Clayfu + Food = Clayfood.

Drago Centro (Los Angeles, CA)

2010-02-01T20:27:00.000-08:00

Quick note: All photos were taken by Nick with his slamdickityslick camera.

My good friend Nick and I wanted to re-ignite the spark that was missing from our Bro-Mance after a month of working at our new jobs. What better way than to re-unite over food? So we planned to meet for dinner during DineLA. After perusing the menus over the course of a week, we settled on Drago Centro.. conveniently located 3 blocks away from my office :P

For those unfamiliar to the Downtown area, one way streets, or the massive building park that Drago Centro is located in, you may get lost going to the restaurant. If you rely on your navigation you may get lost since it takes you down the wrong street. Not only is the restaurant hard to see at night, the underground parking is even harder.

The opening is no more than 2 car lengths wide and the signage is in small text/unlit at night. For those that do go... the entrance is on 5th, right past Flower, immediately on your left... 3 hour free valet parking with validation, a rarity in Downtown nowadays.

After you've finally found Drago you're greeted by a sleek modern decor. What used to be adorned with blood red chairs and modern art in its first year of conception is now occupied by black paint, glass, and bright light spotlighting a few tables. My kind of restaurant! I'm a sucker for dark decor with white linen and bright lights shining on the tables but not the diners. Reminds me of the Staples Center during Laker games.

Now when we first entered the restaurant we were set on getting the DineLA menu. Drago was one of the few places where their DineLA menu actually matched their own menu. They weren't giving you a half assed attempt at a "prix fixe" menu to draw you in and feed you food they'd never serve on their own menu. I don't know how many times I've seen chicken dishes on DineLA.. ugh.. a real pity. I remember back 4-5 years ago when San Diego's Restaurant Week gave you 3-4 choices off of the restaurant's regular menu...

That's a rant for another day............... and we're back on topic.

BUT our plans were thrown array when the waitress told us one of the specials of the day, Fresh Shaved Black Truffles over Ricotta stuffed Agnolotti. I'll be damned if I wasn't ordering that as one of the dishes. After huddling for a quick audible, Nick and I decided to individually get an appetizer and a pasta and split the black truffle dish.

We discussed our intentions with our server and she happily offered to have it put in as our "second" course.

After our menus were whisked away, we were promptly served with the Amuse.

Fresh Mozzarella with a basil puree and micro parsley

A light yet flavorful beginning to the meal. The creamy texture of the basil mixed with the cheese combined into a sea of soft milky goodness. Lickin my lips from the get go.

Shortly after the Amuse we were given a bread basket of pipping hot bread.

Really, who can say no to hot crunchy crusted ciabatta and french loaf? Certainly not I and if you do.. I'm pretty sure you also hate puppies and sunshine.

And what after destroying the bread basket we started on the appetizers.

First up to bat is the

La Burrata

Burrata, tomatoes, olive oil, crostino

There are few dishes out there that I almost have to order when I see it. Anything with Burrata and tomatoes is on that short list. It's that almost marshmallow like pull to the cheese that makes me do the happy dance in my mouth. Didn't hurt that this plate came with three generous pieces of God's gift to cheese.

We had to get one of their most popular appetizers...

l’insalata di polipo

baby octopus salad, blood orange, wild greens

I felt the octopus was a little chewy but I really enjoy the bitterness that comes from wild greens. They add an oompf to the dish that mixes really well with the bold citrus of blood orange.

We quickly dispensed with the appetizers and moved onto the second course. I could smell the second course coming from a mile away. The rich aroma of funk is so distinct that you can't forget it.

Yum. Black truffles.

Even yummier, black truffles over my pasta.

Ricotta Agnolotti, olive oil, black truffle from Norcia

A simple dish. Egg based Agnolotti made in house, a light fresh olive oil, stuffed with creamy ricotta. Simply put together to allow the black truffle to shine. Nick's first experience with black truffle and I could tell I've ruined his wallet for life. There's just something about the earthy richness that truffle imparts to a dish that just makes every taste bud in your mouth sing for joy.

Oh by the way, what you see above is a half portion. O_O! Imagine eating two plates of that. Drago is certainly generous with the truffles!

Our tastebuds had to rest after such a treat our "main" courses arrived.

le pappardelle al fagiano

pappardelle, roasted pheasant, morel mushrooms

I would be hard pressed to find more perfectly cooked pappardelle. The thickness of the noodle was perfect and the creme they added to the sauce gave it excellent structure. One of the best cooked pastas I've had the pleasure of eating.

The pheasant is prepared two ways. The pheasant leg is confit and the breast is sous vide. After they are cooked separately they are then sauteed together with a creme reduction.

i paccheri

paccheri, spot prawns, puttanesca sauce

Puttanesca is a hearty but salty sauce that's far more tangy than rich like your normal tomato based sauces. They fill this sauce with capers and herbs to give it that savory taste. It's accompanied by two expertly cooked spot prawns. Unlike most spot prawns that have a very dense meaty characteristic to it, these were incredibly soft. Both styles have their place for my palate but I really enjoyed this preparation.

After talking to the GM Matteo and Chef Drago over the course of dinner, they knew I had a passion for food...or as my lovely girlfriend would say aka I am a fatty. So they offered us a surprise after we finished our pasta. Normally when I think surprise from the chef I expect a dessert or a taste of something.. not a full blown entree for each of us.

The waitress set in front of both of us

la trota salmonata

arctic char, swiss chard, beet puree

To be honest, I had looked at this dish before we ordered our pasta and I considered ordering it. What pulled me away was my constant bad experiences with seafood at Italian restaurants. Fortunately my luck had changed. I LOVE LOVE LOVE when fish is left rare in the center. Not raw like seared Ahi, but a medium rare piece of fish. It adds so much to the complexity of the fish and really shows the quality of the fish as well. This dish was a perfect example of that. A crisp peppered skin on the top and a beautiful piece of artic Char on the bottom.

The beet sauce was subtle and did not overwhelm the delicate flavors of the artic char. It all worked wonderfully together and I'm glad I've finally had a good piece of fish at an Italian restaurant.

Our waitress came by after we finished the seafood course and asked if we wanted to partake in any desserts. She offered us her two favorites, the spumoni and Meyer lemon squares, as suggestions. The way she described the spumoni sounded scrumptious so we had to order it to share.

lo spumone

pistachio semifreddo, cherry gelato, chocolate, meringue

The dish requires you to split it open to get into the multiple layers. What a delightful play on an old Italian dessert classic. Marshmallow meringue holding in the layers of pistachio creme with a center of cherry gelato and a base of chocolate cake. I really enjoyed the meringue, it added a candied flavor to the dessert that brought all the flavors together nicely.

Once we started to get into the dessert a new plate landed in front of us once again compliments of the house.

la crostata di limone

meye lemon tart, thyme meringue, vanilla shortbread, mascarpone gelato

I was not as enamored with this dessert as the previous. I'm just not a giant fan of heavy lemon based items. I don't like key lime pie and I'm don't like lemon sorbet. If you were a lemon fanatic you can taste the fresh tart lemon over a nice vanilla shortbread. But the lemon was just too much for me, especially since I just finished something very sweet.

What I did like were those little candy bars along the tarts. They melt away in your mouth in a mascarpone goodness.

All in all an excellent meal. One of the best Italian restaurants I've had in Los Angeles. Hopefully you trust my opinion enough to know that I was not swayed by the lure of free food in giving this restaurant a good review. I really enjoyed it and I enjoyed the personal level of service at the restaurant. The wait staff was professional and they were very accommodating with Nick taking pictures. They even set a small table on the side for him to put his bag.

Matteo runs a tight ship and the dedication and passion was obvious whenever he came to talk to us about the food we were eating. I'm glad I tried this restaurant and I'm glad I finally found a good Italian restaurant in LA.

I'll leave you with a picture of Nick, Hostess, Chef Drago, and I!

a thousand apologies

2010-01-06T06:50:00.000-08:00

Once again I ask you to excuse my lack of posting. The holiday seasons rushed upon me and I just started my new job downtown on monday.. got plenty of food to post about.. but not enough time to make it happen.

Once I settle down I'll try and upload more vacation photos and local restaurants. Thanks for bearing with me faithful readers =)

The Dining Room at The Langham Hotel (Pasadena, CA)

2009-12-09T00:20:00.000-08:00

My twenty-sixth year of life passed last month and to celebrate that momentous occasion, as well as Kathy and I passing the California Bar (yah! more attorneys!), Kathy treated me to the Chef's Tasting menu at The Dining Room at the Langham Hotel in Pasadena. More famously known as the restaurant in which the the newest winner of Top Chef, Michael Voltaggio, resides as the Executive Chef. After watching Michael's creations on Top Chef and realizing the restaurant he works at isn't too far from me, I had dreams of going there to have dinner. As luck would have it, my girlfriend is generous and treated me as a birthday gift/surprise.

The restaurant is located in the Langham Hotel in South Pasadena. Tucked into the back hallways of the hotel, it occupies a small space in the overall property. The restaurant itself is going to be closing Q1 2010 for a remodeling. It's currently in a more.. "old school" setting that doesn't really match the imagination of the cuisine.

Kathy asked me what I wanted to eat.. and I said Seven Course Chef's Tasting please! They have three options at the restaurant. You can order 4 courses or 5 courses off the menu.. there is no ala carte option. The final option is the previously mentioned Chef's tasting.

The tasting started off with three breads from the bread basket for our first bread tasting.

Bacon bread, Country-style sourdough, and Black Olive bread.

According to the waitress, the black olive is the most popular.. but it was the only one I didn't get.. since I hate olives.

The bacon bread (left) was filled with smoked bacon goodness. The bread itself was light and airy and I thought it was a bit overpowered by the bacon. It's not that I don't like bacon bread, the bacon bread at Providence was incredible.. but I just wish.. there was more of a dough flavor on this one.

The Country Style was a nice loaf of bread. Didn't stick out to me as anything special.. other than it was warm, went great with butter, but still lacked that dough-ness I like in bread.

We were promptly served the amuse bouche

White Chocolate topped with passion fruit foam and cavier

This dish was the start of what I believe is one of the more whimsical dinners I've had in a long while. The dishes are playful and carefree, as if you were served a joke and once you ate it, it'd put a big smile on your face.

Rich white chocolate is matched by the citrus zest of the passion fruit. The fruit flavors bring out the sweetness from the chocolate but make it more streamlined so that it doesn't over power the brine of the cavier. The cavier flavor was also subtle and gave the dish a very clean, refreshing taste.

Served once again a bit quick.. was our first appetizer of the evening.

Japanese Shima Aji

Japanese Shima Aji served below Sea Sponge and complimented with a seasoned Bonito flake and Pickled Japanese Pear

The Aji was served raw with a light ponzu style dressing and a small dab of fresh wasabi. First, I love Aji. Without a doubt, my favorite fish for sushi... so to have a nice piece like this was a boon indeed. Aji is oily and meaty, the meat isn't soft like tuna/salmon but has a sturdier texture but it is incredibly rich in flavor.. the sea sponge that accompanies it, to the best of my knowledge was intended for texture and not as a flavor component. It was soft and nearly melted in your mouth.

The accompanying Bonito flake was prepared in a way to make it taste like bacon.. which I found entertaining. And the pit-less pear added a nice compliment of sour to the dish.

After our first appetizer we were served our second bread course.

Black Truffle Brioche

Served with Goat Cheese butter.

This is hands down. HANDS DOWN the best bread I have had at a restaurant in a long long time. The brioche was SO moist , it was like biting into a cloud. On top of that there was truffle all up in its heezy so you got that rich buttery texture to go with the brioche ... I was in cloud nine. Then you add in a delicious goat cheese butter? man.. life doesn't get much better when it comes to eating bread.

After God's gift to bread was served, we were given the next appetizer,

Langoustine

Langoustine served on top of a Lobster Mushroom Lasagna with young fennel and a porcini mushroom sauce.

Langoustine is a "Norway Lobster", but for all intent and purposes .. taste like a lobster, has the texture of a lobster but the size of a large fresh water shrimp. The Langoustine is served on top of a "lasagna", which for all intent and purposes is mushroom mash with one piece of noodle. Do not let that description fool you, this was Kathy's favorite dish and I also enjoyed it. The pasta was just the perfect thickness and was cooked just right... one of the finest "piece"(s) of pasta I have ever had the pleasure of tasting. The mushroom "mash" was so creamy and rich I thought it was Foie Gras.. you mix that in with the porcini sauce and you have a very hearty Fall dish.

Our next appetizer was served up after we sopped up the porcini sauce.

Foie Gras

Aerated Brioche, concord grape jam, and sunchoke

Another playful interpretation of a classic dish, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The piece of Foie is lightly frozen and has a surprise waiting in the center.

Concord grape jam! gooey and sweet, it goes perfectly with the nutty flavor of the foie. That combination worked great for me. The component that I didn't like was the brioche. The concept was cool... light pillowy bread but one of the pieces tasted like Windex and it tainted it for me. Odd experience. A+ for creativity, B- for execution.

Our first entree of the night was seafood

Turbot

served with a madras curry and pumpkin seed granola with a side of butternut squash and yogurt.

I've never had Turbot so this was a surprise to me. It looked like halibut but it had a steakier and less flaky texture. I guess it would need to be a meaty type of fish to hold up to the dark flavors of the butternut squash and granola. Surprisingly, my favorite part of the dish was the granola. It was sweet and crunchy and paired really well with the oil content in the fish. It was the type of dish where if you ate it without the granola it would have been okay, but eating it with all the parts really made it a few notches better.

Our first meat course of the day was

Pastrami Pigeon

served with Swiss Cheese, Pureed Sauerkraut, and whipped rye

Pigeon. I know.. Pigeon. The flying rat. When we first got it I wasn't sure if I heard it right. But man oh man that is one fine piece of Pastrami. There was this really savory hickory flavor to it and it almost tasted like smoked ham. The meat was fatty like duck breast but not quite as meaty. Some of the best pastrami I've had, even though it was probably carrying someone's mail a few days ago :P

Our final entree was

Jameson Farm Lamb

served with Vadouvan, Pickled Tongue, Celery, Raisin, Tempura Peanut Butter.

Vadouvan is a curry spice, a combination of onions, shallots, garlic, and Indian spices.. the lamb is seasoned with it and sliced in a large chunk. A fantastic piece of lamb, with no gameness, just big bold flavor and cooked a perfect medium rare. The PB tempura really hits the spot. The outside shell is a fluffy coating of crust and inside is a nice piece of nutty peanut butter. You mix that natural sweetness with the pickled tongue and you have a nice blend of flavors to match with the depth of the vadouvan spice. This was my favorite dish of the night by far and it really impressed me how such a small piece of each item could pack such a powerful combination of flavors.

In between our entrees and the dessert, we had the dessert appertif.

Raspberry and creme ice cream

or as I normally call them.. Dip and Dots. :P. The creme really strikes me in the dish, it presents it self far clearer than the raspberry does. The sweetness of the raspberry is there fighting side by side for dominance with the creme but it has that kick of sour that these berries normally have on the finish that is really refreshing with the ice cold dots. I'd like a large one to go!

our dessert for the night was their signature

Fools Gold

Chocolate, salty Hazelnut Praline, Milk Sorbet, cookie reef.

This dessert was breathtaking. A play on the ocean floor, it's almost like a child's drawing put onto a plate. When we first heard the dish they said Chocolate Ganache I thought "Oh I hope Michael did this dish better than his brother Bryan did!". Fortunately, he did and for all the crap he gave his brother about it on Top Chef he was able to deliver it on his end. The ganache was so rich and chocolaty and when you have it with the hazelnut praline, it almost tastes like an Almond Roca. When you toss in the surprisingly decadent milk ice cream and salt it tastes like the Haagen Dazs Reserve Fleur De Lis Caramel ice cream. This is not an insult. I love that ice cream. I love the way sea salt brings out the richness in a dessert dish and it was applied excellently here.

One of the best desserts I've had the pleasure of having in a long while.

Finally we had some candies to end the night

The only thing that was really special was the chocolate lollipops. When you bite into them you suddenly feel a crackle and pop in your mouth. They had made the lollipops with pop rocks. So every bite you get POP POP POP POP. Really fun and an entertaining end to the meal.

The meal was excellent, from top to bottom one of the best meals I've had in Los Angeles (and I've been fortunate to go to a chunk of the top restaurants). Like I said before, I really enjoyed the forethought that was put into the creation of these dishes. They weren't just dishes that tasted good, they were dishes that gave you an emotional reaction. You felt when you ate the Turbot and Langoustine that you were eating in November, it was fall and the leaves were falling outside. When you had the lollipop you felt like a kid again... and I think that was the intention.

As well, the service was mostly excellent. The manager walked me to the restroom when I asked him for directions (inside the hotel, outside the restaurant) and we chit chatted for a bit. We had multiple servers who were always ready to help us with our questions/requests. The ONLY problem I had was.. all this took 2 hours to eat. That's a REALLY fast paced meal. I even asked them to slow it down. We probably had 3-5 minutes between each plate removal to the new plate... that definitely needs to be worked on.

Either way, I highly suggest trying this restaurant. Either before the year ends or when they come back with the remodeling. Hopefully by then, the drab OLD interior will be gone and there will be something more modern and fresh to match the delightful cuisine.

Travels through Asia pt 2: Thailand (A lil bit of Bangkok, some Koh Samet, and drool worthy Chiang Mai!)

2009-11-10T22:42:00.000-08:00

First of all, I'd like to apologize for what seems like randomness in the food pictures. I will admit, with much guilt, that during this trip I ate 5-6 times a day. When you're eating that much the meals seem to jumble together ... day turns into night.. night turns into... uh day and the food never stops. The posts are, to the best of my knowledge, what I ate in sequential order. There becomes more normality of 3-4 meals a day when we leave Bangkok.. based purely on the fact that there aren't that many street vendors in the other countries... or in the case of Taiwan... our main meals were so vast that I could barely muster any extra food in my mouth.

First I leave you a quick shot with me and a "friendly" tiger at the Tiger Temple

Enough with the blabbering.. back to Bangkok and RIGHT back into street food.

I'd say you'd be pretty hard pressed to walk around Bangkok and not see street food. Whether it's a push cart with meat on a stick (in this case.. chicken, pork, bacon, chicken heart, intestines).

Freshly stir-fried Pad Thai. (Which by the way tends to be pretty poor in quality. I've tried multiple street cart Pad Thai and it's always been too plain. Never has that sweet and savory nature that you find at home.. or the sit down restaurants in Thailand)

Or most importantly, seafood on the street. The bane of all Chinese mothers out there. Especially ones who have sons like me... that are willing to eat seafood on a street corner.

Most of these places display all their seafood on ice along the sidewalk. After you choose your seafood they toss it right into the wok. If you see that ladies hand at the right of the picture... she's cooking there. How could I pass up a plate of nice exotic clams for $2USD? Fortunately for me I had zero stomach problems on this trip *whew*.

Tons of fresh delicious Thai basil tossed into a magi/soy sauce mixture with these large brown shelled clams. I LOVE thai basil. It imparts this aroma that makes me want to just stick my nose in the plate and sniff all day.

After coasting a few days in Bangkok we set sail for the sunny beaches of Koh Samet, a national park/island off the eastern coast of Thailand. 3.5 hours by bus then 1 hour by boat. We stayed at a nice little beach side resort, Samed Villa, which had a bunch of stray dogs hanging around. I found that a very odd aspect of my stay there.... no other area had that many strays.. just the beach for this hotel.

There were a lot of vendors (ala guys walking around with grills on their shoulders in baskets...) selling grilled chicken and papaya salad (which were both delicious). The place we ended up eating the most was Ploy Bar and Pub... a local seafood joint that laid out a bunch of mats and tables along the beach so you could sit on the sand.. and just enjoy your food.

This setup is pretty similar to the seafood vendors in Bangkok, just more tourist oriented. A bunch of seafood options but they also have seafood combo platters so you get to try a lil bit of everything. We did shellfish combos as well as a really nicely done whole fish.

The whole grilled fish was spot on. Roughly $8 USD (pricey I know.. tourist trap and all) it came with a really nice spicy sour sauce that went well with the thick fleshed fish.

We also got the seafood platter one night.. which was a mollusks, squid, shrimp, and more fish!

The main reason we kept coming to this place.. was the live music and the fire shows they put on. A group of boys/men got together and performed along the beach for tips every night at 9pm. Some of the younger boys were also wait staff at the restaurant!

After taking this relaxing stay at the beach we hurried back to Bangkok. Unlike our first portion of Bangkok where we stayed in the "backpackers" district, I wanted to explore the modern side of Bangkok.

From shabby worn down buildings, to high end shopping centers and super efficient subways! Once you hit downtown Bangkok the streets really come alive. Bright lights, whizzing cars and subways running all over the place. Most importantly.. McDonald's ice cream cone for 25 cents..

and a Whole Foods like supermarket with one of the BEST wine collections I've ever seen at a marketplace. I was tempted to buy a 1970 Lynch Bages for $100USD but I had no clue how I'd transfer that back to America on the first leg of our trip.

(Whole Paycheck.. eat your heart out!)

Shopping around one of the malls we saw large crowds of students rushing into two particular restaurants that were door to door with one another. What were they serving?

All you can eat Shabu Shabu and Sushi for $6USD! After deliberating and pacing back and forth in front of the restaurants.. we finally went in. It was conveyor belt Shabu Shabu! All the sushi and prepared food were in hot trays but the food for the Shabu Shabu came to you like it was on a sushi conveyor belt! You got to pick between Tom Yum soup or chicken broth.. and a large assortment of seasoning.

Sorry for this picture. I wish I had something closer, but I was yelled at when I was about to snap my first photo in the restaurant. All I got was a video of the belt moving food.. and the lady in front of us sorting it.

Safe to say, I was content.. and stuffed to the gills in meat and veggies for $6. Not exactly eating "thai traditional" food but I guess I was "thinking outside of the box!"

The next morning we left for Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand to explore the cities lush green jungles. I've always wanted to try more Northern Thai food. The limited tastes I've had in San Diego and Lotus of Siam have piqued my interest. The flavors are bold and adventurous and not your typical Pad Thai, stir fried noodle. There is an emphasis on spiced soup noodles and preserved/grilled/fried meats.

Our hotel was centrally located in Chiang Mai downtown (I use this term loosely). We were literally a block away from the "famous" Chiang Mai Night Market. While the market is bustling at night time, it's pretty empty when the sun is up. Which... was unfortunate.. cause we landed in Chiang Mai at 11am and were STARVING.

After wandering around our hotel area... stumbling across McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, and Starbucks we wandered down an empty alley hoping to strike gold. After nearly turning back, we saw small wisps of smoke rising into the air. We take a look around and we saw this

A lady grilling chicken legs and big fatty pieces of pork.

Priced at $1 USD for 3 pork pieces and 40 cents for one chicken leg we hopped on and chowed down. Of course this is not enough food for a growing boy... and I saw she didn't just have this grill.. but a larger cart with some pot and pans.

I pointed at the pot, she said "Very good! traditional!"
"Stop" I told her...
"You had me at traditional."
Scooping a big handful of bun into a bowl she opens the pot for pork filled goodness.

Looks like Bun Bo Hue Eh? Kuay Tiew Moo Nam Tok.
Spicy Pork Noodle soup, pig's blood, chunks of pork, sour cabbage, and shaved lettuce mixed in a steaming hot (and spicy) pork broth. I was in HEAVEN. This is what I was looking for during my travels, super authentic food that I couldn't easily get in America. The spice was nice and hot, the depth of the soup was superb, and the use of the preserved veggies really pushed it all over the edge. Best part of it all? $1.50!

I needed all this food for the perilous trek we were taking later in the afternoon.

The next day we prepared for a day of watching Elephants roam the forest land at Elephant Nature Park. Unlike most Elephant attractions, we didn't ride the elephant or watch it do shows.. we just watched them roam around a preserve. We got to explore where they stayed, we fed them, and bathed them in the river.

They had two very young elephants that were just born into the herd not too long ago! After watching them for awhile, the reserve set out a giant buffet spread.

I had an appetite that rivaled the elephants... (plate one of three)

Also had an intriguing dessert that I saw all over northern Thailand.

Coconut milk with chewy tapioca texture neon treats. Served over a bed of ice... cool and refreshing.. yummmy.

After we cooled off with a refreshing dessert, we cooled the elephants off in the river!

At night we headed into the Night market to feast. In the center of the Chiang Mai night market they had a series of food stands that are opened by restaurants located in the area.

I had to grab a bowl of Kao Soi Gai. Egg Noodle Curry with Chicken.

It looks spicy but it's not at all. Really hearty curry flavor with the always scrumptious preserved veggies on top! And since one dish really isn't enough.. I passed by a stand displaying oodles of noodles! I saw one dish that kept being ordered and after hesitating.. I finally ordered

Pad Thai in an omelet!

Oh. my. goodness. This was easily the best Pad Thai I had on the trip. The lightly cooked egg on top just added to its greatness. The noodles were perfect al dente, the sauce was sweet and savory, the peanuts just added a nice nutty crunch to top it all off.

After walking around the marketplace to rests our bellies, I wandered across a giant sign that said ROTEE

Who can say no to fried bread covered in condensed milk?

You get your mix of banana/chocolate/egg/honey/corn/ or just milk. She makes them fresh right when you order them. On the second night we went to another place and they had already made the Rotee before you ordered... not nearly as flaky and crunchy. We rectified that mistake by going back to this lady.

We got a chocolate and banana.. which comes sliced up and ready to eat with a fork.

The Rotee is covered in condensed milk, chocolate, and stuffed with bananas.

We also ordered plain Rotee with just milk.. and you eat it like food on a stick.

The dough is so sweet and flavorful. It's flaky and moist and just brimming with warm tasty goodness. When we went to Malaysia we were hoping we'd find some more of this.. being a Islamic treat (from what we could tell) but to no success.

The next morning, we took the early bird flight for dirty dirty dirty dirty (emphasis on dirty) Phnom Penh

Travels through Asia pt 1: Thailand (bangkok!)

2009-11-02T00:51:00.000-08:00

And................ we're back! My favorite dining companion and I spent a good month gallivanting across the Asia continent... eating and exploring for your pleasure. Our first stop on our journey was the lovely nation of Thailand. The homeland of Pad Thai, sticky rice with mango, and lady boys.

We initially stayed near Khao San Road.. the backpackers district. As you walk toward KSR a flurry of street markets pop out of nowhere. In the mornings you can find yourself some iced coffee and bagged curry and in the afternoon a plethora of fried food and desserts. The streets are packed, food stalls on one side and clothes on the other.. you gotta push and shove your way to the food destination.

Two things I could NOT get enough of were fresh papaya salad and iced coffee/tea. Everywhere you turn there are carts with people chopping papaya and grinding away at the fresh chili and peanuts.

They mix together the freshly chopped papaya with chili, fish sauce, shrimp paste, dried shrimp, peanuts, green onions, and a little bit of love (SHOUT OUT TO CARLA).

The papaya being so fresh is crisp and sweet and the peanuts really spark off all the flavors. I don't think I had a single bad papaya salad in Thailand.. always bursting with flavor and full of fresh ingredients.

And since browsing in the hot Thai weather makes you dehydrated.. what better to quench your thirst than some Thai iced coffee/tea? (so sue me, it doesn't quench your thirst)

There is usually a push cart with a few people manning some coffee filters and big jugs of tea. They have crushed ice and scoop a large spoonful right into the plastic bag. After the ice dispersal they drop in the tea/coffee... mix in the condensed milk... toss in a straw.. and wrap it all up! Tea in a bag!

If you feel as though you need a healthy alternative to quench your thirst, there is PLENTY of fruit on the streets of Bangkok. For 25 cents or less you can find yourself some nice dragon fruit... bananas... mango... pineapple.

BTW can someone tell me the appeal of dragon fruit? There is no flavor in that fruit. I don't get it.

The next series of pictures are just of my wanderings and eating around Bangkok. We pretty much walked everywhere. And when you walk everywhere... you pass a lot of food vendors.

On the way to the Golden Mount I saw a mini food cart food court. One thing that stood out to me was the noodle soup vendor. At 45 cents a bowl I'd be a fool not to try!

After using my great gasp of the Thai language... by pointing and nodding my head.. I got myself a bowl of seafood noodle soup.

A clear and light broth filled with fish paste balls (the brown one) and fish balls. The fish paste balls were a bit spongy and had the texture of gelatin. I quickly finished it off.. not the best bowl of noodles I've ever had.. but certainly adequate for an 11am snack.

The same day we had ourselves a late lunch. We figured we'd try a "restaurant" around the area so we wandered around till we saw a place. Most of the restaurants in Bangkok have the cooking done at the front of the restaurant. You're able to see what they are making and if it's appealing to you.

I ordered a delicious soda right off the bat. Soda in Asia or.. anywhere other than the U.S. doesn't use High Fructose corn syrup so it doesn't leave that grimy aftertaste in your mouth. Drinking out of a potentially very unsanitary tin cup... my mother.. she would not approve.

When we first walked in Kathy wanted to know if they could make her some noodle dish.
Her conversation with the owner
K: Can you make me a stir fried noodle?
O: ?
K: Chicken? noodle?
O: ok

The result was a pretty tasty chow fun with stir fried chicken. Most of the noodle dishes we had in Bangkok had a heavy handed dose of MAGI sauce.. but this was just about right. I enjoyed it.

I ordered the CORNSTARCH SEAFOOD NOODLE (j/k on the cornstarch)

Even though the flavors were nice.. and the shrimp had a really interesting thick meaty texture.. the amount of cornstarch they used in the sauce was overwhelming. MORE NOODLE LESS CORNSTARCH! that goes for all thai noodles ... whether it's in LA/San Diego/BANGKOK!

While walking down one of the markets I smelled really sweet roasted bananas. I saw a lady grilling a bunch of items wrapped in bamboo leaves. I usually associate bamboo leaves with sticky rice... so I put one order in. 3 of these for 50 cents.

Once I opened it up.. SURPRISE! sticky rice with sweet banana. O-m-goodness it was good. The banana was extra tender and sweet and the sticky rice had a crisp char on the outside.

One night, we decided to take the river ferry to the Chinatown section of Bangkok we were greeted by bright florescent lights and packed streets. Plenty of food stalls all over the place.. reminded me of Taiwan!

Here we have the "pick your own meat" selection. Point and they stir fry it together.

But I ended up settling for something that looked FAR more appetizing to me. Pork shank, pork intestines simmering in its own juices... chopped up and served with spinach and rice. *DROOOOOOOOOOOOOL*

A paltry $1 gets you rice, veggies, pork, sour veggies.

I am drooling as you read this. No matter what time you're reading this... I am drooling over this dish. The meat was soooooooo tender and the sauce was so rich in reduced pork fat flavor. I was | | that close to getting a second order... but I was being judged for being too much of a fatty =(.

The next day we went to the Floating Market. The appeal of the Floating Market to me... are the people who float around in boats and make noodle soup for you. Just a guy with a bunch of pots.. tossing together a tasty bowl of pork noodle soup.

The soup is full of star anise, five spice, and white pepper giving it a really hearty earthy flavor.

The noodles were not your typical noodles, almost like rice noodles but with a rubbery texture. I enjoyed it greatly... so much so... once again tempted to get another bowl.. but shot down.

But while I was NOM-ing on the soup noodles, Kathy went and got our first Sticky Rice and Mango!

Super ripe and soft mango with a little pouch of creamy coconut milk. A+!

BTW.. there is no cheap sticky rice and mango in Thailand. If there was.. they were hiding from me. I literally searched the four corners of this city for one that would cost me less than $1USD but to no avail. This badboy cost us almost $1.60 USD. RIDICULOUS! I did not budget for Mango Sticky rice being that pricey!

What I wasn't stopped from doing.. was eating 3 bowls of coconut ice cream in young coconut shell.

The ice cream was nice and sweet.. and most importantly milky cold in the hot heat. To add to that the coconut itself was scrumptious. Meaty and sweet.. I actually liked it more than the already tasty ice cream!

A final picture of the floating market... was a sleeping pup. I'm going to follow this pup.. and go to sleep as well. Be back later with more in Bangkok as well as the rest of Thailand!

Out of the Office

2009-09-23T00:37:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the hiatus but I have been (and still am)out frolicking in south east asia the past month. I am currently using the free WiFi at KFC in malaysia! Btw, the food courts in kuala lumpur are insane, you got at least three malls worth of restaurants and with giant food courts on multiple levels!

Be back in a few weeks with tons of pictures!

Road Trip To Napa Pt 3 (Realm Cellars, Alpha Omega Winery, Bistro Jeanty)

2009-09-02T17:05:00.000-07:00

Geez, I am so absent minded.. I forgot to put nice pretty borders around the last two posts! This new blogger post creator is throwing me off like snow in Los Angeles. Aside from that, we're now on Part 3 of my Napa Road trip, as always winery visits up top, food at the bottom. Feel free to skim to the bottom if you have zero interest in wines or wines from Napa... fortunately if you do have an interest.. I do not think you'll be disappointed.

After a grueling 2 hour drive, with a pee-stop/lunch break at Emeryville Shopping Center we arrived at our first stop in St. Helena.. Realm Cellars. Realm is a joint operation with Juan Mercardo and Wendell Laidley with Mike Herby as their winemaker. They've been getting major buzz for their Dr. Crane and To-Kalon bottling of Cabernet. It's been over a year since I visited with Juan and I figured I'd share Cris and Dan in on the experience.

Realm is located in the beautiful Chateau Boswell facility (where Josh is making some very nice wines as well) and have a really great entrance to the cave facility where the barrels split from the center.. it also looks like a reflection.

We tasted through a few of the bottled 2007s... Farella, Bard, Tempest and some of the 06's as well as 08/07 barrels. Their 07 Tempest is one of my favorite California red wine blends at the moment as well as their best effort for the Tempest so far.

2007 Realm Cellars The Tempest - USA, California, Napa Valley (7/8/2009)
Popped and poured out of a 375, just bottled.
a really powerful muscular wine with a dense fruit core of dark berries that hits your palate on the first sip and coats it with that structure. The black fruit peels away to expose raspberries, forest floor, cedar with a dirt like tannin at the end. The finish goes on for awhile with the secondary characteristics really holding court. I love that petite verdot character it really shows on the finish to give it that great structure in the mouth. This is a greatly put together wine, the wine couldn't have been in bottle for more than a week or two and its potential is exploding out of the bottle. Hold it, drink it now, whatevers.. it'll be great! (93 pts.)

Unlike the other 07's we had that I felt were drinking well right now, the majority of the Realm 07's need time in bottle. Pretty typical for the Realm wines ... they benefit greatly from 3-4 years in bottle.

After tasting at Realm, we headed to Alpha Omega along Highway 29. I received a message from Jean Hoefliger the Winemaker and General Manger of Alpha Omega a few weeks before I was leaving for Napa.. inviting me to a tasting at their winery. Jean is a swiss born winemaker that is quite possibly the most physically intimidating winemaker I have yet to meet. Super nice but built like a NFL Linebacker :p. He previously worked as an assistant WM at Chateau Lynch Bages of Bordeaux fame as well as Newton in Napa. He took over the wine making responsibility at Alpha Omega in 2006. With the help of blending advice from Michael Rolland their 2006 is a great success in my book. I found all wines, (chard + red blends) to be complex and full of intrigue.

To top it off, they have gorgeous winery grounds with a beautiful patio with plus sofas that you can sip wine and look out into the vineyards and the extravagant fountain system

But why sit in the sun when you can sit around a table and talk wine and life with the winemakers?

They had just built a new private tasting room to entertain guests there 3 days before we arrived. So it was a lot of fun ... and filled with echos to sit in one corner of a room meant to entertain 12+ people. Their 2006 Eros is probably the best Napa red wine I've tried in the 2006 vintage.

2006 Alpha Omega Era (USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford)	9/2/2009	clayfu	94
A very rich and expressive wine with spiced currant and alluring ripe raspberry on the nose. Incredibly soft palate with rich dark fruit and a spiced woodsey note. Expressive floral notes on the finish lead to a really "pretty" wine that comes along with beautiful long acidity and soft tannins. Pretty awesome wine. One of my favorite wines on my Napa trip and probably one of the best 2006 wines I've had from Napa. (35% Cab, 28% Merlot, 20% Cab Franc, 17% Petit Verdot)

We sat there for two hours just talking and discussing wine making. Both Jean and Henrick were open with their wine making philosophies and were "straight talk express". This was probably one of my favorite wine tasting experiences in a long time. The wines were great, the company was great, and I learned a lot from the two winemakers.

After parting ways with Jean and Henrick and before a night of poker, we stopped by for happy hour at Bistro Jeanty to wait for my buddy Powell to get off work.

$1 oysters, sardines, and lamb sausage from 5:00PM to 6:30PM. Relatively busy for a Thursday afternoon, we sat at the large communal table which.. ended up just being two of us at a table for 15 (interesting trend today).

Since we're cheap like that... we ordered pretty much only the $1 items. The problem is, when you order too many multiples of $1 items.. it still ends up not being all that cheap ;P.

The lamb sausage was chopped up in bite size form.. bold gamey flavors mixed with fennel and spice and all things nice. (or so I'm told)

I LOVED these sardines. I ended up having four of them for myself. They are sliced down the middle and stuffed with small slices of lemon and garlic then pan fried. The fish just falls apart when the fork touches it. The flavors were refreshing and the fish was nice and oily.

We also ordered some nice Blue Point oysters.

Meaty with a touch of brine = yummy in my tummy

Finally we each ordered a bowl of their "famous" Tomato Soup

The soup is baked with puff pastry on top. You really need some sort of bread with this soup cause it's really creamy. It was delicious, but the creme matches so well with a doughy piece of bread. (Check out there recipe for the soup here... please note the 4 cups of heavy creme O_O). Rich and powerful, the soup has a delicious aroma that burst through the moment you break the pastry.

We ended up eating so much during happy hour we didn't eat again till lunch the next day (atrocity I know!). This was a welcome stop and I highly suggest everyone to stop by for a "snack".

Bistro Jeanty
6510 Washington St
Yountville, CA 94599

Road Trip to Napa Pt. 2 (Santa Cruz/Cupertino - Los Altos Grill)

2009-08-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

After lunch at Artisan, we raced up the 101 freeway for our appointment at Ridge Vineyards located in Cupertino, CA. Founded in the 60's the winery has two locations, one off the Monte Bello Ridge (hence the name) and one farther into the Santa Cruz mountains. Ridge is famous for placing 5th in the Judgment of Paris, in 1976 as well as winning 1st in the subsequent followup in 1996, with their wine Monte Bello. A blend of Cabernet, Merlot, Petite Verdot, and Cabernet Franc, the wines are main in a way for it to live long and prosper.

Our meeting was with Caleb, the viticulturalist at Ridge Vineyards and good friend of a local wine buddy, to give us a driving tour of the Ridge Vineyards as well as a tour of the facility (and tasting of Monte Bello of course ;) ). The vineyard is situated over 2,500 sq ft above sea level and has a view of all of the Bay.

After going to the tallest point at Ridge, we decided to explore their deepest point... the cellar built in the 1800's. They encourage the use of this moldy, dark cellar due to their belief that the limestone imparts a certain characteristic that you normally do not get.

Going down the stairs felt like entering a horror movie. The whole room was completely dark and when the lights turned on, it only illuminated certain areas of the room holding barrels... and it was a very very large room.

After leaving the horror show, we entered the room where the Monte Bello magic happens.

We tasted through 3 barrels of the 08 Monte Bello (sorry no concrete notes) some zins and finally an 05 Monte Bello. All quite yummy... not for everyone but a great wine in a less opulent style.

After the tasting, we headed on down the mountain for dinner with Josh Beck of Rhys at Los Altos Grill, a Hillstone property (ala Houston's). This particular restaurant centers on more of a Tex-Mex fare... a lot of lime, cilantro, deep earthy flavors opposed to Houston's which is centered around American fare. It still has the typical Prime Rib that most Hillstone restaurants have, but the other stuff is pretty tasty for the price.

We started off with some salads and their skillet baked corn bread.

Their skillet corn bread seems to be cooked with lime, jalapeno, and tons of corn kernels. You get a really light sour/spicy bite to it that is mixed in with the sweetness of the corn. It's actually pretty nice flavor wise. Texture wise, it was fluffy and fresh, what more could you ask for?

Then we had a few servings of their Nice Little House Salad

There is nothing little about this salad. Giant chunks of hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, goat cheese mixed in with wild greens and a light vinaigrette. Delightfully refreshing, especially with some nice aged Krug *nom*

Outside of their restaurant is a big wood fire rotisserie grill, which they have cooked up chicken and pork chops.. which were both ordered today. Slow roasted till juicy and tender... the notes below are a product of my dining compatriots who eat meat (I won't be eating meat till the next day.. and with good reason!)

First up the Banderas Style Roasted Chicken

It's served with green rice and spiced refried beans. The rice had the PERFECT amount of lime with just enough acidity to match the spice on the beans. The cilantro is fresh and imparts just enough flavor to accompany a very tender and flavorful piece of chicken. Highly recommended.

Next up the Rotisserie Pork Chop

Served on a bed of mash potato, the pork chop was about 2.5 inches thick. It was a real monstrosity. Moist and succulent, the slow roast allows the fat to render in the pork and create a really flavor packed piece of meat.

Then the Vegetarian Burger

Unlike most places with a weirdly form mesh of veggie and tofu, the Grill finely chops an assortment of vegetables and packs it tightly together. After about a hour in the burger finally started to fall apart but this was truly a novel concept.

Obligatory order of the prime rib.

To finish it off, the five of us split an Oreo Ice Cream Sandwich

When the waiter was telling us the desserts, I told him "You had me at Oreo". And damnit, if it wasn't something magical. Crushed oreo cookie sandwiching rich vanilla ice cream and drizzled with chocolate syrup... all I needed was a giant class of ice cold milk to finish the meal off.

I really liked the restaurant, the Hillstone Group puts out some good stuff at reasonable prices. Topping it off is ZERO corkage ... so ten bottles for the five of us was pretty awesome at zero dollars.

The next morning, we finally head into Napa for 4 days of fun in vineyards and sun!

Road Trip to Napa,CA Wine Country Pt 1.

2009-08-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the recent lull in posting, As a celebration for the end of the Bar Exam, I took an absolutely stellar road trip up to Napa with my buddy Dan. Five nights of awesomeness that was increased by generosity from friends, winemakers, and owners of winery/restaurants. This set of trip photos/details will have wine notes, food notes, pictures of scenery/food/wine and all the goodness that come from a delightful trip to Napa.

Day 1

I stayed overnight at Chateau Kimmer in San Luis Obispo. After enjoying a few glasses of the 2005 Clos De Papes (which is a very well made wine.. closed up a bit but the monster wants to be UNLEASHED) I slept on the grandest of sofas and drifted away until the morning wake up call at 8am.... Dan telling me to wake up.

We were making a few stops on Day 1 as we travel up the 101 freeway to Napa. Our first stop was in Paso Robles at Saxum Winery. Justin Smith is the winemaker/owner of Saxum and is making some pretty stupendous wines if not the best wines in the Paso Robles region. A farmer by trade he makes wines from the neighboring vineyards as well as his own James Berry Vineyard.

Vineyard from another angle

One section of the vineyard, Bone Rock , sits on top of a giant prehistoric whale vertebra

If you've ever wanted to handle a whale vertebra bone.. there's your chance.

We sampled the 07 Lineup and tasted a few things in barrel and I can easily say this is the best Saxum Justin has produced yet.

2005 Saxum 44 Month Barrel Age James Berry Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles (8/19/2009)

In bottle
A powerful nose of fresh raspberry, pomegranate, and fresh bread that hit your right in the nose like a sledgehammer. Needed about a hour in the bottle to open up but when it did it was probably the most "complex" Saxum I've yet to taste. Deep dark fruit core with prominent notes of cigar, forest floor and some light floral on the finish. The finish went on for eons, with layers and layers of complexity.

We saved half a bottle for the next day and the secondary characteristics gave way to strong fruit and minerality. I preferred it a hour in... a lot of the guys preferred the next day.
2007 Saxum Broken Stones - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles (8/19/2009)

in bottle
A light airy nose of cedar and ripe red fruit. Chalky tannins on the palate with a slim mid palate of red fruit that requires some time to resolve . Some tobacco notes on the finish with just a tinge of oak.
2007 Saxum James Berry Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles (8/19/2009)

IN bottle:
WOWSER what a freaking wine. A little hint of heat that disappeared after a few minutes in the glass. Beautifully concentrated bright red fruit with notes of violet and a touch of oak. On the palate you get just loads and loads of fresh picked fruit with a raspberry finish that goes on for days. There is great acidity with a fresh minerality that is nothing like the bigger almost "jammy" 06 James berry. This wine is incredibly clean and fresh and easily top of the heap.
2007 Saxum Syrah Booker Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles

in bottle
wine needs a ton of time in bottle and I'm glad Justin doesn't release it for awhile. It has a spice box, red fruit nose with fresh strawberries with lean fruit on the palate that's really closed up.

After chit chatting with Justin for awhile and getting to know a really cool down to earth winemaker of one of the most popular wineries in California, he suggested we get lunch at Artisan in Paso Robles central.

This restaurant would be well suited in any major metropolitan city. It is well appointed, open aired space with an open air kitchen. The restaurant prides itself in the use of organic produce and wild caught/sustainable meats.

Fresh innovative cuisine with specialty ingredients and a very budget friendly wine list. They have a few specials each day that range from a tomato soup with roasted pork belly and grilled cheese sandwiches.

We arrived 5 minutes after they opened and were promptly seated. They were still baking the bread when we arrived but the 8 extra minutes we waited for bread service was well worth it.

A crunchy loaf of hot french bread *drool*, the perfect vessel to carbo load after some wine drinking and the soon to be long 4 hour drive up to the Santa Cruz Mountains.

To further add onto our carb fest, Dan and I both ordered sandwiches that were utterly delicious.

Cuban Sandwich, slow roasted berkshire pork, country ham, emmentaler, sweet potato fries

A pile of freshly roasted meat layered with house made pickles of Zucchini and Squash served with crunchy sweet potato fries. To quote: "meaty pieces of ham that tasted like they were dipped in honey and then baked to NEAR crispness."

I asked for a dish of the pickles to snack on. They aren't your standard "crisp" sandwich pickles but more of a sweet acidic kick with a soft texture.

Gruyère and Comté Grilled Cheese, pesto aioli, hen of the woods, challah toast, asparagus salad

A thick piece of buttered Challah toast stuffed to the gills with "hen of the woods" (also known as Maitake mushrooms) with a few thick slices of tomato, gruyere, and comte. All perfectly formed together with a flavor explosion of rich garlic from the pesto sauce and earthiness from the mushrooms and the cheese with some freshness that's imparted by the tomato. My only negative about this dish would be the thickness of the toast. It was almost a bit overwhelming and I felt it took away from the sandwich itself due to the dough-iness of the bread.

Altogether this was an excellent and filling stop before the start of our journey. The creative hand that is used to guide even these sandwiches is evident and the freshness/uniqueness of the ingredients were welcome and appreciated.

Pt2 coming up VERY soon... we make our way up to Cupertino and the Santa Cruz mountains for a vineyard tour of Ridge winery.. and dinner with Josh Beck of Ridge in Los Alimos!

Wally's 6th Annual Central Coast Wine and Food Celebration

2009-08-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

After this initial splurge of text, this post is going to be light on words, heavy heavy heavy on pictures.

I recently attended the Central Coast Wine and Food Celebration at Wally's Wines and Spirits in Los Angeles. The event is held for the Michael Bonaccorsi UC Davis Scholarship Fund annually and features a plethora of restaurants and wineries from Santa Barbara, Paso Robles, and Los Angeles. All the wineries offered up auction lots of Magnums and 3L's of their library wines.

I came to help Larry Schafer of Tercero Wines pour at the event and as always he brought more than enough wine to pour for the masses. Some of the wineries were MAJOR cop outs and brought their simplest wines. Guess they didn't think they needed to impress anyone.. ? *COUGH* Sea Smoke Cellars *COUGH* Thank you for bringing only your Chardonnay which people cannot even BUY if they wanted to due to it being a gift wine to loyal customers (or if you've purchased enough wine and they've given you the PRIVILEGE of buying a Magnum of the chard).

Fortunately working with Larry, you don't see that cheap-assness cause he brought bottles to spare.

Each of his wines x multiple servings as well as barrel tastes from his VERY soon to be bottled 07 line. If you're a fan of well made Rhone wines, Larry is the guy to see. Rather affordable, sub $25 from his wine club.. best deal on the market IMHO for central coast Rhones.

The event attracted a few hundred people that were standing around, eating in 90+ degree weather. I was melting. Fortunately I came in as "ITB" and got to wander around before the general public came in.

11:30am

11:45am and the horde waiting to get in

2:30pm

Madhouse! Madhouse indeed!

Before the Madhouse descended on us, I got to take a few pictures of the set up for the food. A large list of restaurants from

Spago
Cut
Hitching Post
Ballard Inn
Full of Life Flat Bread
Bouchon (Santa Barbara)
Brother's
Lucques
Hungry Cat
Campanile
Street
Pizzeria/Osteria Mozza
and a few more!

Here's some prep pics before everyone was ready to serve!

The Wolfgang Puck Crew chopping up some berries for dessert

Full of Life Flatbread starting up their oven

Mozza's very elaborate display

Street prepping their wonderfully put together Asian inspired dish

Some people pulled a Top Chef Masters and complained that Street was using store bought shells, but I could not care less ;)

Started off the day with a mixed concoction of Grape fruit juice, vodka, "absinthe" from Hungry Cat

Moved on to a fresh sweet corn salad, with mixed greens, and cherry tomatoes from Cut

Then a Rock Crab claw with a chili verde sauce from Comme Ca

A creamy gazpacho with a lightly cooked quail egg from Lucques

Dungeness crab with micro greens over a chilled cucumber from Bouchon

Paani Puri (spiced potatoe, chutney and sprout beans, in a crispy puff and drenched in yogurt-cilantro water) from Street

RIDICULOUSLY FATTY breadsticks wrapped with truffle butter and cured ham. Freaking ridiculous. I got a heart attack smelling it.

Yellowtail with mustard greens and a pickled salsa from Campanile

Baked Oysters from Hungry Cat

Prime Rib tacos with a light avocado sauce from Brother's

Vegetarian flat bread from Full of Life Flatbread

Mouth Watering "ham and cheese" sandwich from Pasolivo

Grilled Korean style Kobe Beef "tacos" with Soba Noodles from Spago

Pulled Pork Sliders from Comme Ca

Slow braised Pork Shoulder from Ballard Inn
Steak sandwich with home made spiced ketchup from Hitching Post

uh.. lil fried balls from Comme Ca with a lemon custard sauce and plum sauce

Butterscotch pudding with a dash of sea salt from Osteria Mozza

Fresh ice cream from Spago

All in all a vastly fulfilling day foodwise. The wine showing wasn't that spectacular but the food was pretty much top notch for the amount of portions they had to put out. There were still 4-5 more dishes I didn't take pictures of that were still very good.

Michelle's Pancakes

2009-08-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

MYSTERY EATER says...

Tucked away in a non-descript shopping plaza with numerous other small Chinese restaurants, I probably never would have stumbled across Michelle's Pancakes... But it caught my attention (and the attention of many others), thanks to a recent L.A. Times Article. http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-find15-2009jul15,0,1798170.story

As touted on the outside windows, Michelle's does not use MSG, all their products are hand-made, and they use less salt, less oil, thinner wrapping, and more juicy filling.

Michelle's Pancakes is small endeavor, with only 9 tables. Soon after opening (around 11:18 A.M. on a Saturday and the place normally opens at 11 AM), all the tables were already filled, and a line started forming outside. The parking lot is also small, and filled by 11 A.M. as well- we parked in a 10-minute spot. They also sell their baos and dumplings to-go, but on Saturday, they didn't have any frozen baos available (only dumplings).

Onward to the food... a purchase of three "entrees" (baos, dumplings, wontons) will entitle you to a free cold dish. Our choice? Their "all-variety eggplant" with a special red sauce.

The eggplant was simply boiled (it seemed), and then slathered with the tangy red sauce on top (which tasted like a mix of ketchup, ginger, and a little sweetness but had no heat). It was a nice contrast to the forthcoming dishes, which were pan-fried.

They had these great sauces on the side to pair with the various dumplings, wontons, potstickers. On the left is a garlic/soy sauce-oyster sauce (maybe?) mixture; on the right is a chili oil mixture. The left sauce was thick and pungent (in a good way), infused with lots of garlic. The chili oil wasn't too spicy, but added a nice kick. I mixed both together, and dipped the various dishes in the sauce mixture, including the eggplant (above).

The first dish to arrive was the pan-fried postickers, filled with pork and cabbage. They appeared more healthy than the normal pan-fried ones, but still had a little oil (after all, how to pan-fry without oil?!). The filling was meaty, but not thick and the wrapper was chewy. Here is a nice little explanation on the differences btwn potsticks and wontons and dumplings, even though I use them interchangably to refer to "that yummy thing that has a wrapper and a filling inside." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumpling#Chinese_Cuisine

Here is a close-up of the filling...

The wontons arrived next, in a broth filled with cilantro and green onions. The filling was supposed to be pork and si gua, or in english, called luffa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigua_%28vegetable%29). However, there was little to no si gua taste, which was a little disappointing. Least likely to recommend this dish. Sorry, no photo!

The baos filled with beef, carrot, and white onion came next. These were the highlight of the meal-- succulent beef filling, encased with a firm but yielding dough. Be careful biting into these-- they are hot, and the juice from the filling will squirt out! As recommended by the LA Times reviewer, take a small nibble, suck out the juice, and then proceed to eat the rest. It's too bad they didn't have the frozen variety of these or other baos, to-go.

Of course, the obligatory filling picture...

The last to arrive was the green onion pancake. Most Chinese places I've been to make a pretty decent green onion pancake, and this was no different. I did notice that this one wasn't as oily or salty as the others, which I appreciated.

With tax and tip, it came to a little over $30, for three people. Not the cheapest fare in the area, given that one could have pho, or Chinese lunch special, but still pretty economical. However, if you are sensitive to MSG, or prefer things with less oil and salt, this may be your place! Also, despite what many Yelp reviewers said, service was attentive on our visit-- the tea pot was refilled quickly, and the manager/owner even came over to ask how everything was and how we liked it.

Michelle's Pancakes
706 W. Las Tunas Drive, No. B3-B4
San Gabriel, CA
(626) 293-8098

Prado Restaurant (San Diego)

2009-07-09T15:36:00.000-07:00

Please forgive my complete lack of posting, I haven't stopped eating, but whenever my fingers find the keyboard it ends up being all California Bar study material ;). UNFORTUNATELY this is the end of an era, I will not be doing regular San Diego Restaurant posts anymore cause I've moved back to smoggy Los Angeles. FRET NOT DEAR READERS, if you find me whimsical and aren't looking here for food suggestions in solely San Diego , please continue reading on... I will not stop talking about food in Los Angeles and Orange County!

Lived in San Diego for 8 years, loved the food, loved the people but now it's time for a new culinary experience! So here is one of my final meals in San Diego.. subsequently final post of San Diego.

My final "regular" post of a San Diego Restaurant is Prado in Balboa Park. Located in beautiful Balboa Park the restaurant is surrounded by art, nature, and hoards of wandering tourists. Sitting smack dab in the center, where better for the Cohn Restaurant Group to put their "crown jewel" then in the middle of one of the most scenic places in San Diego. Unfortunately, all the pretty scenery in the world doesn't make up for pretty average food.

This is my second visit to the restaurant, I've come here previously for dinner and was unimpressed but it was the only decent place serving Sunday Lunch opposed to brunch for a large party.

We promptly sat down in their open courtyard dining area. It looks out to a set of wedding grounds (subsequently someone was prepping for a wedding that day) with nicely trimmed grass and tall bushes.

After taking our orders the server dropped us off their "bread basket"

A novel concept of hummus and crisp flat bread. The flat bread is heavily seasoned with spices and pepper so if you're spice adverse you might not be a fan... but it's free... so what's there to complain about? ;)

We started off with their most popular appetizer

Calamari Fries

tossed in a sweet & spicy korean soy bean chili sauce, napa cabbage slaw

I've had this before and my opinion has not changed. I wonder if it's the most popular dish cause the restaurant keeps insisting to people it's the most popular dish? Rubbery Calamari with overly sweet sauce. What more do you need to say? Oh... the breading is neither crunchy nor soft.. so wtf is the point of it.

seared kobe beef sushi roll

with charred asparagus, wasabi cream, braised hijiki & a roasted garlic ponzu dipping sauce, tobiko aioli

This appetizer I enjoyed greatly. Even though I don't eat meat, the roll was well made and the cream sauce was light yet packed with a complexity of herbal flavors that went really well with the asparagus inside the roll.

After a fairly average appetizer course, our entrees came out.

prado's pressed salad

organic baby arugula, shaved asiago cheese, strawberries, candied walnuts & figs dressed in sherry shallot vinaigrette

I'm a big fan of arugula, Asiago cheese, strawberries, and sherry vinaigrette, that being said it's pretty freaking hard to mess up a salad ... which lucky for them they didn't do. Decent salad, wish the vinaigrette wasn't so powerful but otherwise not much to complain about.

Braised Short Rib Stuffed Pasta
home made pasta stuffed with braised short rib and topped with goat cheese and cabernet reduction

I didn't get a bite of this, but not a single person at the table liked it. The pasta wasn't cooked well, the ribs were too stringy, and as you can tell in the picture, the sauce is just a heavy layer of oil. I applaud you Prado for messing up something as flavorful as braised short ribs. *CLAP CLAP*

marinated skirt steak panini

fried tomatoes, organic field greens & horseradish-cheddar on house-made roasted garlic shallot roll

Those who ate it liked it. No strong opinions either way. What they did like a lot were the crisp home made taro chips. Earthy chips with that bitter sweet taro flavor.

Now for disappoint central, my dish

maine lobster pot pie

new potatoes, english peas, white corn & carrots, baked with a lobster cream sauce, spinach salad tossed in a dijon-truffle vinaigrette

What do you think of when you think of pot pie? A creamy thick luscious soup that's piping hot... especially when the menu says "CREAM soup". There was nothing thick, flavorful, creamy about this dish. It was watered down soup filled with vegetables and some lobster claw meat. About as un-deserving of the price as you can get.
ZZZZZZZZZZZ

What you don't see here is my brother's dish. He ordered the

prado grilled kobe burger

snake river farms kobe beef on a hearth oven baked ciabatta roll, chipotle aioli, and a choice of tillamook cheddar, gorgonzola or jack cheese

It was ordered as Medium Rare.. both times came Well Done. So at that point I didn't wait to take a picture of the food since... everyone was pretty much done eating. He said the burger was okay. Too bad you paid $17 for Okay.

Second time I've come here and the second time I've been disappointed. I guess if you can keep attracting tourists and charging stupid prices for average food go for it. But if you my dear reader are looking for GOOD FOOD at the prices they are asking for, you're better off elsewhere.

Prado @ Balboa Park
1549 El Prado
San Diego, CA

P.S. Now with that horrible review out of the way I'd like to say San Diego has been a great culinary journey. I've had great opportunities to have wonderful friends who were willing to try every hole in the wall or fine dining I could think of in the last 8 years.

My do not miss restaurants when you visit san diego

El Pascador
Mien Trung
Super Cocina
Alchemy
Roseville
Izakaya Sakura
Addison
Oceanairre

and I'm sure many many more.

Hopefully you my dear readers will follow me as I continue into finding fun foods in Los Angeles and Orange County. In the coming months my dearest dining companion and I are going to embark on a month-long whirlwind trip to South East Asia, I'll be going on one of the most decadent food/wine trips of my life in Napa in mid August (be on the lookout for some STUNNING wineries and GREAT food), and other shenanigans...

So be on the lookout and thanks for taking part in this chapter of my life!

Presidentwo Thai (Los Angeles/Pasadena)

2009-06-20T16:34:00.001-07:00

Mystery Eater strikes again! Read on for scrumptious Thai in Los Angeles... or just oogle the photos.

In an unassuming two-story building on Colorado Avenue (a little bit past Lake) in Pasadena lies Presidentwo, a Thai Restaurant. It's less than a mile from the hustle and bustle of Paseo Colorado (close enough to do some shopping afterwards to burn off those delicious calories). Flanked by Indian, Vietnamese, and Mexican Restaurants, respectively, one might not give Presidentwo a second look.

Both the outside and the inside don't really look like much. This isn't "fancy Thai food" or fusion-- it's the greasy, Thai food that hits the spot. Cleaann tables, friendly staff, and quick service.

This little gem is known for its lunch menu, which is served throughout the week. You can get your basic thai dishes (pad thai, pad see ew, pad kee mao, etc) for the mere price of 6.95, plus a salad and eggroll.

The salad was composed of crispy iceberg lettuce, red cabbage, and carrots, along with a tangy dressing that was reminiscent of honey walnut shrimp (a la Chinese seafood restaurants).

Tried the Pad See Ew. Chewy rice noodles, lots of chicken pieces, and slivers of egg throughout. The egg roll was piping hot, and crispy. I hate it when places leave their fried food sitting out too long, but Presidentwo didn't have that problem with their eggrolls.

They also have a board of specials, which I neglected to take a photo of. On it was the next dish-- spicy fish fillet in special house sauce. The fish was tender, the green beans and brocolli were still crisp. Most importantly, the sauce that enveloped it was delightful-- in each bite, you could taste the heat of the chili peppers, the tang of the ginger, the sweetness of the basil, and another sweetness beyond that-- perhaps honey? Either way, the dish was very good. (Note: a little ghetto, but there were some leftovers, and I tossed it with some cubed tofu, and the tofu sopped up all the saucy goodness. Makes me look forward to lunch tomorrow!).

Here is a close-up of the fish.

And no Thai meal is complete without mango sticky rice! For just $5.00, lots of fresh, sweet, juicy mango, and warm sticky rice with coconut milk. This gooey treat was a really nice end to a great, and inexpensive meal (around $30 pre-tip).

While the decor and ambiance of Presidentwo aren't much, its inexpensive eats, quick service, and authentic flavors will be sure to keep you coming back!

Presidentwo
905 E. Colorado
Pasadena, CA 91106
626-795-9826

Free Hot Dog on a Stick 6/15/09

2009-06-11T14:23:00.000-07:00

I was passing by the Mall today and I saw a giant sign that said "FREE HOT DOG ON A STICK 6/15/09".

After a quick google stop, you can see the promotion on the main page. So if you enjoy a mish mash of secret meat covered with an inch of deliciously doughy fried bread, stop by your local Hot Dog on a stick!

Wa Dining Okan (San Diego, CA)

2009-06-04T22:50:00.000-07:00

I've been staring at the dark corner of the Nijiya Market complex longingly for the last couple of months, always wanting to go in but never finding the time. Every time I pick up some jelly globe grapes from the market I think about the dark corner. Every time I pick up wine from my wine storage I think about the dark corner. Why am I longing after this little plot of land like a young school boy?

Ever since I saw Kirk's post on Wa Dining Okan half a year ago, I've been wanting to try it out. I love the idea of a different style of regional cuisine. We're so used to mexican food that's burritos and tacos that we ignore gems like Super Cocina, we eat sushi all day and we don't get exposed to a different type of Japanese cuisine. This is what I hoped for when I called to book my reservation at Wa Dining Okan, something different... something more native to the home country. (I surely do not know what is "native" other than the fact that it's different and I've never seen it before). Unfortunately, I was not the only person who wanted to dine at this restaurant cause they said they were booked up for the day.

Fast - Forward one month. After watching Star Trek my boy Frank and I decided we were hungry so we stopped by Wa Dining Okan. After waiting roughly 1 hour we were seated.

This blog, is not about that time =P

Fast forward another week. My friend Danny generously offered to treat me to a meal so I picked this restaurant. The restaurant has a base menu as well as a "specials" menu that changes daily. On the day Frank and I went the Specials Menu was about 5-6 pages, on the day Danny and I went it was at least 1.5 pages shorter. Most of the seafood and more peculiar dishes are on the Specials page.

When you walk in you are graced by a large light brown U-shaped bar directly in the center of the restaurant. Like a star in the spotlight, soft light shines down on the bar dining area.

Situated along the bars are large ceramic bowls of their "Japanese Tapas". The Tapas are changed daily and priced at $3.50. You get a small bowl of mostly a vegetarian style dish that's pre-made. They'll occasionally take your portion back and stew/cook it a little longer if the dish requires it.

The first dish we ordered was a simple napa cabage and tofu stew.

The tofu and the napa cabbage are stewed for awhile and kept in a sweet savory broth. It's one of those dishes that isn't "unique" in anyway but you can't stop eating it. This reminds me of something my grandmother would make as I scarf down bowls and bowls of rice with it. It's warm, filling, and savory.

The dishes here come one by one, hopefully you have a hour plus to kill because they aren't shy about taking their time with the food.

Continuing with our line of appetizers, we ordered their "famous" Gobo Salad

A generous layer of mustard greens (Mizuna) is piled high with a large stack of "shoe string" like Burdock Root (Gobo) and topped with a tart sesame dressing. If you haven't had Burdock Root before it's a really crunchy root with a hint of bitterness. Fortunately when fried, the bitterness of the root disappears and it almost tastes like deep fried thin sliced onion rings. The dish was pretty filling for a $5-6 dish but it's a pretty basic salad, I found the dressing to acidic and tart and the greens too mustardy when eaten without sauce. What a dilemma!

There's very little rhyme or reason behind the order of the dishes, cause the next dish that arrived was the Bacon Wrapped Asparagus.

As you well know, I can't eat bacon so I don't have much to say about this dish. Danny didn't know about my dietary restrictions so you'll see a few meat dishes which he dutifully cleaned up himself.

Lucky for me, the next dish they sent was within my eating restrictions! Tempura White Fish

The exact fish escapes my mind, but each tempura piece is one small whole fish (sans head) butterflied and lightly fried. I REALLY REALLY REALLY enjoy their battered fish dishes here. The fish is so moist and delicate while the batter is light and airy. They serve it with a side of green tea salt which I enjoy dropping one speck on the fish to liven up the palate.

This is probably my second favorite dish here.

(a whole Sole I had there was in a previous post.)

Danny was looking to try something new so he moved onto a big ol bowl of Boiled Chicken skin in Miso
A heaping boil of 3-5 chicken's worth of skin topped with scallions, sesame, and thinly sliced daikon. The dish was served cold. I didn't have any, but it seemed like a pretty heavy dish (as Danny later agreed with).

Danny had to keep his meat fix on so he had an order of Grilled Beef Tongue

Not much to say from him other than it was alright. Nothing great nothing poor.

On to my favorite dish here, Omelette with eel

I adore this dish. It's a fluffy rolled egg stuffed with a piece of eel down the center and sliced into small rolls. The egg is light with just a touch of sweetness. Like Tamago, it's cooked in layers so as you bite into it you can feel the layers fall apart in your mouth. Then you get to the center where you have some of the most tender and sweet eel with a warm baked goodness oozing out of the egg.

This dish is full of concentrated flavor in a small package. Absolute delight to eat.

We also had Blue Fin Tuna Sashimi which was quite good but I devoured it so quickly no pictures were taken =P.

After finishing up our king sized meal we opted for a bit of dessert.

First up "home made" pudding with black honey

This dish is a delight of dense sweet rich honey with soft velvety pudding. *DROOL*. It's lightly sprinkled with cocoa powder that gives the vanilla like pudding a nutty taste. The consistenty is like flan but softer and smoother. The honey is an out of this world sensation. It's almost like eating melted chocolate and honey together but in a thick syrupy form.

Man that was good. If you've never had Black Honey, supposedly it gives you high sex performance . (don't worry it's just an ad for Royal Black Honey!)

To go along with the decadent pudding, we ordered a Green Tea Tiramisu.

I don't know where they get all their green tea sources from but man is it good. The salt was great, this tiramisu was light but with a really focused sweet green tea flavor. Didn't really seem like a Tiramisu, but whatever it was it was off the hook.

I really enjoy the restaurant and I think it's a great addition to the San Diego Japanese restaurant community. The only negative is that it's not cheap. The portions are not large so you're ordering quite a few dishes. The normal menu is mostly sub $8 dishes but the menu filled with specials range from $9 to $20 depending on what you order. Our meal was roughly $75 after tax and tip.

But if you feel as though you can control you urges better than I can (which I'll be the first too admit is not hard) I feel as though you can get out of there for under $25 a person.

Wa Dining Okan
3860 Convoy St #110
(between Aero Dr & Kearny Mesa Rd)
San Diego, CA 92111

FREE DONUT DAY!

2009-06-04T18:15:00.000-07:00

A tip from mystery eater!

Tomorrow is National Doughnut Day and Krispy Kreme is giving out a free donut with no purchase necessary!!!
http://consumerist.com/5278885/national-doughnut-day-is-tomorrow-free-doughnuts

Sbicca (San Diego, CA)

2009-05-19T01:00:00.000-07:00

A group of friends and I gathered together for a dinner at Sbicca in Del Mar after the Family Winemakers Event. We were fortunate to be joined by some fine winemakers, John Cabot and his wife Kimberly of Cabot Winery (the most intoxicating nose on their syrahs, as many people have pointed out their Kimberly's Syrah One Barrel smells like liquid bacon with rocks and dark fruit) and Kathleen Inman of Inman Family Wines (who makes some really delicious pinots filled with length and acidity) as we collected around the backroom with a table full of wines and our stomachs ready to chow down.

Sbicca is well known for their friendly corkage policy on Sundays/Mondays (no corkage) and well prepared "modern American Cuisine". They had a second restaurant Meritage which was located where 3rd Corner now stands in Encinitas.

After tasting some wines, we sat down to some appetizers to share among the one of the three tables we occupied.

Grilled Stuffed Portabellini Mushrooms

The Portabellini is first grilled on one side, then stuffed with roasted garlic goat cheese and tomato cured basil. Olive oil and Basalmic Vinaigrette is lightly poured over the dish. I really like the deep dark earthy taste of the Portabellini mushroom. Due to its large size it has a nice meaty bite to it mixed in with the earth and the bite of the goat cheese really brings out all that dusty natural flavor.

Roasted Artichoke Tomato Bruschetta

The artichoke and tomato is served with grilled radicchio, fresh mozzarella, basil pesto, pine nuts, feta. I really enjoy feta is sparse amounts, otherwise the flavor dominates my palate.. but the scattered amounts were perfect with the otherwise light flavors of mozzarella and basil. I like the idea of using an almost flatbread style "pizza" dish, and they were easy individual servings to pass around and eat.

Burgundy Braised Short Ribs

The Shortribs are served with garlic spinach, buttermilk mashed potatoes, rich demi, spicy horseradish. Unfortunately, since I don't eat beef anymore, I have nothing to tell you.

Double Chop Porkchop

Didn't get to try this , since.. I also don't eat pork (duck, chicken, lamb, goat... anything land based). But MAN it smelled good. It was an ENORMOUS piece of pork chop, I just wanted to devour it. I was jealous. Half the party ordered this and it was scarfed down by everyone.

For myself I had the Seafood Fettucini

I have a love hate relationship with Seafood pasta. So often it has dry noodles with crappy small pieces of seafood over a bland overly acidic and sweet sauce. It's rare that there's a great combination of well cooked pasta, with a nice sauce, and great seafood. Beautifully cooked pasta tossed with shrimp, mussels, scallops, fresh seafood, tomato saffron sauce. Nice fat pieces of scallops , fish, shrimp, and mussels in a fragrant rich (not thick, but a great soup) saffron sauce. The noodles were cooked marvelously, the seafood pieces were so fresh and tasty.

I didn't have any expectations of the place coming in, just got together to drink wine and hang out with some friends.. but the food was really well prepared and executed well. I was really impressed cause they were able to prepare everything so well for a party of over 20.

Sbicca American Bistro
215 15th St
Del Mar, CA 92014

Look at the english name of the fish

2009-05-18T18:49:00.000-07:00

If my girlfriend could name a fish after me, it most likely would be this.

Fried whole sole @ Wo Dining Okan

2009-05-15T22:13:00.000-07:00

The sole is first sliced off and fried in individual pieces, then the rest of the body is fried. Very lightly fried and still moist/sweet. This place is great! Wish I brought my camera!

Eggplant boiled in miso, dried burdock root, really stellar egg and eel omelette.

Sushi Gen (Los Angeles, CA)

2009-05-06T00:48:00.000-07:00

I have heard of a fabled lunch special for many moons. One that consists of Toro, hamachi, salmon, red snapper, and tuna sashimi, cooked fish, and smoked fish on a single plate for $15. I thought that such a deal was only a myth. How could one ask for Toro for $15!? What lengths will I have to go to travel to such a mythical land? What fierce beasts must I face and what harsh challenges must I endure!?

Apparently.... at Sushi Gen, the only thing I have to endure is a long line when the place opens at 11am. Oh, that and navigating the rough streets of LA!

Located in the heart of Lil Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles, the Sushi Gen Sashimi lunch plate is a mecca for all lovers of a good deal. Normally, $15 for sashimi or sushi makes me think of wet, chewy, pieces of fish sitting out for far too long at a crappy little sushi restaurant. The only deal you get from that is a promise to visit the toilet shortly after.

Fortunately Sushi Gen is not a crappy little sushi restaurant. Well known in Little Tokyo for fresh fish at reasonable prices, the Sushi Gen Sashimi lunch special really takes that belief to heart.

You can call ahead for reservations for the first seating, it's the only time you get can get a reservation. The first seating is at 11am and by 10:45 there was a line about 25 deep in front of us. Everyone was seated and I'm sure if you didn't make a reservation it didn't matter... we were the only party in line that seemed to have a name in the reservation book.

When the waitress came with the menus we said valiantly "No menu's ms. We just want the Sashimi Lunch." She knew what we had come for and sprung into action.

First served a heaping mound of tofu little steamed with miso flavor.

Soft silken tofu that easily absorbs the light miso soup drizzled on top. A way to fresh up your palate for what was to come, kick start the taste buds without overwhelming the potential delicateness of the fish.

After clearing our bowls away, we get a massive plate placed right in front of us. IT HAS ARRIVED! THE FABLED SASHIMI PLATE! OH WHAT MAJESTY!

Starting from the bottom left going across

Bottom Left

Negi Toro: Chopped up fatty tuna mixed with green onions. The tuna imparts its richness and fat to the light bite of green onion. I really love this stuff with rice.
Shredded crab meat
Negi Salmon belly: Slightly spiced, with the same mushy/oily consistency that you get from the Negi Toro but with a less fatty texture and mouthfeel.

Middle

Slices of raw cuttlefish served on a bed of cooked kelp. The saltiness of the kelp mixed with the crisp bite of squid was just as refreshing as the tofu in the beginning.
Red Snapper
Tuna
Salmon
Octopus
Hamachi: all 5 were very good in quality
Toro in chopped large chunks.

Top row

Smoked fish, the smoke releases the sweetness of the fish, like a dried sardine
Grilled Yellowtail

All that, for $15! Sorry for the lack of detail when it came to the "tastes/quality" of the food. I'm by no means an expert in the flavors and textures of Sushi, so I'd just be lying to you and me when I start spouting off like I'm writing a tasting note for wine =P. Safe to say, it was pretty damn good for $15. I'd say it'd be pretty for for $25. Granted do not expect to be blown away, expect to get more than you pay for with good quality fish with plenty of food to eat!

Hopefully I let you in on one of LA's little lunch secrets... Enjoy!

Sushi Gen
422 E 2nd St
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Forest in my kitchen

2009-05-03T14:14:00.000-07:00

Warning! If you leave a sweet potato outside for too long you get a forest growing from it!

D.Z. Akins (San Diego, CA)

2009-04-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

Before I went on my pescetarian diet I had myself a few beef filled adventures. I've been hearing about a Jewish Deli "around" (15 minutes away wtf!) my place that served a killer pastrami sandwich. I asked around and was told about D.Z. Akins, THE "local" delicatessen. Serving 134 different sandwiches, D.Z. Akins has been a staple of the San Diego community since 1980.

Located in East San Diego, DZ Akins has your standard Large Jewish Deli Fare, cheese blitzes, potato pancakes, "Jewish penicillin", pastrami sandwiches, tongue.. you name it. A take out counter for carved meats and preserved seafood (shudder)

Baked goods just like your momma used to make them, that's if your momma loves using a lb of butter per cookie.

And of course a gift shop, selling all the necessary D.Z. Akins souvenirs, trinkets, and other.. completely random accessories that really fit more at a truck stop than at a full service restaurant. The menu is like a tome of food. Each page results in more and more sandwiches, entrees, desserts, fountain drinks and appetizers... I'd probably be sitting there flipping through the menu for a good 20 minutes if this was my first time there with no idea what they are "famous" for.

Since I did know what I was going to order, I decided to nom on some house cured pickles while I waited for the waitress.

A crisp pickle with a hint of brine, the pickle has yet to "erode" into the mucus color exterior that we all know and love. I actually prefer this type of pickle, that hasn't had the opportunity to "ferment" and still has the light crunchy texture that I love so much from raw cucumbers but have a slight kick of sour from the brine.

Of course, if you dig deeper into the giant pot of pickles, you'll find some that are really hitting their pickly stride .. if that kind of stuff floats you boat.

Now on to the sandwiches! All Sandwiches are served with fries and radioactive coleslaw.

Look at this thing, I thought someone had spilled slime into my coleslaw when it first appeared. Isn't this the same stuff that mutated 4 normal turtles into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle? Is Coleslaw supposed to be scary neon green?

If you think the slaw is scary looking, check out the sauce

I am now 100% sure that someone dropped OOZE into my coleslaw. So far I haven't grown ninja powers so I think it's pretty safe. Obviously, I finished the coleslaw.. so it was pretty good =P. Finely shredded cabbage with a sweet tangy sauce, I enjoyed it, it's no KFC coleslaw but it was good enough for me.

If you want to add the coleslaw into your sandwich, it costs $1.50 extra. Or you can be like me.. save yourself $1.50.. by stuffing it in yourself.

First up , French Dip Sandwich.

Typical well done thick sliced roast beef. *shrug*. Jeff didn't think it was anything amazing, decent sandwich.

I'm going to combine the next two sandwiches, since the ingredients are pretty similar.

Next up, Corned beef and beef tongue sandwich with lettuce and tomato.

And a tongue, corned beef, pastrami sandwich.. with no lettuce and tomato.

What I expect from tongue, is a very rich concentrated meaty flavor mixed with a metallic after taste. What I got here, was a piece of salted beef. It had the rough and thick texture of tongue, but none of that dense flavor that I love cooking over an open grill.

The pastrami had a light smoky flavor with a hint of the salty cure. I wish it were thicker cut, the thin cuts I don't think give you the opportunity to taste the meat and the cure, no matter how high they stack the thin slices up. You need those fat slices of meat interlocked with fat and skin to really get that deep cure.

Corned beef was alright, a bit salty. Didn't stand out.

The rye bread was dry and un-unique (is that a word?). So thinly sliced that the beef mushed into the sandwich. Yet the crust was so hard that I ended up leaving the 3/4th of the crust cause it made the sandwich so difficult to eat.

The best part of this meal? The deception by the restaurant. Usually when you're at a Jewish deli you get those fat stacked sandwiches that are filled to the BRIM with meat. You can't even finish the meat cause it's stacked so high up you can't grasp your hands around it. In this case, buyer beware. The meat is double folded in the front so it looks like they give you a huge bulging portion.. but if you look in the back half of the sandwich there is almost NO meat. I ended up laying the meat out evenly and it was a pretty standard deli sandwich.

All in all a pretty average experience.

I'm getting more and more confused with San Diego. So many "institutions" of San Diego have disappointed me. Why are these places even popular? Is it because people can't bring themselves to criticize places like this? The places their parents/grand parents took them to as kids? Or is it that so many in San Diego are devoid of taste and just follow people like sheep?

I can understand people liking the restaurant. It's not bad, the prices aren't horrible.. if you want some pastrami I don't know of too many places in San Diego. But to believe this is one of the best Jewish delis out there is a fallacy and an insult to places like Langers who are true institutions .. not just average restaurants trying to create a "Jewish dining" feel to bring in the target clientele. I felt it was such a gimmick, walking in and seeing a gift store there.

So if you want to try it yourself and tell me I might have been there on an off day here's the address

D.Z. Akins
6930 Alvarado Rd.
San Diego, California 92120

Trying to be Web 2.0 savvy

2009-04-23T16:44:00.000-07:00

So I'm trying to be a little Web 2.0 savvy so I've incorporated a couple of things to my blog.

On the top right, you can see that I put in a category of "What/Where I am eating". It's updated via twitter and integrated into blogspot. Not everything I eat is "blog posting" worthy, so I figure that'd be kind of fun, to let you take a sneak peak into what I'm eating at any given point of the day. (LOOK i'm just like clayfu! I also eat those grapes!)
I finally signed up for sending picture through my phone to the blog, so if I'm eating anything interesting or unique, I can send a quick pic here and you can all see it! =)

Mission (San Diego, CA)

2009-04-20T00:55:00.000-07:00

Once in a blue moon I'll have the craving for a full on breakfast meal . Once in a blue moon my most cherished dining companion will also have such a craving. Once in FIFTEEN blue moons both of us will want to eat go out and eat breakfast. Of course being the incredibly slow waking person I am on the days I don't have class, breakfast tends to be eaten around lunch time.

After browsing the web, we came upon a coupon from SignonSanDiego.com for a breakfast special at The Mission . The Coupon is valid M-F 7am - 3pm and is good for TWO blackberry pancakes, TWO pieces of bacon, and TWO eggs for a recession proof $6. Since I've never heard of Mission I wanted to do a little reading before I dropped some hard earned cash. Who knew if this was another Denny's-like restaurant... fortunately for us.. it wasn't.

The restaurant specializes in creating simple but focused breakfast and lunch entrees filled with fresh fruit, herbs, and veggies. They have their own unique take on Mexican breakfast cuisine for a few dishes. The portions here are large, but not so ridiculous you couldn't fathom the possibility of not consuming it all. The dishes are well prepared, not oily and sloppy like many popular breakfast eateries in San Diego. Not only is flavor a key part in their dish preperation but so is plating. If it looks good, most of the time it tastes good =P.

I was torn between the Plata Verde Con Huevos, sweet corn tamales with eggs and tomatillo sauce, and the Mission French toast. I finally settled on the Mission French Toast, I was looking for a sweet and filling dish and the savory element was complimented by a side of eggs and potatoes.

Mission French Toast

Fresh baked Cinnamon Bread on a palette of berry puree, accented with fresh fruit

The cinnamon bread is used as a base for the french toast creating a very deep earthy richness in the toast. The bread itself is buttery and soft, the thickness of the toast just adds into the "sponge" like texture that I mostly find in Chinese toast. The powdered sugar adds a sweeter taste to the french toast, but isn't completely necessary. It's like eating a really good cinnamon bun that isn't too sweet, doesn't stick to your mouth, and doesn't require a gallon of milk to wash down.

I was kind of indifferent to the berry puree, thought it was a bit too tart for my taste.. especially with the depth of rich and sweet layers of flavor.

I ordered a side of two over easy eggs and their Crispy Rosemary potatoes ($3 more)

Perfectly cooked eggs, I love having the warm thick yolk spill out over the potatoes. I could put an over easy egg on rice, noodles, potatoes, fries, pancakes.. it doesn't matter.. I love it either way. Add in a bit of Tabasco sauce and you're golden.

(good transition)

Golden like the crispy pan fried rosemary potatoes. The potatoes are first cooked in a large pan on a giant metal cooking surface then tossed into a small pan with oil , rosemary, and salt to infuse it with the necessary flavor and create the crust around certain areas of the potato. If you read my blog enough (thank you if you do), I am not a big potato fan. I really like my fries extra crispy.. and devoid of potato. But I really liked this. The potato was not overwhelmly starchy and had just a hint of rosemary and salt that gave it the necessary flavor to not overwhelm the sweetness of the french toast. I particurarly enjoyed the crisp edges.

My breakfast partner had the Coupon special of Two Blackberry pancakes, two eggs, and two pieces of bacon

Two generous flaps of buttermilk pancakes liberally stuffed with slightly cooked blackberries with a hefty coating of powdered sugar. The pancakes were light and fluffy with a soft texture that kept composed in your mouth without becoming mushy when you bite into them. The blackberries were so fresh and sweet that I didn't even need syrup or butter to add exterior flavors to the pancakes.

This was a particularly good deal at $6. Fill you right up with fresh fruit and large well prepared portions. Everything you could want for a breakfast. Or you could have an overly greasy breakfast like this for the same price.

Do yourself a favor, use the coupon (or don't) and drag yourself to some breakfast at Mission. If you're lazy like us, you can even eat it at 12pm! They have 3 locations around San Diego so no excuses if you live south of La Jolla aight?

Mission
3795 Mission Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92109
Daily 7:00am-3:00pm

2801 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92104

1250 J Street
San Diego, CA 92101

Alchemy Restaurant (San Diego, CA)

2009-04-13T00:49:00.000-07:00

Alert Alert!~!: Found great new restaurant that has entrees for under $17 that doesn't taste like over-sauced garbage like most restaurants in North Park (cause.. it's in South park!). They serve deliciously inventive cocktails, have spot on service, and most importantly gives you a good meal without ruining your wallet.

Our friend Joey came from out of town and we were looking to get a few drinks and get our chow on . I first looked at Tractor Room, but my lifestyle change to a pescetarian diet wouldn't let me eat ANYTHING there. Starlight was closed for Easter Sunday. After browsing the web for a bit, I fell upon Alchemy in Southpark. Opened 7 weeks ago, the restaurant has an urban ambiance, it'd fit right in place in West Hollywood with the clean art decor and soft warm colors of the walls/floors/counters.

The restaurant's focus is on creating well portioned dishes with quality ingredients at recession proof prices. A generous wine by the glass section as well as a by the bottle wine list (corkage is $15) accompany a specialty cocktail list. The restaurant walls are adorned with modern photography/art as well as a giant tree sculpture in the middle of the restaurant. The name Alchemy is rather fitting, taking ingredients from all over the food/drink pyramid and combining them into an attractive and appealing concoction.

If I overheard the owner Ron Troyano correctly they worked the restaurant around this sculpture to make it the center of the restaurant.

After being seated, a couple of my friends and I ordered a few cocktails while waiting for the rest of our party to arrive.
I'm so tired of drinking rum&coke, 7&7 .. where you have some random bartender make you a drink that's either far too strong or far too sweet. I just want a drink that's well made, that I can enjoy. I believe Alchemy hits the spot. Btw I am not a booze hound, I just tasted a few sips of every drink to get an impression =P

I ordered a Keeps Pleasure

Skyy Vodka, Tangerine, bing cherry, and fresh mint.

Vodka is a great spirit to use as a blank canvas. It does its job of matching whatever flavor surrounds it. In this case you get really bright sweet cherry with hints of mint. The cherry has a wonderful fleshy flavor to it that is accented by the tangerine flavor. I was first curious why they didn't mash all the mint into the drink, but it was perfect the way it was. The mint didn't overpower the layers of flavor the cherry and tangerine imparted. I hate to use a comparison to a Mojito, since the only thing similar is a mint... but the drink was refreshing and a great start to the meal.

Allen ordered the Red Derby

Michters rye whisky, grapefruit, honey

For me, this was without a doubt the star of the night for the drinks. Normally when you have a drink you don't sit there pondering the finish or what's on the mid palate like you do wines. But in this case, the finish was sweet honey and a bit of bitter rind that just sat on your tastebuds for 20-30 seconds. It was incredible! The rum itself was a bit strong at first (who's complaining about a little bit more alcohol?) but I really enjoy the inclusion of grapefruit juice in any drink, that bitter sweet citrus adds a certain tang to alcohol. The drink got better as you got to the bottom of the glass as the honey and juice settled and mixed perfectly with the rum.

Frank ordered the Rosemary Negroni

Tanqueray 10 gin, Rosemary, Campari, Cinzano sweet vermouth, blood orange

A slice of blood orange is dripped over the cocktail which adds acidity to the bitters from the Campari. I like the inclusion of the vermouth that adds a primary herbal note to the drink that then becomes accented by the Rosemary. The drink is floral and fresh with just a touch of sweetness.

Also enjoyed a bottle of 2005 Sojourn Cabernet Sauvignon Home Ranch

Slim notes of blueberry and vanilla appear on the nose with slightly pronounced heat. Dark rich fruit mixed with very prominent blueberry and black berry and still has the toasted oak mouthfeel. Still a big tannic wine, might need some time to settle in and let the tannin integrate with the fruit.

The rest of the party arrived so we chomped down on a few appetizers.

Started off with Ceviche of fresh sea bass $8

pickled mango / toasted coriander seed/ plantain chip

I really enjoyed this ceviche. The fish was fleshy and light, not overly saturated with citrus. The sweetness of the mango mixed with the spice of the coriander made for a playful salsa flavor that permeated through each of the bites. You can then scoop some of the ceviche with the crisp plantain chip to add that little bit of pottasium we all need =P.

We also ordered Parmesian fries $4

shoestring potato fries / parmesan cheese garlic aioli

Good fries, not as crispy as I'd expect with shoestring fries. The aioli was teetering on the fine line between flavored aioli and mayo. Someone at the table said these were like high end McDonald fries, it was meant as a compliment. Personally, when I think shoe string I think thin fries that are super crispy and almost well done cause they are so thin. These have a good amount of potato/starch still in them, so unless you fry them in oil for 10 minutes (yuck) they won't get that crispiness that I love.

I enjoyed the flavor of the fries, just the right amount of parmesian and herb on the fries. Some places (Oceanaire) are heavily seasoned and it detracts from the fries itself.

Next up the San Diego Sliders $8

three grilled mahi tacos / shredded cabbage / salsa verde americana / corn tortillas

OMG. I have read complaints about this dish on Yelp, this once again shows the craptastic taste of many many users on Yelp, but this dish was SPOT ON. This is an appetizer, it's meant to be small. Three tacos just the right size, three bites per taco. I like the use of Mahi Mahi in tacos, they are light and delicate and do not have a strong fish flavor so they compliment well with whatever condiments are served with it.

Shredded red/purple cabbage that has more of a bite than your normal raw green cabbage with a flavorful salsa verde and a dallop of sour cream.

Everything about this appetizer screamed light and filling. All the ingredients were perfectly sized to give you the most flavor in the small manageable bites.

cocktail break: Alchemy Margarita

Cuervo 1800 tequila, orange, lime, agave, black salt

I liked the smokiness from the use of the black sea salt along the rim of the margarita. I really really like the inclusion of fresh citrus juices in the drink. I hate concentrated juice.. it adds an odd sour flavor to the drink but the lime and orange worked well to balance out the bitter spice that comes from the tequila. One of the better Margaritas I've had.. but I'm no expert on Margaritas =P.

After watching "she who shall not be named" break a wine glass and the very attentive wait staff clean it up like MOP in Wall-E We got our entrees.

I had the Pacific Halibut Sous Vide $15

Carmelized brussel sprouts and toasted walnuts are layered within a herb oil and walnut reduction mix with a piece of sous vide halibut on top. Sous vide fish is done in a vaccuum sealed bag at a low heat for a long period of time. It creates a very controlled environment for the meat to cook in. The fish was prepared in the bag with a slice of lemon to add acidity to the fish.

The halibut was cooked perfectly, flaked right off but the best part of the dish was the walnut "sauce" that was at the bottom of the dish. It mixed perfectly with the Halibut and Sprouts. At first the fish itself didn't have much flavor, but when eaten as a complete dish it was astounding, it was nutty and sweet with some nice bitter sprout to balance it out.

Allen ordered the Crispy Skin Jidori half chicken $16

This was easily the best dish of the night. The chicken was perfectly cooked, crisp skin and tender moist meat, served with bokchoy, shitake mushroom dumplings. There are few chicken sources that restaurants provide that give the same consistent quality and excellence of Jidori. It's always flavorful and tender and the restaurants that make good food end up putting forward astonishing pieces of bird. The rest of the dish has a heavy Asian influence. A "Ma La" pepper spice mixed with a sweet reduction with flat Shitake mushroom dumplings. The Shitake mushrooms were diced into the dumplings and you have a very rich earthy mushroom flavor.

Joey had the Burger $10

Big fat juicy burger , Joey said "very good". Sorry for the lack of info, I didn't try the burger.

Frank had the Cocoa Rubbed Niman Ranch Pork Tenderloin $17

Slices of pork tenderloin that was roasted and rubbed with cocoa powder served with sweet potato/yam (not sure which, website says SP, owner said yam) mash and asian pear Mostarda. Incredibly tender and flavorful the pork had a great partner in the cocoa spice rub. The sweetness from the cocoa was matched with two very good sides. Poached then diced Asian Pear and a pureed yam mash. The yam mash was exciting, just a smidgen of sweetness from the sappy yam with hints of cinnamon and nutmeg(?). I just kept reaching across the table to scoop from Frank's plate.

Finally, Sharon had the pan roasted local seabass $14

Fennel and EVOO with a cherry tomato sauce accompanies the Sea Bass. I love the use of capers in a dish, it adds a certain amount of saltiness that enhances the flavor of the fish and fennel. The EVOO tomato sauce was light but full of flavor. I enjoyed the flavor of this more than my halibut but I enjoyed the preparation of the halibut more. I thought the fish could have been cooked better, it was a little rubbery at the center but I found the taste of the fish well executed with laser focused flavor.

After letting our bellies rest we ordered two desserts to share.

Spice Roasted Pineapple Brulee $6

A dallop of fresh pineapple sorbet sits on top of the pineapple. The pineapple is made in the "creme Brulee" fashion. It's first spiced and then coated with sugar and then seared to create a hard shell around the top of the pineapple. This was a good dessert, it was fresh and airy.. also made me feel healthy since it was a piece of fruit right? (hehe). The problem with this dish, is it had to come along with one of the best desserts I've had in awhile.

Cranberry Bread Pudding $6

Served with a very generous scoop of Vanilla Gelato and a caramel pistashio sauce. First, the bread pudding was perfectly executed, I was initially afraid that the cranberry would be overwhelming but it was a nice compliment to the soft moist bread pudding. Full of sweet cinnamon flavor, the bread pudding was outstanding. The best part of this dish? The Gelato. Creamy and dense and packed full of vanilla bean flavor. *yummmmm*. Everyone at the table was raving about the gelato.

I really enjoyed this restaurant, I'm glad that they opened. I feel they are still working some kinks out, my fish was a little below warm but everyone elses dishes came out spectacularly. I can see this place being an absolute STUNNER by the end of the year. The service was spot on, quick and attentive but not hovering and Ron's wine service was superb.

I can't wait to go back!

And... I didn't wait long to go back. 6 days later

Had a couple of new things here. (sorry no pictures)

roasted california almonds: Like eating little bites of healthy bbq fritos. I love bbq frito twists. I was nibbling at these all night.

"cabernet" marinated local olives: don't like olives =( Everyone else liked them.

berkshire pork piquillo relleno:Couldn't eat the pork, but the part everyone liked was the vegetables under the pork. Edamame with Mustard green with some sort of Parsley/Herb Oil infusion. Very tasty. I picked all 3 plates clean of the veggie.

Ravioli: I was a bit worried when this was ordered, cause I dont' usually have good experiences with Ravioli at non-italian restaurants. These are two very very large Ravioli's stuffed with Goat Cheese Ricotta. The rich sweat cream like sauce from the beet mixed splendidly with the sharpness of the Ricotta. The ravioli was appropriately thick in which it didn't detract from the cheese and sauce with too much dough.

I was utterly amazed by the sauce.

duo of cypress island salmon: An interesting play on Negi-Toro. Instead of Tuna Belly they used Salmon belly mixed with green onions. Served alongside house cured salmon. I've always liked the thick consistency of Negi-Toro and this was similar but with a silkier salmon taste. (not as fatty as Negi-toro of course)

Japanese 75: Plymouth gin, yuzu, sparkling wine: Yuzu juice is one of my favorite additions to food and drink due to its complex citrus flavor. Added in with the lightly woody gin and the acidic and sharp minerality from the sparkling wine it created a thick textured mouth coating drink that stayed in your mouth sip after sip.

Service was spot on as usual. Around 8:00pm the place was packed. Not an empty seat in the house with 3-4+ tables waiting to be seated.

Alchemy Restaurant
1503 30th Street
San Diego, CA 92102

Haiku to Kogi Taco Truck (Los Angeles)

2009-04-03T02:13:00.000-07:00

Wait was two hours
Little meat, plenty of sauce
Why so popular?

Seriously, 2-3 bites done, scattered bits of meat drench in marinade. A pointless cabbage slaw that just tasted like vinegar. Cold corn tortilla. What's up with that? Really $2?

The Oceanaire (San Diego, CA)

2009-04-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

Three years ago while watching Top Chef I saw that one of the contestants was the Executive Chef somewhere in San Diego. I really didn't pay it much attention cause I had no clue how far the guy was going. But when Brian Malarke made it to the final 3 that season I thought I should do some research on the restaurant he worked at.

After dabbling in some google search I found out he worked at the downtown seafood restaurant Oceanaire. After browsing through the site I found out it was a chain restaurant. There were numerous locations throughout the United States. Not wanting to spend my "hard earned" bucks at a fancy chain when so many new exciting restaurants were opening in San Diego, I put it on the backlog and didn't think about it again.

Now fast forward 3 years *vroooom* . My friend Joseph Wu was visiting from out of town and asked if I wanted to get dinner. He has a specific restrictions on what he eats, but what he does eat plenty of is shellfish. I racked my brain for food that would meet his specifications.. and my mind just kept jumping to clams, mussels, oysters... where can I get fresh clams, mussels, and oysters? Finally I remembered Oceanaire. Seeing as they had a very large assortment of fresh oysters I called Frank, picked up Joe from his hotel and we found our way to the Gaslamp.

We were seated promptly by the Maitre D in big lush burgundy leather booths... right near the restroom. Show dem young boys where we put them, not in the main dining room with the folks with money *wink*. As promptly as we were seated we were well met by the waitress. Let me tell you, I was impressed by the service. The waitress and the bus boy were attentive to our needs, came by frequently to check on us, and answered the barrage of questions I delivered. It's also only the 2nd time I've brought wine to a restaurant that the waitress/waiter actually opened it and served us the wine throughout the night. The waitress and busboy were always around and casually observed their area like a mother eagle watching their chicks.

During the start of the evening, Monday through Friday 5pm-6pm they have happy hour at the bar.

They have a couple of $1 oysters (any oyster on the main menu that is $1.95), $6 Fish & Chips, $3 Clam Chowder, and some other delicious deals. We came we ate and we conquered a dozen oysters last happy hour.

The dining room menu centers around fresh daily seafood. Their menu changes daily (especially the oyster list) with whatever they get in as a shipment. So an oyster you like one day, might not be there the next. =(. They do have some "common" fish staples that they always keep on the menu, they are routinely labeled as fresh that day, but not always.

So to start off your meal they give you a bit of a palate cleanser. A complimentary Relish tray.

Pickled Herring, radish, celery, carrots, onions, peppers... freshen up your mouth for the ocean assault that would come before us.

The herring had a nice bite with just enough sweet meat to balance out the sourness, I asked for more and the waitress gave me a plate of it. FREE SEAFOOD? GOTCHA SUCKAS.

After owning the free fish we started off with a round of oysters.

Blue Point : These are incredibly popular oysters in NY. They started off in Long Island and apparently it has been all the rage there since they came around. I think these are very good "beginner" oysters. They have a low level of brine, a good amount of meat to fat, and they are mild and medium sized.

Sister Point : Found in Washington @ Hood Canal, these were oddly briny, they had a very exciting meaty consistency that I didn't find in the other oysters but without the aid of vinegar or lemon it was like drinking sea water.

Fanny Bay: Found in British Columbia, this was probably my favorite oyster. It was smallish medium with a hint of crisp dill and salt water with a touch of metallic flavor without the fat of some of the other oysters. Pure decadence, simple.. to the point. Tray grown and very popular and abundant. I'm a cheap date.. what can I say?

Hama Hama:Found in Puget Sound, Washington the oysters are a Medium sized oysters with a fat sack of rich brine that bursts from the oyster. This might be more distracting for a noobie oyster eater due the oyster having more scattered flavors of some bitter green without the meatiness of the blue point.

After popping down those decadent treats we proceeded on to our next course. Frank and Joe ordered a bowl of their Clam Chowder while I patiently waited for my dinner.

After taking a spoonful of Frank's, I promptly flagged down the waitress and told her how outraged I was that she didn't tell me they were serving Ambrosia today. Or... I flagged her down and asked for a cup of CHOWDA as well.

I do not like thick chunky clam chowder. In fact, I HATE thick chunky clam chowder. I refuse to drink thick chunky clam chowder, and I say *PHATOY* as I spit in the face of chunky clam chowder. This bowl of CHOWDA was not thick chunky clam chowder. Generously loaded with oysters and herbs, it was creamy but with a more brothy texture. You can smell the smokiness from the bacon that was rising from the soup. Toss in a few oyster crackers and you got yourself a treat.

Both Joe and Frank ordered Mussels. Joe had the Steamed Mussels A la Mariniere while Frank had the Prince Edward Mussels Diablo.

Their plates were LOADED with mussels. They each had a small town's worth of mussels on the plate.. at least 25 mussels a piece. The standard Mussel preparation (ala Joe's) was a steamed mussel with a chardonnay broth. The sauce had a citrus, light vanilla, taste mixed in with the saltiness of the mussel. Classically done and excellent. The mussels were plump and tender.
Frank's was cooked in a hot pepper sauce with lemons and onions. Didn't have the richness of Joe's mussels but it worked well in it's own way. The mussels themselves were meatier but not as large as Joe's. The dash of hot pepper in each bite mellowed out the salt and meat that came with the mussel.

For my dish I ordered House Battered Fish and Chips.

The fish is battered in Karl Strauss Red Trolley Ale which resulted in a puffy, soft, with an almost sweet malty flavor. They used Mahi Mahi as the base fish.
The angle of my picture is midly deceitful. There were 6 pieces of 5-6 inch fried fish and probably a pound of fries (I think Kathy wants to go here now). Each time you bit into the fish a mound of steam would bloom from where you bit. The fish was flaky, tender, buttery, and full of flavor. My only complaint about the fish, was that the batter wasn't sturdy enough, as you picked it up (both times I ordered this) the fish pieces would just split in half. I'm thinking the batter was just too thick.

The fries are thin fries sprinkled with what I think is Parmesan and chives. If you grab a handful and put it in your mouth, it tastes like you're eating Lay's Sour Cream and Onion. It was kind of weird. When I go again, I'm asking them to go light on whatever powder they put on the fries. On the other hand, the fries are nice and crisp.

The food was far and away better than what I expected. Frank and I both want to come again to try their fresh fish selections to see if it'll really put the restaurant over the top. The service was great, the restaurant was nicely appointed, and the noise level was enough for us to converse, enjoy some fresh seafood, and drink some lovely wine.

What wines you say?

2002 Jadot Louis Gevrey Chambertin Clos St Jacques: A beautiful nose of a fresh french strawberry picked out of the dirt, sweet but smooth with a touch of violet. A very pure wine with light red fruit, brown sugar, a hint of fresh forest floor.. a little bit fruit forward but VERY enjoyable in a pop and pour. The finish is medium length/acidity. Tannins start to come out as the night wore on showing the stuffing of this wine

Red Label NV Krug: The wine was showing it's age, easily a 15-20+ year old wine at the point. Deep golden color with racey caramel, yeast, with an earthiness you don't find in N.V. Krug anymore. A large amount of acidity matches the citrus and spice. *yum*.

Now to end the post, I want to take you to the restroom.

NOTHING shows high end dining *smirk* than actual cloth towels opposed to paper towels in the restroom. Also in case you need lotion, face wash, toothpaste, shaving cream, and mouth wash it was all available around the sink.

And finally as any fine gentleman needs, a shoe buffer.

We didn't ask to see Brian, he would have known the moment he saw me that I was a Hung man all the way. =P. Hopefully you'll be able to visit Oceanaire and enjoy it as much as I did. If you just want to try the freshly shucked oysters, the Bar is always there. If you don't make it to Happy Hour their oysters are $1.50 at the bar opposed to $1.00 during happy hour.

Enjoy!

The Oceanaire
400 J Street
San Diego, California 92101

The identify of mystery eater has been revealed.

2009-04-01T01:24:00.000-07:00

MY WONDERFUL FRIEND TADA!

Road Trip: Santa Barbara Shell Fish Co. (Santa Barbara, CA)

2009-03-23T01:37:00.000-07:00

After an exhausting couple of days barrel tastings in Santa Maria/Lompac (read below about the visits) with my buddy Frank we decided on our way back to Los Angeles to grab a bite to eat in Santa Barbara.

Larry Schaffer at Tercero Wines: excellent Rhone varietals, the 07's are going to be killer.. big and structured with great acidity and mouth gripping tannins.. lay em down for years.. drink now.. whatever you want. His whites are filled with piercing acidity with bright stone fruit and citrus. Only his 2nd release coming up and it's killer juice. The nose on the syrah's are KILLER. His 06 Cuvee Christies is still one of my favorite $30 wines in CA.
Dave Corey @ Core Wines:volumptious, sexy wines with copious amounts of fruit. Dave is making and blending stuff no one else is doing in CA. He's got a bunch of value priced wines, but all across the board from his cheapest to most expensive they are racy and exciting to drink.
Barry Rossum @ Tantara Wines : the variety of pinots and syrah is staggering, if you like them big and bold with pepper, ripe juicy red fruit this will be your type of place.
Colin Murphy @ Foley Estate wines :Colin and Kris Curran (of Seasmoke fame) make up the new winemaking team of the 07/08 Pinots/chards at Foley. The 08's are incredible, they shine right through the barrel and it's only been 4 months since barreled. You have racy reds to beautiful earthy pinots with incredibly acidity, forest floor, bright cherries.
Ryan @ Arcadian Winery : Ryan's the Assistant winemaker there with Joe Davis and they make "throw back" pinots. Pinots you don't find too often in CA these days with the boom of higher alcohol % and bigger more powerfully flavored wines. What you have here is amazing length and acidity with the potential to age wonderfully. Their 05 Sleepy Hollow Chardonnay is without a doubt one of my favorite white wines in CA.

After a quick stop at Jaffur's wines we went to the local favorite Santa Barbara Shell Fish Co at the end of the historic Stearns Wharf for some fresh seafood. The restaurant has been located at the end of the pier for over 25 years and offers a variety of seafood options. Located on the front of the restaurant is a chalk board sign with whatever is the fresh speciality of the day.

You can do "take out" at the restaurant at a side window and have a bottle of wine (no corkage if you sit outside!) with whatever seafood tickles your fancy. They have your standard seafood pastas, crab cake, and fish stews but absolutely LOADED with seafood. The man next to us ordered the Cioppino and it was STUFFED to the gills with clams, mussels, crab legs, and shrimp. There were crab legs poking out of the bread bowl and the broth was steaming hot.. man I was gonna attack the man and eat his stew.

The best part of the meal is pretty much everything is made in the center of the restaurant (except for the stews and crab cakes). They are making pasta at the center stove, steaming your crustaceans on the side, frying up their crack sprinkled onions rings, and scooping up some ambrosia clam chowda while watch. There are no "tables" inside the restaurant, it's all essentially one big bar area. We sat front and center (apparently no one eats at 6:30 on a sunday in Santa Barbara) at the bar and watched and people streamed non stop. When we first got there there was one family there, but the time we left... all the stools were taken (about 20), 6-7 tables of 4 were taken outside and there was a line outside the door for seats.

To start our meal off, my boy Frank and I ordered a lb of local shrimp steamed in beer.

Now I know you're looking at these shrimp and you're thinking to yourself "what's so special about these lil size disadvantaged crustaceans?" I know, they are small. But I want you to take a look at the shell, you see how it's not the standard clear/orange color we see at most restaurants? This is because THIS IS NOT YOUR AVERAGE MEDIUM SIZED SHRIMP.

This is the greatest shrimp (for the size) that I have ever, ever, ever ,ever, ever, ever, ever had. If you're chinese you probably know those fresh water prawns the family always gets at Chinese seafood restaurants? Imagine those but smaller, so you get a very concentrated intense meaty flavor. The body of the shrimp is thick and meaty with no rubbery characteristics that you'd find on lesser shrimp. I don't even know what that sauce was for on the side, the meat was sweet and had a hint of dark ale on the finish... it didn't need a sauce. Freaking remarkable. I am actually getting visibly worked up right now thinking about it.

The best indication of it's freshness was how easily the meat popped out of the shell. The meat was barely attached to its shell, we bit off the head, pushed the tail and POP came the meat. (If you've had frozen shrimp you know how much of a hassle it is to peel shrimp. You might as well pay someone to do it for you cause it's not worth the whole one minute it takes you to peel ONE freaking shrimp.)

The great part of this place is that they just have TANKS AND TANKS of live crabs and lobster lining the restaurant. You tell them which type of crab you want, the size and they'll bring it out and show it to you. We decided to get a 7lb Spider Crab from the Ocean of Darkness located on the Planet Neubla in a galaxy far far away.

Seriously, is that not the ugliest looking thing in the world? (not the waiter, he was a nice guy... their service is quite spectacular here, always cleaning out your shell bowls, refilling your drinks, I give the service a very hearty A.) That thing looks like it's going to jump at me, latch on my face, and impregnate me with it's alien embryo. Then as I'm driving back to LA it'll burst out of my stomach, eat Frank for food, and most likely take over the world with its spawns unless a strong willed woman, all alone with nothing but her wits, some high tech guns, and a giant moving robot, save the Earth.

They told me to touch it, but I suggested the 4 year old boy behind me gawking at the crab do it instead. Try to impregnate me with your alien embryo... I THINK NOT.

I think they knew that no normal person could each that monstrosity alone so they tossed in two bowls of soup (great clam chowder, nice chunks of clam with a lofting smell of freshly fried bacon), two Caesar salads (yuck I hate these salads), and some onion rings (which are the 2nd best onion rings I've ever had. Flash fried for about 2 minutes, cut extra extra thin, just dip these puppies in the soup and you're golden like tolden).

After your crab is sacrificed into the boiling vat of water (DIE ALIEN SCUM!) the man behind the counter works his magic. Years of intense training from the greatest knife wielding ninjas in the far east on the highest peaks of the Himalayas result in precision chopping filled with speed and finesse.

I watched them clean the crab and a single tear dropped from my eye as I saw him throw away the brain. (Can you imagine the brain on this crab? It's gotta be HUGE! Like a piece of Foie!) After a few minutes of chopping and dicing they dropped two plates in front of us.

First the monster's head. Underneath the shell was it's very very succulent middle carapace.

The meat below it's shell was delicate, tender, and sweet with a hint of ocean water. The biggest problem with this crab was how hard the shell was. We really had to work to get the meat out. Luckily, the cook didn't clean out ALL the brain and we were treated to the rich soft sweetness of crab innards. *drool*. No seriously, it's sweet, creamy, and rich.. like Foie. But everyone just throws it away. Geez.

Next up, the legs

The flavor of the legs vary as you get closer to the claw. Actually, it just gets rougher. Since the legs of the crab are thin it dries out quicker than the rest of the body. So some of the pieces are chalky and dry, nothing you really write home about. Probably the only time I actually used the sauce provided. The non-dry pieces were lines of thick meat, meatier and not as tender and sweet as the body of the crab.

The meat was nigh impossible to get to. I thought the body was hard enough, the thickness of the leg shell was a good 1-2cms.

It's absolutely ridiculous how thick the shell is on the legs. These crabs could take mortar fire and still be crawling around. In fact they'd give you a big "F U" with their claws.

Speaking of claws... the claws were.. interesting to say the least. The meat in the claw isn't chunky like the other parts, it's very small and granulated. The first thing that came to my mind was tapioca balls (small ones). The meat just kind of falls apart into little pieces when you bite into it. The flavor of the sea is strong in this one. It's salty and oddly textured.

Maybe you can ask for one of these crabs with none of it's legs/claws ... find a scraper that's on his last leg (hehe) and just eat it's delicious body.

I really enjoyed this place. This is the 2nd time I've come here and I've been impressed both times. I've always gotten the crab just cause it's the freshest thing they've had and it has never dissappointed for the price. ($8.95 a lb for the spider crab! BAM I just dropped that on you).

My one suggestion tho, is to drive onto the wharf and park near the restaurant. It looks like you have to pay but they validate. I've made that mistake twice... I parked once in a PAY parking lot and another time at the other end of the street. Both times I cursed myself.

And I'm out! Todes Magodes!

Santa Barbara Shellfish Company
230 Stearns Wharf
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Chinese Style Pork Belly in a Slow Cooker!

2009-03-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

About a month ago my very wonderful girlfriend got me the Valentine's day gift of my dreams. A Slow Cooker. When I opened up the box my imagination ran wild with the dishes I would make. Why stand next to the stove watching the dish cook on low heat.. occasionally stiring and fretting when you can (wait for it) SET IT AND FORGET IT! What tender pieces of meaty creations will I create inside this slow cooker? What culinary epiphanies can I treat my dear readers to that would make them drool and have their stomachs grumble while saving a buck?

I decided to go with one of the most inexpensive.. yet flavorful meats out there, Pork Belly. Now I'm sure some of you are skeptical on the usage of pork belly. I got quite a few "what the heck? people eat pork belly?" comments from my friends when I told them of my little adventure. I'm also sure quite a few of you are fine dining aficionados and have seen the proliferation of pork belly on restaurant menus all over the country. They are popping up everywhere like sweet potato fries! =P.

I perused my local Asian supermarket which had a sale on Pork Belly for $1.50 a pound. A great deal, but you had to buy a whole slab which weighed roughly 4lbs.

I laid that puppy out before I sliced it up into more consumable portions. A nice thick layer of fat ran along the top of the pork. I cut it into 5 pieces from left to right.

You can see, some pieces are fattier than others. There was a large disparity in one piece that's not pictured that was pretty much just fat with a bit of meat. I'd like to find a good source of pork belly sometime that has a nice ratio of fat to meat without the huge disparity.

For my recipe I found a great blog post by "Nou" . He/She had tweaked a braised pork belly recipe to work with the slow cooker. I then tweaked that recipe to do away with the dry sherry (which I didn't have any of) and yellow bean sauce (which I also did not have any of). I don't think removing those pieces were detrimental to the final taste of the pork belly.

First brown your pork belly, season it how you like.. salt/pepper all work well. Make sure that you season each side evenly. I used about 2 lbs of pork belly (two of the strips)

For the broth I...

Minced one small piece of ginger (about an inch long)
2 cups of Trader Joe (use whatever you want) organic low sodium chicken broth
4 tbsp of sugar
2 tsp of 5 spice
5 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp of hoisin sauce
2 tbsp of light soy sauce
6 chopped green onions.

As you can see, the broth reaches to about the middle of the fat of the pork belly. I made another rendition of this dish with dark soy sauce and oyster sauce with more liquid to cover the whole pork belly. I thought that resulted in a far softer layer of fat. THe fat was good in this version, but it wasn't nearly as "tender". There was a bit of chewiness to the top that I'm not sure how much more cooking would have done away with. The reason I'm posting this recipe is the meat flavor is far more complex but without a very rich soy based seasoning that would turn many people away. I'd like to experiment at some point with adding a mixture of water/chicken broth to bring the liquid level higher.. or maybe just use a smaller pot.

I deter from the recipe a bit, it asks for 1.5 hours high and 5 hours low. I wanted a very tender piece of meat so I cooked it at 9 hours low. I think it could actually have cooked a bit longer to reduce the fat a bit more.

With about a hour left, I chopped up a bunch of bok choy and tossed it into the pot. I have no clue why I did that... I was hoping the bok choy would somehow soak in all the soup and make a delicious vegetable side. I think if I do it again, I'll put it in with about 20 minutes left so it doesn't wilt and become inedible.

So here we have it, the pork belly after 9 hours. A nice light brown coloring runs through the meat as well as all the parts that were exposed to the broth. The other version I made, was completely browned, very similar to the braised beef shank noodle soup but that was with star anise and other coloring agents (and chopped in pieces opposed to a large chunk).

I took a bite of the top part of the fat and it was a bit elastic for my taste, so I cut off the VERY top layer of fat, probably less than 1cm of fat. What's the point of pork belly if you don't have a good chunk of fat still right? But here's the piece of ultra moist meat. I just softly pealed it open with a fork, you can see the individual "fibers" of pork bunch up as the rich pork fat glistens all around it.

The reason I ultimately enjoyed this recipe more was you got to taste the natural flavor of the pork more with a lighter seasoning. The garlic, ginger, green onion added to the quality of the meat without imposing too much of it's own flavors as dark soy, oyster sauce, and star annise do. As you can see, the meat is still a pale white, without absorbing too heavily the broth around it.

To eat along with the dish, I had purchased some fresh noodles from the local 99 ranch. I LOVE fresh noodles. I really think if you have the opportunity to purchase them from the market you should. They cost about 1.75 per 4 bundles and each bundle is a very nice portion size. And they also cook very quickly.

I tossed in some more bok choy while boiling the noodles. Topped the noodles/bok choy with some pork belly and I was set! Drizzled a little bit of the broth (forewarning, it's VERY oily from all the fat that got reduced so it might seem very greasy.. I highly advocate not pouring too much on your noodles.. the meat itself is rich enough to stand on it's own without too much).

And Walla! Chinese style pork belly =) Hope you enjoy!

Neighborhood (San Diego)

2009-03-02T11:01:00.000-08:00

Our final stop of my whirlwind Hamburger Tour of San Diego. We brought you Crazy Tioli's and Boomerang's and we're finally down to the last restaurant. My (quick) search for the best burger in San Diego has come to an end. Maybe there are better burgers out there, maybe there aren't... but my waistline can only take so many lbs of grilled meat with fatty cheese and oils.

The last restaurant on the list is Neighborhood located in downtown San Diego. When I first read about the place I thought... would this place be too cool for its britches? No ketchup? No tomatoes in my burger? How could this be! HOW COULD IT POSSIBLY BE SUCCESSFUL!?

I then remembered a rather popular gastropub in Los Angeles.. Father's Office. Neighborhood follows (or Father's office follows Neighborhood) their style almost to a T. Like My Uncle's Office.. AMIRITE OR AMIRITE? Fancy veggies, sweet potato fries, copius amounts of unheard of beers/ales on tap but will it meet up to the quality of Father's Office? I do love me a Gourmet Burger.. and I'm willing to try almost everything once. I didn't tell Jeff and Travis about no ketchup before we got to the place in fear they would take over the car, kick me onto the sidewalk, and go somewhere else. A KETCHUP REVOLT!

(Side note: I'm fine if a place decides not to have ketchup, but what are the grounds behind it? If you believe Ketchup isn't "suitable" in its low class form outside of the bottle.. why not do what Ritual Tavern does and make your own? You make all the other sauces... why not put your own twist on Ketchup?)

The restaurant has a very sleek, modern atmosphere. Stainless sheets of metal cover chairs, tables, bars. Where there aren't clean stainless sheets of metal there are dark wooden mahogany looking tables. They have outdoor seating which are all metal tables with metal chairs. I'm a huge fan of the restaurant looking like a robot. I'm half expecting the table and chair to form up and say "AUTO BOTS ROLL OUT". But to warn you, the place is pretty small... probably 6 tables or so with a 4 top for each table (it'd only make one or two transformers).

And if you're a cow, you can graze on the food while you wait for it to arrive. They put out nice little metal containers of grass? I don't know what it is, I'm sure if my cat was here it'd be pawing it and making cooing noises.

Obligatory Jeff and Travis Photo. The restaurant first had no seats so we had to sit on rather uncomfortable metal chairs that had absolutely no back support, but after some glaring and prodding, a table left and we were able to squat upon their oddly shaped wooden table. Btw note to Jeff and Travis, we're in San Diego not the mountains of Switzerland (coincidentally where these two lucky lads are going next week)

As we stare toward the bar area, they have a generous amount of microbrews on tap as well as bottles of wine at a very fair price.

Most importantly, they had Coca-Cola in the glass bottles made for Mexico. If you don't know the difference between Mexican Coca Cola and American Coke is the use of real sugar opposed to high fructose corn syrup. Coca Cola says there is NO difference.. but anyone with working taste buds (aka those that don't have a clear affinity to Burgundy *wink*) can tell the difference. I think Jeff was so excited his eyes popped out of their sockets.

We started our meal off with a plate of Sweet Potato Fries.

The fries are topped with "gold mine shaft cheese crumbs" which almost taste like a very creamy thick version of blue cheese. Has that acidic bite to it but is in a rather soft chunk. Wasn't a HUGE fan of the cheese. THe fries on the other hand had a delicious crisp exterior with a soft sweet interior. The balance of potato to skin was nice.

A malt mignonette sauce on the side helped balance out the saltiness of the cheese. The sauce was tangy with hints of pepper and lemon. It was a bit weird if you didn't get any cheese in your bite because the sauces citrus taste would overwhelm the fry.

Excellent excellent fries, I wish it was just a TAD crispier, but that's just being picky.

All three of us got the Neighborhood Burger

The burger is a very good look-alike on paper to the Father's Office Burger. It's served with carmalized onions, arugala, and blue grueyere cheese. I have no clue which restaurant opened first, I do not care. The biggest difference between the two burgers is that Neighborhood actually uses ground chuck. Father's Office uses ground steak. It makes a GIANT difference in the texture and flavor of the burger. I personally like ground chuck, you have a meatier and less fatty/thick consistency that you get from ground steak.

Actually I lie, the biggest difference is Neighborhood isn't full of blowhards that don't allow you to sub ingredients out of your burger. IF I AM ALLERGIC TO DAIRY PRODUCTS I AM SH*T OUT OF LUCK AT FATHER'S OFFICE. "No cheese? Go F*ck yourself, you eat whatever the hell I put on this burger and you will like it." HOW HARD IS IT not to put a piece of cheese on a burger. Did I create some sort of hardship for your people.. like wandering in the dessert for 40 days by asking for no cheese Mr. Owner of Father's office? I'm not asking for you to lightly sear my burger with extra grilled onions, sub in tomatos, only have the leafy part of the lettuce, and to lightly grill my bun on one side and not on the other... I'm asking for NO CHEESE. How bout, when I put the order in, you let me go into the kitchen and remove the piece of cheese. Will that create an undue hardship? Geez.

*end rant.

You can have your burger with a side of fries *for a few extra bucks, or it comes with a nice little bag of fresh made chips.

They are Idaho fries thinly cut and served with Garlic Herb Mayo. I love these fries, they strike a fine balance between the thickness of shoe string fries and In&Out fries. I had the opportunity to sneak a few from Jeff while he wasn't (and was) looking. If I wasn't so into the Sweet Potato fries I'd get the Idaho fries in a heart beat. IN FACT I think I just might cheat on the sweet potato fry for the Idaho fry like a mistress on the side. (Btw I do not condone cheating in any fashion on your significant other, fries yes, but people no!).
Ah now on to the burger. A nicely dusted Ciabatta bun sandwiches the perfectly formed patty. The blue Gruyere cheese melts itself perfectly around the patty like plastic wrap on my living room chair. A thin layer forms itself on every crevice of the patty so you are NEVER lacking in the nutty sharp blue gruyere flavor. Do you see the layer around the burger? This is what I provide copious amounts of pictures for yes? You don't have to imagine anything from my un-clevely crafted words, just use your eyes.

A generous handful of peppery Arugala balances out the sharpness of the cheese. Whomever thought of putting Arugala on a burger deserve a medal. Scratch that, TWO medals. Then you add in the sweet carmelized onions? just the perfect amount of onions where the strong reduced flavors of the carmelized onions don't overpower the light pepper of the Arugala.

Now the Patty itself was mind-numbling good. The juices are tightly seared into the patty so the moment you bite it, it explodes into your mouth with beefy goodness.

Put it all together? you get yourself an A+ Burger. Absolutely top notch. Best thing about it? $2 less than Father's Office... and 15 minutes from my apartment.

I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend this place. I bet you'd have a smashing good time with a few beers and a burger.

So ends my meat fest of burgers.. unfortunately I'll be going vegetarian for a few weeks (for fun! maybe I'll even lose a lb or two) but I have a great backlog of restaurants and home cooked meals (PORK BELLY ANYONE?) that will satisfy your appetite till I start eating like a normal person again.

Neighborhood
777 G St
(between 7th Ave & 8th Ave)
San Diego, CA 92101

Blog Business

2009-02-20T14:34:00.000-08:00

Mystery Eater says...

Per an anonymous tip in the comments, Clayfood was reviewed by another local blog! Described as "know[ing] his stuff" and "[f]un to read, adventurous."
obrag.org/?p=4502

Also, for your food-viewing pleasure, some quality Clayfood photos . . . www.tastespotting.com/search/clayfu/1

Go Clayfu! And thanks readers!

Boomerang's Gourmet Burger Joint (San Diego)

2009-02-20T11:15:00.000-08:00

We have now arrived at Burger Spot #2. What an exciting countdown this has been so far =P. I wanted to try something different, if I wanted a plain burger with standard bun and fixing (aka Hodad's and it's brethren) I'd go to In&Out and get food similar in taste but faste rand cheaper. So when I heard about the Coldstone of burgers Boomerang's I had to try it.

The "specialty" of Boomerang's is that you pick your style of meat (turkey/beef for mixing), weight, then you pick your MIXERS. The rest of the meats the mixes are not put inside but a TOPPING.

When I was in High School man moons ago (wow has it been that long...) my mom used to pack an occasional home made burger for us. It'd be chinese toast (YUM) with a slice of cucumber, tomato, some ranch dressing and a home made patty. THe patty would be filled with salt , pepper, diced onions, mushrooms, and garlic. It was AMAZING. I'd say I was the envy of the school yard until my mom went back to giving me ham and cheese sandwiches.. or PB&J with cheese. SO whenever I make my own burgers I usually dice all kinds of vegetables into it.. and was expecting great things from Boomerang's.

You pick 3 mixers that they chop up and put together with your burger so you have a large patty stuffed with beef and ingredients.

There are standard toppings as well as "Gourmet toppings" that cost $1 more each. I figure since the stuff all gets mashed in there, you wouldn't tell much of a difference between grilled mushrooms and the normal mushrooms =).

You then get your order of cheese from a HUGE variety which is an A+, I hate how you're limited to a handful of cheese but Boomerang's has some nicer variety cheeses. You then get a FREE , I REPEAT FREE SIDE. This is the ONLY place so far that has given a free side of anything. They also had sweet potato fries *drooool*. You can then pick a sauce to put on the burger if you'd like =P.

Both Jeff and I ordered the 1/2lb hamburger. The burgers come with large pieces of leafy romaine lettuce, spicy red onions, tomatoes and pickles. The essentials for your every day lunch burger.

I added mixers of BACON (of course!), Onions, Mushrooms and topped with Gouda (how I LOVE Gouda.. so nutty and full of slate and bite!) with a side of Garlic Aioli sauce on the side. Jeff did Pineapple, Bacon, and onions topped with Swiss and Teriyaki Sauce on the side. . Our opinions on the burger are pretty similar so I'm just going to lump the two of them together.

First off, when you look at this burger it doesn't look that large.

It actually looks like a pretty normal size quarter pound burger. It's until you start eating it that you realize the burger gets progressively larger as it gets to the middle. The meat is also densely packed so it gets heavier and heavier as you eat it. Note, that is not a negative, I'm just observing this is a VERY filling burger.

The burger itself is charred heavily on the outside to give it that charbroiled taste with a crisp outer skin while sealing the juices inside. The meatiness permeates through each bite due to being locked in by the "browning" on the outside. But even though I could taste the inherent beef flavors of the burger it seemed to run a bit dry. I'll have to try this burger again at medium rare.. made a mistake ordering it Medium (WHAT CAME OVER ME!?).

The sauce provided is a hearty, rich, mouth coating sauce of heavy garlic and olive oil. It was thick, almost pasty but full of rich deep flavors of fresh chopped garlic and copious olive oil. I think I ate about a quarter of it, my heart rejected the rest.

My negative about this burger is... you really don't taste the mix-ins. When you have a Coldstone ice-cream and you get brownies in it, you taste a whole bunch of brownie. I pretty much tasted charred bacon and that was it. The mushrooms and onions were diced so small that they imparted absolutely no flavor to the burger. The bacon was burnt to a crisp so I didn't get that pork rendered fat flavor that I like in my burgers. Mix in fail?

Jeff said he couldn't taste his pineapple in his burger. PINEAPPLE. A fruit filled with sour acidity could not rise out in a savory dish. MIX IN FAIL!

The fries on the other hand were approved by both parties. I enjoyed my "free" sweet potato fries, hints of garlic and Parmesan with each bite. Wish they were a bit crispier.. but since I didn't have to pay $6.50 extra for them I have Zero/Zilch/No complaints.

I appreciate the creative efforts put behind this restaurant. It's not often you see ingredients diced into a burger. But I'm slightly confused on why the mixings were diced so small you couldn't taste anything. For that being their claim of fame it was rather disappointing.

But now you ask.. "Charlie why did you rate this as your 2nd favorite out of the 3 then?" Well young grasshopper, the burger itself was far superior to Tioli's. It was full of great beef flavor and the meat was packed tightly but not so tightly that you couldn't let it crumble in your mouth bite after bite.

Try it for yourself, maybe the Mix-ins will be better for you than me!

Boomerang's Gourmet Burger Joint
4577 Clairemont Dr
(between Clairemont Mesa Blvd & Joplin Ave)
San Diego, CA 92117

Soul Food in San Francisco

2009-02-15T20:06:00.000-08:00

This is A Mystery Eater posting! Read on for a culinary affair in SOUL FOOD!

Farmerbrown, touting itself as "farm-fresh soul food", has gotten a lot of press in the SF area-- it has over 850 reviews on yelp, and various reviews from the local papers (SFGate). Despite its plentiful lunch/dinner options (jambalaya, catfish, etc.), its "all-you-can-eat-brunch" with eggs, bacon, fresh biscuits, buttermilk pancakes, fried chicken, bacon, hash browns, grits, buttermilk pancakes, fresh fruit, was what drew us in!

As with most buffet fare, the goodies are housed in "serve-yourself" containers. It's hard to tell in the photo but there's a lot of steam emanating from the fried chicken on the left, and the hash browns on the right. The staff replenishes the supply whenever it gets low, so have no fear...

A small plate of everything to begin. First the bad news-- the biscuits. They weren't the flaky, buttery, warm biscuits I had dreamed about. Instead, they were cold and dense. The rest was pretty good. The bacon was crispy but not overly greasy. The eggs were fluffy and went very well with the honey jalapeno hot sauce available on every table. The hash browns were also very good-- crispy and well-seasoned.

But the real star (and the real reason we ventured to farmerbrown)... the FRIED CHICKEN! Crispy skin coupled with tender, warm meat. The batter was very thin (which I liked), which allowed the chicken's own tenderness to shine through. Out of the cuts available, the drumstick was the best (by far), then the thigh, and the breast (sorry, not even Mr. (or Ms.) Brown can make breast meat tender!).

Also, there was a fresh fruit medley of granny smith apples, bananas, red grapes, oranges, and grapefruit. Very fresh and nice. Also, if you look closely, you'll see a green herb throughout the salad-- it took me a while to figure out what it was-- but pretty sure it was basil!

Cucumber water . . . reminds me of a spa.

Also, live music adds to the atmosphere.

Other thoughts: It gets very crowded. We made reservations (via opentable) for 11:45 and still had to wait once we got there. Also, the place is just about 2 blocks down from the Westfield SF Centre (home to Lupicia tea!) and other shopping areas, if you're looking for things to do afterward. Additionally, having gone there for dinner before, I can vouch for the Seafood Jambalaya and the Catfish (and its side of green beans)-- the portions are big, but the prices are also heftier.

farmerbrown
25 Mason (at Market)
SF, CA
415- 409-FARM (3276)

http://www.farmerbrownsf.com/
Easily-accessible via Muni and Bart (Powell Station).

Blog Links

2009-02-10T14:49:00.001-08:00

Hi people!

I noticed that my little blog link is incredibly out of date, if you'd like me to link to your blog please email me at Charliewfu@gmail.com . If you've linked me already and I don't know, let me know as well so I can link you back!

ATTN: FREE CURLY FRIES AT JACK IN THE BOX

2009-02-10T14:45:00.001-08:00

Notified of this last night by a Ms. Sharon Lee. Jack in the Box is giving our free curly fries today until midnight. HANG IN THERE JACK!

Tioli's Crazy Burger (San Diego, CA)

2009-02-09T21:07:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I was watching "How I met Your Mother" and one of the main characters Marshall was on a quest to find the greatest burger in New York city. He looked far and wide for this one burger he had a LONG time ago. Unfortunately he did not remember where the burger was nor the name of the restaurant. But his fervor and tenacity in searching for that most amazing of burgers got me drooling and craving a burger.

I started up a thread on Chowhound in search for a burger right after I turned off the TV. So after perusing the thread and filtering out what would be good, what I've tried already and wasn't impressed by (BURGER LOUNGE ANYONE... which I'm told has improved.. but since Management/Staff are so immature and childish as to FAKE "anonymous" comments.. I've banned it for life) I decided on 3 burger joints.

I'll be doing a mini countdown from 3 to 1. Just as a disclaimer none of them were bad. I just didn't love #3 as much as #2 and etc. My Hamburger journey was taken with my two friends Jeff and Travis, who insist on being in the post in some way shape or form, so they took pictures at the places went.

So here's Jeff and Travis. Jeff is currently single, 6'1, hails from Malibu-area, CA, drives a BMW 6 series convertible. He loves long walks on the beach,girls playing Rock Band with him, and he used to be a child model. Travis is not single, so he's not getting a description. You might see a random picture here or there from them in the next 3 entries. You have been warned.

So our first stop was Tioli's Crazy Burger.

This restaurant was shown on Guy's Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives last year and has been all over the local news affiliates for their very courageous use of exotic meats for burgers. You're looking at Turkey, Crab, Chicken, Alligator, Venison, Ostrich, Antelope meat being formed into a patty and served with a side of fries. A burger joint with so much press has gotta be astounding right?

The prices here are very reasonable, $5-7 for their standard beef based burgers and $8-12 for their exotic meats. They patties are roughly 1/2lb burgers. They even have combo deals where you get a soda, fries, and a specific speciality burger for under $7. The restaurant has about 7-8 beers on tap and a few wine choices for your liquid refreshment.

Seating is rather limited here, you're looking at about 7 tables of 4 in the "dining room".. so about 3 alligator widths =P. There is a limited bar area.

I ordered the special of the day, which is the Croatia Burger with a side of CRAZY FRIES.

The Croatio Burger is a standard grilled beef patty with a garlic roasted red pepper and garlic pesto sauce on top. *hum* Doesn't look very much like a half lb burger to me. The patty sits on a white roll which I found to be a bit too bready and thick and detracted from the flavor of the burger. It was too much bread for the patty. Maybe if the patty was 1/2lb's then the bun would have been fine. The burger itself wasn't flavorful on it's own, actually a bit dry and it really needed the help of the sauce to have any sort of flavor. Not sure where the moniker of best burger comes from, it's certainly not bad and I'll definitely come back to try one of the more exotic burgers, but I wasn't impressed by the beef-based burger at all.

The fries were thin and crispy, just how I like them. They were covered in parmesean and salt. I enjoy fries and I enjoyed these ones!

Jeff and Travis both got the Aloha Burger.

Pineapple, Teriyaki sauce, and Swiss Cheese. They found it to be juicy from the teriyaki marinade but across the board, this place was the least favorite out of the 3 we went to.

Now I wouldn't say I'm disappointed in the place, cause it seems to be that Guy doesn't know what the hell he is eating half the time (EL INDIO?) so my expectations weren't sky high. It's just I wonder if this place would even be on the rader if they didn't serve the really exotic meat? They say they handform their patties but the burger was pretty standard. The bun was really overwhelming, it just soaked up and took over any juicy/richness the meat could have had.

OUR SEARCH CONTINUES!

Sushi Dokoro Shirahama (San Diego)

2009-01-29T19:32:00.000-08:00

For the last few weeks I have been craving sushi. It was getting so bad I was dreaming about each individual piece of rice as they fell apart in my mouth. Luckily two of my friends came into town last week and they are sushi fiends! Wanting to show them a good sampling of the best San Diego has to offer my thoughts instantly jumped to Sushi Dokoro Shirahama (or Shirahama for short).

For those that know of Shirahama, they know of the general population's very polarizing views of the restaurant. You either LOVE IT or you HATE IT. Why do you LOVE IT? Cause the fish is sea breeze fresh, the knife skills are as elite as Lebron's crab walk, and the food is impeccable. Why do you HATE IT? Because this is a very very traditional japanese restaurant in a very untraditional japanese city, there tends to be some bias by the owner against certain clientelle. I've walked in here twice to an empty restaurant.. both times no words were said to me other than a "shaking of the head" no that they could not seat me.

Now why do I still want to go here? As bad as the attitude is, I'm pretty used to it at Japanese restaurants at this point (which sucks.. cause that means I'm giving in to their attitude) and I REALLY want to try Shirahama at least once. My friend Stan knows the owners well so he booked my friends and I a reservation. We decided to do Omakase to see everything that Kaji-San has to offer.

When you get in there, it's deathly quiet. We barely conversed when we sat down cause we were so squared that we would raise the volume to an untolerable level .. (which would soon change once we popped the bottle of Krug!) After settling in with the Krug,

some nice deep woody sake and a few beers, our Omakase began.

We started off with a few pieces of sushi

Yellowtail and Snapper.

The snapper was forgettable, nice crisp crunch but the meat did not entertain my waiting tastebuds.
The Yellowtail on the other hand was vibrant and fresh. The perfect slice of fish with an excellent firm texture that I like for my yellowtail. The flavor was powerful and a great start to the meal.

The next pieces were astounding. Big Eye Tuna and Amberjack

Two very simple fish, normally the two fish I would avoid if I was ordering myself. LUCKILY I was not ordering for myself.
The Tuna had a nice fattiness to it that made me think for a moment that I was eating Toro. While the Amberjack with oily and rich. Subtle dabs of wasabi ran underneath the fish to add that extra bit of pleasure to these scrumptious fish.

We then had Saba (Mackerel) and Aji

I personally am not a huge fan of Saba, it's too meaty for me. I prefer flaky fish or oilier fish with a softer consistency. But this Saba was good for what it was.
The Aji on the other hand was really out of this world. Just the right about of Ginger and Scallion on top of it with that great fleshy texture.

We were then served Uni (sea urchin) and Salmon Roe

On a freshness scale of 0-100 this Uni was a 5000. It was creamy and fresh with a touch of sweetness. No "sea" flavor whatsoever on the dish.

I have no real opinion on the roe. It didn't suck, but I don't like the saltiness of the Roe so this was one of the less salty versions I've had.. which I guess is a good thing.

After these courses, we took a break from the sushi and tried some of their appetizers. One of my dining companions Mr. Powell Yang saw a board full of Japanese lettering. Since a good chunk of Japanese writing is actually Chinese, he was able to discern a few things. After stopping the waitress we ordered ourselves two apps.

First up, Monk fish liver with sour plum sauce.

If you've never had Monkfish Liver, think of it as the Foie Gras of the see. Not as rich and creamy, it has a meat flavor you don't find in Foie. The flavor is very subtle, there's a tinge of salt on the back of your throat but it's earthy and less "brittle" than Foie. This was a giant hunk of goodness. When you bite into it, it's like biting into a thick gelatin, it's not mushy like foie and is able to hold its own with no companion sauce. I actually thought the sour plum detracted from the freshness of the liver.

We then each were served a skewer of Sea Eel Innards.

Roasted Sea Eel innards sprinkled with a bit of white pepper. I didn't actually know what it was until I was eating it. I initially guessed heart due to the very rubbery texture on the outside of the meat. But then once you get past the outer layer it's a very soft thick and creamy texture. It sure was good tho, they drizzled some BBQ sauce on it to enhance the rendered fat flavor from the innards.

We then hopped back onto the sushi train.

The first dish back was of course... sea eel!

The sea eel is previously steamed and then sprinkled with a pink of sea salt before consumption. Consumed with no soy sauce you allow the salt to bring out the intricacies of the eel. The eel is very light, it's not as thick as its fresh-water brother. The meat is very brittle, it basically falls apart piece by piece in your mouth.

We were then served something I've never seen before and the chef couldn't give me the english name for.

It's the large scallop looking thing on the left... the right side is abalone.

Both dishes are things I don't eat very often raw. Not that I'm not an adventurous eater cause I AM! There are just certain things that have never been prepared raw for me. Like.. Abalone. I'm used to it with giant pieces of vegetables cooked in a heavy brown sauce. The abalone raw isn't as crunchy as clam but still has that thick crispness that one associates with surf clam. There's a very strong aroma of ocean/sea that comes from the abalone that is very striking. If you want to see what LIVE abalone sushi looks like.. Click this link!

The thing on the left... when whole looks like the picture below.

The shell of that "muscle" is about two hands wide and two hands tall... so it's a pretty big shell. But what Mama Fu always taught me was, if it looks like a Giant Scallop and tastes like a Scallop, it probably is a Giant Scallop. Not horribly impressive, just exciting to say I've tried some muscle connector the size of my hand.

We then had spicy cod roe and roe on kelp.

I greatly disliked the spicy cod roe dish. It felt like I was eating throw up. It was so mushy and warm in my mouth... Powell liked it, but I passed on finishing the other half of it.
The roe on the kelp is done by having the fishermen lay the kelp on the spawning floor and after one set is laid they'd flip it and more eggs would be laid on the other side.
The roe is not as salty as the Salmon Roe and is more of a refreshing pop of saltiness with each bite.

We then had our last two pieces of fish. User choice (everyone got Uni but me) with Kibinago.

Kibinago is a sardine like fish with a long silver streak running along the top of its body. The fish is very thinly sliced and has a slick texture that slides into your mouth before you take a bite. It has a bit of a crisp bite to it but has the same fleshy nature as Aji. Interesting fish...

We did have some Toro and Albacore but I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture =(

To finish off our meal we ended with a cut of Tamago.

Kaji- San brands the giant piece of tomago with the lettering of the restaurant. Sweet, flaky and soft, you can taste the individual folds of egg with each bite. When you chew on it, the layers fall apart in your mouth as if they were held together by a thread. If there's any one thing you need to order from the restaurant, it'd have to be this.

Overall I had a great experience here. Kaji - san and our dining neighbors lightened up with a few drinks and everyone had a good cheerful time in the end. I wish we had a few more exotic fish but all in all the freshness of the fish was superb and the knife cutting was stunning. Each fish was cut the perfect size for each piece of rice, the oilier fish had a longer thinner cut with the same exacting precision as the fatter cuts had.

Do call for reservations if you want to go, I'd hate for you to be turned away like I was before =)

Sushi Dokoro Shirahama

4212 Convoy St

San Diego, CA 92111

(858) 650-3578

Lion's Head Stew!

2009-01-18T16:34:00.000-08:00

Every family has that one dish there Grandmother ALWAYS makes. Rain or shine, hot or cold your grandmother will always make this whenever there is a special occasion. For us it's Lion's Head. My grandmother will call me to have me come over to eat dinner on days she makes Lion's Head. My grandmother is SO proud of her Lion's Head that one Christmas Eve we decided to just order a feast of Chinese food from a local restaurant and insisted she not cook. When the food all arrived, she went into the kitchen (where I followed her) and she had HIDDEN Lion's Head in the cabinets.

I never really thought to myself to try and make Lion's Head but after watching a recent episode of Iron Chef I thought to myself it would be an inexpensive dish that I could eat for a few meals.

A tidbit about Lion's Head from Wikipedia if you've never heard of this classic Chinese dish

Lion's head is a dish from the Huaiyang cuisine of eastern China, consisting of large pork meatballs (about 7-10 cm in diameter) stewed with vegetables. There are two varieties: the white (or plain), and the red (红烧, cooked with soy sauce). The plain variety is usually stewed or steamed with napa cabbage. The red variety can be stewed with cabbage or cooked with bamboo shoots and tofu derivatives. The minced meat in the meatball tends to be made from fatty pork (lean pork making for a less desirable taste), often with some chopped water chestnut for textural variation.

The name derives from the shape of the cabbage, which together with the meatball and a bit of imagination, resembles a lion's head.

The dish originated from the region of Yangzhou and Zhenjiang in Jiangsu Yangzhou and the red variety more common in Zhenjiang. The dish became a part of Shanghai cuisine with the influx of migrants in the 19th and early 20th Century.

I took some liberties with the dish, since I'd like to eat "healthy" as often as possible when I cook at home I replaced the pork with lean turkey. When I was first making this dish I was very fearful that the turkey would work as well as Shaq shooting free throws, but it turned out okay.

I started out with the basic recipe from Epicurious.com and I added a few extra ingredients to KICK IT UP A NOTCH.

You first start out by creaking a shitake mushroom "broth", put in about 6-8 shitake mushrooms (fresh if you can) into a bowl with 2 cups of boiling hot water. Let it rest for 30 minutes or so. Discard the stems and cut up the mushrooms into thin slices. Keep 1 cup of the broth on the side for the dish.

While waiting for the broth to finish, you can mix the meat. I deviate from the recipe here.
I wanted a thicker , meatier dish full of deep rich flavor so I changed to turkey from pork and added a few different ingredients.

Take a pound of ground turkey mix it with a large handful of scallions, 1 table spoon of ginger, a shot of rice wine, 2 lightly scrambled eggs, three long squirts of sesame oil, generous salt/black pepper/ and white pepper, a few pinches of sugar, and 3-4 caps of soy sauce.

The meat will look a bit runny so add enough corn starch where the mixture doesn't stick too much to your hands. (it will stick!) Slam it around for a bit and then shape it into 6 meat balls. The original recipe says 4, but you'll notice this meatball is VERY dense and meaty. The lean turkey is much thicker than the fatty ground pork.

Take a head of Napa Cabbage, peel it and cut it in half (along the head). Mix it with your shitake mushrooms, vegetable oil, a few pinches of ginger for a few minutes. Add in the mushroom broth and let it cook for another 3 minutes. Remove and put into a large pot.

Take out the meatball patties and brown the outside to seal in the flavor.
Layer the meatballs with the vegetable mixture and empty in 2.5 cups of chicken broth
Cover the meatballs with as much cabbage as you'd like.

Bring the liquid to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer. Throughout the simmering taste the broth to see if you need to add salt, water, or pepper to taste. After about a hour the cabbage should look like the picture above.

Spoon a meatball, some cabbage, and a few pieces of mushroom in a bowl. I cooked some fresh Chinese noodles and mixed it with the dish with some of the broth for a soup noodle dish.

The fresh shitake mushrooms really make a difference. They add in an earthy and dark mushroom flavor and they absorb all the turkey, ginger, and chicken broth.

The best part of this dish is it keeps very well, I've eaten it over the course of a week and it tastes just as good each time.

Hope you enjoy it!

Wine Vault and Bistro (San Diego, CA)

2009-01-12T13:29:00.000-08:00

In these dark economic times it's hard for one to really revel in fine dining without being fearful of its impact on your already thin wallet. You can't always have the grandest of meals, some meals I can have 25 bowls of Pho instead! Lucky for you dear readers I stumbled across quite the gold mine in San Diego.

Wine Vault and Bistro offers a 5 course menu for $25 every Saturday night with an $18 wine pairing menu.The restaurant itself is not particularly large, it can fit roughly 80 people in an outdoor patio and indoor dining area.

This particular time I invited a few school mates to join me to celebrate my birthday. Chris (the owner of WV&B) did a great job of setting up a large table for us that adequately held our people, wines, and wine glasses. They also accommodated my incessant requests to turn on and turn off the over head heater. Chris promised to take care of me for my birthday and he did not disappoint. Our server did a splendid job caring for our every request.
My most cherished dining partner does not eat cheese... and since one of the dishes was Mac & Cheese, they made her a whole new dish (which I will say... was better than the Mac & Cheese!)

We had a few bottles of wine at our table and I was provided a few glasses by generous strangers when Chris informed them of my birthday. A very very generous and delicious alcohol based night =P. Here's a quick breakdown of what we drank.

N.V. Ruinart Champagne Blanc de Blancs - France, Champagne (11/25/2008)
Very sharp and crisp wine. A nose of lemon grass, years and apple. A bit dry for my liking with crisp notes of honey and "dry" farm hay. (88 pts.)

1990 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame - France, Champagne (11/25/2008)
Copious amounts of butterscotch with metal and apple on the nose. The butterscotch is almost overwhelming, as if you were drinking something other than a vintage champagne. A lean wine on the palate with a good deal of yeast with a bit of orange rind and oddly still alcoholic. What I found most interesting on this wine was it tickles your taste buds with just currents of the great minerality and acidity on the wine, . A very enjoyable bottle of champagne. (92 pts.)

1983 Château Mouton Rothschild - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (11/25/2008)
Quick double decant for sediment. Definite browning on the rim of the wine. A nose of cedar, rubber, and cherry lightly floating up. A complex and balanced wine ... the word Balanced constantly ran through my mind while drinking. Stewed fruits, hint of meat and tea leaves with spiced raspberries and soy sauce on the palate. I felt the fruit really struggled to show behind the spice and savory aspects. Fine long integrated tannins ran through the back with a slightly metallic finish. The wine died out in about 2 hours in the glass and tasted like vinegar. (91 pts.)

2005 Sine Qua Non Grenache Atlantis Fe2O3~2a, b & c - USA, California (11/25/2008)
Ridiculously good wine. The first time I had it in June i felt the pepper aspect of the wine really overwhelmed all the fruit and complexity but this time.. wow. This was popped and double decanted quickly at the restaurant. The wine is perfect in "size" it's bordering on being HUGE and overwhelming but it skirts the edge perfectly. Loads of vanilla, raspberry... like smelling the red berry section at a farmer's market. Peppery and floral on the palate with with layers all kinds of fresh fruit just coating your mouth over and over again with silky love. incredibly long finish with a little bit of tannins. There are few wines that I can't stop drinking and this is definitely one of them. The nose was still immense and delicious 3 hours in.

Does anyone want to share their SQN allocation with me? *pretty please* (97 pts.)

2004 D.R. Stephens Cabernet Sauvignon Moose Valley Vineyard - USA, California, Napa Valley (11/25/2008)
An even larger and more vibrant nose than last time on essentially a pop and pour. Waves of chocolate, vanilla, sweet fruit , and oak hit your nose when you pour it into the glass. The mouthfeel wasn't quite as good as when I had it last time (after 4 hours in a decanter). Still dark and intense with blackberry, blue berry, and coffee rinds. Good finish. I enjoy this wine every single time I drink it! It definitely needs plenty of time in the decanter/bottle! (94 pts.)

1983 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve - USA, California, Napa Valley (11/25/2008)
A Huge nose of fresh french bread with light vanilla and dry vibrant fruit. Large amounts of fruit on the palate with leathery herbs. A touch of mint on the mid palate with a prune finish. There still had a good amount of alcohol throughout the drink and it tasted a bit disjointed, but I'm surprised anything from California during my birth year survived. (90 pts.)

As well as these two from the generous strangers.

1985 Etude Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valley (11/25/2008)
A big ol nose of spice , oak and dark dark fruit. A nice palate of stewed strawberries but with a limited finish that kind of dies in your mouth. Not bad. (89 pts.)

2000 Château Lynch-Bages - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (11/25/2008)
This wine still needs alot of time. A really big and ripe wine with a bit of alcohol. Still very tannic and dry. Some sweet fruit on the nose with some spice box. The palate was tight and unappealing, I can feel the complexity and fruit trying to struggle and come out, but right now it's being heavily pushed back. This is not a pop and pour wine, I wonder how long people had it open for that are giving it the 92+ scores let alone 97+? Do you score this based on it being a 2000 lynch bages? If this was blind would it be scored so high? (88 pts.)

Of course you can't drink wine alone, one must have delicious food to accompany delicious wine!

We started with an amuse bouche of Ahi tuna
Citrus infused Ahi Tuna diced and combined with onions, dill, and baby cilantro. A refreshing start and great palate cleanser to start the meal. ($25 meal with Amuse?!)

Our first dish was Spiny Lobster Bisque with Micro Fennel

A piece of spiny lobster swims in the broth of rich creme, lobster, and fennel. For some they would say the soup is TOO creamy and TOO flavorful, but with powerful wines and generous amounts of bread, there was an even balance for my palate.

Substitute Mac& Cheese Dish, Roasted Chicken leg with Braised Brussel Sprouts

As explained earlier, the Mac and cheese was substituted with a great Roasted Chicken, the chicken was moist and bursting with flavors of pepper and spice. The Brussel sprouts were cooked to a point "almost" all the bitterness was gone, a heavier hand of salt or broth would have made the sprouts excellent!

"Mac 'n' Cheese:" Macaroni + Artisan Pancetta Carbonara

Macaroni pasta lightly cooked in the Carbonara style (cheese, egg, and fatty pork/bacon). Unlike the normal US style which mixes in cream to give it a "saucier" consistency, this one has stayed true. This does result in a somewhat drier pasta shell but the pasta is excellently cooked. If I had any request, it'd be for a bit more cheese, I felt the bacon really overpowered all other flavors and it was like eating bacon + noodles with a dash of cheese.

Hoisin Glazed Pork Belly with Kabocha Squash Puree

*hum*, the Pork Belly was cooked a bit too long. The skin on top ended up being really dry and the hoisin sauce just kind of caked on it. BUT underneath the skin was a very soft and malleable piece of pork... go figure.

Grilled Skirt Steak | Arroz a la Plancha | Smoked Paprika Chimichurri

Yum yum yum, spicy like a salsa dancer and meaty like.. my fat self. Cooked a nice medium rare and drizzled with a spicy and sour chimichurri sauce. A nice reprive from the saltiness of the previous dish. The very very very VERY best part on this already very great dish was the crispy rice they layered the steak on. The rice was pan fried in a patty where it was crisp on the outside and a bit soft on the inside. I love various types of consistency in my dish and this part was rather excellent.

Pedro Ximenez Baba | Crème Chantilly

No one had any idea what this dish was when we first sat down. Luckily 75% of our table had google access on their phone and we found out Baba was a yeast sponge cake while Pedro Ximenez was a type of dark sherry.

The cake is soaked in/ drizzled with/ dipped in the Pedo Ximenez to give it an alcoholic and strong oaky sweet flavor. The heavy creme on top balanced out the oakiness with rich sugar. I personally enjoyed the dish a lot, but it was a pretty mixed bag. Some people at the table had the dish completely drenched in alcohol and it really detracted from the dish, while some had NO alcohol so you have a really dry piece of cake.

It may sound like I'm being a bit picky about some of the dishes but let me tell you, you cannot beat the quality and the price. The very first time I went for the Saturday dinner I enjoyed EVERY SINGLE DISH that I had. The food is good and the five course meal would be worth of double the price.

Please do yourself a favor in these dark economic times and treat yourself to a nice meal and recession prices!

Wine Vault and Bistro
3731-A India Street
San Diego, CA

Update on Angelena's

2009-01-03T15:31:00.000-08:00

Update from Mystery Eater!

Back in March 2007, Clayfu reviewed Angelena's in Alhambra, CA. http://clayfood.blogspot.com/2007/03/finger-lickin-good.html

Sad to say, this finger lickin' place is no longer around for dine-in. According to the sign posted on its restaurant windows (ignore the reflection), they only do catering. (Clayfu remark: A victim of its location, it had no chance surviving in a Chinese-dominated population (will we be saying good bye to Bistro 39 next door as well later this year?).)

Good-bye tender fried chicken, good-bye moist red velvet cake... I'm sorry we let you down.

Have a happy holiday!

2009-01-01T23:30:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a very safe and happy holiday season and as the new year is upon us, I'd like to thank all the people who have joined me on my culinary adventure (either reading or eating) and hope for many new restaurants in the coming year!

Cheers!

Super Cocina (San Diego, CA)

2008-12-28T01:28:00.000-08:00

A man ... better yet a student can not live on fine dining alone. It is imperative that we find a lunch spot that doesn't cost an arm and a leg but doesn't skip out on quality.You have your usual suspects of Mien Trung and Sakura but when you're craving Mexican food you're relegated to the likes of Roberto and his cousins. But not so fast! I've been reading on Chowhound about a crowd favorite of Super Cocina, a homestyle mexican restaurant located in southern San Diego.

The restaurant's emphasis is on traditional Mexican foods of stews, stewed meats, and soups. The restaurant itself is conducted like your neighorhood Panda Express, you have a nice long counter with a variety of foods and you point and pick. The owner Pablo will walk you through the dishes and even let you sample as many of them as you like. For myself, since I know nothing about Mexican stews outside of Chicken Mole I'm stuck in quite a pickle. I was grateful to be able to try the dishes and pick the ones I liked best. After picking your food out you take your food, find a seat, and start the chomping!

I took a few pictures of their food assembly line for you to take a gander at. If for some unknown reason I know what's actually in the picture i'll tell you.

They had fresh enchiladas, chicken stew, braised chicken thigh (top)
Chilaquiles (corn tortillas cut up into pieces and deep fried. Then they are simmered with Salsa to make them soggy and then topped with cheese and sour cream)

Carnitas on the bottom right and rice and beans *duh* on the top!

MASSIVE chili relleno (Stuffed peppers) and fried pork rinds stewed in chili verde sauce. I was tempted to try the fried pork rinds, but I figure the moment I put it next to my mouth i'll probably have a heart attack.

Every dish comes with a big pile of soft and well-spiced refried beans and a spoonful of rice.

My friend ordered the Chilaquiles with a tomato base stewed pork.

The Chilaquiles were a little bit TOO soft for my liking. I understand that's how the dish is prepared but they could have stopped cooking it just a little bit earlier and it would have still been fine. (fresh batch).
I'm also not particularly fond of the tomato based stew just because the tomato flavor is almost overwhelming in the dish, especially when you're spooned chunks of tomato alongside it. BUT the pork was cooked well with a nice firm consistency.

0 for 2?

I ordered two variations on a spicy pork stew, one involved a more simplified style with peppers and potatoes in a heartier broth while the other one was just straight up spice and pork with more spice on top.

The pork on the left (potatoes) was made with pork spare ribs with pieces of cartilage laced throughout the meat so you get a nice crispy bite with each one. The meat near the cartilage tends to be fattier and more decadent in rich fatty flavor. Yummy! A nice kick of five spice and hot red pepper. The spice just lingers in the back of your mouth as you devour the rest of the dish. The pork was melt in your mouth soft, the fat that got rendered off just made the pork so soft it crumbles in your mouth.

The pork on the right was made with a thicker pork spare rib so you have large chunks of bone under each piece of meat that you'd have to spit out after each bite. This doesn't detract from the fact that this dish is also deliciously spicy but in a different way than the 1st dish, the spice would slowly roll over your mouth and just engulf every single pore.

MAN THEIR PORK DISHES ARE INCREDIBLE. I went again the week after and got another two pork dishes and they were all stupendous.

DO NOT MISS OUT ON ORDERING THEIR PORK DISHES. I REPEAT PORK = FRIEND.

Even though I didn't love what my friend ordered, my dishes blew my socks off so heavily that I had to walk around barefoot for the rest of the day. I really enjoyed the restaurant the next few times I went and I highly suggest it to ANYONE looking for a different style of Mexican food other than burritos and tacos.

Super Cocina
3627 University Ave
(between 36th St & Cherokee Ave)
San Diego, CA 92104

House (San Francisco, CA)

2008-12-23T01:48:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the huge delay! Finally settled down and rest from Finals and now back to resume my blogging responsibilities!

The dining partner and I were traveling in San Francisco and we looking for a "neighborhood" joint where you could get good food at reasonable prices. On a suggestion from my friend with the statement "BEST FISH YOU WILL EVER EAT" (approx quote) I decided to book a reservation at House.

A small restaurant with an emphasis on seafood with an Asian influence. It's very similar to Sesame Grill in Los Angeles. The dishes are priced in the $15-20 range with a heavy usage of soy, siracha, fish sauce, hoisin sauce to dose the relatively low quality protein with some flavor.

To start the meal they provide pickled cucumbers with a sprinkle of sesame seed. Nice and crispy with a slight sour and sweet pickle taste.

We first started off with an appetizer, the Deep Fried Salmon Roll with Hot Mustard

Large chunks of rare salmon wrapped with seaweed and fried to a golden crisp. The skin is flaky and crispy with a thin enough crust where it doesn't overwhelm you with oil. The seaweed when fried tastes like it's been lightly toasted. The salmon itself was a bit dry and meaty on the areas that weren't raw but the spicy mustard helps cut past the dryness.

The roll was served on a bed of sweet and spicy pickled slaw.

Next up was the Wasabi Noodles with Angus Flat Iron Steak.

I'm not even sure why places put the word "ANGUS" on their menu like it means something. The steak was thin, flavorless, completely devoid of fat. This would be similar to the steak you find at 99 Ranch Market @ 4.99 a pound. The noodles were good, they had a nice pull to them with a slightly spicy tinge to them from the wasabi.

The next dish was their "special" fish of the day, served with ginger soy and a soy glazed noodle.

The fish was pan seared and served with a side of green beans. I don't remember what type of fish it was.. but if there was a fish that was "rubbery, lacking in flavor, overcooked" then this would be it. I'm not sure how long this dish has been in the freezer but man it was so poorly made. I was so disappointed by this dish, if it wasn't for the SAME pickled cabbage that came with the Salmon Roll and the SAME noodles that came with the steak, I'd probably have gone hungry.

This restaurant is the classic example of a place that TRIES really hard to be something it's not. It tries to pretend it's a "fancy" fusion style restaurant but fails miserably short with horrible cheap ingredients , overdose of sauce, and constant use of the same ingredients.

Avoid this restaurant.

House
San Francisco, CA

Delays

2008-12-03T20:09:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again... Finals! Might see a post or two during finals, but I can guarantee nothing =).

Be back in two weeks!

Slanted Door (San Francisco, CA)

2008-11-23T15:25:00.000-08:00

High end Vietnamese food with an American twist, that's what you get when you visit Slanted Door. Slightly Americanized Vietnamese dishes made with higher end / finer ingredients. Nimen Ranch beef, local vegetables, and fresh ingredients are the calling card for the restaurant. The chef Charles Phan wanted to create a concentrated Vietnamese menu, not like the typical Vietnamese restaurant with hundreds of dishes, so the menu is a "handful" of noodle, appetizers, meats, and seafood. The restaurant has been greeted in the last decade with much success, if you were looking for dinner at 6-8pm on a Saturday night you'll be making a reservation 3+ weeks in advance.

The restaurant is situated in the Ferry Marketplace Building along the waters of San Francisco Bay.
A gorgeous view of the Oakland Bridge greets you as you walk to the entrance of Slanted Door.

To be honest, I had no intention to eat here when we visited the Ferry Building. It was pouring rain and we had no clue where to eat so I figured I could TRY to get a seat at Slanted Door at 12:30pm on a Saturday. I walked in to about 12+ people deep trying to get their name down for a seat and 20+ people waiting in the ... waiting area to get seated. When I finally got up front to put my name down, the maître d asked if we were all there (no, cause someone was in the restroom line!) and if so he would seat me. I ran to the restroom line, pulled "someone" out and we went back to the counter. Apparently due to all the rain a few parties of 2 had canceled for their 12:30 seating. What luck!

We were escorted into the dining area, which is built in a very sleek and modern decor. Crisp bright white with large open space and modern art deco at every open wall space.

They seemed to give different tableware to the customers here, we got these really cool looking chopsticks with etched spirals into the top. The other chopsticks around us were just boring ol wood chopsticks.

Since it was a rather cold and wet day, we started off with a bowl of Pho Bo

Beef noodle soup with wide rice noodles in a Pranther Ranch London Broil broth. The soup was accompanied by the standard garnishes of sprouts/basil/jalapenos.

Do not let the picture fool you, the bowl of Pho is small. So small in fact, you could have laid your spoon directly across it and almost reach from end to end.

The noodles themselves were not particularly good. A little overcooked and the wide noodles didn't do anything for me. The soup was smooth and rich in beef stock but light enough as not to overwhelm the palate. What really stood out in this dish was the slices of London Broil that came with the soup. Really tender thin slices of beef that melted in your mouth. The meat itself wasn't fatty at all, but it was so soft and flavorful.

The next dish was their ever popular Shaking Beef

Cubed Niman Ranch Filet Mignon with stir fried onions, water cress, and a lime dipping sauce. I thought the Beef itself was tender and full of fatty goodness, but it was lacking in flavor. It seemed to me as though they didn't cook the onions with the beef long enough. The onions were coated in a delicious peppery and sweet sauce (I assume fish sauce + Hoisin?) that mixed well with the bitter lemon grass. If the beef was as well marinated as the onions, the dish would be absolutely perfect.

The lime sauce was a bit overpowering with the beef alone due to the lack of flavor in the beef, but when eaten with the onions, watercress , and beef it combined nicely.

We also ordered some Broken Jasmine Rice

This rice was sensational. Little broken pieces of fragrant jasmine rice, perfectly cooked. It absorbed all the sauces wonderfully.

Our final dish was Caramalized Catfish

The dish is served in a clay pot. The sauce was reduced to almost a thick goo with three large catfish filets. This dish was spectacular. Moist, flaky catfish flavored deeply with the sauce. It was almost as if the fish was born with fish sauce, garlic, and onions oozing out of its body. This was my favorite dish by far.

I found the restaurant to be an enjoyable meal. I can't imagine myself planning a trip around it and booking 3-4 weeks in advance, but if I was in the area I would not hesitate to come back (if.. I didn't have to make a reservation). I'm sure many think of it as the P.F. Changs of Vietnamese food, but the quality of the ingredients really shines through on each dish.

Slanted Door
1 Ferry Building #3
San Francisco, CA 94111

@ Home (well someone's home) with Flannery and Wine.

2008-11-16T22:32:00.000-08:00

My friend Steve invited me over the other night to partake in some Bryan Flannery meat and wine. How can I say no to two of my favorite things in the world?

If you don't know Bryan Flannery (BF) meat you need to read this carefully. BF puts out the highest quality meat at the best price. USDA PRIME beef, artisan bacon, the works. Of course it's not cheap, but it's FAR cheaper than all the other butchers at his price. For example, IOWA Farms in San Diego is over $34/lb for USDA Prime 24 day aged Midwest NY steak, Bryan? $32/lb. But when you put them side by side you'll be blown away by the difference. You can't get meat at Ruth Chris/Maestros/Morton's as good as Flannery.

So when Steve told me he had a few BF Hanger Steaks I was ready as spaghetti to chow down.

3 strips of Prime Hanger @ $15.99 a lb (one strip is roughly 1.2lbs). If you've never heard of Hanger Steak you're in for a treat. It's the part of the beef that's "hanging" from the diaphragm of the cow. Really strong in a rich beefy flavor. If you go to Whole Foods you'll find this for about $12lb. But it'll still have the nasty central membrane attached and the quality is SO much lower you wouldn't even think it was the same meat.

I introduced my friend Ryan to Hanger Steaks from BF last week for his new Le Creuset Grill Pan and homeboy was in LoVE. This is his love and dedication to it.

***: dude, i dropped a piece last night
***: and i got cat hair on it
***: i still ate it (after i brushed it off)

Usually some nice coarse sea salt and fresh cracked pepper do the trick for these puppies.

You can see the nice lines of fat that run through the beautiful piece of delicious meat.

To pair with it we had some bacon that BF had sent me the week before. Vande Rose Farms Artisan Fry Applewood Smoked Bacon. Bryan in his infinite generosity sent me this box for free because I had no idea which bacon out of the two he had to chose from so I got 2 for the price of 1 =).

The bacon is dry cured with brown sugar, salt, pepper and applewood smoked. Cook's illustrated recommended it as it's FAVORITE premium applewood bacon.

Steve took the bacon and quickly seared it to wrap around some freshly purchased scallops *YUM!*

To pair with our meal we opened a couple of bottles of vino.

d'Arenberg The Dead Arm Shiraz 2005

Not your typical Aussie Shiraz with in your face fruit and syrupy bold consistency.

10 hour decant.

When I took a sit at hour 2 I almost gagged at the amount of petroleum syrup there was in this wine, I wasn't ready for it. But when I re-bottled it and brought it to Steve's it changed into a whole different beast. A nice nose of small dark berries with some spice box waffling at the top. I was surprised by great amount of acidity on the palate with clean concentrated fruit of (limited) strawberries and blueberries with fresh cracked pepper sprinkled on top. Elegantly made with no overwhelming alcoholic presence and a long 30+ second finish of light tickling fruit and fine tannins. (93 pts.)

We also had Alban Vineyards Reva Estate Syrah 2003, a big boy in the California Syrah scene.

Incredibly dark and deep colored wine. A nose of toasted oak/fresh vanilla, smoke, pepper, rich deep black berries. Giant gobs of mellow/ripe blackberry, syrup, pepper, cocoa coat the insides of your mouth. As rich and big as the wine in, it's a very smooth drink. Nice long finish with a backbone of tannin and acidity that suggest its ability to age. What's most surprising is after about 2 hours you start tasting meat and bacon fat on the palate. Reminded me a bit of a Youthful Cali Cab when we first drank it... (94 pts.)

Steve also busted out some Skirt steak from BF that we didn't cook. Just wanted to show you the proliferation of thin lines of fat that run through this steak. Doesn't it make you drool? Don't you want to reach out and touch it?

We tossed the Bacon wrapped scallops on the grill with the hanger and settled in for some wine and cheese.

Shortly after we had touchdown!

The bacon is beyond words. I'll try but it can't even match the joy my taste buds felt. A great combination of sweetness from the brown sugar mixed in with the salty bacon fat but at the same time thick and meaty full of strong ham flavor that rises up against the fat.

We then partook in the hanger steak with a side of saffron rice.

For the inquiring minds, the Saffron rice is a combination of

White rice
Chicken broth opposed to water
Olive Oil
Saffron
Half a sweet onion.

Put it all in a rice cooker and let it go (Thanks Steve!)

The hanger is as delicious as always. The thin strips of fat melt away at medium rare and integrate beautifully into the meat. The meat itself is soft, which is actually something rare in hanger steak which tends to be a rougher steak. But the dry age + incredibly high end Prime nature of the steak allow the steak to almost melt in your mouth like butter. The meat does a great job of balancing out with the salt and pepper, the richness of the fat doesn't allow the salt to overwhelm it, but to be a partner in it's dance of flavor love.

So if you haven't bought yourself some Flannery, do yourself a favor and go get some! Try the Hanger, I PROMISE you won't regret it!

Tender Greens (San Diego)

2008-11-09T10:33:00.000-08:00

Nothing beats a big heaping salad for lunch. No matter how much cream based dressing, egg yolk, bacon you put on it.. it just seems healthy. On top of that, have them prepare the salad fresh right in front of you only adds to the appeal factor. And then ON TOP OF THAT fresh sliced grilled/roasted meats on a toasted ciabatta bun? YOU GOT ME HOOKED!

So what restaurant has suddenly become my favorite lunch spot? The recently opened Tender Greens in Liberty Station Point Loma. A new restaurant that just opened up recently that specializes in freshly tossed salads and carved meats. "Healthy/Local" is the motto!

A fresh, clean, open aired restaurant with nicely appointed thick wooden tables and high ceilings gives you a feeling of relaxation and sanctuary from the hustle bustle of your work/school day.

The menu consists of a handful of "simple" salads (just a type of lettuce mixed with a dressing and maybe one or two other veggies), carved meat (served in a sandwich or alone with mashed potatoes), and "big" salads (the big time toss in 10000000 ingredients and let it rip). For $5 you can have a large plate of the "simple" salad or for $10 add that salad in with a carved meat selection (albacore, flank steak, roasted chicken, pork). The big salads are $10. They have daily specials with a special type of meat and salad.

After ordering at the entrance, you follow a trail of vegetables and sauces as you watch the workers prepare whatever veggie delight you decided to order.

Like a construction line, they first toss together your different types of base lettuce in a large bowl and mix it with your dressing of choice.

Toss it onto the next worker who adds the secondary ingredients to make your perfect salad. For those grilled veggie lovers, they provide freshly grilled Temecula Vegetables. A delightful and enticing treat, so enticing in fact that I spent a good 3-5 minutes photographing the veggies.

Don't you just want to nibble on one of these root veggies like Bugs Bunny? The workers probably thought "what the weirdo? why is this kid taking 50 photos of the root veggies, he's insane!"

And finally you get to the meat portion. Another drool worthy section of the Tender Green conveyor belt. After drooling over everything you SHOULD have ordered and regretting everything you DID order, you get a drink and pay.

My drink of choice today? Fresh lemonade with Hibiscus tea.

A crisp acidic bite with a hint of sweet and sour from the lemonade. The Hibiscus itself has a strong floral bouquet that might be overwhelming for some.

My friend ordered the Red/Green Butter lettuce with Tarragon sauce, Herb Brushed local Halibut, and creamy mashed potatoes.

First off, these are some of the most creamy, velvety, and buttery mashed potatoes you'll ever find. I'm sure each spoonful has at least one stick of butter in it. This doesn't detract from the fact that there is such an overwhelming mouth feel of richness from eating it. A+.

The Albacore is seared to rare/medium rare and brushed lightly with olive oil and herbs. Tender and meaty the albacore is a thick enough fish in that it's able to stand alone without the need for sauce. I feel as though there is JUST the right amount of herb flavoring that it doesn't overcome the natural meatiness of the fish.

Finally, the special of the day.. Slow Roasted Beef sandwich served with Butter Leaf Lettuce, Cherry Tomatoes, and Tarragon Vinaigrette.

*drool* moist, thick pieces of shredded beef slowly marinated in a rich peppery brew. The beef is then put on a toasted ciabatta bread with garlic aoili and roasted red peppers. The bread has such a nice crisp to it , flaky but not crunchy and firm on the inside.

The salad is an incredibly crisp and fresh butter leaf lettuce served with a sprinkle of feta cheese, in hopes to not overwell the light tarragon dressing. Served also with plump juicy cherry tomatoes. I'd eat this salad with some flank steak on it ALL DAY.

What can I say? I love this place. I love the fact that you can get such a large variety of salads that are fresh and flavorful without compromising portion size. I love it! And.. the Vons next door is the most badass Vons of all time.

Tender Greens
2400 Historic Decatur Rd
San Diego, CA 92106