Bake Sale
The San Diego Food Bloggers Bake is being held TOMORROW – April 28th, 2012 from 10AM to 2PM! Come out … Continue reading Bake Sale
Month: April 2012
the kebab shop / san diego, ca
It’s been awhile since I’ve been to the Kebab Shop. But I was recently invited to come in and try the menu again and I happily accepted.
I revisited the one in Mira Mesa and was happy to see they have expanded to include two new locations in Encinitas, CA and Little Italy. The Kebab Shop serves up the kind of food you’re used to seeing at Greek places, but slightly different. Their main item are their Doner Kebabs (sort of like a gyro, but wrapped in flatbread instead of pita bread), Shawarma (think sandwiches) and Shish Kebab. They also offer a variety of salads and plates of meats to round out their menu. I got a bunch of stuff to-go and take home for sharing.
[Cucumber Dill Salad, Greek Salad and Hummus]
The Cucumber Dill Salad was one of my favorite salad items here. I’m often afraid that the dill will be overpowering, but on this it had just the right amount – enough to taste the dill without the overkill. The cucumbers are completely peeled and have a nice crunch to them.
The Hummus (which came with pita bread, not shown) was a nice creamy and smooth consistently with a good bit of flavor. Salad is pretty much salad, but it was fresh and crisp and came with a tasty dill dressing (again, not overpowering, woo).
[Falafel]
I also got an order of freshly made Falafel – I’m not the biggest fan of falafel to begin with so I wasn’t totally digging on this one. They seemed to be a bit overcooked and dry. Or maybe I just don’t like falafel.
[Lamb Rotisserie Plate with Greek Salad and Saffron Rice]
This probably looks familiar! They have lamb on a spit that they shave off and serve as a plate with two sides. You get a yogurt based sauce with this (not quite like tzatziki sauce but similar – no cucumber detected in their sauce) and your choice of two sides. I added Greek salad and saffron rice to this.
on laptops and yummy breakfast starts. also: myzithra and egg breakfast sandwich
On Saturday my laptop decided it would be a fun time to just stop working properly. I protested with it … Continue reading on laptops and yummy breakfast starts. also: myzithra and egg breakfast sandwich
carnitas las michoacanas / rolando – san diego, ca
One day I was hungry.
For carnitas.
I was at Jake’s and started looking on Yelp and found this one place called Carnitas Las Michoacanas. Carnitas was right in the name! It had like three reviews, all good. The place was also very, very close to Jake’s house. We had unknowingly passed it so many times without ever noticing it.
No more!
On our first visit, Jake, T and I sort of stood awkwardly outside the shop, watching people go up and get carnitas. There was this nice gentleman outside, rapidly chopping meat like nobody’s business.
[the carnitas man]
Everyone was speaking super fast Spanish and I just looked at Jake and said, “Uhhh, what do we do?”
He shrugged at me. He was being so helpful.
I tried to get him to go up there but he shook his head and refused. My usually talkative boyfriend suddenly clammed up on me when facing native Spanish speakers.
Damn him.
I walked up and asked what was up. We found out you can buy carnitas by the pound, with all of the fixings. Then they gave us samples.
[three sample carnitas – just plain meat and fresh tortilla]
Well, one sample was all we needed to be convinced. We got a pound to go that first visit. We’ve visited since – they moved a few blocks down the road closer to La Mesa, pretty close to the Kroc Center.
We were again greeted with free sample tacos! Man, I love this place.
[their full menu with a bunch of other stuff I’ve never tried]
The carnitas are still sold the same way at $10.99lb. They had just run out when we stopped by so we had to wait for a bit. You can ask for a “mixture” of carnitas or get only belly meat. Your choice.
Continue reading “carnitas las michoacanas / rolando – san diego, ca”
new shrimp items at daphne’s california greek
Daphne’s has undergone a transformation, becoming Daphne’s California Greek last year and offering more and diverse items on their menu. One of their newest additions are their new shrimp items.
[Crispy Shrimp Pita Sandwich with two sides]
The crispy shrimp has been on the menu before, but never before in a pita sandwich. I got the Shrimp Gyro meal with two sides – greek salad and rice pilaf.
The shrimp itself was nicely done – crisp with a bit of herbs that are in the batter. It’s kind of unwieldily to eat a shrimp pita though, since the shrimp like to keep jumping ship and falling right out of the sandwich. While it was good, I’d still prefer to get the shrimp “on the side” and not eat it in a pita.
[Mango Shrimp Salad]
One of their other new items is the Mango Shrimp Salad. I went with the grilled shrimp this time and am happy to report that the grilled shrimp is quite tasty. They’re fairly good sized shrimp and the grilling gives the shrimp a nice, distinct flavor. I took them off the skewer to eat with my mango salad. The salad itself has hand-made mango salsa with a hint of smoky chipotle flavor, mixed greens and feta cheese with a balsamic hummus dressing.
Continue reading “new shrimp items at daphne’s california greek”
A Basket of Baked Goodies Auction to benefit Share Our Strength
As promised, here’s the start of my auction! In the hopes of raising additional money for the San Diego Food … Continue reading A Basket of Baked Goodies Auction to benefit Share Our Strength
Latest Article at Travelin’ Local: review of Pizza Bella in Old Town
Thanks my friend Muppet, I know now of an excellent pizza place in Old Town of all places! The pizza … Continue reading Latest Article at Travelin’ Local: review of Pizza Bella in Old Town
eating in la: curry house / little tokyo – downtown los angeles, ca
For dinner on my one and only night in Los Angeles on this trip, I was given a few different options. I chose to go to the Curry House since they had a big variety of items and a Curry-Spaghetti Japanese place sounded really interesting to me. I was sad to find out later that there used to be a location in San Diego off Convoy that has since closed. Sad I never knew about it!
Curry House has ten locations in Southern California serving up their take on Japanese curry and other Japanese items.
I stared my meal off with a simple salad.
Well, sort of simple anyway. I don’t think I’ve seen kidney beans in a salad before… or green beans for that matter. In any case, it was lovely and flavorful and the dressing was very nice.
[Teppan Hamburger with Teriyaki Sauce]
After looking over the long and somewhat confusing menu, I decided to get one of the Teppan Hamburger steaks. It comes to you sizzling hot on a cast iron plate surrounded in a sea of teriyaki sauce, onions and veggies (which are on the other side of those gigantic onion rings).
Continue reading “eating in la: curry house / little tokyo – downtown los angeles, ca”
2nd annual san diego food bloggers bake sale on april 28th, 2012 + an auction!
I’m happy to say that it’s that time of year again – we’re gearing up for the 2nd Annual San … Continue reading 2nd annual san diego food bloggers bake sale on april 28th, 2012 + an auction!
eating in la: broome street general store / silver lake – los angeles, ca
Our post-felting class excursion led up over to Silver Lake to Broome Street General Store. We passed right by it without even seeing it since the sign out front was angled weird – you could pretty much only see it if you were heading down the street in a particular direction. Very odd.
Broome Street is named for a street in Manhattan where the owner once lived. It’s filled with various vintage kitchen items and sundries and various artisan goods (such as pickles, sauces, spices and other items).
I bought some smoked sea salt from Wales. It sounded really interesting. I have yet to actually try it though.
Alyssa and I browsed through the whole shop before heading over to the front counter to look at the ready to eat goodies they had for sale.
There were various tarts, yogurt and granola and brownies on this side.
Continue reading “eating in la: broome street general store / silver lake – los angeles, ca”
eating in la: the village bakery & cafe / atwater village – los angeles, ca
Time for another road trip! This time to hang out with my cohort, Alyssa.
I drove up on a Saturday morning to her house just outside of Downtown LA. I always go up Saturday morning because Friday afternoon traffic makes me very, very sad. There was a slight drizzle when I left and I encountered no traffic on my way up. I got to her house just under 2 hours. That’s the way to go!
After I got there, we got ready to head out for the day and went out for breakfast. We were taking a felting class in the early afternoon and gave ourselves enough time for breakfast and a little window shopping before our class started.
Our first stop of the day was to The Village Bakery and Cafe in Atwater Village.
This is what we looked at while we stood in line to order, trying to decide what we wanted to eat for breakfast. This case contained cupcakes, tarts, and various brownies.
We’ve only scratched the surface! There were also all kinds of muffins, cinnamon rolls, mini pies…
Cookies and cakes…
Continue reading “eating in la: the village bakery & cafe / atwater village – los angeles, ca”
dinner and a show at anthology / little italy – san diego, ca
I was recently invited to Anthology to try out their newest menu items by Chef Todd Allison. I’d always been interested in going to see a show at Anthology. This proved to be a stellar way to try out some new eats and to catch a show all in one.
Anthology is set up with three different levels – the main floor near the stage, a second level with just a few booths, and a top level. There’s also an upper level GA admission area with no view of the stage and monitors instead.
Laura and I arrived well in advance of the crowd and snagged some nice seats up front on the floor, near the stage. Getting there early was nice since we were able to chat and eat most of our food before the show began. The waiters are pretty good about letting you have your space when the show begins and only come by to check on you when necessary.
I had picked a date arbitrarily and we ended up seeing a band called the Robert Glasper Experiment – a mixture of jazz, soul and a little hip hop all thrown into the mix. I can honestly say it was like nothing else I had heard before with the mixtures of genres all rolled into one. It didn’t quite make me a new convert, but I enjoyed seeing them and experiencing something new. I’ll leave the music reviews to others.
[Sake Steamed Black Mussels – Ginger, Mint, Basil, Hearts of Palm]
We started off with these steamed black mussels, which our waiter told us were locally grown from Carlsbad. I had never had mussels before, but I was feeling adventurous – and I’m glad I was because I ended really liking these! The flavors of the ginger, mint and basil all showed through giving them a really deep and wonderful flavor. The mussels reminded me of oversized clams – similar texture with a nice, sweet flavor.
Continue reading “dinner and a show at anthology / little italy – san diego, ca”