mmm-yoso!!!

Tenkatori (Miramar)

The much anticipated Tenkatori's San Diego location opened while we were on our trip. I had the Gardena and Sawtelle location on my "LA list", so I was quite happy to know they were opening here. You know how much I enjoy my Karaage, right? Heck, I even went to see if the signage of the shop (replacing TJ Dumplings) was up back in the middle of April!

So, upon returning from our trip....well, I had to check out Tenkatori!

After checking the hours and knowing how much I hate the small parking stalls and turning ratios in that strip mall parking lot I got to Tenkatori at five minutes past eleven (opening time) and was kinda confused as the business sign blocking the door said closed; while the lighted sign said open?

I finally waved down the young man working; who then moved the sign over and told me they were open.

So, I went and placed my order; for the Mix Bento Box.....

Which I thought was nicely priced at $9.90...really, what can you get these days for less than ten bucks?

And then the young man broke the news to me. He asked me to come back in 20 minutes! Which is what I did and I still had to wait another 10 minutes.

I got back to the office and opened up my bento.

 This was a decent amount of food; there were two whole wings, both drumette and wing attached including the wing tips which I like. There were also two large pieces of karaage.

For some reason, I thought the "mashed potatoes" was really going to be Japanese potato salad....but, it was really mashed potatoes.....albeit creamy and topped with a teriyaki-ish sauce. Just in case that wasn't enough carbs, there was a generous portion of rather undercooked rice.

 Both the wings and the karaage were moist and tender. The karaage handled the short trip back to the office better than the wings as the light batter, probably using potato starch, doesn't hold up for very long. The wings seemed to have more seasoning than the karaage, as the marinade seemed very mild. What I really liked was that the chicken thighs used for the karaage still had the skin attached which added more crunch and additional flavor as well.

This was okay, perhaps a bit underwhelming, but the place hadn't been open for very long so I was definitely going to give it another try.

And since Calvin was actually coming into the office the following day, I decided to do takeout from Tenkatori again. This time, I called in my order. The woman working told me my order would be ready in 15 minutes and it was!

Calvin got the Mixed Bento and this time I went with the Karaage Don ($9) and since I had some "extra stomach space" available (aka Calvin), I also went for a small order of Gizzards ($7.70) to share.

This time my order was ready and waiting when I arrived.

And this time the karaage was even better! It was nicely fried, evenly seasoned, the marinade seemed to have permeated the thighs, and I liked that teriyaki-ish glaze that was lightly applied to the sliced dark meat chicken. The rice was much better this time as well. The boiled egg looked lovely, until I cut it open and discovered that it was overcooked and thus dry. The accompanying greens were starting to brown a bit; though I basically just considered it "garnish".

I shared the fried gizzards with Calvin and we both enjoyed the chewy-crunchy, poultry-ist flavor.

The gizzards were also nicely seasoned and even seemed to have a touch of shichimi togarashi, adding a light "kick" to it. I'll definitely have this again......plus, I'll need to try the nankotsu karaage as well.

And so, I'd usually stop and do a post with these two visits....but....I decided to do one more visit "for the road". I enjoy tori nanban and decided to order some for lunch. Once again, I called in my order and it was ready for pick-up fifteen minutes later when I arrived.

I liked the portion size of this bento and like the mix bento is priced nicely for these times at $9.90.

The chicken was still crisp when I got back to the office. Again, I really enjoy the fact that the dark meat chicken pieces still have the skin on them; it just makes the texture and flavor better. I appreciated the fact that there was that sweet-soy based sauce as well as the tartar sauce on this since the tartar sauce was really one dimensional and lacking in the light vinegar tones that help to balance out all that mayo. The rice was decent; the potato salad and shredded cabbage the same. Not sure I'd have this very often though.

I could definitely see the improvement of the product Tenkatori was putting out; from the shaky and rather mediocre first visit, to the following two visits where things seemed to be falling in place. I think the prices are quite reasonable for 2022 and since I love my karaage (and enjoyed those gizzards), I'll be back. It's great to have another option in the area. And like "FOY" Junichi said, this place "goes perfectly with Beeramar."

Tenkatori Miramar
6780 Miramar Rd Suite 104
San Diego, CA 92121
Phone - (858) 200-2016
Current Hours:
Daily 11am - 230pm, 4pm - 8pm

Wolf in the Woods Revisited

Before we left on our last trip the Missus wanted to have a nice dinner out. Going thru our recent "quick visits" it ended up being between Black Radish and Wolf in the Woods....and Black Radish just seemed to be priced too high...heck, we ate at a Michelin Bib Gourmet listed restaurant in Paris for much less than Black Radish. And WitW starts service at 4pm with outdoor seating, so I ended up making reservations there.

And because we had dinner early, there was actually parking in front of the restaurant and we were the only customers when we arrived.

Our service was just as good this time around. The Missus made sure to ask for a stemmed wine glass as we remembered getting served wine in tumblers. The tables are a bit on the "cozy" side, but since we're used to eating in Europe, the tiny tables really don't bother us too much.

As we'll often do; we made a meal out of just appetizers and we stuck with the one item the Missus loved on our previous visit and tried three "new" items.

Starting with the Calamari ($14). We don't often order fried calamari since it tends to be hard and chewy; but this was light and crisp.

The red pepper flakes was a nice addition....the sliced fried padron peppers and the overly strong sauce were really not necessary. We'd definitely have this again.

The Sweet Corn and Pinon Soup ($14) was just as good as on our last visit.

Lovely, great, not overly sweet maize flavor; loved the smoky-mildly spicy Hatch Pepper powder and the pine nuts just added a nice layer of flavor to the dish.

Next up; the Yellowtail Aqua Chile ($19).

The hamachi was of good quality; quite buttery in texture. I prefer my aguachile to have nice acidic-citrus tones and this was on the weak side. The avocados did well in this dish and the slices of serrano added a much needed punch to the dish.

We finished things off with the Maize and Hen of the Woods Mushroom ($17).

This was a pretty good dish. I wish it had more earthy mushroom flavor. As it was, the polenta and shaved Pecorino ruled the dish.  The addition of Marscapone made the polenta very creamy. Like I said pretty good; though I would have liked more mushroom.

This was a enjoyable meal overall. I do wish Wolf in the Woods was in my "neck of the woods" as we'd be having a nice dinner of appetizers every couple of weeks.

Wolf in the Woods
1920 Fort Stockton Dr.
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 234-2597
Hours:
Tues - Thurs 4pm - 9pm
Fri - Sat 4pm - 930pm
Closed Sun - Mon

 

Paris (2022) - It's Labour Day (La Fête du Muguet), Café du Centre, La Maison d’Isabelle Revisited, Dinner at Les Enfants Rouges, and Motors Coffee

**** This is a pretty long post; though it does feature our favorite meal of our recent trip.

We slept well after having done a good amount of walking the previous day. While we had reservations for dinner on this evening; which I was lucky to get since our initial dinner reservations we had made were canceled just a week before our trip....I think the restaurant had forgotten that it was going to be Labour Day. And even more interesting, it was both a Sunday, when many businesses are closed anyway. But I was told that museums were going to be closed as well as most shops and restaurants; much as indicated in this blog post. On May 1st, France celebrates worker's rights and also "La Fête du Muguet" (Lilly of the Valley Day)....we saw many folks carrying little bouquets of Lily of the Valley. I read that on Labour Day, it would be fun to just go to a park and see families enjoying the day.

And so we just headed out, walking the few steps to Rue Montorgueil to find that both Café Montorgueil and Café du Centre were open. As I've mentioned before, one of our favorite things is to sit outside at a café on a street like Rue Montorgueil and watch the world go by during the day; before or after the lunch crowd and before apéro time. Over our visits I've kind of gotten the signal down as to if it would be ok to occupy an outdoor table for just coffee and sit. To me it's a simple rule - if the table has place settings, that would be forks, knives, etc; it means that folks sitting would be expected to eat some food. If the table is bare....with perhaps an ashtray (yes, folks still smoke when dining/drinking on the sidewalk) or a menu, it's okay to just grab a seat at an empty table and have some coffee or tea....or perhaps a glass of wine. Our favorite at Café du Centre is right on the corner, where we can watch life passing by.....

And of course there are the many pooches....

Many of which believe they are "in charge"......

We saw this couple walking down the street with the cutest, obviously loved, and pampered pooch being carried and I had to take a photo.....

The gentleman saw me and waved, I waved back and smiled and they decided to come on over for a more "formal" photo.

Remember all those folks who told you that people in Paris were uptight and not friendly? 

Café du Centre
57 Rue Montorgueil
75002 Paris, France

From here, I thought it might be nice to head on over to Jardin du Luxembourg to see how folks were enjoying the holiday.

So we set off, past Les Halles and then down Rue des Déchargeurs. Crossing Rue Rivoli we saw this distinctive building.

According to Atlas Obscura, 59 Rivoli was:

"An artist squat for years before being renovated by the city and returned to a collective of artists."

We crossed over the Seine and decided to take a detour to see if our favorite Croissant Bakery, La Maison d’Isabelle was actually opened on this holiday. We were in luck, the place was open, but the line was rather long.

It seems like Parisians are fine with waiting in line....so, why not?

Sadly, they were out of Croissant au Beurre; so we settled for the Croissant Ordinaire (the version made with margarine).

La Maison d’Isabelle
47T Boulevard Saint-Germain
75005 Paris, France

From here it was a straight shot down Rue Valette to the Pantheon, which I posted on before. Of course it was closed on this day.

Though as you can tell; folks were out and about....enjoying the sunny day.

And then right down Rue Soufflot to Luxembourg Garden; where everyone seemed to be having a great time.

The folks renting out the little boats were during some bang up business on this day.

We strolled around a bit; then found a nice bench and tried out the croissant.

While the texture was every bit as good as the "butter" version; we definitely missed the balance of butter to salt and this seemed a bit "bland". Not bad though.

We sat and enjoyed our time sitting on the bench in the shade; though there were quite a few people just enjoying the sun.

After a period of people watching, we decided to head on back to the apartment for our afternoon nap.

We really love all the green spaces in Paris.

Wew passed Hotel de Ville where there seemed to be some kind of fair going on.

And heading down Rue Aubry le Boucher at Place Edmond Michelet (in case you're wondering who Edmond Michelet was) we saw this mural.

We had enjoyed the morning and enjoyed our nap even more.

Before our trip I'd tried to make dinner reservations for the first of May......but because it was either a Sunday OR a Holiday I was having a difficult time. Then, I did manage to get reservations to a place I'd been wanting to try, Automne, only to have them cancel on me. After going down my list a bit; I found that another place from said "list" actually had early (at 7pm) reservations. The restaurant, located in a part of the Marais I'd always wanted to check out, right around the corner from Marché des Enfants Rouges, named Les Enfants Rouges. It was, as many of the places we'd tried in the past like ERH, Pertinence, and Alliance helmed by a Japanese Chef along with Michelin Stars. There's something about French cuisine with Japanese touches and sensibility that we really enjoy.

We headed back up the now bustling Rue Montorgueil to Rue Reamur. By the time we got the point where Rue Reamur became Rue de Bretagne we were running ahead of schedule. So we decided to take a break and people watch at Square du Temple. It was such a nice stop; it's hard to imagine that this space was where the Knight Templar once had their castle in the 17th Century!

From here, it took us less than 5 minutes to reach our destination.

As we turned down the alley like Rue de Beauce....well, a certain "fragrance" permeated the air.......the Missus wasn't sure that She'd really wanted to eat here. And well; at least we know why they wouldn't have any outdoor seating!

We were kindly greeted when we arrived....the Hostess spoke to me first in Japanese, which I fumbled badly thru, switching to English! The restaurant was tiny and I was glad we'd made early reservations.

The staff here were wonderful and accommodating which was really on display when a couple came in and when it was time to order......apparently the woman was allergic to stainless steel and nickle (?!?) and made it known that she could not consume foods that had been exposed to certain metals nor anything that had been braised. The hostess came out and even brought out the cookware that was going to be used to make their dishes for inspection!

The Missus went with some wine off the carte.....

Of course we kind of shared things....starting off with the Roasted Padrons and of course I had to get the Foie Gras on Toast.

The Padrons were nicely fired and salted.....there was of course the "pepper roulette" as a couple were nice and spicy.

The Foie Gras was from Landes in the Aquitaine region portion was quite generous.

Both appetizers were good, but nothing amazing. 

But after the bread and "Trou Normand" the show really started.

The White Asparagus with Smoked Haddock was a show stopper.

My goodness; the wonderful sweet and tender white asparagus, we were so glad to be here during asparagus season; along with the smoky, yet not overwhelming smoked fish...the cream sauce tasted like there was some dashi in it....this was wonderful.

I got the Lamb Terrine which was also a winnah!

The texture was terrific; just enough toothsomeness. Loved the balance of gameyness, wine, and mild sweetness. I could eat this everyday. The tarragon based pseudo Sauce Gribiche was too good to put to waste. Lovely pickled radishes and shiso helped to restore one's palate between bites.

Then came the dish of the night; the Tempura Merlu.

The batter was light and crisp; the Merlu (hake), from a place we'd visited before Saint Jean de Luz, had a mild sweetness and was so moist and tender. Though it was that sauce; made with seaweed...it did look like nori, was amazing! Deeply savory, with umami for days. This was a really Japanese cuisine leaning dish. Man, some rice with this would have been amazing!

I ordered the Pork Belly.

Of course the Missus poached that tender, crisp asparagus spear. The tempura broccolini was nicely crisp as well.  The morels and the risotto was nice and earthy-sweet. The pork belly really did taste like a cross between Vietnamese Thit Kho and Buta Kakuni and it was delici-yoso!

I decided to celebrate the dinner with a nice glass of Yamazaki.

Whilst the Missus enjoyed the desserts......in line with the Japanese touches; the desserts weren't overly sweet.

That Lychee granita and grapefruit supreme was wonderfully refreshing.

Like I mentioned earlier, the service was wonderfully accommodating. We noticed that many of the customers were Japanese. Our dinner, with wine, drinks, etc was $265/US! Cheaper than some places in San Diego!

I think we'll be back to this somewhat hidden, cozy spot.

Les Enfants Rouges
9 Rue de Beauce
75003 Paris, France

We had a nice, relaxing walk back to the apartment. And slept soundly......

Our flight to Edinburgh wasn't scheduled until the afternoon, so we didn't have to check-out until 11 or so.

While scheduling and researching this trip I started noticing more craft coffee places in Paris, something I didn't come across during previous trips. There were two places within walking distance and on this morning, I walked on over to Motors Coffee on Rue des Halles.

It's quite the modern craft coffee shop and wouldn't be out of place in San Diego.

They even did cold brew and pour over....called "drip" here....they even had 3 "Geisha's" on the drip menu! I ended up getting the Missus a natural brew and we'd return later for Her to try the pour overs.

I actually had an Americano, which I thought was pretty good.

Motors Coffee
7 Rue des Halles
75001 Paris, France

I even grabbed a Croissant au Beurre from Bo & Mie since it was kind of on the way back to the apartment.

We seemed to be just getting into the groove here in Paris and were somewhat reluctant to leave. But Edinburgh beckoned and we'd be returning for a few more days on the way back!

If you've stuck around to the end of this super long post; I thank you so much! Have a great week!

Paris (2022) - Circling Back to Arnaud Nicolas and Romance is Alive in the City of Lights

We had a nice little nap after our lunch at Ippudo. Also, we had dinner reservations in the 7th and of course the Missus would want to walk there and back, so we'd be putting in a few miles on this day....I wanted to get in a bit of rest.

I knew that our walk to Arnaud Nicolas was going to be about 3 miles each way and we had reservations for right when they opened at 7pm. So we headed out at around 530 to give us some time to window shop, dawdle, and make stops to check things out.

Sunset was after 9pm in Paris, so it still looked like a bright and sunny Saturday. Look how busy it was along the Seine.

We actually took a longer route because the Missus wanted to see how things were coming along at Notre Dame.

Things were much more calm in the 7th......

We got to Arnaud Nicolas right at opening time. Arnaud Nicolas had sort of become a tradition for us since we first ate here at the end of 2017. We made it a point to try and revisit whenever we could. We had reservations for our last night in Paris back at the end of 2019, but due to getting stranded by the transit strike we never made it. So we were looking forward to this meal. Once seated we noticed a couple of things.....the staff, though still friendly were not quite up to snuff....our Server was so nice, but really couldn't tell us about the wine or even the dishes...I'm guessing Covid staff shortages and such. The place also filled up quite quickly, which is not the norm in Paris where folks eat a bit later.....after a few moments it became quite clear, all the customers were either Ex-pats or tourists.

Listening in to what folks ordered was interesting as no one ordered any charcuterie; which to us is what Arnaud Nicolas winner of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF) at the young age of 24 was known for. And soon, again probably due to Covid staffing, the three staff were pretty much in the weeds.

As for us......this is what we got...

The Asperges Vertes - green asparagus dish was fine.

The asparagus, in season during our visit was sweet and tender, the egg yolk added a creamy-richness, though the popcorn seemed a weird addition; perhaps it was added for texture, but it really didn't seem to belong in this dish.

Of course the Foie Gras Mi-Cuit was delicious.

 Perfectly textured, with a wonderful balance of offal-sweet tones, it's one of my favorites versions.

Sadly, another favorite of mine, the Pate en Croute of pork and foie gras really fell short. In the past, it was the crisp, light pastry that really made this a favorite of mine. This time it was really hard and chewy....it was even difficult to cut! It was also very cold, which detracted from the flavors as well.

The Fromage de Tete - head cheese also wasn't quite the same as before as it lacked the complex combination of flavors from the different porky pig head parts.....it was strangely on the bland side. We were happy to have the nice and punchy Sauce Gribiche on hand.

The Missus had always enjoyed the Rum Baba here and I was relieved that She still liked it.

While I had a Calvados as my digestif.

Overall, we were a bit disappointed with this meal....perhaps we had expected too much...perhaps Covid had really affected supplies.....we did give the place a pass on the service because of it.

Perhaps next time we'll just order takeout from the deli and have a foie gras picnic.

Arnaud Nicolas
46 Avenue de la Bourdonnais
75007 Paris, France

After dinner, the Missus wanted to see one of Her favorite views of the Eiffel Tower, so we headed across the Seine to the area around Trocadero.

Where She snapped a ton of photos.

I noticed how peaceful things looked along the Seine so we went down the stairs and walked along the river; where we came across something wonderful.

A group of folks had gathered both on the sidewalk above and along the river.

  There was a sign was set-up, candles, photographers, a violinist! Music was playing! All with a view of the Eiffel Tower!

A nervous looking gentleman in a suit paced back and forth......it looks like a marriage proposal was going to happen.

As time passed more people gathered...all here to watch the spectacle. All strangers sharing in a special moment.

We figured that the proposal was to go down when the when the lights of the Eiffel Tower were sparkling!

How romantic!

That time came and went.....it seems the bride to be was a bit late.

Regardless, a few minutes later, a young lady appeared on the walkway and covered her mouth in surprise as she saw the sign.......we all cheered at her arrival. The Missus has an actual video of this, but it was kind of on the dark side, so I didn't include it.

The music played, the crowd cheered, and I'm fairly certain she said "yes".

We were thrilled to have seen this.......

The Missus and I kept smiling during our walk back to the apartment.

Romance is indeed alive in the "City of Lights". Wouldn't you agree?

Paris (2022) - Bo & Mie, Ippudo, and Getting Reacquainted

And so it came to pass.....almost two-and-a-half years since we were last in Europe, we headed back. There were so many thoughts going thru our heads as we planned and then left for our first stop; Paris. Would it still be our favorite city? Was cafe culture going to be impacted.....what kind of precautions were in place? How would traveling during these times be?

On our flight outward it seemed that the quality of the food on our flights and in the lounges seemed to have taken a hit....generous portions; but not very good eats...

That shrimp salad was surprisingly the best item we had during transit.

As for masks? Well, almost nil on our flight from San Diego to LHR and in the airport. Required on the flight from LHR to CDG and also on the RER Blue Line though very sparse in Paris as a whole.

We arrived in Paris at around 10m and since we decided to stay at the same 'ol AirBnb off Rue Montorgueil, we were familiar the RER Blue line drill, getting off at Les Halles, then the short walk for key pick-up at the Key Cafe Kiosk on Rue Marie Stuart, before heading to the apartment. We were shocked at how busy all the businesses on Rue Montorgueil were....places seemed packed to the gills! The crowd also seemed much younger than I recalled. I guess I needn't have worried too much about all the cafes going out of business as overflow customers were actually standing on the sidewalks having their drinks and socializing. I thought that perhaps this was because it was a Friday night; but it seems that on almost every night all the cafes/bars were packed until at least 10pm.

The next morning I woke early, the Missus was still sleeping off the jet lag, so I decided to head on out and grab some croissants. Rue Montorgueil seemed totally different at this time of the day.

Place Goldoni seemed so peaceful.

I headed down the rather "gritty" Rue Saint-Denis past Passage du Grand Cerf....

And at the intersection with Rue de Turbigo was Bo et Mie, a place I had in my "Croissant Files" list.

The place was quite modern and what we found on this trip was that just about everywhere in Paris now takes plastic; albeit folks instantly knew you were American once you busted out the card since most US Credit Cards will not do chip and pin and/or need a signature.

It was very easy ordering in line, paying by card, and heading out. Bo & Mie has three locations in Paris and is obviously not a Artisan Boulanger, but I had read some pretty good things about the place.

Bo & Mie
18 Rue de Turbigo
75002 Paris, France

I took a different way back; heading past Les Halles and onto Rue Montorgueil, where things were still quite peaceful this morning.

Saint Eustache looked quite lovely in the morning sun.

Once back at the apartment; the Missus made me some coffee via the "pod machine" and we had the croissants.

This was not bad....lacking in enough salt and butter, though it had a decent flakiness and the interior was light and fluffy.

By now it was time to head on out for our "morning assignments". Mine was to pick-up our pocket wifi. The company that I'd been dealing with over the years now had a splashy new store on Opera and the Missus had Her sights on Chanel Cambon; so we headed on out in that general direction. One thing we noticed is that Paris seems to be getting smaller for us. We got to Place des Victoires so very quickly.

At this pace we'd be getting to our destination before opening time; so I decided to take a detour to what I read was the longest passage in Paris; Passage Choiseul.

According to this wonderful post, Passage Choiseul has only been reopened to the public since 2013.

There seemed to be quite a number of eateries in the passage.

We took our sweet old time.....and in doing so we noticed things we had before like Place Gaillon.

We popped out on always busy Opera and picking up our pocket wifi....or as they call it here "weefee".....

And then it was time to hit up Chanel Cambon; which I've detailed in earlier posts. After which we explored the "high rent district" before deciding to head on back to the apartment.

On the way back; on Rue du 4 Septembre, we passed a Picard. Tomorrow would be May 1st, which is Labour Day in France. It is a major holiday here and many places would be closed. I had dinner reservations, but we decided to head into Picard to see if we could get something for that day's lunch.

Picard is a frozen food grocery store chain, with over 900 locations in France. It's fun checking out these shops....think of Trader Joe's frozen food section on steroids....

We bought some frozen morels and an eggplant dish for our Labour Day lunch.

On the way back we were getting a bit hungry. In spite of it being late April, things felt a bit on the chilly side. Before our trip, having been to Paris once or twice a year since 2016 (except for those Covid years) we had decided to treat Paris like a home away from home....sure, we'd indulge in a Michelin meal or two, but since we sincerely believe we'll be returning until we're not able to travel any longer, we'd just have fun, exploring, but not overdoing the sights, museums and such.

And since our last real meal in Paris was Ramen, we thought it would be fun to have some slurping for lunch! And, having been to Ippudo locations in Osaka and Kyoto, I was interested to see how the Louvre location would compare.....so why not, right?

We arrived a shade past the noon opening time and went with an outdoor table....yes, it was a bit chilly, but the ramen would cure that. We were surprised at how quickly the restaurant filled up....though no one chose an outdoor table until there were none left inside.

As we usually do at Ippudo and other ramen shops in Japan; we ordered a ramen, this time the Akamaru Special and also a rice bowl, which in the case here was a Teriyaki Pork Don.

 First off, the broth was totally Ippudo; not overly salty, nice and rich tongue coating thickness, porky, the black garlic oil adding a nice nutty, sesame flavor with a pleasant pungent-sweetness.

The tamago was a perfect orb of egginess.

The weak link was the noodles. This was a total Hakata style noodle fail as the thin noodles were very brittle and hard; lacking any "pull". 

The rice bowl was fine....

The rice was cooked decently; something that we'd find was not the norm in Paris. The pork crisp and light.....

The customers were all Parisians as far as we could tell; no other Asians in sight. This was quite interesting as we'd find Parisians had quite diverse tastes during this trip to Paris.

Ippudo
74-76 Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau
75001 Paris, France

As we headed back to the apartment, the sun had come out.....and with that, all of the Parisians......

Enjoying the sun and socializing. It was as if Covid never happened. Or perhaps folks were relishing and celebrating a hopeful return to normalcy? It was just a tad too crowded for us, so we decided to head on back to the apartment and rest up. We'd be headed to a favorite of ours for dinner.

Thanks for stopping by!

Paris, Sort Of (Before Covid) - Staying at the Sheraton Paris Airport Hotel and Heading Home

I'm doing this pre-Covid travel post out of order since I'll probably start posts on our latest trip and this one really sets up those posts. After spending a nice night and morning in Paris following our stay in Israel and Jordan we headed to Avignon and Provence, where we had a wonderful time. Though I was monitoring a situation. And the news did come down while we were in Avignon. On December 5th, 2019 France's transit workers went on strike. The strike was set to go on until the 10th, which was the day our flight was scheduled to leave CDG. We were scheduled to return via train from Avignon to Paris on the 8th of December, but that wasn't going to happen. So, I set into action; our wonderful AirBnb Host (you are an angel Fabienne) allowed us to stay in Avignon an extra night, she even offered to drive us to Marseille! So, I quickly booked a flight from MRS to CDG. I then went ahead and used our points and booked a Club floor room at the Sheraton located right in Terminal 2. 

The downside? Well, we lost two last evenings in Paris, along with two restaurants we had reservations at, one of which had become a regular stop for us.

We found ourselves in the Air France line at the airport in Marseille, right behind the cutest passenger ever!

Once we landed, being somewhat familiar with CDG, finding the Sheraton was no problem. Several trips back, I remember getting off the RER Blue Line at terminal 2 and commenting to the Missus; "look, there's a Sheraton here!" Little did I know.

We found the hotel lounge at grabbed an afternoon snack.

At dinner time, we headed back to the lounge and I grabbed another bottle of beer, the Missus a glass of wine, a plate of food, and we headed back to our room.

Which we supplemented with stuff we had bought in Provence.

While we watched night set in over the airport......

And woke as the sun rose in the morning......

The British Airways counter and gates were all the way on the other side of Terminal 2, so we headed over, checked-in, and hit the lounge for our breakfast.

And we did make our flights. One thing I noticed are the Business Class meals pre-Covid.

Which you'll be able to compare to what we had on our latest trip.

Some other meals during our layover and flight back to San Diego.

While we missed out on those last two days, I remember telling the Missus; "well, we can just make it up during our trip next year...."

Little did I know that "next year" would be cancelled and turn into two-and-a-half years later......

Thanks for stopping by!

Circling Back to Chicago Fire Grill

As I start circling back to all those "usual" places close to office before our last trip; I decided to start with Chicago Fire Grill. It had been a few months, so I decided to drop by.

Unfortunately, George wasn't there on this morning, so no pearls of wisdom on this day.

The Chicago Dog is priced at $8.......which these days is a bargain here in San Diego.

The portion of fries is about two-thirds the amount of before; but these days it's fried to a decent crispness.

The dog; is well, a Chicago Dog, a Vienna Beef dog with a decent "snap", there were three Sport Peppers this time....two were sneakily hidden, and of course the necessary fluorescent green relish....the slices of tomato, pickle wedge.....well, it had been appropriately "dragged thru the garden".

And these days I'm happy with that. Though I did miss George....so maybe next time.

Chicago Fire Grill
8935 Towne Centre Dr.
San Diego, CA 92122

We're Back!

Well, after dipping our toes in the "Covid world" of travel by visiting CDMX and other locales in Mexico and needing to use our travel vouchers, we decided to go for it. Being unable to travel had created a large chasm in our lives and we really missed travelling, especially to what had become our favorite city. You know the place, right?

During our last visit, back at the end of 2019, we were supposed to end our travels there, but fate intervened (I'll get to that post, I promise) and we ended our trip by staying at the airport. And then came Covid, so there definitely was unfinished business here.

We started and ended our trip here this time, though there was a "bump in the road" (no, it wasn't Covid) which fortunately didn't affect us too much.

The Missus and I started things off by revisiting some old favorites.

And we got to see early on that things were, well, even more busy than we recalled. It could be that we had gotten used to "Covid vacancy", but it also seems like the demographic had changed for our favorite areas as well. But we were happy to see that cafe culture, which I was worried the pandemic would change was in fact going strong.

And then we were off to our next stops......where the Missus was kind enough to indulge my desire to see some specific "sites".

This city has so much to see and a wealth of history.

And even more fascinating stories......

After being cooped up during the pandemic, we decided to splurge and I booked us a private tour over four days.....

Where I got to try some traditional dishes in the appropriate setting. And I really enjoyed it!

And the next part I set-up for the Missus.....

Which was on a charming island.

Which we really enjoyed.......

And the Missus found Her "spirit animal"....

And She found a dish liked as well......

On our way back to the "big city" we made some interesting stops.

Back in this wonderful city, we got to check off two more places on my "list".

And it also has a San Diego "connection" as well.

And lest you think all we ate was traditional food...well....

People were warm, friendly, and the pace was more relaxed then other municipalities we've visited of the same size.

Back where we started we had a wonderful apartment.....with a view that always grabbed our attention at all hours.

And we got to "feed" some of our food obsessions.

And try out a couple of places in the city we'd always wanted to check out.

Along with eating as we usually do here.....

Along with just wandering amongst all those familiar stops.......

And checking on the progress of other places.....

I even took a baking class.

And while things had indeed changed; we took reasonable precautions and actually did self tests during our stay, what hadn't changed was our love of travel.  And we were relieved to find that our love of this city hadn't changed. 

What has changed is that I'm over two years older...so, while I get over my jet lag, keep your eyes peeled.....

While I recover and get back into "San Diego time".

And we'll see you soon....but right now, we gotta run!

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