My birthday morning - Cream Pan in Tustin + Hopper & Burr coffee in DTSA + Mexican fruit cup from vendor

Bert's bro was kind enough to let us stay in his pad overnight. TC and her cousin were able to catch up while we were crashed out...

My birthday morning was started at one of my favorite bakeries...

Foodcrawl with Cathy - Stops 5, 6, 7 & 8 - Star Dust Donuts, DK-Che, Gloria's Bakery & Gonzalez Panaderia

Continuing the food crawl with Cathy...

we hit the jackpot when we saw Star Dust open!

Foodcrawl with Cathy - Stops 3 & 4: Tamales Ancira + the new Manolo Farmer's Market

[This post has been on draft since 2019. It is really 6/16/2022 now. I will hit update.]

If you guessed Tamales Ancira...

then "You are correct, sir!" (say in an Ed McMahon voice)!

Food Crawl with Mary and Lynn - Stop 1: Birrieria don Rafa

I hadn't seen these gals since our last food crawl,

which was back in August...

Food Crawl with Cathy - Stop 1 @ Mexico Lindo Bakery + Stop 2 @ Al Pastor

The first Friday of the New Year brought me and Cathy of mmm-yoso to this corner...

Broadway and E in this unassuming strip mall...

Los Reyes, Golden Hill

We'd always see this spot whenever we were in Golden Hill

for Dark Horse Coffee...The photo above was taken October 2016...

Downtown Chula Vista Pub Crawl - Stops 4 & 5: 3 Punk Ales + Third Ave Alehouse

This was a place that Bert had visited recently...

and I was curious about 3 Punk Ales, one of the newer breweries here...

El Clasico Diner, Lemon Grove

Weekends for me are about exploring places...

with Bert and TC. This morning, however, it was just Bert....

South Bay Food Crawl 2018 - West side of Chula Vista: Aqui es Texcoco, Otay Farms Market & Tamales Ancira

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of hanging out with friends...

Mary (+ her bf Jake) of This Tasty Life and Lynn from Oh So Yummy...

Mariscos el Pulpo, Barrio Logan

It was finally time for lunch...

after having gone to three separate coffee spots, ha ha, my seriously wired self needed some foodz....

Lunch @ Tacos don Roge + dessert from Rainbow Ice Cream

What we really loved about Carpinteria was how close everything was to each other.

You can pretty much walk everywhere here...

St. Patrick's Day - Coffee + art exhibit, breakfast, throwback design cap + capirotada

The weekend started off gloomy...

and rainy, but that didn't stop us from getting out for our weekend coffee...

Return to Plazas Mexican Food

It sucks being sick during the holidays...

I acquired a fever the day before Christmas and while it broke, a few days later...

Lunch round up - Carnival, Halphen Red, Los Pollos, Pho Convoy, Cali Baguette, the food court in Su Mercado, Sandwich Bags Deli, Gunco Ramen and Mandarin

Time to clear out the memory card before the end of the year,

featuring past lunches...

Los Tapatios #2, Paradise Hills

During a recent outing with my good friend, Cathy of mmm-yoso...

we met up at this Paradise Hills taco shop after having had coffee next door...

Random food compilation

Sometime between January and now were these visits and meals...

This is the Rubio's on H, near Costco...

Return to Tijuana JR

The coworkers and I went here after a district meeting...

It was close by and everyone was down for some tacos and mariscos...

This table was outside but we moved inside because our group was too large for the patio seating (seats only 4 per table). The downside of sitting inside was the overly loud music.

View from our table.

Specials:

FYI - arrachera is skirt steak (or what my mom called 'flap meat')

Ostiones are oysters.

Bone up on your Spanish dudes.  I got the same thing I had before, an octopus taco and a gobernador.  Since I was with five others, there was some 'variety' for this post, so yay for that.

Their specials are pretty good here especially with their portions. Plus, you get a cup of consomme (broth) with your meal. I didn't get it since I had two a la carte items.

The orange habanero sauce is so good but will do "something" to you later.

Cucumber (pepino) agua fresca (two of my colleagues got this refreshing drink):

The consomme - it was just broth, no fish pieces or vegetables.

Lime wedges and pickled onions added even more flavor to our mariscos meals.

My coworker got a combo which included two types of ceviche tostadas - shrimp and fish PLUS a fish taco. This was insane!  One tostada was enough for a full meal!


La Ley's flautas combo which was supposed to have two shrimp and fish flautas. For whatever reason, she was served five pieces. I've never had shrimp flautas before so maybe this might be something to try next time I go here (I want to bring Bert).

I'm boring. Same items as before - gobernador and pulpo tacos. Thee were so delicious and filling and messy to eat or maybe it's because I'm a messy eater.

Look at 'dem skrimps. Juicy and thick.

A few other coworkers had the same order (gobernador and fish tacos). La Ley has only been to the taco truck. She liked this sit down location so much she said she would bring her husband and kids here next time. So glad that my coworkers liked this place, especially after Mr. TJ and I recommended it.


Previous visit to Tijuana JR:
April 2017 - my lunch excursion with Mr. TJ

The tacos here are excellent (well made and delicious) and filling. The prices are decent (not dirt cheap but not stupidly ridiculously expensive like those hipster taco joints north of the 8).  We have it good here in Chula Vista!

Seafood Friday 2017 - Week 7: Romesco's and Pho Hung Calli

Everyone in the department was game for Romesco's today...

I already knew what I wanted for lunch...

Seafood Friday 2017 - Week 2: Ceviche kit from Northgate Market

Welcome to the second installment of this year's Seafood Friday. Bert was gone all week for a work training in Reno, Nevada (posts to follow!). He was coming home this evening and I opted to pick up something from Northgate Market....

(free magazine chock full of awesome recipes from Northgate Market)

so we could just eat dinner at home instead of trying to find a place on a Friday night..

Plazas Mexican Food

I was enjoying my winter break so far...

Almost two weeks down...

This particular sunny morning was spent with my very good friend Cathy of mmm-yoso...