January 2014: Month in Review

Jan. 1st-7th:
The beginning of the year is always super busy which means no days off. Luckily I was able to schedule myself a day off in all the craziness. Decided to start treating myself to lunch at Pick Up Stix. So far the Firecracker Tofu lunch combo has been my favorite however, this is not it pictured below. I think this is the Coconut Curry Tofu (or something to that effect).

Jan. 8th:
Travelzoo had a deal for tickets to see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway so I couldn't pass it up. While there, I noticed this poster for Once! I was super ecstatic because I loved the movie. And to my surprise the mom from HIMYM is actually the female lead!

date night :D

Jan. 9th-10th:
After work on the 9th, I headed down to LA to my grandmother's viewing. The rest of the night just consisted of family stuff. Made plans to meet up with Judy for lunch at Savoy. Absolutely love their Hainan Chicken! There is seriously always a line. After lunch, we headed to Starbucks to work on some stuff just like the good old days when we were talk and study (more talk than study lol).

Jan. 11th-12th:
Spent the entire day doing family stuff for the funeral. Met up with cousins afterwards for some Honey Boba and then made our way back to San Diego. Didn't do much for the rest of the weekend.

Jan. 13th-14th:
Worked on the 13th and then after work on the 14th, we craved wings so we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings. We tried their Sriracha Wings which were yumes! I absolutely love bone-in wings!

Jan. 15th-17th:
Worked the rest of the week and after work on Friday we went out to check out a recommendation from one of my coworkers. I'm a lover of Sushi Ota so when my friend said this place had really good sashimi, we had to try it out. Their homemade gyoza was one of the tastiest I've ever had. Seriously melt in your mouth good. Their sashimi was very fresh (on the same level as Sushi Ota, I would say). Definitely need to make a reservation for this place though because it's tiny.

Jan. 18th-19th:
Every weekend I always want breakfast but I'm always too lazy to cook so we headed to IHOP. Love my breakfast food!

The rest of the day was spent doing some major closet and vanity cleaning. The night was spent at Tony's coworker's art show. It was a fun night!

We started off the night with some grub at this BBQ place around the corner. I ordered the BBQ Bloody Mary and my impression was that it was going to be BBQ sauce in the Bloody Mary... this is what I got lol.

yup... that's a slab of meat on my drank.

chicken and waffles!

dirty fries

Jan. 19th:
Forgot where we went for dinner but we did make a stop at Cheesecake Factory for my free cheesecake which I have quite a few coupons for every $25 gift card you buy. It was quite the deal because we literally bought the gift cards and used them right away so we weren't really going to keep the cards and just have them marinating in our wallets.

Jan. 19th-22nd:
San Diego Restaurant Week started so we decided to hit up a few spots. Didn't want to get too crazy because I put myself on a tight budget after the new year started. We tried out The Marine Room, NINE-TEN, and Tapenade. Click on the perspective links for more information on their respective experiences!

Jan. 24th:
We decided to try out this sushi restaurant near our place. Sashimi wasn't the freshest. I did feel semi sick afterwards :/.

Jan. 25th-26th:
We met up with my friends from LA for dinner in Pacific Beach at Costa Brava. Their potatoes were really good. Their lamb skewers were really good as well. Their desserts, which we weren't even going to get, were super good. The creme brulee looking this seriously tastes like ice cream. It was the best dessert.

The next day, we had brunch at the Veranda at the Rancho Bernardo Inn. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

each one of their menus had different pictures!

i'm obsessed with bloody marys. this wasn't very good.

Jan. 31st:
I had the day off on Chinese New Year so we decided to go out for brunch. 2 years ago when my friends came down to San Diego, we wanted to go to The Cottage in La Jolla but the line was much too long and we were in a rush to go kayaking. So this time, we decided to go back. The food was pretty tasty. One of the things that we talked about that day was the fact that San Diego has a lot of restaurants but they are all the same things over and over. Very traditional items that they have at every single restaurant. And that's the one thing I miss about food in LA. Food is so innovative and it matches the "melting pot" nature of the city itself. There's the fusion foods and also just a different take on the normal foods. *sigh* (But fast forward to February, we went to eat at the place next to Polite Provisions and it seriously reminded me of food in LA so maybe North Park-ish area will have to be our new stomping grounds).

That pretty much sums up our January. It wasn't that eventful of a month.

We were mostly recovering from all the stresses of the holidays. The holidays just 

came and passed so quickly since Thanksgiving was so late this year.

It was definitely nice to have a little time to just simmer down. 

On to February! 

San Diego Restaurant Week 2014: Tapenade

Our third and final stop for Restaurant Week was at Tapenade. We opted to get the wine pairings with our meal which even though on the online menu states $58, turned out to be $60 (which is really a steal since our cocktails at The Marine Room were $15 each). 

For our appetizer, we got the soup and the duck pate. The soup was really interesting tasting. It tasted like some of those herbal remedies my mom used to make me drink when I was a child. I couldn't put my finger on what it was though.. The duck pate was actually quite tasty. The only thing that I didn't really like was the nuts in the pate. Other than that, it was pretty tasty. The pickled vegetables were really good as well but I'm a fan on pickled anything so.. lol. 

For our main entrees we got the Wild Boar and the Maine Diver Scallops. I had a small forkful of the Wild Boar and it tasted super homemade. If you've watched Ratatouille, it was like the end of the movie when the guy eats the Ratatouille and has those visions of his childhood. The scallops were COOKED TO PERFECTION. Honestly, when we went to The Marine Room on Sunday and had the scallops, I thought they were slightly overcooked. I wasn't completely sure until yesterday night when I had these scallops. They were 100x better than The Marine Room (although The Marine Room might have been having an off night? They looked completely slammed.). As soon as I pushed my knife and fork through the scallops I knew they would be melt-in-your-mouth good. The risotto was not extremely flavorful but it went well to not overpower the taste of the scallops. Would highly recommend getting the scallops here.

For dessert we got the Petite Pot au Chocolat and the Profiteroles (which I had to Google to find out what it was lol). I'm not a huge fan of sweets especially chocolate pudding of sorts so I didn't have much of the Petite Pot au Chocolat. The small spoonful that I had tasted like melted Ghiradelli's chocolate. The Profiteroles were actually quite tasty despite the fact that I didn't enjoy the Grand Marnier ice cream. I think it was the slight hint of orange-flavor that just confused my taste buds a little too much. I would have much preferred the cream puffs with French Vanilla ice cream or even Butter Pecan (lol I like the old people ice cream flavors lol. So sue me :P).

Overall, I would give it 4.5 stars out of 5. The wine pairings were a bit mediocre, especially the dessert wine. I don't remember specifically what the wines were since they did not put them on the menu (that may have been a red flag lol). The duck pate and the scallops were my favorite part of the meal. I would probably come back to try some other seafood dishes since I was super impressed with their scallops. Again, for the price of $45/person and $60/person with wine pairings, I would have much rather spent it at Amaya. Nonetheless, it was nice to go out and try out a different place. 

That concludes my San Diego Restaurant Week posts! Hope you enjoyed them and aren't too hungry! I hope you all have a great weekend!

San Diego Restaurant Week 2014: NINE-TEN Restaurant and Bar

Second Restaurant Week stop was at NINE-TEN Restaurant and Bar. Tony and his friends had gone there previously but due to work I wasn't able to attend. He said good things about the place so when my friend Christine asked if I wanted to try the restaurant, I jumped at the opportunity. The entrance to the restaurant is actually inside this hotel so if you end up going there you don't have to look like the noobs we were.

We were seated right when we arrived even though we were early for our reservations. The menu had some variations from the Restaurant Week menu that was posted online. 

We started with the Hamachi sashimi and Jamaican jerk pork belly. The Hamachi sashimi was good and had decent flavor. I'm a big fan of vinaigrette so it was good lol. Apparently the Hamachi sashimi and Jamaican jerk pork belly are the signature dishes at the restaurant that they never change. According to the waiter, the head chef Jason Knibb actually grew up in Jamaica so it should be pretty authentic. I didn't get to try it but from what I heard from my friend, it was quite tasty.

hamachi sashimi

jamaican jerk pork belly

For the main entree, the three of us opted for 3 different dishes. We went with the Swordfish, Scallops, and Beef Short Rib. I had the Swordfish and it was decent but I think I might have gotten sick from it. It wasn't that it was bad quality but I've noticed that anytime I get grilled fish (besides salmon), I literally have to run to the restroom so I just don't think it goes well with my system. The dollop of white sauce on the side (not sure what it was lol) was really good and added a lot of flavor to the swordfish.

grilled swordfish

sea scallops

beef short rib

Lastly, we ended the night with the Caramel Apple Custard and the Half Baked Chocolate Cake (which is supposed to be another signature dish). The Caramel Apple Custard was definitely not what I had expected in presentation or taste. It wasn't too sweet which was good for me since I'm not a huge fan of sweets. Its one of those dishes you'll probably have to try out yourself to see if you like it. It's interesting to say the least lol.

caramel apple custard

half baked chocolate cake

dinner with friends old and new :)
thanks christine and tram for a great dinner date!

Overall, I would give the restaurant 4 stars out of 5. My favorite dish was the Hamachi sashimi which is interesting since it's not a sushi restaurant or anything. Again, there were no stand out dishes that were must haves but I only had the 3 dishes. I think I would definitely want to try to Jamaican jerk pork belly if I ever returned to the restaurant. Also, next time I would probably get the wine pairings with dinner. In comparison to my dinner at Amaya which was also $45 and $65 with wine pairings, Amaya tasted MUCH better and was much more worth it. 

Hope you've been enjoying these food posts! I have one more restaurant week post and some catch up on some month in reviews! Stay tuned!