mmm-yoso!!!

Finca

So, the Missus wanted an early weekend dinner/happy hour and was thinking of revisiting Tribute Pizza. So, we drove on up and found parking on North Park Way. We were a bit early though and Tribute was still closed. We went and did some strolling thru the area and headed back toward our vehicle when I noticed this shop in the newish apartment complex on the corner of Grim and North Park Way. I then recalled our good friend Candice had mentioned the place, named Finca to me and thought we might enjoy it.

Turns out that Finca opens at 3pm on weekends with a Happy Hour from 3 to 6 pm. We decided to give the place a try. This was before the recent super cold spell, so we had a seat outside.

The folks working were very friendly! We were handed a menu, with some items that looked quite "hipsterish", but interesting to us. There were some featured small plates which were $10 during HH.

The Missus started with some red sangria, which was $10 during HH. She enjoyed it and followed with the house red; which She also enjoyed during our meal.

Since I saw Beef Tartare on the menu and it was priced at just ten bucks during Happy Hour; you know I had to order it, right?

Well, this wasn't a good start to our meal as the beef was mushy; over dressed; though we enjoyed the pickled green beans and the pungent-savory fried onions. The item we least enjoyed was the cardboardish, hard, flat bread, which had no flavor at all.

Things completely changed with the Bone Marrow ($16). Ah yes, you know me with beef tartare and bone marrow, right? We really weren't sure when the bone marrow arrived, with a layer of red pepper jelly smeared on it.

Loved the yeasty grilled sourdough, which went so well with the beefy-tallowy-buttery bone marrow. We made sure to get every single drop of the rendered fat. No wonder there's an option to do a Bone Marrow luge to finish! The red pepper jelly had a hint of sweetness, sour, and acidic-spice to complement and cut the richness. This was quite good.

We also got the Lamb "Chorizo" ($18) which were more like lamb meatballs.

The meatballs were very tasty; more African-Middle Eastern flavors to use, cumin...that sort of thing. It was enjoyably gamy, nice "flavor of the pasture" as it were. The "soubise"; basically a bechamel based like sauce was a bit too sour and sweet for us.

We managed to take a look inside the restaurant-bar before leaving.

Stylish; somewhat moody.

We really liked the service and the food, especially the bone marrow was quite enjoyable. So, we decided to return a couple of weeks later. Again it was for an early dinner on a weekend.

The Missus again enjoyed the Sangria, followed by a glass of the house red. The service again was warm and friendly.

We started with the Red Wine Spanish Sausage ($17). 

Now this was the one dish that really reminded us of Spain. Yes, there's grits on this; which were quite tasty, and that black garlic sauce wasn't too sweet, but along with the shallots added some nice pungency. The sausage itself had great flavor....there seemed to be hints of coriander and other spices; which just took me back to Seville for some reason.

And of course we had the bone marrow again.

Which was even better this time around! The fat was even more rendered and we could make out a hint of salt which heightened the flavors!

We had one last dish for the evening; the Chicken Liver Mousse ($15).

The mousse was quite runny, very metallic, almost bitter. Not a fan of the very dry milk bread and the dish goes a bit overboard with sweet items. The pork cracklins ' were super hard instead of crisp...heck, I almost "cracklin'd" my tooth on a piece. We'll pass on this one in the future.

Yes, I said in the future. While I'm sure we'll make that revisit to Tribute soon, we enjoyed that bone marrow and the wonderful staff enough to return again! When we're in the mood for California-ish "tapas" with Middle Eastern and Asian, hipster-modern touches. To us, this is what BoujieManacould be!

Finca
3066 North Park Way
San Diego, CA 92104
Current Hours:
Tues - Thurs 5pm - 9pm
Friday            5pm - 10pm
Saturday        3pm - 10pm
Sunday           3pm - 9pm
Happy Hours:
Tues - Fri       5pm - 6pm
Sat - Sun        3pm - 6pm
Closed on Mondays

Finca also features a bottle shop which opens at 3pm

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