mmm-yoso!!!

Crudo Cevicheria & Oyster Bar

I had some business to attend to downtown during mid-August. Being that I absolutely dread parking downtown, I'm happy to have the trolley stops off Morena these days. Once business was attended to, the most important question of the day arose....."what's for lunch?" Just the week before I had read about Crudo opening in Little Italy in Eater. It was pretty "atsui desu ne", but I was happy to note that the Little Italy Trolley stop was just two blocks from the restaurant. Sold!

I got there right at opening time and the friendly hostess guided me to a table.

I appreciated the outdoor dining area, but it was just too hot on this day.

I like the sleek interior all dressed up in oceany aqua.

Looking over the menu I made my decision. Being that this was Little Italy, I expected small portions, so I ordered two items. Starting with the Fish Ceviche ($16). I was pleasantly surprised at the portion size and the three tostadas to start. The nice young lady came back twice asking me if I wanted more blue corn tostadas!

    The fish was perfectly marinated, with just the right amount of toothsomeness. The marinade was nicely balanced; with a good balance of sour to salt. Enjoyed the ripe avocado which added a slightly creamy texture and a mild buttery-nuttiness to the dish.

The chili de arbol salsa was indeed spicy, with smoky tones.

This was a wonderfully refreshing and restorative dish on a hot day.

I also ordered the Pulpo Carpaccio ($19).

Man, that octopus was perfectly cooked, so tender! Loved the amount of salt and mild acidity as well. I wasn't sure how Parmesan Cheese was going to work with this; but because it was shaved ultra-fine it added a wonderful milky-savory-saltiness to the dish which I found quite pleasant.

In typical Mariscos fashion a variety of hot sauces were presented, but I didn't need anything masking the wonderful flavors of the food!

I saw at least five people stop by during my meal asking if Crudo was open, what were the hours, etc.....

This was a very nice meal! And since my Buddy Candice had reported on it; during the heatwave this past month we decided to grab some lunch. And of course, Crudo seemed like just the remedy for the heat and humidity. Again I took the trolley and Candice met me a opening time. We sat on the same table as I did on my previous visit.

There was one item that caught my interest; the Tiradito Mixto ($25). You know me and tiradito, right?

No complaints about the prep and quality of the seafood. I didn't care for the marinade which was unusually sweet and detracted from the dish. The menu stated that this version of tiradito used XO Sauce, which is what fascinated me. Perhaps that's what threw this whole dish off?

The wonderful Aguachile en Salsa Verde ($19) made everything right again.

Man, the wonderful texture of the shrimp! A perfectly balanced salsa verde; decent spice, great acidity, nice pungent tones! This is probably my favorite item form our meals.

We also got the Coctel de Mariscos ($18). Loved the addition of the saltine crackers...which, no pun intended, "cracked me up".

All the seafood was wonderful; though this was a bit too "Tame" for my taste. I like a bit more clamato and good tanginess in my cocteles. Still, this was decent.

I really enjoyed chatting with Candice, it was great catching up on things. It seems that Covid has really put a damper on all my meals with friends. I'm hoping to remedy that soon.

And Crudo was a fine place to enjoy with friends on a hot, humid September day.

I guess I'm going to have to bring the Missus here soon....though She's not a fan of catching the trolley! We'll see how that goes.

Crudo Cevicheria & Oyster Bar
1608 India St.
San Diego, CA 92101
Hours:
Sun - Thurs 11am - 10pm
Fri - Sat 11am - Midnight

Andres Restaurant Closes After 40 Years

**** Update 12/18/2022. It looks like Andres will be opening under new ownership. You can find that post here.

About two weeks ago "ST" sent me an email, which I didn't get to for a while. In the email ST mentioned that Andres Restaurant was planning to close. Because of all our travels, I didn't get to that email for a while. Then yesterday, our good friend "Alle" sent me a text saying that this was Andres last dinner service and they were closing as of the 24th. I checked Andres website which confirmed that Andres was closing after 40 years in business.

Earlier this morning, I drove on over to Bird Rock on Morena for some coffee and then crossed the street to check out what was up with Andres.

 Things looked pretty much the same with no large notices or signs. Until I took a look at the note on the door.

It looks like the restaurant is closing, while the market will remain open. It's a bit strange that I last visited Andres Market three weeks ago, but hadn't a clue about what was going on.

Both ST and Alle mentioned some family tragedy that prompted this rather sudden decision.

Regardless, I know of many folks who enjoy Andres; and many who grew up eating there. It's sad that over the last couple of years we've lost some much beloved eateries that had served their respective neighborhoods for years. I first posted on Andres in 2005!

Sad news.

1235 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110 

Sunday Stuffs - Pelicana Chicken Replacing Urban Eats and Flama Llama Replacing Chef Chin's

Amazing the changes one can see during a quick trip to Nijiya! Here are two.....

Pelicana Chicken Replacing Urban Eats:

Well, if you're keeping score (and I may be missing a couple of places here), Urban Eats replaced Hi Street, which replaced Char House. 

Established in Daejeon, South Korea in 1982, this chain serves up.......well, you guessed it, Korean Fried Chicken! I'm wondering if Kearny Mesa is in the competition for most Korean Fried Chicken places per square mile in the US? I mean, at HMart you have Katzya, right around the corner and ahem right across the street you have Cross Street, which is nearly across the street from BB.Q Chicken, right in the next parking lot in the Hive is Knockout Chicken, north of Balboa you have Bonchon, and in Zion you have Gala Chicken! And there I was complaining about all the Hot Chicken places opening in San Diego!

7767 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111

Chef Chin's Being Replaced by a Flama Llama?:

I saw construction going on at the former location of Chef Chin on Convoy, so I took a left into the parking lot.

Looks like a place named Flama Llama? So, I did a quick search and found this which states that the owner of Steamy Piggy and Formoosa is opening a restaurant that "will bring a new take on Latin American cuisine." I dunno, how about just having some good Latin American cuisine period?

4433 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Roadtrip (During Covid) - Elote Cafe and the Devils Bridge Trail (Sedona)

After doing the Oak Creek Trail, the Missus and I picked up some stuffs from Whole Foods and had a simple lunch. By dinner time; well, I was ready for some "grindz". Luckily, our dinner destination was basically right around the corner from our accommodations. Even more lucky....I'd made reservations for dinner as there was already a line when we got to the place at 5pm! Our reservations were for 515! I pity the folks with no reservations.

We worked our way down the reservations line and got a nice table with some good distance from other folks. The service here was more friendly and things seemed much more laid back than dinner the night before.

The Missus really loved the chips here! In fact, She cleaned it out pretty quickly and our friendly Server quickly got us more!

After the days hike I was pretty darn hungry, so we actually ordered three apps and two mains!

And since this place is named "Elote" (corn)....well you know what our starters revolved around, right?

Things started with the Elote ($11).

There was a bit too much mayo in this, which nullified the sweet-smokiness of the fire roasted corn.

Next up the Huitlacoche Corn Soup (a small - $8).

You could really make out the corn here! Nice sweetness, the chili de arbol powder added some nice heat to the dish. Not enough huitlacoche to really make much of an impact in our opinion.

Sweet Corn Salad ($12).

We enjoyed the Chipotle Vinaigrette and this was nice and refreshing, but again it was kind of short in the elote department. But not bad overall.

We had explained that we'd like to dine "family style" and the folks here cheerfully accommodated us with separate plates and even plate changes! Great staff.

The Duck Carnitas ($29) was bit more chewy and fatty then I had anticipated.

Pasilla chilies, which have a nice fruitiness was a nice match and the guacamole really helped to refresh the palate cutting thru the richness of the dish.

The Smoked Pork Cheeks ($28) was my favorite dish of the evening.

The pork was indeed smoky and the texture was good, not falling apart but quite tender. And this part of the swine has a wonderful porkiness. I wasn't sure about the buttermilk-cumin drizzle, but it worked well in this framework, a bit of acidity, nice earthiness. I also enjoyed the cascabel chili sauce, a nice nutty-earthiness.

Overall this was an enjoyable meal, the service brought it up a notch.

Elote Cafe
350 Jordan Rd.
Sedona, AZ 86336

The next morning the Missus wanted to do one more hike on our way out of Sedona. She wanted to hike to the Devil's Bridge. During Her previous previous visit, the Devil's Bridge was packed with the "selfie crowd" and She never got to walk out onto it. And se we headed on over. Even though it was December, the parking lot was already filled when we arrived. A really nice guy in a brand new Corvette had parked....he saw us, waved and moved up to make room for us to park! What a nice guy!

The trail, other than the last portion up to the bridge is flat and easy to navigate. And you get really nice views of the Sedona "Red Rocks".

And when we arrived at the Devil's Bridge, there was only one couple ahead of us.

  And that couple was the folks from that new yellow Corvette. We were just going to take a stroll on the Devil's Bridge and maybe do a selfie. But the really nice guy told me; "I'm going to rest here a while, so why don't you walk on over and I'll take a picture of you!" And he didn't take just one photo, but an entire set! You know, people like him really do make travels just so much better!

And so, our time in Sedona was up.

But there was one more stop for us left!

Stay tuned!

Roadtrip (During Covid) - Mariposa Latin Inspired Grill and the West Fork of Oak Creek Trail (Sedona)

After leaving Winslow, we headed west on the 40 and then down the 89 to Sedona. The Missus had really enjoyed hiking in Sedona during Her roadtrip and wanted to torture me to enjoy some of those hikes. Wow was the place crowded with tourists! And there seemed to this interesting vibe...almost like Lahaina meets New Age, that I got from the place.

I did enjoy our accommodations which was close to everything downtown, our dinner destination for the next night was just steps away. And the location while being close to everything had convenient parking and was pretty quiet.

After checking in, we headed out to do some shopping in the Uptown area....man, there were a ton of tourist traps here. After passing shop after shop of "stuffs", we finally found one where we could find some good gifts.

We enjoyed shopping here and purchased gifts for folks back home. The staff was also quite knowledgeable. 

After which we headed back to the room to relax and refresh.

I had made dinner reservations at a place recommended to me by an acquaintance. It was located a bit over a mile down state highway 89A named Mariposa. Well, because the Missus thought that I hadn't had enough exercise, She decided that we needed to walk there. The walk wasn't bad, though we were the only folks actually walking. And after taking the right where 89A turns right and 179 goes straight it seemed like we were walking on the freeway. For a place that had been described to me as being "spiritual" they sure seemed to have a lot of large strip malls!

We found the restaurant, walked up past the parking lot and entered.

The place was quite busy and many parties looked like they were here to celebrate various occasions.

The menu featured "tapas" styled dishes, grilled red meat, interesting sounding Latin influenced mains, and a host of sides The service was a bit on the "cold" side, at least to us. Apparently he knew folks on his other tables and spent his time with them and barely uttered a complete sentence to us.

We chose a couple of "tapas", a main, and some side dishes for our "family style" meal.

First up was the Pulpo Parilla ($26).

We were a bit surprised at the prices, which seemed on the "high" end of things; but this was a good sized plate. The octopus was nicely cooked and hit a nice balanced texture, toothsome, but not overly chewy. In terms of flavor, it was again nicely balacned in terms of sodium. The garbanzo bean puree was nice and hearty and the shredded fennel added an interesting anise flavor to things. This was, by far, the best dish of the evening. We also enjoyed the Biquinho Peppers; which weren't overly hot, but it really brought a bit of spice to the dish.

The Gaucho Plate ($22) arrived next.

The chorizo was a bit too mild in terms of spices....it really could have used a bit more chili in it. The bread was a bit on the crumbly side for our taste. The best item on the plate were the butter beans which which had a nice, firm exterior, but were quite creamy inside.

The one main we ordered was the Veggie Nirvana ($28). After having those pretty hefty tapas, we cracked up when this arrived as it was actually smaller than the previous dishes.

This was a bit overdone in terms of having so many things going on; the Romesco Sauce, black beans, pepitas, and cheese overpowered any subtle smokiness from the roasted poblano. 

We also ordered the Wood Roasted Mushrooms ($12).

This was fine, if a bit on the bland side.

The most disappointing dish was the Roasted Cauliflower with Romesco ($10).

The cauliflower had been charred, but was still quite hard and for some reason, didn't seem to be seasoned. As I mentioned previously; not a fan of the Romesco sauce as it really didn't have that "zippy", garlic-smoky-mildly spicy and tangy flavors I enjoy.

Overall, well....this felt like a meal in a very "corporate" restaurant.....for some reason it reminded me of eating, in say, a Fleming's???

I had read about the wonderful view, but it was past sundown when we arrived so I can't comment on that.

Mariposa Latin Inspired Grill
700 West Hwy 89A
Sedona, AZ 86336

We had a quiet walk back to our room. I had started noticing random items on our walk back that sometimes looked a bit out of place. Like what is this Torii doing here?

Maybe I missed something in the darkness?

The next morning the Missus wanted to show me one of Her favorite hikes in the area. It's the West Fork of Oak Creek. We got there early and found parking and paid the $11 fee.

    It is a nice hike and I loved the rock formations. Now this is what I envision when I think of Sedona!

The hike was a bit over 6 1/2 miles round trip and wasn't too bad.

There were 13 river crossings though! But I managed to make it without falling into the river once....much to the Missus's disappointment. Just kidding.

Not too many people hiking on this morning; though it seemed like folks were arriving as we were leaving.

We passed some ruins as we were leaving the trail.

I was curious and walked over to the sign.

From 1926 to 1968 Mayhew Lodge stood here. The cabins saw visitors like Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Stewart, Walt Disney, and Clark Gable. You can read more about it here. In 1968 the Mayhew family sold the lodge to the U.S. Forest Service and in 1980 a fire consumed the buildings, leaving only the remains we can see today. It's interesting the things that you run across.....

As folks started arriving; we knew it was time for us to leave.......and time for me to have a break and maybe even a nap?

Thanks for stopping by!

COMC - Visits "BC" (Before Covid) Cueva Bar, Ma's House, Hachi Ramen, and Submarine Crab

Well, welcome to March 225th. Who'd have thought 2020 would be like this? For my posts; I usually do multiple visits to a place....after all, everyone can have an off day.....even though it goes against my "fool me once shame on you....fool me twice shame on me" rule, I'm willing to take full responsibility for my poor judgement....though there are many paces where; perhaps we've had absolutely terrible food/service; or the food has been lackluster and the prices quite high....or something in between that'll be just a "one and done". It's pretty obvious in many cases just by the absence of a post on those places.

To be perfectly fair; after a certain period of time; like 6-9 months or so, I'd just as soon start things up all over again. And Covid-19 has just changed things. So here are a bunch of places that I fully intend on visiting again once we're past all this craziness....and I'll just "start the meter" from the beginning with a clean slate, hours, staff, menus, could all have changed, right? But, I thought you'd like to see the photos anyway.

Cueva Bar:

**** Cueva Bar has closed

The Missus and I visited Cueva Bar last year and fully intended of returning in a couple of months, before the pandemic struck. We weren't particularly struck by the food; we enjoyed the Choripapas the most. The flatbread would have been pretty good, but there just wasn't enough Chorizo on the "Norteno" to really make an impact on our palate. I gotta say; really pretty presentations though.

I still need to try the Empanadas.

Cueva Bar Café
2123 Adams Ave.
San Diego, CA 92116
Current Hours
Thur - Sat 4pm - 9pm

Ma's House:

Ma's created a bit of buzz when they opened last fall. I went with Calvin back in November. Even though I know folks who were really excited about Ma's opening.....we'd been to Ma's Islamic in Anaheim and were really not impressed. Perhaps having all those meals at the now defunct Tung Lai Shun (in the SGV) and other places in China has set the bar too high.

Both Calvin and I were underwhelmed.

The cumin lamb was terrible and the deep fried crispy duck was super hard and bland.

The one item that was quite good was the sesame bread. In fact, we brought the leftover bread back to the office (remember those days? When folks worked in an office?) and gave it to "YZ" who loved it.

So, while that gave me a reason to return; I just feel I need to eat in the restaurant and I'm just not ready to do that here. The Missus who tasted the leftovers will probably not be my eating companion here as well, so....I need to wait I guess.

Ma's House
5537 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

Hachi Ramen:

**** Hachi Ramen has closed

So....the curse of Hachi Ramen. I had visited a few times when the place was Artisan Bento. I actually used to have quite a few meetings up in the Hillcrest area. So in 2017 the place changed concepts and became Hachi Ramen. Like I mentioned in my Ramen Ryoma post, I'd had two aborted posts on Hachi (also mentioned in Waters Fine Foods post) , just because my visits were spaced a year apart.

So, in February, I decided to start over.....get things going.

And while the noodles were standard issue and the broth a bit on the overly salty side; this was not bad.

Then of course, we hit mid-March. And Hachi has been closed ever since.  Though I understand you can order some of the menu items from Azuki Sushi.

So, there are questions; will Hachi ever reopen....AND will the "fourth time be a charm"?

Hachi Ramen
2505 5th Ave.
San Diego, CA 92103
Currently Closed Due to Covid-19

Submarine Crab:

So, this is an interesting one. Back at the end of February, I made multiple visits to Lotus Garden in City Heights. The young man working there; I believe his name is "Tu" is from Little Saigon and we had a couple of nice chats about Vietnamese food in San Diego. Surprisingly, he told me that he and his girlfriend will often visit Submarine Crab for the Banh Canh.

So, at the beginning of March, I grabbed Calvin and we drove over to Submarine Crab.

After looking over the menu a few times; I figured out that the Banh Canh was called "Udon" on the menu.

It was quite a thick/gooey as I like; but this was not bad at all.

The Beef Stew - bo kho, as a bit on the thin side, but not bad either.

We also had the chicken wings.

I understand that the "Seafood Udon" is currently on the takeout menu; but the Beef Stew is only available eat in.

I definitely need to return; but will wait for a bit, and will start things fresh.

Submarine Crab
4647 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 987-0333
Current (Covid-19) Hours:
Mon - Thurs 330pm - 9pm
Fri - Sun   12pm - 930pm

And lastly......I'm just adding these photos. We won't be returning here.

Hope everyone is safe and in good health! Have a great week!

Sunday Sandwiches - The "El Cubano" from Havana Grill

I'd seen the "we're open" sign for Havana Grill while running some errands a couple of weeks back. Which reminded me that it had been a while since I'd visited. So, before heading home to check on Frankie; I called in an order for the "El Cubano" ($13), which was my second favorite when I did a "Cubano" comparison a couple of years back.

Upon arriving I noticed a curbside pick-up option, a couple of outdoor tables, a roped off area with limited dining and well marked spacing for ordering. My Cubano was ready to go when I arrived and it was a very fast and efficient process. And, as usual the young man working was very friendly.

The sandwich held up well after the drive home and the bread was still fairly crisp. And the plantain chips were still crisp when I got home. There seemed to be a bit less ham this time in comparison to previous visits, which kind of lessened the rather balanced salty-pungent(mustard)-sour (pickles)-milky (from the Swiss Cheese) flavors I previously enjoyed. Still, this was not bad at all.

I'll definitely be back....I need to retry items I had enjoyed before like the Ropa Vieja. Nice folks working here; I was happy to note that when I asked how business was doing, the immediate answer was "it's picking up, more sales every day". Good to hear.

Havana Grill
5450 Clairemont Mesa Blvd,
San Diego, CA 92117
Open Daily 11am - 9pm

Sunday Sandwiches, the Cubano Edition - Embargo Grill, Havana Grill, Andres, and Tropical Star

I set out on a bit of a mission the last couple of weeks. A couple of months ago, I was asked what I thought the best "Cubano type" sandwich in the area was. I quickly said Embargo Grill. Then then quickly thought that I'd hadn't been to other places in the area in quite a while. So I decided to head off in a quest of sorts and managed to hit up four places before I'd seen enough pork, ham, cheese, and pickles for a while.

And while Embargo Grill still came in on top; here's the places in order.....favorite to least.

Embargo Grill:

**** Embargo Grill has Closed

I think the Medianoche at Embargo Grill has gotten better over time. 

The pork here, sort of a "pulled pork", was nice and moist and wasn't too salty this time around. That porky flavor combined with the slightly milky cheese and just the right amount of pickles did it for me. The bread was nicely crisp, toasted well, and the bread was nice and light, not too chewy. The one component I really couldn't make out was the ham.

The Yuca Frita was nicely fried. When done the way I like it; the smaller pieces have a light, airiness to them, while the larger pieces, are denser. The mojo was better than on previous visits.

Embargo Grill
3960 W Point Loma Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110

Havana Grill:

It's been about 6 months since I last visited and the menu has changed a bit; though the "El Cubano" is still there.

At first I thought this would be much too bready and not toasted enough, though it was done adequately. Here the flavor of the ham comes through quite well; teaming with the mustard and pickles. The plantain chips were cold this time around and not very crisp. The sandwich was a bit on the dry side but this is a very solid #2 pick for me.

Havana Grill
5450 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Andre's Cuban Restaurant:

**** Andres has closed

Good lord; could it actually be almost 11 years since I last visited!

My goodness; stepping in here is like talking a walk back in time. Plus, this was the only true "restaurant" of the places I visited.

The Cubano here was fairly mediocre.

The bread to filling ratio stood a bit too far on the "bread side" for my taste. The pork was rather dry and tasteless; though the nicely melted cheese shone through quite nicely, but it all came through as rather bland. Luckily, I ordered the Yuca Frita....I ended up pouring a good bit of the mojo on my sandwich. For some reason, like Tropical Star below; this was just too much for me to finish.

The Yuca Frita was decent; loved the smaller pieces which were crisp and creamy. The larger slices got cold pretty quickly and became quite hard. I do like the mojo here; while it could perhaps use more citrus; it is very garlicky and it looks like there's bacon or ham in it.

If you've ever walked to the back or the side banquet room at Andre's, you'll realize just how large the place is. The small façade belies that. This place is in my 'hood, I really should get here more often.

Andre's Cuban Restaurant
1235 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110

Tropical Star:

Here's another place I haven't visited in a while.

I had noticed that over the last couple of years; TS had expanded, then retracted back to what it once was. A charming little Latin Grocery that served rather inexpensive Latin American food. I thought it right that I should have the Cubano here.

This was totally by the book; slice of pork, check, thin slices of ham...check....cheese on both sides, check...pickles, yes indeed. It was indeed pressed; though the bread had seen better days. Overall, quite filling....partially because of all the fries; nice and hot, but lacking salt...but I only finished half.

I don't recall seeing Diet Inka Cola before........even in Peru!

So not quite stellar, especially when compared to the others....but it was the most inexpensive. Plus, I like the older gentleman behind the counter. I always bus my own table and he seems to appreciate that.

Tropical Star
6163 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92111

What's the Missus Craving? Tamales from El Salvador Pupuseria y Restaurante

The Missus has a weakness for tamales. And even though She'd consumed quite a bit over the Xmas holiday.....it was just not enough. She rolled out of bed one morning and told me She "needed"; yes "needed" some tamales. Specifically tamales from El Salvador Pupuseria y Restaurante. Now, based on my last visit to the place, I really wasn't into it. But there was no denying the Missus. So I figured, no pupusas for me

  As with my previous visits, the women working here are quite friendly....so I just ignored the terrible curtido and the slightly stale chips this time around. And the Missus started things off with some Plantano Frito.

Nicely fried; just sweet enough, not greasy. That crema was nice and mild and paired well with the plantains. The frijoles however, were gummy and bland, not a great combination for me when it comes to beans. The Missus got one chicken and one pork tamale....She actually prefers Salvadoran Tamales; wrapped in banana leaf, or even Guatemalan Chuchitos, to the standard issue Mexican style tamales. The Missus really enjoyed the pork tamales and had me order four more to go....for later. So it must have fixed the craving!

I ordered the Yuca Frita con Chicharron. Fried yucca...fried pork....fried.....

That fried yucca was a work of art. It was just perfectly fried; crisp exterior, nice moist interior. Totally delici-yoso! The pork was not so great. It was quite lean making the meat quite dry and tough. It was also too salty. The faux curtido and the veggies really didn't do much else for the dish. Still, that yucca made me happy enough.....

If we're coming back again the next time the Missus gets a tamale itch; it'll have to be yucca frita and something else.

El Salvador Pupuseria y Restaurante
3824 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

Havana Grill - Some First Impressions

Boy, did Havana Grill take their sweet old time opening. I'm not sure what the roadblocks were, but I'd mentioned seeing their signage back in June. Still, I was intrigued to finally see them open about a month ago.

The shop is one of those "fast-casual" type places; you order at the counter, take number and have a seat. The restaurant was still in it's soft-opening phase when I visited, so I can understand the rather slow delivery of some of my orders and that some of the items; specifically the mojo was a bit different on my visits. I will say this; the staff is very friendly.

My adventures started with the Ropa Vieja - "old clothes", the classic Cuban shredded beef dish. Not cheap at $13.

This was probably the best version of this dish I've had in San Diego. The beef was perfectly toothsome, but not tough and overly stringy. The flavor was mellow, but the brininess of the capers and olives lifted the dish. The beef flavor was present and the sodium level low. Of all the items I had, it was the black beans that made an impression; sweet-salty-beany, cumin lurking in the background; the texture of the beans was nice, and it was neither too runny or too mushy. The really nice guy named Alex, told me that their recipe uses 17 ingredients. I bought a side order for the Missus who really enjoyed it.

The mojo had a bit too much oil and not enough citrus or garlic flavor for me.

The plantains....were plantains...... just being their sweet ol' selves.

During my meal, Alex told me that Havana Grill baked their own bread. So you know what I had to try, right?

On my next visit, I went with the El Cubano ($10), the hot pressed Cubano Sandwich. I was surprised at the amount of nicely fried plantain chips when I opened my container.

I actually enjoyed this sandwich....and the plantain chips.

The weak link to most Cubanos for me is the roast pork, which tends to be dry and tasteless....the "other white meat". The pork here had decent pork flavor. And combined with ham (salty-savory), the Swiss cheese (milky goodness), the pickles (crunch and a slight sweet-brine), and the mustard, this was pretty darn good. The bread didn't look like much, but actually had some nice flavor and held up fairly well after being pressed.

I had asked for a recommendation for my next visit when I ordered my sandwich and was told to try either the Bistec or the Havana Chicken Sandwich. I ended up getting both during my next two visits.

The Bistec ($14) is basically shredded beef and could have used a bit more of a sear to enhance the texture, it was also cold in the middle.

It was also quite mild in flavor, I'm used to Bistec Encebollado and expect some bold flavors; garlic, lime, black pepper...on pounded beef. This seemed the same cut as the ropa vieja.

The black beans were as good as on my previous visits. This time around; the mojo had some punchy garlic and perhaps a bit too much salt, but not enough citrus for my taste. Still it was needed to add some oomph to the beef.

On my most recent visit I tried the Havana Chicken Sandwich ($9).

On the good side; this wasn't a shrinking violet when it came to flavor, lots of garlic-citrus tomes and perhaps teetering on the edge of being too salty. The onions did quite well, but the sandwich also seemed a bit greasy. Also, the pounded chicken breast was a bit on the dry side. The menu said that the sandwich was dressed with watercress, but I found none. I think the crunch and slight bitter-peppery flavor would have been a nice addition to the sandwich. I like the roll, which seems simple, but reminds me of a good solid French style roll which is great for "dipping".

I enjoyed my visits to Havana Grill, the folks are very friendly, and the place seems like a work in progress. It seems that homestyle recipes are being adapted for restaurant use and systems are still being put in place. The fact that Havana Grill is close to work means that I'll keep visiting on those days when I need a change of pace. I hope they keep up the nice service and get their recipes and systems in line. There also seems to be items on the menu; the empanadas come to mind that really won't do well being cooked ahead and placed under heat lamps. Hopefully all of that will shake out in time. Oh, and I hope they dial in the mojo......

Havana Grill
5450 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117
Open Daily 11am - 9pm