Gone Fooding…

Rating:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/davanti-enoteca-san-diego

Hello everyone! My name is Monica Chen and I am the youngest sister of both Wendy Davis and Callista Tieu. I really enjoy going to new Italian and French restaurants, so I thought I could help all of you that are passionate about food, the best places to find authentic food. I will help you determine if you should or should not go to a certain restaurant, and give the best feed back possible. Even though I will be specializing in Italian and French cuisine, I will also “go with the flow” and explore other foods as well. I hope you guys enjoy my food adventures!

The next day after officially being in gone fooding, my best friend Ana was celebrating her 22nd birthday at a restaurant by little italy called Davanti Enoteca. This place was beautifully decorated (by the way, I am studying to be an interior designer so I may go off a bit on the design!), beautiful light fixtures, light pendants, wall sconces, and surrounded by wall columns, picture frames and winery. Definitely a romantic date place whether you want to be inside, or outside patio. i was lucky enough to have a group of eight, which gave me lots of dishes to show you guys!

Davanti Enoteca

Davanti Enoteca Interior

Here’s the entrance and a view of the interior.

Davanti Enoteca Menu

Monica and Ana @ Davanti Enoteca

The Menu was a 1 ft and a half long, but it was fun to not see everyone’s faces while they were picking their entree. On the right is a picture of me (left) and my best friend Ana (right) having a good time!

Walnuts, Aged goat cheese, Roasted corn, Arugula, Wild mushrooms

Truffle Egg Toast With Fontina And Asparagus

Baked Focaccia With Cow Cheese And Honey Comb

Rustic Italian Bread with Focaccia Di Recco

I don’t want to go on too much detail, because, as I said previously, there were 8 people, lots of plates! But I will summarize it for all of you. The pictures above were all the appetizers my group, including myself, ordered, but only some of the choices in the menu. Top: walnuts, aged goat cheese, roasted corn, arugula, wild mushrooms. Amazing! creamy, fresh and crunchy! Second to top: That was Ana’s and mine, it was the truffle egg toast with fontina and asparagus! The bread was very flavorful, almost too much, the asparagus were really good though! Third: I believe that one of the baked focaccia with cow cheese and honey comb. The honey added a very good sweetness to counterpart the cheesiness that was inside the crunchy bread. Bottom: That one was the rustic italian bread with focaccia di recco. I actually didn’t get the chance to taste it, but at least you can get the idea of how delicious the appetizers were!

Polpo con Rafano (Seared octopus) with marcona almonds, salad, finocchiona and horseradish aioli.

I actually do not remember the name for this one, but the sauce was bomb!

Risotto with an egg yolk

That was Ana’s and my dish, it was risotto with an egg yolk that was meant to crack and spread with the risotto. Although the quantity was small, it was the best risotto I ever had! It had peas, veal glaze, just wonderful!

Riccio di Mari e Granchio (linguine, sea urchin and crab)

Riccio di Mari e Granchio (linguine, sea urchin and crab). I am not a big fan of really strong flavors from the sea, so this one was a bit strong for me, but it still had a really good taste. for those that love sea food, go for it!

The Giant Ravioli

The Giant Ravioli… Except it was the smallest dish on the table. They tried to compensate it by bringing three giant slices of bread, but the ravioli was seriously small ( I put the spoon for scale). It was very tasty however.

Ana and a slice of vanilla cake

Three gelatos (one passion fruit, one hazelnut, last coffee)

Desserts! Well, only Ana got one for free from the restaurant. In all honesty, the risotto was pretty filling after the appetizers, wine and the sharing of food with everyone! So, this was a nice treat not only for Ana, but also everyone in the table. They gave her a slice of vanilla cake, i believe, and three gelatos ( one passion fruit, one hazelnut, last coffee). They were soooo gooood!

Overall, the restaurant was fantastic. Our waitress forgot about us a bit, but after she refocused, the service was great. Our food came in timely manner and the food itself was very tasty. I definitely recommend anyone to come to this restaurant to try… Just don’t try the “giant” ravioli

Rating:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/lucha-libre-gourmet-taco-shop-san-diego

I love Mexican cuisine, but since I grew up in TJ, my palate is very spoiled: I’m used to authentic Mexican cuisine. Not entirely thanks to the restaurants that were around me, but because my childhood friends had awesome moms that made awesome Mexican food.

Today I was in search for some birria (spanish Goat stew), and my sis Callista suggested that I try Lucha Libre Taco Shop. I read the reviews on Yelp, and it sounded great. So I set up my GPS, and set out to find some good food.

When I arrived, I was faced with one good news, and one bad news. Good news: this place is vibrant and fun from the second that you step into the restaurant! I really love how they take the Lucha Libre theme all the way! Bad news: No birria.

Mascara de Lucha Libre

But not to worry. It took me only one look at the menu to feel like a happy camper again

Luche Libre Interior

Forget about your usual carne asada burrito. These peeps mean business! That’s why I ordered the Holy Moley burrito. Which is pretty much an entire chicken mole ( Spanish savory chocolate sauce) dinner inside of a burrito.

Holy Moley burrito

I chose this burrito because I think it’s just as difficult to screw up a carne asada burrito, as it is difficult to make a good mole sauce. I knew if I liked the balance of the savory chicken with the sweet chocolate sauce (which I find most restaurants do incorrectly) I’d easiely be a fan of the rest of their menu. The tender chicken, mole sauce, and perfectly cooked Spanish rice all inside fresh tortilla was just deliscious!

The salsa bar is very important to me as well.

The salsas and hot carrots

I have to admit, it wasn’t amazing. For such an authentic place, the salsa bar was immediately dissapointing. It didn’t even go with the rest of the restaurant, but I made sure to try all the different salsas, dips, and hot carrots for the sake of research.

Most of the salsas fell flat, and the hot carrots were underwhelming. Nothing was labeled either, so I had no idea what I was tasting the entire time. Fail.

Luckly, there were two regular customers who told me to take my share of the creamy spicy spinach dip. Because they were going to take the rest of it when I was done; they were not joking by the way.

After I tried the dip, I understood why they took 10 small containers home. It’s yummy!

The salsa bar

I also saw something on the menu that I consider a sin to ever pass.

TJ style corn - Elote en vaso

This was soooo authentic and good! I will order it every time I visit!

The steamed sweet corn, with mayo, chilli powder, lime juice, and Mexican crumbled cheese brought me back childhood memories. The times when my younger siblings and I would go around the Lavanderia (laundry mat) that was next to our house to catch the Elote (corn) lady before she sold all the corn on the cob inside of her little home made kiosk/cart. Definitely what food is supposed to do for us.

I tried to capture the atmosphere in the restaurant while I enjoyed my deliscious meal:

Lucha Libre decor Luchador

All chairs had Lucha Libre masks

These are some of the cool things I saw:

They had a sort of VIP table. It said Champions only, and it was barred so I had to ask.

The Champion Table

Looks pretty fancy right? Well it’s yours with 24 hrs. of advanced reservation. You get table service and you don’t have to stand in line like the common folks (JK). Plus did I mention the gold booth with hot pink walls behind it? Totally going to try it in my life time.

The Lucha Libre announcer

Yes, when I said they took the Lucha Libre thing to the second power, this is what I meant. Here’s the guy that calls out your order, except for he has a good old Lucha Libre mic. The same type and same sound you would find at a real Lucha. The happy chefs in the background actually use a traditional Lucha Libre bell to indicate that food is ready. I thought for a moment real Luchadores were going to appear and fight!

Please go try this place. The atmosphere is fun and cheerful. The food is excellent, and my inner Latina was definitely evoked!

Oh, prices are good too enjoy!

Rating:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/whisknladle-la-jolla

Restaurant week menu: http://www.sandiegorestaurantweek.com/restaurant-list/index.php?page=restaurantmenu&rrid=264

This one was our first stop for restaurant week here in San Diego. I’ve never been to this one but their menu on the Restaurant Week website wasn’t something I was going to let pass by. Generally for restaurant week, you’re dealing with a 3 course set menu with a few options in each course. Nope, not this place. This place had their entire menu available for restaurant week. There was so much to choose from, just couldn’t go wrong.

For starters like a lot of the fancier places, they offer the complimentary bread and butter. The bread here was pretty darn good and I may have gotten upset when the waiter came by and took it away when our food came.

Bread and Butter

I myself ordered the Local Venus Clams Tomato-Clam Jus, Merguez Sausage, Charred Rapini, Preserved Orange & Grilled Bread. I didn’t expect the portion to be so big. As an appetizer at a fancier place, you almost always see the small À la carte size. Whisknladle gave me a whole lot clams, which made my stomach a very happy camper. The taste was delicious and the sauce was great with the bread.

Venus Clams, Sausage and Bread

Our other appetizer order was Cutting Board House Cured Meats, Artisan Cheeses, Mustards & Pickles. The few meats that came with this was a cured roast beef, thick salami, and ham. All very very good. This dish looked rustic and tasted like it too. If you like simple bread and cheese, this one is for you.

Cutting Board House Cured Meats, Artisan Cheeses, Mustards & Pickles

I almost forgot all these weren’t the main courses… Our main courses were their Grilled House Made Spicy Sausage, Salty Rib & Pork Belly Grilled Treviso, Black Eyed Peas & Pickled Okra. The spicy sausage actually had quite a kick to it and definitely built up as I ate. The pork belly was so delicate and delicious. Practically fell apart as you try to eat it and melts in the mouth. The rib… was probably my favorite. Wasn’t too salty but definitely was marinated with salt and was so so good. My complaint would be there wasn’t enough ribs and I wouldn’t mind it at all if I didn’t have the sausage or pork belly and just had ribs. All 3 meats had a very sweet bbq sauce over it which was a perfect blend with the peas underneath. I honestly couldn’t taste the pickled okra.. and now that I think about it, I don’t remember there being any.

Grilled House Made Spicy Sausage, Salty Rib & Pork Belly

The other main course we ordered was their Prime Meyer Ranch Striploin Pommes Sarladaise, Haricot Verts & Chanterelles. This thing was a beast. I’ve always been a fan of a more seasoned steak . This one was pretty plain in my opinion but Stef seemed to have enjoyed it a lot.

Prime Meyer Ranch Striploin Pommes Sarladaise, Haricot Verts & Chanterelles

On to our third courses, desserts. I’m looking at the restaurant week and realizing they had Apple Upside Down Cake rum-raisin ice cream, walnut streusel.. Why didn’t I see this! I settled for their House Churned Ice Creams & SorbetsChoose one flavor or trio. I choose Sorbets. The 3 that came with mine was tamarind, raspberry and coconut. Normally I’m not a fan of coconut, but the sorbet was pretty good. The raspberry was well your average raspberry sorbet.. The tamarind.. was so weird! I’m a huge fan of Mexican tamarind candy. The sorbet tasted just like it, only cold which was really surprisingly good.

Trio Sorbet: Tamarind, Coconut, and Raspberry

For those who didn’t know, Restaurant week has been extended from 25th – 30th. Food now!

http://www.sandiegorestaurantweek.com/

Rating:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/azucar-ocean-beach

There aren’t many Cuban places in San Diego. After eating at Portos in LA, I knew I had to find something remotely similar in San Diego. Who knew there would be one that was so close.

Azucar is probably better known for their bakery items. The first thing you see when you go into the store is their display of delicious desserts and what not.

Display of Azucar Desserts

Mango Cheesecake and White Peach Passion Fruit Cake

I’ve only ever tried their chocolate mousse cheesecake and that thing was so good. They also have a display for just pastry items as well. They’ve got raspberry danishes made fresh every day, scones, buns, and bunts of all sorts.

Pastry Items at Azucar

They even have a display case dedicated to pets. They bake these cookies and cupcakes for cats and dogs… and they look dangerously delicious. But don’t be mistaken.

Pet Treats at Azucar

Oh yeah this place makes some pretty good coffee drinks as well. They have a pretty decent size list of coffee/cafe type drinks and then some other stuff like teas and mochas.

The only reason why I haven’t tried more of their desserts is because when ever I come here, I always end up getting their Cubano sandwich and I can never pass up on their Papa Rellenas. Their Papa Rellanas are these delicious Cuban stuffed mash potato balls that have ground beef inside. The outside is coated with this crispy breading and is then fried. The overall product doesn’t feel at all greasy or anything like that and the Papas are best eaten with either ketchup or may favorite, hot sauce. These compared to Portos in Los Angeles is not nearly as good, but still so delicious. I think the missing factor is the chopped up jalapenos in the Porto’s Papas.

Papa Rellenas

Normally I get the Cubano sandwich. This is a popular choice at any Cuban place. The description for the sandwich reads “Slow roasted Cuban style pork, thinly sliced ham, swiss cheese, mustard, and pickles”. Made in a panini style kind of sandwich and is toasted to perfection. The pork has just the perfect amount of flavor and isn’t tough at all. All their sandwiches come with the choice of mixed baby greens with cirtrus vinaigrette or plantain chips (fried banana chips) with mojo dipping sauce. For this dish, we got plantain chips to accompany the sandwich. The plantain chips are pretty delicious by itself, but I really enjoy the dipping sauce they serve with the chips. It’s almost this yogurty type of sauce like they have at Indian/Greek places, but has this kick to it.

Cubano with Plantain Chips

The second sandwich we picked for this blog was the Berto. Description reads “Serrano ham, manchego cheese, arugla, and drizzle of extra virgin olive oil”. I knew that this sandwich was going to be nothing compared to the Cubano, but to my surprise this sandwich was really good. The combination of the ham, cheese and olive oil made the sandwich really savory and the taste just completely melts. I think I’d definitely get this sandwich again, but it’ll be a hard pick from the Cubano or Berto. I got this sandwich with the salad this time.

Berto Sandwich

The overall restaurant is pretty small. I wouldn’t even go as far as calling it a restaurant because this really truly is the size of a bakery. There are a couple of tables inside and a bar to sit (not an alcoholic one of course). There’s a patio outside as well.

My only complaint for this place is their hours. They close by the time I get home from work on the weekdays! Hours are Mon-Sat 7am – 6pm and then Sunday 9am-5pm.

Rating:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/spread-san-diego

Spread is one of the only vegetarian places I’ll go to and still think it’s really good. When I first heard of this place, it sound sketchy because the vegetarian places I’ve been to haven’t been great in taste. The thing about this place is their menu changes everyday depending on what they have growing in their garden and what’s in harvest.

One of their best appetizers that I always get if they have is the deep fried cauliflower in this tangy sweet sauce that has a little kick to it. The sauce is amazing and normally I don’t like deep fried things but this had the perfect combination of taste. Another thing they’ll have is deep fried asparagus with black sesame and is seasoned with malt and salt.

Malted Fried Asparagus with Black Sesame

Unfortunately this visit didn’t have either. I settled with their Heirloom Tomato and Burrata Salad, Pomegranate Seeds, Basil, Raw Olive Oil, Cracked Pepper, Sea Salt, and Avocado Basil Dressing. I think I liked half of the things in this salad. I was never a huge fancy cheese fan so the Burrata was so so for me. The texture and taste reminds me of glue.. But Stef seem to really enjoy it with the bread that came with the salad. The best part of the salad for me was the mixture of the Olive Oil, Cracked Pepper, Sea Salt, and Avocado Basil Dressing. Everything had the perfect amount of saltiness to it.

Heirloom Tomato, Burrata, Avocado and Basil http://gonefooding.com/blog/wp-admin/post.php?post=249&action=edit&message=10Salad

Their pasta dishes here are really good as well. I’ve never had a bad pasta dish here and they tend to always have at least one pasta entry on their menu. Today’s pasta dish was Burgundy Truffle Shaving Infused Spaghetti Cacio E Pepe and Fresh Sage. The waiter described it as creamy and rich. He wasn’t kidding. The portion is a one person portion, however the rich taste made it possible for two to share. The truffles weren’t strong, but the cracked peppers on this spaghetti was. This was perfect for me, but a little much for Stef who doesn’t eat much spicy things.

Burgundy Truffle Shaving Infused Spaghetti With Cracked Pepper

Another dish we got was their Paella. Description reads Heirloom Vegetable Paella, Brown Rice, Artichokes, Olives, Saffron Unfiltered Olive Oil and Herbs. Perhaps the pasta was so good that it made this dish seem only so so. After a taste of the pasta, it became apparent that the paella was not as great. Not to say it wasn’t good but definitely not the best. There was a lot of sauce that overpowered the rice. Stef’s favorite were the olives and mine were the artichokes in this.

Heirloom Vegetable Paella, Brown Rice, Artichokes, Olives

Its unfortunately that our visit this time didn’t have our favorites. All the other times have been great. But that’s their thing. Their menu changes everyday and its all organic and freshly harvested.

They also have desserts here. They seem to always have these grilled sandwich sliders for a dessert. Most of the time it’ll have some kind of fresh fruit jam that they make with their handmade peanut butter.

Fresh Strawberry Jam with White Chocolate Peanut Butter Slider

Rating:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/kaito-sushi-encinitas

After my constant published check ins at Ikiru Sushi, my coworkers told me I had to try this other place, Kaito Sushi. Simply the best sushi they said. Well we kept planning to go there but never did. So finally we decided today was going to be the day. My coworkers Dennis and Lindsay got reservations for 7 for the bar and the rest was history.

Kaito is pretty small. Its about the same size as Ikiru, but there are way more bar seats than tables. There’s about 3 tables or 4 and 20 bar seats. Once we sat down, the bar stayed busy. There wasn’t an empty chair at the bar all night. There were two sushi chefs there and we got Kaz as ours. He was extremely friendly and I’m not going to lie, I had a tough time understanding him. He has an accent, but I mostly couldn’t hear because I’m just partially deaf in an ear.

Kaz welcomed us with this radish and carrot starter. It was marinated in something for sure, but I can’t quite figure that one out. There was a hint of sesame seeds and a very little kick.

Seasoned Radish and Carrot Starter

Immediately our feast started with some nice cold chopped giant clam. This came in giant shell. Garnished with a mint leaf and a hand carved lemon skin spiral. The giant clams were refreshing and a great starter. Too bad we had to share.

Chopped Giant Clams

Chef Kaz asked if we liked Halibut. That immediately got my attention. Not too many sushi places serve my two favorite fishes, Halibut and Spanish Mackerel. I was curious how he was going to serve it. Well he start slicing the halibut very very thin. I remember thinking.. man that is way too fine for sashimi. The fish was so thin, they were almost sheets. He laid these out around the plate and then placed a small spoonful of this citrus pepper paste. Topped it all off with this huge salt rock where he took his knife and shaved the salt off ontop of the fresh halibut. And now I knew exactly why that halibut was so thin. How this is served actually made it perfect. No soy sauce needed at all. The fish was perfectly seasoned and then with a very tiny pinch of the citrus pepper made it great. The taste was perfect.

Salted Halibut with Citrus Pepper

Our next two delights were 2 pieces of Amberjack from Japan nigiri and 2 pieces of Spanish Toro nigiri. Obviously both of these aren’t common in sushi places. The Amberjack was quite delicious. I think the last time I had Amberjack was when a fisherman brought it live for us at our restaurant. Of course compared to the live, this one isn’t quite as great but still pretty close. I’ve never had Spanish Toro before but I have had regular Toro. The grade on the Spanish Toro was pretty amazing. Toro is normally a little lighter in color than Maguro tuna. This Spanish Toro had the same color, but completely melts in your mouth like butter. That’s a good sign of some high quality Toro.

Amberjack Nigiri

Spanish Toro Nigiri

Next to my surprise was this baked Ono marinated in miso. I’ve only ever tried Ono as a sashimi and never baked so this was quite a surprise. Cooked fish isn’t exactly something I would prefer over raw, but this one was surprisingly good. I’m pretty sure the Ono wasn’t just marinated in miso. Tasted like there might of been some rice vinegar or a little bit of sugar mixed in the miso. The fish had a nice sweet taste to it.

Baked Miso Ono

What’s the best thing to follow something that’s baked? That’ll have to be some Ikura (Salmon Roe). But this the usual salty Salmon eggs you find at a sushi place. Kaito soaks their Ikura in Sake and Soy overnight. The product comes out not salty at all. Just refreshingly cold. The Ikura was served nigiri style and had to be eaten quickly as suggested by Chef Kaz because the seaweed will become soggy if sat for too long.

Ikura Marinated in Sake And Soy Sauce

Remember when I said my favorite fishes were Halibut and Spanish Mackerel? What are the chances that this place had not only Halibut but.. also Spanish Mackerel. I’ve only had Spanish Mackerel at two places in the past 10 years. Some thing tells me that I was just lucky though. Well Chef Kaz made us some Spanish Mackerel nigiri topped with ginger and onion with a little ponzu sauce. The difference between Spanish Mackerel and regular Mackerel is it’s a lot smoother and much more subtle in the flavor.

Spanish Mackerel Nigiri

This place has a TON of Toro. Not too many restaurants have that. Firstly because Toro is really expensive to purchase, especially to buy the entire fish whole. Also not too many people order Toro. How Kaito runs their restaurant however looks as though they order the most expensive harder to come by fish as their main fishes. The place doesn’t have regular Tuna that everyone else has and they didn’t even have yellowtail today. Any who, Chef Kaz pulled out a huge Toro tail piece that probably weighed a good 10lbs. Sliced off the bone and tail and spooned out the Toro and made us some Negi Toro handrolls. I pretty much HATE onions, but this was bearable. The Toro just as expected, melted like butter.

We’re getting down to the point where we’re getting stuffed and if we let our stomach settle, we’ll start feeling the pain soon. BUT we can’t let that stop us. Chef Kaz asked us if we wanted more and before our stomach can decide, we nodded hell yes. One more please.

Dennis kept talking about this “cloud in his mouth fish”. At first we were thinking.. what could he possibly be eating that tasted like a cloud. Funny thing was, Chef Kaz made that exact thing next. Turned out to be Salt Water Eel which is another rarity in San Diego sushi joints. He got creative and fried the spines of the eel as well. Eel bones have always been easy to eat. Not many people know that you can actually eat the bones in eel. Most of the time they’ll pick it out and complain that the sushi place did a bad job with their fish. Well with the spines completely fried, it basically tasted like chips. Fish and chips if you may. And guess what? Dennis was right.. Thing was really a “cloud in my mouth”.

Fresh Salt Water Eel

Some how we still ended up with one more thing on our plate.. Chef Kaz made us Uni nigiri. Uni is Sea Urchin by the way. Definitely doesn’t look the most appetizing and honestly is probably an acquired taste for those who aren’t adventurous. How I would describe it would be.. it’s a bit slimy but melts and is very slightly bitter.

Uni Nigiri

I’m going to have to come back here with my sister and do some more damage. Need her second opinion on this 5 star biz. I think we cleaned out Chef Kaz’s fridge. I’d definitely recommend this place if you want some quality fish. Just prepare to fork out some money for it.

San Diego Restaurant Week is just around the corner…September 18-23, 2011

Check out the awesome participating restaurants at  http://www.sandiegorestaurantweek.com/. You can pick out the price ranges as well.

My sister and I will try to cover some of these as long as time and money allows. Stay tuned.

Rating:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/extraordinary-desserts-san-diego#query:extraordinary%20dessert

One of my aunts and her husband from Los Angeles came down to San Diego for the weekend and had a sweet tooth. They wanted a place where they could sit, chat and just enjoy some coffee and dessert. Well I suggested this place. There are two locations in San Diego. One is in Banker’s Hill and the other one is located in Downtown. Even though both restaurants have the same desserts, the atmosphere is completely different. Banker’s Hill one is more of a cafe type atmosphere and is quite small. The one in Downtown is an actual restaurant and serves both dessert and simple foods like bread and cheese, panini sandwiches, and Salads. Downtown’s restaurant larger than Banker’s Hill’s and has more options.

Aside from food, both places have some really cute things on display that are quite random for a restaurant. They’ll have cute books for kids, baby shirts, potpourri, etc.

But, lets get down to what we got at the Banker’s Hill location:

We ordered way too much and well my aunt ordered a classic lemon bar with a hint of kiwi sauce and mango sauce on the side. Also decorated with a flower on the lemon bar. I’m not a huge fan of lemon so this one I skipped on, but my aunt seemed to have enjoyed it very much.

Lemon Bar

She also got a Raspberry Danish for the drive back up. The presentation was so pretty. Raspberries on the danish were so evenly spread out and the strawberry on top gave it a nice touch in colors.

Raspberry Danish

My Uncle ordered Truffe Framboise. The description on the cake says “Raspberry and Kirsch soaked chocolate cake layers surrounded by bittersweet Valrhona chocolate mousse and bursting with fresh raspberries.” This thing looked monsterously delicious and it was. Also came with a side of tangy raspberry/blueberry sauce.

Truffe Framboise

Stef really wanted to try that one too, but for variety sake she ordered the Dulce De Leche. Description reads “A crunchy milk chocolate hazelnut confection hidden between layers of dark chocolate cake and creamy chocolate mousse.” This one was pretty rich as you can imagine, but still great according to Stef. Came with a side of a thin caramel and chocolate sauce.

Dulce De Leche

I myself normally get the same cake, because it’s just the best one! However at the time we were in line and ready to order, there were no signs of my favorite cake on display… So I lamed out and got the Napoleon instead. This one is a pretty common French pastry, but I don’t know if many are familiar with it. The pastry contains layers of pastry flakes, lightly whipped cream, fruit, and more flakes. The best Napoleons are sturdy but will also crumble so easily and melt in your mouth. Though this one I got looked so good and tasted great, it didn’t melt. Was actually kind of tough to chew on. Definitely not the best I’ve had, but came pretty close.

Napoleon

Of course as we were finishing up.. I see one of the employees bring out my favorite cake of all time into the display case and I slowly yelled out “OH COME ON!”. So with my head hung low, I took a picture of the cake just to show you guys what this beauty is. The Shangri-La. Description reads “Delightfully fruity. Vanilla cakes moistened with Kirsch are layered between white chocolate mousse, Guava mousse, fresh strawberries and whipped cream.” I’m drooling as I type this and I’m not even a sweet tooth kind of gal.

Shangri-La

Rating:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/tabu-sushi-bar-and-grill-el-cajon

Here’s one of those places you should know exists for those days you’re running errands but want a quick treat.

A foody at work

After picking up Ethan from school after a long day of work, I made an executive decision on two things. 1. I am not going to cook today 2. I will go on a mini date with Ethan and grab something good.

Believe it or not, my little foody has a craving for sushi most of the time. I think it’s funny because most kids will pick Mac n’ cheese or pasta… not this kid. He likes the good stuff! (unless that mac n cheese is aunty Callista’s mac n’ cheese of course) He’s first question when you serve him anything? “Is that organic?” lol…

So here’s what we ordered…

Spicy Salmon Handroll

I pretty much always order a spicy salmon handroll as a starter at any sushi restaurant. I love the spicy mayo that they use to give it an extra kick. Some restaurants put strips of cucumber in it, and some others put baby arugula stems. Either one is a good contrast for all the heat that’s packed in this handroll.

Philadelphia roll (left) and California roll (right)

Ok, I know no decent foody should ever order the California roll, but Ethan loves imitation crab, and loves this roll. The Philadelphia roll is such a simple roll, but has all my favorite flavors all in one bite! The tasty salmon, creamy cream cheese, and buttery avocado makes it delicious! This is a roll I order when I just want some sushi and don’t want to look at the menu too long.

A piece of Philadelphia roll

Here’s something I noticed about this restaurant. While most sushi joints cut their rolls into 8 pieces or so, making the individual pieces a little over half an inch thick, Tabu cut their rolls into 10 or more pieces, making the sushi pieces much thinner. I’m not a fan of that because it makes the piece of sushi more fragile, but that’s just my personal preference.

Shrimp Yakisoba

Besides serving sushi, Tabu also offers options for those “non-sushi” eaters.”Shrimp and noodles” is another favorite request of Mr. Ethan. We ordered the shrimp yakisoba, and shared it. I’d say it was pretty good, but I’ve had better. The seasoning was definitely right, and the chopped, pan-fried lettuce added sweetness to the dish.

So if you’re having a busy day, but don’t want to grab fast food (burrito, hamburger, etc), stop by Tabu, and order the items displayed above. They are simple but delicious options that most restaurants can’t mess up. So you’re  guaranteed satisfaction for your money

Well this place is convenient for me, and I like the environment. Although it’s not mind blowingly good, I like them enough to go back a few times per month.  And that was my date with Mr. Ethan…