Rabelo: This is so healthy.

Sbrocco: Brazilian bites in Larkspur... Mahomed-Silva: You will never want to have another açaí bowl again.

Sbrocco: ...contemporary Mediterranean cuisine in San Francisco... Aguilar: Just a perfect bite with the texture.

Sbrocco: ...and traditional Mexican fare in Napa... Duarte: It just goes down way too easy.

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

Bay Area."

Everybody say that.

Aguilar and Mahomed-Silva: Olive pao de queijo.

Duarte: You guys are good.

You're ready.

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.

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 culture transformation consultant Luciana Duarte, law enforcement detective Roland Aguilar, and partner program manager Mavish Mahomed-Silva.

Welcome, everyone.

How are you doing?

Duarte: Great.

Aguilar: So happy to be here.

Mavish gets us started with her go-to breakfast spot.

It's a tiny, little cafe that packs a big punch when it comes to Brazilian flavors, including her hands-down favorite, a made-to-order açaí bowl she says is the best in the Bay.

Tucked away in downtown Larkspur, it's World Green Açaí Bowl and Juice.

♪♪ Saldanha: [ Speaking Portuguese ] Rabelo: We try to show for all to Americans to try the real açaí bowls.

Here in United States, we use just the pulp.

It's frozen.

We put a little sugar.

They come with granola, banana, strawberry at the top.

This is so healthy, superfood.

We're so happy when people try.

Man: So good.

Rabelo: "Wow!

I never tried that.

This is so different.

This is so good flavor."

Our menu, it's a little big.

We have cheese-bread sandwiches.

Sandwich are normally the French bread.

Saldanha: Hot doggie.

Rabelo: We have a hot dog, yeah.

Saldanha: Is big sandwich... Rabelo: Normally, we make the hot dog from Brazil.

You can put mashed potato, the hot dog.

Saldanha: I love it.

Every time for me, eating hot dogs, my wife is stopping only one.

Okay.

No problem.

Rabelo: Yeah, all the time.

You can share with your friends.

Saldanha: [ Speaks Portuguese ] Rabelo: We try to create a space for the people to feel happy, to feel comfortable.

[ Laughter ] When people come in the store, "Wow!

This is so different place.

Has a lot of life."

The color, the plants.

We have a lot of American, Brazilian, the spot that people get together here to hang out here, the good spot.

We're so excited to show all the people our Brazilian foods.

Man: Saúde.

Saldanha: Saúde.

Sbrocco: All right, Mavish, I love that you say this is your "best in the Bay açaí bowl."

Do you travel the Bay looking for açaí bowls?

Mahomed-Silva: Well, honestly, I have had a decent number of açaí bowls at other places.

This one knocks it out of the park.

You will never want to have another açaí bowl again.

Sbrocco: All right.

Now, why is that?

Mahomed-Silva: You know, there's something about the flavor of their açaí -- it tastes pure, and you won't know what I mean until you try it, even side by side with another one.

There's a little bit of sweetness to it, but it doesn't taste like there's other stuff in it.

It just -- it's pure açaí, and it has toppings of fruit, their homemade granola, beautifully presented.

It's just -- it's magic in a bowl.

Sbrocco: And the owners are Brazilian, and you're Brazilian.

Duarte: How lucky that we got to go to this restaurant.

And I didn't know it, so it was -- thank you, Mavish.

Mahomed-Silva: It worked out.

Sbrocco: It worked out.

And you went and spoke Portuguese to the owners, right?

Duarte: To the owner, who was just so friendly.

And they actually have terminals for you to order.

We were trying to figure out, like, what all the options are.

It's an extensive menu.

And so he immediately just, you know, came over and helped make suggestions since it was the first time that we were there.

Sbrocco: All right.

And what did you get?

Duarte: So we started with the olive pao de queijo, which was excellent.

Sbrocco: Everybody say that.

Aguilar and Mahomed-Silva: Olive pao de queijo.

Duarte: You guys are good.

You're ready.

You're ready to go to Brazil.

Then we had two different kinds of empanadas, which are technically more of an Argentinean specialty.

But, you know, we love all kinds of things that are Latin American.

And so we had one that was filled with chicken, and the other one was mushroom.

And they had an umami flavor to them, especially the mushroom one.

They just felt both decadent and light at the same time.

Sbrocco: Right.

And, Roland, what about you?

Aguilar: Similar to Luciana, I had a great experience going there.

It was our first time, so we went in the morning.

We also had the beef empanada, which was really good.

The ratio from veggies, bell peppers, the caramelized onions, to the meat was perfect and a perfect flaky crust.

Sbrocco: What is it that you get besides the açaí bowl?

Mahomed-Silva: My favorite item is their combo breakfast.

It's almost like a little buffet on a board.

So it starts off with some scrambled eggs, and then you get to have either a cheese-bread waffle or a other type of French roll, always choosing the cheese-bread waffle 10 out of 10 times.

And so it's just like this crispy, chewy, beautifully warm and hot waffle.

And then it's served with maple syrup or a Brazilian cream cheese.

So it's really smooth and silky, a little bit tangy.

And, honestly, with that cheese-bread waffle, like, that's a marriage made in heaven in terms of food.

It truly is.

Sbrocco: Right.

Aguilar: So part of the combo breakfast there was a guava juice, freshly squeezed.

I wish I could take, like, an extra-extra-large cup home, but it was delicious.

It was perfect for the morning.

Duarte: We did get the açaí juice, and we also got a papaya juice, and they were both excellent.

They were just juice.

However, they tasted like a smoothie, you know, because they're so -- they're so thick.

And so it has kind of that mouthfeel of a smoothie, which goes down really easy.

Sbrocco: Anything else that you can recommend for people to try?

Mahomed-Silva: Yeah, I would absolutely recommend their tapioca.

It's kind of like a crepe, but minus the flour crepe part.

They use tapioca instead.

So you get that same kind of chewy texture as the cheese bread, and it's flat.

It gets crispy, and then all of the fillings can be sweet or savory.

I always get their breakfast tapioca, so it has scrambled eggs, some tomatoes in there, and it's just like a very hearty meal served with some fruit or salad on the side.

Duarte: We didn't get the breakfast items.

However, we did have room for a hot dog and... Aguilar: Oh!

That's awesome.

Love it.

Love it.

Duarte: Well, so the Brazilians have elaborated on the hot dog, and this was actually a hot dog with potatoes two ways.

So it was a base of mashed potato spread on the very flaky and crispy French bread that had been warmed, and then sprinkled over the top of that, we had matchstick potatoes, and they were delicious.

Sbrocco: Would you try that?

Would you go back?

Aguilar: Absolutely.

For sure.

Hot dog, potatoes, mashed potatoes, French fries basically -- yeah, I'm in.

Sbrocco: You're in.

Aguilar: Yeah.

Sbrocco: And did you have anything else?

Duarte: We did.

We actually got these delicious little desserts that I had not tried as a Brazilian, I'm embarrassed to say, but they were so worth it.

They come in a little box, and they are a peanut-butter two-bite dessert.

It's just the perfect amount of savory and sweet.

Mahomed-Silva: Actually, with those, you can take them and kind of crumble them on top of your açaí or your juice, and it just adds, like, another flavor-texture element.

So good.

Sbrocco: And pricing?

I mean, it seems like you get a lot of food for the price.

Aguilar: Yeah, very bang-for-your-buck type of restaurant.

And something else I noticed was that we were in the patio, which is great ambiance.

You start hearing the owner talking with other Brazilians, and he's speaking with them.

I was like, oh, that's a stamp of approval that local Brazilians are coming to the restaurant.

Duarte: Yes.

Aguilar: And, thankfully, it's so close to where I live, so it's just over the Golden Gate Bridge, and we'll be there in 15 minutes, so it's... Sbrocco: Nice.

We're only missing Ipanema Beach.

All right, if you would like to try World Green Açaí, it's located on Magnolia Avenue in Larkspur, and the average tab per person is around $25.

Boasting hilly streets, waterfront views, and plenty of fresh seafood, the cities of San Francisco and Istanbul have a lot in common.

The menu at Roland's favorite restaurant is a love letter to both cities, as Mediterranean mezes infused with locally foraged California herbs and aromatics forge the perfect blend of east-meets-west.

Located in San Francisco's historic Presidio Main Post, it's Dalida.

♪♪ Laura: When people walk into Dalida... We have some... ...we just want them to feel that they're welcome.

You guys doing the tasting?

Coming from Mexico and Turkey... Sayat: Bon appétit, guys.

Laura: All right.

...we're trying to build something unique with the food and the culture and the hospitality.

This is the baklava.

Sayat: We call our cuisine Eastern Mediterranean.

So it's really centered around this idea of a cosmopolitan Istanbul that celebrated all the cultures, Greek and Ladino and Armenian, along with Turkish.

Laura: People can relate to that in San Francisco because we are a melting pot of cultures.

Having a restaurant inside the Presidio is just magical.

We are in the community garden where we pick all our beautiful herbs for Dalida.

Sayat: There's rose geranium, lemon verbena, pineapple sage growing wild here.

Laura: Well, now you put one on your shirt.

One of my favorite things that I pick from the garden -- the nasturtium flowers.

We fill them almost like a dolma, we tempura fry, and then we also serve it with a yogurt made with the leaves.

Sayat: It's been really, really cool to be able to capture the essence of the Presidio, the aromas of the Presidio, in the dishes.

The chubby pitas are Laura's recipe, and they're named after me -- chubby pitas.

Laura: After my chubby husband.

Sayat: So it's my legacy.

[ Chuckles ] That's right.

Laura: Oh, my God.

The pita is delicious.

I think just by having that freshness that comes from the oven to the table in about a minute, a minute and a half, it makes a huge difference.

Sayat: One of the things that makes me very happy is, you know, bringing people together.

It is something that we've always been really passionate about, and really seeing it manifest itself in the dining room is one of the most rewarding feelings.

And people actually get frustrated a little bit.

They're like, "Oh, my God.

There's so many good things on the menu, and I cannot experience everything in one visit."

Then come back.

Sbrocco: Now, Roland, is it Dalida that you love, or is it the location that you really love?

Aguilar: It's definitely two-for-one because the location is beautiful on a sunny, even foggy day in San Francisco, which I love.

This is a great restaurant.

It's Middle Eastern Mediterranean cuisine, and usually when I go to a new restaurant, I ask, "What do you recommend?"

And the first thing that they said was the breaking bread.

And it comes out immediately -- the fresh, perfectly warm pita.

It's decked with three dips.

You have classic hummus, then you have your smoked yogurt, and then my favorite, which is the roasted red pepper.

And it comes with some almonds on top, which, when you put that with the pita, it's just a perfect bite with the texture.

Sbrocco: Luciana, you're saying... Duarte: Oh, my gosh.

Roland, you're taking me back.

Mahomed-Silva: I'm getting hungry now.

Aguilar: It was so good.

Duarte: Yeah.

So we did the same thing.

So it's exactly as you described.

It's warm, it's pillowy, it's soft.

And it's just the perfect vehicle for all of those dips and spreads.

Sbrocco: Okay, after bread, where did you go next?

Aguilar: So from there, we went to the arayes burger.

And if you didn't have enough pita, there's more pita on the arayes burger.

So it's basically a kebab-stuffed pita with great spices.

It's also grilled with some chives.

Once you take a bite, it's so tender, it's juicy, and you see the juices just ooze to the bottom of the pita.

And you can just have that last tasteful bite.

Sbrocco: Now, were you pita-ed out at that point?

Duarte: Absolutely not, and I wish I had ordered the burger now that you've described it, Roland.

But I'll go back for that.

We actually had a different dish that also had a different kind of pita.

It was a much thinner pita.

It was the Çöp Sis, which are skewers with short rib and sweetbreads, which are generally not something that a lot of people love, but I do.

But the bread was served over the skewers, which was an interesting way to serve it, and it kept the skewers warm until we were ready to eat them.

And that was really delicious.

Mahomed-Silva: Yeah, well, I was excited to find out that the lamb is halal at this restaurant.

And so because I only eat halal meat, I was like, "I'm ordering the lamb."

So I actually went with one of their pasta-esque dishes.

It was a lamb manti.

And these manti were really tiny and so cute.

I've never had a pasta like that.

It was served in a red sauce with some sort of yogurt in the middle that balanced out the acidity, and it was a delicious bowl of food.

It was very hearty and warm.

Aguilar: We also ordered the 12-hour lamb shoulder tandoor.

It comes with some braised chickpeas.

And also you got to have some greens on the dish, so it comes with mustard greens as well.

Once you take a bite of it, it's just very rich, melts in your mouth, 12 hours to cook that.

They have so much precision and just mastered their creativity with the art that they're presenting, which is the food.

Duarte: We had the kibbe, which is also something that we enjoy a lot in Brazil.

And so I like the flavors of kibbe, and I was not disappointed.

This was a really good one.

Its meat that has been ground and mixed with grains, with bulgur wheat, and then shaped into a little fun shape.

And it comes with a dip, which is sort of a yogurty, yummy, sweet-and-savory dip.

Mahomed-Silva: I also had the shoestring fries, and whenever I see fries on a menu, I have to have the French fries.

They were thinly sliced, perfectly crisp, and they were seasoned, which, I really love a seasoned fry.

And then it came with a dipping aioli which had a little bit of spice to it.

They were delicious.

It was a nice way to complement the rest of the meal and just, you know, have some French fries on the side.

Sbrocco: And what about dessert?

Aguilar: So... Mahomed-Silva: Yes.

Aguilar: ...oh, man, the choices were endless.

And you can kind of see the flavors from the Mediterranean and from Central America, Latin America on the dessert menu because you have your tres leches and your rice pudding, but you have to go with the traditional baklava.

But the nice thing about this -- it's deconstructed.

You have your pistachio cream, you have pistachios on top of the puff pastry for the baklava, and also adds raspberry cream sauce at the bottom, and it's just drizzled all over the plate.

And unfortunately, I had to share with my girlfriend, so that entire bite was just mesmerizing and hit my sweet tooth very well.

Duarte: We had a different dessert, which was the gata tart, and it's an almond-based cross between a cake and a tart, and it comes with a side of honey ice cream, and it was just a perfect way to end the meal.

Sbrocco: Okay.

Sweet tooth?

Mahomed-Silva: Of course.

And I did not share, unlike you, Roland.

So I ordered the chocolate muhallebi, and it was a chocolate pudding.

It had a Turkish coffee whipped cream with some hazelnuts on top.

Delicious.

It wasn't overly sweet, which I appreciate for a dessert.

But the real star of the show was a drink.

It was a wild pistachio coffee, but it's not coffee.

Sayat: So this is the wild pistachio berries.

Mahomed-Silva: So they take pistachios, and they treat them like they would a coffee bean.

They roast them, they grind them, and they turn it into almost like a warm nut milk.

It was fantastic.

I've never had something like that before.

And just for that alone, I would go back.

Duarte: Yeah.

Sbrocco: Speaking of drinks, I mean, Dalida has a commitment to an extensive cocktail program and really one of the best wine lists I've seen.

Did you have anything to drink with your meal?

Duarte: Absolutely, yes.

So we had the pleasure of sitting at the bar because it was impossible to get a reservation.

And so we showed up right at opening time, and they greeted us very warmly.

And I said, "Well, we don't have a reservation."

They said, "That's okay.

You can sit at the bar."

And that was a stroke of luck because the bartender was fantastic.

He gave us great recommendations.

And then we also had a few glasses of wine by the glass, and some of them were obscure that we wouldn't have tried necessarily.

Aguilar: So I had the Efendi, which is "The Gentleman."

It had tequila, tamarind, lime.

And then it comes in a very beautiful goblet that keeps the drink very cold.

And on top is the pebbled ice.

So you can drink like three or four of those and not even notice because it's so well -- Sbrocco: As long as your girlfriend's driving.

Aguilar: Exactly.

Oh, we're walking, we're walking.

We're good.

Yes.

Yeah.

Sbrocco: What about service?

Aguilar: So we were lucky enough when the dessert came, Chef Laura... Laura: How's everything so far?

Aguilar: ...presented the dessert for us.

I was like, I was like, "That's Chef Laura," in my mind.

And then I told everyone.

Sbrocco: She was also on "Top Chef."

Aguilar: Exactly, which, it's great show.

Sbrocco: It's better to be on "Check, Please!"

Aguilar: For sure.

100%, 100%.

So it was great seeing Chef Laura, seeing the team just work together.

And it was just a beautiful experience.

Mahomed-Silva: Absolutely.

It felt like a well-oiled machine.

There were no snags and no snafus.

Everything was just like an orchestra conducted beautifully.

Sbrocco: All right, if you would like to try Dalida, it's located in the Presidio in San Francisco.

The average dinner tab per person without drinks is around $85.

Luciana's a big fan of under-the-radar, family-owned-and-operated places.

Her favorite Mexican eatery is no exception.

Serving the traditional dishes of Jalisco for more than 50 years, in Napa, it's Villa Corona.

♪♪ Carlos: Villa Corona is a piece of Napa.

Daniel: It's comfort food, it's comfort feeling, it's comfort vibe.

Villa Corona is my parents and my siblings.

My sister Gabriela -- she runs the kitchen.

Man: Good to see you, man.

Fernando: Good to see you.

Carlos: My younger brother Fernando runs operation of the restaurant here.

Fernando: Butter and garlic.

Carlos: They call us the Burrito Brothers.

So my parents started in 1972.

We grew up going to all the vineyards selling burritos.

My dad would make the burritos at the restaurant, and then we'd go out to the vineyards and he'd sell them out of a van.

The only reason we went to school was because my mom made us.

My father would have had us working, I swear.

Seriously.

Fernando: This is a butter-and-garlic shrimp with the rice and beans.

Daniel: Our parents wanted to bring some part of Jalisco in our food.

These are all their recipes.

It was just basic what you call antojitos, enchiladas, flautas, sopitos.

Carlos: Our shrimp dishes, fish tacos.

Our burritos are massive.

Fernando: Making my tummy happy.

That's what matters.

Carlos: Like five people can eat off one burrito.

The distinct burrito for us is the wet burrito.

The sauce is -- it's smothered in our homemade gravy.

Daniel: My parents did not just make a green sauce.

They made a chile verde sauce with a lot of ingredients that gave it a lot of taste.

Carlos: And the red sauce is made from the broth of the chicken that we cook.

Everything's fresh.

Daniel: Everything's made daily.

Carlos: Good ingredients, and we don't have a walk-in, so we don't have stuff sitting around.

Daniel: Food doesn't sit around because it doesn't last long.

Carlos: It's fresh.

Daniel: Yeah.

Carlos: We're still old-school.

This is old-school Napa.

Daniel: The nice thing about our restaurant is the range of people, from the farm worker coming in, and you would see one of the Mondavis here.

I mean, we love the community.

We have people that have been eating here for 40-plus years.

Fernando: [ Speaking Spanish ] Daniel: And it's nostalgic for a lot of people in Napa.

Together: Buen provecho.

Sbrocco: Luciana, what's unique about this spot is it's been going for 50 years.

That is something.

Duarte: It really is, Leslie.

And, you know, it really is unpretentious Mexican comfort food is the best way I can describe it.

My husband and I really enjoy their generous, extensive menu, but we also have honed in on a couple of dishes that are our tried-and-true ones.

And we always get the plateau de carne with carne asada, and it comes with your choice of corn or flour tortillas.

It comes with a side of black beans, pinto beans, or refried beans, Spanish rice with a little cheese on top.

Most recently, I discovered the fish tacos, which are delicious and fresh and actually fairly healthy dish because it's a grilled piece of fish.

I get mine on a flour tortilla, on a bed of lettuce that's shredded and chopped tomatoes, and it comes with a side of the rice and the beans.

And it's just a really nice, fresh lunch.

Sbrocco: All right.

What about you, Roland?

Aguilar: So I actually got the fish tacos, also.

And you can just tell that the fish was grilled immediately right when you ordered it.

It's just a fresh bite with pico de gallo.

And I got mine also with flour tortillas, so it was delicious.

As well, I got the especial of the day.

It was Maria's enchiladas, and Maria's enchiladas was a spicy green sauce with tangy crema, some Spanish rice, and frijoles.

So I felt at home.

Once you walked in, it felt like my tia's house with all the decor, with all the art.

So it was a great meal.

And then, of course, I had to get the horchata.

The horchata was so good.

My grandma and I used to make horchata growing up.

Sbrocco: Really?

Aguilar: Very nostalgic for me.

Rich, creamy, milky, cinnamony, rice.

It's the perfect drink for a hot day in Napa.

Duarte: So they also have these delicious chips and salsa and guac, and you can get them from the case.

You can get them to go, or you can get them for the table.

It's a really generous portion, like all the other portions, and it just goes down way too easy.

Sbrocco: Did you have those?

Mahomed-Silva: No, I actually didn't have the chips and salsa, but I did start with their chile relleno.

It was good.

It was a chile, and it was stuffed with a bunch of cheese, battered, and deep fried, and it had some sort of tomato sauce around it.

I thought it could have had a little bit more oomph in the flavor, but it was a nice first-appetizer type of portion.

Duarte: Yeah, I agree.

It's a good option for vegetarians or people who really want to keep it light.

Mahomed-Silva: But the star of the show for me were their camarones a la diabla.

Again with the spicy food.

I have to order something with chilies on the menu.

It was really, for me, a solid plate of food.

It came with some rice.

It came with, of course, the shrimp marinated in a spicy sauce.

It had the beans on the side, flour tortillas, and a really fresh salad.

It felt healthy.

It felt well-balanced.

There were just a lot of nice components on the plate to kind of break up the spiciness on your palate, and so it was really a good, hearty dish.

Sbrocco: And what about dessert?

Because they do have dessert.

Duarte: So I had to order dessert.

And so I actually got their paletas, which are essentially popsicles that you can get from a cooler in the back.

And so they have a takeout counter which is accessed through a side door.

There were multiple different flavors.

Aguilar: Yeah, I got dessert as well.

I went with the traditional Mexican churro, and I had that to go because I wanted to eat it on the road because I was too full.

But, you know, your traditional Mexican churro with cinnamon sugar and just a good crunch, a good bite.

So while I was driving, I had one hand on my churro and one hand on the steering wheel, and thankfully I made it home safely, so it was all good.

But hopefully next time I'll get the paletas because a nice, warm day before maybe you go to, you know, Napa wine country to start your day, you can have a paleta just to refresh you.

So next time for sure getting that.

Mahomed-Silva: And now I'm feeling some type of way about not having dessert.

A popsicle would have been amazing.

I'll have to go back.

Sbrocco: And did you feel like you got value?

Mahomed-Silva: Oh, absolutely.

I mean, I took leftovers home -- it was such a massive plate of food -- and I had it the next day.

Good bang for your buck.

Sbrocco: All right, if you would like to try Villa Corona, it's located in Bel Aire Plaza in Napa, and the average lunch tab per person without drinks is around $25.

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

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

I have to thank my great guests on this week's show -- Luciana Duarte, who's very fond of the fresh fish tacos at Villa Corona in Napa, Roland Aguilar, who loves breaking bread at Dalida in San Francisco, and Mavish Mahomed-Silva, who tucks into hearty Brazilian breakfasts at World Green Açaí Bowl and Juice in Larkspur.

So 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.

♪♪ Sayat: We don't ever feel like we're working.

It's just, you know, what we do.

Sometimes we just look in each other's eyes and -- Laura: Just to work with you.

Sayat: Exactly.

Sometimes I'm like, "Oh, my God.

Can you pinch me?"

Daniel: I remember when we were washing dishes.

I must have been 7 or 8.

I think we broke more dishes than what we washed.

Saldanha: I love people go, "Okay, give me one açaí, no sugar."

"Okay."

Rabelo: Yeah.

"Wow!

This is different."

"It's possible sugar?"

"Yes!"

"Wow!

I love it sugar."