Tag: pasta

San Diego County, Mary, Downtown

dinner at cremolose / downtown – san diego, ca

Near the beginning of May I made a return visit to Cremolose on another invitation, this time to try out their restaurant and receive the full “dining experience”. I took Heather with me this time around and it also doubled as a birthday dinner for Heather, who was celebrating another year older that weekend.

There wasn’t anyone really in the restaurant, so the hostess pretty much ignored me when I told her we had reservations for dinner that evening… which led to an uncomfortable conversation at the end of our meal in which I’m pretty sure I freaked out our poor, shy, and somewhat awkward waiter.

Cremolose is located where the old San Diego Hardware store used to be Downtown. The old sign is still there, with the new restaurant and storefront appearing the old signage. I think it’s a nice homage to what it used to be. We were seated in the spacious upper level which looks out over the rest of the place.

Here’s the semi-lofty view, which looks down on the bar, their very large wine cabinet, and the dessert bar (which houses all of the gelato and desserts).

Since I was with Wine Girl (aka Heather), we both got glasses of wine. Hers, red; Mine, white. I cannot for the life of me remember what my wine was.

[Burrata – Fresh “butter milk” mozzarella served with grilled eggplant, zucchini, roasted pepper and heirloom tomato, drizzled basil olive oil and fresh herbs]

We started off with the Burrata since there’s nothing I love more than cheese. And burrata is definitely one of my favorites.

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North Park, San Diego County, Mary

anniversary dinner at alexanders / north park – san diego, ca

Hoo boy, I am behind in posts! My laptop issue isn’t quite solved just yet, but hopefully in a few more days I’ll be back to work using my own laptop instead of someone else’s (aka, my dad’s laptop). Using another laptop is not quite the same as using your own. Things are different and everything’s in a weird place and you don’t have your usual programs. Arrgghhh, frustrating.

Anyway, let’s talk about something fun! As in my 5 year anniversary dinner last month with Jake!

I had grabbed a coupon for a swanky little spot in North Park called “Alexander’s on 30th” to celebrate our special occasion. The place is definitely full of swank with their all-white decor inside on the restaurant. It creates a cozy, comfortable and romantic feel to the restaurant.

[Swanky interior in the daylight]

We got some bread in a basket to start with for our lovely anniversary meal.

[Crusty bread]

Jake let me pick out an appetizer to start with. He wasn’t much into it, but told me to “order whatever I wanted”. I was tempted to order something I would usually like (aka, something with just cheese, like their roasted garlic and brie) but instead opted for one of their crostini’s.

[Goat cheese bacon and honey crostini]

I don’t remember the exact name of this one – I don’t see it on their menu anymore – but it was a crostini with goat cheese, crispy bacon, herbs and a drizzle of honey. The bacon was super crispy (just the way I like it) and the creamy goat cheese gave it an intense flavor constrast. It was very light on the honey – I would have actually preferred just a tad more honey to balance out the richness of the goat cheese. While I did enjoy this, I found I couldn’t it too much of it since the flavors here were so intense.

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