Pata Negra and lunch with TORC

A few days ago TC and I made a trip up to PB...

I really only needed one ingredient...

Food Blogger Bake Sale in PB

After our fabulous lunch at Alforon, we headed over to PB. Yeah, PB on a Saturday! Fun traffic!

Actually, it wasn't that bad.  Here's a place I've always wondered about, The Nite Owl...

JRDN at Tower 23

Last week, a few co-workers and I went to celebrate our good friend's birthday. As the birthday guy, among us three women, he chose JRDN at Tower 23 (a swanky boutique hotel) in PB. Because I'm kind of lazy and also because this other post has better pix, check out this review here from San Diego's own Captain Jack . Check out the first photos of the outdoor seating area from that post. See the lower left hand corner? That's where we sat. Very nice. It was an ideal spot because we were shaded underneath three palm trees (you could see the trunk of one of them) and we could observe all kinds of people making their way along the boardwalk. Lots of good looking guys and women, people walking their dogs, rollerbladers, skaters, families riding tandem bicycles or regular bikes, lots of bikini clad women, and one guy who was stoned. I'm sure there were more.
As mentioned earlier, we sat outside on the patio with a great view. We could also see Crystal Pier in the close distance. Although the tables looked sparse, it started to fill up fast. There were a bunch of guys in the bar watching the Euro cup and cheering madly whenever someone scored a goal. Yeah, soccer. Who cares!
For starters, we ordered the Fried Calamari, which was a veritable mountain of squidy goodness enrobed, but not drowning, in spicy aioli and served atop a bed of useless but pretty greens. The calamari, if it were not for the sauce, were bland, but had that satisfying crunch. We did not polish off the plate, since we had appetizers at our friend's place earlier, and were saving room for lunch.Because we were still reeling from that heatwave last weekend, and experiencing a bit of heat that same day, three of my friends ended up ordering the same thing, the Lobster BLT which is served on toasted brioche with tarragon aioli.
They all liked their BLT's - exclaiming that the lobster tasted really fresh.
I ended up ordering the Shrimp Pasta which featured bucatini (long and thin hollow tubes) with spicy lobster broth and tomato sauce , topped with shrimp and grated parmesan. Maybe I ended up talking too much with my friends, because when I started to eat my entree, it tasted kind of lukewarm. I've never had bucatini before, so the mouthfeel was kind of different for me. It was a bit thick to maneuver on my fork. The spicy lobster and tomato sauce was a bit overpowering. I ate only a tiny bit and saved the rest for leftovers (which my daughter ate and enjoyed later that night).
The bucatini...
I also ordered the Seared Scallop appetizer. Notice that is Singular. Perhaps I read the menu a little too fast because I thought I was getting more than one. My bad. But, no matter! I liked this appetizer much better than my pasta. This was a huge scallop sitting on top of sweet pea puree (The Exorcist anyone?), garnished with thick, glistening slices of country ham with attached fat and chanterelles.
Here's another shot of that tender scallop...it was perfectly done and the sweetness of the peas went quite well with the salty ham and earthy mushrooms.
The dessert menu:
We got the sorbet trio: hazelnut, blackberry and blood orange (back to front). Serving them in these Chinese soup spoons may LOOK cute but they are a pain in the arse to eat nicely, especiallywith 4 people vying for a taste. It would have been easier to just put the whole spoon in MY mouth, but that would look piglike, wouldn't it? Trying to scoop out the sorbet was much easier if you held the cute spoon down with the other hand. The sorbets are all made in house. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the hazelnut. The blackberry was quite tart (but good) and the blood orange's texture was too icy. Mmmm...now I have a craving for some good gelato...
This is the Blade hand air dryer in their bathrooms, which are, by the way, tres cool. You stick your hands in after washing them and your manos are blasted by warm air all around, drying them in mere seconds. I needs me one of these.
I liked our experience at JRDN. I'd like to go again but for dinner in the near future with my husband. They had ultra cool decor, a great view and pretty decent food (taste wise and presentation wise). Plus their bathrooms were way cool too. I even saw the men's one because I made a wrong turn. Urinals? WTF? I didn't see anyone using them though. Maybe next time! Not!

Costa Brava

I once asked our school's resident Spaniard (and Spanish teacher) which restaurant served the best paella. He cited Costa Brava in Pacific Beach as the best and most authentic (well, at least to his standards). So, with this in mind, my summer lunch buddy and I went to check it out. She had the great opportunity to study abroad in Spain so she was familiar with the cuisine and gave me a mini lesson in Spanish dining and the joys of tapas. We found parking right on the street. I was amazed because Garnet is usually crowded as hell. But then again, it wasn't near the busy part of Garnet and it was a Tuesday morning. According to our waiter, Ernesto, the place is usually crowded from Wednesday on - especially for dinner.

After a tiny flight of steps, we chose to sit on the tree shaded front patio.

The restaurant interior had a lot of natural light and just oozed "charm" with its rustic chairs, whitewashed walls and colorful artwork (which you can't see from this photo). This looks like a nice place to have a romantic meal. The kitchen is in the back behind the arched wall window.

The bar area (obscured by the curtain).

We ordered about five different tapas. Ernesto our waiter (who hails from Mexico City) brought out warm bread rolls with a fantastic garlic aioli:

Within less than a few minutes, he brought out our plate of Queso Mancheso or Manchego cheese ($6.95). I wasn't sure if I'd like this type of cheese, however, I ended up really liking the flavor. One thing, it was a hard cheese with no mold! Okay, that's a plus. The flavor was a bit salty and mild. I also liked the dry texture. Moldy, runny, and stanky cheeses are not my thing! I think I would rather listen to Yanni, Air Supply or Kenny G while getting my teeth drilled with a rusty nail. Okay.................................... not Kenny G!Next came the Jamon Serrano ($12.50) which is similar to Italian prosciutto. There were about 5 big slices here. This was really good! We ended up doing this (see next picture):

Making mini Spanish ham and cheese sandwiches with our bread and aioli:

Let the Tapas feast begin! Next up were the Patatas alioli ($4.75):

This was so gooood! The potatoes were slathered in garlicky aioli sauce - the outsides were browned and crisp yet they were very tender inside...Oh my gosh, we liked these so much! Too bad that we got full easily and had to leave several lonely pieces on the plate at the restaurant. We didn't want to take it to go because we wanted to do food shopping after lunch; it would have gone bad in the car. Bert would have loved these.

Tortilla espagnola ($6.75) :

The tortilla was also very tasty. Bits of tender potato with onions and parsley in an egg omelet...I ended up taking half of it home, where a few hours later, it became part of Bert and TC's supper:

Croquetas de bacalao ($6.95). Bacalao (or bacalhau in Portuguese) is dried salted codfish. These tapas have the dried fish which are rehydrated, formed into balls and fried up to crisp goodness on the outside! Quite delectable with the garlic aioli (which the menu spells as 'alioli' - research on the internet indicates that this is the Catalan spelling).

Oh yeahh.....fish balls!

At the end of our meal, Ernesto gave us two tiny (but complimentary) glasses of sangria. The cup was the same size as a votive holder - I noticed that the toothpicks were also in a cup that looked just like our mini sangria "glass". No matter! I drank it anyways!

Ernesto offered to take photos of us, which was quite nice. He took one photo of us in the bar and insisted on taking us to the back patio for another shot. There is a beautiful courtyard in the back, complete with overhanging vines with colored paper lanterns and a trickling fountain. I think next time I visit, I would like to sit back here! It seems like you are in another world in this gorgeous and peaceful setting. My photos don't do real justice since it was hazy and my camera skills are shaky at best. Ernesto took a couple photos of us here but also wanted to make sure we weren't blocking the fountain. It was funny because he kept making shooing motions with his hand and we kept going the wrong way!

Although we came for paella, we ended up with some great tapas. On Sundays, they offer a brunch for $19.50 which includes your choice of one tapa (from a list), paella, flan and sangria. Not bad. We'll have to go check that out. Once again, a fun time was had during lunch with a great friend! After lunch we went next door to (see post below):

Lanna Thai

Bert and TC took me out to lunch on Mother's Day. Bert chose a place we had never been to before and based on reviews he read, he thought it would be good to check this place out:
Lanna Thai is on Mission Bay Blvd in Pacific Beach, right next to Sushi Ota. Well, not exactly, next door to it, but a mere few steps away in a separate building. We got there at 12 noon and were the first customers. Our waitress was had a rad spiked pixie hair cut with tapered sideburns as well as these brilliant swallowtail butterfly tats on both of her shoulders. She said we could choose any booth we wanted, so I chose a corner, window booth. I liked the decor, very hip and minimalist...

Bert and I had Thai iced coffees:

Our trio of sauces: peanut, sweet chili sauce and a fish sauce with cucumber (at least that's what I thought it was).

We ordered the appetizer platter. It normally comes with two of everything ($11), but there was an extra charge for three of each ($16.50). The items were (starting from the triangular pieces) the Golden Triangles, Thai Spring Roll, Fresh Salad Roll, Chicken Satay and Chicken Curry Cups. The triangles were nice and crunchy, however I couldn't tell what the filling was (I didn't pay attention when I read the menu). It was supposed to be seasoned ground chicken with potato. The chicken really didn't have a flavor, so that was a bit of a disappointment. TC really enjoyed the fresh salad rolls, so I gave her mine. She liked the fact that it wasn't fried (and therefore burning hot to the touch) and it had fresh shrimp in it. She was curious about the alfalfa sprouts they put in there and ate it anyways!

The curry cups looked cute, but the curried ground chicken filling with potatoes was not so great. The piece I had was dry and pebbly. I ended up spitting the top part out but ate the rest. The chicken satay was quite good - very soft and flavorful, especially with the peanut sauce. I ended up saving the spring rolls for lunch the next day. They weren't spectacular. Just your regular fried spring roll.

I ordered the papaya salad ($7) which was pretty good, but not very spicy at all. I figured since this was PB, city of bro-hams and babettes, that perhaps they toned it down for the American crowd. It would have been better if this had a bit of a kick to it. In any case, I still liked the crunchiness of the green papaya, the sourness of the limejuice and the pleasant crunch of the chopped peanuts...I'm big into texture. I hate mushy soft food.

We ordered just one entree to share for the three of us since we had a lot to eat from the appetizer platter earlier. This was the Thai BBQ chicken ($11) which was marinated in cumin, coconut milk and served with a sweet chili dipping sauce. You could taste the spice paste on the chicken skin! Mmmmm! I gave my favorite piece, the wing, to TC. Bert had the drumstick and I ended up having most of the back and part of the thigh.

Although our order came with a bowl of steamed rice, we asked for two side orders of sticky rice($2 each) which came in small cylindrical baskets that were lined with plastic wrap. It was initially going to be one order, but the waitress said that it probably wouldn't be enough and said she herself could eat 1 order on her own, so...two orders of rice it was!

It was worth a try and for the most part, I liked it. We would go again, just to try a few other items on their menu like Bangkok Steak and Lemongrass Companion (nice name for a dish!). The prices seem all right, not too outrageous. It was way better than this shitty Thai restaurant we went to a few months ago. It sucked so bad, I didn't even want to post it. The place? Bai-Yook in Hillcrest. It's on University Avenue in the same shopping center as Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. There is another Thai place that we like but haven't been to in awhile. It's a hole in the wall place on Hillhurst Avenue in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles. I wish I could remember the name! Anyways, I had a wonderful Mother's Day lunch with my two favorite people in the world.