This very dilemma presented itself early on in our sugar detox – what can we eat at restaurants??
THE HOLLYWOOD MOVIE PREMIERE
Jake and I had a movie premiere (!!) to attend in Hollywood the Monday after starting the sugar detox and there was NO way I could make food beforehand since it’s a 2.5 hour drive to Hollywood! We left around 2PM and drove up, hitting just a tiny bit of traffic (phew).
My plan was to go to In-N-Out and get protein style burgers, but we couldn’t get to In-N-Out in time and ended up getting protein style burgers at Johnny Rocket’s instead. Jake and I shared a double burger wrapped in loose leaf lettuce along with some french fries (potatoes were okay again). Jake made sad faces at his ketchup-less french fries but we powered through. The burger wasn’t great, but it was food in our belly that didn’t have sugar in it. I didn’t take a photo of it. It looked very sad and boring to me, but hey, it was food. Whoopie!
In case you’re wondering, this is the Hollywood movie premiere we went to!
“Making Fun” – the story of Funko!
This is probably the only time I’ll ever be on a red carpet.
Jake and I posing with Funko’s mascot, Freddy Funko.
HAMILTON
The next day, I had tickets to go see Hamilton with my friend, Laura!
And again… another need to go out to eat beforehand so I could spend a little extra time talking with my friend. I was super tired from getting home late from the movie premiere, too, so going out to eat was the best option.
I picked a place called Curadero that had a nifty looking happy hour menu for us to order off of for dinner that evening. It was also Restaurant Week the week we went, but that was way too much food for us. The happy hour menu was just right.
The happy hour menu at Curadero has some good options and luckily Laura was willing to share with me!
Complimentary chips and salsa were brought out while I waited for Laura to arrive. These are safe to eat for the most part. The tortilla chips are usually made from ground corn which is okay for the sugar detox.
A heaven-sent “thank god I can eat that” item – guacamole!! This super fresh guacamole [$6] was made with red onion, tomato, serrano, cilantro, lime, and olive oil. This was a great addition to our little meal.
We also shared the Ensalada Curadero [$6] and this is when I discovered that A) I really love jicama and B) I do not like watercress. I mostly just picked at the parts I liked and then abandoned it to Laura who enjoys watercress. Sorry, watercress, you’re just not my type of green.
The last item we shared that was sugar detox friendly was the Queso Fundido with Chorizo [$6]. It’s basically just melted cheese and chorizo and was served with freshly made corn tortillas. It was heavenly.
WE’RE AT DISNEYLAND AND OMG I WANT SOMETHING COVERED IN CHOCOLATE
Yeah… we also went to Disneyland again during our sugar detox. I made Jake go into the sweets shops with me and I would drool at the treats behind the cases but I did not get anything covered in chocolate. And boy did I want to. Jake had a strong hankering for ice cream but he did a great job of resisting as well.
Instead I got a pineapple spear. And it was incredibly sweet and refreshing, especially since we went on a hot ass day.
And then we ate the homemade lunch I made for us. Turkey, prosciutto, and cheese sandwiches on Ezekiel bread (a sugar detox friendly bread!) along with Luke’s Ancient Grains chips, some celery and peanut butter, and apples (which we ate later in the afternoon).
And later I had Disneyland popcorn. Which was really really salty for some reason.
After a discussion on “should we or shouldn’t we go to Raising Cane’s after Disneyland”, we opted not to go since the chicken strips are battered in flour (which is on our do-not-eat list). Instead we went to In-N-Out and got protein style burgers.
The 3×3 is Jake’s. I got a “normal” sized double double. We got them mustard fried with no sauce and no ketchup. Regular onion, please. I was a little wary about eating this but I don’t know why because it was hella delicious. Man, who needs a bun anyway?! The meat is so juicy and flavorful and the cheese was melted just right – I actually didn’t miss the bun one bit.
I DON’T WANNA COOK, LET’S GO OUT
The “I don’t wanna cook” thing happened a couple of times. Here’s what we ate when the mood struck.
Mexican food is like my savior during the sugar detox. Street style tacos are delicious no matter what day of the week it is and the corn tortillas are blissfully sugar free. These are carnitas street style tacos from El Patron in Mira Mesa. I lubs them.
Also I got full after 1.5 tacos. I think my stomach has shrunk!
One Friday night I made Jake drive us to The Balboa Bar for happy hour. We shared the Balboa Burger sans bun for just $5. They served it kind of like a burger salad. It was SO FREAKING GOOD. Like damn, oh my god, amazingly good. The meat is just all kinds of amazing and if you haven’t had this burger yet, please go and get one. Do it for me. You won’t regret it.
We also got a side salad and some fries to go with the burger. YUM.
Another night we went to El Salvador Pupuseria Y Restaurante off University Ave. The prices of the pupusas have gone up a little bit. It used to be $1.99 each and now it’s $2.25 but that is still so cheap!
I got a shrimp, veggie, and cheese pupusa and also a pork & cheese pupusa. I couldn’t finish them and had the leftovers for lunch the next day.
And more recently I’ve been sick with a cold. And I wanted soup. And Pho fits the bill. It’s got rice noodles in it which…. I maybe shouldn’t have but sick people get to make exceptions if you ask me. My favorite bowl of Pho is at Pho Cow Cali in Mira Mesa. You can be extra good and get it with no noodles but that seems like less fun. It’s still sugar free either way!
I’ll be sharing more recipes soon with what I’ve been eating lately and will have my final thoughts on this sugar detox soon enough. We’re in the home stretch!
