Category: Mira Mesa

San Diego County, Mira Mesa, Mary

the boiling crab / mira mesa – san diego, ca

I’d been wanting to check out the Boiling Crab for awhile since it was the newest restaurant to pop up in my neighborhood. My friend, Laura, and I tried to go once for lunch, only to discover they only opened for dinner. What!

A few weeks ago we were browsing around the farmer’s market in Mira Mesa and then decided to head over here for dinner to try it out. I’d heard kind of a mixed bag of reviews about the place, but I always believe that I have to try it for myself before I can judge.

Laura and I weren’t quite sure what to expect from this place. They place a big sheet of paper over the table and hand you some bibs and menus. No utensils for you, my friend! Here’s Laura with our bags of steamy food and disposable cups of water. I’m pretty sure everything in this place is disposable. Maybe they really hate doing dishes here – makes for an easy cleanup, anyway.

Everything here is sold by the pound – but you can get 1/2 pound amounts if you don’t want a full pound of something. One thing we did notice is the lack of vegetables – pretty much the only veggies they have are corn and potatoes. We kind of wishing for a salad or something, but I suppose that doesn’t really fit the seafood boil theme.

[shrimp, sausage and corn mixture]

We ended up sharing 1 pound of shrimp ($10 per pound), a half pound of sausages ($8 per pound) and 2 corn on the cob ($.75 cents each).

The seasonings they have available are Rajun Cajun, Lemon Pepper, Garlic Sauce or “The Whole Sha-Bang!” which is a combination of all three. We got it with garlic sauce. The shrimp and sausage came in one bag and we ordered the corn in a separate bag with just butter.

The shrimp are cooked with the shell and heads on. Shrimp heads don’t bother me exactly, but I’m not really into eating them (though I know other people are). The flavor was … just okay to me. The shrimp were a bit overcooked resulting in a slight rubbery texture. I didn’t think the shrimp soaked up the flavor of the sauce at all – they tasted like the shrimp were cooked first and then just tossed in the sauce later so not a lot of transfer of flavor. The sausage was fine, nothing to sing about, and the sauce wasn’t really detectable on there either.

The corn on the cob were really awful. The corn was really mushy and lacked any kind of flavor – it tasted like frozen corn on the cob tossed in a weird sort-of-butter-like sauce. I actually complained about the corn and the manager came by to ask me about it and I told him the truth. He said the corn was usually much better when it was cooked in with the sauce and he gave us another round of corn free of charge and didn’t charge us for the first two corns.

[corn with garlic sauce]

Yeah… these were not any better. At all. Still tasted really mushy and flavorless, with maybe slightly more flavor than the other set we got, but still not really enough improvement to entice me to eat it any further than one bite. Continue reading “the boiling crab / mira mesa – san diego, ca”

San Diego County, Mira Mesa, Mary

fuze restaurant and lounge / mira mesa – san diego, ca

Mira Mesa has gotten a new addition to the neighborhood: Fuze, a Korean restaurant located where “Mr. Wasabi” used to be. They haven’t changed the name on the signage yet, but you still spot the restaurant when you’re driving west on Mira Mesa Blvd. I was invited to come in and try out the restaurant not too long ago. I actually went in early to do a “sneak peek” on one of my lunch breaks before I came in. For this trip, my cohort was my dad.

We there about 5PM on a Wednesday evening. No other guests to speak of. Our hostess/waitress showed us to a table and we sat and started to peruse the menu. Sadly she wasn’t totally well versed on the menu so I felt it was a little lacking there since she gave us half-hearted suggestions. No matter, we ordered a few things and were off!

[pajun – korean style scallion pancake]

I’m not well versed in Korean food at all. This was described to us as sort of a “seafood pancake”.

It’s a large pancake-like appetizer with lots of scallions and little shrimps. The outer edge was a bit crisp (though not too crunchy) and the inside was very doughy. Our waitress said “it’s supposed to be like that” but it sort of tasted like the inside wasn’t cooked all of the way. I did not really like the consistency of the inside of the pajun and mostly just nibbled on the outer edges and a few pieces of the shrimp.

[fried calamari with wasabi ranch and house tarter sauce]

The fried calamari was a more familiar dish that we tried – I was mostly curious to see what kind of twist (if any) they would put on one of my favorite dishes. The calamari are cut into rings and then fried in a coating of batter, resulting in a light, crispy calamari. I love that they’re served on those noodle things (I can’t remember what they are called! argh) giving them a fun, visual appearance. The wasabi ranch wasn’t too god-awful hot and the tarter sauce was just okay. I kept nibbling on these babies sans sauce, cause that’s how I roll. They were tender with a very slight chew and a nice, crisp outer texture.

[bulgogi – sauteed sliced rib eye, onion, asparagus, bell pepper, mushroom and basil]

My dad ordered the bulgogi – or Korean barbequed beef – for his meal. I tried this previously for lunch and my dad and I both agree that this is a very good dish. My dad said that this reminded him of “something your mom would make” – a meat and mostly veggie dish in a nice sauce with some rice on the side. The bulgogi has a nice seasoned flavor and I love the veggies that come with it (especially the mushrooms – I lub you, mushrooms). The bulgogi is tender and the marinade/sauce is slightly sweet and delicious. They also serve bulgogi philly cheese steaks and bulgogi sliders, two items I surely want to come back and try in the future.

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Mira Mesa, Mary, Multiple Locations, San Diego County

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.

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San Diego County, Mira Mesa, Mary, Multiple Locations

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.

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