I've heard positive things about Saiko Sake & Sushi Bar for a while and finally bit for a Sake Flights & Bites event. This was the first of an on-going series and featured the seasonal nama sake alongside three savory courses and one dessert course.
The co-owner Evan (middle) hosted the event and introduced us to chef and co-owner Anthony (left) and Max (right), who were busy preparing the food and drinks for the evening. Evan is a Certified Sake Professional (CSP) with a level 1 certifiication; level 2 requires going to Japan which is in the plans for next year!
A few weeks ago, we had lunch at Baguette Bros in the Convoy area. This restaurant is run by three Vietnamese brothers who added a creative spin to the traditional Vietnamese sandwiches! I visited once prior but it was the first time for Dennis. We also met with our longtime friend... she was one of our writers during the early days of Oh-So Yummy! Being familiar with the process, she allowed us to take pictures but countered with a fast verbal countdown due to hunger!
Here is the full menu board at Baguette Bros. They only serve 7 fusion sandwiches (at the time of this post) so you'd have to go elsewhere for standard Vietnamese sandwiches like the Banh Mi Dac Biet! Maybe sandwich #8 should be a revamped "everything" sandwich! They also serve other non-traditional items such as loaded fries with pork belly/bulgogi or wings.
We attended Reader Tacotopia in May and were rather surprised when a similar event popped up - Reader Tacotopia at the Track on August 13th! Once again, over 30 taco vendors would be competing to be voted the best! This time we came in for Media Hour which opened at noon instead of 1pm for regular admission! We were given two voter tickets, one for most traditional and one for most innovative.
One of the participating vendors, Cali Comfort BBQ, gave away this nifty cardboard food and drink holder! Look how nice everything fits! We had also purchased a Don Julio margarita to sip on between tastes.
Upon entering, a vendor (Lupe's) tantalized us with their al pastor spit! The excitement was growing inside of me and we were famished! Can we eat yet?
We're slowly working through our giftcards from Burger Week and decided to hit up happy hour at Duck Dive in Pacific Beach. To avoid Friday traffic, we took a lovely yet roundabout drive through La Jolla scenic drive. This place has a view of the ocean from the patio and is only a few blocks down from Garnet Avenue. Sitting and relaxing in the patio area with our friends was so refreshing because of the cool ocean breeze along the building.
Happy hour is Monday through Friday between 3-6pm. Almost everything in the "snacks" menu section is $5 plus there were $5 drink specials! Pictured is the first round ordered.
These Duck Fat Fries were addictive to me for some reason.
After hearing rave reviews from family and friends about the Grub Burger Bar grand opening, we decided to try it the next day. The restaurant is quite bigger than I expected and it was packed with hungry customers lining out the door. Fortunately it didn't take that long to reach the ordering counter, with just enough time to browse through the entire food and bar menus.
While we waited in line, the staff were passing out free samples of their milkshake drinks to try! Yum =)
There were plenty of seats on the inside of the restaurant with additional space in the patio and bar area. Even during the dinner rush, there was always tables cleaned and opening up so we didn't spend extra time hunting down a table.
It was still happy hour so we decided to take advantage of their $5.50 special drink prices.
Ambrogio15 is an authentic Milanese pizzeria that recently opened in North Pacific Beach. Ambrogio is the name of a patron saint of Milan while the number 15 represents the pizza diameter. We were invited to attend their soft opening weekend.
The restaurant is tastefully decorated in Milano style, and even the lights and pizza oven were imported from Italy! In combination with the food, that's an amazing show of pride and love of your hometown. The three main waiters were actually the three owners, Giacomo Pizzigoni, Andrea Burrone and Luca Salvi. By interacting with the customers, they were able to answer questions, provide recommendations, and receive direct feedback.
Latin Food Fest is one of the events we enjoy attending because there's plenty of tasty food, not much walking, AND alcohol is included! Dennis wasn't feeling well that day so I found a last minute replacement to join our little group. It was unbelievable that I was introducing THREE people to the world of food tasting that day. Luckily they were coming out with a pro taster!
We started off with a big smile after our very first sample at Cocina 35. This was definitely one of the winners of the day and set off a tingle of heat but I couldn't stop eating anyway!
There was also a fantastic sample from Havana Grill with succulent roast pork and cuban rice and beans. The banana treat was also pleasantly sweet but the yucca was a bit too starchy.
Oh-So Yummy recently hit a very big milestone of 10 years. Happy blogiversary (blog anniversary) to us! We've been fortunate to delight in delicious food and drink for the last decade!
For example, this picture is from a recent food and beer pairing by Brewer / Chef Rey Knight from Finest Made Ales. Watermelon and tomato salad, homemade bratwurst, and braised pork belly goodness plus their brown ale was excellent! I love how we've been able to capture all these foodie memories through our blog and social media.
Now for some history! The site started as a community of friends and family sharing food experiences. Our first post Tent City was written by creators Dennis and Nguyen. I posted about Extraordinary Desserts a couple day after! Also neat is how we met Cathy from mmm-yoso at a blogger meetup way back in 2006! We even had the famous Candice Woo from Eater writing with us in the early days. Ahh the memories!
