San Diego Desserts

I almost forgot about this post...TC and I went here after Tao.  And hell yeah, I had a buy one/get one free COUPON too! We took the "scenic" route from Adams to El Cajon Blvd. This place is in the College Area, near 60th. Parking was on the street but I parked a block and a half away because I wasn't sure if I'd find parking closer. Turns out there was and we didn't have to walk by all those seedy pawn shops. So, here it is, San Diego Desserts

The desserts were roughly $5.25-$5.50 each. Although I had a "2 for 1" coupon, I got three desserts, so it was like paying 2 for 3 which still averages to $3.50 each. Not bad, but not as good the the Groupon deal that fellow SD foodblogger Mary had (see link below).

It was just us two out in their patio area...


I got this gilded Chocolate Pyramid with Hazelnut garnish and hazelnut filling. This was really sinful and if I had more of a sweet tooth, would have made more of a dent in this.

I didn't check to see if there was anything "gold" floating in the toilet the next day. For some reason, I like pyramid shaped desserts. They have something similar at Heaven Sent and I remember having a pyramid bombe-type thing at the now defunct Absolutely Fabulous Desserts in Kensingson (now it is a Burger Lounge).

This was TC's mini layer cake - it was pretty much Death by Chocolate...

Another view with a pacman shape (wacka wacka wacka)... Look at those layers! The cake was really super rich and we really couldn't eat more than a few bites. Of course we took the leftovers home.

I took Bert's dessert  to go - The Caramel Bombe.

Here it is at home latel that evening. I liked the chocolate shell the most but Bert loved the filling since he's totally into caramel. What I really wanted that day was the Pear Frangipane tart but unfortunately, they were out. The guy was going to make more later that afternoon but I wanted it right then and there, so I settled for the chocolate pyramid instead.  I still have memories of that awesome Pear Tart at Frog Hollow Farms at the SF Ferry Building...Humminah, humminah.

Photo taken by TC as we were driving home...

Who else went to San Diego Desserts?

DD, aka The Diligent Dilettante went several times:
Part 1(where she tried the cupcakes and cookies) and
Part 2 in which she tried the breakfast items, as well as her most recent visit in August where she took advantage of their free wi-fi and had pasta and truffle fries!

Mary from Foodies: A Southern California Food Blog also went here earlier this month and tried some of their desserts as well! She also scored with Groupon ($15 worth of desserts for $5!)! Dayummmm!!! That's the way to do it!

Cathy (FOY) from Mmm-Yoso also went here for a few pastries back in May...

Up next...my belated KD's Nutz post!

Tao

Another Marathon Posting session - 5 new ones...

[Although this is my first post on Tao, I ended up going here about 3 times last month!]

Intrigued by a coupon I clipped in City Beat, TC and I headed back up to Normal Heights again. This time, not to get used books at Adams Ave bookstore or ice cream at Mariposa. This was a Japanese/Vietnamese fusion place, Tao. It's right past the Normal Heights sign...

According to yelp reviews, the owners also own Dao Son (which I've never been to).

Their walls are filled with drawings and scribblings from customers...

You can also see their menu online here...

I wanted to try that second soup, the Hu Tieu Nam Vang...

TC got the Mango Chicken rice...

We were seated at the front table by the window...giving us a good people watching view.

Art on the side of a pay phone outside our window...

We were immediatelyserved spring mix salad with fresh tofu (made inhouse) and a lovely fruity dressing. I believe it had raspberries and pineapple in it...The salad is complimentary which was a nice touch...

TC didn't like the tofu so much because of the texture and because the tofu pieces were warm.

The view from our window...

Whoa, this was a pretty big plate. TC had the Mango Rice Chicken with snow peas and white rice. The sauce was really good but too sweet for my tastes. We ended up forgetting to take home the 'to go' box which was kind of a bummer. We wanted Bert to try this...

This was my soup with Cambodian glass noodles and all sorts of meats, such as chicken, fish, fish balls, shrimp cake and pork.

I liked the glass noodles; they reminded me of sotanghon, a type of Philippine noodle. The broth itself didn't have too much flavor though.

Another nice touch was the complimentary dessert! Wait wut? Free salad AND free dessert? I'm definitely coming here again! The ice cream flavors that day were strawberry cheesecake (which was my choice) served with fresh fruit...

This was TC's ice cream - the Green Tea flavor. It wasn't green but it was Green Tea, trust me. One thing I forgot to do here was purchase two beverages. The coupon in City Beat states that you get one free entree when one entree of equal or greater value along with two beverages are purchased. So, I saved the coupon for a future visit (which would be later that week with Bert). In any case, our meal was still pretty inexpensive. The soup was about $8.28; the Mango Chicken $9.20.  For less than ten dollars each, we still had a square meal with salad and dessert combined. Nice!

As we walked down Adams to get back to the car, I noticed more places to try next time, like this hole in the wall Thai/Lao place (has scary reviews on yelp, but that makes me want to try it more) called "Tam's Thailand Food" in the strip mall next to Mariposa, and Blind Lady Ale House (want to try their pizzas and have Bert try their beers).

Who else at at Tao?

Kirk from Mmm-Yoso dined here back in July 2009

Next up, dessert in the College Area...

Convoy again...

This was that really wierd weather week we had back in early October. From blazing helling heatwaves to cold and dreary rainy days. Not wanting to drive far, TC and I continued our lunch adventures close to hom. For convenience's sake, we went to Pho Convoy across from Southwestern College. This is the same strip mall with JNC Pinoy Foodmart (they make good lumpia for parties) and the very shitty Yokoz (formerly Yokozuna's, when it was still decent).

Since TC really likes these, I ordered one fresh spring roll appetizer with pork and shrimp.

We both ordered bun - her's had Beef Short Rib (this was delicious but the portion was way too much for her; we ended up bringing half of it home)...

I had the bun with fried egg roll and grilled shrimp...

Both meals were pretty filling...One pet peeve that day was that it took forever to get our waters. Normally they give that to you first, right? But we'd already gotten our food and still no water! WTF, so I had to remind them to give it to us...Normally service is more spot on, but water seems like a pretty basic thing to have on the tables...Anyhooo...

More on my lunch/dessert adventures with TC....we spent the rest of the day watching TV and playing on the computer...

Return to Mariposa

As if we couldn't get enough ice cream since last week, I suggested going to Mariposa in Normal Heights. MFH hadn't been there before and TC and I definitely wanted to go there agian. There's MFH paying for our cups...The folks behind the counter are the owners - nice people!

This is mine - PB Fudge with Pumpkin (which they now had; it's seasonal)...

TC's banana walnut and cookies and cream...

Here's MFH's Mexican Chocolate with Pumpkin...

We were able to split the flavors for one scoop. I must say, they are quite generous with their scoops here. When TC and I went the week before, we were charged only $2 for the split scoop, although I think the young guy working there (maybe their son?) should have charged us $2.50 (which is the price of one scoop). I'm not a big pumpkin fan, but in ice cream, it was pretty good.

More of those butterfly decorations on their wall...

Even though it was cold and kind of drizzling, we still had our ice cream!

Aladdin Mediterranean Restaurant

A few days after celebrating TORC's bday at Tapas Picassa and meeting Darlene and Paul Horn at M-Theory last month, TC and I went out to lunch with MFH. We were both on Fall break and I wanted to take her out for a belated bday lunch.

Speaking of Paul Horn, as we parked in the Ralph's parking lot in Hillcrest, I saw a guy that looked A LOT like him (t-shirt, shorts, spiky hair) crossing the street. I took a risk and yelled out, "Is that you Paul Horn?", probably freaking him out in the process. Turns out, it WAS Paul Horn! He looked up and saw me and I introduced myself again and expressed how I much I was enjoying his compilations It was kind of funny seeing him again so soon after meeting him. I ended up texted Darlene about running into him...Small world eh and so random too!  I swear, I'm not a stalker! Ha ha!

MFH chose Aladdin Mediterranean Restaurant which is just down the street from Terra and next to the Ralphs/Trader Joe's shopping center. I'd never been there before...

It was crowded since it was around 12:30'ish/lunch time.

Ooh, I liked this light fixture. Their decor was really cool here too.

I was curious about what they had to offer...

I had my eye on their Passion Fruit Shrimp salad...


While TC wanted the Aladdin's Pizza...

For appetizers, we ordered the stuffed grape leaves (dolmas)...these had a nice sheen of olive oil.

Cross section...

MFH's salad - they put a lot of pepper and spice on it, as you can see.

Here's TC's pizza which had 10 herbs on it, French Feta, and sliced Roma tomatoes...This was pretty good considering I don't really like Feta cheese. On this pizza, the strong flavor wasn't as pronounced.

This was my salad -  I asked for the French Feta to be on the side and gave it to MFH and TC to share. The dressing was really good, kind of sweet and not too vinegary. Faithful readers know that I usually eat my salads plain or if I do have it with dressing, it's usually a fruity and sweet type. There were lots of big grilled shrimp in here along with  three types of sliced bell pepper, carrots, and Greek olives.

MFH got the beef kabob with rice and hummus. I had a bit of the kabob and it was pretty tasty.

I also got a side order of one shrimp kabob which included grilled bell peppers and onions. See the creamy dip? That was pure garlic with a tiny bit of olive oil! Man was it good, but it was also strong!!!

During our lunch, it rained on and off. Earlier that week we had a heatwave but despite the rain, the air still felt muggy. Saw this magazine while walking back to our car. How come I don't see a lot of cowboys that wear this outfit? Nice! Ride 'em Cowboy! Hey, if he was really a cowboy, his butt must really get chafed and all. I keep thinking of David Lee Roth's assless chaps (early Van Halen).

Onward to dessert...