Earlier this summer, I received a few of these Gustus Vitae Condiments on my doorstep to try: I’ve used the … Continue reading [recipe + reivew] smoky bacon pasta w/ gustus vitae smoked sea salt
I was invited not too long ago to head Downtown to check out a new restaurant called Meatball Cucina. It’s … Continue reading meatball cucina / downtown – san diego, ca
Earlier this month I was invited to Noodles & Company to try an “Asparagus Feast” at their restaurant. As someone … Continue reading let’s go on an asparagus journey / noodles & company – la jolla, ca
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I’ve read about Ristorante Kaz on a few blogs so far and finally felt the pressing need to visit. I … Continue reading ristorante kaz / clairemont – san diego, ca
You know I don’t do the gluten-free thing, but I like trying new things. I was given the opportunity to … Continue reading [product review] chef anthony russo’s gluten free pizzas
Best Pizza and Brew is a new restaurant that opened in Mira Mesa just a few weeks ago and it’s … Continue reading best pizza and brew / mira mesa – san diego, ca
A couple of weeks ago, Jake and I were on a quest to find some snow for his youngest son … Continue reading wynola pizza & bistro / julian, ca
This meal is from early December – I’m a little behind in my postings! Jake, the kids and I went … Continue reading cafe di roma / imperial beach – san diego, ca
I haven’t had much experience with Opera. When I was in high school, I took a class called “Theory of … Continue reading opera tunes and dining at operacaffe in downtown san diego
Busalacchi’s is a pretty well known name around here in San Diego and recently I had the opportunity to visit Busalacchi’s A Modo Mio in Hillcrest for “a modo mio” week – or “my way” – where the chef calls the shots for dinner service. Guests get to choose what kind of entree they want (chicken, red meat, fish or vegetarian) and chef Joe Busalacchi takes care of the rest. It’s a fun and adventurous way to dine and you get to taste a little bit of everything that a restaurant has to offer.
This was the appetizer samplers laid out before Stacey and I for our first course. No messing around here. There’s a little bit of everything, including some complimentary bread with a bruschetta topping (which was incredibly flavorful for something that just looked like tomatoes in a cup).
[garbanzo croquettes]
These little fried croquettes were made out of garbanzo beans and pressed into this square shape. I thought they looked kind of weird and spongy, but they were actually a little crisp on the outside and kind of creamy in the middle (and really not spongy whatsoever). I’ve never seen garbanzos prepared like this before!
[pickled veggies plate with artichoke, olives, mushrooms, sardines, cheese and prosciutto]
We also got this little plate of mostly pickled things. I personally don’t like pickled anything so I was feeling very adventurous with this plate. I did try the mushroom but I didn’t care for it – the marinade made it taste off to me, but like I said… no pickled stuff for me. Prosciutto was fine, a tad salty though.
[pizza bread]
For some reason I have no notes about this except “pizza bread” and “flavorful”.
Clearly I need to take better notes.
[eggplant parmesan]
This dish actually surprised me because I don’t usually like eggplant. But this dish I ended up really liking it and – funny enough – didn’t taste at all to me like eggplant. I just tasted a very flavorful, rich and herby sauce with plenty of basil. The eggplant was tender and just soaked up the flavor of the sauce so I was really astounded I liked it!
[calamari]
Since Stacey doesn’t eat seafood, I got to have this plate all to myself. Wonderfully seasoned calamari, I would marry you if I could. The batter on this version is light and crispy, well seasoned and perfectly fried. The batter did not take away from the deliciousness of the calamari and is one of the better versions I’ve had of this dish.
[frisee pomegranate salad with arugula and pumpkin seeds]
This salad had frisee and arugula in it – and yet I still liked it! The combination of flavors and textures just made this whole salad really shine – from the crunchy bits of pumpkin seeds to the brightness of the pomegranates to the sweetness of the dressing balanced with the peppery arugula. Really packed with flavor and it was pretty and artful. Continue reading “busalacchi’s a modo mio / hillcrest – san diego, ca”
There was a time, around college or so, that I didn’t eat pizza. I got sick of it. The smell of pepperoni made me feel ill and I just wouldn’t touch the stuff. That’s what the college years imparted on me: a lack of love for the grandest of college food staples. I did eventually rekindle my love of pizza slowly but surely and now I’m uber picky about what kind of pizza will cross my lips. If you try to take me for a $5 pizza at Little Caesar’s or some other unknown place, I will secretly kill you with eye daggers and curse you forever. Jake and I have had our fair share of pizza around town with a few places in constant rotation and I think it’s safe to say that Napizza will be the latest restaurant to pass the test to get into our precious pizza rotation.
I was invited to come and check out Napizza in Little Italy. I’ve been wary of going places Downtown so sometimes its hard to get me to go down into this area, but I’m sure glad we made it down.
You can order whole of half pizzas at Napizza, but I think the fun comes in seeing the styles of pizza slices all laid out before you. There’s something about actually seeing a slice with all of it’s topping rather than just reading the description of said pizza.
Jake, T and I oohed and ahhed over the slices for a bit before actually making some concrete decisions on what to eat. Luckily we were there before the rush since we kind of stared at the slices for awhile before each picking different slices to try.
After we placed our order, we got some drinks and grabbed a table while we waited for the slices to be prepared for us.
I noticed that near the drink dispenser, they had this jug of cucumber lemon water for their guests. Thoughtful!
There were also these rolls of customized masking tape. I wasn’t sure what you’d use these for though… maybe taping up your leftover box of pizza?
Before we get into the pizza slices, let’s talk a bit about their crust.
The crust at Napizza is unlike any other pizza crust I’ve had. I could (and did) easily eat the crust alone. It’s crispy and crunchy on the top and the bottom but the inside of this puffed up looking crust is light and fluffy. They let their dough rise for an incredible 72 hours with a small amount of yeast to create a dough that stands up to their longer cooking time (30 minutes). The flours, olive oil and other ingredients are shipped in from Italy – all to help create this pizza dough!
[daily special slice // margherita// bapo – red potato, crispy bacon, sprinkled with fresh mozzarella and classic zucchini velvet]
All of the slices are squares, making these slices pretty easy to share. We’ve got one slice of the daily special, one of the Margherita and one of the Bapo – one of their most popular slices with red potato slices, bacon and a “zucchini velvet” – sort of like a zucchini sauce laced on top.
Of these three the Bapo was the winner here among the three of us. The combination of all the toppings and flavors paired with that crunchy, fluffy crust was very delicious.
The margherita slice was also really excellent – very simple, but so good – the crust really just makes and outstanding difference in all of these slices. Continue reading “napizza (pizza al taglio) / little italy – san diego, ca”