mmm-yoso!!!

Brunch with JJ - Luce Bar & Kitchen

I keep telling myself that I need to try to enjoy our neighborhood a bit more. But, to be perfectly honest, choices are limited, and what is on the menu is not food I crave or am really interested in. I do wish that Bay Park was a bit more "walkable". That's the attraction of places like North Park, Kensington, and Little Italy to me. And now with JJ, it's even more attractive to have places that are pooch friendly as well. Luce is one of those places that I see and pass on pretty much a daily basis. And while the meals we've had there have been ok, we've never really been motivated to return. As matter of fact, the last time I've been there was to do Covid takeout in May of 2020! Whoa, it's been five years already!

And since that time; Luce has created a covered outdoor bar space. And now they are in the process of taking over what used to be the dance studio next door as well. While taking JJ on a post morning coffee stroll from Bay Park Coffee, I noticed something on the weekend "brunch" menu that caught my attention.

So, on a recent Sunday morning, JJ and I dropped by Luce right when they opened at ten. Crazy, but there were several folks already in line waiting. All of them were waiting be seated either at the bar (those old timers started hitting the drinks pretty early) or in the dining room, so JJ and I initially had the back bar area all to ourselves.

Do you see what caught my attention on the menu?

Yep, it's the Kimchi Fried Rice ($18). Don't ask my why this caught my attention....or why I decided to order it. Call me a glutton for punishment if you will.

   This came with two poached eggs....I would have preferred sunny side up with nice crisp edges; but the eggs were fine, with the yolks still runny.

My least favorite item were the doughy "corn fritters". Not enough corn as well, which made it lacking in flavor.

The rest of the dish was not bad. Perhaps in need of more kimchi fermented-spiciness, but not bad at all. The rice was perfectly cooked, the hoisin based pork belly had that mildly salty SPAM® affect, and wasn't overly sweet like I expected. The carrots were shredded and bit too thickly and were a bit unwieldy as well.

The service was nice and friendly....like it's always been at Luce. And JJ was such a "good boi" and waited patiently for daddy to finish his food. I made sure to take some of this home for the Missus to try and though she thought it was not worth eighteen bucks, She declared it not bad. Perhaps not "real" kimchi fried rice good, but better than overly "gringo-fied" stuff. 

Luce is quite popular and the place was filling up by the time JJ and I left. There were three other well behaved pooches in the bar area as well.

Now if I can find a couple more dishes to interest me at Luce.

Luce Bar & Kitchen
1959 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110
Current Hours
Mon - Thurs 11am - 9pm
Friday            11am - 930pm
Sat                  10am - 930pm
Sun                 10am - 9pm

Daybreak Island Grill - Breakfasts with JJ

I was looking for dog friendly places to get breakfast with JJ and also places where he can explore a bit. He likes "new" things, so this has gotten me to neighborhoods where one can walk and explore. Which is why we did North Park and Flora, University Heights and Parkhouse Eatery, and even Carlsbad and Wildland. Looking over things; it seemed like OB would be nice neighborhood for JJ, fun and funky, and laid back. I did a bit of research and found a listing for a restaurant named Daybreak Island Cafe. I checked out the Website and the "About Us" section which mentions stuff like taro and sweet potatoes. Google lists them as a "Hawaiian Restaurant". But when I looked over the menu, well it just seemed that there were just a few items that I grew up eating, like Portuguese Sausage and Kalua Pork on the menu. Hmmm......

Finally, while looking at the "four lettered" website I found this quoted in the "About the Business" section:

Not a big deal really, I just wanted to know what to expect.

So, early on a Sunday, I drove with JJ down West Point Loma and found the very "beachy-tiki" looking restaurant right by the roundabout near Robb Field. It's a less hectic spot just a few blocks down from Voltaire.

It's quite charming......

With a nice outdoor tiki bar on one side and a covered patio area on the other....great for really hot days.

And yes, the place is super dog friendly.

No where was this more evident than in our Server; Monica who was super warm and friendly...she treated JJ like a little prince!

Not much "local kine" stuffs on the menu. I decided to order the "Hawaiian" Breakfast Bowl, but they were out of Portuguese Sausage....so I went with the Loco Moco ($18). I liked that they actually have Tabasco, a necessity for my Loco Moco's since small kid time.

The loco moco soon arrived....of course no mac salad on this one. It looked kinda manini for eighteen bucks, but with prices going crazy these days.

   So, here's the score using the Modified Rubio Scale.

BURGER: On the leaner side and chewy, but with a decent char and beefiness - 3.5

EGGS: Nice and runny. Would have appreciated some crisp edges. No off flavors. - 3.0

RICE: Was fine; on the mushier side. - 2.5

GRAVY: A bit on the runny side, edged on very salty. - 2.5

STUFFS: While eating, I noticed a gluey component under the eggs.  Not a fun texture and quite bland. Looking over the menu; I guess they also include sausage gravy with this? Overkill in my opinion. 1.0

Well, 12.5....exactly an average score! Not sure if it's worth $18 though.

I asked Monica what kind of Portuguese Sausage was used for the bowl and she didn't know. She was so nice to JJ, that we decided to return.

And Monica was working again...and JJ even remembered her!

This time a glanced around and saw that along with the Tabasco, they seem to carry some very appropriate condiments.

I wonder if they use Best Foods for their Mac Salad and is the ketchup Del Monte????

Anyway, they had the Hawaiian Breakfast Bowl ($14.75) available this morning.

 Not sure about the Pico de Gallo as a side....funny, at first glance I thought it was Lomi Salmon! Four rather slices of Port Sausage; based on the texture and taste, I'm thinking this seemed like Redondo's? I'm fully "team Purity", but this was fine. Two scoops rice and two easy over eggs completed the set. The scoops of rice seemed on the smallish side; but I can't put it away like I used to, so this was fine. The rice was perfectly cooked and the eggs nice and runny.

While I'm not sure this was worth almost fifteen bucks; I enjoyed the service and Monica treated JJ like a little prince...a very spoiled prince at that! And that is worth something to me.

And it was interesting walking around the neighborhood after our meals.

Daybreak Island Grill
2296 Bacon St.
San Diego, CA 92107
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 8am - 130pm
Sat - Sun 7am - 3pm

Road Trip - Shugrue's Restaurant & Bar (Lake Havasu City)

We needed a place to stop for an evening on the way back from Winslow. Heading back to the Phoenix area or even heading back to Flagstaff or even Sedona might have worked. But having JJ along made a 7+ hour drive seem a bit too long. We had never been to Lake Havasu City and there was one thing I did want to see after watching a BBC documentary a few years back.

So, we made the drive to Lake Havasu City. We were staying on an area called "the Island" and since we'd be only spending the evening thought it would be nice to have a view of what I had wanted to see here; the London Bridge. So, I booked a dog friendly room at the Heat Hotel, which had a patio and a view of the Bridge.

And yes, this is really the "London Bridge". It was built in the 1830's and had become unable to handle the traffic in the city by the early 1960's. Robert McCulloch, the founder of Lake Havasu City (which was founded in 1964). I enjoyed this historic documentary on it.

And having recently been to London made it even more significant to us.

We got to the hotel a bit early and our room wasn't ready; so we took JJ for a short walk along the London Bridge Beach area.

It was a bit warm, but JJ did fine.

I hadn't done much research on Lake Havasu City; so it was interesting to see all the "snowbirds"....like I felt like a really young! 

We checked into our room and then decided to find a place to get some dinner. As I mentioned earlier; unlike what I'd usually do, I hadn't done much research on Lake Havasu City.......we were just going to chill and not worry about things.

When it came for dinner; I looked for a pooch friendly place and we decided not to stray too far. We basically went across the street.

It seems that all the restaurants are owned by the same company. But here we were...and  I (at least) was tired, so I walked into Shugrue's and the very nice young lady greeted me. I asked if we could have the outdoor table, which was right at the entrance of the restaurant. The folks here were quite welcoming and they did love JJ. And the view from our table was not bad at all!

We started with some nice brews.....

And, as we will often do these days, we just went with appetizers.

For some reason, I just decided to order the Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts ($16), which had a "sweet maple glaze". It just didn't seem like something we'd like, but this was our favorite dish of the night.

I'm usually not a fan of sweet stuffs as a main or appetizer; but we enjoyed the smoky-sweet-nutty flavors along with the salty-crunchiness, with the pineapple which actually did a nice job as a palate "cleanser".

I don't know why, but I enjoy fried pickles. But this version ($12) was not a favorite of ours.

There's a ratio of breading to pickle that I think is optimal, which balances out the sour to texture. This was just huge spears which were not evenly breaded.

The Flatbread ($15) was also not a favorite.

A bit too soggy-doughy and too sweet for our taste. We could have used more Portobello Mushroom and less Balsamic Glaze. 

Still, the folks Serving were so nice....especially to JJ.

Shugrue's Restaurant & Bar
1425 N McCulloch Blvd.
Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403

And after dinner we took a walk across the bridge.

Where we got a nice view of our hotel.

Our walk on the other side of the bridge was interesting as it seemed to be party central......well, over 60 party central......think Gaslamp for seniors....

After getting back to our room and settling in....well, it was time for JJ's nightly "walk". 

And there just happened to be an outdoor bar along the way! How convenient! I got a gin and tonic nightcap overlooking the bridge....

And had a chance to chat with the bartender. I really hadn't done a whole lot of research before choosing Lake Havasu City. I found out it's a haven for snowbirds and seniors and then party central for college students during weekends and spring break which was coming up. I guess we lucked out visiting during the middle of the week in March before Spring Break.

Lake Havasu City was a interesting stop on the way back home. Not sure we'll return; but we got to see the London Bridge!

Road Trip - A Return to La Posada and the Turquoise Room (Winslow) and the Painted Desert Rim Trail (Petrified Forest National Park)

After Scottsdale, our next stop was at a very familiar place. Yep, we were back in Winslow, Arizona, staying at the La Posada Hotel yet again.

Of course, this time we had, "you know who" in tow.

The place was much busier than we recalled; which I'm thinking is a good thing.

There are several dog friendly rooms in the hotel. As I've mentioned before, the room are named after various celebrities who have stayed at the La Posada. On this visit we had the Diane Keaton room.

It was quite large and spacious.

In spite of the place being rather busy; we were able to check in early. And once settled in; you know where the Missus needed to take JJ, right?

Yep.....

It was time for JJ to "Stand on that corner". Along with various other photo ops in Winslow and around the La Posada.

As for dinner. Well, when I made our hotel reservations, I was told that we could dine in the lobby right outside of the Turquoise Room. So, I made reservations and we had a table right in front of the bar area in the lobby. There was another table having drinks and later two more parties, both with pooches dined in the lobby as well.

I've already done several posts on meals at the Turquoise Room, that I'll just post some photos. It was as good as before.

And JJ seemed to enjoy himself as well.

After dinner; the Missus had to go back out again for more photo-ops.....

Before settling in for the night.

In the morning, we got some coffee in the lobby and of course guess where the Missus had to go to before checking out?

Sheesh...I basically did have to tell Her to "Take it Easy"...pun intended.....

After checking out; we headed east on the I-40 to the Petrified Forest National Park. I had read that the Park is one of the most dog friendly. We decided to first heading to the North side and the Painted Desert Inn area and get a bit acquainted with the park by taking the short Painted Desert Rim Trail.

The views were stunning.

And at first JJ was really curious.....

But soon, it seems the sun started getting to him....I'm saying the sunlight, because, well, it wasn't hot at all.....

He started to try to find shade under small little bushes and leaves.....so dramatic.

We kept trying to give him water....but he wasn't thirsty. Was this the same pooch who had just done a 5 mile walk with us in Santa Barbara a month before? We've kind of decided that "J" does not like too much sun....mister photo-phobia.....

So we cut things short and headed back to Winslow to grab an early lunch back at the Turquoise Room.

The Missus really likes that Lamb Pozole. And as you can tell; I like the salads here.....I know...me with a salad? Still, the Turquoise Room is pretty much a must stop for us when we're in the area.

Turquoise Room (in the La Posada Hotel)
303 E 2nd St.
Winslow, AZ 86047

From here we headed west on the I-40, stopping to put in gas in Kingman. Man, check out the price of a gallon of gas here!

Before making it to our next stop......

Road Trip - Zuzu (Scottsdale)

Back at the end of March we took JJ on his forth road trip (!). This time the Missus wanted to take the pup to one of Her favorite towns, mainly for the photo-op. We had been there so many times that I knew the hotel had a good "pup policy". So, we did a bookend, one stop before and one stop after as JJ himself noted in this post. All in all, over 1300 miles in three days! Yikes!

Anyway, I'd heard that Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale was dog friendly and all rooms had a patio or balcony.....we usually request first floor rooms these days. You know, having a pup and all. I thought checking out Old Town Scottsdale might be interesting as I hadn't been there since my consulting days in the late 90's. And this being late March, the weather would still be pretty moderate....boy, was I wrong! Unfortunately, there was some record heat in the Phoenix area, the temp was said to be 93F! Yikes!

So, after checking in and cooling off, we took JJ out to see how things would go. Well, we found that JJ does not like high temps. Right past our hotel on East Main there was a patch of grass in front of a pizza restaurant. JJ would just lie in the grass and not want to move!

We did make it to the 5th Avenue Shopping District.

Where most of the shops were closed and those that were open were very touristy and bored the Missus. We hurried down North Scottsdale Road back to East Main and the hotel so JJ could cool off.

Luckily, for dinner, I had selected the restaurant in the hotel, something the Missus wasn't thrilled about. She looked over the menu online and was just not impressed. Telling me "are we really eating in the hotel restaurant?"

Zuzu however, did feature patio seating, and by this time things had started to cool off.

We started with some cocktails which were very good. Our Servers were very friendly and when we mentioned the heat told us that it had been in the high 50's just a week previous!

The Missus wasn't inspired by the menu, so I placed our order. The first item to arrive set everything right for the rest of the meal. The Terra Heritage Wagyu Beef Carpaccio was impressive.

Would you believe this was just 21 bucks!!! The beef was cold, refreshing, and quite tasty. There were slices of dried okra for textural contrast. The pumpernickel crumble, provided more texture, the flavor of the anise-toned caraway lifted the dish.  Grana Padano added salty-savory milkiness and the Dijon pungency. This was my favorite dish of the trip by far.

I make roasted cauliflower a lot at home, directed toward the Missus' taste. So, when She saw that I ordered the Cauliflower ($14), the Missus was prepared for the worst. But like the carpaccio, this was a very good dish.

But the florets were nicely roasted and seasoned; the Fromage Blanc added a nice palate refreshing tart-creamy-sourness. The Calabrian Peppers mild spice and what seemed like a mild sweetness. There was an interesting mild anise flavor going on....I found out later that those tiny green slices were of Thai Basil.

Of course we had to have a salad, so we went with the Honeycrisp and Kale Salad ($13).

Sweet-Bitter with a nice, crisp, vinaigrette and grated Manchego cheese. Again, it was the little touches that made this dish interesting......here it was the sweet-tart pomegranate seeds.

This was a surprisingly (for the Missus) good meal! And there seemed to be quite a few "regulars" dining. I think She won't be dissing hotel restaurants anymore! It was our favorite meal of the trip! And the whole meal including cocktails was under $75 before tip!

ZuZu (In Hotel Valley Ho)
6850 E Main St.
Scottsdale, AZ 85251

After dinner, we took JJ for another short walk along East Main. It had cooled off a bit, so he did much better.

We'd spend the next morning taking a walk around Old Town Scottsdale since the temperature was much cooler.

Before heading to our next stop!

Circling Back to Tanuki

At the beginning of last month; I was updating "The Big List By Neighborhood" and of course, a couple of places caught my eye. In fact, this one post I did in December of 2021, during the pandemic really got my attention. It was of two places that we had gone to three times each back in 2020! I had those photos saved for a post and then you know what happened, right? Anyway, I did a "Clearing Out the Memory Card" post and had meant to return once things returned to normal. And of course time does not stand still for anyone....here we are in 2025.

So recently, I set out to rectify that short coming. And lucky for us, Tanuki has a outdoor sitting area so we could bring JJ along. We decided on lunch and headed on over, arriving just at the noon opening time, managing to snare a parking spot. Parking in Kensington can sometimes be as rare as actually seeing the namesake in the wild!

We took a table outdoors and the friendly Server quickly brought JJ a bowl of H2O to get him settled in!

Having been here three times before, we treaded lightly, from previous experience, even though it was five years and counting, staying away from the sushi/sashimi....I didn't come here for the fries.

I did want the Kakiage Udon, but the Missus didn't feel like having that. So, we placed our order. The Missus got the cold brew tea, which came in a nifty glass bottle.......of course the Missus then purchased one on Amazon!

And you can see the first item that arrived as well, the Wagyu Tataki Ponzu ($19).

While the beef was a bit over cooked for tataki; it was tender with good beefiness. The daikon oroshi added nice pungency and the ponzu a layer of sourness, with a hint of sweet. Not bad at all.

What was bad was the Crispy Rice with Spicy Tuna ($18).

The bones scraped tuna had been turned to mush and was rather fishy. The rice had been formed into squares like tater tots and hadn't been browned enough to attain crispness; rather it was quite plastic-cy in texture. Not a very good dish.

The Toro Wasa ($12) was a nice correction.

I didn't expect Otoro for this price point and it wasn't a huge portion, but the fish was very fatty and tender. The wasabi added a nice sinus clearing pungency. We enjoyed this dish.

Our favorite item of the day was the Hamachi Kama ($20).

Though it didn't look particularly good; we really enjoyed this. The skin had attained a decent crispness, the flesh moist and buttery, deep rich-oceany-umami flavors. It was decently (not overly) salted.

The Roasted Suzuki ($14) while nicely priced was just ok.

The fish was very tender, though the skin rubbery. It was in need of some seasoning as the cilantro sauce, while creamy was bland. The toumokoroshi; the grilled corn was too hard, while haricot-vert undercooked, not seasoned, and too hard.

Overall, nice service, the prices reasonable for this day and age, the food was decent, especially for Japanese food in Kensington. We'll probably return for an al fresco early dinner with JJ one evening.

The Missus wants to have that kama again......

Tanuki
4191 Adams Ave.
San Diego, CA 92116
Current Hours:
Monday          5pm - 9pm
Tues - Thurs 12pm - 3pm, 5pm - 9pm
Friday            12pm - 3pm, 5pm - 10pm
Saturday        5pm - 10pm

Where on the Road Were We? Part 2

It was interesting leaving an area of the state we were fairly familiar with, to an area we hadn't been before. And add JJ to the mix! 

Still, it was fun, if a bit tiring.

Our next stop was a harbor/fishing village and very popular tourist spot.

It had a lovely harbor front; though the lack of  walking paths between stop made it a lot less fun for us. Seemed like everyone drove everywhere here; even though the harbors, shops, malls, hotels were just a couple of hundred yards apart, there was no real sidewalks or walking paths and actually walking on highway 1, well.......

The area is also famous for being a filming location of one of Alfred Hitchcock's most well known films.....

We loved our accommodations....we'd do takeout, purchase a nice bottle of wine from the Inn (at a very decent price) and eat in the covered "Wine Shack" with JJ.

From here we headed up the coastline...making a few stops to stretch our legs, fuel up, and even get in a lovely hike!

Until we got to our our next stop, a charming village that reminds me almost of a town in New England. The water towers, the buildings were lovely. JJ enjoyed some nice attention as well.

The town is perched on the cliffside above the Pacific and the trails right off Main Street led to some wonderful views.

And we even got a "sign", literally, that our lovely Boy was looking over us.

We ate quite well here!

We loved it here and can't wait to return. It was one of our 2 favorite stops on this road trip.

Thanks for stopping by! I'll try to have something more relevant to dining in San Diego tomorrow before we head home! 

Wildland and a Revisit to Sleeping Tiger Coffee (Carlsbad)

Between all our Road Trips, we've taking JJ out to "explore" a bit. On one fine morning, we decided to head up to Carlsbad. We had enjoyed Jeune Et Jolie so much, that when the team behind that restaurant opened a breakfast-brunch-bakery we really wanted to try it out. I had read that dogs were allowed on the patio area, so we decided to head on up.

We easily found parking on State Street and when we passed Wildland, it wasn't very busy at all. So we took JJ on over for a walk thru the village and along Carlsbad Boulevard.

But first, we decided t get our caffeine fix at a familiar locale, Sleeping Tiger Coffee inside of Witch Creek Winery. The two tables fronting Carlsbad Boulevard were empty, so the Missus sat with J, while I went in and ordered us a Tanzanian Pour Over and a cold brew.

We find it interesting that Starbucks next door is quite busy, while there's no one getting coffee here. 

The Missus enjoys the pour0vers from here and the cold brew is pretty strong and wakes me up.

We sat and relaxed for a bit. We both think the coffee at Sleeping Tiger is much better than the Starbucks next door and wonder why folks aren't supporting a local business with a superior (in our opinion) product.

Meanwhile; JJ was wondering where "All the witches" were?

Sleeping Tiger Coffees (In Witch Creek Winery)
2906 Carlsbad Blvd.
Carlsbad, CA 92008
Current Hours:
Thurs - Mon 7am - 5pm
Tues - Wed   7am - 3pm

Fortified by caffeine we took JJ on a nice stroll along Carlsbad Boulevard overlooking Carlsbad State Beach, finally turning back near lifeguard tower 35. Walking back thru Carlsbad Village and along State, we arrived back at Wildland, which was still not very busy, so we grabbed a table on the patio.

I sat with JJ while the Missus went to peruse the menu.

The Missus decided on the three item Smoked Fish Plate ($18). Meanwhile, my food friend "LL" recommended the Shakshuka ($20), and after a pretty "meh" version at Flora, I was interested in trying this one.

Ordering is done at the counter; you're given a number and your food is brought to you.

The Smoked Fish Plate was quite good. We chose the Smoked Salmon, Olive Oil Poached Yellowtail, and the item that really made this for us; the Hot Smoked Pastrami Kampachi, which was full of smoky-peppery-herbaceous flavors.

Loved the veggies, so fresh, the tomatoes sweetly-fruity-acidic; man, those cucumbers crisp and palate cleansing. The vegetables were excellent. The weak point of the dish was the bread, too chewy, with a hard crust.

As for the Shakshuka.

 

  I thought this was going to be herb overload, but the dill actually complemented the acidic tones of the dish and the celery leaves added a mild "grassiness" to the dish. It seems that the versions in San Diego use za'atar and leave out the cumin and harissa. The eggs were nice and runny, with a hint of smoky-savoriness.

As with the smoked fish plate, the bread was the weak link here, being too chewy and the crust hard. Still, the dish was pretty good overall.

We did enjoy our time at Wildland and will make sure to return for that smoked fish plate and JJ enjoyed visiting Carlsbad.

Wildland
2598 State St.
Carlsbad, CA 92008
Current Hours:
Sun - Thurs 8am - 9pm
Fri - Sat       8am - 10pm

Road Trip - Cailloux Cheese Shop (Solvang)

After our rather "busy" morning and afternoon, we settled back into the Viking Inn for a nice afternoon nap. When dinner time arose, we didn't want to go very far. There was a place we'd seen the previous day, that was actually open on a Tuesday (many businesses are closed on Monday and Tuesday in Solvang). Cailloux Cheese Shop is located in a courtyard that also houses McClain Cellars, Dascomb Cellars, and Cordon Tasting Rooms. It is a cheese shop - restaurant, you purchase cheese - charcuterie - wine to go, or have access to a menu of French style dishes along with accoutrements for a cheese plate along with beer and wine by the bottle or glass.

We were having an early (430) dinner, the place closes at 6pm, and this seemed perfect. So, I went in and placed our order, paid, and we had a seat in the patio. The folks working here are so very friendly and kind. We were immediately asked if we needed the heaters turned on. Which we didn't.

The Missus went with a Chardonnay and I had a Savignon Blanc.

The Missus wanted to try the Cassoulet, which seemed like a bargain at $18, so we started with that.

At this price, I didn't expect anything like what I make at home, but this was pretty good. The Guanciale added a nice rich, porkiness to the dish, which wasn't overly salty.

There was a decent amount of duck in the dish; kind of chewy, but flavorful. The beans unfortunately, were pinto, I didn't expect Tarbais or even Flageolet beans at this price point, but thought even Cannelli would have been better. I did mention this to the kind older woman who helped bring out our dishes; I believe she is the owner, who said pinto beans are the only thing they can afford to keep the price down. I totally understand!

Our Cheese and Charcuterie plate was huge!

 I liked the fact that they "flagged" the cheeses for us. I especially enjoyed the Mitica KM39, firm and flavorful, it went well with the bread. I'm a fan of blue cheeses so I enjoyed the Stilton. I wish they sold Port by the glass, which would have been perfect with this; but unfortunately they don't. The Missus enjoyed the Spanish Chorizo and I the prosciutto and pate. The Pico went well with the candied walnuts as well.

This was a generous and well put together plate. The staff are wonderful. I was curious about the name of the place, "Cailloux" translates to "Pebbles" in English, but we weren't near a beach or river bed. I asked and was told that the owner named the shop after her late pooch, named "Pebbles"! You gotta love it! I know JJ did!

We were finishing right before the 6pm closing, but were told "please take your time - we won't be leaving until after 730". Very nice! It was a perfect early dinner for us and we'll make sure to return!

Cailloux Cheese Shop
1623 Mission Dr. Suite L
Solvang, CA 93463

We strolled back to the motel; the Missus relaxed in the little grass area reading. I took JJ for a nice stroll in the neighborhood. After JJ had his dinner, I took JJ to get a nightcap. During our last stay in Solvang, we discovered Vaquero Bar, attached to the Coast Range Steakhouse. The place seemed to have quite a few locals. I decided to take JJ and head on over.

The place was empty, except for one other customer, who seemed to be a regular.

I had a fairly "stiff" Old Fashioned and a nice chat with the Bartender, who also works with the county doing road repairs. He confirmed my "observations" on the morning and evening traffic patterns. He told me that this was indeed "slow" season. Things start picking up at the end of March, going all the way thru summer/early fall. 

Vaquero Bar (In Coast Range Restaurant)
1635 Mission Dr.
Solvang, CA 93463

This was a perfect end to an enjoyable stay. 

Though we had yet another road trip coming up in a few weeks!

Stay tuned!

Road Trip - Whiskey n' Rye, Exploring Solvang, and Bell's (Los Alamos) Yet Again

As soon as we got back from our last road trip with JJ, the Missus had me planning another one. Looks like we're doing one and month? Anyway, JJ had so much fun in Solvang and it was the slow season, so She wanted to stay there. I managed to find a dog friendly motel close to the edge of the "main drag" and we were set!

Of course, the Missus wanted to have lunch at Bell's yet again, so I made reservations for lunch and called to make sure we had a patio table. This time, even though it was on a Monday, I had 1pm reservations, so things were a bit more busy.

Still the service was great as they immediately brought JJ his own bowl of water when we were seated.

Lunch was as expected. Not going to go into much detail since I've done so many posts on the place before.

Though I will say, that even though the beef cheek in the beef cheek sandwich was delicious; we didn't care for the "rye-ish" bread that really messed up all the flavors.

Perhaps I should have stayed with my favorite here; the beef tartare. Still, this was a nice lunch.

Bell's
406 Bell St.
Los Alamos, CA 93440

After lunch we headed straight over to Solvang to see if our room was ready. And yes, it was! So we were able to check in an hour early.

We stayed at the Viking Inn on Mission Drive.

We liked the outdoor space with a fence right outside our door. The room was comfortable. I had read about street noise, but that wasn't a problem at all. Later that evening, the Missus, JJ, and I sat and relaxed outside for a bit. We had the whole area to ourselves. Being on the first level made taking JJ out at 4 in the morning a lot easier!

It seemed like the place was only half full, so no parking or similar issues. The only time we dealt with folks was when we checked in; the rest is done by code and text messages. While these accommodations were quite different from where we stayed in Solvang before, we enjoyed it.

Not sure how it is when things are busy, but this was really relaxing!

Viking Inn
1506 Mission Dr.
Solvang, CA 93463

After unpacking, we took JJ for a walk. On our last visit to Solvang we found a really nice Pet Store, which just happened to be across the street from where we were staying.

And then headed down 246 and did some shopping. While there seemed to be traffic heading out of Solvang......I found out later that all the folks working in the town head on home....the opposite happens in the morning, there we hardly saw anyone walking!

We enjoyed ducking in and out of shops!

It was quite entertaining.

Folks working at these shops were very friendly. I'd usually stop at the front of the shop with JJ and let the Missus walk in if there's no "dogs welcome" sign. Most of the time we got waved in.

This soap shop was interesting.....

Mainly because of this sign.....

I asked the young lady working about it and she told me that every once in a while they'd find teeth marks or a chunk bitten out of the soap when they close up! 

We ended up at the Mission Santa Ines, which we visited before.

We walked JJ along the grounds where dogs are allowed. JJ seems to be fascinated by statues. I call this one "JJ meets JC"!

I love the view from the Mission.

As we headed back you could see the line of cars heading out of Solvang.......

We got back to the room, took a short break and then headed out to dinner. One things about Solvang, it seems that many places are closed on Monday and Tuesday, so we had rather limited options when it came to dog friendly establishments. We decided to stay close and went to a place named Whiskey 'N Rye Smokehouse which was down at the end of Atterdag Road.

We were surprised to see that the entire interior of the restaurant and the bar was packed. I guess folks eat pretty early here? But we lucked out as the entire patio area was empty. I guess folks thought it might be too cold? The really nice Server was shocked when we said that he didn't need to fire up the heater.

As the name says; the place has a huge list of Bourbon, Scotch, Rye, and similar spirits; but I just wanted a beer.

The food offerings were BBQ/Meat/Burgers based, you know what I mean right?

The Missus had seen photos of the Brisket Dirty Fries ($22) and was fixed on ordering that.

While I don't think this was worth twenty-two bucks; it was the better of the two dishes. The fries had been "dusted" thus it was able to retain crispness thru the whole meal. The brisket wasn't very smoky and sort of stringy and chewy. I wish the cheese mix had more Gouda in it than Mozzarella, but it was great at making a gooey mess. The pickled onions and jalapenos were good as it added spice, pungency, and acidity. I thought this was decent "beer food".

We also got the Filet Mignon Tips ($34) which was a mixed bag.

 We ordered the meat rare. but only the large piece was rare, the rest were medium-well, skewing things to the tough side of the scale. The meat was well seasoned, though the "sauces" really didn't go well with the proteins but was necessary for the really dry "garlic bread" bites in our opinion. The Bloody Mary aioli was interesting, but pretty bland; the BBQ Sauce was too sweet. 

We were hoping for something in line with Shalhoob's, but this was more in line with "chain/tourist" food. At least the service, while a bit slow, which I can understand based on the crowd was quite nice. Not too many places open on this day so we had limited choices.

Whiskey 'N Rye Smokehouse
442 Atterdag Rd.
Solvang, CA 93463

Still, Solvang has it's charm and we were enjoying ourselves.

Thanks for stopping by!