mmm-yoso!!!

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!

Road Trip - Helena Avenue Bakery (Santa Barbara), Good Seed Coffee Boutique (Solvang), and a Revisit to Bell's (Los Alamos)

After a surprisingly good dinner at Shalhoob's and a nightcap at Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company, I thought I would have a nice night's sleep. Well, that was not to be. I did anticipate JJ's 4am morning "puppy potty", but I had a hard time sleeping because of the traffic noise from the 101. I really enjoyed the Moxy Hotel, but it was right on the 101 and the traffic noise kept me up for most of the night. Oh well, cant win 'em all.

When morning arose, the Missus and I made some quick plans. We had lunch reservations at our favorite restaurant in the area and added in what we thought would be a fun visit for JJ. 

But before all of this, we decided to head down the block. I had noted that right across the way from Figueroa Mountain Brewing was Helena Avenue Bakery. I decided to get my croissant fix, since they supposedly made everything inhouse.

It's quite a charming spot, the bakery shares the space with a wine tasting room. It also shares the address with a place we had really looked forward to eating at that kind of disappointed us on our previous visit to the area.

You order at the counter and are given a number. We had a seat at one of the lovely outdoor tables.

Soon enough my Americano and Croissant was ready.

The Americano was fairly smooth, with a nice kick.

 Seeing that the ridges were falling off the viennoiserie made me somewhat concerned, but the pastry did not shatter into crumbs upon consuming. The exterior was light and crisp, the interior fairly fluffy and "honeycombed". It was sorely lacking in butter and even salt for that matter. Quite bland overall.

A "halfway there" croissant if I've ever had one. Liked the vibe of the place, though I'm not sure what it would be like if busy.

Helena Avenue Bakery
131 Anacapa St. Suite C
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Since we had lunch reservations in Los Alamos, we decided to head on up to Solvang which is sort of on the way. We thought that JJ might enjoy the place and since it was a Monday during the slow season, things wouldn't be too hectic.

And we were right. It was calm and relaxed, we enjoyed strolling around. And JJ kinda enjoyed his "photo-ops".

This was when we thought it would be fun staying in Solvang with JJ, which would be our next "road trip".

We took a short break at this little coffee shop.

Where I had my second Americano of the day. This one was smooth and easy to drink. We just had a seat on the porch and enjoyed things.

It was a nice break in the action for us.

Good Seed Coffee Boutique
1607 Mission Dr.
Solvang, CA 93463

We did a bit more walking; then it was time to head off for lunch. Which was going to be at our favorite restaurant in the area; Bell's in Los Alamos. Over time we've come to conclusion that we enjoy lunches at Bell's more than the prefix dinner. It's much more classically French, with local produce and such. And since this is my fourth post on the place; I'm just going to mainly do photos. You can click on the preceding links for more info on our previous visits.

Perhaps because it was 11am on a Monday, we had the place to ourselves for a while. The back patio is dog friendly and the chef even came out and spent some time with JJ!

We ordered what we usually do at Bell's. They still make one of my favorite versions of Beef Tartare.

Love the cut of beef, with a wonderful texture, perfect ratio of capers and pungency, so rich and decadent.

Of course the Missus had to have Escargot.

The Country Terrine is nice and porky, with hints of winey-sweetness. It goes well with the cornichons and grainy-pungent Dijon.

We also enjoy the slightly offally, mildly sweet Chicken Liver Mousse.

The strawberry jam works as a nice sweet "foil", with the cornichons sour-acidity clearing the palate. Our only issue is with the crostini which were hard rather than crisp.

As with our previous we enjoyed our lunch at Bell's and would return again in a few weeks.

JJ enjoyed his first visit to a Michelin Star restaurant and got treated so nicely!

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

Now it was time to head back to the hotel and get a much needed nap.....if I could block out the freeway noise; before dinner!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you had a great weekend!

Road Trip - A Revisit to Madeline's (Cambria)

Another one of the reasons for us returning to Cambria was to dine at Madeline's once again. We first dined here back in 2020 and enjoyed it so much that we returned a year later. I big plus is that the wine shop by day, restaurant by night has several outdoor tables and allowed dogs. I made sure to request our favorite, known as "patio 1".

After shopping and lunch, we drove over to El Colibri, it was before the published check in time, but our dog friendly room was ready! Lucky us. So we managed a short nap. When JJ woke, while the Missus relaxed and read, I took him for a stroll along the Moonstone Beach Boardwalk which I've posted on before. The boardwalk is basically right out the hotel's doors!

JJ enjoyed the walk and made some new "friends" and the view is just a lovely as I remembered.

And I don't recall seeing deer around here before!

I think that it is a "seasonal" thing?

After returning and freshening up; we were ready to head out for dinner a bit early.

Also close to the hotel, right down the road is Shamel Park. We love walking along the beach and the sunsets here are lovely, though on this evening we had to get to dinner. 

We headed on back up Windsor Road and crossed over Highway One onto main street. West Main was very sedate on this evening.

As we passed Mushrooms on Main, this friendly gal popped up!

We gave her a treat and the friendly owner invited JJ in for a "play date". Unfortunately, we had to get to dinner, so we took a rain check. We'll definitely return here on our next trip.

We arrived at Madeline's and were directed to our table. The Server was quite friendly to JJ. The Missus looked over the wine list and immediately ordered a Sauvignon Blanc.

We looked over the menu which is seasonal and ever changing. It did have several items that we'd enjoyed on our previous visits.

And there seemed to be so many mushroom based dishes....it was our lucky day! We placed our order and then bread service arrived.

Sadly, the bread, while nice and warm was not ready for prime time. It had been smushed down and the middle was still wet. It was probably pulled out before it was ready.

In keeping with our usual ordering at Madeline's we went with all appetizers and a salad. This way we get a nice variety of dishes that tend to be more interesting.

The only real "clunker" of the meal arrived with the first three dishes; the Bruschetta ($20).

With the sweet balsamic glaze, the sour tower of goat cheese, this was a bit too much for this dish. You really couldn't make out the eggplant which had been breaded and fried, but got soggy quite quickly.

The ship was quickly "righted" as the Baby Spinach Salad ($13) arrived.

As I mentioned before, we love the Bacon Vinaigrette here! It adds a wonderful smoky-savory component to a salad.

Another item we've always enjoyed have been the scallop dishes, and the Scallops Saint Jacques ($20) was no exception.

I had thought that the duxelles would be a bit too much for this dish; but as usual, the scallops were perfectly cooked, perfectly rare the way we like it. The lemon buerre blanc added a nice refreshing note to the dish.

We ordered two additional mushroom appetizers, both of which were quite hearty.

The Duck and Wild Mushroom ($20) featured two of our favorite ingredients. But man, combined with the cream sauce it edged on being a bit too much!

And the Tartine Forestiere ($20), featuring both local and smoked mushrooms was a study in umami.

Even the goat cheese and balsamic glaze could not temper the wonderful flavors of the mushrooms!

I finished as always with a Tawny Port.

Overall, this was yet another wonderful meal at Madeline's. And since we can always bring JJ....and get "Patio 1", I'm sure we'll return again, Hopefully soon.

Madeline's Restaurant & Wine Tasting Room
788 Main St.
Cambria, CA 93428

The next morning, the Missus decided to sleep in, so I took JJ for a walk to Cambria Coffee which I've posted on a couple of times before and had a cold brew and just relaxed.

Cambria Coffee Roasting Company
761 Main St.
Cambria, CA 93428

And soon enough we headed back home. 

This short road trip was a test to see how JJ would handle things. He always seemed to enjoy riding in the car. And he did enjoy Morro Bay and our stops in Ojai and Cayucos. He did well in Cambria and on the drive home. So, you could say he passed with flying colors. And since we can't really travel Internationally....we want to wait until JJ is a bit older before leaving him with his Aunty, this meant more road trips were in store!

Thanks for stopping by!

COMC - Mad For Cheesecake Revisited, NYE Dinner at Et Voila, Dinner with Friends, and an Update on Zion Market's Move!

Just doing some cleaning of my photo folders here...so it's time to C(lear) O(ut the) M(emory) C(ard). Just short posts...

NYE Dinner at Et Voila:

The Missus wanted to something special for JJ's first New Year, so we decided on going to Et Voila for the NYE dinner. We had NYE dinner there before Covid and they have an small outdoor area with heaters. The one thing being, you can't make reservations online for that. So, we took JJ and dropped by to make reservations in person. Not wanting to be out on the road too late during the eve, we made reservations for the first seating at 430pm.

We ordered every item available, one of each when there were a choice of two courses.

We didn't think much of the amuse and the first course and were quite disappointed that they didn't serve the typical baguette either!

That "faux" foie gras was very disappointing as it was mushy, metallic-too livery in flavor.

But things turned around with the second course; the Bay Scallop Gratinee.

And the mains were quite good.

Especially the Veal Loin; you can see JJ peeking at it in the background.

We took the desserts home as we were quite full.

And I think JJ enjoyed his first New Year Eve.

Et Voilà!
3015 Adams Ave
San Diego, CA 92116

Dinner with Friends:

I've been blessed with having some great friends like Candice, "Yummy Yummy", and "Xiāng Jiāo". I've even posted on some great meals I've had with friends over the years! They are such wonderful folks, thoughtful, kind, generous....

JeffP who I've mentioned in several posts and who even shared in doing the One Chip Challenge with me one year is such a person, as is his wonderful bride "LL". I've been honored to get to know them! They are both so kind, fun, and generous. And it was in true display when they invited me out to dinner! At their "special place". As it's a small, intimate, setting that's already pretty darn full, I'm not going to give it away. But since I do use our little blog as a food-travel-personal diary of sorts, I thought I'd just post the photos here.

That LL and JeffP, who both have busy schedules, their careers going full blast, thought of having dinner really touched me!

Friends enrich our lives, broaden our horizons, bring joy, and laughter to us, and create wonderful memories.

Thanks so much LL and JeffP for a wonderful, memorable, and fun evening!

And Mad For Cheesecake is still the Missus's favorite in San Diego:

So, we've been doing the Japanese cheesecake rounds again, revisiting several places again.

And in the end, the Missus's favorite was still.....

Yep, it's still Mad for Cheesecake.

We even got one for our neighbor, who is also from Honolulu, and she agrees with the Missus, that this is the best she has had in San Diego.

Mad For Cheesecake
1420 E Plaza Blvd Suite B-5
National City, CA 91950

One last note - news on Zion Market's Move from Candice:

*** Yes, Zion Market has finally opened, if you'd like to see my post on the new location you can find it here.

I'm not sure folks know this yet, but our good friend Candice is now on Instagram. And just announced that Zion Market is opening in their new location on Thursday, January 23! Well, finally!

8330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

Hope everyone has a fabulous week!

Midweek Meandering - Coffee Culture replacing Hola Paris, Isa.Bella Closes, and an update on the Karaage from Tokyo Central

So, last week "FOY" Junichi was kind enough to let me know that Hola Paris had closed in the comments of one of my posts. Ever the thorough investigator, he even mentioned their Instagram site. Which states their last day of business was November 10th.

So, this past weekend, on the way back from my errands, I decided to drop by.

Coffee Culture replacing Hola Paris:

And it looks like a coffee stand named Coffee Culture is replacing Hola Paris.

Sad to see Hola go. It seems that the Urban Market can't sustain businesses.

2548 Congress St.
San Diego, CA 92110

Funny how random conversations can provide interesting info. I saw Nate the owner of Poseidon Project while getting my caffeine fix at Bay Park Coffee. He mentioned that isa.bella, the pizza place that used to be in the old  Boll Weevil location on Avanti, off Morena (you can find my post here), then moved to the food court at Clairemont Town Square had closed. 

A few days later, I was over at TJ Maxx doing a bit of shopping and decided to hop on over.

Isa.Bella Closes:

And yes, the sign is gone.

So, it looks like the they are closed. Though our friend "Google" says "Temporarily Closed".

And their website says they are looking for a "new home".

On my last visit to Main Chick, I had made a mental note to check them out....but I guess that note never got filed? 

So, we'll see.....

4705-A Clairemont Drive
San Diego, CA 92117

Update on the Karaage from Tokyo Central:

 A few months back, I noted how happy I was to have found a replacement for the "new and improved" chicken karaage at Nijiya, which I thought was pretty bad. At that time Tokyo Central was touting their chicken karaage, which turned out well when heated in our Air Fryer.

Well, on recent visits, I had noticed that the chicken karaage, at least the one's in the warmer looked terrible.

I tried this twice and was not a fan.

And then I noticed that the "original chicken karaage" in the warmer looked different.

Hmmm......

And then I went in and found both versions in the bento case. Both are called "Original Chicken Karaage" but look vastly different.

The one with the "Wagura" label costs $5.49. The other is sold by weight.

The one sold be weight is the one I get. It's much better when heated in the Air Fryer.

Like we needed more confusion?

Tokyo Central
8125 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111

Road Trip - Bell's (Los Alamos) Revisited

When you stay at the Sideways Inn you can get a "knock & drop" breakfast in the morning. A simple breakfast that you mark off on a form the night before and find on your doorknob the next morning. All I really needed was bagel and OJ to get my day started.

We relaxed, went for a stroll, then checked out.

We enjoyed our stay here.

Sideways Inn
114 E Hwy 246
Buellton, CA 93427

One of the reasons we spent the evening in Buellton was to have lunch in Los Alamos the next day at Bell's. While we had enjoyed dinner at Bell's on a previous visit, it was the more "classic" French lunch that we loved. Thus, I had made reservations for lunch.

We got into Los Alamos a bit early, so we headed to the Los Alamos Gallery to browse and shop.

  We ended up getting a couple of gifts for folks. Downtown Los Alamos is basically a four block stretch, so we left our car parked on the street and walked on over to Bell's a block away.

The restaurant, which I believe used to be a bank had just opened for lunch service and we were the first through the door.

Just as on previous visits, the service was relaxed, yet professional, hitting a nice balance.

We started with the Chicken Liver Mousse.

Smooth, almost creamy, the pate had a pleasurable, rich funkiness, nice sweet-savory tones. The deep flavor went well with the strawberry jam, aiding in cutting the richness and the cornichon cleansing the palate.

The Missus loved the escargot during our previous visit, so we made sure to order it again.

And just as before, the Missus enjoyed the plump, "wild" Burgundy snails, surprisingly tender, full of garlicky goodness. Sadly, the baguette was also the same as before, much too chewy. Still, those snails.....

The Crepe du Jour looked interesting.

The tomatoes was an sweet-acidic-fruity flavor explosion! The crepe wasn't too sweet and the taste of cheddar came thru nicely without being overwhelming.

Of course I had to get the Beef Tartare.

This is still one of my favorite versions; tender beef, perfectly cut, nice balanced amount of capers, creamy egg yolk, nice touch of pungent tones! There was a generous amount of lightly dressed greens provided. Though again, that baguette. But, the tartare was so good, it was easy to overlook the bread.

We really enjoy lunch at Bell's and can't wait to return!

Bell's
406 Bell St.
Los Alamos, CA 93440
Current Hours:
Thurs - Mon 11am - 3pm, 5pm - 830pm
Closed on Tuesday - Wednesday

Revisits - Hola Paris and T.P. Banh Bao 3

You know, I will often complain about the lack of decent, diverse eating establishments here in San Diego. But then I'll look at my photos and realize while I believe there could be so much more to offer, I should be thankful for what we have here.

Case in point, having to catch up with things and recover from my jet lag, I made the two following breakfast stops this weekend. Yesterday, it was a savory crepe from Hola Paris in Old Town and for strange reason I was craving the "FBB" (fried banh bao) from T.P. Banh Bao 3. You really can't get more diverse than that, right?

Hola Paris:

**** Hola Paris has closed

On my way back from my typical Saturday morning "rounds", I decided to stop by the Old Town Urban Market to see what was going on since Tuetano moved out. Walking past Hola Paris, the owner Benjamin saw me.

He came out to say hello and mentioned that it had been a while since he last saw me! It's quite nice that he remembers me. He also mentioned that they've added a couple more options with regards to savory crepes. I guess he also remembers that I don't have much of a sweet tooth as well!

After chatting a bit, I decided to order one of the savory crepes and went with the Milo.

Soon enough it arrived.

Well, this was quite good. I loved how the salty-savory Prosciutto and the earthy-milky-nutty Brie balances out the sweetness of the crepe. The tomatoes added a nice acidity and I wish there was more of that. 

This was deceptively filling and rich. I enjoyed it and am glad I have a "go-to" here. I really enjoy chatting with Benjamin and will try to stop by more often.

Hola Paris
2548 Congress St.
San Diego, CA 92110
Current Hours:
Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri 9am - 4pm
Wednesday                   9am - 2pm
Sat - Sun                       9am - 6pm

T.P. Banh Bao 3:

While completing some shopping, I was strangely craving something......fried. Of course we didn't get any Asian food in Ecuador, but I'm not sure what brought on this sudden craving for a fried bao? Perhaps it's because it had been over three years since my last visit? Anyway, I decided to head on over. 

I really didn't want to wait for them to fry up the version with the salted egg, so I just got two of the pork, sausage, and egg which they had in the display case. The woman working was a hoot. She placed several napkins in the bag telling me "just in case you can't resist and have to eat them while driving!" Lol!

I was able to resist temptation and waited until I got home to enjoy these brown orbs of artery clogging deliciousness. 

The fried bao was still crunchy after the drive back home! There's an interesting combination of sweet-savory-porky-salty crunchiness with these. Oh, I could only finish one before needing a "timeout". I'll have the other one a bit later on.

This was a nice guilty pleasure. I'll probably wait awhile before having these again, since like "FOY" ChrisR mentioned to me in an email "I loved them, but I feel like they subtract weeks from my life expectancy."

T.P. Banh Bao 3
11271 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri  8am - 7pm
Sat - Sun   730am - 6pm

So I guess I need to stop whining about the lack of choices in San Diego, right?

We'd like to wish a most wonderful Mother's Day to all Mom's out there!

Le Menu du Bar at Jeune et Jolie (Carlsbad)

Like I mentioned in my previous post, the Missus requested a Road Trip to a specific location. This also gave us an opportunity to revisit Jeune et Jolie and spend a night in Carlsbad before heading off. After our last meal at JeJ my friends "B&G" had seen my photos and taken it upon themselves to head on over and have dinner. Though they didn't make reservations. Instead, they dined at the bar, which has its own menu and doesn't take reservations. They had no problem getting seats at the bar arriving right before 5pm on a Friday. The bar menu had several items that looked enticing, so we thought we'd try our luck on a Friday no less!

This time around we stayed at the Tamarack Resort, which we enjoyed. The location was right across from Carlsbad State Beach and had ample underground parking; at least when we arrived.

We checked in and relaxed until it was time to head out to try our luck.

We enjoyed the short stroll over to the restaurant and arrived 5 before 5. There were several parties ahead of us; but most had reservations for dining in. We easily got a place at the bar; which filled up quickly and was totally full in minutes!

Service was friendly and relaxed, yet still quite efficient. The Missus started with a Chardonnay and I had the House Old Fashioned which was no joke!

We placed our orders, we had eaten a fairly big lunch before heading out, so the smaller bites on the menu suited us perfectly. There are offerings of oysters, prawns, a plat du fruits du mer, but we had other things in mind.

"B" had stated that the Croque Monsieur ($44) was his favorite item of his meal, so we started with that. We didn't know what to expect and this is what arrived.

If there was ever a dish to be named "death by truffle" this might be a contender. So the earthy-sweet truffle and brioche really dominated these bites. We really couldn't make out the jamon iberico. Don't get me wrong; you know how much we love truffle, but this was just a bit too sweet and out of balance for me.

Seeing one of my favorites from the tasting menu available, I made sure to order the Veal Tartare ($23).

This was every bit as good as what I'd had before. Tender veal, chopped to my preferred size, nice touch of pungency, the flavor of white soy added a nice savory-saltiness, the crunchy-peppery radish was a nice foil, and the nori powder added another nice layer of flavor.

One item that I really enjoy when in France are Gourgeres, though it's getting a bit more difficult to find light puffs of savory pastry and cheese these days. Even in Paris, where it used to be sold be weight. So, when I saw Gourgere ($16) on the menu I had to get it. Even though it was filled with mornay.

My goodness, we loved these! The crisp and light choux was filled with a savory-pleasantly cheesy Mornay, which even had a nice touch of garlic. That wonderful nutty-earthy-savory-mushroomy flavor of the black truffle came thru clearly as well. We could taste all the components which made this dish delici-yoso! In fact, we had a second order of these!

You know, we enjoy Carlsbad in spite of the lack of Asian food offerings in the area. I hate to think how much damage to my wallet we'd do if we lived in walking distance of Jeune et Jolie!

Jeune Et Jolie - Le Menu du Bar only served at the bar and small "lounge" area. No reservations, first come first served.
2659 State St.
Carlsbad, CA 92008
Current Hours:
Wed - Sun 5pm - 10pm

After dinner we took a nice stroll.

Where we passed several venues with folks having a great time! 

Very relaxed, laid-back......fun!

On the way back to the hotel, the Missus and I decided to get a glass of wine at a place we'd had coffee at on our previous visit.

Happy Hour Revisits to Et Voila

During our last trip to Europe in November of last year, we managed to spend four nights in Paris. Instead of going for all the Michelin starred places, we just wanted to chill and enjoy; after all we've now been to the city eight times since 2016! Funny thing, the Missus ended up having Escargot four times during our stay! I clearly recalled how much She used to hate snails! My how times have changed! Back in January, we went and did a Happy Hour revisit to Et Voila, something that used to be rather routine for us in those days before Covid. We did manage one very nice HH revisit back in January of 2022, two years ago! We noticed some new dishes on the Happy Hour menu and decided to head on back for HH when we stayed at the Lafayette Hotel and headed on back for one more visit a few weeks back.

We did notice that some of the dishes and drinks had changed a bit and now have pegged our current favorites. I thought I'd go ahead and list our Happy Hour dishes.

Of course, I had always enjoyed the Huckleberry Bourbon (especially when it used to be $7 at HH), though on our last couple of visits it seemed a bit weaker. Still, habits die hard, and I had one on all three visits ($13 at HH).

On my last visit, I noticed a cocktail called the "Months of 'Ber" ($14) which had Mezcal and Aperol. I was curious and ordered it. I mentioned that I hadn't noticed this cocktail before and Ludo smiled and said "it's because you don't visit often enough these days..." Ah, so French!

This was nice, slight smoky, lightly sweet-citrusy, loved the hint of anise.

Of course if one is going to have escargot, a baguette is required. The half baguette aux buerre is now $6.....but it's absolutely necessary.

As for the dishes. 

The good.

Well, the Missus does enjoy the Escargot ($11) and the Happy Hour price is reasonable.

It's a bit parsley heavy for my taste; but the escargot are tender enough. The Missus enjoys these and can easily polish it off in less than 10 minutes along with the baguette.

I've always enjoyed the house made Terrine de Porc ($13 HH) and for some reason, the two times I had it during our recent visits I really enjoyed the porky-winey-slightly sweet terrine.

I enjoy the pickled veggies which help to refresh the palate and the nasal clearing mustard.

On the fence:

We had the Beignet de Champignons  ($10 HH) on every visit. On the first visit, it was quite nice, crisp, earthy, exactly what made the dish a Happy Hour staple over the years. Though on our last two visits, the mushrooms were over-fried, almost burnt, and extremely salty.

Still, I'm sure we'll keep ordering this.

The not-so-good.

On our first two visits we got another Happy Hour staple, the Raviolis aux Champignons ($15 during HH). Man, they sure foam it up these days, check out what it used to look like.

There was a tendency in the past for this dish to swing into the "too sweet" territory and on both visits this was even sweeter than before! You really couldn't taste the mushrooms and truffle. I think we're crossing this dish off our "list" on future visits.

We tried one new Happy Hour menu item, the Braised Lamb Belly stuffed with Merguez ($20 HH). We love merguez and harissa, so we were quite excited, but this was a let down.

I'm not sure where they get their merguez, but man, it was bland, lacking in the sweet-gamy-cumin flavors we love...same with the harissa as this really lacked spice. The lamb belly was overly chewy and bland as well. In fact, the only item that stood out were the raisins, of which there were too many for our taste.

Well, even though we didn't enjoy every dish at Et Voila, we still have our favorites. And I still think we enjoy the Happy Hour menu more than the dinner menu. And of course the Missus will need Her Escargot fix from time to time.

Et Voilà!
3015 Adams Ave
San Diego, CA 92116
Current Hours:
Sun- Mon      430pm - 830pm
Tues - Thurs 430pm - 9pm
Fri - Sat         430pm - 10pm
Happy Hour - Served at the Bar Only
Sun - Thurs 430pm - 730pm
Fri - Sat       430pm - 6pm