tricks?

Any advice on that one?

Khan: You just got to get lucky.

Peña-Govea: Yeah.

Other than that, it was great.

And once we ordered, the food came out pretty quickly, so.

Sbrocco: Okay, if you would like to try Mazra, It's located on San Bruno Avenue West in San Bruno, and the average tab per person without drinks is around $20.

Man: I love you too.

I love you.

Sbrocco: Jesse is a serious home pizza maker who obsesses over creating the perfect crust.

So when it comes to trying "restaurant" pizzas, needless to say, he sets the bar very high.

Happily, he's found a spot that never lets him down.

Located in the East Bay community of Kensington, its Benchmark Pizzeria.

♪♪ Peter: So the name Benchmark Pizzeria -- When I was a kid, my dad would take me backpacking a lot.

He was a geologist, so he'd always point out the survey markers, which are called benchmarks.

You know, they're round, pizza's round.

Melissa: And benchmark also means the standard -- that our pizza is the standard of neo-Neapolitan.

Peter: There's a certain set of rules around Napolitano-style pizza, and we break a lot of those rules.

Hey, Luke, how are those to-gos going?

I wanted to be able to play with ingredients more.

I wanted to be able to bake pizza at a slightly lower temperature so it cooks a little bit longer, so it's a little bit less fluffy and doughy as like a true Napolitano pizza.

Crafting our perfect pizza is extremely hard.

Even now we still tweak the pizza dough recipe depending on the flour or the weather or the heat.

Melissa: Our starter that Peter did from scratch, that's been alive since we opened in 2012.

I mean, we have had to really figure out where it likes to live at what times of the year and when it likes to be fed and... Peter: It's like taking care of a baby.

Melissa: We should name it.

Peter: We should.

You're right.

♪♪ Melissa: Having a restaurant in this little neighborhood of Kensington is really special.

It's very quiet, family oriented.

Yeah.

You bring it over there.

Our boys have basically grown up in this restaurant.

Peter: And that's also a lot of the neighborhood kids have grown up eating here.

So they were little when they started eating pizza here.

And now they're big and they're eating and they're.

Melissa: And they're coming here for their summer jobs.

It's like the best feeling ever.

Peter: Yeah, it's pretty cool.

It's special.

Sbrocco: All right, Jesse, as an accomplished home chef and pizza maker... Carter: I appreciate you saying accomplished.

[ Laughter ] Sbrocco: So what is it about Benchmark that you say, okay, this is great pizza?

Carter: They have naturally fermented dough, so it's this tangy, awesome light dough.

It's a wood-fired oven.

It's right there when you walk in, one of the first things you see.

And they just take that really seriously, but in a really fun environment.

Sbrocco: Okay.

And what's your go-to pie?

Carter: Go-to pie is the fried sage.

There's absolutely zero wrong with that pie.

It is perfect, in my opinion.

It is browned butter, which you can't go wrong with brown butter as your base.

I'm a huge marinara fan, but brown butter, I mean, come on.

Fresh mozzarella on there.

And then these just perfect amount of fried sage bits.

Sbrocco: That's a powerful flavor.

Carter: Yeah, it's just this great char with that chew.

Pillowy around the pizza itself, but a thin crust, fold it in half, eat it like a New Yorker.

It's pretty close to perfect.

Peña-Govea: Yeah.

And I actually thought the standout dish was the pistachio pizza, which had pistachios and lemon.

I believe it was preserved lemons.

So with the textures of the pistachios and then the preserved lemons, which had salt and sour, the red onions, which had sweet, I just felt like all of their flavors melded so well.

Khan: We had the Benchmark pizza.

Fresh tomato sauce, dollops of it with mozzarella and basil on top.

The crust was absolutely delicious.

You could just eat the crust by itself, to be honest.

Carter: We also had the spring onion and potato one, which was really great.

Sbrocco: Potatoes on a pizza.

You might have some disagreement from people.

Peña-Govea: Not for me.

Carter: I will challenge people on potatoes on pizza.

Like, if it's a thin-sliced, like, creamy piece of potato with green onions and cheese, I mean, how can you go wrong with that?

Peña-Govea: But I think there's a lot more on this menu besides pizza.

So we had excellent starters.

We had the spicy carrots with some preserved lemons in there.

Carter: And raisins.

It's so good.

Peña-Govea: And raisins.

It was spicy.

It was sweet.

It was a little sour.

That was great.

And then we also had the farro and arugula salad.

Just a great kind of greasy, rich, salty farro.

And then the arugula's bitterness just cut through that.

And it was just a perfect combination.

Carter: They also make fresh pasta there, and it changes seasonally.

It changes with whatever they want to make that week or month.

And so I also had the pesto fresh pasta, which was really great.

Homemade pesto, really herby, nice garlic and pine nuts, and just a little bit of Parmesan on top.

Also, they have seasonal cocktails.

I think when we went they had a strawberry margarita, which was like fresh strawberries muddled in there.

It was really nice.

Peña-Govea: Yeah.

I had an Aperol spritz, and it was a beautiful -- I don't know if we've talked about the location, but it's overlooking the bay.

We went there on a Sunday night right before sunset, so it was just a beautiful view.

And the Aperol spritz had this nice rosy color, and it was just so refreshing and perfect with the setting as well.

Carter: And it's just a fun place to go to.

We spend a lot of time just kind of exploring the East Bay, and Kensington's a great little gem of a neighborhood in the East Bay.

Sbrocco: Had you ever been there, Raheel?

Khan: I'd never been there, but I'm sure glad I did.

Just that whole place has a real vibe, and you could call it a benchmark of the community.

[ Laughter ] Sbrocco: Ba-dum-bum!

Carter: I love it.

Sbrocco: How did you feel about price?

Peña-Govea: I thought it was good value.

Like, I feel like I appreciate any time that someone is pairing flavors that I would never think to pair in my own kitchen, and so I'm not averse to paying a little bit more for that, but it didn't feel like it was too much.

Sbrocco: Right.

Did you have any desserts?

Anybody?

Peña-Govea: We did.

Carter: Absolutely.

The salted chocolate chip cookie is seriously like one of the best things ever.

It looks beautiful because it's black salt and stuff.

It's super, like, chewy.

It's just a great cookie.

But also you can get all sorts of ice creams and stuff.

We always get soft serve with a little bit of olive oil and salt drizzle on it -- which sounds weird, olive oil on ice cream, but it's one of the best things ever.

Khan: I never saw olive oil and ice cream together, but I'm sure glad I tried it.

It was really delicious.

And yeah, that cookie is... Carter: Unreal.

Yeah.

Khan: Unreal.

Peña-Govea: The Benchmark sundae was what we got and I was like, "We'll just share it because it'll probably be big."

But me and my daughter both, we just ate that whole thing.

And what I appreciate is that it wasn't too sweet, overly sweet.

So there was the ice cream, there was chocolate syrup, and then the whipped cream, which wasn't sweetened.

Carter: It's what feels great about Benchmark is they feel like a restaurant that just knows exactly how to make something perfectly and have it taste really great without overloading it with too much butter or too much salt or too much sugar.

It just comes out the way it should taste and it's always really, really consistent and great.

Sbrocco: Agreed?

Peña-Govea: Yes.

Khan: Agreed.

Sbrocco: All right, If you would like to try Benchmark Pizzeria, it's located on Oak View Avenue in Kensington, and the average tab per person without drinks is around $30.

Melissa: Perfect!

Awesome.

Sbrocco: As a vegetarian, René is always on the hunt for healthy plant-based food that doesn't skimp on flavor.

Her latest find offers an all-vegan twist on traditional Mexican favorites.

Located in South Berkeley, it's Flacos.

Man: Yeah, you're open?

Magana: We are open.

Come on in.

♪♪ Flacos is a Berkeley-based vegan Mexican restaurant that serves vegan food with no sacrifice to flavor.

My uncle, the founder of Flacos, actually started at the farmers market in 2001.

And back then there was no places that were 100% vegan.

So in 2010, we took over this location in Berkeley.

How's it going?

Man: How are you?

Magana: Definitely the vibe we wanted to create was fun.

[ Laughter ] Inviting, energetic.

Refried beans -- world famous.

Everything is homemade family recipes and as traditional as we can keep it.

We like to keep everything as fresh as possible.

We cook everything and prep as we go hourly.

And that is the perfect salsa.

We truly put everything into.

Our fan favorites -- definitely the taquitos.

It's a guilty pleasure.

They're deep fried.

You can't go wrong with that.

And they're all hand-rolled.

We do probably 1,000 to 1,500 a week.

We've already gone through 150 taquitos in an hour.

I love it.

Woman: How are you guys liking it?

Woman #2: Loving it!

Magana: I love the people.

I love the environment.

All set.

Enjoy your horchata.

I love the community that we've built, that I inherited.

Woman: Go with Daddy!

Magana: When I took over for my uncle, it was to keep our legacy going.

It's why we do what we do and why we're still going, it's to keep that strong.

Woman: Mwah!

Sbrocco: All right, René.

An all-vegan Mexican restaurant is not all that common, is it?

Peña-Govea: Yeah, you're right.

And you know, in Mexico, there's such a variety of food and a lot of it is plant-based.

But I think once it migrated over the border -- or the border crossed us, as we like to say -- a lot of more cheese and cream and meat got incorporated in the diet.

And so often a lot of the menus at Mexican restaurants feature too few vegetarian options.

Sbrocco: And do you have dishes that are your favorites?

Peña-Govea: Yeah, so my standout is the taquitos with the avocado salsa.

I think sometimes people think vegans and vegetarians maybe can't handle a lot of flavor or spice.

But let me tell you, that avocado salsa, if you get the spicy version, it really hits the spot.

And with the taquitos, which is deep-fried flauta -- basically a corn tortilla wrapped around soy protein -- and you dip it in that avocado salsa, it's phenomenal.

Sbrocco: And as a vegetarian, what did you think of this spot?

Carter: I loved it.

My wife and I love Mexican restaurants, but you're always sort of limited with just rice and beans, and do they -- you know, is that vegetarian?

And so to go to a place that you can have literally anything on the menu is really amazing.

The taquitos are great.

They have those, like, really burnt edges at the ends and stuff.

It's just really great.

And the salsa is absolutely on point.

Sbrocco: Did you try that one?

Khan: I started with the taquitos and like these guys said, just very well done, extra crispy, very flavorful.

I had the spicy avocado salsa and, yeah, that was a lot more spicier than I thought.

Sbrocco: Was steam coming out of your ears or something.

Khan: I had the horchata to cool me down, so I think that was well needed.

Peña-Govea: So they had the agua frescas when I went, was jamaica, hibiscus flower.

The jamaica can sometimes get really sweet, and this one was not too sweet.

And the horchatas can sometimes get gritty because it's made out of rice and cinnamon.

And this one was just perfectly creamy, smooth.

I got the huarache, which is a flat, kind of oblong disk of masa stuffed with beans.

And on top there was the soy protein.

And again, handmade corn masa tortillas.

And most of the dishes also come with a really nice abundance of green salad mix and purple cabbage, and so it adds that crunch to it.

Carter: We had the huarache as well, and it's just like the base tortilla kind of sops up everything.

But black beans and brown rice was really amazing.

But you're right, it was just piled with cilantro and red cabbage and lettuce and was just really great.

Khan: Yeah, I had the tacos especial, and they had the corn tortillas.

And yeah, they're little small street tacos like you would traditionally find, but obviously they exchange it with the soy protein.

And it comes with the cilantro and the tomato and onion.

And that's also I like the avocado spicy sauce and just sprinkle a little bit on top of that, and it had a nice kick to it.

Carter: We did the banana leaf tamal, which was just a tiny bit banana bready.

You get a little bit of that plantain kind of banana flavor to it, which sounds odd, but it was so good with the salsa, with everything mixed on it, all the greens that comes with it, It was just really tasty.

Peña-Govea: Yeah, the tamal was great.

It was a mole tamal, but the mole was really flavorful.

And personally I never order tamales at restaurants because nothing can compare to my family's.

But the masa, which is the corn dough inside the tamal, was really moist and just gave very easily, which I think is a highlight in a tamal rather than just kind of a brick.

Carter: We also had the poblano tamal, which was really great, like good amount of pepper throughout, nice, like you said, the really nice masa where it's nice and fluffy and everything.

Goes perfectly with that avocado salsa on top, salad on the side.

You just kind of mix it all together.

It was really wonderful.

Khan: I would like to say, as a Muslim, you know, a lot of restaurants for me, even though I am a meat eater because of the dietary restrictions, I'm forced to stick with seafood or vegetarian.

So it's a nice refreshing surprise for me to find Flacos, and everything on the menu is accessible for me.

And I made sure to try a little bit of everything here, especially with those prices.

You know, I think you can't go wrong.

Sbrocco: So, very affordable?

Khan: Very affordable.

Yeah.

It's a no-frills place, but the food is all thrill.

Sbrocco: Ah!

Carter: it felt really welcoming and was really fun.

I mean, you walk in and everyone seems so happy to serve you and it just felt like a place that was really proud to be plant-based as well, which I really appreciate.

Sbrocco: Great.

So you'll be back?

Khan: I'll be back to try some more.

Sbrocco: [ Laughs ] And you're gonna walk there.

Carter: Yeah, I can walk there.

Yeah, it's easy.

Sbrocco: All right, if you'd like to try Flacos, it's located on Adeline Street in Berkeley.

And the average tab per person without drinks is around $20.

Magana: Oh, yeah.

Sbrocco: And now reporter Cecilia Phillips brings us more Bay Area bites you've just got to try.

She's off to San Francisco to meet some highly creative "plantrepreneurs."

Woman: Good morning.

Welcome to Hella Plants Market.

♪♪ Phillips: I couldn't help but notice your themed hair wear.

Woman: Some cute strawberries.

Phillips: Where did the name come from for your market?

Masters: In my apartment, I have plants.

And so whenever someone would walk in my house, they'd be like, "Dang, you got hella plants."

♪♪ Phillips: There are hella plants here.

Masters: Yeah, so... Yeah.

Hella Plants Market.

Phillips: As a person who actually is not able to take care of plants, what do you hope that people like me can come and do when they come to the market?

Masters: I try to encourage people to ask questions because everybody here who is selling plants are very knowledgeable, and they want you to be successful when you take the plant home.

Phillips: So I kind of focus a lot on food.

Are any of these edible?

Tangen: Well, we actually have some veggies right in front of you.

Phillips: Oh, cool.

Tangen: Go for the chard because the chard is more of a salad.

And you can just break them off.

Phillips: Really?

Tangen: Yeah, just like that.

And then that's how you harvest.

Phillips: Mmm.

All right, cool.

Salad on the go.

Tangen: Exactly.

Masters: At the Hella Plants Market, I wanted it to be all plant centered, so I wanted the food that was here to be plant-based as well.

♪♪ Calloway: The Vegan Hood Chefs started between myself and my business partner, Ronnishia, and we both come from communities that are considered food deserts.

Johnson: That's the Korean beef.

Man: Thank you.

Calloway: We promote healthy eating and encourage folks to eat more plant-based because you can still eat healthy without sacrificing your culture.

So right here we have the Korean beef taco.

Phillips: But no beef, I'm assuming, since it's vegan.

Calloway: No beef.

Phillips: So what's it made with?

Calloway: So it's made with a lion's mane mushroom.

And it's one of my favorite mushrooms because it has a lot of healing properties.

Cheers.

Phillips: [ Laughs ] Chef Reina.

Reina means queen, right?

Well, I heard you're the queen of something very specific.

Montenegro: Vegan Filipino food.

Yeah, this is definitely one of the most popular ones that we have.

It's a mock pork dish.

It's basically our version of the char siu that's like the Chinese barbecue pork.

Phillips: What's on the side?

Montenegro: This is a cucumber salad, very common in Filipino cuisine.

And then rice, of course, 'cause you're not Filipino if you didn't get rice.

Phillips: Nice and steamy.

All right.

Montenegro: Cheers.

Phillips: I'm computing, trying to figure out, how am I not eating meat?

Montenegro: Yes.

That's it.

That's the reaction we want.

Antwanisha: This is Tony the Bakers Man.

Husband-and-wife duo.

This is Tony the Baker.

Tony: Hello.

Antwanisha: We specialize in cookies.

We have vegan cookies here today.

Peanut butter, chocolate chunk, strawberries and cream, snickerdoodle.

Phillips: Tell me a little bit about your vegan chocolate chip cookie.

Tony: It's gluten free and it's also vegan.

It has the vegan chips.

Phillips: All right, here we go.

It's so soft!

Barron: Raydiant Vybes.

You know, we are good-mood food.

So what we aim to do is put people in a good mood so whoever they bump into next experiences it as well.

Phillips: Your food is gluten-free.

It's made with coconut.

Barron: We use whipped coconut, so we whip the coconut, and then we also use coconut sugar.

Phillips: Okay, I'm going in.

It's so good!

The guy who sold this to us told me that you actually had a fear of vegan food.

Woman: He's right.

That's exactly what I told him.

I'm like, "Uh, yeah, no."

And he's like, "Try it."

So I did.

And I was like, "Okay.

You turned me out."

Phillips: Me too.

Me too.

Woman: Delicious.

Sbrocco: I want to thank my great guests on this week's show -- Raheel Khan, who craves the lamb kebabs at Mazra in San Bruno; Jesse Carter, who savors the fried sage pizzas at Benchmark Pizzeria in Kensington; and René Peña-Govea, who enjoys fresh mole tamales at Berkeley's Flacos.

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 all.

Khan: Cheers.

Peña-Govea: Whoo-hoo.

Sbrocco: Did you have fun?

[ Laughs ] Once we got everything going.

♪♪ Phillips: It looks like you do "butta."

Is that like butter?

Woman: Yes.

It's all-natural 100% whipped shea butter.

Man: Okay, so we do sea-moss infused cold-pressed juice.

I brought the Sweet Berry Bliss.

which is watermelon, strawberry, mint and lime, and then a Ginger Gut Punch, which is apple, cucumber, ginger, and lime.

Phillips: Okay, what do I want to do?

Do I want to have my gut punched or do I want to enjoy some berry bliss?

Cheers.

Man: Cheers.

Phillips: It's so good.

It's so creamy.