Chicks Who Chomp

Whoa.

2010-01-25T12:12:00.001-08:00

Okay, I let this blog fall to the wayside. But I just came back from a month-long eating vacation through Asia and Australia, so I'm hoping to post up pictures slowly of all the great meals I had. So bear with me.

Super backlogged

2009-09-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

I have posts from:

Roadtrip from Napa to San Diego
Roadtrip from San Diego to New York
Trips to Hong Kong, Taipei and Beijing
And various foods in New York since I've been back

TONS of good food!!!

I need to do all of these 101 posts... but part of the problem is that the pictures of a good portion of the food is on my mother's camera which I didn't have a chance to download before I left Asia. And I've lost my camera cable to download my pictures as well. Oops.

Thus, I'll have to get back to you later...

Back soon...

2009-07-25T20:53:00.001-07:00

I have so many dinners to post thanks to a roadtrip down the coast of California and a roadtrip across America. I think this will keep me occupied for a good while. Bear with me.

Napa Valley Day 3: Terra

2009-07-08T22:32:00.000-07:00

For dinner this evening, after a day of some really delicious wine (V. Sattui and Castello di Amarosa were our faves!), we headed into St. Helena to go to Terra.

Neither of us were that hungry, but the menu here looked fantastic.

For appetizer, my mother ordered the kampachi carpaccio with radish salad, yuzu tobiko and ponzu sauce. It was good, although the kampachi should have been sliced much thinner I think. Again, while it was a good rendition of a Japanese dish, I kept thinking that it would have been fantastic at a real Japanese restaurant.

I ordered the monterey grilled squid with chickpeas and chard. It was good, though a tad on the salty side. Also, the micro greens on top turned out to be micro cilantro. It had a very delicate flavor which my mother loved, but as a hater of cilantro, I picked it off.

For entree, we both had the lobster tail with abalone and scallop in a escargot sauce. No escargot was actually present, but the sauce actually had the slight flavor of escargot. It came with a couple sugar snap peas and oven dried tomatoes that were delish, as well as mashed potatoes and trumpet mushrooms. Everything was really delicate and delicious, perfectly balanced. I didn't finish my potatoes because I was trying to avoid the carbs, but it was creamy when I tried it. The oven dried tomatoes were extraordinary... firmer and fleshier than a regular stewed tomato, but not quite as raisiny as a full on sun-dried tomato. This dish was very very good.

For dessert, my mother ordered the orange risotto with passion fruit sauce. It actually came out kinda like a cannoli. It was good, but heavier than we expected. The plate was dotted with fruit though, including wild strawberries. If you've never had a wild strawberry before, they are amazing. Completely bursting with a flavor slightly different than the strawberries we've come to know.

I had the strawberry soup with ricotta fritters. This also was different than I expected. I expected more soup, less fritter, but was presented with four donut-type balls dusted with sugar in a strawberry sauce pretty much. It was good, but I'm not a fan of fried dough balls (not a donut person), so I wished there was more soup. But if you like this kind of stuff, it's very good.

Overall, I'd say this restaurant is very good, and I wouldn't mind coming back to try some of their other stuff. A lot of interesting combos and seasonal ingredients.

Terra
1345 Railroad Ave.
St. Helena, CA 94574
(707) 963-8931

Napa Valley Day 2: Risibisi and Redd

2009-07-08T00:31:00.000-07:00

Day 2. We decided to venture into Petaluma to check out the town. We had lunch at an Italian restaurant overlooking the harbor called Risibisi. Very cute. Since we had early dinner reservations, we decided to go light.

We started off with bruschetta. The tomatoes on this were fantastic. Sweet and flavorful.

Then I had a salad with avocado, bay shrimp, grapefruit and yellow tomatoes with a light citrus vinagrette. Light and summery and just what I wanted.

My mom had the crabcake salad. She said it was good, but she wished there'd been less dressing on the salad and less remoulade on the cakes.

Overall, this place was nice. I liked how fresh the ingredients were.

For dinner, we went to Redd in Yountville. We sat outside in the patio facing a waning sun, which was nice, except for these two bees that seemed to take an unusual interest in our table and ours only. It became so distracting that we moved inside right before dessert.

To start off, my mother had the special salad, which was arugula, figs, plums, proscuitto and bits of pecans. She loved it. It was so bright and summery and colorful, and had such a great mix of flavors that I can't see how it couldn't have been good!

I had the lobster risotto, with watercress, truffle oil and a touch of lemon. Like last night's risotto, it was really light, thanks to the brightness of the acid.

For entrees, we each got the duck confit. This was offered in a smaller portion as well, which we did. It was atop a nice lentil bed that also had some bits of thin pork belly. It also came with foie gras meatballs, which were unusual but good. It had the taste of foie gras, but not fatty the way foie gras is.

For dessert, I got sweet corn fritters, which came with cherries and a vanilla corn ice cream. For people who think corn as dessert is gross, don't knock it! I love the sweetness of corn, though this dessert did make me feel like I was half eating some savory fair food. But it was quite delicious.

My mother got the summer peach "pudding". It had white and yellow peaches, sabayon, shavings of white chocolate, mint, fried almonds, small pieces of bread pudding and this light peach granita ice. She took a bite of it and groaned, and I asked her quickly, "Is it bad?" She shook her head and then declared it THE BEST DESSERT SHE'D EVER HAD IN HER LIFE. No joke. Throughout the whole time as she was consuming it, she kept marveling at how light and summery and delicious and perfectit was.

I really liked this place. The decor is very minimalistic, but I thought the food was quite good. I wasn't overly full after the meal, and everything was really satisfying and fresh without being too rich.

Risibisi
154 Petaluma Blvd N
Petaluma, CA 94952-2905
(707) 766-7600

Redd
6480 Washington St
Yountville, CA 94599
(707) 944-2222

Napa Valley Day 1: Auberge du Soleil

2009-07-08T00:02:00.000-07:00

So here I am, spending the next few days in Napa Valley, San Fran and then making my way down the coast. I'm certain there will be some good eats along the way. Definitely so in the Napa/Sonoma region -- I love Californian cuisine.

Our first night, my mother and I had made reservations at Auberge du Soleil. The view here is freaking fantastic as it overlooks the valley. We had an early reservation - 5:45 - so the sun was still out and hitting the valley.

We took a look at the tasting menu which seemed really interesting, but my mother doesn't like lamb which was featured on there. Instead we opted for the 4 course menu which had options.

They started us off with a mushroom consomme soup with some vegetables. This was really light and delicate, a perfect starter.

For our first course, my mother and I both ordered the seared foie gras. This was on top of a slice of pain perdu, with apricots and almonds and a chamomile sauce.

For the second course, my mother had the risotto. This was with heirloom tomatoes, shrimp, parmesan, tarragon and yuzu emulsion. The sauce around it also had a hint of lavender. I loved the brightness of the flavors - it made the risotto a lot less heavy than it normally is.

For my second course, I had seared ahi tuna. This came with some seaweed, tapioca pearls, tempura mushrooms, glazed pork belly, and a dashi broth. This was really tasty, though the pork belly was a bit salty for my taste. It didn't come together nearly as well as I'd have liked -- maybe it's because it seemed to be Japanese inspired, and so I was looking for something much more authentically Japanese. Nonetheless, still good - flavors for the most part were well balanced.

For the third course, my mother had the prime beef with corn, romano beans and shallots. My mom said this was good, but to be honest we were so full at this point that I think she barely registered what it tasted like.

I had the spiced lamb for my third course. Included was a squash blossom stuffed with goat cheese, gnocchi, and summer veggies. The flavor of the lamb was delicate yet exotic, and so good. But again, I was so full by then, I don't think I could have fully appreciated it.

As a palate cleanser, they gave us a blackberry soup with lemon cream.

For dessert, I had trailside strawberries with a basil ice cream and these little nuggets of pastry (not sure what they were made of but they were good) and light cream. It was so good and summery, exactly what I wanted.

My mother had warm bing cherries with almond ice cream and cocoa nibs. The flavor of the dark chocolate and the sweet cherries worked together really nicely.

And here (with the pistachio off the top of the truffle and half a bite of the jelly) are the petit fours we were left with when the check came.

All in all, this was a really nice dinner, especially the service and atmosphere. However, I'm not sure the price justified the food. It was very good to be sure, comparable to pricey places in Manhattan. But I'd say that it's not quite on par with a Le Bernardin or a Bouley quite yet. I'd have been happy to pay say $90 for the 4 course tasting, but over $100 seemed to be pushing it for food that for the most part is pretty straight standard classical fare.

By the way, we came here because I couldn't get reservations at French Laundry. :(

Auberge du Soleil
180 Rutherford Hill Rd
Rutherford, CA 94573
(707) 967-3111

Last Play Day in SD: Mama Testa's, 1500 Ocean, and Alchemy

2009-07-07T23:36:00.000-07:00

It was my "last" day in San Diego this past Sunday. I put that in quotes because I'll be back a few more times this month to pack, move, and clean, but it'll be a lot of business (though I'm hoping to fit in quite a few more meals). So this Sunday was my last day to play with my "BFF" and partner in crime here in SD, CM.

In the morning, I dragged him to Mama Testa's so I could have one more taste of that salsa bar, their amazing guac and some tacos. I got the three taco combo, which has a carnitas, an alpastor (with pineapple!), and a my favorite yucatecos tacos. So good.

Later, around sunset, we decided to stop off at the aptly named Sunset Bar at 1500 Ocean in Coronado for drinks and some light bar food. This was my yummy blackberry julep.

I then went on to order two oysters. They were British Columbia oysters, and that's all I remember. It didn't come with any horseradish, but the mignotte was nice enough, and they had the most peculiar limes (the flesh was a light grapefruit color) that made it nice.

CM, who loves olives, got a plate of mixed marinated olives. This plate was HUGE.

We hung around for a couple of hours. The restaurant food that was passing by looked fantastic and we made a pact to come back one day when we were a little more well-off, and have dinner out here instead of sitting out by the bar.

Believe it or not, after that, we went to dinner. At Alchemy (yes, after our aborted attempt the day before). Immediately, I really liked the ambiance of the place. Very low key, cool. They were showing silent films in fact when we got in.

CM loves absinthe and so had to get it when he discovered the served it. It was cool to see the water carafe thing so that you could control how diluted you wanted it.

The menu was really enticing, with tons of small plates and seasonal ingredients. Reminded me a bit of Whisk n Ladle, though seemed to be much more low key than that. We ordered a bunch of things:

Peppers stuffed with Berkshire pork (shredded). It was very tender and good.

Grilled asparagus. We couldn't figure out what the sauce was but it was good.

Cabarnet soaked olives. Of course we had to get them!

Corn and avocado salad. I was so excited by this because I love corn and avocado. It had toasted pumpkin seeds, a "green goddess" sauce (whatever that is), cucumber wrapped around it, some lettuce and red onions... The flavors were fantastic.

Spiced chickpeas. So good. I think there was some cardamom in it that made it taste like Christmas. Haha.

More oysters, believe it or not, with a green gazpacho in a shot. The gazpacho was nice and light and the oysters were sweet.

I was kinda sad we'd discovered this place so late, because it was seriously good, and definitely some place I'd like to revisit one day. It's got a great ambiance, interesting menu, and cocktails, without being overly pricey. All the things I like for a restaurant on a fun weekend night.

I'm coming back to SD in a week with my mom and sister, and am hoping to squeeze in a meal or two more before I go. It went by so fast! So much left to eat, but ran out of time...

Mama Testa
1417A University Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 298-8226

1500 Ocean
1500 Orange Ave
Coronado, CA 92118
(619) 522-8459

Alchemy
1503 30th St
San Diego, CA 92101
619.255.0616

Happy Birthday America: Soltan Banoo and Candelas by the Bay

2009-07-07T23:15:00.001-07:00

On July 4th, CM and I originally wanted to try Alchemy in South Park. However, when we got there, we found out that they were only doing a BBQ, given that they'd given the rest of their staff the day off. I love BBQ, but the problem with that is that CM is a vegetarian, and I wasn't about to subject him to cole slaw and potato salad as a meal. So off we went, in search of alternatives. Nearly everything in South Park and North Park was closed, so we went to University Heights, where we finally found ourselves a few options.

We settled on Soltan Banoo, which, to be honest, I'd never noticed before. It's a Persian place, right across from El Zarape and nestled next to Muzita, but for some reason always flew under my radar. They were very much open, and had tons of good veg and non-veg options. Everything on the menu looked fantastic, and I was torn. What is great about lunch is that they do a half portion on some of their platters, and then give you a side salad, which can be any one of their delicious salads. I decided to exercise this option by ordering zereshk polo with lamb (basmati rice with dried cranberries, barberries, almonds and carrots) along with their strawberry tabouli salad. It came out with chicken by accident, so they brought me a side of lamb. It was really good, the lamb tender and the rice a nice combo of flavors. The half portion was perfect, because it wasn't too heavy. The salad was also really tasty.

CM ordered the goat cheese salad, which was pears, walnuts and goat cheese on top of baguette. It looked delicious.

Not your typical July 4th lunch bbq, but really good nonetheless!

For dinner, we wanted to watch the fireworks on the water in Coronado, so we made reservations at Candelas on the Bay. We lucked out and got a table right near the windows, a perfect place to watch the fireworks.

First of all, their cocktails were delicious. I had a mango-chili martini which was good -- there was a slightly savory tart chili rim. This is a picture of their horchata cocktail, also very delicious.

And the tamarind cocktail.

For dinner, I had the Mexican bass, which was on top of a tomato stuffed with crabmeat. It was good, though the pistachio sauce on top felt a little over reduced.

CM ordered the ensalada cuernavaca, which was a salad with artichokes, goat cheese and plantains over spring mix.

I also ended up getting a dessert which was advertised as a strawberry tres leches. To be honest, this I wasn't all that impressed by. Too much cream. It seemed like a strawberry shortcake to me. I'd skip dessert here.

The ambiance here is very nice, and it was a perfect place for the fireworks because we didn't have to fight anyone out there. The food was decent, though nothing particularly spectacular, considering the price. I'd come back for cocktails though. Really yummy.

Happy July 4th!

Soltan Banoo
4645 Park Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92116
(619) 298-2801

Candelas on the Bay
1201 1st St
Coronado, CA 92118
(619) 435-4900

Revisited: Mama's Bakery

2009-07-07T23:10:00.000-07:00

With so few days left in SD, I had to balance trying places I still wanted to hit up and revisiting old favorites. One of my favorites is Mama's Bakery in University Heights. It's so inexpensive and so delicious for what it is, so I went back a few days ago. This time I got the soojouk wrap (Armenian sausage with pickles, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc). I had it as a plate, and got the falafel salad and the lebni and zatar appetizer. I had no idea what the latter was; I knew the yogurt sauce, but no idea what sumac was. It was actually quite nice -- gritty, flavorful and complex in terms of its spices and taste. Really unlike anything I've had before. The wrap itself was delicious. Armenian sausage isn't as spicy as I'd like but it was really good with all stuff, and their flatbread is just good. The falafel here is also very delicious.

Mama's, I will most definitely miss you.

Cajun in Diego: Chateau Orleans

2009-07-07T22:27:00.000-07:00

So a few months back, I found out that I had missed the Crawfish Festival in SD and was devastated. CM, being the good friend that he is, suggested we just find a cajun place to eat instead. We finally settled on Chateau Orleans because it had the most extensive menu and a few decent veg options for him. A few weeks ago, we tried to visit it on a Monday, only to find out they were closed. Last week we finally made it there.

The place itself is really cute and festive. The decor has the whole mardi gras atmosphere to it, complete with confetti under the glass on the tables and lots of fun posters.

For starters, they gave us cornbread. I'm very so-so on cornbread (one of the few incarnations of corn I don't lovelove), but this cornbread was warm and had bits of corn in it.

The meals also came with a garden salad. What I liked about the garden salad was that it came with watermelon!

For our mains, CM had eggplant piquant, which he said was very good. I didn't try it, but I'll take his word for it. It came with a side of potatoes and a weird creamed type corn. I tried the corn only because I love everything corn. The cream was too dense and mayo like I think, so it was just eh.

Originally I was just going to get the crawfish etouffee, because that's what I crave most in Cajun food, but then I saw the option to get etouffee, jambalaya AND gumbo for just a few more dollars, and so of course, I had to go for that. The plated it so that the rice was in the middle and the etouffee and gumbo were on either side, and the jambalaya lying on top. They were very tasty, though of course not at all as good as what I've had in New Orleans. But definitely hit the craving. I wish the etouffee roux had been a bit darker and had more crawfish (there was other fish in there), but it was quite good for what it was.

I hear they do a jazz brunch on Sundays, which would probably be tons of fun. Alas for me, I have no more Sundays in San Diego!

Chateau Orleans
926 Turquoise St
San Diego, CA 92109
(858) 488-6744

SoCal Wine Country: Smokehouse Restaurant at Ponte

2009-07-07T21:47:00.000-07:00

CM and CJ and I went up to Temecula for a day trip recently, and decided to get lunch at the restaurant at Ponte Winery, called Smokehouse.

We were seated outdoors in the courtyard. It was a nice day and the courtyard was really nice, so this was great.

First we were given some bread with this green dipping sauce. I have no idea what was in this sauce to tell you the truth, but it was good.

CJ and I ordered two sandwiches, the portabella and the pulled pork sandwich. The portabella had red peppers, pears, arugula and goat cheese, and was really quite fantastic, though the bun was thicker than I'd like. I'd have preferred a ciabatta or even panini type bread instead of the huge brioche. The pulled pork was sweet and good, and had pickled onion on top. We got both with their sweet slaw, which had grapes in it, a nice addition.

CM got the grilled asparagus salad, with arugula, red peppers, and shaved gouda. He said it was good, and it looked delicious.

All in all, I'd say it was a great place to have lunch if you're in SoCal wine country. I love the ambience of being outside, and the cuisine is pleasant Californian fare.

Smokehouse Restaurant at Ponte Winery
35053 Rancho California Rd
Temecula, CA 92591
(951) 252-1770

Revisited: Pho Ca Dao

2009-07-07T21:41:00.000-07:00

Like I promised, I went back to Pho Ca Dao to try the Hue noodles. I didn't have time to stay, so I took it to go. Nicely enough, they separated the noodles from the broth and the extra condiments (mint, basil, onions, sprouts, cabbage). When I got home, I got my big soup bowl and poured it all in.

It was pretty tasty. I loved the noodle texture and the spicy savoriness of the broth, though it was a bit more oily than the pho. The diff meats were all pretty good, except for my personal squeamishness with the huge block of pig's blood. If you like that stuff, then you would have lucked out. Personally, I was just kinda grossed out and had to avoid it. But it was otherwise very good.

Revisited: Neighborhood

2009-07-06T22:17:00.001-07:00

We like this place. So we went back. I was in considerably better spirits than my last visit since I wasn't sick.

CM got the apple wallie, which had dried cranberries, pecans and arugula.

I got the spicy cajun rubbed burger which was topped with a pickled radish cucumber slaw type thing. Spicy, but so good. Strong, savory flavors.

I like this place a lot for a couple of beers and some friendly food.

Some Farmer's Market and Street Fair Food: Little Italy FM, OB Street Fair, Hillcrest FM

2009-07-01T11:12:00.000-07:00

I went to the Little Italy farmer's market for the first (and probably last) time this past weekend. I was so excited to see the live sea urchin stand! I'm personally not a huge uni fan -- I'm still trying to acquire the taste for it, but I know plenty of uni fans and watching it live was pretty cool. And of course, I had to eat the free sample.

Then it was off to the OB Street Fair. For lunch I had aloha nachos (whale tail chips with white sauce, pinneapple salsa, hawaiian pulled pork and jalepenos).

Then I had a baby brie crepe. Brie, spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms. Very yummy.

The next day I went to the Hillcrest farmer's market, and found me these little coconut pudding type dessert things at a Thai food stand. They had bits of corn and were delicious! Sweet and creamy, with the corn adding a bit of texture.

I love street food, don't you?

NYC Water?: Village Pizzeria

2009-07-01T10:48:00.000-07:00

New Yorkers say it often: "It's the water." We're told again and again that our tap is what makes things like bagels and pizza crust and corned beef what it is, and why anywhere else in the country can only hope to come close.

So when I passed by a pizzeria in Coronado that claimed to use NY H2O, I knew I had to try it.

My friend CM, who is veg and really healthy ordered a small Mediterranean salad - lettuce free, it had cucumbers, feta, olives, etc. It looked good.

I ordered some personal sized pizza called the SoCal or something. It had chicken sausage, diced tomatoes, smoked mozz, provolone, peppers and I substituted onions for artichokes. It was REALLY good. It was hard though, to tell if it was close to "NY style" without trying a plain slice. The sauce as far as I could tell was very oregano-y, which I like, and the crust was decent, but beyond that, rough call.

Verdict? Not sure if the water makes a difference, but the specialty pizza was yummy just the same.

Village Pizzeria
1206 Orange Ave
Coronado, CA 92118-3408
(619) 522-0449

Lunching in the Park: Prado

2009-07-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

Prado seems like such a tourist attraction / theme restaurant / Disney-esque, that I'd never expect it to have decent food. But the last (and only time) I'd been to Prado prior to this visit, was when I first moved to San Diego and my mother and I had no idea where to eat. It was surprisingly good then for what it was. This time I went for lunch with a few friends.

I didn't get a picture of most of the meals since it was a slightly larger group, but since it was lunch, it was mostly sandwiches and salads anyway. A mushroom risotto, a portabello salad, two Italian meats sandwiches with artichoke olive tapenade, and a portabello sandwich.

As far as I can tell, they were all good, though unremarkable. The side of broccoli mandarin orange salad seemed like a good idea in theory, but in real life, I coulda done without the mayo.

Dinner, as far as I can recall, seemed a little bit more interesting, though again, nothing truly groundbreaking. Solid though, if pricey. Lunch seems pricier for what it is, perhaps. But especially with the outdoor dining, the location is fantastic. Who doesn't love being out in Balboa on a nice day?

The Prado at Balboa Park
1549 El Prado
San Diego, CA
619.557.9441

Revisit: Ba Ren... again

2009-06-24T23:51:00.000-07:00

Yes. I love this place. And because I'm leaving SD soon, I had to get my fill. So I went this past week, not once, but TWICE.

The first time was with JML, and since it was just the two of us, we didn't really get much. As usual, I got the diced fried chicken, and then we got the three delicacy crispy rice. The only completely new thing we got was the mapo tofu, which was spicy but really good I thought. The flavor was good and I was happy to see they used real silken tofu, not that semi-firm/medium soft stuff that I really hate.

When I went with Minky and three of her friends on Tuesday, however, we went all out.

To start, we ordered three cold appetizers from that bar area. Cucumber, seaweed and bamboo shoots. All were flavorful and good.

Next we had beef tripe with pickled pepper. Here already half consumed. I love beef tripe personally, though I felt the sauce was a tad too salty here, and not a fan of celery anyway.

My favorite chicken dish, also already decimated:

Chinese bacon stir fried. It had a black bean type sauce I think, because I felt it was a little too salty and "chu" (like, not delicate) for my taste. Not one of my favorites. There was an option of chinese bacon with garlic shoots on the menu which I feel would have been a better balance of flavors than this version.

Chili vinegar cabbage, always a favorite.

Scallops with crispy rice. I think I prefer the versions with pork or even three delicacies better than the scallop version - it gave the gravy a briny undertone that I preferred less. But it was still very good.

"Fish-flavor" eggplant. This came late, when we were all already very very full, so I only had one serving. It was different than the yu xiang eggplant I've had recently, more sweet and sour than usual, with still a hint of spicy. Very very good. Too bad I was way too full.

Always a pleasure at Ba Ren...

Finally Japanese in SD: Wa Dining Okan

2009-06-24T23:37:00.000-07:00

I haven't had any Japanese (except bad sushi) since I've moved to SD. This is strange because in NY I have Japanese at least once a week -- izakaya, sushi, ramen, yakitori, soba, you name it. So when Cindy and I finally met up for our monthly dinner, I decided I had to try Japanese once before I moved out of here.

After much deliberation, I settled on Wa Dining Okan in Kearny Mesa, because it received such strong reviews. Once there, we were overwhelmed by options. Cindy doesn't eat raw fish though, which cut out a lot. And we tended to be leaning more towards the veggie specials.

This is what we got:

Kabocha pumpkin, stewed. This was good. I love pumpkin, simmered in this way so that it's soft and sweet.

Bamboo shoots, simmered in broth. This was really really good. The shoots were tender and flavorful, with none of the scratchiness that shoots can sometimes have.

Having read so much about the gobo salad, I knew I had to try it. This was awesome. The veggies and dressing was bright and provided a good contrast to the fried stuff on top. I still have no idea what gobo is, by the way, but this was fun to eat.

Salmon and scallop carpaccio. Cindy let me get this even though she's not much for raw fish. The salmon was lightly seared though, so she had that. They both were very sweet and soft, melt in your mouth. The scallop was creamy and not overly fishy, while the salmon was very oily, but in that good sort of salmon oil way.

Agedashi tofu. Classic. Though it made me miss New York and all the times I've ordered this.

Clams in sake. This was the only miss of the evening. The clams felt slimy and were way too fishy. I love clams normally, but these felt like they were still moving or something. We had to send it back.

Grilled onigiri with soy sauce. I love onigiri, especially grilled, so this was a hit for me.

They called this something like yam cake with or something. I don't really know what it's really called, because at Ba Ren it's called taro cakes. It has the rubbery jelly consistency of konnyaku which I really like, but Cindy was freaked out by. I liked it, it was in this light spicy dashi type broth.

A classic goodie: chicken drumsticks. This was so good. The batter was light and flavorful, and so comforting.

Then dessert! I had a strawberry mousse parfait - the mousse was so nice and layered with oreo cookie bits! Not what I'd expect at a Japanese restaurant but really nice, like the kind of dessert your mom might make for you.

Cindy had the caramel pudding with black honey. It was very egg custardy, but smooth and good.

I really liked this place. It's comforting Japanese fare, and the kind of place that I feel like me and my friends in NY would visit often for a quick bite after work.

Wa Dining Okan
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 279-0941

Sunday brunch: Roseville and Azucar

2009-06-24T23:26:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to try Roseville in Point Loma for brunch for some time now, so Minky and I decided to head over there on Sunday. The restaurant looks much bigger than seems on the outside. We were seated in a big cushy booth for the two of us.

First we started off with mimosas. Minky had the bottomless classic OJ mimosa, while I had a lavender honey blueberry one. Mine was so delicious! The OJ was good too.

For entrees we decided to share. First the lobster white corn crepe. This was delicious. The white sauce was buttery and rich, but still light, the corn was fresh and juicy and went so perfectly with the lobster. And who doesn't love a thin crepe to go over it all?

The other entree we shared was the omelette with spinach, mushrooms and comte cheese. This was also really good, not overcooked, eggs perfectly fluffy, and all around delicious.

We looked at the dessert menu, but decided we'd skip. I thought the brunch here was lovely, exactly what I look for in brunch food. Light but satisfying. I would definitely come here again. And I'd love to try it for dinner!

Since we'd skipped dessert, we went to Azucar over in Ocean Beach instead.

I ordered this thing called the Divina, which is white cake with passion fruit curd, raspberries, and vanilla meringue on top. It was very nice, tangy from the passion fruit, but very creamy with the marshmallowy consistency of the meringue.

Minky got the cinco leches, which I love. The infusion of milkiness with the crunchy texture of the toasted almonds is so nice. She also got a salted chocolate caramel which was good.

I also got a white chocolate banana bundt cake (not pictured) which was so good. Like a moist banana nut bread with melted white chocolate bits in. Delicious.

The desserts here are so solid. I have yet to try something here that I didn't think was delicious and inventive.

Lovely Sunday!

Roseville
1125 Rosecrans St
San Diego, CA 92106
(619) 450-6800

Azucar
4820 Newport Ave
San Diego, CA 92107
(619) 523-2020

To share: Bite

2009-06-24T23:13:00.000-07:00

Minky and I met up for dinner on Saturday night. I had been meaning to try Bite in Hillcrest, which I passed by every time I went to Mama Testa's. We both love small plates because it means more food to try for everybody!

The amuse bouche, compliments from the chef was a crunchy bit of toast (I know this is the wrong word, but I'm totally blanking right now) with a salmon spread and cherry tomato. Very tasty.

Next up, we ordered dates stuffed with gorgonzola wrapped in bacon. These were very good. The bacon was crunchy, the gorgonzola just soft enough.

Swordfish bites with a yogurt tzatziki sauce. The swordfish was very firm, the way it should be, though the whole thing didn't really come together for me. I like swordfish, I like tzatziki, and it was fine, but it didn't seem like it meshed the way it was supposed to.

This was eggplant, yellow beets and spicy boursin cheese. This was really yummy. The eggplant and beets were so mild and nice, and with the cheese this all came together really well.

This was a duck confit salad with mango over greens. I love duck confit and this was good, though a tad on the salty side for me.

Duck pate with assorted fixins. It came with toast and crackers. Good and rich. Very solid, though by then we were getting pretty full.

Dessert was bread pudding with blueberry sorbet. Really really good. I loved the sorbet especially.

I forgot to mention that we had their red sangria, which was really tasty, though pretty watered down.

Overall, I'd say that the cuisine here is solid and better than average, though definitely not falling into the upper limits of creativity or fine dining (compared to say, Whisk n Ladle). But I love the ambience of the place and I love shared plates. I'd come again, though it wouldn't make my favorites list.

Bite
1417 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
619.299.BITE

Food Festival: San Diego County Fair

2009-06-24T22:47:00.001-07:00

Okay, not a food festival per se, but come on, the fair is all about the bad for you food right?

I went twice to the fair. My first day, I had:

Corn. I love roasted corn with all the fixin's. Just love it. I loved here that I could put on what I wanted, so I put EVERYTHING - jerk, pico de gallo, lemon juice, garlic, pepper, parmesan... you name it!

Fried artichoke with ranch sauce. It was Taste of the Fair, so I got a nice small portion. Perfect size! I love artichokes!

Mini key lime cupcake. It was a bit too tangy for me, but still good. I love cupcakes.

Smoked turkey leg. Huge, and I didn't finish the whole thing, but juicy and not dry at all!

I also got a strawberry julius (not pictured). Surprisingly that's all I ate. I thought I'd do worse damage, you know, try some of the weird stuff out pictured in this billboard... Of interest especially is the krispy creme chicken sandwich. Gross, and yet I wish I knew someone who bought it just to try a piece of it.

Knowing Minky is a lover of all types of food, including fair food, I took her back to the fair SOLELY to eat when she came to visit this weekend. This is despite the fact that we had just had brunch and dessert (which I'll be posting about in a bit). Nonetheless, we tried:

A plate of fried veggies - including mushrooms, artichokes and zucchini curls (2 mushrooms and 2 artichokes! lame). It was eh. Too much batter, not enough veggie.

This was what we both were interested most by: frog legs with fries. We ignored the fries completely and went straight into the legs. They were surprisingly good. Tender, moist, like a cross between chicken and a swordfish steak (fishy in the meaty way). I liked it, though I suspect I'd like them more prepared in a different way (ie: not just battered).

A chocolate frozen banana with nuts. Yum.

And a corn for the road!

Due to the fact that we'd eaten beforehand, we didn't do as much damage as we could have at the fair. We stuck around for an hour and then left. Not joking when I say we went to eat.

The San Diego County Fair, by the way, is incredibly impressive. It's huge, nothing at all like a dinky fair I'd expect from elsewhere.

Eastern Comfort Food: Pho Ca Dao

2009-06-18T01:07:00.000-07:00

I love Vietnamese food. Seriously. So I've been meaning to try Pho Ca Dao in Rolando for a long time now. It's right across the street from Cali Baguette, and I've always been curious about it. So the other day, I decided to bite the bullet and go in, asking for a table of one.

It was already packed, with both Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese. The menu looked impressive to me -- a lot of other good options besides just pho (the Hue noodles caught my eye, but that'll have to be for next time). I decided to go simple: combo pho and shrimp/pork fresh spring rolls.

The pho was good. Maybe not the best I've ever had, but definitely really really good. I especially loved how the tripe was the thin shredded kind, and not the big lumps that they can sometimes give you. And the small portion was too large for me to finish! The spring rolls were also very big -- probably too much food for one person. The bill came out cheap, under $10 not including tip. I love that about these places. Good food on the cheap.

I'm going back for the Hue noodles next time.

Pho Ca Dao
5223 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115
(619) 326-1420

Food Festival: Greek Festival and Saturday Supper

2009-06-18T00:56:00.001-07:00

The Greek Festival was this past weekend, so of course I had to go so I could eat things. Despite the many foods being offered there, ultimately, I only had room for a few things:

Phyllo pastry with spinach and cheese, and grape leaf stuffed with meat and rice.

I waited in line for half an hour for this plate: lamb leg, Greek sausage (it had bits of orange in it!), olives, feta, and bread.

$10 sampler of Greek desserts, including baklava, and other pastries.

This pastry had custard in it and was my favorite.

That, unfortunately, was all I could stuff into myself, despite the fact that so many other things looked so delightful!

Afterward a few more hours of walking around and then some hanging out in Balboa, CJ and CM and I went back to my place to make dinner (yes, we went from eating to eating). I normally don't post pictures from homecooked meals, but what the hell.

I may have mentioned that CM is a vegetarian, so we tried to make this as veg friendly as possible.

We started out with a salad of mixed greens, strawberries (from the Coronado farmer's market - incredibly sweet), figs (also from the farmer's market), hazelnuts and goat cheese with some balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Then we made orzo with spinach, feta, toasted almonds, and cherry tomatoes with a little bit of lemon and olive oil and black pepper tossed in. CJ and I made a side of sausage to toss in with our orzo.

We also attempted to roast some brussels sprouts with parmesan and balsamic, but they came out a bit tough (though when I resteamed them the next day, they were good).

Don't forget the wine! And yes, that is wine that has a happy face as its label.

Good weekend of food with good friends!

Dessert in Hillcrest: Uncle Biff's and Babycakes (again)

2009-06-18T00:42:00.000-07:00

When we were walking around Hillcrest, CJ insisted we stop by "the best cookie place ever". Apparently this place is the not-much-to-look-at Uncle Biff's, whose racks of cookies are fresh and delicious. I had some butter toffee nut cookie thing, which was so good and melty and soft. What I appreciated about this place is how they offer you the ones that came straight out of the oven, though it makes me wonder who ends up buying the ones that are sitting in the glass. Not that I'm complaining. The cookies tasted just like mom's homemade.

Then later I had to buy a cupcake from Babycakes. Because you know, every time I'm in Hillcrest, I have to. They had a new flavor! Blueberry! And all I can say is, it is amazing. Blueberry cake with blueberry filling. Babycakes, in my opinion, has the best cupcakes in all of San Diego. They are large and moist and never overly sweet. So good.

Speaking of cupcakes, I also managed to try Heavenly Cupcake for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I had their orange chip one, which was very good. Their cupcakes are on the smaller side though. A few days later, I picked up the banana chip one which was also tasty, only it reminded me more of banana bread/muffin than a cupcake. Their cupcakes are good, but I still think Babycakes takes the cake (har har har).

Uncle Biff's
650 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 291-2433

Babycakes
3766 5th Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 296-4173

Heavenly Cupcake
518 6th Ave
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 235-9235

Friendly Downtown Eats: Neighborhood

2009-06-18T00:30:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, C and I were walking around downtown SD when we spotted this cool little spot near Pannikin. It was a nice evening so people were sitting halfway out, and there was a nice little vibe going on inside. We decided that we had to come back and try it out, so that we did.

Neighborhood is the kind of place I would love to hang out on the regular. It has a solid beer menu (and I'm a beer girl) and a great menu of comforting eats that nonetheless seem just a little more special. Like a nicer American bar bistro. It's not that big and got pretty crowded soon after we sat down (we got there a little before 7 pm), so it's obviously pretty popular.

I wasn't feeling too well that day though, so I skipped the beers - next time! But I was craving a burger. With four different types of burgers that all sounded delicious, I settled for the Neighborhood Burger, which sounded exactly like the burger I had in LA at Father's Office: beef, arugula, carmelized onions and blue cheese. I ordered a side of mixed greens on the side. It wasn't as good as the Father's Burger, but given the way I was feeling at the moment, nothing could have tasted as good as it did in that moment. So it was pretty good. I'm dying to try the other burgers though.

C, who is veg, ordered a strawberry and spinach salad with these lightly breaded goat cheese balls. His salad looked delicious.

Afterwards, we agreed we'd have to go back another evening, and soon, as we both enjoyed the vibe and wanted to try other things on the menu!

Neighborhood
777 G St
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 446-0002

Dinner on the Harbor: Island Prime/C Level

2009-06-18T00:20:00.000-07:00

My friend C and I went to C Level (ha) aka Island Prime on Harbor Island for some seafood. It was nice because we were seated outside where we could get a view. At first we worried it would be cold since we weren't seated under a heat lamp, but then they lit up the coals on this partition next to us we thought was just for decorations, and it became nice and toasty.

We started with some sweet potato fries to share, which came with horseradish sauce and bbq sauce. I love sweet potato fries in any way.

Then we got our entrees. She ordered fish tacos with pineapple salsa. The portion was huge. I tried some and it was really good. Despite the fact that I knew it was going to be too rich for me, I ordered the lobster mac and cheese. Also very good, but predictably, I didn't finish it.

Then we were reeled in by this crazy dessert which involved brownie, bananas with a burnt sugar top, and peanut butter ice cream. (It was dark by now and so hard to get a good shot of the dessert without it being blurry)

The food here was good, although nothing inventive or creative or particularly refined. But solid seafood fare with a spectacular view.

Island Prime and C Level Lounge
880 N Harbor
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 298-6802‎

Revisited: Ba Ren

2009-06-18T00:09:00.000-07:00

Because I love it and it's my most favorite restaurant in all of San Diego, and favorite Chinese in all of the United States, I've been scheming to go as often as possible before I move out of San Diego in July. Which is difficult given all the food I want to consume before I go.

I have nothing to say really other than I love Ba Ren.

Pork with guo ba (sizzling rice thing that resembles rice krispies)... I never tried this before, but the flavor was really good. I would have preferred less sauce so the guo ba didn't get so soggy, but otherwise, really delish.

My favorite - la zi ji - fried chicken szechuan style. Sorry this picture is so blurry!

Wontons in chili oil. The wantons got a bit sticky and the oil coud have been a bit more flavorful but overall good.

My favorite veggie dish: chili vinegar napa cabbage.

Ba Ren Szechuan
4957 Diane Ave
San Diego, CA 92117
(858) 279-2520

Sorry!

2009-06-15T00:27:00.001-07:00

I've been so busy eating and playing that I haven't been making time to write about what I eat! Be back soon, promise!

Lunching in Los Feliz: Best Fish Taco in Ensenda and Figaro Bistrot

2009-06-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

Two random meals I had in Los Feliz, where JML lives.

First, fish tacos at Best Fish Taco in Enseneda. These were the first fish tacos I ever experienced in SoCal when I came out to visit last year. I remember LOVING them, and so I had to go back and check them out again, just to see if they were as good as I remember. I ordered a shrimp and a fish, both deep fried and given to you plain in a tortilla. You get to go to the salsa bar and add your choice of mango salsa, pineapple salsa, spicy guac, regular salsa, beet slaw, lettuce, and white sauce. I put everything on. Um. Yeah. Still good. It's just so crispy on the outside and nice on the inside!

The next day for lunch, I went to this French bistro called Figaro Bistrot. I grabbed a table, a book and had a diet coke and nicoise salad. To tell you the truth, I was underwhelmed by the salad. I've had much better nicoises in the past. The quality of the tuna was just okay, and I usually prefer a few more beans and the use of red potatoes over the white ones they used, as well as kalamata type black olives, not the cheap kinds you find on your pizza. But the ambiance was nice and the rest of the food looked good. They have a lot of outdoor seating too, so I imagine it's nice on a nice day.

Best Fish Taco in Ensenda
1650 Hillhurst Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90027

Figaro Bistrot
1802 N Vermont Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 662-1587

I Love Izakaya: Raku and Honda-ya

2009-06-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

I don't get to eat a lot of Japanese when I'm in SD, mostly because I don't know anyone who wants to get anything more than cheap sushi rolls out here, so when I was up in LA, I decided to go for Japanese twice. Izakaya is one of my favorite types of Japanese food (though, really, I love them all) because it's like tapas: you get to eat tons of yummy things!

The first night, V, G and I wanted to go to Sushi-Gen, but the line was too long, so we went to Raku next door instead. With three of us eating (including a boy), we ordered a ton of food!

Smoked mackerel. Very nice.

Lotus root stuffed with chicken and shiso

Smelt. One of my favorite things ever.

Fish cake stuffed with shiso and cheese.

Miso black cod. Classic and always delicious.

Grilled mackerel.

Bbq beef. Good seasoning, but could have been more tender.

Pork belly with scallion and sesame oil deeping sauce. So bad for you but sooo good.

Chicken wings which took forever to come out but were good.

Okay, we didn't exactly order the most healthy stuff, but it was all pretty good... Not one of the best izakayas I've ever been to, but still tasty.

The next night, Minky and I headed to Honda-ya. I was so hungry, I forgot to take pictures of the first few items that came out. We had ordered a few yakitori (bacon wrapped enoki, bacon wrapped asparagus and shiitake mushrooms). The only picture I got was below.

Bacon wrapped asparagus

Mochi with mentai (spicy cod roe) and cheese. So delicious. I woulda liked it even better if they'd wrapped bites of this with nori.

Agedashi tofu. Classic.

One of my favorite vegetables, garlic shoots. Sauteed with pork belly.

Takoyaki - octopus balls.

These smelt were ginormous and bursting with roe. So good.

Seafood zosui - chunks of fish and octopus and lots of crunchy seaweed. I would have liked the broth to be a little more flavorful, but it was good.

I also forgot to take a picture of the ume onigiri we shared with the pickles I love. So good. But I was hungry.

And for dessert, we headed down to Beard Papa's and had a cookie crunch cream puff filled with vanilla cream! I wanted strawberry but we'd just missed it. I love Beard Papa's.

Raku
424 E 2nd St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213.625.1751

Honda-ya Izakaya
333 S Alameda #314
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 625-1184

Beard Papa's
333 S Alameda #314
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 625-1184

Happy Birthday: The Bazaar

2009-06-01T12:15:00.000-07:00

Back from LA after some MAJOR food adventures. Took tons of pictures, so bear with me here...

For my birthday dinner in LA with two of my closest girlfriends, we went to The Bazaar, in the SLS Hotel. It's apparently the only 4 star rated restaurant in the LA Times. A Spanish tapas place that does some really cool and inventive stuff. The restaurant lobby itself is a fun vibe, very circusy and eclectic. We had a really late dinner reservation (10 pm) so the bar was hopping by the time we got there. The table was still being set (ie: we waited 40 minutes before being seated!) so we grabbed a couple of drinks at the bar first. I ordered a passion fruit martini (so good) and my friend ordered a "jale berry" which was made with blackberries, gin, cointreau and jalepeno. Spicy and sweet, very nice.

Once we were seated, they gave us a complimentary order of sweet potato chips with yogurt dipping sauce (laced with star anise and tamarind) to start, and then told us our first round of drinks would be free! So we ordered two of the tableside nitro capirnhas and one magic mojito. Watching the capirinha being made was awesome -- it ended up being this sorbet type thing in a glass, and was VERY strong. The mojito was cool too -- they poured the mojito over cotton candy. Surprisingly very not sweet.

From there on, it was rounds of food after rounds of food.

First up, kumamoto oysters in olive oil and lemon, served in a tin in homage of the Spanish canning tradition. Really sweet and tasty.

Next, a miso "linguine" with smoked salmon roe and tomato. At first bite it wasn't that flavorful, but once you got the salmon roe, that's where the flavor popped.

The "not your everyday" caprese was one of my favorites. Tomatoes, small bread bites (puffy and airy), and these liquid mozzarella balls (when you bit into the membrane, liquified mozzarella burst into your mouth. Sounds gross but really good), with pesto and olive oil/balsamic.

Two types of olives. A traditional green with anchovies, and a liquid olive, similar to the mozzarella in which it was a membrane and inside was liquid olive. Very tasty.

Oven roasted Cippolini onions with clementines on top with passion fruit and pumpkin seed oil. So good. I love onions.

Codfish fritters with a honey dipping sauce. Simple but so good.

Foie gras cotton candy! I love foie gras, so this was just such a wonderful little sweet bite. So delicious. I could have popped these all night.

Cauliflower cous cous with pomegranate and raisins. The cous cous was so small! This was really flavorful and paired well with the lamb we had below.

The lamb looked kinda gross when it came out because it was just a blob. The sauce on top was some kind of mushroom sauce surrounded by potato foam. The lamb was underneath and was actually quite tender and good.

We also got a "smoked" salmon -- it was served with a lid on top and when he pulled off the lid, all this smoke escaped. The salmon retained a very nice smokey flavor. It was set atop a chickpea cake surrounded by lightly cooked cucumbers and edamame beans. Not our favorite of the night but still good.

For dessert, we ordered two things. One was a nitro coconut floating island with passion fruit sauce. Couldn't tell you exactly what it was but it was good! The second was a greek yogurt panna cotta with apricot foam and surprise apricot/muscat puree at the bottom! I love panna cotta so that was good.

All in all a FABULOUS meal. Really fun and worth going to! It's worth it just to even go to the bar and have a couple of drinks and small plates to share alone. Yum....

Thanks to Minky and JML for a wonderful dinner!

The Bazaar
465 S La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles, CA
(310) 247-0400

Food Festival: Taste of Little Italy

2009-05-28T00:49:00.001-07:00

For my birthday I wanted to go to the Taste of Little Italy event because I hadn't gone to Little Italy at all, really. So two of my friends shelled out the $40 for the ticket and off we went, with our little maps in hand.

It was really quite fun, since the card told us which places were serving what, and where they were all located. We wanted to hit all 20 places, but in the end, we only hit 15. Pictures below!

Indigo Grill: Ceviche

Illume Bistro: Pork shoulder with orzo, spinach and feta cheese

Petrini's: Sausage and meatballs, canoli

Anthology: Watermelon salad with arugula and toasted pepita seed

Enoteca Style: Prosecco

Buon Appetito/Sogno DiVino: Farfalle with mushroom and Penne in some cream sauce

Yogurtland: Vanilla wafer and orange cream froyo

Vincenzo Ristorante Italiano: Ravioli stuffed with spinach, goat cheese and ricotta in pink sauce

Caffe Italia: Lemon bar

Caffe Italia: cappucino

Cafe Zucchero/Trattoria Fantastica: Cappucino cake

Mimmo's Italian Village Deli & Restaurant: Cavatappi pasta with sausage and spicy tomato sauce

Mimmo's Italian Village Deli & Restaurant: Penne in basil pesto

Zia's Bistro: Penne with chicken, asparagus, sundried tomatoes in cheese sauce

The Glass Door: Miang of king crab with ginger, lime, coconut palm sugar drizzle and dragon fruit mojito

Pappalecco: Pear gelato

Really fun time!!! Though I definitely got pasta-ed out by the end. Still, totally fun way to spend my bday night in lieu of a traditional bday dinner!

Taco Tuesday: Old Town Mexican Cafe

2009-05-28T00:30:00.000-07:00

Hung out in Old Town yesterday, doing the touristy thing. By 7, I was starved and there was a HUGE line in front of Fred's for some reason. Which makes no sense to me, because I think of it as an eh Mexican chain that simply reminds me of spring break. Instead, we went to Old Town Mexican Cafe. I was sucked in the moment I passed by the windows and saw the women making tortillas. A surefire way to capture my attention is to show me the food being made!

I ordered a carnitas taco and a pozole soup (which I've been thinking about since I had pozole last in Encinitas!).

The carnitas didn't look so pretty - it was just this taco with lettuce and a single slice of tomato, so I was a little dubious. The meat itself was good, though nothing I was in awe over. What I WAS in awe over was the tortilla. No joke. It was bubbly and fresh and slightly crispy but a little doughy... omg, so good. The taco was also HUGE! Lucky for me I only ordered one -- I considered another one since it was Taco Tuesday and the soup didn't seem like it would be that much in addition. Wrong. They ran out of "regular" sized soups, so for the same price they gave me a large. This pozole, unlike the one I had last time, was not a red one, but a white pozole. Still delicious -- big chunks of pork and lots of hominy and tons of oregano and red pepper flakes and lime juice and onions on the side to throw in (I avoided the cilantro as I do). Really tasty, and so big I couldn't finish it all. Leftovers = lunch!

Old Town Mexican Cafe has had a lot of hype, but I'd say it was pretty damn good and reasonably cheap. I like the atmosphere too. And those tortillas.. mmm..

Old Town Mexican Cafe
2489 San Diego Ave
San Diego, CA 92110
(619) 297-4330

Revisited: Urban Solace

2009-05-28T00:08:00.000-07:00

I love Urban Solace, so I took my visiting friend for his last meal in SD. He wanted to try the duckaroni!

For appetizer, we had the cheese biscuits that OC had loved when she came to visit. They were as good as I remembered. Crisp on the outside, buttery on the inside, with bits of garlic and cheese and whatnot. And that delicious butter!

For mains, my friend ordered the entree portion of the duckaroni. So good.

I had the dungeness crab "pop-tart" -- the middle was crab and some veggies, topped with salad. Really tasty.

We were too full for dessert!

I love this place and will miss it when I'm gone...

Picnicing out East: K's Sandwiches and Julian's Cafe and Bakery

2009-05-27T23:42:00.000-07:00

On our way to Borrego Springs, we picked up K's Sandwiches to picnic later. I got the K's Special, which is the combo anywhere else. I've heard that K's is one of the best bahn mi in SD so I've been meaning to try it. The place is big, and has a large menu of shakes. I got an avocado shake, which was really yummy. The sandwich itself was okay... it could have used a little more pate and I missed having sriracha, though the bread was nice. It was good, but unremarkable. I liked it though, but not so much more that I'd make the drive out there all the time. I'm pretty happy with Cali Baguette near me!

On our way back from Borrego Springs, we went to Julian for apple pie. We wanted to go to Mom's but it was closed, so we went to Julian's Cafe. It was so good! I thought people were exaggerating when they said the apple pie there was amazing, but it actually was! It wasn't too sweet, the apples were perfect in texture (not too soft but not too firm), and the fact that you could choose to have a crumb crust instead of pastry crust was awesome! It was really one of the best apple pies I've ever had!

Definitely try the apple pie in Julian if you haven't already!

K's Sandwiches
7604 Linda Vista Rd
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 278-8961

Julian's Cafe and Bakery
2112 Main St
Julian, CA 92036
(760) 765-2712

Revisited: Crazee Burger

2009-05-27T00:52:00.001-07:00

I took my friend to get burgers from Crazee Burger too, since he's a burger lover.

He tried the Santorini burger, which is half beef, half lamb, with tzatziki sauce. He said it was REALLY good, like having gyro street meat but having a burger at the same time. We also shared their fries.

I had the Aloha burger this time, which was delicious. It's basically a beef burger with terriyaki sauce and pineapple. Really tasty.

Nothing more to add. Crazee Burger is still just awesomeness for burgers in SD.

Tacos in SD: Tacos El Paisa and Mariscos German Taco Truck'

2009-05-26T23:43:00.000-07:00

My friend from back East was visiting, and so obviously, the must have items here in SD are some good tacos. I decided we should make two separate trips -- one for your traditional red meat tacos, and one for seafood tacos.

The first trip we made was to Tacos El Paisa in Memorial. The place is super cute, with a lot of outdoor seating. We were told to order outside at the outside truck type station. Neither of us speaks any Spanish, so the menu was a bit tough, aside from the obvious carnitas, asada and pollo. We eventually ordered a carnitas, an asada and one adobada and one more which I can't remember... pork shoulder?

The outside area to order tacos

We sat down and were immediately given a tray full of different salsas, guacamole, radishes and carrots, as well as a small plate with grilled peppers and onions and a cup of refried beans each. So good.

The tray of condiments we were given

A plate of spicy peppers and grilled onions... actually the peppers weren't too spicy, and quite nice to eat.

These refried beans were really really good for some reason. Smokey flavored.

Where they were grilling the peppers and onions.

The tacos were good, though the problem was that I had no idea which was which. We both liked this one taco that had a really fatty, melt-in-your-mouth meat in it, but unfortunately, I couldn't tell you which taco it was. I'm a taco novice, coming from New York, so forgive me.

Our tacos... I actually asked for mine without the cilantro since I hate cilantro, but this looks prettier.

We also each had a pineapple drink which was really tasty.

A bit sweet, but nice.

The next day for lunch, I took him to Marisco's taco truck on University in City Heights. It's basically located in this dirt lot.

Again, we ran into the same problem of not knowing what anything was. We wanted to try a fish, a gobernador and a marlyn, but they ran out of the marlyn, so each of us just had two fish and a gobernador instead. They gave us a cup of vegetable based soup, then we sat down at one of the two picnic tables in the lot and waited for our names to be called.

Taco truck!

The menu neither of us could really decipher.

The soup was really nice. It had cabbage and celery floating in it, was light and a little bit spicy, and a really good way to kick off the meal.

The soup... complimentary!

The fish tacos were AWESOME. Maybe a little more batter than I'd like, but beyond that, so freaking crispy and light and perfect. But I might say that this is the best fish taco I've had in San Diego. Or ever. The gobernador was good, though I kind of wished for the fish to be chopped up so it was easier to eat.

So good...

Overall, really good, and I wish I had known what the other things were so I could have tried them.

The problem with both these places is that they don't really speak English, so communication is a little bit of a struggle, but they're both really inexpensive and worth taking the trip to!

Tacos El Paisa
3096 National Ave
San Diego, CA 92113

Marisco's German Taco Truck 3
3504 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 392-2351

Revisited: Boiling Crab!

2009-05-26T23:33:00.001-07:00

I took my visiting friend to Boiling Crab because I knew he'd like it (we went to the Euclid location this time). This time we got crawfish, sausage, corn, clams and one HUGE dungenness crab. Everything was delicious just like before, but oh man, that crab!! It was SO BIG, but so moist. I'm not sure if it's just that on the East coast, dungenness isn't as fresh or what, but the flesh in this crab was so meaty and moist that it was good all on its own. Nums.

Corn and crawfish

Clams

Huge dungenness!

I am officially a huge fan of Boiling Crab and will miss it when I move back East.

LA Food Trip: Father's Office, Kogi Truck, Scoops

2009-05-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went up to LA for the weekend to visit some friends, and in the process got to hit two meals I've been wanting to have!

For dinner on Thursday night, we went to Father's Office in Culver City for their beers and burgers, two things I love.

We all got the Office Burger, which is basically a delicious beef patty with arugula, caramelized onions and blue cheese on a sub type bun. Mine came out a little rarer than I normally like my burgers, but the quality of beef was so good that I didn't mind -- in fact, it was quite tasty because it was so tender and melt-in-your-mouth. I ordered a beer which was dark and smokey and slightly sweet.

Beer and burger... nums.

Inside of the burger. So good despite it's rawness.

We also ordered a basket of sweet potato fries which came with tartar sauce to dip it in.

I love sweet potato fries!

On Friday for lunch, we stalked down the famous Kogi truck.

Kogi truck spotted!

The menu...

I was really excited, and felt the need to try every type of Kogi taco - 2 short rib, one spicy pork, one chicken and one tofu. All topped with a little sriracha and a squeeze of lime. They were all quite tasty, and I love having kimchi in my taco! I think the slightly pickled flavor and crunchy texture go so well in a taco... I wonder how it'd taste with my carnitas.... My favorite taco was the short rib, but I think that's because I've always liked kalbi better than bulgogi anyway. The meat in the tacos were okay -- it wouldn't win any awards at a Korean bbq, but they were good enough and I think the novelty of the Kogi tacos were just worth it. $2 a taco isn't too bad anyway.

The chicken and tofu tacos

I think this is the pork...

Short rib?

For dessert, we finished off our meal with some ice cream at Scoops. I am such a fan of unusual ice cream flavors, and had a lot of trouble settling on a flavor. Finally I went with strawberry lavender, because I love lavender flavored desserts, though I seriously thought about blueberry honey for a moment. My friends had a guava sorbet that was really refreshing.

Guava sorbet on the right, strawberry lavender on the left. So colorful and pretty!

It was a really successful food trip... like most of my trips to LA!

Father's Office (two locations)
3229 Helms Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 736-2224

1018 Montana Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90403
(310) 393-2337

Kogi Truck
Moves daily - check Twitter!

Scoops
712 N Heliotrope Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90029

Homemade Italian: La Taverna

2009-05-21T13:40:00.000-07:00

Cyn took me out to an early birthday dinner last night. She asked me to pick a place, but I couldn't come up with one -- not for lack of options, but simply because there's SO MUCH I could eat! In the end, she decided to take me to her favorite Italian place in La Jolla, La Taverna. It's a small cozy place and was empty when we arrived. Cyn mentioned it's one of those local gems that nobody really knows about, which in my experience usually means consistent, good fare.

We started off with some appetizers, a caprese salad and some tiny meatballs with crostini. Both were really solid. The salad needed some balsamic I thought, but luckily the bread came with a ramikin of garlic balsamic vinegar which I drizzled over my mozzerella and tomatoes.

Next, we each had a pasta. She got the gnocchi with vodka sauce, which was very good. The gnocchi wasn't overly sticky or gummy like they can be sometimes, and the vodka sauce had a tiny bit of heat which gave it a nice kick.

I ordered the Pasta Toscana, which was essentially spaghetti with pesto, parmasean and tomatoes diced on top. Because I love my protein, I asked for sausage to be added on, which felt a tiny bit out of place on the dish (chicken might have been better) but I love my sausage so I wasn't complaining.

For dessert, we were given an option of two homemade cakes. The first was a chocolate cake, which sounded good, but I was in love the moment he mentioned a banana walnut cake. I love banana desserts. And this banana cake was really yummy. Huge though, and we ultimately couldn't finish the whole thing.

Thanks Cyn for the delicious birthday dinner! Good food and good company -- what more can you want? :)

La Taverna
927 Silverado St
La Jolla, CA 92037
(858) 454-0100

Getting my hands dirty: Boiling Crab

2009-05-21T13:23:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I went up to Orange County for Minky's birthday. For brunch, we went to Boiling Crab, which I'd never been to, but apparently is so popular on weekends that you have to get there before it even opens so you can secure your place on line.

The premise is simple but delicious -- order crawfish, shrimp, clams, oysters, crab legs by the pound, and they cook it in a Cajun sauce, throw it in a bag and dump it on your table, where you can dig in.

For this particular fest, we ordered crawfish, which came with corn and sausages, shrimp and king crab legs (they ran out of blue and dungeness unfortunately). We also ordered sweet potato fries. I got a shot of the crawfish and shrimp before I started eating, and after that, my fingers were too dirty (delectably so) for me to catch the rest of the food. I love crawfish and haven't had it in awhile, so this was really satisfying. The corn was also really good, soaked in that Cajun sauce. Nums.

Crawfish, corn and sausages all in a mixed bag... can we say heaven?

I normally hate having to peel shrimp, esp shrim with heads, but this was totally fine by me!

I was a little disappointed by the crab legs, but I think it's just the nature of king crab in that it's simply not flavorful enough.

No drawn butter here -- they give you little plastic cups of salt and pepper and a mound of limes to squeeze juice into them. I actually liked the lime juice dip for the shrimp and crab, just make sure to use lots of juice so it's not too salty!

This place is amazing... and I was told by the waiter that they're soon opening one up in San Diego, so San Diegans, keep your eye out!

Boiling Crab (multiple locations)
14241 Euclid St. #C-116
Garden Grove, CA 92843
714.265.CRAB

13892 Brookhurst St.
Garden Grove, CA 92843
714.636.4885

742 W. Valley Blvd.
Alhambra, CA 91803
626.576.9368

Crepes: Bino's European Cafe

2009-05-10T21:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to Coronado for the beach -- by far the best beach in all of San Diego, and I plan to go quite a few more times before leaving San Diego. Unfortunately, the clouds rolled in in the afternoon, so we ended up going to get a reallly early dinner (4:30 pm) at Bino's. We had passed by on our way to the beach, and I was dying to get crepes, so we came by on our way back.

I ordered a savory crepe with ham and cheese. It was pretty good, though I kinda like my crepes rolled up and a littttle less cheese coulda been nice. But otherwise, it was really tasty.

One of my friends ordered the spinach salad with strawberries, goat cheese and candied walnuts. It looked amazing.

My other friend ordered a proscuitto, pepper and mozzarella sandwich, which came with a side salad. She said it was really good.

For dessert, we shared a nutella banana crepe, which was FANTASTIC and totally hit the spot.

Portions sizes were pretty big considering the price, and the atmosphere is very French cafe like, so I'd totally come by again some other time.

Bino's European Cafe
1120 Adella Avenue
Coronado, CA 92118
(619) 522-0612

Study break: Eclipse Chocolat

2009-05-10T19:05:00.000-07:00

I met my friend D for lunch at Mama's Bakery for lunch the other day. Afterwards, we went around the corner to Eclipse Chocolat to get some dessert. I didn't try any of the chocolates, but I did get this Almond Marshmallow Cupcake:

The almonds were great with the chocolate ganache. And inside in the center was a fresh made marshmallow! The cake was yellow cake, and in itself, not the most moist or delicious cake, but the combo of the marshmallow and chocolate and almond was good enough to make it really tasty.

I also had a lavender vanilla lemonade, which was nice, though nothing spectacular. I'm going to have to go back and try their truffles and drinking chocolates.

They also have free wifi there, so I stayed and did some work for a little bit.

Eclipse Chocolat
2121 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 578-2984

Pastrami out of NY: D.Z. Akins

2009-05-10T18:31:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, I went to lunch at D.Z. Akins with my friend S., who I hadn't seen in awhile. I'd been meaning to try it for awhile since I miss my Jewish delis back home, and this place is supposed to be awesome.

I ordered a reuben, because I miss reubens like crazy. Even better, I was allowed to alternate pastrami and corned beef, which made the sandwich even better. S ordered just a regular pastrami/corned beef sandwich, which she said was good too. The sandwiches were ginormous, although not as crazy as Katz's in NY. The meat was good -- flavorful, tender, just good. The cole slaw was so-so, unfortunately, but they did have a jar of unlimited pickles at each table, which, for a pickle eater like me, was so awesome!

Then afterwards, we shared a HUGE brownie from their bakery case. The brownie was all right - drier than I'd like.

I'd like to go back though and try some of the more "Jewish" stuff, like matzoh ball soup, etc.

DZ Akins
6930 Alvarado Rd
San Diego, CA 92120
(619) 265-0218

Mexican Soup: La Especial Norte

2009-04-28T18:52:00.000-07:00

On Monday, I went to La Especial Norte in Encinitas for lunch. The company I was with told me that, although this place offers typical Mexican food items, we could ONLY order soup here. I don't know if that means the rest of the food is just mediocre or what, but I took the advice.

The list of soups were numerous, and to be honest, I had no idea what most of them were. However, I had heard a lot about pozole soup since moving here, and still had yet to try it, so when I saw it on the menu, I went for it. My companion ordered an eggplant soup.

The soup was awesome. Unfortunately, I didn't capture an image of it, so the picture below is pulled from elsewhere, just to give you an idea of what it looks like. I was given a choice of pork or chicken, but of course I went for the pork. The soup was flavorful, full of tender fatty pork chunks and big pieces of what reminded me of Peruvian corn because they were so big. It was accompanied with a plate of radishes, raw cabbage, chopped onion and limes, all of which I threw into the soup, along with shakers of oregano and chili flakes, as well as a tortilla on the side. So tasty.

This is a stolen image from elsewhere since I didn't get to take a picture of mine. It looks a lot like mine though... minus the cilantro.

Apparently the version I had was a "red" pozole - there's supposedly two other types, one that is plain and white, and one that is green, made with tomatillos. And supposedly sometimes they are accompanied by fried pork rinds (so bad... yet so good). I am now on a hunt to try other versions now that I've experienced this yummy soup. :)

La Especial Norte
664 N Coast Hwy 101
Encinitas, CA 92024
(760) 942-1040

Brooklyn's Best-Kept Secret Spilled Here

2009-04-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

Tom's Restaurant.

That's right. I've said it.

Tom's has been one of two restaurants ever that has made me consider moving.
Tom's is a classic New York diner type place, with black-and-white photos of B-list celebrities on the walls, packed with kitsch and scarecrows and fly-by plates of free samples (ok, so maybe not that typical). It's in Prospect Park, just off the Brooklyn Museum stop, so you can pop by for breakfast before going to check out the cherry blossom festival or the totally under-appreciated art at the Brooklyn Museum.

The wait staff are the nicest people in the world, and the line to get in wraps around the block. But never fear, it moves quick and people bring you trays of beef sausage samples and coffee to keep you perky.

I suggest breakfast, only because I've had it there twice. I had the harvest pancakes--sweet corn and dried cranberries--with a side of kind of spiritual homemade beef sausage. My dad had pumpkin walnut pancakes, and my sister blueberry ricotta parmasan pancakes. (My brother had an omelette, that loser.)

Yumm harvest pancakes. Notice the three kinds of special homemade whipped butter everything's served with. One is apple cinnamon, one is (we think) strawberry, and the third is a mystery, although a good guess was apple walnut.

<3 Pancakey love.

"New York" Style Pizza: Pizzeria Luigi

2009-04-27T02:48:00.000-07:00

There are a few things that they do in New York better than anywhere else: 1. Bagels. 2. Corned beef/pastrami. 3. Pizza. (I'm sure that's not all, but I'm simplifying here.) I never eat a bagel outside of New York if I can help it for this very reason, am consistently disappointed by reubens, and accept that I can have "different" kinds of pizza outside of NY. Like Papa Johns or CPK. I like my gourmet pizza's too, the thin-crust kind that they also serve in places in NY like Serafina's or Patsy's.

But I love NY style pizza. I love that it's just the right thinness, with just the right amount of sauce and melty cheese, and a crust that is more crunchy than doughy, but still just the slightest amount of dough. I love the perfect garlicky flavor infused in the pizza. Some say it's the water. The brick ovens. Whatever it is, it's GOOD.

Yeah, it's slightly different everywhere. I love Famiglia's. I love Koronet's. I love this little hole in the wall place by where I used to work called La Strada (looks like a shithole, but the sauce in that pizza is perfection). I LOVE the pizza from an Italian restaurant near my apartment building (okay, granted that's in Hudson county, but still).

So when I came to SD, I stopped eating pizza. No joke. I think I had it once, for Super Bowl, where I ordered from this place across the street from me. It was all right. Better than Domino's, but definitely not NY style.

Then I heard of this place in Golden Hill called Pizzeria Luigi. First from a friend who saw it on the Food Channel, and then from another friend who lives literally a block away from it. Supposedly, I was told, they serve New York style pizza. So OF COURSE, I put it on my list of to-eats.

The place is nothing special to look at - it's eating area is small, although the area behind the counter is surprisingly large and bustling with people - very different from the cramped corridors of a NY pizzeria. Nonetheless.

I am accosted by interesting options in the display window, and ultimately decide for my two slices, an artichoke and marinara slice (to which I add fresh tomatoes) and a ricotta and spinach slice (to which I add mushrooms). The first is yummy, because I love artichokes and haven't gotten a normal slice with artichokes on it. It works well with the marinara on top, which sits there in dollops. Then I make the discovery about the spinach/ricotta one -- there's no marinara in it at all! It's a white pizza! And this is a problem because, well, the cheese isn't all that substantial. It tastes all right, but I miss my marinara.

That big black bump is a scorched bubble... of nothingness.

So I decide what I must do, to get a true account of this place, is to get a plain slice. I've satiated my hunger on the two slices, so this is definitely gratuitous. But, all in the name of research. My first bite of it, and I can tell a few things immediately: 1. Crust is a bit soggy. 2. Cheese is not melty or stringy enough. 3. Marinara is too sweet and not garlicky enough. Thus, my verdict is, it's good for a craving, but not quite right.

The true test is in the plain slice!

Of course, nothing can beat New York's.

On a side note though, they do offer an impressive range of bottled beers for pretty cheap, including my favorite, Chimay, and are open fairly late on a weekend. Which means you can just sit there and drink if you'd like. :)

Also, as an update: Just thought you might like to see the cupcake I got from Babycakes this past weekend - called the Black Bottom cupcake. Chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and inside (on the bottom) is cream cheese cake with raspberries. Very good.

Cupcake with a Morrocan mint tea. Enjoyed on their outside patio with their wall art in the back!

Pizzeria Luigi
1137 25th St
San Diego, CA 92102
(619) 233-3309

Babycakes
3766 5th Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 296-4173

Dinner by the beach: El Pescador

2009-04-24T19:56:00.001-07:00

Last weekend was a really nice weekend in San Diego, so on Saturday I went to La Jolla Cove to do some reading a little before sunset. Afterwards, I walked up to Pearl St. to El Pescador, a seafood market/restaurant. It was completely packed. I'd been there once before, for lunch when my parents were in town. At the time, I'd gotten a grilled fish taco and a clam chowder, both very good and fresh.

This time I got the grilled Cajun snapper plate, which came with a salad and rice. I also ordered avocado for the side, which they forgot to give me, and I didn't realize until I was almost done! The fish was really fresh and flavorful. I was sitting by some people having salmon burgers which also looked really delicious.

Delicious cajun snapper.

The avocado that came when I was almost finished!

There's something really great about having a simple grilled fish or a fish sandwich, and that's it, and the seafood here really is quite good. You can also take raw stuff for home, and they also sell shellfish, shrimp, chowder, and stuff like seaweed salad and ceviches. Really good.

El Pescador
627 Pearl St
La Jolla, CA 92037
(858) 456-2526

OC's Visit to SD, Day 7: Crazee Burger, Azucar and Ba Ren

2009-04-23T23:28:00.000-07:00

It was OC's last day in San Diego, so we had to make the most of it.

We started our day off at Crazee Burger in University Heights. They have good burgers, including some really interesting options, so we decided to try a couple. OC had a gator burger with curry fruit tapenade, which was good (I had a bite), but I think she said it was rubbery at places. I had a venison burger with red wine poached pears, bacon, mushrooms and cream and plum jelly. It was less gamey than I expected, and the combo of flavors were delicious, although I must say I still prefer a traditional beef burger. We also shared a side of their fries, which are dusted with parmesan and garlic.

In my enthusiasm to eat, I forgot to take pictures. But these two stamps represent our burger consumption!

After we went to Legoland again (yes, we went back to get to the 2nd half of the park!), we rushed to Ocean Beach to try to get to Azucar before they closed. I'd heard about Azucar, a Cuban bakery, and I really wanted to try it. We made it with like 10 minutes to spare, and OC hopped out while I searched for parking. By the time I went into the bakery, she had ordered half a dozen things and put them into a box. These included a cinco leches cake, an artemisa (coconut pinneapple cake), a coconut cupcake, a key lime cupcake, and a flan de queso. Later, OC would awaken me with a loud exclamation of joy as she took a bite of the cinco leches. She also got this caramel coconut cookie thing to eat immediately, and I got a mojito cookie. The mojito cookie was SO good, it actually tasted like a mojito. We enjoyed the coconut cupcake later that night, and everything else, OC took a bite from the next day and left it for me. All the desserts were delicious, but the cinco leches was definitely amazing with its toasted almonds on top. I also liked the flan, which was surprisingly dense. I'll definitely be going back soon to try something new :)

Some caramel cookie

Mojito cookie and our big box of bakery goods.

The desserts from Azucar

Then we walked around the farmer's market, where OC bought a blue cheese truffle (strange but surprisingly delicious) and I bought a Scotch Egg, which is basically a hardboiled egg wrapped in sausage and rolled in breadcrumbs.

Scotch egg with some mustard and sauce

Amazingly, despite all this munching, we still went to get dinner at a place I'd read about and was DYING to try: Ba Ren Szechuan (in Clairemont Mesa).

Some background: my parents currently live in Beijing right now, and I go back once a year to visit them, and when I do, all I do is eat Chinese food. Because, frankly, America has very little authentic Chinese cuisine, and VERY little GOOD Chinese cuisine. My favorite regional Chinese cuisine is Szechuan food - I love ths spiciness of it, thanks to hua jiao - Szechuan peppercorn. It's really fragrant and spicy in a different way than your typical chilis. However, most Szechuan places in America just use regular chili oil for some reason, so I'm always on the lookout for a place that does good Szechuan.

My favorite dish, possibly in the whole world, is la zi ji, a sort of Szechuan style popcorn chicken. It's bite sized chicken fried in a huge pile of chilis and hua jiao and garlic, and is intensely flavorful if done right. So of course when I saw it on Ba Ren's menu, I had to get it. It was the best I've had in America. Spicy, with the strong fragrance of hua jiao, not too greasy. It could have been a little bit crispier, but it was by far the best version I've had outside of China.

This would be my last meal if I had to have one.

We also ordered spicy braised duck with taro jelly slices, which was also really good. We'd expected chunks of taro, instead of jelly slices, but I really liked the texture of the jelly, which was a cross between chewy and crunchy (Chinese people are suckers for texture). The sauce was really flavorful and spicy, perfect for rice.

I removed all the cilantro before we dug in.

Lastly, we ordered a vegetable - cabbage cooked in vinegar and chili. Simple, but really really delicious. So delicious in fact, that when the waitress came to clear the plates and put the other stuff into takeaway, she was like, "You probably don't want any more of this, right?" gesturing to the cabbage, and we both clamored, "No, no! We want that too!" It came back to us in a tiny tiny container.

This was DELICIOUS despite how simple it is.

For dessert, they gave us complimentary bowls of a cold red bean/wild rice porridge. Lightly sweetened. It was the perfect thing to finish a meal of intense spicy flavors.

Sometimes it's really nice to have something light to finish a meal off with.

It was so good, that it was by far my favorite meal out of the meals we'd shared. Probably exacerbated that I rarely eat Chinese food in San Diego, while when I was in New York, I'd go to Chinatown at least once a week for dim sum. And this Chinese food was exceptionally good. I HIGLY recommend it to anyone looking for authentic Chinese. And I can't wait to go back.

Unfortunately this was the end of OC's visit, but I know we'll soon be reunited when I go back to New York for new eats... and until then, we'll keep eating in our separate paths!

Tioli's Crazee Burger
4201 30th St
San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 282-6044

Azucar
4820 Newport Ave
Ocean Beach, CA 92107
(619) 523-2020

Ba Ren
4957 Diane Ave
San Diego, CA 92117
(858) 279-2520

OC's Visit to SD, Day 6: El Zarape and Legoland

2009-04-23T23:17:00.001-07:00

We decided to go to Legoland on this day, so before we went, we went to El Zarape in University Heights to grab some tacos.

I love this place. The scallop tacos are seriously so good. So of course, I ordered a scallop taco, a fish taco and a lobster taco. All were freaking delicious. OC ordered a fish taco, a mahi mahi taco and a carnitas taco. I haven't tried their meat tacos yet, but it looked good. Plus, their 99 cent fish taco can't be beat!

Fish taco, scallop taco, and lobster taco. They were all delicious.

Carnitas, mahi mahi, fish.

Then we went to Legoland, which was so much fun! But what made me most excited were their granny apple fries! Exclusive to Legoland! They're basically these apples in strips, dusted with cinnamon and sugar, and served with vanilla cream. They're sooo good.

Granny apple fries! I kept getting cream all over my fingers. So good I kinda wanted more.

Because we had so many leftovers, we decided to stay in tonight and eat them all. And even then we didn't finish them all!

El Zarape
4642 Park Blvd
San Diego, CA 92116
(619) 692-1652

OC's Visit to SD, Day 5: Cali Baguette and Pomegranate

2009-04-23T22:41:00.000-07:00

Monday was the warmest day during the time OC was here, so we decided that we'd grab bahn mi from Cali Baguette Express to go for the beach.

I love Cali Baguette. It's close to me (in Rolando), and it's like a bahn mi place/mini-Asian snack mart. In addition to the delicious Vietnamese sandwiches, they also sell stuff like spring rolls, buns, desserts, bubble tea, and Asian candies and snacks. Plus they have a drive-thru!

One of the things I love about San Diego is the easy access to bahn mi. I love Vietnamese sandwiches, but in New York you pretty much have to venture to Chinatown to get one (although recently, according to this article, new "gourmet" places are flooding the market), and it's more expensive! Bahn mi here are like $2.50 a pop - cheap lunch!

Anyway, we both ordered a combo bahn mi -- for those not in the know, it's basically a French baguette with various meats, pate, a bit of mayo, chili, cucumber, pickled radish and carrots, and cilantro (though I usually take that out). And a little bit of fish sauce! Cali Baguette isn't necessarily the best bahn mi I've ever had (this time there was an apparent newbie in the kitchen who left off the fish sauce), but it's pretty solid and it's close! I still have yet to try K's, which I hear is the best in SD...

Combo bahn mi on the beach. Nums.

We also got two milk teas to go. Since we were driving to Del Mar, we needed a couple of snacks to tide us over -- so we got two Vietnamese spring rolls and this sticky rice with peanuts and green bean (like red bean but green - not like peas - I don't know the proper English term for this) mixed in. The first was a steal - 2 for a buck - the second was really yummy. A little salty, a little sweet. Really good.

One of the best things about takeout bbt is the cute Asian cartoon lids

After the beach, we decided to go to Pomegranate Russian-Georgian, which I'd been to with Moonrat and Cyn in February. It's a really homey place with writing all over the walls, haphazard decorations, and a waitress whose accent you can barely understand. Apparently, the exec chef is an Irish guy named Jon, despite the fact that I hear it's really authentic. Jon also sits outside on a bench in the back and told us to Yelp them when we were leaving.

The inside of the restaurant.

We started with the salad sampler, which consisted of a cabbage salad with berries, a carrot salad, a beet salad, a mashed bean salad, a cucumber potato salad, a veggie ragout salad, as well as some pickled button mushrooms and red peppers. Everything was really good. The carrot one was OC's favorite. I liked just about everything, besides the veggie one, which had a bit too much cilantro for me.

Salad sampler!

Next, we each ordered a soup. I got the Russian peasant soup made with cabbage and smoked sausage and meat chunks (very bacon-y) and OC got the Jon's special soup which was a kidney bean soup with chunks of cheese. They were really delicious, but also REALLY filling and hearty!

Peasant soup

Kidney bean soup

Lastly, we ordered a chakapuli, which was a stewed lamb with onions and tarragon. This was a little bit underwhelming. Although the flavors were good, together they didn't pull together as well as they could have. I felt the flavor could have benefited from a bit more acid. The meat was very tender though.

Lamb

And one tiny random potato to accompany it. We mashed it with the herb butter!

By the way, they gave us some bread, and although we were too full to eat it, the butter was so good, we smashed it into our potato side.

In true Asian fashion, we included the bread and butter in our takeout container.

Oh, and to top it off, we text-harassed moonrat, who had threatened to unfriend me if I took OC to Pomegranate. All done out of love, my dear! :)

Cali Baguette Express
5125 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115
(619) 286-8888

Pomegranate Russian-Georgian
2302 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 297-4007

OC's Visit to SD, Day 4: Farmhouse Cafe and Muzita

2009-04-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

Day 4 was Easter Sunday, which meant brunch time! Since we'd gone to Urban Solace for lunch the day before, I didn't want to go back, even though I've been curious about their Bluegrass Brunch. Instead, I took her to Farmhouse Cafe, a French bistro on Adams, which I think is one of the best valued restaurants I've been too in SD. My family and I went there for dinner over the winter, and the food was really good, and really well-priced. Then again, I'm comparing to NYC prices though, so who knows.

I ordered the eggs en cocotte, which is basically eggs in a tomato-parmesan sauce baked in this crock, accompanied with rustic toast and potatoes. I hadn't thought of ever cooking eggs in this way and really enjoyed it. The toast was really crusty and nice too. Also, because I like having protein with my brunch, I ordered a side of chicken sausage. To top it off, I had a mango mimosa.

I thought the bread would be soft but it's actually crusty!

OC ordered the Easter special, which was a lamb hash. Think a corn beef hash, made of lamb. It was topped with eggs and mixed greens. I tried some of it, and it was really good. I love corn beef hash, so this totally won me over.

Easter special! Plus my mimosa

By dinner time, we were STARVING. We had spent the day at the Wild Animal Park, and after frolicking through the plains of "Africa", we decided to go to Muzita, an Abyssian bistro. I had no idea what Abyssian meant, but apparently it's comprised of Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine. First we ordered some honey wine, a really sweet wine served in a flask and sipped like sake.

Honey wine.

After ordering our entree, we were so hungry, we begged for anything they could make us in terms of appetizers. We were presented with birsn korosh, a lentil spread with fried injera chips. It was pretty good, though immediately after, our mains arrived.

The appetizer intended to tide us over in our hunger!

We ordered siga kilwa, which was like a stewed beef with different spices, and a zigini beggie, which was a lamb with tomato and onion. This came with hamli (collard greens) and alitcha atakilti (mixed stewed veggies) and a salad. All of this came on injera, of course (a thin spongy crepe-like bread). So of course as soon as this came, we dug in! Best part of Ethiopian is the fact that you get to use your hands! We ended up ordering more injera, thinking we could finish, but we ended up becoming so stuffed that we had to take home tons of leftovers.

All of our food on one big plate! It was so good...

The couple sitting next to us cleaned their plate. Or rather, I watched as the husband cleaned it. It was rather impressive :)

Farmhouse Cafe
2121 Adams Avenue
San Diego, CA 92116
(619) 269-9662

Muzita Abyssian Bistro
4651 Park Blvd
San Diego, CA 92116
(619) 546-7900

OC's Visit to SD, Day 3: Urban Solace and Whisk 'n' Ladle

2009-04-23T21:02:00.000-07:00

On Day 3, our friend Margaret came down from LA to visit, so of course we had to find some really delicious places to go.

For lunch, I wanted to go to Hash House, because I haven't been there yet, but when I called, the wait was 45 minutes, and we were STARVING. Instead, I went back to a favorite, Urban Solace, in North Park. I wanted to save it for their Sunday brunch, but their comfort food is so good, it's worth it to go at anytime.

We started with a couple of appetizers to share - a butternut squash/goat cheese dip that came with toasted bread and crackers, and cheese biscuits with orange-honey butter. They were both really good, but OC practically had an orgasm at the table in reaction to her first bite of the cheese biscuits. Her words were, if I recall, "I need to know how to recreate this right now."

Delicious dip!

OC's most favorite item we ate her entire visit

For our main courses:
OC ordered grilled cheese with tomato. It came with a tomato soup and sweet potato fries. Margaret had an ahi tuna sandwich which also came with sweet potato fries. I had pulled chicken and dumplings with gravy, which was delicious, because it was like a chicken pot pie without the pastry!

Grilled cheese with tomato - classic!

Ahi tuna sandwich

Those big white mounds are the dumplings... swimming in gravy!

For dinner, the three of us got dressed up to go to my favorite restaurant in SD, Whisk 'n' Ladle, located in La Jolla. The restaurant, like many of the fresh food restaurants in SD, changes its menu constantly, so even though this was my fifth time at the restaurant, there's always something new for me to try.

While waiting for our table, we ordered cocktails, which Whisk 'n' Ladle does really really well. My favorite is the Lavender cosmo, which has some vanilla and blueberry notes in it as well, and is garnished with a real sprig of lavender. Margaret got a honey and cucumber mimosa which was really refreshing. OC ordered a New Fashioned, which was basically straight bourbon with muddled apples and oranges, which she found too strong to consume, unfortuantely.

Next we ordered four dishes to share: a mixed greens salad with goat cheese, mussels in white wine with fries, bone marrow with garlic toast, and herb and ricotta ravioli.

Bread with herbed butter and salad with goat cheese

Bone marrow topped with parsley. Mussels with fries in the background.

Herbed ravioli (we ate a couple already!)

As always, everything was delicious. The soup in the mussels is quite creamy and rich, and we were using bread to sop it up. The bone marrow is one of my favorites -- I love scooping out the fatty rich marrow and spreading it all over the toast. The salad wasn't anything special aside from the goat cheese, which was really creamy and flavorful, but it was fresh and not over dressed. And the ravioli was also quite good, in a sort of balsamic sauce.

For dinner we shared the rose-scented creme brulee with cardamom shortbread. The great thing about this place is that its desserts are as good and inventive as their mains -- I hate when dessert is pedestrian and a letdown. In this case, OC wanted the creme brulee, which I'm glad she ordered, because I rarely order it at any restaurant, thinking it's too rich or not that special. But I actually really liked Whisk 'n' Ladle's version, because it was light and creamy, almost more custard/pudding-like than a thick flan. Really good.

Rose creme brulee topped with pistachios!

It was just the right amount of food for three people -- before I've always gone with two people and over ordered, going home too full, but at the end of the night here, I was really satisfied without feeling like I should become a bulimic.

Urban Solace
3823 30th St
San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 295-6464

Whisk n Ladle
1044 Wall St
La Jolla, CA 92039
(858) 551-7575

OC's Visit to SD, Day 2: Mama's Bakery and Pho Superbowl

2009-04-23T20:41:00.000-07:00

Topping our list of lunch places to visit was Mama's Bakery, a fabulous Lebanese bakery in University Heights that has shwarma plates, Lebanese wraps, baklava of all sorts and other deliciousness.

OC ordered a manakeesh "ultimate" wrap - basically a flatbread with herbs, tomatoes, olives, mint and yogurt sauce. I took a bite and it was so flavorful and delicious, that despite the fact that I normally miss protein in my food, it was quite satisfying. I had a meat/spinach/feta "pie" basically all this stuff baked into a flatbread pita thing. It was also really really good. Because we are fatties, we decided to share a fool mudamas, a bean puree stew type thing that came with pickled vegetables and pita. Because we couldn't resist, we also bought a bunch of different baklava for later - pistachio, walnut, rose, and one I can't remember. As we were leaving, I grabbed a yogurt mint drink, but it was kinda salty, which I don't like. Luckily for me, OC did.

From left to right: manakeesh wrap, fool mudamas with pickled vegetables, meat/spinach/cheese pie. Also, that little plastic container in the upper left is a bunch of baklava we bought!

For dinner that night we decided to go to Pho Superbowl, in La Mesa close to where I live, because it was kind of a rainy cold day. I love pho, and one of the great things about San Diego is that Vietnamese food is in abundance. I ordered a combination pho, which includes thinly sliced beef, beef balls, tendon, tripe and flank, while OC just got the flank + sliced beef pho. So good with a few squirts of hot sauce, hoisin sauce and sriracha sauce, a squeeze of lime and some chilis! We also each ordered a hot milk tea each. Soup + hot milk tea completely hits the spot on a cold day!

Combo pho. Num.

Full and satiated, we went out in the rain to go home.

Mama's Bakery
4237 Alabama St
San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 688-0717

Pho Superbowl
8342 Parkway Drive
La Mesa, CA 91942
(619) 469-8984

OC's Visit to SD, Day 1: Mama Testa's Taqueria and Babycakes

2009-04-19T01:37:00.000-07:00

The day of OC's arrival, the foremost question on our mind is, of course, what should we eat tonight?

Ultimately, we decide upon tacos, which takes us to one of my favorite taco places - Mama Testa's Taqueria in Hillcrest.

The best thing about this place is by far it's amazing salsa bar. They have every kind of salsa imaginable, including a mango salsa, a parmesan salsa, and my favorite, a sesame salsa. The only downside is they're not all that spicy, but they're so tasty, who cares? We also ordered a side of guacamole - Mama Testa's guac is really limey, which isn't how I make my guac, but am very happy to consume.

Salsa and guac and chips!

We started off with a bowl of sopa washanware each. It wasn't all that special - reminds me vaguely of the "fiesta chicken" soup they used to serve in our undergrad dining hall, but better. It's tasty but nothing to write home about.

Sopa Washanware

Then OC ordered the three soft taco combo plate. I can't remember which three she ordered, but my personal favorite, the Yucatecos, were out, unfortunately. Her plate came with a side of rice and beans. She said everything was pretty good.

I ordered the scallop tacos, which came with mashed potatoes. To my dismay, the scallops were overcooked and rubbery - nothing like the scallop tacos I've had at El Zarape (where we ended up going later in the week). So lesson learned - stick to the meat tacos here. Find seafood elsewhere.

Scallop tacos in front (bad flash), meat tacos in back, already eaten

After dinner, we headed to my favorite place in the whole world (okay, not quite, but possibly in all of San Diego), Babycakes. It is a cupcakery/coffee house in Hillcrest. What makes it great is the fact that there's a patio out front AND back for nice days, free wifi, tons of outlets, a fun music mix, and of course, delicious cupcakes.

The signage inside

Hard decisions...

Pistachio cupcakes in the spirit of Easter...

We each got ourselves a spiced cider, which kicks Starbucks' steamed cider anyday, and then OC got a blood orange cupcake and I got a pommy cupcake. The blood orange cupcake is filled with berry filling and oozes with it when you cut into it. The pommy cupcake is a combo of pomegranate, raspberry tea and green tea. As a serious lover of cupcakes, I have to say that one of the best things about their cupcakes is how incredibly moist they are. And when you eat in, they decorate the plate for you with syrup too!

Pommy cupcake

Blood orange cupcake

Staggeringly full, we waddled back to the car...

Mama Testa
1417A University Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 298-8226

Babycakes
3766 5th Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 296-4173

Food blog beginnings...

2009-04-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

Over dinner last night, Oriental Cracker and I were discussing our favorite meals of the week and what we'd have as our last meal. This led to more talk on how much we love food.

And then it came to us. Time to start a food blog!

So here we are. Two girls who love to eat more than anything in the whole world. And a place to record it.

First up: our adventures in San Diego. Coming soon...