To backtrack a bit here, I've already reviewed St. Anthony's Dining Room several years back along with the Samaritan House Community Dining Room of San Mateo. You can read those reviews here on the Web at "HEARD ON THE STREET", but the following Update is concerned with St. Anthony's only. (For detailed directions on how to get there, see the previous Review just noted here.)

Well, I had occasion to re-visit this Dining Room (OPEN to the Public at all times!) recently and - WOW! - was I surprised. I knew that they always "put on a spread", but was I overjoyed (AND overstuffed!) with what I found. And this was on a Saturday, too! (They are open M-Sat from 11AM to 1PM.) Anyway, here goes an update.

FABULOUS, FABULOUSO!
Saint Anthony's de Padua Catholic Church Community Dining Room, located on Middlefield Road, Redwood City, California.

Okay, I guess I"ll start with the Serving Tray.

The Serving Tray

• Three(3!) large and THICK slices of ROAST BEEF (nice & tender!)
  
• A large serving of boiled & buttered Cabbage (Delish!)
  
• A good-size serving of Cream of Mushroom soup (actually, it was a sauce/gravy, with LARGE slices of mushrooms in a thick sauce, probably intended to be poured over the roast beef, but I enjoyed two servings of it as a thick soup!)
  
• A generous serving of Chili Beans with lotsa' ground beef and some chunks of potato thrown in for good measure.
  
• A double serving of Pasta Grande Lasagna, with several varieties of twist pasta and lotsa' cheese.
  
• And the Salad! They always have excellent salads, with onion slices and many varieties of vegetables.
  

ADDED to the Tray, at the end of the serving line:

• BUTTERED Bread, a selection of MANY varieties, from slices of dark rye boules to slices of French bread, and all of it VERY, VERY SOFT and fresh! And lotsa' BUTTER!
  
• A nice, ripe Banana, with NO brown spots or overripe splotches.
  

Dessert

• Pies, Cakes and plastic cups of FROZEN STRAWBERRIES & FROZEN BLUEBERRY-MIXED FRUITS, just thawed and nice and cold! I had two cups of strawberries!
  

Drinks

• Milk and fresh Pineapple Juice, as well as all the Coffee one could drink!
  

Plus lotsa' fresh Loaves of Bread, Fresh Fruits and ALL KINDS of fresh Vegetables (and NONE of them spoiled, rotting or on their last legs). I took along a large plastic bag of large White Mushrooms, which they always seem to have (Oh, those delish raw mushrooms!) and a couple of large oranges.

The whole operation is so impressive. They feed over 500 people daily in a Dining Room that will seat 500+, and they always have about 35 volunteers to serve the food and goodies, as well as a large kitchen staff that makes the cooked food right there behind the serving line! Oh, and they also have a Uniformed Security Guard on duty at all times, keeping "law and order" in the Dining Room and in the Waiting Line outside (not that they really need a "policeman", as the majority of the Hispanic clients are jus' good down home folks, families, mothers, kids, who wouldn't harm a flea). And, although it is open to the homeless and the general public, I'd say over 50% of the clientele are from the neighboring Hispanic communities. They even have a Shuttlebus, that makes several trips around the community to pick up Dining Room regulars and take them back home (or even pick you up at the CalTrain station and drop you off there, IF YOU ASK!).

ANYWAY, mucho good food! Check it out!

Oh, one thing more. Maybe it was just my day, but I had double good luck riding the SamTrans buses there and back to San Mateo. Both drivers stopped when I put my thumb out, and I wasn't even at a busstop (I was running down the sidewalk).

Jus' Plain Ric