Giovanni's- Good Italian food

The part usually played by Kirk is once again being played by Cathy. 

Hi. You have probably seen Giovanni's, either on Clairmont Mesa or on Balboa and hopefully you have gone in.  The Mister and I used to go to one or the other location on Football Saturdays to watch Our Team play college football, but alas, both places got to be too crowded with alumni, who all seem to have moved to Southern California after having spent one too many winter/snow seasons in the Great Lake State and so now out alumni now meet here on Saturdays between September and November and, ideally on January 1st.

So, anyhow... We used to meet here.  This is the Giovanni's on Clairmont Mesa, right next to the Registrar of Voters office.   The menu is fairly extensive, with pizzas, sandwiches, salads, appetizers, pastas.  They also serve breakfasts on Saturday and Sunday also, which was good when a football game started at noon on the east coast....although there were many times we had pizza or a sandwich for breakfast...along with whatever beer was on special...ah, when we were young, and didn't sometimes have to work on a weekend...

So, on this day, The Mister and I wanted just a little bit to eat. We got the calamari appetizer ($5.75)

Light and crispy, lightly seasoned breading. The calamari rings were tender and not all rubbery.  We also got the small antipasti salad ($6.75).  That is a low bowl it's served in, so there is a *lot* of lettuce, (romaine and iceberg) as well as olives, tomatoes, three meats and a really good provolone.  Alas, they were out of anchovies that day, but, I lived.  The dressing is a standard Italian and good.

We decided to share a cheese calzone. ..Its only $4.50...kind of looks small on the plate....but... it's got a *very* thin, delicate crust...with good, sweet and olive oil flavors...and it's FILLED with ricotta, provolone and Parmesan, as well as a small (just right) amount of the home made (i.e. chunky with tomatoes, onions, bay leaf and olive oil) marinara.

All in all, Giovanni's has very good to excellent food, is large enough to accommodate large parties (and does, regularly...lots of after-soccer groups of teens and pre-teens meet here; there are video games in the back room) and is informal enough for a quick 'date' with someone for lunch...or breakfast on the weekend.

Giovanni's 9353 Clairmont Mesa Boulevard San Diego 92111 (858) 279-6700 and 6133 Balboa Avenue (858) 278-9191

Comments

[Jo]

ummm... That does look yummy! I love the salad especially. What are the meats? Another downfall here in NC is the complete and utter lack of mortadella. I really miss mortadella. Right now even a so so mortadella would be awesome. As for the calzone, ::sigh:: I would have to do my own. No real hardship except I have yet to plant the ingredients let alone pull them out of the ground and turn them into REAL food....

[Cathy]

Hi again Jo! The meats were a mild salami (no whole peppercorns), a non-descript ham and an OK mortadella. We almost always get the plain (multi cheese) calzones with a marinara sauce..oh to be able to grow tomatoes and basil again...and I always get (or bring) anchovies...

[Jo]

Oh man... ::sigh:: Sunday nights are "party" nights. We eat party foods and play dominoes. That all sounds like it would have been SO delish! Why can't you do T&B? We got to our house to late to have a decent garden last year and I suffered most the lack of a freezer full of tomatoes. That won't be the same story this year! I PROMISE! Basil is a must because it protects from the riot of bugs that come from the field behind the house. I never knew so many crickets, grasshoppers and stink bugs even existed! YUCKO!

[Cathy]

Ah, well, Jo, I meant I have to start the plants again. Even in Southern California we have a cold season, and a couple of weeks ago we had freezing temps for about 4 hours overnight, many plants and trees died, or the majoity of outer leaves froze. My basil was outside and now its gone; parsley however seems to be thriving and my 50+ rose bushes are fine. I don't even start the tomato seeds until about April, but do have a small greenhouse, and the Burpee catalog came a few weeks ago. I am inland about 20 miles and we get extreme heat for the daytime in the summer and extreme cold in the winter. I know a little about preserving foods but merely eat all the tomatoes when they are still warm and fresh off the vine...

[Jo]

::snort:: OoOooo 4 freezing hours! ::laughing:: Ah Cathy, I remember living at that latitude! I sure don't anymore! On the other hand, for our kids sake, I would love to have just a tiny bit of snow. It's possible we might get some this week but who knows? ANYway, I'm not surprised about the parsley. The carrots I put out last season are thriving and they are related to parsley. Red leaf lettuce also survived through several freezes. As for tomatoes, is there a reason you wait until April? If I were in that area I would have my starts already going. I did a couple interesting experiments last year in the hopes of getting mine to last long enough to produce some fruit all to no avail. I will probably have my starts going around the end of the month as it is. I'll be using egg flats at first. I'm not sure if I'll put them straight to ground from there or if I'll transfer them to some other container. Regardless, I'll have some great varieties this year, Hartman's yellow gooseberry, black krim, Aunt Ruby's german green, and I don't know what all else. I found my seed stash from a few years back and found all these great seeds I'd forgotten I had! As for preserving, with tomatoes I have to plant at least 15 to 20 large varieties for enough to save and I like to peel, chop, then put 4 cups (roughly a quart) into quart size freezer bags then freeze them. That allows me to have fresh sauces all through the winter season and I don't have to depend on store bought.

[nhbilly]

Another nice find...I feel I need to take a little more risk and just stop by any joint and try the food. Live a little dangerously ;-)

[Cathy]

Exactly, Bill. For me, if I go someplace 'new' with 'friends'...I try something 'basic' that the restaurant should be able to do well...like a quesedilla and/or bean and cheese burrito at a Mexican/taco place- you would not believe how many bad ones I have had-but I know then not to return...or maybe the house specialty...always the house dressing...At a pizza place, its a cheese pie...at Vietnamese, its the #1...But in general, get something basic. It's The Test.

[Cathy]

Jo- Yes, freezing tomatoes far better than canning...pressure, time, temperature, botulism...

[Jo]

TIME!!! However, since my future has gardens 3 and 4 times the size of past gardens, I plan to both freeze and dry. I need to come up with some good drying methods though... like a smallish shed with a solar powered fan and racks made of screening...

[Cathy]

Under pressure for a certain amount of time and temperature... to ensure against botulism...preserving acidic foods is not an easy task to do properly/safely; preserving sugar based foods (fruits/jams/jellies) not as difficult. Trust me.

[Captain Jack]

I can't believe I have never tried this place before. It sounds very good.

[Cathy]

It is very good, Jack. I suppose you have seen the one on Balboa. The food is excellent, the place is not fancy. On Football Saturdays, they did the beer specials at 9 am. Its perfect!

[Jo]

Yep, heat canning can be tricky. Actually, acidity also lends itself to simplifing the process as well as sugar. Tomatoes being one of the easier things to can without sugar. As a kid, we spent lots of time in Georgia where my mother's family was from and they had "community canneries". It was set up in the school auditorium and you actually canned in cans. There would be families from all around with bushel upon bushel of produce. The fragrance of peaches mingled with tomatoes lingers in my memory to this very day. I also remember cooking pots large enough to bathe in! My grandmother put up "vegetable soup" which was nothing more than tomatoes, corn, and okra. When she opened the cans, she would add a little shredded cabbage, bake a cake of corn bread and that was lunch, or dinner. It was my all time favorite out of her kitchen. ::sigh::

[Jo]

P.S. As for jams & jellies, blackberry is my all time fav! I add about a half teaspoon cinnamon to a half gallon of juice/pulp (I mill out the seeds). It really pulls out the berry flavor. Last summer, I made blueberry jam for the very first time. Blueberries are the North Carolina state blue berry. (Strawberries are the state red berry.) I think we still prefer blackberry. Although this year I will mill out the skins when I make blueberry.

[Cathy]

The veggie soup with cornbread sounds wonderful, Jo. So many of our memories revolve, really, around smells, which coincide with taste...Now, as for the blueberry jam...well, the definition of a marmalade is having the skin of the fruit evenly dispersed in the jam...I had *the best* blueberry marmalade about two years ago...and still crave it...although good flavored balckerries (seeds and all) are fine for me, too...then again, real concord grape jam.....oooh...

[Jo]

Oh yes... aromas, fragrances... stenches on occasion, such as diesel exhaust which takes me on a bus through Palma Mallorca. Fascinating isn't it?

I hadn't realized that the skins made it a marmalade! Thanks for that input. I'd love to hear more about why you loved the stuff you had two years ago. But I must confess, I am a tad bit jealous that you've had real concord grape jam. On the other hand, I plan to be making muscadine jam within the next couple years!

[Cathy]

Preserved foods and, in general, a more 'old fashioned' way of life are a passion of mine, Jo, and so whenever I get the chance to try out someone's home made goods, or even see people at a local Fair making things from scratch, I appreciate it. For the past few summers, a good friend has been doing a demonstration of spinning yarn at Her local Street Fair, and I am so happy she is keeping the Art alive. As far as the taste of concord grapes goes, they seem to be the perfect combination of sweet-tart for me.

[Jo]

Wow! Well Cathy, sounds like you and the Mister need to tag along when Kirk and the Missus come to visit! I think you would like it here. Well, for a little bit, bring your own Bahn Mi!

[Cathy]

Hi Jo...It sounds like fun. Right now there are some Family issues going on along with overloads at work...you know, life is getting in the way. I wonder how bahn mi would travel. Its so good when fresh.

[Jo]

::laughing:: No worries! It's an open invite! As for taveling bahn mi... well... I have a story about bringing a dozen Krystal hamburgers home to California from a trip to Florida. Even a bit on the soggy side is better than what I got, which is nothing. Ain't no Vietnamese food here unless I cook it. Not even the Chinese food is any good. Heck, I bake all my own bread out of pure self defense because the store bought bread here is more like dry wall than a bakery product. Don't EVEN think of using it for toast! There is 1 bakery in town, ok but such a tiny inventory it isn't worth the trip. No donuts unless you want to try to con me into thinking that Dunkin' Donuts is worthy of anything other than a desperation run. Pizza is only so so, there are only 1 or 2 places in town that use fresh mushrooms. Most of the joints use canned and the sausage is... is... ::sigh:: Trust me, an 8 or 9 hour old bahn mi would be a miracle of gastronomic delight!