la gran terraza / linda vista – san diego, ca

San Diego Restaurant Week is upon us yet again from September 16th-21st. It’s a great time to try out many of the wonderful restaurants in San Diego for either lunch or dinner at a reduced cost to help you get delicious food in your belly without making your wallet cry.

For preview week this year, I was invited to dine at La Gran Terraza, located on campus at the University of San Diego.

I have to admit, I had no idea they had a restaurant open to the public on campus.

The La Gran Terraza is nestled in the back of one of the buildings on campus, not far from the student lounge. Connected to it is a bar type restaurant called O’Toole’s. La Gran Terraza is in the back with the pretty, pretty view of the canyon.

Heather, my hot date for the evening, said she could see all of the way down to the ocean while I got mostly the canyon view. You can definitely hear what’s going on in the adjoined bar, but it’s still quiet and private enough to feel separated from that atmosphere.

[bread tray]

After placing our orders, we had someone come by to offer us their breads. They had a wheat looking one, a cheese bread, and a cranberry nut bread. I opted for cheesy and cranberry nut bread. The cheesy one was my favorite of the two.

[imprinted butters]

The USD imprinted butters amused me. The servers were quite good about asking if we wanted more bread throughout the evening, but without being overbearing about it. I like that.

[lobster martini / lemon soju, shaved fennel, blood orange-vanilla sorbet]

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homestyle hawaiian and rockie’s frozen yogurt / clairemont – san diego, ca

Homestyle Hawaiian is a tiny little place near Mesa College serving up some grand Hawaiian food. It’s not in the strip mall where K Sandwiches is, but in another strip mall behind that one. The first time Jake and I went here we passed it a few times before we actually found it. It’s totally tucked away in the corner and there don’t seem to really be any other businesses operating on that side. But, this tiny little joint does put out some tasty food.

I originally came here with a Groupon and then forgot to do a post about the food there. Since my hard drive crash, I lost a lot of data (*silent weeping*) and no longer have those photos to share. But I do remember that Jake and I both got lemonades and some of the Kalua Pig. The Kalua Pig is very tender and moist from what I remember.

On our next visit, we had yet another Groupon and Jake, S. and I shared a couple of plate lunches and some more of their fine lemonade.

[Peach Lemonade and Strawberry Lemonade]

These are big 32oz suckers. They’re made by hand right when you order them. They squeeze the lemons fresh and then add the flavoring and some kind of sugar syrup and mix the drink up in a big container they just shake, shake and shake some more.

Jake got the peach and I got the strawberry. Mine was a little too sweet this time (versus the last time we had it) but it was still delicious. I like it to have a little more tartness, just so you know you’re actually drinking lemonade. I love that they put the lemon rinds into your drink as well.

[Lava Chicken plate – $7]

Jake ordered the Lava Chicken plate, which comes with a scoop of macaroni salad and a scoop of rice (you can also get a little salad of greens if you don’t want one of those). The lava chicken is the katsu but with a “lava” sauce on it, a spicy sauce that’s tossed over the chicken katsu.

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