Sharks and Wine

You know, it's kind of weird...I really really look forward to my days off now.  I am not quite sure why - maybe its because I am back in California and I have so much I want to discover for the first time.  Maybe I want to go back and visit all of the places I miss so much.  Maybe it's because I am living in a new area that I want to see and enjoy.  I don't know but I am off for the next two days and excited as hell about it.

Tomorrow me and Sol are going to the beach with some friends, I'm going to attempt to surf again.  Last time I was semi-successful until I saw what I swear was a shark riding awave about a hundred yards away (http://www.southswellsurflessons.com/surf-news/2010/8/11/shark-spotted-off-san-onofre-surf-lesson-in-encinitas-keep-o.html).  I saw a fin and a body cruising on a crashing wave and it scared the bejesus out of me!  I'd like to avoid the below obituary/newspaper article. 

"Survived by his fiancee and both parents Anthony Ybarra was an ambitious guy.  He'd never surfed before but was determined to after recently moving back to California.  Unfortunately, the combination of his size and his inability to surf he looked like a hurt seal (shark bait) flapping around in the water.  A Great White had been hovering in the area (see above link) and unbeknownst to him just happened to be cruising in Encinitas this fateful day.  Anthony was 26 years old and loved golfing, playing poker, and spending time with his fiancee, friends and family."

My life flashed before my eyes and I laid on my stomach and rode the first wave in screaming at Angela and Sol, "Shark!!!!  Get in! Get out of the water!!!!"  Flailing my arms like a lunatic while riding this puny wave in on my belly.  Not my most glamorous moment but I have a shark-a-phobia, sew me. 

Anyway, my point is, I'm braving the storm again tomorrow so wish me luck.  Hope I don't leave my parents without a son.  I hope I can write you guys and tell you I actually "surfed" - imagine that in your head and you might get a little chuckle out of it. 

After the beach I have my Fantasy Football Draft, that should be a good time.  I won last year so its always nice to be the reigning champ.  Who should I draft first?  AP?  Drew Brees?  Chris Johnson?  We'll see who's left by the time it gets to me.

As for Friday, maybe me and Sol will go golfing, maybe I'll go buy some much needed suits.  I really just don't know what Friday holds yet.  All I know is I am going to enjoy the next two days.  Maybe we'll go to a nice restaurant so i can write a good blog.

On another note I have been learning about Wine for the last few days.  One of my servers is a certified Sommelier.  So I decided I should take advantage and start learning a thing or two about a thing or two.  So what have I learned so far?

I've learned that Syrah and Shiraz is the same grape BUT Shiraz comes from Australia because the fokin' aussies can't pronounce it right.

I've learned that a Fungus grows on a grape in Sauternes and makes a good dessert wine

And I've learned that Sauvignon Blanc originated in Loire, a region in France. It does well in cooler areas and New Zealand introduced a whole different kind in the Mid-80's. 

and Lastly, I learned that Cabernet Sauvignon is the son (or daughter depending on how PC you want me to be) of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon . 

What do you think?  Am I a certified WINE-O yet?

Cheers!

What is a "sope"?

Pronounced "so-pay" according to wikipedia a sope : at first sight looks like an unusually thick tortilla with vegetables and meat toppings. The base is made from a circle of fried masa of ground maize soaked in lime (also used as the basis for tamales and tortillas) with pinched sides. This is then topped with refried beans and crumbled cheese, lettuce, onions, red or green sauce (salsa, made with chiles or tomatillos respectively), and acidified cream.

That's not a very appetizing description is it?  Just out of curiosity how many of you actually knew what that was?  Anywho - after another day of venue shopping I was starving come lunch time.  After visiting the Museum of Latin American Art we asked them where a good taco shop was (in Long Beach where we were). Go figure they would know where a good place to eat would be.  The security guard pointed us down the street which just so happened to be on the way to the next place we went to go see, perfect.

After a passing a couple of scenes that looked like they were straight outta Training Day we arrived at Taqueria la Mexicana.  A hole in the wall with a little window to order from that had gated seating with  overflowing trash cans and flies pestering anyone tyring to eat....yum.

I like my San Diego burritos so I wasn't going to mess with ordering one of those, I took a gander at the menu and my eyes landed on the sopes.  I love me some sopes.  Ever since I heard my pledge bro talk about 'em back in the day (shout out to dizzle!).  If I remember right that's his favorite food, and its right there on the top f my list too.  I will say right off the bat that Tacos El Gordo in National City has the best sopes you can find, those of you that live in San Diego know whats up.  If you live in San Diego and haven't been to Tacos El Gordo you are missing out!!!  Back to this venture.

I ordered my so-pays without lettuce and tomato, I'm not really a fan of L & T on my Mexican food.  I feel like it takes away from the REAL flavors of the beans, meat and anything else that was cooked in something delicious.  Lets face it, the taco shop on the corner isn't exactly using high quality lechuga y tomate so there isn't going to be a whole lot of flavor in it.  Just a personal preference, don't hate. 

What's this blog about anyways?  Lettuce, tomato, another taco shop, the definition of a Mexican delight...oh yeah our trip to La Mexicana.

We ordered, both got horchata ( see my blog about carne asada fries if you forgot what horchata is).  Waited 5-10 minutes, and our food arrived.  It looked amazing and tasted even better.  I eat mine like a tostada but one could eat it with a fork and a knife I suppose.  I lifted it up and took a bite and the flavors rushed into my mouth hitting all parts of my tongue: spicy, salty, sweet.  "MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmm", I sighed.  The beans were flavorful, the meat was salty and their house made salsa had a good little kick to it.  The kind that makes your nose run.  Every bite was like a party in my mouth.  The sope itself was crunchy but soft and chewy, freshly made.  I want one again right now.  The sour cream was oozing off the sides, you had to catch it with your mouth before it fell off.  I was so mesmerized I didn't even see any flies. 

I was full and ready to move on to the next wedding venue.  Nothing better than finding a delightful hole in the wall right in the middle of somewhere you'd never expect.  Remember if you're hungry and in an unfamiliar area ask the locals where to go.  If you don't believe them, then take your ass to Burger King and don't ask next time.

Chewy_Crunchy_Greasy

Chicken & Waffles?

Unless y'all live in a hole, I am sure that you have heard of Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles at one time or another.  Or at the very least you have heard of Chicken and Waffles, right?  Well since I became a foodie I realized that I needed to go out of my way to get to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffle House.  Now I didn't make it up to Hollywood to the original but does anyone go to the original McDonalds - no.  That being said I was okay with this decision.

Myself, Sol, her brother and her niece went on over to Long Beach other wise known as the LBC.  Unfortunately, I forgot my phone which had GPS so we didn't know where it was.  Seriously, what did people do before technology?  I was secretly having a panic attack worried that someone would say, "lets just go some where else."  Jun, Sol's brother, gave me his phone and I fumbled around trying to figure out how to use it, after a few minutes I still couldn't figure it out.  I felt a lump forming in my throat, we were getting closer and I couldn't get it done then...success.  A few minutes later I was shitting myself because my phone also had my camera and I couldn't take pictures.  What fun is a blog with no pictures??  Sol had her 3.2 mp camera on her phone but I knew that wouldn't do the trick.  Luckily since we'd been searching for a wedding venue she had her real camera in her purse.  Pfew, disaster averted.

Didn't take long to figure out what we wanted...ummmm....chicken and waffles - duh.  In general though the menu consisted of traditional southern/soul food: red beans and rice, mac n cheese, etc.  We all ordered the "Scoe's #1" - two waffles, and 1/4 chicken.  As you can see below it was pretty straight forward.  I was a little scared to try to down two waffles but being the persistent son of a bitch I am - I gave it a try.

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Did you really have any doubt?  They gave me plenty of butter, plenty of syrup and a fork and a knife.  Of course I finished it.  In all seriousness though the waffle was pretty amazing.  It tasted like maybe it had a hint of nutmeg as the secret ingredient.  The waffles had a slight crunch but were soft and fluffy.  The syrup was damn good and the butter was plentiful.  I love butter that is easy to spread...its the little things in life you know?  How many times do you get cold hard butter and when you go to spread it on your waffle/toast/pancake it breaks it or tears it.  Temper you butter restaurants!!!  Back to the waffle, something about it made it utterly fantastic.  Maybe it was that I was destined to eat here my entire life and my life's work was now complete...or they had a good recipe.  The chicken was good, i'd say a 7.5 on a scale of 1-10.  It was cooked right but I was expecting the flavor of the skin to be a little....better?  I mean chicken is in the name of this restaurant so naturally I would think the fried chicken is where its at.  Again it wasn't bad it just didn't blow my mind.  Overall still loved and would go back in a heart beat.

Chicken and Waffles I think is the original Salty & Sweet meld of flavors that is so trendy right now.  Throw some Louisiana hot sauce on there and you really spice up this combo.  Maybe its where Bobby Flay got his Spicy n' Sweet flavor combo.  Either way all the flavors flow together in a river of goodness arousing every part of your palate.  Way to go Roscoe, Way to go...

Salty_Sweet_Spicy

New Name for my Blog

So after scouring the Blogosphere I have deduced that the name of my blog sucks and isn't original at all.  I decided I need a better name.  It needs to be something that I can trademark and I can make a logo out of.  So I turn to you my readers - what are your thoughts? Creative, funny, and original.  Leave your ideas on the comments section of my blog NOT facebook.  I REALLY need your help on this one. If I am ever to achieve Julie and Julia status I need to start blowin' up and I think this might be one helluva start! 

Also, to my San Diegans - now that I'm back what do you want to see me blog about?  Fine Dining - Taco Shop - hole in the wall - what appeals to you?  Any and all feed back is helpful!  Thanks guys!!!

P.S.  If you think I should keep the name, let me know that too!

P.S.S, Any of my Graphic Design buddies wanna make my Blog Header/Logo?

Quaint Italian Restaurant in Encinitas

Trattoria I Trulli - a quaint little Italian Restaurant located on Highway 101 in downtown Encinitas.  Very homey, cozy, and comfortable.  Seems to me a great place for a date or to have a nice adult family meal, I wouldn't recommend taking kids here for the simple fact that it is so small.  No music here only the chattering of voices talking over one another, not a bad thing.  Sol said she kind of liked it, it gave it more of a personal touch.

We made reservations for 8:30 but showed up quite early, lucky for us they had a table ready and sat us.  We were immediately greeted with a basket of bread and its amazing accompaniment.  It was a slightly cool tomato sauce seasoned very well with strong notes of basil and a hint of spice.  The bread was very fresh - which was a nice touch, I feel like you don't get that very often.

We opened our tattered menus, the first page was a plethora of daily specials: including a ravioli, gnochhi, pasta, soup and desert.  The following page included their house specialties of antipasti, pastas, fish, meat, etc.  So much to look through, what would we decide on.  After ordering a bottle of Chianti, I started to really peruse the menu.  The waiter approached our table mixing in some general Italian words like "Prego" and "Grazie", I asked him what he recommended and he immediately went to the first page, the specials.  The decision wasn't hard from there, Sol ordered the pasta special: a Spaghetti with homemade Italian Sausage, clams, shrimp in a white wine sauce.  I ordered the Risotto of the day: can't remember what all it had but there were peas, watercress and it was on a bed of prosciutto.

To start we had the: Scampi ai Trulli (off the regular menu): Fresh shrimp sautéed with white wine in tomato sauce with shoestring potatoes.  This was uh-mazing.  Never would have paired potatoes and shrimp but it worked very well.  The potatoes were freshly cut and fried, and the shrimp was VERY fresh, soft and succulent.  The seafood flavor from the shrimp and the comfort of the potatoes melded together like they had known each other for centuries.  Maybe they have, I don't get around much.

Back to our entrees.  As you can see mine was a heaping PILE of Risotto.  The main thing that attracted it to me was the "bed of prosciutto".  Lately I've been diggin' Risotto since our chef, Jesse, makes a bomb Lobster Risotto and a Duck Risotto, so I thought I'd give this one a try.  Unfortunately, it fell flat.  It was slightly over cooked, and kind of bland. Not bad with a fair share of salt and pepper, but not sure they tasted it before they sent it out.  I'm not going to lie I was a little disappointed especially since everything up till that point had been superb.


Sol's entree on the other hand was fantastic.  The Italian sausage was quite tasty and the spaghetti tasted fresh.  The light sauce was very flavorful and a great compliment to this dish.  I absolutely loved it.  Something very different than I had tried before but again done very well.  Great presentation.

Sorry, it looked so good, I forgot to take a picture of it whole!

To finish we had Strawberry Napoleon.  When I asked the waiter if it was good before ordering he said yes, it was made fresh daily.  Fresh daily will sell me every time.  Wow, so good.  It was home made whipped cream with thinly sliced strawberries and layers of puff pastry finished with powdered sugar and chocolate sauce drizzled along the outside.  I might even say it was decadent.  Isn't anything with puff pastry and whipped cream good?

I must say, though my entree wasn't great, I found this place to be a wonderful find.  Atmosphere was fantastic, service was very good.  There was some Italians working there which gave it an authentic touch.  The food I would say was outstanding all things considered.  And frankly, I can't wait to go back.

Everything_You_Want

A Mighty Fine Burger

While visiting my dad out in Austin he took me to a damn good burger place.  It was called Mighty Fine Burgers.  I highly recommend you visit the website, my camera could not do the establishment justice so I didn't even try. 

The outside was very inviting with covered patio seating and a playground for kids, not a McDonald's playground but a real one with sand and all.  We walked in and there was mayo, mustard and ketchup stacked in neat rows for both decor and use.  There were also boxes of potatoes waiting to be used with the peanut oil it was fried in also stacked in rows.  All of the ingredients they used to cook were in the front of the house being used as decoration, it was awesome.  So simple yet creative.  All of the colors gave this place a radiant vibe.  There was also a see through window where you could see people creating the burger patties and prepping them for cookin'.  Also, there was a sign that said the meat was ground on property...I think they just one upped In 'N Out.  If you do check out their website go to Quality is Everything and check  out the meat portion.  Also by the fries there is a large sign that says, WE USE PEANUT OIL...odd...right?  Well according to them it tastes best.  Also on the Quality is Everything page.

So my eyes had a party now it was time for my mouth.    They are very make it your way and hand write your order on a paper bag so you can see it.  You also can see that what it is they are writing to give you that comfort you need that they WILL get your order right.  A nice customer touch in my opinion. 

The soda machine was awesome, that's a weird thing to say right?  Well first off they had two, with about 10 choices each.  Who do you know that has a selection of 20 fountain sodas?  Next one of those choices was Mellow Yellow, say "I" if you remember that pop.  On top of that when was the last time you actually saw it?  For us youngsters who have probably never seen it is kind of like the short lived "Surge" that was around for MAYBE 2 years back in the late '90's.  Next part of the cool soda machine is it had a high-tech looking option for crushed or cubed ice.  Pretty sweet eh?  Maybe I'm over reacting but some times its the little things in life.  Nice touches make a place like this stand out from the rest.

My order:

Chili Cheeseburger  - A great burger establishment can be judged by their chili in my opinion.
Fries
Strawberry lemonade (it was on display, how could I not)

I unwrapped my prize and it looked wonderful.  I opened up the bun to see what the inside looked like (pictured to the right), and to my surprise there was a sliced hot dog in there.  I wasn't mad because being the chili conasuir that I am, I know hot dogs and chili go together like Lavern and Shirly.  It would only add to the flavor.  I put it back together and held on with both hands, elbows on the table and shoved it in.  Tender patty, lots of cheese (the key to any good burger), and the bun was fresh and soft.  After another couple bites and I thought to myself, this might be one of the best I've ever had.  I had some fries in between bites, they were great too.  Very fresh tasting, and thinking back to the boxes of potatoes by the counter I knew they were.  Holy crap how have I never been here.  Every other bite of the burger I got some hot dog, yum.  That definitely set this burger apart from any other I'd ever had.  Overall I was very suprised.  I asked my dad how he found this place and he said it was my cousin, DR.  Another place he was holding out on me...

I just might go back as soon as I possibly can.

Best_Burger_Ever 

The Biggest Donut EVER!

I was sitting at home watching the Food Network on another gorgeous day.  Man vs. Food came on and he was touring the country.  All of a sudden Round Rock Donuts came on and a light bulb went off in my head, "That's right by my dads!".  So I sat up to see what they had to say.  They happened to be featuring a giant donut! I love donuts!  I didn't even have to watch the rest of the show before I put it on my wish list.

So here I am getting off the plane in Austin, and my Dad says, "What do you want to do?" and to that I replied, "I want to go to Round Rock Donuts!"  It was late and they were closed but we went first thing the next day.  We walked in and there was none on the display case, I was looking around, and I saw a picture of it that said -> "It really is that big" - I instantly thought to myself, That's what she said....hehehe.

Anyways we asked about it and ordered one, a few minutes later the Holy Grail came out of the back in a giant box, I peaked inside just to make sure  it was in there.  There was no seating inside so we had to take it home, no problem for me I could enjoy it however I wanted to with no one watching me.  From here we went to (click the link below):

Mighty Fine Hamburgers

Once we got home from that wonderful burger shack I could only wait about 10 minutes before I got up and dove into this Gi-normous buh-heamoth of a donut.  It was still warm...

I picked it up and took a bite.  Is there any better "sweet" than a warm, soft, succulent, tasty donut?  I mean really.  I think I first fell in love with them at the L.A. County Fair.  I remember my dad used to take me when I was little every year.  And the last stop before we went home was a "Texas Style Donut", it was called "The Big D"  I always thought that meant donut but I guess it was Dallas.  Now that I think of it, that's probably why I moved to Dallas...hmph. 

This thing was bigger than my hand, i could have put it around my wrist and slid it up to my bicep, and  I have some big guns.  Honestly, if Sol was with me I would have tried to put it around her head.  It was a large piece of food. 

So Dallas-ites if you are coming down to Austin or gonna drive through to San Antonio, save your hunger for some Round Rock Donuts, cuz that s#!^ is good!

Side note: Once it cools the glaze breaks and chips off, so throw it in the microwave and warm that sucker up, its just as good as the second go around and the glaze will be gooey again!

BIG_TASTY_DONUT