S3, Rudfords & Embargo Grill revisits

Some of these pix are from a few months ago...

which got put on the back burner and are now just being churned out, heh heh...

Havana Grill

It's finally Fall Break (yeehaw!)...

TC's school had their homecoming game that evening so we had date night...

Los Pollos Revisits

Earlier this week I was able to go to the South Bay's only Cuban bakery...

not once but twice...

A quartet of bakeries - Los Pollos Cuban, Hogetsu, Papa Luna's & 85c

This post is a compilation of a few places where I had baked goods...

at places that aren't quite traditional bakeries. The first is a fairly new place in East CV...

Return to the Cravory & Embargo Grill

After demolishing the whole coffee program at Mostra and appeasing D's desire to windowshop for home furnishings...we made our way to this strip mall for a two fer...

Maximize our time, I say....

After all those sweets, we wanted something savory...

Los Pollos Cuban Bakery

The sky as it looked yesterday around 5'ish...

while heading west on J...

The Turron & more from Azucar

With our breakfast from Perry's Cafe behind us, we headed over to OB...

where they were gearing up for their upcoming Oktoberfest...

It was still quite early in the morning .Early enough to score parking near our next destination, Azucar...

Azucar!

Hello now, what's this???

It's probably really thin...

The TP for "cheap a-holes" and this groovy orange shell lamp were just a few items we spied in windows while on our way to Azucar, San Diego's only Cuban bakery.

Bert's parents used to have one of these, but it was the white capiz shell. This would look great next to a wooden tiki bar...

A few steps more right on the corner of Newport and Sunset Cliffs Blvd...

Latin Chef & Azucar

I am on a roll people. I'm frantically trying to post all these backlogged entries before I leave for NYC next week. I'll be visiting N & L in Astoria, Queens and hanging out with them for a few days. It's still Saturday, September 6 despite the date you see this being posted. About a week after we ate at Asia Cafe, the same friend and I went to Latin Chef in PB. I was worried about parking because parking always seems to suck in PB. Well, lo and behold, there was a space right in front. Score! We wanted to eat at Latin Chef because both of us aren't familiar with Peruvian food. I've only had it once, at El Dorado on Palomar Street and 3rd in Chula Vista. Plus, I've read reviews from other food bloggers that were favorable, so Latin Chef it was.

We got there, and turned out to be the only people in the place almost the whole time. Actually, some beach bunny chicks came in but left. Oh and some guy came in, but only to get water for his dog's water bowl (he sat outside). The only person we saw was the lone waitress who turned out to be from Taiwan. We weren't sure if she was from Peru (well, Peru does have Asians). Latin Chef's free appetizer are fried and salted corn kernels called "canchitas". These were okay - not very filling if that's what you're going for.

We got to pick where we wanted to sit since it was so not busy. It seemed pretty clean. It was small, but not tiny and our waitress was very nice.

We perused the menu...

My friend got the special of the day, which was a good deal, $8.90 for two items with salad and rice and a soda. The one of the left was mine, the Inka cola, which was not really a cola, but more of a super sweet soft drink of untraceable flavor origin. When I hear the word 'cola', I think of something that tastes Coca-Cola or Pepsi-like. This tasted like a melted Jolly Rancher. Some ice would have been nice too. The drink was cold though, but yeah, ice next time please. Hers was the purplish one (Chicha Morada) - it had a faint bit of a spice taste to it. Not spicy hot, but something else I can't put my finger on. We kept joking that she should have ordered (if they offered it) the Peruvian drink where they spit in it.

Here's her entree - the fried fish with Aji Gallena (chicken with yellow chili sauce) with rice and salad. According to the description on the menu and from what I could read in my scratchy handwritten notes, the aji gallena was supposed to be served with boiled eggs and olives on top. As you can see, both are MIA, but we didn't really notice until after the fact and at that point, who cares right? Her fish was so good - the batter was very light. It wasn't greasy at all. I wish I'd ordered what she had...

I got the Lomo Saltado which is beef with onions and tomatoes served with french fries. The sauce was also very delicious - it had a bit of a tang to it and wasn't too salty (like the one I had at El Dorado). I think my husband would like this, being a meat and potatoes kind of guy.

Mmmm...lomo!

For dessert we ordered one each. We chose the alfajores (Peruvian caramel cookies) and the lucuma (egg fruit) ice cream. The cookies were tiny and bite size, sprinkled with powdered sugar and the sides rolled in coconut. The caramel filling was super sweet. Sugar overload! These would have been good with coffee (If I drank the stuff).

Here's the lucuma ice cream. I was suprised they gave us so many scoops. We ended up not finishing it actually. That's a first. We normally scarf everything! The lucuma fruit grows only in Peru. We both thought that the flavor was kind of starchy, kind of like ube (purple yam). It wasn't too sweet either, but it was still refreshing to have a bit of ice cream on a hot day...

After having two desserts, we wanted...more dessert! There was a write up on this new Cuban cafe type place in OB so we took the scenic route and headed over to Newport Ave to Azucar.

I didn't take a lot of photos of the interior. Too many people. It was kind of crowded. Lots of moms and their babies there. I liked the color scheme - very bright and tropical. Lots of lime green and dark brown. There were some pretty floral arrangements by the display cases which held different kinds of pastries (many were $1.50), cookies, and sweets. There was another case that had fancier desserts (those cost about $5 or more).

Since I was still kind of full from lunch, I only got a tiny pastry - the rolled cream cheese pastry ($1.50). I was surprised that it was served warm. I don't like my pastries hot or even close to warm, but it was okay. Not mind blowing.

My friend got the guava puff pastry, also $1.50. This was kind of plain. I could make this myself

with Pepperidge farm puff pastry from Ralph's and spread some guava jelly in there and bake that shit up. Does that tell you anything? I'm sure the other desserts, especially the fancier French ones, are wonderful, but the ones we picked weren't that great. Maybe next time we'll try the owner's other offerings and maybe even try her Cuban sandwiches.

This was a meat pie I bought for Bert. It was kind of small. Sorry, no cross section of it here since I bought it to go. But the filling was beef with a lot of green pepper in it. This was also $1.50. It was okay, but I'd rather eat a more substantial meat pie. This was a dinky appetizer sized portion.

It was fun driving around in PB to get to OB - taking the scenic route and listening to 80's music in her truck. It's been nice for me to get out of the house and enjoy lunch out. Summertime is usually the time for me to do this with her because once school starts, no more lunch outings on the weekdays.