San Diego - Day 1

I made a quick trip to San Diego recently, and while other issues took first priority, where we were going to eat was important.  I had never been to San Diego, but I had been interested in it for a while.  It is a military town, specifically a Navy town (and I was in the Navy) and the military influence is obvious for those familiar with it.  It is right on the border with Mexico so there is also a very Mexican influence, and it is a sea, desert, and mountain town.  I knew ahead of time that it had a pretty good beer scene (and a pretty good punk rock scene), so I was interested to see what there was to see.  I will say that the city was surprisingly small and there was much less traffic than I would have expected.  Living in Norfolk, Va, another big Navy town, for four years, the traffic was much worse, so I was very surprised with how easy it was to get around.  We arrived in early afternoon and decided to grab some tacos while making a plan of attack and went to a place called Sarita's Taco Shop in Spring Valley.  The place was small and simple like a typical taco joint, with counter service and seating for about 20.  Generally, when I go to a taco joint in Chicago, I plan on ordering three tacos for a meal.  I did notice that the prices for a taco here were significantly more than the tacos in Chicago, but I also knew that prices in California are a bit more expensive than those in Chicago, so I decided to play it safe and assume that the tacos here would be the same size as those in Chicago.  It would also allow me to maximize the number of tacos I tried.  They had some interesting types of tacos, so I wanted to try what I could and ordered a Cabeza (Head), Birria (Goat), and a Shrimp Taco.  This place is also known for Carne Asada Fries, so these were ordered as well.  A big reason that the tacos cost more than the standard Chicago taco was that they were enormous.  The three tacos and the fries covered our small table.  I started with something that I knew that I would like, the Shrimp Taco.  The shrimp was chopped, shelled (obviously), topped with Pico de Gallo, and served in two tortillas with limes on the side.  The shrimp was sweet and the Pico tasted very fresh, crisp, and slightly spicy.  The lime added a nice contrast of flavor.  After the shrimp, I went for the Birria.  I had had goat before and liked it, but I had never had a birria taco.  Also served in two tortillas with limes, the goat was tender and shredded.  Texturally, it was like pulled pork, but it tasted nothing like that.  Goat has a slightly gamy flavor and it seems to have been braised in a red salsa because it was red and slightly spicy.  It was topped with Cilantro and Onions.  It was very good and I would happily try it again.  I had seen Cabeza Tacos at taco carts around town, but I had not had the opportunity to try one.  I know that the idea of what it is, the meat off of the skull of a cow, might put some people off, but it's meat and I had no problem with the idea of it.  It was served like the Birria, with two tortillas, limes, and topped with cilantro and onions.  It did, however, have the strongest flavor of the three tacos and was the richest.  As it was the third of three large tacos, it didn't get finished.  The Carne Asada Fries I tried (a few times) and they were very good.  It was like Mexican Poutine with crisp fries, chopped and grilled spicy Skirt Steak, Sour Cream, and Cheese.  While it was possible to eat it by hand, a fork did really help.

After we had accomplished what we came out to accomplish, it was time for a drink or two (and some food to help soak up the alcohol).  I had wanted to go to Pizza Port, a regionally famous chain of brew pubs associated with (although independent of) Stone Brewing located in the area known for both their beer and their pizza with many located on the beach.  Fortunately or unfortunately, I read the map wrong and we went to an area where I thought there was a Pizza Port, but was mistaken.  We went to Coronado, a peninsula on the ocean with a lot of Navy presence.  It is very pretty and while we did walk around, it would have been nice, if we had had the time to explore some more.  Luckily, we discovered that there is a brewery located on Coronado, the surprisingly named Coronado Brewing Company.  Located on the north side of the peninsula near one of the many naval bases, it is a low-slung brick building with a Naval/seaside theme.  It was pretty busy, so we had some time to look around before we were seated.  The floors were tile and there was a lot of polished wood that looked very vintage and reminded me of a sailing ship.  Looking into the brewing area, I was very surprised to see Copper Brewing Kettles.  Most kettles nowadays are stainless or aluminum.  There are advantages to copper, it removes sulfites, and provides a micronutrient for the yeast, but it is expensive and the actual differences are small.  It does look really cool in the brewery though.  They also had a one quart canning machine for crowlers (can half-growlers) behind the bar which looked pretty cool.

Before I was seated, I took a look at the beer list and saw that I flight would be in order.  I started, while we were waiting, with a Stay Kolsctal Kolsch.  It was light with a nice flavor, slightly fruity, with a dry finish, and would be a great summer beer.  When we were seated, we went with flights.  It could have been possible to choose 5 IPAs and while I like an IPA, it is generally not my first choice.  I like to experience other flavor profiles than simply hoppy.  Having said that I did choose a few IPA variations.  My list started with Waste the Day XPA, an experimental pale ale that varied the hops from batch to batch.  This batch was lightly hoppy with a slightly funky flavor.  It continued with Waylaid White IPA which was light, starting with a citrus flavor and finishing with a Belgian Saison funk, Conquista IPA (a collaboration with Cigar City Brewing of Tampa Florida, a collaboration I have to wonder how it happened), Sealift Hefeweizen. and Old Scallywag Barleywine, which was my favorite and had the highest alcohol content.  My partner's flight was similar although exchanged Stay Kolsctal Kolsch for the Waste the Day XPA and the Undertow Hoppy Red for the Conquista IPA.  The beers were all very good and despite having several IPAs, they were all very different and they did have several beers that were not IPAs.  As I had had a very large lunch, food was not big on my mind, although I figured that it probably would be a good idea to eat,  I decided to go with an appetizer (which turned out almost big enough for a full meal), the Calamari which were served with Lemon, Tartar Sauce, and Cocktail Sauce.  Despite being breaded and fried, they were some of the tenderest calamari that I have ever had.  The breading was crisp, but the calamari just melted in my mouth.  While I was served both tartar and cocktail sauce and did try both, I thought that these were better with the spicy sweet of the cocktail sauce.  The rest of the menu had a variety of seafood, as well as salads, burgers, pastas, and pizza and did look good.  My partner ordered a fish taco and some very good mussels (not pictured) in a garlic pilsner sauce and served with crispy garlic bread.  Everything was very good and we left nicely full to end day one of our trip. 

 

Fat Rice - Kill Grill Hauted Izakaya Halloween Dinner

It has taken me a few weeks to put up, but I went to a themed Halloween dinner at Fat Rice this Halloween.  Every time I have gone there, I have really liked Fat Rice.  I also like themed dinners and Halloween can be one of the most creative.  This year, they dressed up the restaurant (and themselves) to go with a Kill Bill theme, calling their restaurant Kill Grill, A Haunted Izakaya.  I am a fan of Quentin Tarantino's movies, but the Kill Bills were my least favorite.  I did, however, think that it would make a great theme, so I decided to check it out.  As Fat Rice is a Macanese restaurant, it wasn't a huge stretch to go for a Japanese theme, about the only thing they did to the restaurant was to add a few weapons hanging on the walls.  The staff also dressed as various characters in the movie which was pretty cool.  At our table setting, we were given a menu and a handwritten kill list for the characters that were killed.  All of the courses were matched to the individual killed.  Kill Bill was a very gruesome movie and between that and the fact that it was Halloween, I expected the dishes to have a bit of a macabre look to them.  I was not disappointed when our Amuse Bouche came out.  It was billed as a Bloody Eyeball, which is what it looked like, but consisted of a Poached Onion with Lychee and Beet Juice.  It was very gruesome looking, but it did taste good. 

All of our courses were accompanied by drinks which most of the time, came out first.    The first course/kill was Budd and our first drink was called Budd's Shift Drink and was actually a spin on a Boilermaker with a shot of Whiskey, a Pickleback, and a Tiger Lager.  I am not a huge fan of drinking a shot of straight whiskey but the pickleback helped it go down and the Tiger is a light Asian Lager.  For our first course, we were served Yakitori, or skewers, with Tongue (Chicken), Ears (Mushrooms), Finger (Korean Finger Pepper), and Blood (More Beet Juice).  Again it did look pretty gruesome, but they were all pretty good.  The pepper was of the non-hot variety and while it looked like a finger on a stick, it tasted similar to a grilled green pepper.  The mushrooms were like little bites of wonderfulness. and while the chicken had the general shape of a tongue, it still tasted and looked like chicken.

After Budd was Elle Driver.  The drink was called Miserable Old Fool and the course was Nigiri.  The drink was a combination of Sake, Peach Liqueur, Lemon, and Sriracha.  I am generally not a fan of sake or peach liqueur on their own, but their combination. along with the lemon and sriracha, mediated the worst influences of the other.  It wasn't too bad, but it probably isn't going to be drinking on a regular basis.  The Nigiri was interesting and did some things that I hadn't previously seen in sushi.  The first was a Torched Pork Fat Furoso, essentially bacon on a bed of rice.  It was rich and flavorful, and despite the general unhealthiness of it, I would definitely have it again.  Then there was the Charlie Brown Pepperoni Pizza which I will guess they gave the name because it was small and had only a couple of pepperonis on a layer of cheese, rice, and tomato.  I'm not sure how it held together, but it was definitely a pizza on rice and I liked it.  We then had what was called Fish Entrails.  I am not sure what this was, it did not taste fishy, and it was served with a rice cracker with the seaweed rolled rice topped with sesame and served on the side.

When Elle was dispatched with, we continued to Bill for which we were served a drink called Blood and Guts and an Exploding Heart Bun.  The drink was the simple part of this as it was Beet Vodka and Virtue Offalgood Cider (a collaboration between Virtue Cider and Chris Cosentino, a chef who knows much about offal, that contains nothing but apples and wild yeast).  Because of the difference in densities, the vodka floated on top, giving it a two tone color, which also had a very nice head.  The exploding heart bun reminded me of a large round pastie.  It was firm and had a crusty exterior, but it did sort of explode when it was cut open.  It had Five Points (Star Anise) with Chicken, Mushrooms, Glass Noodle, Carrots, Almonds and was also seasoned with Ginger and Cinnamon.  It was very good and was definitely my favorite course up to that point.  (Spoiler:  It ended up being my favorite course of the meal).

We continued to O-Ren Ishii with a Poisoned Fish Head and a glass of wine, Vina Mein Ribeiro, 2014 (that I forgot to photograph).  The poisoned fish head, though, I definitely remembered to photograph.  Yes, that is a real fish head served whole.  Thankfully, the eyes were removed.  In the mouth of the fish were a couple of Sticky Rice Balls with a ribbon of Carrot and Fennel.  We were told not to eat the tongue, but that wasn't a huge issue.  They also told us that most of the meat was around the cheeks and collar.  We were also given a heaping bowl of rice to go with the fish head.  I will say that the rice was a heck of a lot easier to eat than was the fish head.  Having said that, the fish head actually did taste good (initially) and I ate more than many of the people I was sitting around.  I even ate the brain which I really didn't plan on or really think about.  The flavor wasn't significantly different than was the rest of the fish, but it was much creamier.  After eating the fish head for a few minutes, we started getting a numbness in our lips and tongue.  This freaked out some of the diners and we were told that this was the poison on the fish head before telling us that it was Szechuan Peppercorns which I was guessing.  I had never had Szechuan Peppercorns, but I had read about them and found it a very intriguing experience.

The fish head was our last savory course and we finished our dinner/murder spree with Vernita Green.  The drink looked interesting, but the dessert looked a little disappointing.  The drink was called Tea Time for Vernita and contained Ninja (an energy drink), 1/2 and 1/2, Lemon, Angostura Amaro, and Black Tea served in a tea cup.  It tasted like Earl Gray with cream and a little alcohol and I enjoyed it.  I did just sip it initially which was a good thing, because unbeknownst to me, I was going to need it.  Dessert looked pretty unassuming and frankly pretty underwhelming.  It was however named Kaboom!  Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold so I was a little on my guard.  Our dessert came out in a cereal bowl and looked for all the world like a bowl of Fruit Loops.  The cereal tasted like what it looked like, but instead of using milk, it used yogurt that was a little spicy.  I was pretty underwhelmed until I came across a gelee a few bites in.  It tasted sweet at first, but very quickly exploded to something very hot.  It turned out to be a Lychee Gelee with a drop of Ghost Pepper and you could definitely tell when diners came across it.  There was a look of terror and shock and you could see several people wondering whether they should eat it.  The kitchen was watching the dining room and had a laugh when diners found the gelee.  Luckily, while it was pretty hot, the heat dissipated quickly.  It was a surprising end to a good and very creative meal.  I was glad I came and really enjoyed the food, the staff and my fellow diners.  As a Treat for the Tricks that the restaurant played, they gave us a Chinese take out box filled with a Sesame Cookie, a Crispy Rice Treat, and several hard candies.  I'm glad I came, it was a lot of fun, and I will definitely return.            

Halloween Offal Dinner at Table, Donkey, and Stick

Maintaining my reputation as a foodie does take some work.  If people consider myself a relative expert on the local food and restaurant scene, I feel obligated to try expand my knowledge.  This means having an open mind and trying things that other people may find a little off putting.  Many restaurants will play to the season and present things that may be a little macabre or gruesome sounding.  In that vein, Table, Donkey, and Stick, for the second year has offered a 6 course Offal Dinner for Halloween.  I hadn't gone to it last year, I have liked the offal that I have tried before, it fit with the holiday, and I like Table, Donkey, and Stick, so I figured that they could make an interesting dinner with the various entrails of butchered animals.  Offal is simply the internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal.  As we eat a wide variety of animals and the classification of offal covers a very wide range, I could see this going anywhere.  Of those things that I have tried that could be considered offal, I have liked many, but there are a lot of things (like hearts, brains, or testicles) that I have not tried, so I figured that there were going to be a few things that were going to be new to my palate.  Things immediately started out with new flavors with a Veal Brain Custard with Arugula, Veal Fries (Testicles), and a Lemon Aioli.  This was actually very good.  The brain custard was very light.  It did have the irony flavor of those organ meats that might have a lot of blood flowing through them, but that flavor was actually pretty subtle.  Brains are also pretty fatty, so it had a rich flavor.  The arugula was fresh and crisp and added a lemony pepper flavor which also went well with the aioli.  The veal fries were interesting.  They tasted good, but the thing that they reminded me of most were very good skinless hot dogs.  The first course was a success for me.  It introduced me to a couple of things that are well outside my comfort zone and I really liked it, so I was set up for whatever they planned on presenting to me next.

For the next course, we went to seafood with Fried Shrimp Heads, Monkfish Liver Mousse, and Fennel.  I had had shrimp heads before and had sucked the innards out and have liked the monkfish that I had had before, so I was confident of this dish.  I had never had fried shrimp heads fried before and I had also never had monkfish liver, so it was going to be a new experience.  I liked the monkfish liver mousse.  It was smooth, creamy, and had a nice, rich flavor.  The fennel was fresh and crisp with a sweet and slight licorice flavor.  The shrimp heads, I wasn't so sure about.  I like shrimp which is what it tasted like, but the frying seemed to concentrate the flavor.  When eaten together with the mousse and the fennel it wasn't so bad, but by itself the flavor was a bit overwhelming.

The next course also had some familiarity to it.  It was a Foie 'Nduja with Greens and a Grilled Baguette.  I have had 'Nduja before, which is simply a spreadable salami.  I have also had foie gras which is fattened duck (or goose) liver.  I am not sure however, if the foie used in the 'Nduja was of the gras variety.  I have also never had foie 'Nduja.  This dish was simple and it wasn't bad, but it did need some work.  The 'nduja was spicy and flavorful, but it wasn't smooth and didn't spread exceptionally well.  The greens were limp, but it felt like that is how they were supposed to be.  They were fresh and flavorful and the baguette was crisp.  If the 'nduja was a little more spreadable, this could have been a very good dish.

I could also say that there was some familiarity with the next dish, but that would be a stretch.  I was served a Lamb Heart Tartare with Beets, a Potato Nest, and a Quail Egg Yolk.  I could say that I've had lamb before, and I have had tartares of many different kinds which are frequently served with egg yolks.  I have also had beets and potato nests many times.  The X Factor in this is the fact that the lamb is specifically lamb heart, which I had no familiarity with.  If would have had to guess about eating a heart, I would consider the fact that it is a muscle, so it might be kind of fibrous like the other muscles that we eat (any other kind of meat we regularly eat).  It is also an organ so it has a lot of blood flow and might have a bit of an irony flavor.  Lamb itself is kind of gamy, so I didn't have a lot of hope for this dish.  It came out and I saw that the heart had been roughly chopped so the texture of the meat could be seen.  As far as flavor was concerned, it did have a have a lamb flavor with some iron undertones.  The beets added an earthiness and some sweetness, and the potato nest mellowed things out.  The dish wasn't bad, which is actually better than I expected.  I might have preferred it more however, if the heart was chopped more finely.

The last savory dish had me wondering.  I wasn't really apprehensive, because I knew that it could be eaten, but I thought that there might be a texture issue that the chef would have had to work through.  I had seen Pigs Ears sold at the butcher shop that I go to for pork belly, but when I think of them, I think of them as chew toys for dogs.  I was served a Pigs Ear Terrine with Pickled Pigs Ear, Mustard Seeds, and Mustard Sauce.  The meat was thinly sliced and looked to have been formed by being pressed into a pan (which is how a terrine is formed).  The greens, mustard, and pickled pigs ear were presented over the three thin slices and the mustard sauce was presented under the terrine slices.  This was actually one of my favorite dishes.  The terrine slices tore apart easily if you went with the grain.  It was served cold and the meat, while fairly tender, also had a bit of a gristly crunch.  This was a good thing because it provided some textural variety.  It also had a very definite pork flavor.  The pickled ear was very tender and had a sour flavor that went well with the mustard.

 After five dishes that were fair to very good, I wondered about dessert.  In retrospect, I should have passed on the dessert even though it came with dinner.  I was served Chicken Liver Malt Ice Cream with Chicken Skin Toffee.  I will say that it was not terrible, but it was my least favorite dish.  The chicken skin toffee was actually pretty good.  It actually had a sweet and salty flavor that was both fudgy and crispy.  It was similar to a chocolate covered potato chip.  The ice cream wasn't terrible when eaten with the toffee, but by itself, the liver flavor just lingered, and it was not a pleasant aftertaste.

As it was Halloween, dinner finished with a treat which could also be classified as offal.  We were given a Halloween Treat Bag with Caramel Corn Chicharrones.  I am generally not a fan of popcorn because it feels like I'm eating styrofoam and while chicharrones are not bad, they don't really excite me, so I don't generally go out of my way to eat them.  Breaking up the chicharrones to popcorn size and putting caramel on them though was a win.  They were sweet and crunchy with a slight salty pork undertone and I really enjoyed them.

Overall, this dinner was a win.  It was thematically appropriate, I got to try several things I had not previously tried, and even though there were some things that I didn't care for, there were several things that I did like, and I know now what may not work for me.