By Elena Kadvany
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I am a perpetually hungry twenty-something journalist, born and raised in Menlo Park and currently working at the Palo Alto Weekly as education and youth staff writer. I graduated from USC with a major in Spanish and a minor in journalism. Though my first love is journalism, food is a close second. I am constantly on the lookout for new restaurants to try, building an ever-expanding "to eat" list. As a journalist, I'm always trolling news sources and social media websites with an eye for local food news, from restaurant openings and closings to emerging food trends. When I was a teenager growing up in Menlo Park, I always drove up to the city on weekends with the singular purpose of finding a better meal than I could at home. But in the past year or so, the Peninsula's food culture has been totally transformed, with many new restaurants opening and a continuous stream of San Francisco restaurants coming south to open Peninsula outposts. Don't navigate this food boom hungry and alone! Feed me your tips on new chefs and eats and together we'll share them with the broader community.
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Downtown Palo Alto's only Burmese restaurant,
Rangoon Ruby, has enjoyed such success that it's opened a second location, just blocks away from the first.
Diners can now enjoy signature Burmese fare like tea leaf salad or noodle dish nan gyi dok at 326 University Ave., the former home of Italian restaurant Figo. Figo
suddenly shuttered in May.
Rodel Marquez, Rangoon Ruby general manager, said that they were looking for a larger location when they stumbled upon the open space. He said they're not worried about operating two restaurants so close to each other (Rangoon Ruby is at 445 Emerson St.).
"We're pretty busy at our current location now," he said. "We think it will be a good balance for the city."
The new restaurant is named Burma Ruby. Initially, the menu will be the same as Rangoon's, but he said they'll start changing things up "over the next season."
Burma Ruby is open for lunch and dinner the same hours as Rangoon Ruby, which opened in June 2012 in the former Cafe Baklava. A sister restaurant also opened last May in San Carlos. Owner John Lee, born and raised in Burma, is also a veteran of Bay Area restaurant-chain Burma Superstar.
