mmm-yoso!!!

Road Trip - Lone Star Bistro (Lone Pine), Gull Lake, June Lake Brewing, and the La Parilla Truck (June Lake)

During our trip to the Galapagos back in April-May (yeah, I know, I'm really behind on my travel posts), the Missus really took to doing stuffs in the water. One thing She picked up on was SUP (Stand Up Paddleboard) and in fact, we ended up getting one for Her. Several of Her coworkers are really into the kayak and paddleboard thing and will often plan their road trips around camping and those type of activities. So guess what the the Missus wanted?

Yep, She got some recommendations of areas to paddleboard and soon enough we were headed up the 395. Final destination a little town on the west bank of Lake Tahoe named Tahoma. But first, it was recommended that we spend a couple of nights in an area east of the Sierra's named June Lake. My mission as official planner and chauffeur for the Missus? Well, plan things out.

So, it was going to be like a 7 hour drive to where we were staying at in June Lake, which ended up being a comfortable motel/lodge named the June Lake Villager. Of course we needed to stop for lunch. It was early July and super hot, we ended up taking a break in the town of Lone Pine. I had a place picked out for a quick meal; the Lone Star Bistro. Yes, the Alabama Hills Cafe is much loved, but man, it was so busy. So instead we entered this combo ice cream-cafe-coffee-gift-sandwich shop. The place was fairly busy and we even saw some remote workers doing their thing as well. In Lone Pine!

I walked up to the sandwich counter and the friendly young lady filled me in on the "drill".

I basically filled out an "order form" and the Missus handed me two bottles of sparkling water.

I ordered the "signature" sandwich called the "Lone Pine Charmer"; with bacon, turkey, avocado, provolone, it sounded like a single sandwich would be enough for the both of us. I asked that they cut the sandwich in half, paid, and we took a seat in the covered back patio, which wasn't too hot.

The young lady who dropped off our sandwich wasn't quite as friendly....when I thanked her, she went "umph....." Can't win 'em all, right?

 I was pleasantly surprised to see that Marbled Rye was used, which added an interesting yeasty-tangy-sourness to the sandwich. As a whole, a routine sandwich, basic mass produced sliced turkey; we enjoyed the cucumber and sprouts the most. It was enough for our lunch and we walked thru this western theme town to our car and headed off.

Lone Star Bistro
107 North Main St.
Lone Pine, CA 93545

From here it was up the 395. I had wanted to stop at Manzanar, it's one of those places on my "list", but it was over a 110 with crazy winds as we drove by, so that visit will have to wait until the next time.

About two hours later we got to the southern junction of I-395 and I-158. The 158 is a loop road, known as the June Lake Loop and passes four different lakes before reconnecting with the 395 just past SR 120. It was a fairly nice drive up to about 7,600 feet.

We arrived at the charming little village of June Lake and went to the motel to see if our room was ready. It was a bit too early, but I had a plan just in case. Gull Lake, the smallest of the four lakes along the loop is close by. And the Marina and launch area was just a few blocks away.

We easily found parking and the Missus set off on Her adventure.

I took a stroll around the lake a bit and then headed to the Marina Shop, which does boat rentals....I saw families and folks fishing off boats in the lake.

The area is quite charming......

I walked into the shop to get some sparkling water.

And I asked about the sign above, which cracked me up. I was told that the cats here are really tough and territorial; "they don't play around!" But there was a sweet pooch hanging out by the sign? I was told "oh, he knows better....he learned his lesson a long time ago!" I would actually find out that the sign is true a bit later on during our visit.

I had a seat and checked emails and stuff.

Looking over the lake, I felt so relaxed.....

Soon, I got a text from the motel telling me our room was ready. The Missus had the car keys with Her, so I took the short walk up the hill and got the room keys. When I walked back down to the lake, the Missus was packing things up.

Once in the room, which was quite large, it was a one bedroom unit with a kitchen; the Missus freshened up and then we took a short walk . Most of the restaurants, the general store, and businesses were on the main road. But there were some nice shops down driveways and side streets.

We weren't particularly interested in any of the restaurants; so we decided to head on over to the June Lake Brewery which was basically around the corner from where we were staying....but most everything was!

The brewery had a large, welcoming outdoor space, with a food truck at one end of the lot. 

Boy was this place popular! It was the most people we'd see during our time here.

While I went to get our brews, the Missus went to order our food at the truck.

The two gals pouring the beers were so nice and friendly.

We wanted something on the lighter side since it was pretty warm out; so we got the two lagers, both were under 5% ABV.

I found us a table and waited for the Missus. She soon arrived with a buzzer which would go off when our order was ready. The Missus took to the Japanese Lager, which She thought was smoother and easier to drink than the lighter "Lager for Joggers".

There were some pretty interesting "seats" in the place.

Soon enough we got "buzzed" and I went to pick it up and return to our table.

We had gotten the "Boss Nachos" with Carne Asada. The portion size was large and this supposedly was quite spicy, the Missus was warned, but it wasn't overly hot to us. The portion size was quite generous.

The carne asada was nicely grilled, but quite chewy, and mildly seasoned. There was just a small amount of ghost pepper cheese on this, which had some kick, but there wasn't enough to really matter. The chips were routine, there was sour cream and guac added. Overall, just like what you'd get at an Americanized Mexican spot here in San Diego.

I had wanted to try the Al Pastor, so we ordered a taco.

From the bland and brittle tortillas, to the dry and flavorless al pastor, this was not to our taste.

Still, we enjoyed the vibe of the brewery and the service was quite friendly. We'd return for a brew on the following evening.

June Lake Brewing and La Parrilla Grill & Tacos
131 S Crawford Ave.
June Lake, CA 93529

After dinner we walked back down to Gull Lake and took in the view.

It had been a pretty long day; but I'd say the view and vibe was worth it!

Thanks for stopping by!

PB Poke House, Fish & Things Poke Bar, and Poke Chop. Does PB Now Stand for "Poke Bowl?"

I know I've mentioned trying new places and getting ideas for places when overhearing conversations. A few months ago, I was having coffee and breakfast at a usual neighborhood stop when I overheard two "bro's" chatting about food. Of course that got my attention. One of them kept on saying that PB was the best 'hood for food in town. Of course, where did he live? Right, you got that. Anyway, he mentioned that there were three poke places in PB he frequents and he even gave them in order of preference. Hmmm....you know, with the traffic, crowds, tourists, and let's not even talk about parking, I rarely get to PB. When I do it's a stop at Trader Joe's on Garnet and maybe head up Ingraham to Gelson's or  and perhaps Wayfarer. Though mornings in the "off-season" aren't too bad and I might make a stop....in fact, I'm waiting for things to settle down a bit before giving La Clochette another try (thanks for the rec' Kathy!).

But poke, eh? I had the idea of trying the three places mentioned. Of course, I wasn't going to push the issue. I've had my share of mediocre poke (at places that can't even spell "poke" - thought that's perhaps an indicator) at those "chi-poke" places. I just waited.

And then it happened a couple of months back, I needed to head out to Mission Boulevard...the Mission Beach side. So, I thought I'd just head up Mission and see if I could snag some parking on the street near one of the two places I had in mind. I really wasn't very confident, but guess what, there was street parking right on Mission across the street from....

PB Poke House:

As I crossed the street, I had a sense of nostalgia overtake me. You see PB Poke House is located here.

Folks who have been in San Diego for a while might recognize the location. Yep, the original location of Da Kine's was upstairs. Man, the memories. I was consulting in San Diego in the late-90's and missing a plate lunch. And at that time Da Kine's was the only show in town. ....

Anyway, back to reality. The shop is fairly small, it has a few tables inside and one outdoors.

The woman working was really friendly. Being more of a old fart basic poke guy, I went with the large Classic Shoyu Poke Bowl ($19.50). My bowl was ready in no time and I headed on home. This looked pretty good. As I opened up the bowl, I decided to set simple overall criteria - if this place was a block or two away, would I get the poke once in a while?

    The fish looked not bad. As I looked at the seaweed salad and surimi salad, then had a taste of the poke, I got full on 8th and B "vibes". The fish was of decent quality, fairly tender, no off flavors. Like 8th and B the fish was highly sauced and on the sweeter end of the spectrum. Not sure why they call this "classic" since it's much sweeter than what I get back "home".

The portion size was fairly generous.

 It might have been a bit much, but was really not bad at all. What was bad was the brown rice which was severely undercooked and hard. Not good eats.

So, the verdict? I guess if PB Poke House was around the corner I might eat here every so often, after all they have Spam Musubi. It's a bit too sweet and over-sauced for me, but the fish seemed of decent quality and the folks working were really friendly!

PB Poke House
4150 Mission Blvd. #145
San Diego, CA 92109
Current Hours:
Daily 11am - 7pm

A couple of weeks later, I decided to see if I could sneak in and find parking at the next place which was right up the street from PB  Poke House. The name of the place......

Fish & Things Poke Bar:

In retrospect, I'm not sure I'd want to have seafood at a place that sells fish and "things"....what kind of things specifically? And after my visit, I did some checking and found that this is a franchise that started in Elk Grove? Just south of Sacramento, not quite the hotbed of fresh seafood in my mind.

Of the three places visited, this was the nicest looking, and had decent indoor and a couple of outdoor tables.

Like the other shops, this was the typical fast-casual set-up.

The menu is pretty large, featuring some cooked dishes, sushi (ahem, rolls that is), and build your own "chi-poke" bowl. 

I went with the Classic (of course) Hawaiian, which seemed like shoyu ahi ($20.95).

My first thought when I opened things up was "what's up with the mac nuts?" The half nuts were just too big for this. The shoyu wasn't overly sweet, but was used quite sparingly. The quality of the fish, while not bad, wasn't to my liking. Too much "sugi" - rubbery connective tissue. The rice was cooked nicely....I forgot to ask about brown rice. I might have been traumatized after my visit to PB Poke House.

 The portion size seemed on the smallish side, but still isn't bad compared to the "manini" 2 ounce portions I've seen at the chi-poke places.

To me second tier poke. And I'm sorry to say, second tier and raw fish is something I really don't want to eat.

Fish & Things Poke Bar
740 Hornblend St.
San Diego, CA 92109
Current Hours:
Mon - Sat 1130am - 8pm
Sunday 1130am - 730pm

After this, I decided to give it a rest and kinda left things as is. Until recently, when the Missus requested an item from a nearby Patisserie (more on that revisit later). Which just happened to be on the block right next to....

Poke Chop:

Which is another mini chain with several locations and another coming soon in Mission Valley. According to the "surfer bro'" this was the best of the three. I'd been having some luck finding parking in PB and this day was no different as I got a nice spot on Gresham, which would my "escape from PB" via Grand quite easy.

I walked on over and was crossing the street at 11 when the place opens.

By the time I crossed the street and walked in, there were already folks in line ahead of me.

Looking at the menu, it was obvious this was one of those "chi-poke" places. Pick your fish, pick your stuffs, pick your sauce, etc.....

It was interesting listening to what the guys in front of me ordered, lots of salmon and spicy tuna, mayo based sauces, won ton chips......

As for me, well the marinated tuna wasn't ready, and the nice fellow working the front of house suggested I get the tuna, I took a medium bowl ($17.50), with both the Sweet Sesame and Ginger Shoyu on the side. Which is what I got, without all the other "chi-poke" stuffs, getting just ginger, and furikake, along with brown rice.

When I opened things up at home I had a pause.

    Good lord, this looked totally like "saku", Carbon Monoxide treated fish. So much sugi, so dry looking, I was kinda not wanting to eat this. I tried a piece and it was mushy, yet chewy, with a metallic tinge. Yikes. 

On the positive side, the brown rice was nutty and tender, but man, that sweet sesame was syrupy and super sweet, the shoyu tasted fine, but even that couldn't hide the quality, or lack thereof of the fish. The ginger-shoyu was fine but could not hide the very low quality of the fish. Egads, it reminded me of the first time I learned about "saku", fish treated with Carbon Monoxide for color and preservation all those years ago.

Well, if you want to go the "chi-poke" route with a large portion of saku fish...well, this is for you. As for me, even if it were right across the street, I would not eat there. But heck, if its your thing have at it.

Poke Chop
1404 Garnet Ave.
San Diego, CA 92109
Current Hours:
Daily 11am - 9pm

As for me, well we're headed "home" in a few months, and in the interim I'm going to HFS if I just need to get some poke!

El Taller De La Barbacoa (Spring Valley)

While picking out my photos from our visit to Las 9 Esquinas, I (obviously) got a hankering for some birria or barbacoa. A few weeks earlier, I had been wondering what was going on with the former location of Emily's in Spring Valley, which was an awesome recommendation from "FOY" Kenneth! Sadly, Emily's had closed and gone to doing catering only in Chula Vista. While doing my search I found that the location now housed a restaurant named El Taller De La Barbacoa...hmmm.....barbacoa "workshop/factory" eh? 

So, on a recent Sunday, I decided to make the 20 mile drive to Spring Valley. It was still quite early, like 845 am when I arrived, one source said the place opened at 9am, while Google said 8am. The little parking lot still had open stalls and the signage said they open at 8am.

I could make out the fragrance of birria in the air from the parking lot. A good sign!

And the interior is now quite colorful!

Not quite knowing the drill, I walked up to the counter. The gentleman working, I'm thinking he's the owner looked very serious, but was quite friendly and the young woman working was very nice and said I could just have a seat. Though I just went ahead and placed my order for a Taco de Barbacoa de Borrego, a Birria de Res, and a small Consomme de Borrego.

The salsas were soon delivered to my table.

That salsa roja had a nice kick and bit of smokiness.

Soon enough my order arrived. I was surprised to see how hefty the tacos were. I was surprised at how much consomme was provided. This was going to be quite a filling breakfast.

 The consomme was aromatic and  slightly rich without having that greasy "tongue feel" that I don't like. It was just slightly gamey, but not bland, and you knew there was some "chivo" swimming around here. It wasn't very salty and really needed the lime to help things out. I prefer my consomme having a bit more goatiness, but this was decent.

As for the two tacos......

  I preferred the Barbacoa, which was moist and more tender than the Birria, which was on the chewier side of things. The birria did well with a dip into the consomme, some salsa, and a squeeze of lime. While it was a level above what I have nearby, in terms of the smokiness - spice - complexity - beefiness, it's still not as good as what I've had at Fernandez, though it's been a while.

As for the Barbacoa, it looked chewy, but was fairly tender, milder in seasoning which actually brought out the rich - gaminess more. It also did nicely with a dip into the consomme.

The tacos were enrobed in double tortillas which held up well and provided some nice maize tones.

When I went to the counter to pay my bill, I was shocked at the price - $13.47! I definitely expected it to be more. The portion sizes were quite generous and the service very nice. I thought this was a decent meal though I really do miss Emily's.

El Taller de la Barbacoa
1015 Grand Ave
Spring Valley, CA 91977

Speaking of Emily's, I'm wondering if Kenneth who recommended Emily's to me has had a chance to check this place out?

Menu Revisions at Taste of Hunan

Yes, I know, I just a post on Taste of Hunan back in May. But, since our first revisit in years back in April, it's been a favorite of the Missus, and we've been returning every other week or so. And, in July, I went to do a takeout order and noticed that the menu had been revised, there were several new dishes added, and several, like the "Stir Fried Pork Lard with Green Pepper" were no longer on the menu.

So, I thought I might as well do another post before the menu changes again and highlight some of our favorite newer menu items.

Let's begin things with what happened on that takeout visit. I went and ordered the Minced Pork with Pickled String Beans as part of my order. When I got home and the Missus opened the container She looked at me angrily and said "why did you order the sliced chicken gizzards with pickled string beans, you know I don't like that, I specifically told you to get the pork!" I told Her that I ordered the pork, but She didn't believe me. 

Anyway, on our next visit, we decided to dine in and I pointed out the item on the menu. It was the only one with pickled string beans.

The Missus looked at me and said; "see, it says chicken gizzard!" I told Her no, it says minced pork. Well, apparently it says chicken gizzards in Chinese....but I don't read Chinese! Sigh.

Anyway, from that point on we've basically dined in at Taste of Hunan, ordering 3-4 dishes and taking the leftovers home where I stir fry veggies on the Big Kahuna.

Here are a few of our favorites, along with some ordering notes when applicable.

My favorite dish is the Xiangxi Style Beef Entrails.

  Man, when the tripe is right it is so buttery as is the tendon. The other cuts of cow are so beefy. This has some decent spice. The key is to eat it at the restaurant and let it sit over the heating element for a while before giving it a good mix. It'll sizzle away and the onions at the bottom will get soft and creamy and absorb all the beefy-spicey goodness.

The Stir Fried Chicken with Pickled Radish is another favorite of ours.

The key here is to get it with boneless chicken, it's more meaty and tasty, and you can put it away faster without getting slinters of bone stuck in your gums. You can order the chicken without bones. Also, be aware of the large slices of ginger. You might think that's some pickled radish and you'll be in for a surprise. Funny thing is; I've gotten used to eating large chunks of ginger and kind of enjoy it now! Decent spice, nice sour-acidity.

If you want to get "Wild" (Cherry) and "Play that Funky Music", definitely get the Braised Pork Intestines.

On occasion it's been quite buttery and tender.

Even when it's not super tender, it's "offal-y" good. 

The Missus likes the Braised Pork with Quail Eggs.

She loves those little molten orbs of lava which are the quail eggs which have been slightly boiled, the yolks are usually soft, and then fried. Be careful!

This really isn't Hunan as it lacks spice. The pork belly is very swiney and it's on the sweeter end of the scale almost Su Cai. It's great as leftovers on a bowl of rice.

Of course not everything was a hit with us. The Beef Brisket with Sweet Potato Noodle was so-so.

The meat was very beefy, but too chewy, the noodle sheets mushy, and the broth on the bland-sweeter side of things.

The Steamed Tofu and Fish Filet with Chilies was ok. The tofu was nice and silken, but the fish was mushy.

And sometimes, even our standbys miss the mark. On this visit, the Tea Smoked Duck was quite good.

But on our most recent visit; the duck was dry, tough, and rubbery. And the skin was like eating saran wrap. 

We did notice that we don't find the dishes here to be overly salty. And our new favorite dishes above have always been good the 3-4 (or more) times we've had them. Though it's always been for dining in.

And while I do miss the stir fried pork lard, the beef entrails have always been good. It's our new favorite. Hope you enjoy Taste of Hunan!

Taste of Hunan
9880 Hibert St.
San Diego, CA 92131

Guadalajara - Touring the Centro Historico

**** There's not much food in this one and I'm going to mostly post photos otherwise this post would span pages. Hope you enjoy!

During my "younger" days, I eschewed tours thinking that they would be full of "tourist fluff". But over the years, we've come to really enjoy certain tours, usually small group or private, where we have the opportunity to learn about the history, culture, and of course food! 

To be perfectly honest, before this trip, other than the food, birria, tortas ahogadas, carne en su jugo, and such, I really knew nothing about Guadalajara. Being in the city gave us a chance to change that. I came to find out that the city has so much rich history and art, it's just really impossible to appropriately cover things in a short trip. Still, we wanted to learn and see, and I ended up booking a Private Walking Tour with Diego Hannon. It ended up being an enriching 3 hour walk, full of so much info, and Diego also made it fun for us. We also gained insight on growing up and living in the city.

Our meeting place was in an area we hadn't been to yet called Colonia Americana, in front of a Hamburger restaurant? Hmmm..... The night before, I did some Googling on the neighborhood and found that in 2022, TimeOut declared it the Coolest Neighborhood in the World. We turned out to really like Colonia Americana, which was originally the home to wealthy Europeans and such. And to really seal things; the US Consulate was a block from where we met!

Diego quickly pointed out these plaques in the sidewalk.

  According to Diego, there are 700 of these in the city, which mark historic structures in the city. Whoa, 700!

And it turns out we loved this neighborhood, which reminds us of an more mellow Condesa or Roma in CDMX.

This is where I'd want to stay on our next visit.

Lovely mansions and buildings that have been transformed to cafes and shops.....

And the public art is amazing!

The streets are wide and beautiful.

And soon we were off to see Centro Historico. Diego had so much info that I'm not going to go into detail. If you're interested, I want you to go to Guadalajara to explore!

We stopped by a church that wasn't in the central historic district; Templo Expiatorio del Santísimo Sacramento.

Diego told us that this church took 75 years to build and was just finished in 1972. Because of specific rules, Diego would leave us to explore the churches and cathedrals, but would always give us info and hints as to what to see.

This church was built in the very ornate gothic style.

There's a well known statue of Pope John Paul II outside the church which commemorates his visit to the city in 1979.

Diego was so full of information.

At the Templo de Nuestra Señora del Carmen, which was just a half block from where we were staying, we were told not to miss the the murals.

We were also told that due to the location this was once the preferred church of the wealthy in the city.

We were taken into the Biblioteca Iberoamericana Octavio Paz, a huge library that was once a Jesuit College that dates back to the 16th century.

Plaza de Armas is considered to be the historic "center" of the city.

The next stop was the Cathedral.

This one was interesting. We have been in so many cathedrals over the years; each is different, each has it's own stories.

For us, the one that stays with us, lies here.

Yes, even though the bottom seems to spell "MOM", it ain't her. This are the mummified remains of Saint Inocencia, who was supposedly killed by her father after taking Holy Communion and becoming Catholic against the wishes of her father.

It is said that that on occasion she will open her eyes! I did find this post regarding that phenomenon.

From here we strolled to the Rotonda de los Jaliscienses Ilustres which I wrote about in my previous post.

From here we spent some time in Plaza de la Liberación, considered to be the historical center of the city.

That lovely building is the Teatro Degollado.

There were so many statues in the area and Diego would go into the history and significance of each at a glace.

We would go past something, like this....

And ask Diego about it. And without a pause he would tell us. FYI...this is a statue of Beatrice Hernandez, who it is said is one of the founders of Guadalajara.

Much of it culminated in this display in back of the theatre.

This commemorates the founding of the city and includes all those who are founders of the city.

Diego told us that this area is considered to be where the city was founded!

This was a fun tour. Having a private guide meant flexibility, and with Diego's experience, he soon picked up on the info we enjoyed.

Things ended at the huge Mercado Libertad.

Where we had lunch at a Mariscos stand.

Which was fine.

What for us was outstanding was the tour, the flexibility, the amount of knowledge that Diego had, which he presented in a most entertaining way. You could go as deep as you wanted. We also learned what is was like growing up in Guadalajara, a bit of the culture, and most of all, we gained a deeper appreciation of the Tapatios!

Thanks for stopping by!

Guadalajara - Birria de Chivo from Birriería Las 9 Esquinas and a Walk Around Centro Historico

After our Food Tour of Santa Tere, we headed on back to the hotel and had a short nap time. After waking and freshening up, we decided to head on out for dinner. I had a place in mind, one that had been recommended to me, by no less than three folks with Tapatio heritage. In case you didn't know, a Tapatio is what you call a person from the city of Guadalajara. In trying to figure out why; well, I came across several different "stories", but thought that this article was the most informative. 

It was still early, so in spite of the hot weather, we decided to take the "long way" to dinner, strolling thru Centro Historico. We had a private walking tour of the city scheduled for the next morning, but thought it might be fun to get a preview.

Being that the city was established in 1532 and founded in 1542, declared as the capital of Nueva Galicia, there's a lot of history here. And the diverse architecture illustrates the changes. We heard that Guadalajara is called the "Florence of Mexico" from several sources during our stay.

 Instead of heading straight down Avenida Juarez, the main drag, we strolled down Calle José María Morelos and of course we passed a couple of churches. This one caught our attention because it was open for visitors, so we decided to take a look.

According to the signage, this is Parroquia Santa Teresa de Jesús, which started it's existence as a convent. Construction on the structure was started in 1690 and completed in 1720. At the time of it's completion, this was considered the edge of the city!

According to Wikipedia, the convent was converted and sold to the Archdiocese of Guadalajara in 1977 and is now in service as a Catholic Church.

Just a few blocks down is the bustling Plaza Guadalajara, one of the four plazas that surround the Cathedral.

There are also several fountains in the plazas. This one is Fuente de Guadalajara, in other words, "Guadalajara Fountain".

It's really popular with the kids! 

We knew that the Cathedral would be part of the tour the following day so we took a left and quickly noticed a Rotunda.

  Looking at my Google Maps, I identified this as the Rotonda de los Jaliscienses Ilustres (Rotunda of the Illustrious Jaliscienses). The actual name I saw in my Google Maps was Rotonda de los Hombres Ilustres which is literally translated to "Rotunda of Illustrious Men". Which is a monument to those who have made Jalisco what it is today. There are 98 niches to house urns of those prominent figures. And 22 statues surround the monument. I quickly saw a statue of a woman, and would find out that the addition of Rita Perez de Moreno and Irene Robledo García would hasten a name change from our guide Diego the next day. 

Past the Rotunda, we saw a nice walkway and after a couple of blocks came across this charming looking Carousel.

  Guadalajara, at least what we saw of it seemed like a nice family friendly city. This is the Carrusel Monumental de Guadalajara.

And right past the carousel was yet another temple.

This is the Temple San José de Gracia, which was completed in 1890. It has an interesting story which you can read by clicking on the link.

By now, we were getting hungry, and our destination for dinner meant another 15-20 minute walk south. Past the plazas and the lively streets. 

We strolled past a very busy location of Liverpool, a popular department store chain, before finding ourselves in a nice plaza.

This is Plaza De Las 9 Esquinas. It is surrounded by restaurants, including several birria shops. You know us and birria de chivo, right? Well, like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, there was one restaurant that came highly recommended. And the name was easy to remember as it is the namesake restaurant here; Las 9 Esquinas.

We had arrived at about 530 and the place wasn't too busy. It would eventually fill up with families.

The service was very warm and friendly and we could watch the women making tortillas, salsas, and guac.

Well, of course we were going to get Birria de Chivo; we got a small order and the Missus wanted to try the Quesadillas and got one each of the Huitlacoche, Champinones, and Flor de Calabasa.

Loved the salsas. The salsa rojo to the left was super smoky and spicy! 

And the beans were lovely; earthy - nutty, with just the right amount of salt.

Nice a creamy as well.

The Quesadillas were fine. The huitlacoche (corn smut) was fabulous, mushroomy-earthy-sweet, with a touch of "truffleishisness".

After tasting that, the mushroom version seemed quite weak, though the flor de calabasa (squash blossom) had a mild earthy-nutty-sweetness. The cheese was so stringy and paired well with the huitlacoche adding a mild milkiness.

And of course the Birria de Chivo.

    What to say about this? The meat was on the toothsome side, but the goat was oh so gamy; flavor of the pasture indeed. There was a nice goaty-smokiness to the broth which had a lightly rich tongue feel without being greasy at all. For some reason, those pickled onions were just amazing with this. The freshly made tortillas were hardy and up to the task. By far the best birria de chivo we've ever had.

We really enjoyed our meal here.

Funny thing, when I got back to the office, I spoke to one of the managers of another group who asked me where we travelled to. I told him CDMX, Guadalajara, and Tequila. He told me his family is from Guadalajara and I should have asked him for some recommendations. He said there's a birria place they always go to when visiting family....guess where it  was? Yep, Las 9 Esquinas! I guess we made a good choice!

Birriería Las 9 Esquinas
Calle Colón 384
Zona Centro, 44100 Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

It was still pretty darn hot as we walked back to the hotel. I went and got my phone out and took a look at the temperature. Sheesh!

Still, having that birria de chivo made it worth dealing with the heat!

Thanks for stopping by!

Dalu Hawaiian BBQ

It's not very often that I read about a plate lunch place opening in Eater, but back in June I noticed an entry for a place named Dalu. So, doing the Google Maps thing, I noticed it was located in Rancho San Diego; man that's over a 20 mile drive for me. And yet, I was intrigued. I also noticed that the place opened at 10am, which fit fairly well into my weekend schedule. So, I decided to head on over. 

I arrived at the CottonWood Plaza right past ten am. I guess I shouldn't have been worried since there was basically only one other car in the part of lot where Dalu is located.

It's quite a large space. The place has a full on, almost kitschy, stereotypical Hawaiian theme. A bit over-the-top.

There's even a sort of tiki-ish bar in the place as well.

The young lady working the counter was very nice and friendly. I inquired about the ownership, to see if it has roots "back home", but was not given a straight answer, so I'm figuring not? The two guys working the kitchen were conversing in Spanish. But what the heck, I was here, right? I decided to try a mix plate, to get a taste of more than one item and I selected the Katsu Mix ($18.25).

I as kindly given a cup some H2O and passed this quite different teriyaki sauce warmer thingy????

I had a seat and the young lady actually brought my order to the table. I had totally thought I'd have my name called and would pick up my plate at the counter. Very nice. Not so nice, I noticed there was no katsu sauce. I waked on over and asked if they had katsu sauce and was given some. So, please note; if you get the katsu here, I think you might have to ask for the sauce. I don't think it would be fun doing takeout and finding no sauce with your katsu.

As for the plate; well, it was good sized.

   As I figured it was typical "LA Kalbi" - flanken/cross cut ribs. First thing I hit up was the mac salad. It was quite plain , with a few strands of carrots. It needed some salt and pepper and was kind of "watery" as the mayo hadn't really coated the macaroni well.

The rice was moist and fluffy.

The breading on the katsu had adhered well to the chicken, which was fairly moist, but on the tough side and in need of seasoning.

  At most places, the chicken would be tenderized to an even thickness, but this was not, thus some bites were pretty thick and tough.

As for the "katsu sauce"; sigh. Just take a look. This was weird, like ketchup watered down with vinegar.

A for the rest of the proteins; well the Ribs were teriyaki style, not kalbi, so the sauce for both that and the teri beef were the same. A thicker glaze and on the really sweet side.

The teri beef, though on the thicker side and not coated thoroughly actually handled the sweet soy better.  The ribs were really tough and chewy.

Hmmm......not quite what I expected. Nice folks though. After this meal, I contemplated doing a post or perhaps not doing one at all. After some thought, I decided that in cases like my maiden voyage to Dalu, and because prices were not crazy, it would be better to do a second visit, in spite of the distance. I guess if I had enjoyed this visit, I would have had no problem with a post. I know.....I'm kinda weird.

Anyway, a couple of weekends later, I drove back east, arriving again right after the ten am opening time.

There was a different young lady working this time; but she was just a nice and friendly. As to what to order? Hmmm.....it had been a while since I'd had a decent loco moco and Dalu's made a "mini loco" which was priced nicely at $11.25; yep over ten bucks, but considering that I'd recently had an avocado toast for $12, this seemed a bargain.

Of course I ordered my egg easy-over. Again the young lady delivered my plate to the table. She asked me if I wanted some teriyaki sauce....what???? I asked for Tabasco, but was told they didn't have any.

    On this visit, it seemed like the gentleman who I believe is the owner was working the kitchen, so I was interested to see how my food would turn out. The first good sign was the mac salad, which while still in need of more salt and pepper was evenly coated and the mayo not runny like on my last visit.

And as I was about to "dig in", the young lady returned to my table, handing me a bottle of Tabasco! She told me; "I asked and they had a bottle in the back". So nice, yeah?

And a thought came to me as I prepared to dig in. I hadn't used the Modified Rubio scale in ages. For those who don't recall, it's a scale originally developed by James Rubio who had the now defunct Big Island Grinds blog that I modified and have used many times in the past. Funny thing, I haven't used the scale since 2019...another thing that Covid seems to have derailed!

To quote that post of long ago:

"The original Rubio Scale measured each item on the Loco, I decided to take the "base" items, the Burger, Gravy, Egg, and Rice. To this I added "Stuffs", that include macaroni salad, Spam, or any other item that comes with the Loco. All items are graded on a scale between 1 through 5, with 2.5 being average."

Anyways, here goes:

BURGER: Thin, lean with no filler, on the tougher side, but not bad. 2.5

EGGS: Nice and runny. Would have been perfect with more crisp edges and if the eggs were seasoned. No "off" flavors. 3.5

RICE: Decently cooked, fragrant, you could make out every grain. 2.5

GRAVY: Thick, rich, on the gluey end of the scale and quite salty. 2.0

STUFF: The Mac Salad was better this time around, but man, I wish it was seasoned better. 2.0

The total? 12.5, perfectly average.

I also had an interesting chat with a customer who sat on a nearby table. Apparently, this used to be a taco shop named David's Fresh Mexican. But a few months back, the owner, his name is Luis switched it over to Hawaiian BBQ. So, I'm guessing a minimum connection with the islands? 

Overall, the gals working were really nice; the food better than L&L, but below what I expect from Island Style Cafe, Homestyle Hawaiian, Leilani's, etc. I had fun visiting and getting out of my typical "range", but the drive is really not worth it for an average plate lunch. 

If you check them out, let me know what you think!

Dalu Hawaiian BBQ
2451 Jamacha Rd.
El Cajon, CA 92019
Current Hours:
Daily 10am - 9pm

Happy Hour at The Lion's Share, Almost 8 Years Later

Ever since the Clairemont Drive Trolley station was completed near the end of 2021, the Missus and I have been trying to take advantage of it, though mostly due south. Recently, the Missus and I were chatting about doing a happy hour and for some reason we thought of The Lion's Share. Heck it had been so long since we last visited, we didn't even know if they were still open! But, doing a quick check, I confirmed that they were still open and also still did Happy Hour! There were two ways we could do the trolley there; the Blue Line to Santa Fe Depot with a short walk or take the Blue Line, then transfer to the Green Line at Old Town. The Green line stop is right around the corner from the restaurant. We decided on walking from Sante Fe Depot.

Once opening the door and stepping in, we were greeted by a very friendly gal. The place still has that interesting, somewhat bizarre decor and for some reason it seems even darker than before.

We decided that the bar area was just a bit too dark for us and decided to get a two top in the front area, under the watchful eyes of the various creatures present; both mounted and framed.

The friendly young lady brought us menus and asked if we'd been here before. When we mentioned the last time was nearly 8 years ago, she mentioned changes that had occurred, including a recent changing of chefs.

Looking over the menu, the Missus and I were instantly drawn to the Happy Hour portion.

In what alternate universe would you be able to get cocktails for $8 in downtown in this day and age? Of course, in our cynical minds we had doubts to how good they would be and immediately ordered two!

We saw two items from the HH food portion we wanted and I also saw Bison Tartare on the main menu. You know me and tartare, right?

Strangely, two of our food items came out before our drinks!

The Missus had wanted to try the Wagyu Beef Cheek Tacos (HH - $15).

Looking at this, I wasn't too inspired. The beef looked really "wet", almost scummy, and was that Sambal I see on the tacos? But, this was quite good. The tortillas, while on the milder end of the maize scale held up well; the salsa verde was tangy, sour, and had good spice. And most off all, those cheeks were so very beefy. The Missus actually preferred these to tacos we'd recently had at Tahona (post coming up). 

When I think of The Lion's Share, I think of somewhat exotic meats. I had always enjoyed the Venison Sliders (HH - $15), so I had to order that.

   Man, these were a lot more hefty than I recalled. The venison, which was done medium-well, we weren't asked for a preference. had a mild gamey flavor, the Havarti was kind of wiped out by the bacon and onion jam, which added a nice sweet-pungent touch to this. I enjoyed this, but it was a bit much for the Missus.

In case you were wondering where are the cocktails? So were we. Soon after the sliders our cocktails arrived. I got the Vodka Mule which was quite refreshing and not watered down. The Missus enjoyed it more than I did. And funny thing, the Missus ordered Federal Buffalo Stamp which was too strong for Her, but I enjoyed. These were definitely not watered down and well worth $8!

Soon enough our Bison Tartare ($22) arrived. Apparently, I hadn't read that it was served on Bone Marrow! I have a thing about cold, raw, beef being served on hot bone marrow, but this was awesome as the bone marrow was warm and not hot at all. This was so much better than what we had at Wormwood.

The tartare was very tender, nicely diced. I was somewhat concerned that it was "cut" with too much pickled squash and capers, but I enjoyed the palate restoring briny-sourness it added. Was not a fan of the potato puree which had been overly salted. But that toast; oh my, delici-yoso......it had been brushed with beef wagyu fat which added another dimension to things.

And perhaps that's how I should state things. The dishes we enjoyed added that other "dimension". The cocktails at Happy Hour were $8. Our total for the meal, $68 before tip and taxes. In this day and age, pretty darn good, especially for the location. We enjoyed our meal, I'm certain we'll return....for Happy Hour, of course!

Under the watchful eyes of our "hosts"!

The Lion's Share
629 Kettner Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92101
Current Hours
Tues - Sun 4pm - 2am (Happy Hour 4pm - 6pm)
Closed on Monday

After our early dinner, we took a nice stroll. Things weren't overly crowded at Seaport Village on this day. Which we enjoyed.

You know, because of how touristed this area is, I don't think we've been down here in maybe a decade?

And we enjoyed our time here. It was almost like being on vacation!

The Croissant Files - Revisits to Izola (at their new location) and Wayfarer Bread & Pastry

Here's a couple of croissant revisits to old favorites.

Izola's New Location:

I was happy to read about Izola reopening at Faultline Park. I remember visiting Izola during the pandemic when they would lower a basket of pastries from their third floor bakery, which had been converted from a photography studio on 13th street in East Village.

Here are some photos to jog your memory.

I really enjoyed the croissants and even revisited twice more, though I never posted on those revisits.

Sometimes, a business can be a victim of their own success. Izola closed to do renovations on their kitchen. While in the process, they discovered that they would not be able to meet 2024 food permit standards and had to find a new location. They finally did find a new location, relatively close by; in fact I had walked past the location on Faultline Park while waiting for takeout from Sovereign Thai. Due to Izola's previous popularity, I decided to wait a month or so before finally making the drive down to the area and paying the new location a visit.  I found parking and strolled on over. It was interesting to note that I saw less homeless than on my previous visits to this location.

This locale has been several different businesses over the last couple of years, I recall it being Amplified Ale and then some kind of BBQ spot? 

I strolled on in and stood in line at the counter, which also displays the various breads and pastries for sale on this day.

I decided on a Butter Croissant (of course) and also got an Almond Croissant for the Missus. There weren't prices listed and my total came out to $17, yikes!

Anyway, I had a seat in the spacious dining area to wait for my croissants.

The really nice guy working the dining area asked me if I'd like some water while I waited, but I was fine.

In a few minutes the gentleman brought out my order packed, just like before in a nice little box.

I took my box and headed back to the car and skedaddled home.

Opening things up, I noticed that the croissant was still warm as I removed it from the box. I also noticed that it was much darker than what I'd had from Izola previously.

I tore off a piece whereupon I noticed how rubbery it seemed. I took a bite, and sigh......man, this was fairly "hard", not flaky, not crisp, but hard and kind of chewy. The interior was fairly fluffy, but it still lacks the butter to salt ratio that I prefer.

The Missus had a bite and also noted the same thing.

She did say that the Almond Croissant was much better though.

    Overall, this was quite disappointing. I was looking forward to Izola reopening. I'm thinking I'll try the place in a couple of months and am hoping that this was just an off day. And at seven bucks a croissant....man, how would Parisians react to a six Euro croissant? I can only imagine!

Izola
1429 Island Ave.
San Diego, CA 92101
Current Hours:
Tues - Sat 7am - 2pm
Closed Sunday and Monday

This had me wondering about how another of my croissant "favorites" was doing, so the week after, I headed on over to Bird Rock and stopped by....

Wayfarer Bread & Pastry:

Well, it's been a while. I'd last visited two years ago, and my last post on Wayfarer was back in September of 2020! There always seems to be a line at Wayfarer, so I make it a point to arrive before opening. On this morning, I went and got a cold brew from Birdrock Coffee and headed on over. Funny, there was only one person in line when I arrived.

Soon enough there were over a dozen people lined up behind me. Once the place opens things move fast.

 

I just got a plain croissant ($4.75) on this day and then drove on home.

  Wayfarer tends to over bake their croissants; but this wasn't bad, quite flaky and crisp, the interior a bit on the dry side, but light and fluffy with a decent butter-salt ratio.

Still my favorite croissant in San Diego. If only Wayfarer were closer and the parking in the area wasn't such a pain! I guess I need to start up my croissant explorations again!

Wayfarer Bread & Pastry
5525 La Jolla Blvd.
La Jolla, CA 92037
Current Hours:
Sunday, Tues - Thurs 830am - 230pm
Fri - Sat 830am - 230pm, 430p, - 830pm
Closed on Mondays

So, for all you Croissant Enthusiasts out there, where have you recently had a decent croissant?

Oahu - Bean About Town (Kaimuki), the Makapu'u Lighthouse Trail, and Revisiting Ono Seafood

After having a wonderful evening in town, I woke to this view in the morning.

Of course the Missus wanted to go "holo-holo" right away, but I needed some nourishment to keep up with Her. I had picked up some extra musubi from Iyasume the day before and had that for breakfast. And then we headed out. Of course we needed to get our caffeine fix on the way.

I'd read about a place named Bean About Town in Kathy's page about dining in Kaimuki and it seemed like the perfect spot. They have two shops; one in Waikiki and the other on Waialae avenue. Old timers would recognize the location as it is in the same building as where Tanoue's (which I wrote about in my post on visiting the old Neighborhood) used to be. It's a small shop, there looks to be like 5 parking spaces, so street parking is likely. If I recall, this used to be a barbershop when I was growing up.

Right across the street is Kaimuki Park where I wasted spent a good amount of time as a kid.

The Missus ordered a pour over, which She loved, and I got a nice, fairly stiff Cold Brew.

We had a nice seat on the little two top facing Waialae avenue. The Missus liked the design on my cup so much that She sent me back in the shop to see if they had some merch with the same design.

Sadly they did not.

Well, it looks like we've got a place to get some coffee next time we're in the area.

Bean About Town
3538 Waialae Ave. Suite 101
Honolulu, HI 96816

From here we headed up Waialae to H-1, then Kalanianaole, past Hawaii Kai and Sandy's to our destination; to the gate that says Kaiwi Scenic Shoreline. Since we were fairly early we found parking. I had the Missus pick out some hiking (for Her this was all "walking") spots for this trip. She chose the Makapuu Lighthouse Trail. Man, I don't remember the last time I was here.

Anyway, it's a paved trail, that goes a bit over the mile each way, with a 500 foot elevation gain. I actually enjoyed myself. I even saw Pele's Chair on the path up!

And of course, this is Hawaii, so you will see rainbows.

You can see inside Koko Crater too.

Of course the Lighthouse is not accessible for folks and is off limits, but you do get glimpses of it.

There's a lookout at the top.

And of course, there's Rabbit Island.

It's a wonderful panoramic view.

I heard that you'll often see whales, but none for us on this day.

Still, it was a fun activity for us. I was having fun "playing tourist".

Afterwards we headed back; stopping in Aina Haina for a short break. On our way back to the hotel, the Missus said, "can we go to Ono Seafood, I want more poke!" Man, we hadn't been to Ono Seafood since 2019! It's long been a favorite of the Missus since we first visited in 2011. So, we headed on over and easily found parking in the lot for the apartment building the shop occupies.

We got a poke bowl with brown rice and shoyu poke. Then headed back to the hotel to eat.

Though it seemed a bit more "sauced" than  I recall, this was ono! Good shoyu, we enjoyed the limu, which adds a nice oceany-crunch. The fish was tender without the chewy connective tissue that permeates poke here in San Diego. Still one of our favorites for sure.

Ono Seafood
747 Kapahulu Ave. Apt 4
Honolulu, HI 96816 

After lunch, we headed back on "footmobile" (when's the last time you heard that one?), walking to Don Quijote on Kaheka, then returning to Ala Moana to do a bit more shopping, before returning to our room for a nap.

Looking out at the lanai, I noticed that I wasn't the only one enjoying the view.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you're having a wonderful weekend!