BoujieMana

Ah yes, BoujieMana. Like would you actually go to a place with "Boujie" in the name? Not quite sure how I heard about the place, but what fascinated me the most was the location, off Aero Drive. You basically go to where there's massive construction happening on Aero Drive, then head on down Aero Court to where the street ends at a office park. The restaurant, is in what looks like a business complex, on the other side of the Mira Bella Apartments. Shades of Green Acre, but not in Torrey Pines/Sorrento Valley/East Village.

I had looked at the menu online and thought that it would make for an interesting lunch excursion.

It was quiet during our lunch visit on this day. It was before the heatwave and we decided to have a seat in the deck area.

The large restaurant serves lunch and dinner during the week and brunch during weekends. The menu has some variations for each dining option and we were told that there are monthly changes to the menu.

Being the nosy customers we are, we spied what the other two tables were getting and determined that the sandwiches and pizzas seemed a bit hefty. In keeping with how we like to dine these days; we find that appetizers sometimes give a better outlook into the restaurant as the chef can take more chances with food, we ended up ordering three starters and a salad.

The Missus saw Smoked Deviled Eggs ($9) and made sure to try that.

The Missus usually enjoys deviled eggs, but this wasn't a favorite of Hers. I think it's the sourish salsa verde which was intensified with the pickled jalapenos that took this over-the-top. Too many sour tones, which really seems unappetizing on eggs to us. 

The Roasted Octopus ($19) was interesting as it was "almost there" for us.

The octopus was pleasantly tender, the bean puree was nice and creamy, potent acidity.......it was just a bit too salty. I'm thinking that some bread would go really well with this; tempering the saltiness and complementing the savory-acidity well.

The portion size for Wild Chicory Caeser ($16) was quite large. Instead of bacon, this featured crisped prosciutto which added a nice layer of salty-savory sweetness.

We enjoyed the bitter tones and the fact that the salad wasn't over-dressed. In fact, the leftovers did well with dinner. The salty-cheesy parmesan added another layer of flavor to the salad.

We were both curious as to how a Mediterranean restaurant would interpret an Aguachile. So, we ordered the Shrimp and Scallop Aguachile ($21) and this turned out to be our favorite dish of the meal.

 As we figured, this wasn't an aguachile in conventional terms. It wasn't overly acidic, but quite mellow. Though I will say the seafood, especially the bay scallops were sweet and tender, so were the shrimp. Both of which weren't over-cooked and tough. The sweet and ripe avocado and the briny cucumber added another layer. But what clinched it all was the nicely toasted and salted sour dough, which was the perfect foil for the dish. Yes, it's not a conventional version of the dish, but we enjoyed it. We both wished that the octopus had that nicely toasted sour dough with it as well.

So, a few weeks later we decided to return; again for lunch.

This time, it was during the heatwave, so we sat in the large interior of the restaurant.

Of course we got the Aguachile.

This time it had a bit more acidity and "oomph". Still, the sweet and tender seafood was still present.

We decided to order the Mediterranean Pita ($19) as well. As with our experience with previous dishes, the portion size was quite large.

   The highlight of the dish for us was the pillowy and warm pita. After that, well, everything was way too sour. Man, that chicken might have been ok, but the puckery-tartness overwhelmed things. Same with the green salad. Yikes, the sharp sourness just took over. Kind of a bummer.

In the end, we really enjoy the not-so-aguachile here, while not a true Mexican version of the dish, it is quite pleasant and the quality of ingredients here seems good. Service is welcoming, though things do take time getting to your table. I'm sure the folks in the new developments in the area appreciate the place and with all that is going on in the locale that it will keep being "boujie". 

I need to return to try the chicken wings and the crispy squash blossoms.

Things have sure changed since my office was in the area way back when!

BoujieMana
3545 Aero Ct. Suite B
San Diego, CA 92123
Current Hours:
Tues - Fri 11am - 9pm
Saturday   9am - 9pm
Sunday      9am - 2pm
Closed on Monday

Comments

[kat]

interesting name and dishes

[Som Tommy]

Interesting name. The octopus looks good

[Ed]

I got food from here a few months ago and it was not good. I got a soup that was so salty it was inedible, and the mediterranean pita had completely flavorless processed chicken and almost no tzaziki. The only good thing was the hummus and the pita it came with; the hummus was unusually good.

[Kirk]

Yes, that's what got my attention Kat!

It was ST....but also on the salty side.

Yes, some of the dishes tended to be too salty or sour Ed.