Some girlfriends and I were attending the Pentatonix concert in Sports Arena and decided to have dinner nearby at Luce Bar & Kitchen first. We found parking a street away and headed into a trendy looking bar, complete with intimate stools around the bartender and wooden tables near "garage door" windows, perfect for that cool outside breeze. After being seated, we decided to share a couple of dishes between the four of us.
I feel like an old timer here. Most of the coworkers that know about this place were introduced to it by me! Dennis and I have been going here every once in a while... like, before it was remodeled, before it was named BABS, before it was The B Spot and unpatented, way back to when it was just GREEN TEA HOUSE. OMG do I miss the strawberry kiwi slush boba they served... this place went through a lot of changes!
A lot of people have been checking out BABS lately, especially due to the awesome 2 burgers/drinks for $13ish groupon-type deal. I already knew it was a winner since Dennis and I dig this place. We already had our eyes set on one item off the menu guaranteed.
I've heard of the Bite San Diego walking tours before and was finally able to check one out last week. The El Cajon Boulevard tour we signed up for is a new tour held on Wednesday during dinner between 6-9pm, compared to the rest of the tours held on the weekend's early afternoons. This particular one was right around the corner from trendy North Park area, which has so many good eateries as is!
The starting point was the beautiful and historical Lafayette Hotel and validated parking was available if needed. We easily found close parking on the side street though. Our tour guide Eddie was at the entrance, keeping a lookout for us and making it oh so simple to join with the rest of the group.
The lunch gang decided to eat at Chaba Thai one week so of course I was down for this new Thai place! I drove separately and was running late so I rushed into the restaurant and told the waitress by our table that I wanted Pad See Ew. But then, she brought out a notepad and began TAKING our table's orders. Oops, I guess they hadn't ordered yet! What threw me off was that they already had soups and salads in front of them and mine happened to be arriving at the same time we were ordering!
Only a week after stuffing ourselves at College Area Taste, we were back for more at Taste of Hillcrest! This year’s Taste of Hillcrest was on April 19th 2014 between noon and 4. Dennis and I came out with Oh-So Yummy’s Cathy and Dave, who also joined us last year for Hillcrest’s Taste N Tinis. It seems the Hillcrest events just happen to occur around our birthdays so we’ve been gifted tickets twice! A happy foodie thanks to Cathy!
We already had printed tickets so we started closest to where we parked, at Brazen BBQ. They were promoting a new item to their menu which I think was sweet and spicy tri tip? It was tender but we thought it needed a tad bit more seasoning or maybe a stronger rub flavor. Typical tasting beans were paired with this sample.
Next was the indian buffet at Bombay. I always remember this as the place where you self-serve and possibly eat too much! Everything was fresh because we were first in line! I am always a fan of saag. Cathy commented that the tofu wasn’t that great but the rest of the sauces were. The lychee mousse dessert was sweet and fluffy.
Izakaya Masa is Dennis's favorite ramen noodle place in San Diego. In the past they used to only serve ramen after 9pm! Thankfully, they began serving it during regular meal times for us impatient ones who want ramen right away! The restaurant was also expanded but there are still waiting lists during peak dining times. We decided to meet up with friends who had never been here before.
I got there a little late and noted that Dennis had already ordered and received the Agadashi Tofu. At that point, it was already drenched in the flavorful broth and wasn't that crispy anymore. A bit wetter than I prefer but Dennis loves his tofu that way! This presentation was probably the prettiest I've seen so far, especially the shredded seaweed!
While searching for brunch in Sonoma a while back, we found a place called the Fremont Diner. It was a little outside of the main Sonoma area so we headed out from our lodging. We somehow completely passed the place while driving. I think it was because the sign outdoors only said DINER or something. Or maybe we were just looking on the wrong side of the road for it!
Once seated, I ordered the chicken and waffles dish. We opted in for the bacon and green onion for an extra $2. It was soooo not your typical boring waffle and was good to the last bite! The chicken pieces were breaded and juicy underneath. I could hardly finish my plate because the portions were very generous!
I got lucky and won a pair of tickets to College Area Taste from the SD food blog This Tasty Life. We also bumped into Mary herself (and Jake) at the ticket pickup and joined their posse for a few hours! Awesome!
For a while I thought this was Taste of College Area, similar to the other San Diego annual taste of x events, but it's actually called College Area Taste! Sneaky! Anyway, it is a food sampling trek and was held on Sunday April 13, 2014 between 11-3pm near San Diego State University (SDSU). Tickets are normally $25 pre-sale and $30 the day of. Will-call was located outside of the College Area BID Office (4704 College Ave) and was very quick. About half of the locations were right around the corner from the pickup location.
