mmm-yoso!!!

Takeout From Bay Hill Tavern

During my time working from home, I had my regular stops, Zgara, Bay Park Coffee, Clairemont Coffee, Sandwich Emporium, and so forth..... Still I needed some variety for lunch when I wasn't in the mood for making lunch or eating leftovers. During the beginning of the pandemic I had bought some beer from Bay Hill Tavern. And during the months after they reopened I went and did some takeout from BHT. The online ordering was a snap; the place is so close to the house, and my orders were always ready on time.

The place can get pretty busy; especially starting in the late afternoon. I made it a point to avoid all of that....parking is limited and such, and always placed an order right after they opened at 11am.

The one item that had been recommended to me since BHT opened was the Fried Chicken Sandwich ($13). Even though BHT was fairly close by I had my doubts that the sandwich would hold up well as takeout; but it did.

The fries however did not as it as soggy and under seasoned.

   Now to be perfectly honest, the chicken breast had been fried nicely, and was good n' crunchy, but was on the dry side and really could have used a more aggressive seasoning. It was actually, the herb mayo, napa cabbage slaw, and the "zippy" Fresno chilies, along with the mild sweetness of the brioche bun that made this sandwich. It's almost as if the chicken was just there for texture.

The Reuben Sandwich ($14) was another "almost there" dish. This time I tried the truffle fries (+ $1.50).

 Which, if it was possible, was even more soggy and limp then the regular fries I'd had before. The fries could have used more truffle oil and I'm not sure what to make of the partially melted shavings of cheese on the fries. Perhaps it was meant to be fully melted and nice and gooey/stringy? I dunno.

The sandwich though, was almost there...the rye bread nicely toasted, the Swiss cheese melted, the pastrami thinly sliced and warm, the "secret sauce" you know, a modified Thousand Island had some zip to it. I could have used more sauerkraut which might have resolved my biggest issue with this sandwich.....it was so darn salty.

On my last visit I went with the special, called the "Cali Cheesesteak" and this time ordered it with the Curly Fries.

As you can see, in terms of fries, the third time's a charm.....I guess this is the way to go with regards to takeout spuds. The fries were crisp and nicely seasoned.

As for the sandwich, well, the roll was nicely toasted. There were three different cheeses used for this a beer cheese, mozzarella, and provolone which provided alot of gooeyness but not a lot of flavor to add to the beef which while more tender than it looked needed a more aggressive seasoning.

I really think that the sandwich could have used more onions and bell peppers for texture. The avocado just made everything more mushy.

 I will say that I enjoyed the somewhat elevated pub grub from BHT more than other options nearby. BHT is owned by the same group that runs Working Class in North Park. The folks are professional and quite nice. My orders have always been ready for pick-up at the designated time. And the items I tried were quite close to being good. Like I mentioned earlier, BHT can get pretty darn crowded, so I plan my pick up times carefully.

So, even though I'm no longer working from home much, perhaps in the future, when we're thru the pandemic and I'll go ahead and have a cold one or a cocktail at BHT and a bite to eat as well. 

Bay Hill Tavern
3010 Clairemont Drive
San Diego, CA 92117
Hours:
Mon - Thurs 11am - 9pm
Friday 11am - 10pm
Saturday 9am - 10pm
Sunday 9am - 9pm

Sunday Sandwiches - Sunrise Deli (Miramar)

Here's another one of those Mom-and-Pop sandwich shops in a business mall. I found this one while looking up the address of Creative Deli. Located on Silverton Avenue off of Dowdy Drive is Sunrise Deli.

The place really seems to be a favorite of those "working stiffs" and there always seems to be a line. All my visits were between 930 and 1030....and in each case there was a queue lined up. Nothing fancy here; no online ordering, open Monday to Friday from 7am to 3pm.

The prices are quite reasonable; especially in these days of Covid......the service is friendly; the woman behind the counter so very nice, and in all my three visits, I got my sandwich in ten minutes! 

The menu is rather large with all types of burgers, breakfast type dishes, burritos, quesadillas, and of course a good variety of sandwiches.

On my first visit, I got the Club Deluxe ($7.99).

Which was served on nicely toasted sourdough. For me; it as the combination of bacon, avocado, and the fact that the sandwich wasn't over-dressed in mayo, which made the sandwich for me. Perhaps this is nothing revolutionary....but I just wanted a decent sandwich and the price point was good as was the sandwich. All ingredients in balanced quantity.

I'm fairly certain they use standard Boar's Head product; but I really liked the way they sliced the roast beef.

So, on my next visit I got the "Jimmy Special" ($7.99).

And like my previous experience; the sourdough bread was nicely toasted so the sandwich held up quite well during the 10-15 minute drive back to the office.

I had thought that the roast beef had been cut a bit too thick; but it did well in combination with the mild milky-saltiness of the two slices of Swiss Cheese. Again, in terms of proportion; it was just enough mustard and mayo. And the avocado really brought a wonderful buttery texture, along with a mild grassy-nuttiness to the sandwich.

I had enjoyed the roast beef here that on my last visit I was just going to order the Roast Beef sandwich; but when I got to the window; I had changed things up and went with the Miramar Special ($8.75), which seemed like sort of a "Cheesesteakish" kinda thing.

For me; the bread to filling ratio was a bit off for this one....though like before, it was toasted nicely and held up well.

The bacon was a bit lost in all of this; but like before, the avocado really helped the sandwich along as I wish there was more Peperoncino Swiss both of which kept the dryness of all that bread at bay. The griddled roast beef was a bit too hard and dry for my taste....and in this case; the sandwich could have probably used a bit more mayo!

Still, the service was wonderful, and even though the woman was apologizing to all the guys in front of me....she seemed to know them all by name for the recent price increases, I found myself to be perfectly fine with the pricing.

I'm happy to have found another option for those days where I need to grab an early lunch.......and I do find that it helps my mental state to escape from the office; if only for a few minutes. The prices are reasonable, the woman working the counter is so nice....she even remembered my name after my second visit! And I love supporting these type of local businesses.

Sunrise Deli
7920 Silverton Ave.
San Diego, CA 92126
Phone number
(858) 433-7139
Hours:
Mon - Fri 7am - 3pm

Please have a safe week!

Roadtrip (During Covid-19) - Walking Around San Luis Obispo and Revisiting Firestone Grill 7 Years Later

After yet another nice meal at Madeline's in Cambria (and that beautiful sunset), we slept well. And after a wonderful night's sleep, I got up early, and just as on our previous visit walked on over to Cambria Coffee Roasting Company to get the Missus Her pour over and a Cold Brew for me.

Like Paso Robles; there's something about Cambria that is very comfortable and on this, our second trip here within a year, it all felt familiar.

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

We just relaxed and took our sweet time. We had one more stop before heading home and it was basically a 45 minute drive South. Finally, fully awake we headed off....to San Luis Obispo. We had made a stop in SLO years back, but I had wanted to stay for a night. But man, those hotel prices in the downtown area....over $300 a night! Yikes. So, I booked what was basically a motor inn right off the 101 and a short 15 minute walk into the heart of "SLO". Of course we had gotten in quite early; check-in wasn't until 3pm. So, the motel was nice enough to let us park in the lot and we decided to stretch our legs and grab some lunch.

We basically walked up Higuera Street then took a left on Broad Street. We were playing by ear.

   The Missus had decided that She wanted to see Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, so we headed off in that direction. We meandered along, crossing over San Luis Obispo Creek; stopping to check out some of the public art.

The creek has nice green spaces and a creekside trail. And some of the restaurants and bars have what seems like serene creekside seating.

It was such a bright and beautiful day in May.

We passed the History Center and headed up to Palm and the garden area of the Mission.

It was a nice, peaceful area to take a break. The Mission is well known for the bells and bellringers.

After a short break we headed off to the front of the Mission.

And the bells went off just as we turned the corner.

   The Mission was founded in 1772 by; you guessed it; Junípero Serra. The site itself is fascinating as the area was called Ilano de los Osos (though some say it was La Cañada de los Osos - "Valley of the Bears") "Plain of the Bears" by Juan Crespí, a Franciscan Missionary who documented Gaspar de Portolá's expedition thru what is now California.

There was a nice art display in Mission Plaza and all along SLO called the May Flower Initiative, with some wonderful, colorful displays.

There was something I wanted to check out just a block over. You see; once upon a time, like many cities in California, SLO had a Chinatown (there's a great article here). A block over from the Mission are the remnants of that Chinatown. The most well known being the Ah Louis Store.

Ah Louis is probably the most well known and most successful of those that settled in SLO. The Ah Louis Store still stands; though it's now called "Karson Butler Events at the Ah Louis Store".

    Another business that still exists is Mee Heng Low; you can read a wonderful article on the business here. One can only imagine what challenges these folks had to overcome. The anti-Chinese sentiment, the Chinese Exclusion Act......and there are times...at least these days, where I think we haven't evolved very far from the racism and hate of those days.

By this time, the Missus was getting a bit hungry.....after a short discussion....a very short discussion, we thought it would be kinda cool to revisit Firestone Grill, which we really enjoyed over 7 years ago! My how time flies......

So we walked on over.

They were doing great business; but folks were all wearing masks and distancing and other processes were in place.

We placed our order at one counter; found a table outside. They had closed tables in order to distance diners....a nice job overall.

Soon enough our number was called and I headed off to another area to pick up our food. We had ordered the exact same items as on our previous visit.

The Missus got Her massive Steak Cobb Salad ($11.99), which She plowed thru like there's no tomorrow.

Yes, that tri-tip does well on this; but man, it's the bacon and blue cheese that makes the salad in my opinion. And with all that flavor, who needs dressing.

I got the Trip-tip Sandwich (no BBQ sauce please).

They still gave me BBQ sauce; but at least it was on the side....that sauce is way too sweet and for me doesn't bring anything to the sandwich. Not quite as much tri-tip as I recall; but it is still moist and tender, beefy with mild smokiness....I do like the roll they use; lightly toasted, a bit of garlic butter...yeasty. This was quite good........even 7 years later!

Firestone Grill
1001 Higuera St
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

We were happy with lunch and were looking forward to dinner....but first; a nap of course. I got a text telling me our room was ready so we headed back.

There was one additional stop I wanted to make; Bubblegum Alley....but when we got there, the Missus was so grossed out that She told me I'd be napping in the car if I walked in.....

I dunno; we had been to the Gum Wall in Seattle......but maybe being surrounded by stuff that's been chewed...saliva and all that....in the heat of mid-day?

That's fine......at this point in time, that nap in air conditioned goodness was more important to me!

Thanks for stopping by!

The Rule of Three - Revisits to GyroGrill, LouZiana Food, and Smack’N Guamanian Grill

So, I recently started returning to places fairly close to the office and when setting up this post I noticed something about three of these places. The number three comes into play. All three places are on Miramar Road. This is my third post on these places since the pandemic started.....yes, it's been that long. And all three are, well....take out visits. The one big difference is in my ordering mechanism.

So here goes.

GyroGrill:

Gyrogrill actually opened during the pandemic and my first post was back in October of last year. 

Since service and turnaround is fairly quick at GG....a big plus is that they open at 9am so I can get our lunches at around 10 and the place is empty and the parking lot isn't crazy. I actually order at the restaurant.

As I mentioned in my follow-up post, I....and my coworkers basically get one thing here. The pork gyros combo with handcut potatoes.

 So even though the pork gyros here isn't in the same league as Zgara, it's sometimes a bit on the dry side and could be more aggressively seasoned, it's way better than the ubiquitous Kronos stuff you get almost everywhere else. Decent pork flavor and everyone enjoys the crispy hand cut potatoes. And I've kinda gotten used to the really thick Tzatziki.

Gyrogrill
6780 Miramar Rd.
San Diego, CA 92121
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 9am - 7pm
Sat 9am - 6pm
Closed Sunday

LouZiana Food:

I think I'm pretty good at taking direction and on my last post on LouZiana Grill back in January of this year, "FOY" Dereck wrote this in the comments:

"Kirk, I don't know how you can get out of there without a roast beef po boy. It isn't like the debris sandwiches from NOLA, but it sure as hell does taste good when I want a fix!"

So, ok I decided to try the roast beef po' boy. My mechanism for ordering here (there's no online ordering) is to call in. LZ can get a bit busy at times and I still am a bit put off by crowds. The folks working are always friendly and my order is always waiting when I arrive.

I mentioned in my previous post during the pandemic, that I'm not a big fan of the bread here. But in this framework it does real well. Because sheesh.....

 Oh geez, look at all that remoulade sauce! But that bread holds up real well and is almost tailormade for all that mayo goodness. In fact, when I bit into one end of the sandwich...it basically "sharted" remoulade out the other end. Luckily, I ate over the wrappers! The sauce was fairly balanced; not too much sour-pickle juice tones, though I like my remoulade to be more garlicky and spicy this was not bad. Standard issue shredded iceberg and tomatoes. The one thing about not having and overly strong sauce is that I could actually taste the roast beef.

A messy, but pretty good sandwich. Thanks for the recommendation Dereck!

LouZiana Food
7128 Miramar Rd.
San Diego, CA 92121
Current Hours:
Daily 11am - 8pm

Smack’N Guamanian Grill:

Much like GyroGrill, I pretty much get the same thing from Smack’N Guamanian Grill during my pandemic takeout visits. The Chebot Plate, the combo of BBQ Chicken and Kelaguen (I sub out an extra scoop of Kelaguen for the cabbage slaw), with Red Rice. Smack’N has online ordering which I use.

And even though on my previous two pandemic visits the chicken was "masked" (i.e covered with foil)....I guess with new CDC guidelines, masking is now optional!

Smack’N has been pretty consistent over the last couple of visits and I know what to expect. The Kelaguen is very moist, though lacking in coconut tones and spice. It's not overly salty, has mild citrus tones, and is quite easy to take. The finedene is also fairly mild as well. I actually take the Kelaguen home and use my homemade finedene.....because, as you can tell, this a generous amount of food.

The BBQ Chicken is nicely grilled, fairly tender, and has really good salt-soy balance. It's much better than what you get from many of those "Hawaiian BBQ" places.

The Red Rice does a fine job of soaking up the chicken drippings and is quite moist.

Smack’N Guamanian Grill
9506 Miramar Rd.
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Mon - Sat 11am - 7pm
Closed on Sundays

You know, it's hard to believe that I've now done three posts on these places during the pandemic......it just seems to go on and on. My hope is that the next time I do a post on one of these places; I'll be eating in and the worse will be but a tiny speck in our "rearview mirror".

Take care everyone!

Boss Bird Kitchen - B(efore)C(ovid), D(uring)C(ovid), D(uring)R(eopening)

Here's a post that was 17 months in the making. Chicken Sandwiches.....especially Nashville Hot Chicken has become (yet another) fad in recent years. And back in February of 2020 Boss Bird Kitchen took over the spot that seems to be a revolving door of restaurants; being Capetown Bar & Grill, then Sarap, and finally Gaya Gaya before Boss Bird took over the spot. My first visit was in February 2020. I then did a takeout visit early in 2021. At that time, I wasn't even sure I'd be doing a post....until I decided to return last week. You can think of this as happening during three distinct phases in time, pre-Covid, during lockdown, and during reopening. It does seem to be much longer of a timespan then that as well.

The place looked essentially the same as Gaya Gaya, minus the interesting artwork.

I thought about trying the "Hot Mess" Chicken "Burger", but decided to just get the "Standard". Basically, buttermilk fried chicken breast sandwich. The size of the chicken breast filet was quite generous.

 I did like the roll it was served on, which had a mild hint of yeasty sweetness and held up quite well to the sorta "secret sauce" (Thousand Island dressingish). The chicken was underseasoned for my taste and while it was quite a hunk of chicken it hadn't been evenly fried and also suffered from "chicken breast syndrome"......as it was on the dry side.

The portion of fries was also very generous; nicely seasoned, though it was also on the dry side and got rather soft quickly. Still for under ten bucks (at that time), this was a bargain.

Even though the price was right and the young lady working was so friendly, I didn't really have any intention of returning. Then came the lockdown and I was still working from the office quite a bit....I'd be driving past Boss Bird every so often and while they were open, it seemed totally dead. So, I decided to go ahead and place an online order. I didn't think the chicken sandwich and especially the fries would hold up real well on the drive back to the office, so I ordered the "Nickle Box" ($9) of wings. While driving over, I realized that it had been over a year since my initial visit.

Man, had the pandemic changed things! Things had been moved around and when I spoke (even with my mask muffling my voice) there seemed to be an echo!

My order was ready when I finally found a live human being......seems like everyone was in the boss bird "kitchen", so I cooled my heels for about 10 minutes. But all was well once the nice gentleman saw me waiting.

I wasn't overly hungry and this five piece box of wings, which came with 2 biscuits (I gave one away) was more than enough for my lunch on this day. I actually enjoyed the pickles the best.

I had ordered the Wings with Garlic Parmesan, but I think there was a "malfunction" somewhere as the wings seemed to just be plainly seasoned. Like my previous experience the chicken was unevenly fried and some of the pieces had rubbery skin and were on the dry side.

I wasn't a big fan of the biscuits which was too crumbly and not buttery enough for my taste. The person I shared the biscuit with said he could barely finish half of it......so I guess it wasn't just me.

And well, two visits in I guess I needed to get a post done, right? And on June 15th, San Diego was fully reopened, though I waited a while to return to Boss Bird. When I finally decided to return, it was just as the restaurant opened, early in the week. I had the whole place to myself.

The only other customers I saw during my stay were two customers doing takeout. And since I wasn't doing takeout; I decided to go with the "Hot Mess" ($11).

 

 I enjoyed the chicken sandwich. This was by far the best item I've had at Boss Bird; a decent spicy rub, you can tell that this time around the chicken had been nicely fried. While it was still on the drier side, it was moist and tender enough for me. Like I said before; there's something about the pickles here I enjoy and the slaw, while quite plain really helped balance out the sandwich.

The fries were a bit thinner this time around and still nicely seasoned; though it's still on the dry and soft side for my taste.

Still, I'd have this again....one of these days.

So there you go. A post 17 months in the making.

For another view on Boss Bird, please check out Lynn's post.

Boss Bird Kitchen
7580 Miramar Rd.
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Mon - Sat 11am - 8pm
Sunday 11am - 4pm

 

Sunday Sandwiches - Creative Deli

So, like I've mentioned over the years; I'm forever indebted to our F(riends) o(f) Y(oso) who provide many varied recommendations. "FOY" ST mentioned Creative Deli in the comments of several posts over the last couple of months. ST also made a couple of recommendations. Doing a quick check, I found that Creative Deli was fairly close to our office, though I would never have found the place, located on Nancy Ridge Drive since its not really a main street.

I decided to drive over and surely would have not found the place if not for the "Deli" sign......

The interior is spartan; totally looking like a number of similar business park/street delis that serve nearby employees.

The menu is large a rambling. Everything from burritos, burgers, salads, and such. All nicely priced between $5.99 - $8.99. ST had made some interesting recommendations, but I decided to play it safe and just went with the "Torpedo Italiano" ($6.99). This was a pretty hefty sandwich.

The standard issue French roll had a nice "crackle" to it, with a decent yeastiness. A simple sandwich with ham, mortadella, salami, and provolone cheese. 

There was perhaps a tad too much mayo; but I did enjoy the smear of mustard. This was quite a generously portioned sandwich for $6.99, so no complaints. Nothing fancy, but filling. It totally reminded me of the now closed The Sandwich A'Fare. 

So ok......I was now ready to start exploring some of the recommendations from ST; starting with the Carne Asada Torta. Creative Deli serves up Burritos; so this might not be such a stretch. So I called in an order for it. Priced at $8.99 it's probably one of the more expensive items on the menu. An older woman answered and I was told to come on down in ten minutes! And to their word; my sandwich was ready when I arrived.

The sandwich was served in a proper, light Bolillo roll.

This wasn't my favorite sandwich here as the crane asada was on the chewy side; the salsa tasted like mass produced bottled stuff. I did like the creamy  avocado and while this was far from bland, I was somewhat underwhelmed.

I did appreciate the fact that Creative Deli opens at 8am; which meant that I could easily call in an order between meetings and conference calls.

Another recommendation was the Chicken Diavolo ($7.49), which was "almost there" in terms of my taste.

I liked the crushed red peppers giving the sandwich some "zip", the gooey-stringy mozzarella cheese, and wished there were more onions and bell peppers. Not a big fan of the dry chicken breast though.

Next up; the Reuben ($8.99). This was actually not bad.

I mean, yes....it's all SYSCO products, but I appreciated the amount of sauerkraut in this and the pastrami, while less than the sauerkraut in volume had been nicely griddled, the Swiss cheese nice and gooey.

I didn't even mind the rather generous amount of Thousand Island on this. I do wish the bread had been toasted a bit more as it would have stood up a bit better during the ten minute trip back to the office.

So there you go, another one of those mom-and-pop business park sandwich shops.....they keep the working masses fed. Though during these times when many are working from home, I'm hoping they have enough customers to stay in business.

Thanks for the rec' ST! I'm sure I'll try the cheesesteak from here one of these days!

Creative Deli
6837 Nancy Ridge Dr.
San Diego, CA 92121
(858) 457-5697
Hours:
Mon - Fri 8am - 3pm
Closed Sat - Sun

Frazier Farms (La Mesa) (Grab and Go)

mmm-yoso!!! is the name of this food blog.  Kirk is very busy with work and Cathy is writing today.

Family owned Frazier Farms Market opened in 1971 in Escondido.  It expanded and contracted over the years and now has three San Diego County locations.  In September 2020 the La Mesa location on Fletcher Parkway at Jackson (in the former Circuit City building) made its debut. The grocery aisles have a variety of natural and organic products as well as standard selections with very good prices. However, it's the 'edge' of the store where we stop for a snack before shopping. (There are a good number of picnic tables at the shaded front of the building).  Yes, there is pizza by the slice.  Two for $6 (only on Tuesdays the slices are two for $5).
  The white slice is always good. The red sauce is not spicy; a good tomato sauce. The sausage is remarkably good. Vegetables are fresh and really kind of perfect.  The crust is not thick and is good meld of crispiness with chewiness. 
 There is a sandwich area. You can pick one of the standard choices (filling out a paper listing items you might not want). The Frazier Cubano is made with smoked pulled pork, ham, Swiss, pickles and mustard and butter as well as strawberry preserves and, of course, panini style. 
 The sweet saltiness as well as crisped bread and plenty of meat filling makes this sandwich enough to share.  The same with the Ranch Chicken sandwich, made with warm chicken breast, bacon, Meunster, tomato, onion, dill, lettuce and Ranch dressing served on white (ask for the bread to be toasted). 
 Those above sandwiches are $7.99 each, you can order a half sandwich for $3.99 and you can also 'Create Your Own" for $5.99 (adding cheese is another 50¢) and my only advice would be to ask for the bread to be toasted.  The rye here is a very good quality (flavor) and I really like the pickles.
 There is an area with sushi rolls and bowls being freshly made.  During the pandemic, a variety of sides could be found, pre-packed. There are also a good variety of salads in the deli counter. There is only one potato salad made here(there seem to be way too many varieties of potato salad in other deli counters) and it is really good; eggs as well as potatoes with just enough mayonnaise based sauce.

As of last week, a by-the-pound salad bar has opened. (You wear disposable gloves to handle the utensils).  There's a juice and coffee bar, offering organic coffees and smoothies and açaí bowls. It is located near the entrance next to the bakery area and also the refrigerated bakery area.
 The Ricotta filled cannoli ($2.50) is a perfect snack to go with a cup of coffee.
  The carrot cake ($3.99/slice) is kind of perfect.  Again, enough to share.
 There is also a gelato bar area.  The flavors are a good variety and a small is, again enough to share.  
 Not photogenic, but a good combination was the banana gelato along with butter pecan; a sort of fancy banana split in each bite. 

Family owned, quality products.  A great store.

Frazier Farms. 8401 Fletcher Parkway, La Mesa, CA 91942 (619) 309-4024 Open Daily 8 am-9 pm Website

 

Sunday Sandwiches - Barrio Donas Revisited

I was working from home one morning and had calls scheduled thru lunch until the early afternoon. It was 9am and I was already hungry. I had been wondering how Barrio Donas was doing since my last visits had been right before the pandemic started. I went to their website to check on the hours and found that they now do online ordering so I decided to go for it. I placed an order and headed right on over.

I arrived right at the indicated time; though I had to wait for a bit. It was obvious that this online ordering thing was kinda new to them. The configuration of the bakery had been changed a bit to accommodate social distancing.

I was kinda hungry so I ordered the Pierna ($9.50). The first thing I noticed when I opened up the container was that the bolillo roll seemed different.

 It was a lot lighter, both in color and heft than what I'd had here previously. But it was also much more yeasty than what I recall, though it hadn't handled the less than 15 minute drive home quite well.

But, this torta had twice the amount of filling than what I'd had before as well. The pork had been marinated and cooked well as it was so very tender. There was a slight heat and smokiness from what I assume is an adobo based sauce. I actually could have used more beans, onions, and tomato to balance things out....but I couldn't complain about the amount of filling in this sandwich.

About a week later, I was starving and had a break between calls; I decided to do the online ordering thing again and went with what has pretty much been my usual item at Barrio Donas; the A la Mexicana ($7.50). This time; maybe because it was 7am in the morning, my sandwich was waiting when I arrived.

   The bread was the same as on my previous visit. Like the pierna, this had a bit more filling than what I'd had previously, though it wasn't super stuffed. This time the bread handled the trip home. And the yeastiness, combined with the mild acidic heat from the salsa, slight milkiness from the cheese, and the smear of beans just went well with the scrambled eggs.

Barrio Donas was doing good business during my visits and I'm happy to know that. In thinking back from the days when it was Best Donuts, the renovation to a more modern, sort of hipster Barrio Donas, and now with online ordering! They've sure have come quite a way! Derek Ray, I'm wondering if you've visited recently and noticed that Barrio Donas is now a bit more generous in terms of portion?

Barrio Donas
4714 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117
Current Hours
Mon - Fri 6am - 6pm
Saturday 6am - 3pm
Sunday 7am - 3pm

Charlie's Best Breads (again)

mmm-yoso!!! a blog about food. Kirk and His Missus are enjoying some well deserved time off and Cathy is writing today.

There has been a another post about this Charlie's location, and The Mister and I were customers long before there was any walk-in/sit down area (Charlie's has been here since 1988).  We enjoy a good bakery, and the organic products used here are a plus.  Pre- and post-COVID-19, Charlie's has prevailed.  There are currently a few spaced indoor tables and a nice outdoor area.


 Since working from home, we have tried to make 'fancier' meals. To us, this means fresh/hot bread for sandwiches or as a side.   We've noticed a few places selling par-baked breads, but the rolls at Charlie's are our favorite. We pick up a bag at every visit ($4/dozen).  The Italian bread loaf (medium, $1.80) is topped with sesame seeds and satisfies cravings for a 'nice slice of bread with butter' at breakfast.   On top of the counter at the cash register, the smaller version of the Italian bread (a frenchette), simply filled with ham and Swiss ($1.99) is available as a 'grab and go' sandwich.  To me, it's perfect in size and flavors.
 The prosciutto with fig jam,  Manchego cheese and arugula on a sourdough seeded ficelle loaf  ($6.98) is easily shared and is a nice way to start the day. There are 'Toasts' on the menu and the Smoked Salmon ($9.98) on a slice of ciabatta (delicate crust; not chewy) with a Brie spread, onions, capers and a chipotle sauce (unnecessary) is also a good choice to share.  Also on the top of the counter when paying is a gluten-free seasonal choice- right now, it's an almond tart, which is sort of delicate, almost like whipped marzipan along with slivers of almonds.  (I don't know and don't care about the price; it is  great).

Always a nice stop with quality products. 

Charlie's Best Bread  1808 Garnet Avenue San Diego, CA 92109 Open daily 7-7 Website

 

Ramona Family Naturals Market- lunch

mmm-yoso!!! is the name of this food blog. Kirk has been doing most of the posting this year and is taking a break.  Cathy is able to help out with some posts. 

Long story short: after my most recent post (in January), there was an incident involving Urgent Care and Orthopedics.  The Mister turned into my chauffeur, took his responsibilities seriously and while waiting for me to return from meeting a client, used his (new) phone to do 'searches' for 'food' and when the pin dropped, he would then research menus.  That's how we found Ramona Family Naturals.    In 2009, Ramona Family Naturals was an online shop which eventually became a Brick and Mortar storefront.  Organic and natural foods, beverages and produce are sold within the market.  In the far corner is a small deli, which makes food to order.  Tables and chairs are outdoors, in front.   
 As you can see, we ordered a grilled turkey melt ($12.99) and a chicken tortilla soup ($5) to share. 
 The meal was brought outside to our table (we paid at the cash register and also purchased a bottled beverage). {There is a coffee  area inside the entrance (to the right) which also sells smoothies and fruit bowls}.
 Delving deeper into the soup bowl- wow!  Plenty of chicken, organic veggies and a rich broth.  Would definitely buy this again.
 The turkey sandwich- on 21 grain organic bread (really good) was layered with turkey, tomato and avocado, as well as hickory bacon, grilled onions, Havarti cheese and honey mustard. The best sandwich we have had in a long time. 

Excellent, quality, local.  Very happy The Mister discovered this gem. 

Ramona Family Naturals Market  325 Sixth Street Ramona CA 92065  (760) 787-5987 Website