Recently I attended a fun media dinner arranged by Amanda from Passion Roots PR. The dinner this time around was with a group of fellow San Diego bloggers and media peeps at Tostadas Fresh Fruit and Seafood Bar in North Park. I remember when this spot used to be Swoon Dessert Bar! I think Swoon was a little too ahead of the curve and sometimes a little too out there with their desserts but I was still sad to see it go. I was curious about what Tostadas had to offer as a replacement!
Laura was my date for the evening. I knew there would be seafood on the menu and Laura is my seafood eating buddy!
This is the inside of Tostadas. They also have a patio in the back with outdoor seating.
They set up a special table for our media dinner, complete with this kick ass seahorse candelabra.
That evening we enjoyed a five course meal, each paired with a different alcoholic beverage. I didn’t partake in much of the alcohol since I was driving myself home but the first item we got was this Flycaster beer. I loved the logo!
[sandia tostada]
Our first course was a Sandia Tostada. The Sandia comes with ahi tuna, watermelon, red onion, jicama, apples, cucumber, mango, peanuts, soy, lemon juice, orange, and chipotle mayonnaise. I pretty much took all the tuna off of this tostada before I ate it. I loved the flavors in here and I would totally eat this again without the tuna! I loved how crisp and fresh the watermelon tasted along with all of the fresh toppings which acted as a tropical salsa. Delicious! Just don’t put any tuna on it for me, okay? Okay.
For our second course, we had samples of Mike Hess beer called Claritas. I never have anything enlightening to say about beer. Beeeeeeeer. Was that semi-enlightening? Probably not.
For our second course, we all got these pretty plates of puff pastry. This is an item they make for catered events. The puff pastry is filled with goat cheese and poblano peppers served on in a pool of creamy flavorful sauce.
Here’s a little peek at the inside of the golden and crispy puff pastry – can you see the pepper on the left? The goat cheese was tangy and smooth and paired well with the poblano pepper. I loved the flaky layers of the puff pastry which provided a crunchy texture along with the creamy cheese and tasty peppers. I noticed that after eating this and taking a sip of the beer, the beer didn’t taste bitter to me anymore!
I wish I had taken a better shot of the third course which is a filet mignon with blue cheese sauce topped off with a huge mound of mushrooms. You can’t see the filet mignon in my photo but I assure you it’s under there!
Once you ate off some of the yummy mushrooms, you were rewarded with a hunk of steak covered in blue cheese sauce. I didn’t think the sauce had a strong blue cheese flavor, but Laura (who doesn’t like blue cheese OR mushrooms) could still taste it.
The filet mignon was tender and a nice size. The blue cheese sauce gave it a tangy boost of flavor without overpowering the taste of the filet.
We were also given some fresh bread with this meaty course and I made mushroom toast with the extra mushrooms that Laura dumped onto my plate. Yum!
With this course we were treated to two kinds of Paoloni Wine, which is from a vineyard in Mexico. It is an Italian style wine made down in Mexico.
We had a white and a red. The white was so clear it looked like water!
For the fourth course, we were presented with these stunning lobster tails! The lobster meat was carefully placed on top of the shell for a dramatic presentation.
Under the lobster meat, the shell was stuffed with more mushrooms and a side of mashed potatoes. I didn’t even really eat the sides since I was getting full at this point but I ate every bit of that lobster! The lobster meat was sweet and tender – perfectly cooked and a very generous portion of meat.
For our fifth and final course, they presented us with pears flambeed with tequila, served with a crepe containing homemade marzipan, caramel sauce, and ice cream. You could taste hints of the tequila in the softened pears and the caramel sauce helped bring a salty sweet component to the whole dessert. It was light and not too heavy for a finishing course and we gobbled up every bite of this dessert!
The staff and owner of Tostadas was very gracious and friendly for our visit and really made all of us feel welcome and at home in the restaurant. I was impressed by the interesting flavors and dishes that we had during the evening, especially with that watermelon tostada! I look forward to returning to Tostadas to try out a few of their other dishes.
Tostadas Fresh Fruit and Seafood Bar
3139 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 450-4788
Disclaimer: I was invited to attend this dinner at Tostadas. Our meal was complimentary. I was not further compensated for this post and all opinions here are my own.
uh oh. you caught me in a picture! haha. I still think about that dessert cuz of the caramel sauce! the catering side is pretty good at tostadas. 🙂
heehee, I did catch you! I liked the marzipan in the dessert! But yes, the caramel sauce was also sooooo good!
Glad that you liked this place. They have so many interesting flavor combinations and their food is as delicious as it looks. When TC and I went last year, they had savory crepes but it seems like it’s gone now. I remember when that place was Swoon, which had a neat concept but too bad one of the chefs was a total d-bag. Karma man.
Hi CC – Yes, they have lots of interesting flavors going on here! I’ll have to go back and try out a few more things. Swoon was too bad. I think a desserts only fancy restaurant was just too much to handle.