I’ve finally added all the restaurants from North Carolina on an interactive Google Map! For the sake of your sanity, it is a separate map from the current one containing all my Berkeley & San Diego reviews (now called the “West Coast map”). Check it out under Maps of Places Visited and let me know what you think!
Filed under Other
Yes, you read the title correctly: I have a new camera! SK (who has been super helpful and supportive) and I have been reading up on photography, and with the prodding of a few friends, I finally made the splurge and bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 with a 14mm pancake kit lens. Many of the photos from the previous post on food in Texas were taken with the new camera, and I must say, I fell in love with it pretty quickly. It is compact, easy to carry, and pretty user-friendly. Of course, I am still learning how to take beautiful food photos, but I have a pretty good teachers (shout-outs to IC and MC!), and all of you dear readers for feedback and suggestions :)
New baby
After coming back from Texas, the first place where I ate was Tacos el Gordo in Chula Vista, straight from the airport. I’ve already mentioned that this is (in my opinion) the best tacos Mexican food I’ve ever had, and every time I visit, it only reaffirms my love for it.
Here is a menu, for your reference. The counter is divided into several “stations” – a section for adobada, another for cabeza/lengua/sesos/buche… you get the idea. Tacos are about $2 apiece.
I ordered my two favorites:
Pork adobada taco
Beef cabeza taco
The pork adobada is really amazing. It is roasted on a vertical spit (see below) that’s topped with a pineapple. My theory is that the pineapple does two things: the juices add an extra layer of flavor to the meat, and the acid makes the meat even more tender. The vertical spit is turns slowly so that the meat can slowly cook to tender perfection. (FYI, this is the same method used to cook gyro meat.)
Adobada vertical spits
The cabeza is also a favorite of mine. The meat is not as tender but tastes “crunchier” instead. In contrast to the cucumber-yogurt sauce for the adobada, the cabeza taco is garnished with salsa verde, which, paired with the onion and cilantro, actually gives a pretty refreshing taste.
And of course, fried green onions and peppers are always free:
Fried green onions and peppers
Last time I visited, there were only the yellow variety of peppers. This time there was also a green kind, and that thing is hot. The yellow ones, I can eat the whole thing (skin + seeds) pretty calmly, but I was gulping water even before touching a single seed of the green peppers. Haha. Very exciting, but probably not for the not-so-spicy-inclined. Green onions are eaten with some salt and lime juice – perfect.
Yep, this is still the best Mexican food I’ve ever had.
Tacos el Gordo
689 H St., Chula Vista, CA
(619) 691-8848
Hours
Sun-Thu 10am-12pm
Fri-Sat 10am-4am
Filed under San Diego
I was in Texas for my sister’s college graduation (congrats!!) and Mother’s Day, and of course, in addition to spending time with friends and family (and catching up on sleep), I enjoyed a lot of great food. Here I present to you some of my favorite meals from the week!
Starting off with Chinese food:
Sesame bread (芝麻大餅) from First Emperor Barbecue in Richardson
Warm and fluffy, full of sesame and green onion, this is probably one of my favorite breads. Ever.
Of course, you’ve heard of Tex-Mex (I hope). I was fortunate enough to visit one of the best Tex-Mex restaurants in Ft. Worth, Yucatan Taco Shop:
Garlic shredded beef nachos from Yucatan Taco Shop in Ft. Worth
These nachos are ridiculous. As you can see, in addition to tender and delicious (and rather garlicky) shredded beef, there’s shredded lettuce, tomato, cheese, some sort of sour cream-based sauce, and a huge heaping of guacamole. You actually run of chips way before the toppings… And in case you were wondering, it all actually tasted pretty damn good together.
Something else that you should have heard of is Texas barbecue:
Feedstore BBQ & More in Southlake
Barbecue is basically heaven on Earth, seriously. And Texas has some of the best barbecue on Earth. This is one of them.
This little piggy, place right in front of the meat counter, was just too cute :P
Awesome beef brisket! :9
Pork ribs, corn, and coleslaw
Succulent. Smoky. Tender. Just perfect. Need I say more? This was definitely my top meal of the week.
Moving on to more Chinese food. My stepdad, who is Cantonese, took me to one of his favorite dim sum restaurants:
Char siu puff pastry (叉燒蘇) from Kirin Court in Richardson
Red bean sesame balls （芝麻球）
I loved the char siu puff pastry – you rarely see this item at most dim sum restaurants, and it’s always a treat when I see them. The char siu itself is really good, just sweet enough to complement the puff pastry perfectly. Also, the sesame balls were definitely some of the best that I’ve had in the States (yes, including California!). There was plenty of red bean filling, and the sticky rice was served warm and just the right balance of soft and chewy.
Last but definitely not least, I need to give a shout-out to my stepdad, who is one of the best cooks ever. He has 3 principles: 1) cooking has to be efficient (we’re busy and hungry!), 2) food should be healthy, 3) food should taste good. In his mind, these principles are not in conflict at all, and I am very inspired by his cooking style.
Home-cooked strip steak
He makes grilling a phenomenal steak look so easy! I am so stealing the cooking technique and recipe.
Home-made Greek-style salad
One of my favorite dishes, a simple salad of cucumber, tomatoes, olives, and walnuts tossed with a balsamic vinaigrette. It was super refreshing, just perfect for the Texas heat.
There, I hope that I’ve made you hungry enough for the evening. More food reviews of San Diego restaurants coming soon!
Filed under Travel
On the day that I left for my week-long vacation in Texas, SK and I had lunch in La Jolla, at Whisknladle. Both of us have heard really good reviews about it, and we were super curious to try it out. However, it’s on the pricey side, so we found an opportunity to head over for lunch!
(When SK suggested Whisknladle to me, I only had my cell phone, keys, and wallet with me… which means no camera pics. Boooo.)
The entrance to the restaurant is low-key but very… “organic” looking. I like it. By the way, most of the restaurant’s seating is in the patio area pictured right here; the bar and kitchen are indoors, but that’s about it.
The lunch menu was overall pretty light but a lot of variety, featuring a few different salads, sandwiches, pastas, and a couple of meat entrees. It took forever to decide between the skirt steak salad, flatbread, and burger – but finally, this is what I chose:
Niman Ranch Cheese Burger with WNL garnish, $17
I ordered the burger with Whisknladle garnish, which means that it is served with bacon, Thousand-Island-like sauce, and an egg (yay!). The meat-to-bun ratio was good, the garnish was fantastic, but unfortunately, the kitchen overcooked my burger – instead of being a nice, pink-ish medium, the burger was just past medium-well. And really, if the meat wasn’t done properly, then I could not really say that it was a great burger.
SK ordered the rigatoni, and as usual, we switched plates halfway through the meal.
Rigatoni with fennel sausage, chino broccoli, chili & garlic, $17.50
I really enjoyed this – the fennel sausage was one of the best sausage I’ve had in a long time! The pasta was also cooked nicely, and the sauce was hearty and flavorful, but not too heavy. I also loved how the cheese was so finely grated that it simply melted into the sauce – yum! I was pretty much ready to lick the plate clean.
The bottom line? I had a great meal at Whisknladle. Of course, if the burger had been cooked to medium, it would have been a perfect visit. I am hoping that this was just a fluke in the busy kitchen, but I will shy away from the burger next time. I am interested in trying their sister restaurant, Prepkitchen (locations in La Jolla, Little Italy, and Del Mar), which is cheaper but serves a similar-style food.
Whisknladle
1044 Wall St., La Jolla, CA
(858) 551-7575
Hours
Lunch: Mon-Fri 11:30AM-3PM
Dinner: Sun-Thu 5PM-9PM, Fri-Sat 5PM-10PM
Brunch: Sat-Sun 10AM-3PM
Bar menu: Daily 5pm-Close
Filed under San Diego
I was actually recommended to this restaurant by my boss, who described the tacos with the “crispy cheese.. it’s something different.” Crispy cheese? I had to check it out.
Located in downtown La Jolla, Puesto is decorated like a cute, fusion-y, fast casual restaurant. It is brightly lit and open to the outside, which is pretty typical of San Diego restaurants (ahh the good weather…)
The menu is pretty simple: you choose salad bowl, guisado bowl (guisado = grilled foods), or tacos. You pick your guisados, salsa, toppings, etc., and they assemble it as you desire.
I ordered two tacos, a carne asada and a huitlacoche. I’ve never had huitlacoche, or “corn truffle”, before, but when I read about it, I knew I had to try it. (This is going to sound a little gross, but I promise you that once you’ve tasted it, you’ll think it’s awesome.) It’s basically a fungus that infects corn, called corn smut in the US. Somehow, the Mexican farmers who discovered this fungus attempted to cook it – and found it to taste pretty darn good. I owe these people a great big THANK YOU because huitlacoche is delicious.
The tacos are served on a cute little tray:
Two tacos, $6.45
Carne asada & Huitlacoche, with crispy cheese and avocado
Yes, that crispy layer you see is cheese. They basically take shredded cheese and cook it on a griddle until a crispy layer forms on the bottom (kind of like cooking hash browns actually). Then, fold the guisado into the cheese, place cheese into the tortilla, and voila – you have a perfectly neat little taco.
If you order the guisado bowl, you could add a variety of toppings (I think you can do that on the taco, too, but I didn’t really want anything). SK chose lettuce, corn, and tinga, a hibiscus-chipotle-onion mix, for his carne asada guisado bowl.
Guisado bowl, $8.95
There were also several salsas, which we could sample. They are, of course, homemade, and tasted pretty different from the ones I’ve had at burrito joints around here. We ended up choosing the pistache, which is a pistachio and jalapeno mix, and tomatillo roja, a spicy red salsa. SK liked the pistache a lot, but I preferred the tomatillo. But all the salsas are pretty interesting, and I would recommend asking for samples and venturing into the unfamiliar… :P
The bottom line? I really liked the food here, even if it is a bit on the pricey side for “fast casual”. They really brought a new twist on Mexican food (as I knew it, anyway), and it was delicious!
Puesto Mexican Street Food
1026 Wall St, La Jolla, CA
(858) 454-1260
Hours:
Mon-Sun 11am-9pm
Filed under San Diego
Six meats: pulled pork, spare rib, brisket, hot links, beef sausage, and Jerk chicken
Sides: coleslaw and potato salad, cornbread
This was so good. I can’t believe that I found such good Texas barbecue in San Diego. Read my full post on Coop’s here.
Filed under Quick Post
**Photos courtesy of MC.
For SK’s birthday celebration, I searched for a place that had nice atmosphere and good drinks. There were a lot of options, but we finally decided on Starlite, a bar/restaurant on India St. in Mission Hills.
It had a pretty nice atmosphere – most of the indoor seating were either around the (rather large) bar or small tables, and there was also a covered patio in the back, where we had our table for 9. On the website, reservations for parties larger than 6 had to be made directly through the manager, and I was glad that they could accommodate us.
Happy Hour is everyday from 5pm-7pm (4pm-7pm on Fridays). We arrived just a few minutes before 7 and quickly got in our drink orders. They have quite a selection of beer and wine, but I was more interested in the speciality cocktails, which are normally $9 each but are only $8 during HH.
Hibiscus Margarita
Corralejo Blanco, hibiscus syrup, lime, orange, salt
Starlite Mule
Rain Organic Vodka, ginger beer, lime, Angostura bitters
Starlite’s version of the Manhattan
(Sorry, I don’t remember the name or ingredients…)
(FYI, I did not order all of these… my drink was the first one, coincidentally a lovely shade of pink*.)
*I do not choose my drinks based on whether they are pink.
**Okay, maybe I do.
My favorite, however, was not the pink margarita but the Starlite Mule. My friend told me that she ordered it because it was apparently featured prominently on the website… I guess for good reason, because that was a pretty delicious and smooth drink.
We ordered several appetizers for the table, pretty much all the fried items on the menu.
Mixed fry, $12
Hand-breaded & fried local vegetables, Meyer lemon slices, calamari & green goddess dressing
French fries, $5
Crispy hand cut fries, homemade aioli
I was not a huge fan of the mixed fry breading (not fluffy enough for me), but the French fries were awesome. Most of them were really crispy, which is obviously the best kind of fry.
We also ordered the Octopus fritters, from the HH menu ($5), but we forgot to take a photo. They weren’t too impressionable.
Onto our entrees…
Citrus & arugula salad, $8
Local citrus, toasted hazelnuts, aged goat cheese, arugula & citrus vinaigrette
Spring Romaine salad, $10
Romaine lettuce, green goddess dressing, Schaner farm egg, English peas, & white anchovy
The salads: very light and refreshing (particularly the arugula), pretty solid stuff. I love eggs and anchovy in salad.
The Burger, $13
8 oz. Brandt beef patty, gruyere cheese, caramelized onions served on a brioche bun with dijonaise, house-made pickles & fries
The burger was kind of generic and not that great, according to SK. It was too much of the taste and feeling of grease (and yes, I know you’re thinking, that’s what a burger is all about! Not in excess, my friend, not in excess).
Pan-roasted Jidori chicken, $20
Local arugula, goat cheese, black pepper croutons, strawberry, & balsamic pan jus
Stuffed Jidori chicken breast, $20
Chicken, mushroom, caper & herb stuffing, roasted turnips, potatoes, & creamy pan jus
The two Jidori chicken dishes were actually pretty much the same piece of chicken, served with different stuff. These two dishes were actually really good – the chicken was crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside. I preferred the “Pan-roasted” version of the dish, with the arugula salad accompaniment, but the mushroom and herbs were also really good in the “Stuffed” version. Side note: I actually didn’t know what Jidori chicken was until I looked it up: they’re basically a “brand” of free-range chickens.
The bottom line? We had a lot of fun at the dinner and appreciated the atmosphere, but I think the food and drinks were just okay, especially for the high prices. S says that there are many other places in San Diego with similar atmosphere and much better food/ prices, so I’ll be checking those out next time.
Have you ever been to Starlite? What did you like about your experience? I would love to hear your thoughts!
Starlite
3175 India St, San Diego, CA
(619) 358-9766
http://www.starlitesandiego.com
Hours:
Mon-Thu, Sat 5pm-2am
Fri 4pm-2am
Sun 10:30am-2pm, 5pm-2am
Filed under San Diego
